Xenia Community Schools in Ohio faced a crisis in 2012 that forced administrators to slash $10 million from its annual budget. The district signed a five-year contract with a transportation contractor and saved $458,000. Still, such a move can be a challenging—and sometimes controversial—issue for many districts. Xenia Community Schools in Ohio faced a crisis in 2012 that forced administrators […]
While detention remains a staple of student discipline across the country, many school leaders are looking at ways to modify the practice, or even replace it, with approaches that may be more effective in actually reducing bad behavior. Classic detention, where bored students sit silently and unproductively in classrooms after school, has limited value as […]
In most states the first employment contract for a superintendent is a three-year contract. All too often it becomes the last contract as well. Superintendents must realize that job security and longevity are tied to board relationships, and such relationships begin during the interview process. That's when it is most important for the candidate to […]
Urban districts struggling with budget cuts can increasingly look to foundations, nonprofits and private companies for support in driving district success efforts—from enhancing instruction to expanding healthcare to boosting college preparation. "Collaboration across sectors is necessary to solve problems whose root causes are complex and multifaceted, and which need extensive, coordinated resources from many different […]
Blended learning can support a more personalized approach to education. You've no doubt heard of the teaching approach in which students spend part of the day learning online at their own pace and part of the day receiving instruction from a classroom teacher. But there are still a number of misconceptions about what blended learning […]
In what appears to be an average classroom, students from Pullman School District 267 in Washington wear devices that measure their pulse, eye movements and brain waves as a teacher gives a lesson. The classroom is part of the Neurocognitive Science Lab at Washington State University, which opened this year. The lab, funded by the […]
Why settle for one superintendent when you can have three? It's happening at District 49 in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado. Peter Hilts is chief education officer. He considers himself the visionary. Jack Bay is the "practical" chief operations officer who handles transportation, construction activities and IT. And as chief business officer, Brett Ridgway […]
The number of districts and states rushing to stock an emergency antidote that can revive students suffering heroin overdoses shows the severe degree to which the nation's latest drug epidemic has disrupted schools. Students who in the past might have abused marijuana, painkillers and other prescription drugs have turned to heroin, which is now cheaper […]
Harry “Doc” Ervin is the new superintendent for Bakersfield City School District, the largest elementary school district in California, effective July 1. Ervin, who is fluent in Spanish and is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, has served in education for more than two decades as a classroom teacher and principal. He is currently superintendent of […]
The opt-out movement shows no signs of slowing in the midst of this year's spring testing season. An estimated two-thirds to three-quarters of a million students could chose not to take state standardized tests this school year, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing. In 2014-15, more than 640,000 students skipped state […]
