Study: Schools Face Shortfalls After Stimulus Ends

"Using federal stimulus money to avoid layoffs at schools is going to create a shortfall even more difficult for states and schools to contend with when that money runs out, according to a first-of-its-kind study released Monday."

Studying Young Minds, and How to Teach Them

"For much of the last century, educators and many scientists believed that children could not learn math at all before the age of five, that their brains simply were not ready. But recent research has turned that assumption on its head — that, and a host of other conventional wisdom about geometry, reading, language and self-control in class. The findings, mostly from a branch of research called cognitive neuroscience, are helping to clarify when young brains are best able to grasp fundamental concepts."

48 Dallas ISD Campuses Listed Among Texas' Worst Schools

"Dallas has more public schools rated as failures by the Texas Education Agency than any other district, with 48 campuses among the 499 on this year's list of the state's worst."

Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students

"'Learning styles' research has been vastly oversold as a teaching tool, four psychologists argue in a new paper."

Sharing Class Won't Affect Twins' School Success: Study

"Twins who share a classroom will do just as well academically as twins placed in separate classes, new research shows, helping resolve a dilemma many parents of multiple children face."

Microsoft, Google in Battle to Win Over Students

"With the recession taking a bite out of university endowments and public school budgets alike, the competition between Google and Microsoft to convert the nation's colleges, universities and schools to the companies' free e-mail and other IT services that run on the Internet 'cloud' — outsourcing that can save a large university hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — has only grown more fierce. With the two companies fighting to baptize a future generation of computer users with their products, the stakes for both are significant."

Video Games Take Bigger Role in Education

"As more children grow up playing video games, educators are partnering with game developers and scientists to create new interactive experiences for the classroom."

Math Scores Show Improvement at Schools in Large U.S. Cities

"Public school students in major metropolitan areas are showing improvement on test scores in mathematics compared with scores from previous years, according to a report released Tuesday by the Department of Education."

Obama Puts $3.5B Toward Fixing Failing Schools

"The Obama administration will spend at least $3.5 billion to push local officials around the country to close failing schools and reopen them with new teachers and principals."

Efforts Under Way to Stem U.S. School Dropout Problem

"Companies like AT&T and groups such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Colin Powell's America's Promise Alliance have analyzed the problem and are funding programs believed to reinvigorate public schools."

Charter Schools: Two Studies, Two Conclusions

"This year, two major studies offer contradictory conclusions on a movement that now counts more than 5,000 charter schools nationwide, including dozens in the District and Maryland and a handful in Virginia."

Gates Foundation Gives $335M for Teacher Quality

"Three school districts and a coalition of charter schools have agreed to be test kitchens for some radical ideas for improving teacher quality — from paying new teachers to spend another year practicing before getting their own class to letting student test scores affect teacher pay. In exchange, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is handing them the biggest pile of cash it has spent on education reform in about a decade."

Teacher Shortage Has Given Way to Teacher Glut

"Since last fall, school systems, state education agencies, technical schools and colleges have shed about 125,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, many teachers who had planned to retire or switch jobs are staying on because of the recession, and many people who have been laid off in other fields are trying to carve out second careers as teachers or applying to work as substitutes to make ends meet."

Physical Education Helps Curb Teen Obesity

"U.S. researchers say regular physical education helps curb obesity in teens from low-income homes."

Racial Achievement Gap Still Plagues Schools

"American schools have struggled for decades to close what's called the 'minority achievement gap' — the lower average test scores, grades and college attendance rates among black and Latino students."

Obama Offers States Rewards For Overhauling Schools

"The Obama administration will soon be awarding billions of dollars in education grants to help local school districts raise the bar on student achievement. In order to qualify for the money, schools may have to grade not only students, but also teachers."

Study: Texas' Teacher Merit Pay Program Hasn't Boosted Student Performance

"For the $300 million spent on merit pay for teachers over the last three years, Texas was hoping for a big boost in student achievement. But it didn't happen with the now-defunct program, according to experts hired by the state."

Report: States Set Low Bar for Student Achievement

"Many states declare students to have grade-level mastery of reading and math when they do not, the Education Department reported Thursday. The agency compared state achievement standards to the more challenging standards behind the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress."

More Districts Use Income, Not Race, as Basis for Busing

"Struggling to improve schools that have large populations of poor and minority students and under legal pressure to avoid racial busing, a small but growing group of school districts are integrating schools by income."

Schools' Zero-Tolerance Policies Tested

"Parents and elected officials across the USA are demanding that schools slacken zero-tolerance policies that are meant to reduce violence because strict adherence has lead to some students being forced out of school for bringing items such as eyebrow trimmers and a Cub Scout's camping tool to campus."

Duncan: 'Revolutionary Change' Needed in Teachers Colleges

"Education Secretary Arne Duncan called for 'revolutionary change' in these programs, which prepare at least 80% of the nation's teachers."

School Chooses Kindle

"Library watchers say it could be the first school library, public or private, to forsake ink and paper in favor of e-books. It also represents the first time a school has placed its students' intellectual lives so fully into the hands of a few online publishers and makers of electronic devices. . .Reading David Copperfield in English class? A librarian will gladly download it onto one of 65 Kindle handheld electronic book readers from Amazon.com, which circulate like library books."

Census: U.S. Has 8.9 Million Education Workers

"Education workers made up more than half of the United States' 16.7 million state and local government employees last year, Census figures indicate. New data released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows there were 8.9 million teachers and other education workers on state and local government payrolls in 2008, a 1.4 percent increase in employment from 2007."

Report: Cuts to Youth Sports Contribute to Obesity, Violence

"A new report says that $2 billion in cuts to school-based sports and physical education programs are contributing to a range of problems afflicting the nation's youth, including obesity, violence and academic failure."

Study Finds Growing Work for School Counselors

"Nearly half of public schools have raised the caseloads of high school counselors this year, compared with last year, with the average increase exceeding 53 students, according to a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling."

Report: Federal Aid Created or Saved 250000 Education Jobs

"Federal economic recovery aid has created or saved 250,000 education jobs, the Obama administration announced Monday, although states and school systems continue to face enormous fiscal pressures."

Hawaii Creates Nation's Shortest School Year, Cites Budget Cuts

Hawaii "has created the nation's shortest school year under a new union contract that closes schools on most Fridays for the remainder of the academic calendar."