Ariana Fine

A Calif. school district is fed up with school threats, so they’ve produced PSAs

Fresno-area television now features two public service announcements, created by the Fresno USD aimed at educating students and parents on social media threats and the possibility of a student's suspension, expulsion or even arrest.

Letter grades rise for Mississippi public schools

Mississippi's public school districts and schools showed broad improvement under the state's letter grading system in 2018-19. The number of A-rated districts rose from 18 to 31, while the number of districts earning a C, D or F rating fell.

Releasing school forms for free use by public

Script published a collection of electronic forms to the public for free use in schools. The forms help schools collect and track information such as internal requests, permission from parents, nurse visits and incident reports to improve service to the students.

New Newark district-library partnership gives library cards to all students

The Newark Public Library will distribute about 45,000 library cards to all students and staff in the New Jersey school district as part of a new partnership with the schools.

New Jersey’s teachers don’t reflect diverse student body, report shows

The state's teacher workforce doesn't reflect the diversity of its classrooms. That's the main finding of a new report by New Jersey Policy Perspective. Two-thirds of New Jersey's teachers are white and female, but just 22 percent of students are.

The First Amendment must extend to student journalists seeking to report the truth

Creating an accessible and visible medium to convey student opinions allows students to have their own say in how they feel about issues facing their school, community and country in a way that they would not be able to without having a student-led and student-centric forum.

Challenge to Maine vaccine law for schools likely to make ballot

Opponents of a new Maine law that would scrap religious and personal exemptions for vaccines for schools said they had enough signatures to make the March 2020 ballot.

1 in 9 high school seniors vape nicotine almost daily, survey says

The share of teens who said they vaped nicotine in the preceding 30 days more than doubled for each age group surveyed, a new survey shows. About a quarter of high school seniors said they had vaped the substance within the previous month, up from closer to 1 in 5 the previous year.

Mississippi district hires John Strycker

The Jackson County School District's board approved the hiring of Butler County's superintendent, John Strycker, as the next leader of the Mississippi district. He replaces Barry Amacker, Jackson County's current superintendent.

Nathan Van Deusen to lead Pennsylvania district

Nathan Van Deusen stepped in to lead the South Eastern School District. Former Superintendent Jeffrey Hughes recently retired. Van Deusen has been the elementary principal for 10 years and assistant superintendent for three years for the Cocalico School District.

1 in 5 students have dyslexia or another reading deficit

It can be hard to spot, but you can use your classroom experience and knowledge of your students to recognize the signs that are often hiding in plain sight.

How one Georgia district achieved record AP exam pass rates

As part of their districtwide aim to redefine high academic expectations, Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS) leveraged the power of feedback and formative assessment to guide instruction, increase student success and support teachers. The result? A record-breaking percentage of CCPS students passed AP exams in 2019.

Improving student reading outcomes through literacy brain science

When Syracuse City School District (SCSD) educators realized many of their adolescent students had significant reading difficulties, they needed a comprehensive intervention to help those students reach grade-level success. See how LANGUAGE! Live brought SCSD to districtwide success with literacy brain science.

Industry news

Wolfram Research launched Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition, bringing advanced technical computing that does not require programming knowledge to students and educators. ... Ceres USD in California is expanding its use of SchoolMint, Inc.'s Hero K12 school climate improvement tool to all elementary, middle and high schools beginning with this school year.

Unit to support the international Hunger Challenge initiative

PBLWorks has partnered with Students Rebuild, a program of the Bezos Family Foundation, to create an English, math and science unit for the upcoming Hunger Challenge. Students participating in the challenge research hunger and malnutrition and develop potential solutions to these issues.