Who’s in charge in Detroit? No one really knows, since voters repealed a Michigan law earlier this month that previously allowed state officials to appoint their own managers to run school districts (circumventing school boards and mayors). (Huffington Post)

When toddlers are “getting into everything,” they’re really acting as scientists do. And parents should foster that behavior. (San Continue Reading »

What the re-election means for K-12 … President Obama will focus on expanding Race to the Top, supporting early education, and better training educators to teach in STEM-related fields, say education thought leaders. (Hechinger Report)

… and higher education. More than once, Obama has made mention of awarding some federal financial aid based on a university’s efforts to curb rising tuitiContinue Reading »

The cost of college for students goes up every time they’re placed in a remedial course or they lose credits because of a transfer, says Teresa Lubbers, Indiana’s Commissioner for Higher Education. “It is abundantly clear that whatever we’re doing in remediation isn’t working,” she said, while testifying at the U.S. House Education and Workforce Development subcommittee hearing. She encouraged Continue Reading »

Budding entrepreneurs. The First-Fourth Key Chain Co. is a business of first- and fourth-grade partners who create and sell key chains, setting their prices based on the cost of their supplies. (h/t ASCD Smart Brief) (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Making higher ed more cost-efficient. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has started a series of roundtable discussions that focus on more accountability anContinue Reading »

Evaluating the effectiveness of PD. Professional development is often rated based on whether teachers enjoyed it, but should it be judged in other ways? Could it be linked to achievement? (The Hechinger Report)

They got this. Officials in San Diego and San Jose are taking it upon themselves to address pension woes, as policymakers in Sacramento stall on the issue. Education Sector’s SaraContinue Reading »

Maintaining the AP standard. Many more high school students (see: 2 million) are taking Advanced Placement exams, which begin today, but many more are also failing. “At many schools, virtually no students pass.” (Associated Press)

When climate change becomes a classroom debate. The Common Core State Standards will require teachers to teach climate change, although some of their students—Continue Reading »

Lessons on tolerance. A look inside two very different Los Angeles classrooms that seek to learn more about the 1992 L.A. riots, even though their outdated textbooks don’t cover such “recent” events. (NPR)

Don’t bandage it; overhaul it. Jamie Merisotis of the Lumina Foundation, like many others, says it’s time to get a handle on ever-increasing tuition costs. But he cautions: it will takContinue Reading »

NCLB waivers lack specifics on ELT. Expanded learning time is often listed as a possible reform strategy among the applications from the 11 first-round states granted waivers last fall to the federal No Child Left Behind law. However, a new report shows that very few, if any, states fully articulate their plans to use the extended time wisely. As Education Sector’s Elena Silva recently pointed Continue Reading »

Chinese infiltration. China sends more students to U.S. universities than any other country, and U.S. colleges are more than happy to have them because they usually come self-funded. Don’t want to read the story? This fun Taiwanese animation basically sums it up. (MSNBC)

‘When in doubt, dance it out.’ Two high-schoolers are maintaining a blog of quotes from their so-calContinue Reading »

A poor attempt at cross-curricular work. Setting: Third-grade math homework assignment. Question: “Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?” Stumped? Try this one: “If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?” (h/t Education Week) (ABC News)

If you are a parent, we recommContinue Reading »