Have stimulus funds helped spur educational technology gains?
#4: 5 ways teachers can improve student learning based on current brain research
How students can better overcome language and reading problems thanks to the plastic brain and teacher know-how.
Text messaging: a lecture hall epidemic?
College students say their professors would be “shocked” to know just how often they send text messages during lectures, and one researcher has offered a simple and stringent…
High school graduation rate is increasing, report shows
Higher standards, better data use, and more parent engagement are among the strategies responsible for the first significant improvement in America's high school graduation rate in 40 years,…
Researchers aim for earlier autism diagnoses
With autism diagnoses on the rise, autism awareness organizations are banding together to increase early detection and education practices for students with the disorder.
The attention-span myth
Polemicists of various stripes continue to calibrate the effect of technology on attention spans, reports the New York Times.
NACAC issues first report on Best Colleges rankings
The National Association for College Admission Counseling surveyed its members on attitudes toward U.S. News's Best Colleges rankings; recently the NACAC/U.S. News & World Report Ad Hoc Committee…
Growth of online instruction continues, though unevenly
Online instruction continues to grow quickly overall, according to the latest snapshot of online education programs in grades K-12. But the shape and pace of this growth remains…
Should you be snuggling with your cellphone?
WARNING: Holding a cellphone against your ear may be hazardous to your health. So may stuffing it in a pocket against your body, reports the New York Times’…
Questionable science behind academic rankings
For institutions that regularly make the Top 10, the autumn announcement of university rankings is an occasion for quiet self-congratulation, reports the New York Times.
Proficiency of black students is found to be far lower than expected
An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented — a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of…
Live vs. distance learning: Measuring the differences
An analysis of 99 studies by the federal Department of Education concluded last year that online instruction, on average, was more effective than face-to-face learning by a modest…
Scientists move closer to live 3-D video
In a development with important implications for future teaching and learning, scientists say they have taken a big step toward displaying live video in three dimensions—a technology that…
Students care most about education, economy
As the University of California prepares to discuss another student fee increase for the next academic year amid continuing budget woes, students will look to Governor-elect Jerry Brown…
Teens are still reading for fun, say media specialists
Teens read for pleasure, even in the digital age, reports the Washington Post.
Does income-based school integration work?
Economic integration, a concept first floated by early public-school crusaders like Horace Mann, is a compelling idea with intuitive appeal: reduce the preponderance of high-poverty schools by spreading…
Survey: Mobile learning at a tipping point
According to a recent national survey, access to mobile technology in the classroom has more than tripled among high schools students in the past three years—and even more…
Study: Half of high school students admit to bullying
Half of all high school students say they have bullied someone in the past year, with nearly as many saying they have been the victims of bullying, according…
Study points to uncertainty of K-12 engineering standards
With efforts to ensure U.S. competitiveness in a global economy revolving around stronger STEM education, some policy makers are looking at whether it makes sense to include engineering…
Survey reveals school leaders’ opinions on 21st-century skills
As school district leaders increasingly incorporate so-called 21st-century skills into their instructional strategies, many believe the federal government should support the development of new school assessment models that…
Average teen sends 3,339 texts per month
If you needed more proof that texting is on the rise, here's a stat for you: the average teenager sends over 3,000 texts per month. That's more than…
Charter Schools: The good ones aren’t flukes (or cherrypickers)
Charter schools are all the rage these days. The public is increasingly smitten with them - in this year's Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup education poll, 68% of respondents said…
Number of ed civil rights complaints on the rise
The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights received nearly 7,000 complaints this fiscal year, an 11 percent increase and the largest jump in at least 10 years,…
College dropout rate puts financial strain on governments
State and federal governments spend billions of dollars in college financial aid to support students at four-year colleges and universities who leave school before their sophomore year, according…
Students dependent on technology—for better or worse
Technology has become so entwined with college students' often frantic lives that most in a new survey say they'd be more frazzled without it. Yet the poll also…
Summit: U.S. needs more computer science teachers
Fewer than 65 percent of K-12 schools in the United States offer an introductory-level computer science course, much less rigorous training, according to a recent study conducted by…
Aiming to learn as we do, a machine teaches itself
Researchers are fine-tuning a computer system that is trying to master semantics by learning more like a human, reports the New York Times. Give a computer a task…
Study finds first evidence that ADHD is genetic
British scientists have found the first direct evidence that attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a genetic disorder, and they say their research eventually could lead to better treatments…
New software can help ‘proofread’ Wikipedia
A new tool might help fight malicious editing that introduces incorrect or misleading information in online sites such as Wikipedia, UPI reports. University of Iowa researchers are developing…
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…
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”…
Study: Online learning might be less effective for some
Higher education’s embrace of online courses could hurt the performance of some groups of students, according to a study that contradicts the findings of a 2009 report from…
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…
Editing, enhancing Wikipedia becomes project at colleges
Some professors believe Wikipedia has no place in the footnotes of a college paper. But could it have a place on the syllabus? The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit…
Microelectrodes translate brain waves into words
In a first step toward helping severely paralyzed people communicate more easily, Utah researchers have shown that it is possible to translate recorded brain waves into words, using…
To win over users, gadgets have to be touchable
Scientists and academics who study how we interact with technology say touch screens have seeped into people’s day-to-day existence more quickly and completely than other technological behaviors because…
When defense meets education
