Obama to Seek up to $4 Billion in New Education Spending

"As he prepares to ask Congress for billions of dollars in new spending for education, Obama said the nation's students need to be inspired to succeed in math and science, and that failing schools need to be turned around."

Study Tries To Track Louisiana Teachers' Success

"How do you train the best teachers? Leaders at the nation's teacher education programs don't know. The state of Louisiana has decided to figure this out, and the effort is attracting national attention — and causing some local discomfort."

Girls May Learn Math Anxiety From Female Teachers

"Math anxiety in girls can be catching – they get it from their female teachers. That’s according to a study in today’s edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science."

Foreign Languages Fade in Class — Except Chinese

"Thousands of public schools stopped teaching foreign languages in the last decade, according to a government-financed survey — dismal news for a nation that needs more linguists to conduct its global business and diplomacy. But another contrary trend has educators and policy makers abuzz: a rush by schools in all parts of America to offer instruction in Chinese."

Quality Counts 2010 Press Release

"The nation received a C when graded across the six distinct areas of policy and performance tracked by Quality Counts, the most comprehensive ongoing assessment of the state of American education. Maryland topped the nation with a B-plus overall, followed closely by Massachusetts and New York, both of which earned a B. The majority of states received grades of C or lower."

California Law Requires Digital Textbooks by 2020

"While it seems increasingly likely that e-books will one day become the standard in education, California has passed a law to to guarantee it -- and to set a deadline."

Recession Fuels Shift From Private to Public Schools

"Enrollment figures for the current school year won't be available until next year, but the U.S. Department of Education's latest estimate finds that from 2006 to 2009, public school enrollment grew by nearly a half-million students, or about 1%, while private school enrollment dropped by about 146,000, or 2.5%".

Study: Youth Now Have More Mental Health Issues

"A new study has found that five times as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues than youth of the same age who were studied in the Great Depression era."

Teacher Humor

It was the kindergarten teacher's birthday and the students decided that they would each buy their teacher a gift.

The first student, whose parents own a florist shop, gave her a present. She held it and said, "I guess that it is flowers."

"How did you guess?" asked the little boy. She laughed and thanked him.

The second student, whose parents own a candy store, gave her a present. She held it and said, "I guess that is some candy."

"How did you guess?" asked the little boy. She again laughed and thanked him also.

The third student, whose parents own a bottle shop, gave her a box which was leaking. The teacher touched the liquid with her finger and tasted it. "Mmmmm is it wine?" she asked.

"No," said the little girl. So she tasted it again. "Is it champagne?" she asked.

"Noooooooo," replied the little girl, "It's a puppy!"

The Top 10 Ed-Tech Stories of 2009

"eSchool News counts down the ten most significant developments in education technology during the past year."

Obsolete Learning Technologies

"From the iPhone to the Garmin, advancements and gadgets introduced this decade changed the whole world. . . .In the process, a few things that once were considered social mainstays are now either obsolete or well on their way."

Can Inner-City Charter School Succeed? Students say 'YES'

"More than 90% of YES Prep students are first-generation college-bound; 80% come from low-income families and 96% are Hispanic or African-American. Most students enter the charter school at least one grade level behind in math and English."