| Top News A later start to the school day could pump money into Illinois' economy Chicago Tribune If school districts moved starting times to 8:30 a.m. so could sleep longer, Illinois' economy would gain $1 billion within five years, according to a study. The state would benefit from fewer car crashes involving sleep-deprived adolescents, and from students performing better in school and earning more in their careers, the study said. Read more>> Top News Voters will have a say in school-voucher expansion, but court fight looms The Republic A coalition of parents and public-education advocates gathered enough signatures to let voters decide whether Arizona moves forward with or rejects a massive expansion of the state's school-voucher program. Read more>> Top News School year opens in Maryland with enrollment surge in one county The Washington Post More than 160,000 students headed back to school in Montgomery County, the state’s largest school system, as the suburban district outside Washington projected another year of record enrollment and deepened its focus on foreign languages and career education. Read more>> Top News To attract more school bus drivers, N.C. county is offering higher pay The News & Observer The Wake County school board voted to use $2.2 million in state money to give its school bus drivers pay raises in an effort to reduce a driver shortage that has led to service changes in recent years which have made it more challenging for the more than 70,000 bus riders. Read more>> Top News Maine parents still in the dark about criminal checks on school employees Portland Press Herald Delays in establishing an online database mean Maine parents are starting another school year without a way to find out whether every employee in their child’s school has passed a criminal background check. The state is overhauling the teacher certification process, moving from an archaic paper-based system to an online system that will be open to the public. Read more>> Top News Utah high school fines students for being late WGN Students at Stansbury High School in Utah will receive a warning if they are consistently late to class. After the warning, the student will receive a small fine, which goes up if the tardiness continues. School administrators said the money collected from the fines will go towards a fund for student incentives. Read more>> From DA Magazine Asheville City Schools constructs new Asheville Middle School Ray Bendici The new state-of-the-art Asheville Middle School accommodates nearly 800 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, with room to grow. Read more>> Opinion & Analysis Ending 'one size fits all' programs for social-emotional learning The Hechinger Report Inequity is a deeply rooted, socio-cultural issue with many causes. Given that, there’s not going to be one solution, and the process of achieving equitable education opportunities for all youth is going to be just that: a process. Although-social emotional learning alone won’t “fix” all of these problems, it does provide a place to start. Read more>> Opinion & Analysis How much risk are we willing to expose our youths to in football The Grand Island Independent How do we respond in the face of uncertainty about long-term brain damage? And how much risk are we willing to expose our youths to, given what we know and don’t know? If we wait for an absolutely firm answer before taking action, we may well be exposing another generation of young football athletes to a harm that is irreversible. Read more>> Opinion & Analysis Kids and disasters: How to help them recover The Conversation Changes in academic performance, how often they’re seeing friends, or less enjoyment of favorite activities can all be warning signs that children may be struggling after a disaster. Stressors such as parents changing jobs or someone in the family becoming ill tend to increase after disasters. Adults should teach children coping skills like identifying feelings and problem-solving. Read more>> Industry News Students look at Navy STEM in action America’s Navy/Discovery Education America’s Navy and Discovery Education have joined forces to expand access for high school students interested in cutting-edge, real-world applications of STEM with a virtual field trip, Navy’s Elite STEM Workforce: Aboard the USS Nimitz. Read more>> Industry News Benchmark launches all-digital writer's world Benchmark Education Company Benchmark Writer's Universe is a self-paced digital writing workshop that encourages students in grades 2–8 to work together and with their teacher to sharpen their writing skills. The program covers six genres of writing projects, including opinion, narrative and informational text. Read more>> Industry News New workflow guidance and streamlining features make using LMS easier itslearning itslearning is updating the user interface and onboarding processes of its learning management system (LMS). In addition to new on-screen guidance for students and educators, teachers will be better able to manage their content and resources regardless of whether the material is stored within or outside of the LMS. Read more>> View more news at District Administration's PR Portal | 