The ever-increasing pace and variety of technological developments continues to be a challenge for K12 assistive technology products. As education content becomes available in more digital forms—videos, software programs and apps—adapting platforms for student use is critical to help those with special needs access information as easily as do their classmates. In addition, with more […]
As in years past, this new year will bring all sorts of new technology to schools. The question for educators is: To what degree do these technologies enhance education? “Figuring out which tech belongs in education is just the start” says Kelly J. Calhoun, research director at Gartner Research, a Connecticut-based market analysis firm. “The […]
High-quality instruction in science, math, engineering and technology requires both teaching expertise and content knowledge. Yet, at the elementary school level, many teachers haven’t had specialized education or training in science. At the secondary level, studies show that about 33 percent of middle school math and science teachers and 30 percent of high school chemistry […]
K12 educators increasingly embrace life skills curricula that promote social-emotional learning, mindfulness, problem-solving and other soft skills. Many districts no longer view such programs as “nice to have” but as essential components of overall instruction. The growing emphasis on life skills is making an impact. In schools where students demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional […]
Why is there such an emphasis on personalized learning today for K12? Educators want to work with students the way they learn best, and we know that one-on-one or small-group instruction is effective. But for the sake of efficiency, schools often employ the “factory” model to teach large numbers of students in a classroom, assuming […]
Five years ago, Boston Public School’s John Eliot School in the city’s North End neighborhood was declared an innovation school. What that meant for principal Traci Walker-Griffith was more autonomy in choosing the elementary school’s curriculum for her 570 students. One of the first curricular changes she made was bringing in Everyday Mathematics. School population […]
Pat Skorkowsky, superintendent of Clark County School District in Nevada, has expanded a franchise principal concept in which successful principals take over management of multiple schools, replicating the same educational approach in each. Following a successful pilot last year with two principals, the initiative involves training a core of administrative leaders who can continue to […]
Craig Jones discovered the difficulty of providing personalized learning to a large class when he taught science at a Los Angeles USD middle school. With 10 lab stations set up across the classroom—each with its own objectives—monitoring each students’ learning was virtually impossible. Jones sought to solve the problem. After leaving the district, he helped […]
Alaska recently graduated its first class of Russian dual-language students who began the program in kindergarten. That’s just one example of the growing diversity of language-immersion programs in U.S. schools. While Spanish remains a constant, there is an increased demand nationally for dual-language programs in Portuguese, German, French and Mandarin, says Pete Swanson, president of […]
