A cadre of canines visits San Francisco Bay Area elementary schools, where struggling readers gain confidence and improve literacy by reading aloud to their furry friends. Readers of the Pack, a program run by the nonprofit 4Paws Learning and Wellness Center, sends certified therapy dogs and handlers to schools, libraries and after-school programs. "Young students […]
While national graduation rates hit an all-time high of 82 percent in 2014, the trend for students with disabilities remained flat at nearly 63 percent, according to the most recent data. In Georgia, Nevada and Mississippi, students with disabilities graduated from high school at half the rate of their non-disabled peers. Students with disabilities who […]
New York University education professor Jonathan Zimmerman's new book looks at the history of sex ed and how schools can use technology and connections with community groups to give students the information they want about healthy behaviors. Last fall, the tiny town of CaÁ±on City, Colorado, was the focus of unwelcome national attention when more […]
Fewer than half of high schools and only one-fifth of middle schools offer comprehensive sex education, according to a December report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). No federal requirements exist for sexual education. Decisions about health curricula are usually made at the district level, and vary widely from state to state […]
Á¢Klint W. Willert Superintendent, Brookings School District, South Dakota Topic: Testing & assessment Trend: Student achievement is measured by more than a single assessment score. The trend of moving toward multiple measures, not just a test score, to determine the quality of a teacher, a school, and district will continue to resound with the voting […]
Statistics instruction has become integral in K12 math curricula thanks to a push from the Common Core and a national demand for students with the skills to fill data-intensive jobs. Districts provide more courses that teach students how to analyze data and integrate statistics across subjects, says Jessica Utts, incoming president of the American Statistical […]
Injecting the arts into science, math, engineering and technology encourages students to think creatively and critically in traditional STEM subjects that, until the recent and widespread adoption of new standards, didn't often encourage students to think outside the box. The rising popularity of blended STEAM programs reflects a nationwide K12 push to develop the next […]
With national attention intensifying on preparing students for college and careers, the nation's estimated 103,000 school counselors in K12 schools are playing a more critical role in preparing students for life after graduation. When Cory Notestine moved to Alamosa, a southern Colorado town founded by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, he saw many barriers […]
The number and variety of courses that can be offered in a small rural district is often limited. That was not acceptable to Erik Belcher, superintendent of Fayette Local School District in northwest Ohio. "With an enrollment of 440 and a small staff, our in-house capacity is narrow," he says. "Yet we still wanted our […]
Despite fewer unaccompanied minors arriving from Central America, many U.S. K12 schools still struggle to adapt to the challenges of educating this diverse set of immigrant students. During the 2014 fiscal year, the Department of Homeland Security reported that 57,496 unaccompanied minors arrived in the United States. In the first eight months of fiscal year […]
