Education Dept. says it will scale back civil rights investigations

The Department of Education is scaling back investigations into civil rights violations at the nation’s public schools and universities, easing off mandates imposed by the Obama administration that the new leadership says have bogged down the agency. Read more>>

The Mississippi Department of Education is firing a testing company, saying scoring errors raise questions about the graduation status of nearly 1,000 students statewide. Read more>>

An arts-focused magnet school in New Haven has struck an agreement for an exchange program described as the first formal partnership between an American public school and Chinese education officials. The agreement will bring top arts students from China to the Educational Center for the Arts and give the school's students opportunities to connect with a range of schools in China, Read more>>

The Texas Commissioner of Education announced a new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness report card that will give parents more information about their children’s performance on the test, progress from the previous school year and the student’s academic and reading growth. Read more>>

The West Virginia Board of Education voted last week to put out for 30-day public comment period proposed policy changes that would remove the state’s existing nutrition standards for school meals and snacks and instead tie the state’s standards to the federal minimum requirements. Read more>>

Sandwiches and other meals provided by the Green Bay School District during the summer months are paid for by the Summer Food Service Program. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the meal program aims to ensure that low-income children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. Read more>>

Rather than wait for reluctant commercial internet providers to expand their reach, the Albemarle County school district is building its own countywide broadband network relying on a little-known public resource—a slice of electromagnetic spectrum the federal government long ago set aside for schools. Read more>>

A willingness to learn for its own sake represents intrinsic motivation, while grades and other accolades represent extrinsic. Research has shown time and again that intrinsic motivation leads to more profound learning. The truth is that the willingness to learn leads to achievement, but so often achievement is the only part that matters to others. Read more>>

Decades of documents reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity reveal a tightly woven network of organizations that works in concert with the oil and gas industry to paint a rosy picture of fossil fuels in America's classrooms. Led by advertising and public-relations strategists, the groups have long plied the tools of their trade on impressionable children and teachers desperate for resources. Read more>>

Tools4ever has developed a connector for the eSchoolData SIS via their GURU interface system. This connector makes it possible to give each user one digital identity. Through this model, user accounts and access can be created, updated and revoked automatically. Read more>>

Genius Plaza launched the Genius Explorer, an English-language program with courses for students ages seven to sixteen. The blended learning program allows students to become protagonists of their own learning using digital and print resources to learn English, and create their own games, e-books, videos and exercises. Read more>>