High school graduation rates have hit an all-time high. Virtual credit recovery, offered in 90 percent of U.S. public high schools, have helped fuel that increase, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Nevertheless, half a million high school students still drop out each year, and questions loom about whether some students who recover lost […]
The 2018 Kahoot! EdTrends Report for Educators report details various trends in edtech. It also highlights technologies and tools that teachers are using in the classroom as well as challenges and opportunities for educators. Link to main story: Digital school maps Among the report's various findings, 75 percent of participants said they are seeing data-driven […]
In 2015, Raytown High School in Missouri created a much-needed class for its student leadership organization, Jay Crew, but the course still required a concrete curriculum. So the school adopted the Lead2Feed initiative, a free program of leadership lessons that students explore through activism in local or global communities in need. For their first project, […]
Books represent just a part of the early literacy equation. Districts and community organizations now provide transportation, meals, summer lessons and family activities to prepare children for kindergarten reading. "The biggest challenge for closing the literacy gap is to address its cause: an opportunity gap" says Nell Duke, professor of literacy, language and culture at […]
Statewide teacher strikes and walkouts in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado and Kentucky left students out of school for days while superintendents scrambled to communicate with parents, to make up missed class time and to reschedule state tests. In West Virginia, all schools in the state's 55 districts were closed for nine days in February […]
How do you ensure students who excel at math remain engaged? Heidi Williams intended to solve that challenge by starting an after-school coding club while she was a gifted-and-talented teacher at Bayside Middle School near Milwaukee. Instead of using pen and paper, her students created an interactive children's book on Scratch, the MIT Media Lab […]
A frustrated student cries out "I can't do it." A teacher redirects: "You can't do it, yet." This may be the simplest way to define "growth mindset" the increasingly popular learning approach in which K12 leaders affirm their students'—and their staff members'—lifelong capacity to boost intelligence. "An individual with a fixed mindset has a fear […]
Guy Barmoha, director of the secondary learning department for Broward County Public Schools in Florida, wanted to challenge high-achieving, middle school mathematics students beyond what acceleration can offer. Elements of Mathematics: Foundations, a curriculum by the Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, provided the solution. EMF is an online self-study curriculum that teaches pre-algebra through […]
What are the key components of a successful STEAM education initiative? Every learner should have the opportunity to be inspired by STEAM learning. Not just physics, chemistry and biology, but also computer science. I go into schools sometimes, and I'll hold up a phone and say, "An alien didn't make this, people like you and […]
When Wicomico County Public Schools implemented common core state standards six years ago, complaints from parents rolled in regarding challenging homework assignments. "Parents did not understand so they couldn't help their children" explains Julie Dill, elementary math supervisor for the 15,000-student district on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Then came Everyday Mathematics 4, a comprehensive […]
