eClassroom News Articles
Cybersecurity learning standards offer a new look at a consistent threat
New K-12 cybersecurity learning standards aim to build awareness and create a more diverse talent pipeline
Reducing bullying and cyber bullying
As in many states, K-12 teachers in Massachusetts now have new responsibilities to respond to, report, and address bullying and cyber bullying. The Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC)…
Boston schools failed non-English speakers
Thousands of students in Boston who are not proficient in English will be entitled to language assistance under an agreement between the city's public schools and the U.S.…
Making math lessons as easy as 1, pause, 2, pause …
An increasingly popular approach to teaching math emphasizes visual aids and a slow pace, with a week on the numbers 1 and 2. And while teachers initially are…
Virginia using iPads to teach social studies
In a huge step forward for K-12 education's move toward an all-digital curriculum, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), in collaboration with education publishing giant Pearson, is implementing…
Kids’ science kits could take hit from new safety ruling
One of the tools that teachers often use to get kids jazzed about science—hands-on science kits—could face an uncertain future amid a debate over safety.
Obama calls for more STEM teachers, longer school year
Barely into the new school year, President Barack Obama issued a tough-love message to students and teachers on Sept. 27: Their year in the classroom should be longer,…
Putting our ideas of assessment to the test
Here’s a pop quiz: What are the skills that today’s students will need to be successful in tomorrow’s workplace? The answer to this question has enormous implications for…
South African students study math via cell phone
A South African think tank said Sept. 23 that it has lined up volunteers to tutor on a popular mobile phone platform after a nationwide teachers' strike left…
Groups urge updates to teacher preparation programs
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills are calling on teacher education programs to update their curricula to better prepare…
Study: Teacher bonuses failed to boost test scores
Offering big bonuses to teachers failed to raise students' test scores in a three-year study released Sept. 21 that calls into question the Obama administration's push for merit…
Panelists: Digital tools expand learning opportunities
The nation's ed-tech director called on schools to replace textbooks with mobile learning devices, and the head of the FCC said his agency would be voting this week…
Report: ‘Top-third’ teachers essential to U.S. success
Improving teacher effectiveness has risen to the top of national education priorities, but the key to attracting, training, and retaining truly effective teachers may lie in the “top-third”…
A professor’s review of online cheat sheets
At this time of year, students are buying textbooks and looking for ways to avoid reading them. Nothing is new about that, the New York Times reports. CliffsNotes…
Texas education board to consider rule on Islam’s portrayal in textbooks
Just when it appeared the State Board of Education was done with the culture wars, the panel is about to wade into the issue of what students should…
Music instruction goes virtual
As online courses spike in popularity across the nation, students are finding that even the most traditional face-to-face courses offer virtual options that are just as thorough as…
U.S. ramps up efforts to improve STEM education
A grant program that challenges students to design their own video games is one of several new initiatives announced by President Obama Sept. 16 as part of a…
Intel awards $1 million to schools
Things are looking up for America’s innovative and dedicated STEM schools, thanks to Intel Education’s over $1 million donation to six math and science schools as part of…
Spell-check use on writing exam prompts debate
A decision by the Oregon Department of Education to let students use a computer spell-check feature when taking an online version of the state’s writing exam this year…
Publishing giant makes $400M commitment to ed tech
Educational publishing giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) is making a $400 million investment to back up the company's increasing emphasis on putting more technology into classrooms. The reason,…
Gearing up for the new school year
In the past I have dusted off curriculum binders, gathered a supply of whiteboard markers (so recently replacing chalk), and put up a framework for bulletin boards to…
Five lessons from the nation’s best online teacher
Educators who teach in an online setting should foster strong relationships with their students' parents and should offer plenty of positive feedback, says the nation's first-ever K-12 Online…
UK experts say game education could help lacking tech curriculum
Information and communication technology (ICT) education is failing UK students and the country's technology industry as a whole, but a curriculum that includes video game-related subjects could help…
What schools can learn from charters about teaching English language learners
As charter schools become testing grounds for innovative approaches to education, many of these schools with high English language learner (ELL) and Latino enrollments are identifying best practices…
Long Beach schools teaching algebra with iPads
Need to learn algebra? There's an app for that, as a group of students at Washington Middle and Hudson K-8 schools in California found out Sept. 8, reports…
Gates Foundation to invest in next-generation instructional tools
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to invest up to $250 million over the next eight years to develop ... Read more
Feds probing claims of bias against Arizona’s non-native English speaking teachers
The federal government is investigating whether a new Arizona policy discriminates against teachers who are not native English speakers, reports the Arizona Republic. The state’s education department for…
New grant program seeks solutions to toughest classroom challenges
The U.S. Department of Education has partnered with the nation’s largest teachers union and its charitable foundation to launch a grant program encouraging public school educators to identify…
After nearly a decade, laptops changed learning in Henrico County
Henrico County, Va., is entering the 10th year of its novel program to provide a laptop computer to every middle and high school student. Now ubiquitous, the laptops…
3D equipment helps school lessons take on a whole new dimension
Vera Johnson's fifth-graders barely noticed as visitors walked into their classroom this week, reports the Dallas Morning News: They were far too focused on the disembodied head that…
States given millions for new assessments
Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Sept. 2 announced the recipients of millions of dollars in federal grants to provide new state assessment systems to test students’ 21st-century skills.…
First virtual school in Mass. opens today
The Massachusetts Virtual Academy opens in Greenfield on Sept. 2, not only as the first in the state, but also as the first virtual school in New England…
Former Leapfrog, Blackboard exec joins DreamBox Learning as new CEO
DreamBox Learning has hired Jessie Woolley-Wilson as its new CEO, an appointment that comes four months after the Bellevue, Wash., online education startup was sold to an investment…
Newspaper’s teacher ratings stir up controversy
In a move that has many local educators seething, the Los Angeles Times has published an online database comparing more than 6,000 elementary school teachers based on a…
Wired youth forget how to write in China and Japan
Like every Chinese child, Li Hanwei spent her school days memorizing thousands of the intricate characters that make up the Chinese writing system. Yet, at 21 and now…
Are qualified teachers always effective teachers?
Amid a growing consensus that “highly qualified” doesn’t necessarily mean “highly effective,” a movement is under way to reshape how the nation views successful teaching.
New software turns paper into an inexpensive digital tablet
