The U.S. public school system's focus on struggling students leaves high-achieversÁ'especially minorities, the economically disadvantaged and English-language learners Á'without a challenging enough education, experts say. A lack of federal funding and patchwork policies across states often leave decisions on identifying and serving gifted students to district administrators. An estimated 3 million to 5 million academically […]
It's crucial for today's students to develop foundational technology skills that can be applied to their core subject learning. To accomplish this goal, districts need to coordinate the efforts of technology and academic staff to embed digital learning into the curriculum. In this web seminar, originally broadcast on March 10, 2015, a district technology leader […]
Big data and analytics now offer districts some clues about which teacher candidates will be the most effective in the classroom. These programs are designed to accurately gauge the impact teacher candidates will have on student test scores. Analytics companies such as TeacherMatch and Hanover Research are working with hundreds of districts nationwide to aid […]
A cadre of students trained in IT support are providing teachers with Johnny-on-the-spot resources and bolstering the responsiveness of districts' lean tech staffs for routine requests. The eager students provide districts with an inexpensive and much-needed tech resource; and the students gain experience, new skills, and confidence, districts say. On any given day, teachers are […]
Arizona and North Dakota in January became the first two states requiring high school graduates to take a U.S. citizenship exam. Legislators in 14 others states recently introduced similar initiatives in a what's been labeled as an effort to better prepare students to participate in a democratic society. Questions are drawn from the same test […]
When the projectors throughout the Phoenix Union High School District were found to be outdated and inefficient in 2013, administrators knew they were due for an upgrade. "During a larger initiative to increase student engagement across the district, I noticed that the projectors we had were so old and were so dim that it was […]
District leaders across the country are broadening and personalizing their approaches to attendance because the old way of sending truants and their families to court often fails to bring students back to school. “It’s important to get to the root of why students aren’t coming to school and be able to align the solution with […]
At the 27,000-student Richland School District Two in South Carolina, goals and strategies focus on fostering learning, character, community and joy. To meet those objectives, a 1-to-1 environment was implemented for students in grades 3 through 12. “When we purchased the devices in 2012, we brought in an outcomes team from the University of South […]
