Brain abnormalities linked to head impacts after one football season

Based on a new study, specialized MRI scans performed on high school football players—after just one season—revealed changes in brain tissue which correlated with exposure to head impacts. Read more>>

It was a banner year for school referendums across Indiana, with all but three of the 20 ballot questions in this year’s primary and general elections turning out successfully for the districts. In November, voters said yes to raising taxes or keeping in place tax hikes to support day-to-day operations and construction projects in nine of 10 cases. Read more>>

Kentucky's two-decade resistance to charter schools is likely to end with Republicans set to dominate state politics beginning in January. Now, the battle lines are being drawn to decide who will control the schools, how they'll be funded and how traditional public schools are affected. Read more>>

Ray Bendici

This year, District Administration’s Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products features selections from more than 1,500 nominations that range from cutting-edge student information systems and cloud-based security to innovative gamification software and state-of-the-art classroom projectors. Read more>>

The state auditor released a report showing a wide-ranging impact from the open enrollment policy to attract students from outside school boundaries with some Ohio school districts having a $1 million gain and others a $1 million loss during fiscal year 2015. Read more>>

As part of its struggle to regain fiscal health, the pension fund for public school teachers in Chicago has slapped at least $1.8 million in fines on several city charter schools for late payments that in some cases date back years. Read more>>

In the past four years, Mississippi’s statehouse has seen the passage of major education reforms. With the Legislature’s hiring of a new firm to propose changes to the oft-debated, twice fully funded Mississippi Adequate Education Program, rewriting the state education formula could be on tap for the approaching legislative session. Read more>>

When the majority of teachers are women, this particular glass ceiling becomes suspect. School districts should re-evaluate how they approach filling the top job. Do they mentor women employees interested in leadership roles? Do they harbor unrealized bias? The goal is not to appoint more female superintendents; it is to ensure we are not missing out on what they could bring to the job. Read more>>

One of the trickiest things about helping students develop a deep conceptual understanding of a topic like fractions is that each student is coming into the learning experience not only with different levels of math knowledge, but also with different levels of working memory, executive functioning skills, ability to pay attention, and all the other non-content skills related to learning. Read more>>

The proposed legislation before the Michigan Senate aims to enter all new public school employees into a defined contribution system. While the intent of this proposal may be to address the $26.7 billion shortfall in the Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System, the plan would actually result in an additional $13.6 billion expense over 30 years. Read more>>

The NEW MX-1 Visual Presenter from ELMO USA Corp. is equipped with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 which allows for full HD video at up to 60 fps to experience movement with no delay under the camera. Read more>>

The new cybersecurity training courses—covering browser and password security basics, email and messaging safety, and malware protection—are available through Scenario Learning, LLC's SafeSchools Training, SafeColleges Training and SafePersonnel Training Systems. Read more>>

The ProColor Series 1 interactive flat panel displays, available in a range of sizes, offer up to ten single-point touch users or five dual-touch and gestures users, access to applications in Google Classroom, built-in stereo speakers and LED backlighting. The displays also include MimioStudio classroom software to easily create and deliver engaging lessons. Read more>>

The city's Mayor Muriel E. Bowser chose to nominate an outsider—Antwan Wilson, the superintendent of schools in Oakland, Calif.—signaling her desire for a new approach to some of the city’s most intransigent problems, including the persistent achievement gap between children living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods and those in the most affluent. Read more>>

After 36 years with the Concrete School District, Superintendent Barb Hawkings is retiring. Hawkings, a Concrete High School graduate, has served the district in multiple roles, including para-educator, coach, teacher, principal and superintendent. Read more>>

The Marietta Board of Education tapped Grant Rivera as the school district’s 13th superintendent. Rivera, the Cobb School District’s chief of staff, will succeed retiring Superintendent Emily Lembeck. Read more>>