Obama: Money alone can’t solve school predicament
President Barack Obama started the school week Sept. 27 with a call for a longer school year, and he said the worst-performing teachers have “got to go” if they don’t improve quickly, reports the Associated Press. Bemoaning America’s decreasing global educational competitiveness, Obama sought in a nationally broadcast interview to reinvigorate his education agenda.
A comprehensive approach to math reform pays off
Officials in North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District knew they needed a change when the annual number of students performing at grade level on state mathematics tests grew by just 3 percent.
Evidence suggests that the interactive classroom model works
A four-year, $3 million study funded by the Institute of Education Sciences and the U.S. Department of Education found that Algebra I students whose teachers used TI-Navigator networked classroom technology achieved higher math test scores and were more confident in their math abilities.
Teaching the hardest-to-learn math concepts
What are the concepts within core math topics that students struggle to understand in particular? Under the direction of Melendy Lovett, president of education technology for Texas Instruments, that was the question TI recently set out to answer.
An essential tool for teaching
The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics holds that technology is “an essential tool for teaching and learning mathematics effectively” and that it extends teaching and learning opportunities.
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 the future of education, including what we teach our students—and how we test them.
Taunt them with technology and they will not resist the fever
As unusual as it may sound, I used a new technology to attract teachers’ interest when our district approached implementation, rather than face pushback when we implemented the new technology, and they quickly took the bait.
Free online learning coming to some in Haiti
The founder of the tuition-free online University of the People said providing an education for Haitians after a massive earthquake destroyed most of their country’s colleges could demonstrate the value of a web-based university infrastructure targeting those in developing nations.
FCC opens up unused TV signals for broadband
In a highly anticipated move that could lead to faster, more robust Wi-Fi networks in schools, the Federal Communications Commission is opening up unused airwaves between television stations for wireless broadband networks that will be more powerful and can travel farther than today’s Wi-Fi hot spots, reports the Associated Press. The five-member FCC voted unanimously Sept. 23 to allow the use of so-called “white spaces” between TV stations to deliver broadband connections that can function like Wi-Fi networks on steroids.
Education Department grants $442M for teacher merit pay
The federal Education Department is giving school districts and nonprofit organizations from across the country $442 million to create merit pay programs for teachers and principals, reports the Associated Press. The Teacher Incentive Fund is aimed at attracting and rewarding high-quality educators and encouraging them to work in the country’s highest-need schools.