In light of a looming ESSA mandate to increase transparency around education spending, district leaders have been struggling to calculate per-pupil spending by school in accordance with state and federal requirements. Facing a deadline that most likely will be in spring 2020, there is confusion about whether states will expect school districts to include the […]
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida, made headlines for their articulate arguments for gun control after a February shooting at their school left 17 dead. Their eloquence and activism did not come as a surprise to district leaders: Broward County Public Schools operates a systemwide debate program in more than two dozen […]
When Upton High School in Wyoming switched from a traditional to a self-paced education model last year, Weston County School District Superintendent Summer Stephens' 15-year-old daughter reacted the way many students did. "'I don't know how to make choices,' she kept saying" Stephens recalls. "But now a year later, she has organized her classes and […]
A study from Harris Interactive revealed that 89 percent of teachers think edtech improves student outcomes, but only 14 percent of teachers use digital curricula weekly. A major reason for this is teacher unfamiliarity and discomfort with technology. As a result, many teachers are forced into using technology they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable using. Administrators […]
Pressure to raise achievement test scores has become the driving force behind what is taught and how. Worse, the results from these tests reveal only a fraction of the overall picture of whether students are learning—and whether teachers are effective in their jobs, says Daniel Koretz. As one of the nation's foremost experts on education […]
Breaking down silos is far from a new concept. More than 25 years ago, Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, championed the idea of working across organizational boundaries. Today, we live in a far different world. Our communications technologies have dramatically improved, and we have instant access to massive amounts of information. The promise […]
On July 1, Cheryl Logan begins her tenure as superintendent of Omaha Public Schools, Nebraska's largest school district. Logan will lead 8,000 staff members and serve a student body where nearly 16 percent are ELL and 75 percent qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. Logan also faces a $15.8 million budget shortfall, the result of […]
Editor's Note: Nuts and Bolts delves into the development of an innovative program. District leaders of Piscataway Township Schools five years ago decided they needed to more effectively serve its large—and rapidly growing—population of English language learners. A combination of grants and community outreach allowed the New Jersey district to adopt a "cradle to career" […]
Schools fail to adequately teach the history of American slavery, partly because teachers lack the preparation to cover it, according to a recent study from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Also, students have little basic knowledge about the role slavery played in shaping the nation: Only 8 percent of high school seniors surveyed could identify […]
New California laws make the state first in the nation to adopt human trafficking and sexual abuse prevention education and training for students and teachers. The California Healthy Youth Act, passed in 2016, requires districts to provide comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education, including lessons on sex trafficking. In 2017, the governor amended the […]
