What should happen and what will happen in various areas of education over the next few years elicits different answers from educators and from other experts. For example, one expert on teaching believes districts should be supported with the funding to retain their best teachers. However, this expert believes state policymakers will continue to lower […]
Teaching religion in public schools has been illegal for decades. Teaching about religion, however, is not only permissible, but is gaining traction as a way to promote greater understanding in a world of conflicting dogmas. The National Council for the Social Studies in June published guidelines on how to study religion "in ways that are […]
In just the last few months, several districts and states have eliminated tests and cut assessment time to make room for instruction and reduce stress. The average student takes 112 mandated standardized tests from pre-K through grade 12, according to the Council of the Great City Schools. "It allows superintendents and other policymakers to experiment […]
Pre-K programs for students with special needs vary widely in quality and scope. Some states and districts have long included students with special needs in pre-K classes alongside their more typically developing peers.
Efforts to implement new high school graduation exams in Ohio and New Jersey are faltering, as some educators grow more concerned about the number of students struggling to meet the strict requirements. In Ohio, more than one-third of juniors have yet to earn the scores they need from the seven exams they must pass to […]
If you want to know what motivates students—and teachers and administrators, for that matter—Russell Quaglia says you have to go to the source. Quaglia has spent years collecting information about "school voice"—that is, what these three groups think about their schools. The latest incarnation of this work is the Student Voice Survey. With different versions […]
Atlanta's film industry has in recent years boomed to third place behind Los Angeles and New York City, and incoming studios noted a major skills gap when looking for videographers, scene constructors, prop creators and costume designers. Leaders of Fulton County Schools in Georgia responded. Three years ago, administrators met with studio executives to develop […]
Educators generally agree that we are testing too much. On the heels of No Child Left Behind, we've had 15 years of often misguided national and state accountability policies that have only just been rolled back. Driven by a robust parental "opt out" movement, Congress' latest action puts more authority back with the states. But […]
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 […]
Districts facing rising English language learner populations and teacher shortages have turned to Puerto Rico for quality bilingual teachers who don't need a visa to work on the U.S. mainland. Dallas ISD hired 350 teachers from Puerto Rico for 2015-16, primarily to teach elementary-level bilingual classes. Oklahoma City Public Schools started the academic year with […]
