Teacher innovation gets royal treatment
Supporting neurodiverse learners requires more than accommodation: It demands systemic change
Neurotypical students who learn alongside neurodivergent peers develop critical social-emotional skills
Learning a language from an expert, on the web
The internet, with its unparalleled ability to connect people throughout the world, is changing the way that many people learn languages, reports the New York Times.
Ask.com reverts to its Q&A origins
Ask.com, which has tried with scant success to morph itself into a search engine on par with those of Google and Microsoft, is unveiling a new version of…
Feds to create an Online Learning Registry
In a move to help rural schools keep pace with more developed districts, the U.S. Department of Education said it will create an Online Learning Registry that will…
Analysis: ‘Common Core’ standards clearer, more rigorous
An analysis by an education policy think tank finds that the common academic standards many states will be adopting are clearer and more rigorous than those currently used…
Massachusetts panel wants to set limits on virtual public schools
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, apprehensive about a new state law that allows public schools to operate almost entirely in cyberspace, will consider imposing limits…
Forget grade levels: Schools try something new
As Kansas City, Mo., students return to their age-assigned classrooms this fall, they will begin to take assessments in math and reading—tests that will determine their mastery of…
Harvard profs dropping final exams
Final exams are probably not anybody’s primary concern at the moment, but it is worth noting that the July-August edition of Harvard Magazine reports that many Harvard professors…
Program uses smart phones to increase math scores
Two years ago, public high schools in North Carolina began a pilot project to determine whether smart phones, in conjunction with curriculum resources, could be leveraged to increase…
Technology a key tool in writing instruction
While there are still many obstacles facing teachers in implementing technology, teachers play a critical role in driving the use of technology to teach writing, says a recent…
Is computer science a dead end in the workforce?
As software development tools grow more advanced and more coding moves offshore, the need for advanced development expertise is on the decline, InfoWorld reports.
New tool shows how arts education boosts 21st century skills
Working with national arts organizations, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) has developed a first-of-its-kind Arts skills map that clearly defines how arts education promotes key 21st-century…
Students take photos of Earth’s curvature with help from iPad
At the Potomac School in McLean, Va., this past school year, 13 seventh- and eighth-graders signed up for a biweekly science elective that proposed this challenge, reports the…
Online testing of students: Will Florida be ready?
Central Florida school administrators are fearing technology snarls and scheduling nightmares when thousands of high-school students start taking standardized math exams on computers next school year, reports the…
3D content for education on the rise
At least a dozen companies now offer three-dimensional learning content, according to industry sources, and some of the major players in the educational video market are rumored to…
New Texas law requires more class details online
Public colleges and universities in Texas face the cost of making more detailed class descriptions available online so students and parents can get a better idea of what…
Project lets users explore the cosmos from a PC
In a project that aims to pull a new generation of students toward science and technology, Microsoft and NASA have teamed up to create what they say is…
Students, meet your new teacher, Mr. Robot
Computer scientists are developing machines that can teach people simple skills, like household tasks and vocabulary, reports the New York Times.
Customers question tech industry’s takeover spree
The world’s largest technology companies have been on a buying spree, spending billions of dollars to snap up smaller companies. And often the buyers say they’re doing it…
Ed-tech grant program aims to boost college readiness
A new initiative will dole out grants to education-technology projects aimed at improving college readiness, especially among low-income students.
Oceanographer touts deep sea web surfing
Bob Ballard, the explorer best known for the discovery of the Titanic and other wrecks, has not only made deep-sea exploration more accessible for K-12 and college students,…
Superstition Springs Elementary leverages teacher’s vision to design high-tech classrooms
When Scottsdale, Ariz.-based CCS Presentation Systems offered a $20,000 technology grant for teachers to design their ideal classroom, first grade teacher Valerie Gresser of Superstition Springs Elementary School…
Indiana forms state branch of private online college
In a move that could signal the start of a larger trend, an agreement between the state of Indiana and a private online university will allow Indiana residents…
Microsoft’s Philly high school traveled rocky road
When the Microsoft-designed School of the Future opened, the facility was a paragon of contemporary architecture, with a green roof, light-filled corridors and the latest classroom technology, all…
Speech recognition, mobile apps help build reading skills
Students’ scores on a national reading assessment have remained relatively flat for nearly 40 years. As educators work hard to bring that average up, many are excited about…
Studying engineering before they can spell it
In a class full of aspiring engineers, the big bad wolf had to do more than just huff and puff to blow down the three little pigs’ house,…
Global firm to pay Montgomery, Md., schools millions for elementary curriculum
Montgomery County Public Schools could soon become a global brand, the Washington Post reports.
Wisconsin agency aims to transform education’s core
With support from all of its 45 superintendents, a Wisconsin regional service agency is determined to reinvent the very nature of public education so that all students are…
Internet-enabled ‘flexbooks’ replacing traditional textbooks
At Brandon Valley High School in South Dakota, bulky science textbooks soon might be replaced with slimmer science "flexbooks," a new model of textbook creation in which teachers…
Wal-Mart to offer its workers an affordable online education
Wal-Mart is dipping its toe into the online-education waters, working with a web-based university to offer its employees in the United States affordable college degrees, reports the New…
Piazzza, the online homework helper
Created by a Stanford University graduate student, Piazzza.com is an online platform that claims to provide “high-quality answers for when you’re stuck” on homework by creating a place…
Michigan uses online learning to reach at-risk students
As a struggling high school student in metro Detroit, Kyle Grigg faced a terrible prospect. Last spring, Kyle was asked by his public high school counselor to leave…
Final common standards in English, math released
A year-long effort to define a common set of academic standards for English and math culminated on June 2 with the release of the final version of the…
Editorial: Media illiteracy
President Obama caused quite a stir among the technorati with his commencement address at Hampton University last month.
ASU’s education technology program top-ranked for productivity
With only a few graduate faculty members, the educational technology program at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College might be small, but according to a recent…
Web site of the week: NationalLabDay.org
May 12 was the first celebration of National Lab Day, a nationwide initiative seeking to encourage student learning in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through…
New computer games promote civics education
An "unintended consequence" of the No Child Left Behind initiative has been a decrease in civics knowledge, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said May 26 in…
Opinion: Texas textbook change can’t blot out Internet
The Daily News Journal columnist Jim Leonhirth writes that while the dust still is settling in the revisions of Texas Board of Education curriculum standards, the real winner…
Texas moves emphasize need to open source education
ZDNet writer Dana Blankenhorn writes that Texas’s controversial decision to change its history curriculum has created an enormous opportunity for states, for communities, for publishers, and for authors…
Arizona law worries non-native educators
