Some say that for principals, every day is their first day on the job. Alongside day-to-day building management issues such as hiring teachers, overseeing finances and student discipline, principals now guide teachers through new state standards and testing. As principal evaluations become a more common practice, district leaders need to provide them with a PD […]

Emergency room visits for self-inflicted injuries in adolescents have risen significantly since 2009, according to a study in July Pediatrics. Schools looking to curb this behavior have turned to new mental health programs that focus on navigating stress and emotional regulation. An estimated 13 percent to 26 percent of high school students engage in non-suicidal […]

Back-to-school has become a thing of the past in an increasing number of districts that keep class in session all year. The number of public, year-round schools, also called “balanced-calendar” schools, increased by 26 percent from 2007 to 2012, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. More than 3,700 schools operate year-round nationwide, accounting […]

More states adopted legislation this term requiring high school students to pass a U.S. citizenship test in order to graduate, according to a June report from the Education Commission of the States. Since January, 19 states introduced legislation based on the Civics Education Initiative, a project from the nonprofit Joe Foss Institute with a goal […]

In seven years, computer systems design jobs will be huge in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 38 percent growth in the design industry between 2012 and 2022??from 1.62 million jobs in 2012 to an estimated 2.23 million jobs in 2022. But recent reports of the lack of required computer science courses […]

Principals shifting their roles from building manager to instructional leader need more extensive PD to ensure top performance from teachers and students, according to a new policy brief from ASCD. Race to the Top’s requirements linking teacher evaluations to student test scores is largely responsible for the change in the principal’s responsibilities, says Susan Race, […]

Millions of students took Common Core tests this springÁ‘and while it was business as usual in many districts, the spreading opt-out movement left some administrators caught between concerned parents and state requirements. The largest opt-out numbers are from New York, where by mid-April over 177,000 students had refused to take Common Core math and ELA […]

Murky state policies leave administrators in the lurch as more parents opt their children out of Common Core testing, according to a March report from the Education Commission of the States. In many states, education departments remain silent on how districts should handle parent requests for opting students out of PARCC or Smarter Balanced testing, […]