How we developed a personalized PBL model for STEM
How can schools and districts prepare students for college and careers in STEM? Is it by asking them to passively read a textbook or listen to a teacher…
Race to the Top
Report: Race to the Top isn’t delivering big results
The Obama administration’s signature education initiative, Race to the Top, can’t deliver much educational improvement in America’s public schools because there is a huge mismatch in its mandates…
How the government can drive school innovation
Most of the funding and decision-making around education in this country occur at the state and local levels. The federal government has limited ability to effect change. That…
Strike highlights division on teacher evaluation
One of the key disagreements driving Chicago teachers to the picket lines this week is also a central component of President Barack Obama's education policy: evaluating instructors in…
Nearly 900 districts to apply for Race to the Top funding
Nearly 900 school districts across the nation intend to apply for a slice of close to $400 million in grants that the U.S. Education Department will distribute in…
Duncan discusses education reform, back-to-school changes
A more well-rounded curriculum with less focus on a single test. Higher academic standards and more difficult classwork. Continued cuts to extracurricular and other activities because of the…
District ‘Race to the Top’ rules spur mixed reaction
Proposed guidelines for school districts to vie for $400 million in new federal grants have elicited mixed reaction from education groups—from concern among ed-tech groups over how “personalized…
Feds float guidelines for school-based Race to the Top grants
Following a wave of state education reforms spurred by its Race to the Top competition, the federal Education Department (ED) said May 22 that individual school districts will…
Universal Design for Learning: The next big thing in school reform?
As educators brace for new reforms, what will these changes look like? How will assessments and curriculum differ from previous versions? How can all students get the best…
States struggle over how to evaluate special-ed teachers
Spurred by the U.S. Department of Education's $4.35 billion Race to the Top grant competition, more than a dozen states have passed laws to reform how teachers are…
Details of Obama’s proposed $70B for education
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) would receive nearly $70 billion under President Barack Obama’s FY2013 budget, which he presented to Congress on Feb. 13. The $69.8 billion…
Obama challenges lawmakers to strengthen education
In a State of the Union address that was as much a campaign speech as a call to action, President Obama touted his administration’s success in spurring school…
Nine states win early education grants
Nine states have won a collective $500 million from the federal government to help make pre-kindergarten and other early learning programs more accessible and better capable of narrowing…
NCLB waivers require big changes, fast
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With online testing on the horizon, infrastructure could be a challenge
With new online tests being designed to reflect the Common Core standards, school districts in at least 45 states will have to replace pencil-and-paper testing with the new…
States rewrite education rules, with or without Race to the Top
This article is no longer available.
Sen. Shelby questions education grant competition
The "Race to the Top" program extends the reach of the federal government too far into states' public schools operations, a leading Republican senator said on Wednesday, Reuters…
Education grants made available for nine states
According to Reuters, nine states will be eligible to compete for education grants of up to $50 million through President Barack Obama's "Race to the Top" program, the…
Report: U.S. should model education system after other countries
The U.S. must mirror the educational practices of top-performing countries if it is to regain its competitive advantage, according to a new report from the National Center on…
Feds announce $500M for early learning competition
A new state-level grant competition will direct $500 million in federal funding to improve child care and early childhood learning as part of the Obama administration's signature Race…
The top 10 ed-tech stories of 2010: No. 2
The controversial documentary film Waiting for ‘Superman’ has shined a national spotlight on the need for school reform, while sparking intense debate over how best to achieve this…
States that lost school money face reform dilemmas
It's like buying a fancy dress but having no date to the prom--dozens of states that crafted new education policies to compete for a share of the $3.4…
With divided Congress, school reform faces a tough road ahead
The Obama administration has pushed an ambitious education agenda in the last two years, sending $100 billion to states thorough the stimulus package and spurring reform in many…
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…
Ed tech is one focus of Maryland’s Race to the Top funds
Maryland recently became one of 10 winners of the second round of federal Race to the Top grants, and Charles County officials are ready to get the ball…
New Jersey schools chief fired after Race to the Top gaffe
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie fired his education commissioner on Aug. 27, days after it was revealed that a simple mistake on an application form might have cost…
Did Race to the Top help or hurt the push for a common curriculum?
States were working on a common set of education standards before the Obama administration decided to make adoption of them part of its Race to the Top competition.…
$3.4B for 9 states, D.C. in Race to the Top grants
More than 13 million students and 1 million educators will share $3.4 billion from the second round of the federal "Race to the Top" grant competition, the U.S.…
Lesson plan in Boston schools: Don’t go it alone
Earlier this year Massachusetts enacted a law that allowed districts to remove at least half the teachers and the principal at their lowest-performing schools, reports the New York…
Race to the Top program spurs school-reform debate
The U.S. Department of Education has named 18 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in the second round of the federal "Race to the Top" (RTTT)…
Lawmakers trade broadband grants, school reforms for education jobs
Schools would get $10 billion to help them avoid teacher layoffs under a bill passed by the House. But the funding would come at a price for other…
States collaborate on new national exams
Two large coalitions of states are competing for federal “Race to the Top” dollars to create a series of new national academic tests to replace the current patchwork…
35 states, D.C. apply for Round 2 of Race to the Top funding
Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia submitted applications June 1 for the second round of the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top competition to boost…
Several states walk away from ‘Race to the Top’ millions
About two dozen states are going back to Washington for another shot at billions in education grants under the federal "Race to the Top" program, but at least…
Feds to shape the future of assessment
Federal officials are leading the charge to develop a new generation of summative, end-of-year exams that are delivered and scored by computer; focus on a deeper understanding of…
States skeptical about ‘Race to Top’ school aid contest
The initial results of the Obama administration’s signature school improvement initiative, known as Race to the Top, have left a sour taste for many states, reports the New…
Delaware, Tennessee win first ‘Race to the Top’ grants
Broad support from key stakeholders, including elected officials, teachers' unions, and local business leaders, was an important factor in awarding the first round of "Race to the Top"…
Race to the Top finalists announced
The U.S. Department of Education has named 16 finalists in the first round of its Race to the Top competition, which will deliver $4.35 billion in school reform…
Obama calls for more school funding
Education is one of the few areas of the federal budget that would not see a spending freeze, if President Barack Obama gets his way this year.