More than 7,000 Virginia children may not be getting any form of education as a result of a state law that permits religious exemptions, a recent study found, the Huffington Post reports. Thousands of the state’s students were excused from mandatory school attendance during the 2010-11 school year due to religious exemptions, according to a study by the Child Advocacy Clinic at the University of Virginia law school. But once a family receives the exemption, parents are not required to show proof of alternative education. Under state code, parents who believe their children’s enrollment in a secular school will contradict the family’s religious beliefs can seek an exemption from compulsory education ^[1]. The Daily Progress reports Virginia is one of four states that provides an explicit religious exemption ^[2], and is the only state that does not require exempted students to satisfy any educational requirements, such as enrollment in a home-schooling program…

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I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in Dell’s “Social Think Tank” on Innovation in Education today., says Christopher Dawson for ZDNet Education. We’ll be spending the day talking about how tech can drive new approaches to education. I’ll be tweeting and updating this blog all day as we move the conversation forward.

Update: 11:15 am EDT – How to close the learning gap: What is the learning gap? I would argue that it’s the distance between those students who learn in spite of the system and those who are stymied by the system. Arguably, you could also call the inability of those with poor conditions outside of schools to be able to navigate the system versus those who have the outside resources to make it through…

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A lunchtime staple of students for years, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich could be considered one of the more popular items found in the sack lunches of school children, the Huffington Post reports. But in conjunction with recent equity training in local Portland schools, one principal is raising questions about the mention of the sandwich, arguing it has broader implications about race, ^[5] the Portland Tribune reports. The sandwich was reportedly mentioned in a lesson plan last year. Verenice Gutierrez from the Harvey Scott K-8 School used it as an example of a subtle form of racism in language, according to the report…

Click here for the full story ^[6]

As part of this week’s Homecoming festivities, Crookston High School in Minnesota scheduled an event that encouraged “guys [to] dress in their camouflage and other hunting apparel ^[7] while girls … show off their animal print,” the Grand Forks Herald reports. Originally dubbed “Prey and Predator Day,” the event was changed to just “Camo Day” after the original description caused a stir among Crookston residents.

“In hindsight and looking at it from a different light, a better decision should have been made,” Superintendent Chris Bates said. “People might see it in a different way than it was intended. The change is good.”

According to Principal Lon Jorgensen, the school’s students did not realize the name’s underlying connotations, adding, “hunting in this area is pretty popular ^[7].”

Click here for the full story ^[8]

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded $17 million in grants to some Mississippi schools, the Associated Press reports. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., says the funds are provided through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program. He says the program provides money to establish or strengthen the academic resources, management capabilities, and physical plants of the schools…

Click here for the full story ^[9]

In a move to expand its cloud computing solutions and extend learning opportunities to students, Lenovo on Sept. 18 announced that it is acquiring educational technology provider Stoneware Inc.

Stoneware sells a number of cloud-oriented products to schools. Its webNetwork service, which uses a browser-based interface to give users access to all their applications and files in the cloud with a single sign-on, has been rebranded as Secure Cloud Access ^[10]. LanSchool, which Stoneware itself acquired last year, is the company’s classroom management solution.

Those products reportedly serve a combined 5 million users, mostly in education.

Stoneware CEO Ben Cahoon said the chance to expand the company’s cloud computing capabilities even further is “one of the key reasons for the acquisition.”

Lenovo says its “four screen strategy” plays an integral role in the acquisition as well. The “four screen strategy” revolves around laptops/PCs, smart phones, tablets, and “smart TVs.”

See also:

eSN Publisher’s Report: Visibility within the Cloud ^[11]

“We really see cloud computing as the glue that brings all these devices together,” Cahoon said.

Lenovo’s Secure Cloud Access allows schools to create their own private or private-public clouds to deploy applications and other services in a “unified cloud.” Students, teachers, administrators, and parents can use one password to access files, applications, and reports.

“The role of technology should be to fundamentally improve learning outcomes,” said Sam Morris, executive of worldwide education for Lenovo. Technology can be a burden if not properly installed or maintained, he said, and its aim should be to improve teaching and learning and boost operational efficiencies.

Morris said the Stoneware acquisition will meet schools’ needs by addressing the proliferation of devices in today’s classrooms.

Schools invest in educational technology, but students don’t necessarily have access to the same type of technology at home. Smart phones seem to be particularly popular as students’ personal devices.

Secure Cloud Access will let students have access to all or many of the same features they access through school-based technology. The application scales the experience to the device, so that users still have a unified experience. Some features might be limited, but students can expand their learning and work on important projects using personal devices.

The acquisition “offers the opportunity to grow and improve … [and] raise the capability of devices,” Morris said, adding that Stoneware’s offerings will boost efficiency because mobile devices present a challenge when it comes to accessing files and certain applications. “The browser is the gateway” to a unified user experience, he said.

“Adding Stoneware cloud computing into the Lenovo lineup presents a significant opportunity to leverage their success, and enhance our PC Plus offerings—all to the benefit of our customers,” said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president of Lenovo and president of the company’s Product Group.

“We are pleased to be joining forces with Lenovo,” said Rick German, Stoneware’s CEO.

Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but no layoffs are expected. The Stoneware team will remain in Indiana and Utah and will continue to sell both webNetwork and LanSchool.

See also:

eSN Publisher’s Report: Visibility within the Cloud ^[11]