How to talk to children about the Sandy Hook shooting
The killings at a Connecticut elementary school have left parents and educators struggling to figure out what to tell their children.
Month: December 2012
Could Sandy Hook shooting be a gun-control tipping point?
The question surfaces each time a mass murder unfolds, especially at a school: Will this one change the political calculus in Washington, D.C., against tougher gun control?
School safety resources from the eSN archives
In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Conn., that claimed the lives of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, school leaders are…
D.C. releases results of nation’s first-ever standardized test on health and sex ed
Fifth- and eighth graders in the District are pretty well-versed in emotional-health issues but have a lot to learn about the human body, according to results from the…
Weighing options for expanding school choice
In debates over school choice, like the one brewing as the 83rd legislative session draws closer, traditional public school districts are often cast as stubborn defenders of the…
The 12 most popular eSN stories of 2012
We’ve assembled a list of the dozen most popular stories we’ve published in the last year, as measured by the number of page views each received. If you…
NYC teachers’ fund pledges $1 billion in Sandy aid
A pension fund for city teachers is pledging $1 billion in new investments toward repairing roads and bridges damaged by Superstorm Sandy and other infrastructure projects, the Associated…
Teachers plan strike in northeastern Pa. district
Teachers are planning to strike next week in a small community in northeastern Pennsylvania, reports the Associated Press. Officials in the Old Forge school district say the walkout…
Tony Bennett selected as Florida’s new education chief
Tony Bennett, Indiana's outgoing Republican superintendent for public instruction, will move to Florida to serve as the state's new education commissioner, the Huffington Post reports.
States nervous about new Common Core school standards
In Kentucky this year, the percentage of elementary and middle-school students who rated "proficient" or better on statewide math and reading tests declined by about a third. Kentucky…
Hawaii teachers union turns down contract offer
Hawaii's teachers union has rejected the state's latest contract offer, citing concerns with pay and teacher evaluation provisions, the Associated Press reports.
Michigan protests: Teachers remain dedicated despite cuts
Michigan fought long and hard to become a union state. Yet our legislature has passed two right-to-work bills Tuesday, pushed through in a lame-duck session, Yahoo! News reports.
Comparing the leading classroom observation tools
Policy makers are demanding more rigorous teacher evaluations—and central to this effort are software tools that help school leaders record their observations of classroom teaching. Here, we compare…
More than $10K for business ideas
Kids from all over the country are invited to put their thinking caps on and enter their ideas for new businesses in the 2nd annual Secret Millionaires Club…
$120K for arts programs
The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award is the nation's highest honor for out-of-school arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of America's young people, particularly…
Awards for education efforts
This AmeriCorps State and National (AmeriCorps) grant program will focus on six areas, including education. Education grants will provide support and/or facilitate access to services and resources that…
Buffalo Jones Elementary School wins nationwide ‘Healthy School Makeover Contest’
Buffalo Jones Elementary School in Garden City, Kan., beat out 200 entries and received a majority of the 129,000 total public votes to be named the winner of…
eInstruction announces ‘Flip Your Classoom’ winners
eInstruction, a global education software and technology company, today announced the three grand-prize winners of its sixth annual Flip Your Classroom – eInstruction Classroom Makeover Contest. The winners,…
Free online tool enables users to create digital stories
Meograph is an easy way to create interactive digital stories out of video, audio, pictures, text, maps, timelines, links, and other media.
National Science Foundation awards $5M national cybersecurity grant
The National Science Foundation has awarded Prince George’s Community College a $5 million National Advanced Technological Education Center continuation grant for its National CyberWatch - Cybersecurity Education Solutions…
FTC expected to settle Google patent case
After months of negotiations, federal regulators and Google could reach a deal as soon as this week over how the search company uses its acquired stockpile of patents…
Could Verizon nix unlimited data for everyone?
Verizon Wireless isn't making it easy for loyal, longtime smart phone customers to keep their existing unlimited data plans, CNET reports. And now some subscribers, who are willing…
KIPP D.C. wins $10 million in Race to the Top education-grant competition
The Washington Post reports that charter school operator KIPP D.C. is among 16 winners of the federal government’s Race to the Top District grant competition, U.S. Department of…
David Pogue’s 12 Days of Gadgets
Ho-ho-ho, people! Time to rack your brains to come up with cool gifts for the tech nuts in your life. Most “holiday tech gift idea” lists are full…
S.C. panel urges more spending to recruit teachers
South Carolina's education oversight panel recommended that legislators spend more on programs designed to draw high school students into teaching and fill slots in the state's neediest schools,…
Feds investigating makers of cell-phone apps for kids
The government is investigating whether software companies that make cell phone apps have violated the privacy rights of children by quietly collecting personal information from mobile devices and…
U.S. fourth graders show gains in science, math; eighth-grade achievement flat
American fourth-graders are performing better than they were four years ago in math and reading, but students four years older ... Read more
North Carolina: Make fun of a teacher, go to jail
If North Carolina high school students bully a teacher online, they will pay the price, Takepart.com reports.
Florida may reduce tuition for select majors
Rick Scott, businessman turned politician, campaigned for governor in 2010 with promises to run Florida like a successful business — more efficiency, lower costs, less hand-wringing and measurable…
The great divide, now in the toy aisle
Earlier this year, at the 109th Annual American International Toy Fair, held at the Javits Convention Center as one of the culture’s most convincing cases for childlessness, a…
Parents outraged over school program that tracks kids’ weight
A plan to track middle school students' weight has some Naperville, Ill., parents up in arms. Part of the physical education program in Naperville District 203 asks junior…
Mexican education bill threatens powerful teachers’ union
Mexico's new president unveiled a planned overhaul of the country's struggling education system on Monday in a challenge to the powerful teachers' union, which has long been seen…
iPads to enhance learning for education majors
Beginning this spring, 575 undergraduate students at the University of Oklahoma's Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education will be given fourth-generation iPads to complete assignments and create lesson plans,…
Five common misconceptions about today’s students
It seems that every generation has a few gripes about the younger ones. But are there misconceptions specific to today’s students?
The key skills today’s employers desire
Education stakeholders are quick to champion students’ need for “21st century skills”—but what do employers say they want students to learn? And, how should schools adapt as a…
Classic literature to be dropped from high schools in favor of ‘informational texts’
If you really want to hear about it, new educational standards now approved in 46 out of 50 states mandate that nonfiction books constitute at least 70 per…
NAACP launches biggest education push since Brown v. Board
The NAACP is going on the offensive on education, deploying volunteers across the country in its biggest push for a public education overhaul since the nation's classrooms were…
Watch: Are schools to blame for America’s obesity epidemic?
To borrow a line from Kermit the frog, it's not easy being green -- or, eating green, the Huffington Post reports.
Economic reality marries age-old idea of apprenticeship with college
Five-foot-two Jesica Bush exudes confidence, whether she's scribbling notes in a 6:30 a.m. class at Bates Technical College here or wrestling 900-pound girders atop a mock two-story building,…
USDA to allow more meat, grains in school lunches
The Agriculture Department is responding to criticism over new school lunch rules by allowing more grains and meat in kids' meals, the Associated Press reports.