Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow, December 1, at 2:00pm EST (1:00pm CST, 12:00pm MST, 11:00am PST) for an NSBA-hosted webcast to hear national experts and local policymakers discuss policy strategies to address childhood obesity. This event is free of charge, but registration is required. Please register by clicking [...]
BoardBuzz stumbled across Engineer Your Life this morning. This website acts as a guide to engineering careers for high school girls. In 2004, WGBH Educational Foundation and the National Academy of Engineering formed a coalition to encourage girls to enroll in engineering programs. The fact that women are underrepresented in fields of science and [...]
BoardBuzz recently wrote about whether engineering should have a place in the school curriculum. And, of course, we think it should. But as the National Academy of Engineering says, engineering is often the missing letter in STEM education. So BoardBuzz was pleasantly surprised to learn that Derby Public Schools [...]
In the news this week, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded several districts and entities grants–a total of $335 million–to explore ways to make teaching more effective. Three participants in NSBA’s Council of Urban School Boards—Pittsburgh, Memphis, Tenn., and Hillsborough County, Fla., received grants to experiment with [...]
BoardBuzz came across this Washington Post item asking for readers to help select the best education blogs of 2009. As the Post’s Jay Mathews writes:
I have put out a best education blogs list the last two years, but I wasn’t a blogger myself then, and really didn’t know what [...]
BoardBuzz readers have seen a lot of changes in tobacco use prevention this year — the Food and Drug Administration was finally granted oversight of the tobacco industry, and a report released in October from the Institute of Medicine underscored the link between exposure to secondhand [...]
When the Department of Education released the final application for more than $4 billion in Race to the Top Funds earlier this month, ”innovation” became the leading buzzword in education. To receive a share of these funds, states need to demonstrate innovative reforms that have raised student performance and [...]
As part of their “Kid Reporter” segment on NBC’s Today Show, students from around the country applied to be the next reporter on the popular morning show. For over a month, students between the ages of 8 and 12 who were chosen as finalists competed for the coveted spot as [...]
OK, so there was some serious news this week. The Obama administration released guidelines for the Race to the Top funding that weren’t as prescriptive as many groups (including NSBA) had feared. The Associated Press reports that the teacher shortage of many years has now officially turned into [...]
You know that healthy kids learn better. And you want to make sure that you give students in your district a chance to eat healthy foods and stay active so they can focus in the classroom, achieve academically, and reach their full potential. But what strategies can you, as a [...]
The U.S. Department of Education released the final requirements for applications on the Race to the Top funds. The 775-page document will be officially published in the Federal Register next Wednesday. For now, you can access it on ED’s website.
Although RTTT funds do not go directly to school districts, Secretary [...]
What do school boards do? According to Julia Bernath, board vice president of Fulton County Schools, GA, and President of the Georgia School Boards Association, they set the vision for a school district. Hear Julia’s thoughts on governance and how NCLB has impacted student achievement in her district in [...]
Before educational legend Gerald Bracey passed away last month, he had almost completed his annual “Bracey Report,” which has looked at public education in America annually for 18 years. Thanks to his wife and staff, the final report came out today, with some interesting comments (as usual) and observations on [...]
Bruised by the gubernatorial losses in New Jersey and Virginia, and embattled by the ongoing health care reform debate, President Obama turned his attentions to education reform this week. On Wednesday the POTUS highlighted reforms in 10 states—most notably, moves to allow student data to be tied to teacher [...]
The H1N1 virus is spreading more and more each day, and the seasonal flu may show up at any moment; yet we’re all facing the dilemma of not knowing where and how to go to get vaccinated since there is currently a shortage of both the H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines. [...]
USA Today reports that Clarksville-Montgomery County school district in Tennessee decided to go mostly paperless with student report cards. The district now makes grades available to parents with secure online accounts. The same system, called Power School, is used by parents to access progress reports, attendance, and student lunch accounts.
NSBA’s own Ann [...]
We hear a lot about 21st century skills these days, but what does it really mean? Will teaching our kids critical thinking skills really help them to function better in the “real world?” NYU Education professor and former assistant secretary of education Diane Ravitch believes that without the knowledge behind [...]
AOL.com reports today that two high school sophomores in Indiana have sued their school for punishing them for “posting sexually suggestive photos on MySpace during their summer vacation.” The ACLU (no surprise here) is representing the girls and argues that the school violated the girls’ free speech rights when [...]
According to a recent Intel Corporation survey, parents are more comfortable talking about drug abuse than math and science with their children. Despite a perceived importance of math and science for success, and an overwhelming willingness to be involved, the survey results reveal that parents, particularly those of teenagers, often find [...]
Katherine Shek, Barbara Moody, Kevin Scott, Joetta Sack, Daniela Espinosa, Andrew Paulson
