Students have more time for swings, monkey bars and outdoor games at four Texas elementary schools that have adopted a Finnish model structured around four short recess periods each day. Debbie Rhea, associate dean of research and health sciences at Texas Christian University, created the college’s Let’s Inspire Innovation ‘N Kids (LiiNK) program in 2013 […]
Tucked among the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia is a high-poverty school district that looks a lot like the United Nations. It was something Harrisonburg City Public Schools Superintendent Scott Kizner was most proud of. “These refugee students feel like a part of the social fabric,” Kizner says. “And every day all students at this district […]
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 […]
Anonymous apps popular among high school students continue to create problems for administrators looking to root out cyberbullying and threats of violence. In 2014, Yik Yak drew concern over its ability to connect users within a 10-mile radius to an anonymous message board. In 2015, the app After School grew rapidly, allowing more than 2 […]
Alexandria Public Schools leaders re-envisioned classrooms a few years ago when planning a new high school at their central Minnesota district. The educators were driven, in part, by students who refused to enroll in industry skills courses taught typically in classrooms tucked away in dark basements. District leaders also hoped to change the stereotype that […]
The bad news seems to be everywhere. The School District of Philadelphia had 190 teaching vacancies in October. From New York to California, enrollment in teacher-preparation programs has fallen by double-digit percentages. The president of Nevada’s Board of Education called her state’s teacher shortage “horrific” according to published reports, warning that, if conditions don’t improve, […]
Edward Gonzalez says teachers??and classified employees??can make wise decisions about the classroom and technical training they receive. Madera USD sits in the center of California in the San Joaquin Valley, which grows much of the nation’s nuts, vegetables and fruit. Gonzalez, its superintendent, gave each of his roughly 1,100 teachers $500 to spend as they […]
Former Washington Post reporter Dale Russakoff’s new book looks at what went wrong with Newark’s ‘Hemisphere of Hope’ and massive grant from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg that supported the initiative. She says most funds went to hiring consultants, expanding charter schools, closing low-performing schools and subsequently firing teachers. In 2010, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Newark Mayor Cory […]
Teaching research skills once meant asking students to turn stacks of library books into essays on the poetry of Emily Dickinson or the causes of the Civil War. But today, it’s just as likely to mean asking second-graders to design a museum exhibit on the physics of flight, encouraging a 10th-grader to make the case […]
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 […]
