Key Florida senators to push for less testing in 2017

Florida education funding could face tight times in the coming legislative session, with revenue low and competition for resources high. But key state senators say they remain staunch supporters of public schools, and they will work to direct as much money as possible into the system Read more>>

Superintendent Larry Nyland says one big aspect of the problem is the so-called “levy cliff,” under which the district could lose about $30 million. That “cliff” refers to the fact that if the Legislature doesn’t remove it, school districts won’t be able to collect as much money as voters have approved through local levies. Read more>>

Reliance on local dollars has exacerbated the unequal funding for schools—the gap in per-pupil spending has grown wider in Illinois: The highest-spending school district now spends five times more than the bottom district, based on 2015 data. Read more>>

Matt Zalaznick

DA is taking a look at how sex ed is taught in districts across the country. What age does instruction begin, and how is it shaped by state or district policies? What is the most effective curriculum? How are parents and the community involved? To share your district's experiences, please follow the link to connect with us for an interview. Read more>>

Officials say 49 percent of Hartford minority students are in integrated schools this fall, surpassing the target set by a court agreement. But an analysis found progress was made only because the number of non-integrated schools that could be counted as integrated has expanded. Read more>>

Twenty-two states still allow corporal punishment in school: 15 expressly permit it while another seven do not prohibit it. That's according to a recent letter written by U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. to the nation's governors and state school chiefs. Read more>>

Parents of children attending two single-gender middle/high school charter schools have been told that they will close over the December break due to lack of enrollment and funding. Read more>>

Lisa Gonzales and Charles Young

The definition of an effective teacher remains in flux, and the evaluation process has morphed into numerous different assessments and observations. Fortunately, with the advent of new technologies, opportunities abound to broaden the evaluation process and to truly focus on teacher growth. Read more>>

The battle to defeat Governor Nathan Deal’s Amendment 1 school takeover initiative is over, but the political war over what’s best for Georgia’s low performing, high poverty schools rages on. Read more>>

Analysts spent 100 hours looking at annual report cards put out by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Here's what they found: Confusion. Broken links. Complicated tables and spreadsheets, filled with numbers and figures without meaning. Read more>>

Why don't education reformers allow poor parents the same school choice decisions as rich parents? Read more>>

For education expert Bruce Baker, the debate over whether charter schools are seen as good or bad was for a very long time “one-dimensional”—based on whether charters produced marginal increases or decreases in students’ standardized test scores. His new report looks at the fiscal impact of charter school expansion. Read more>>

The funding model that’s educated a generation of Wyoming students while largely keeping the state and its education system out of the courtroom for the past decade has hit a crisis point. State superintendent Jillian Balow said that historic spending levels are untenable. The funding shortfall could hit $1.8 billion by the 2022. Read more>>

The Colorado Department of Education approved the formation of Colorado Digital Board of Cooperative Education Service to act as an online and blended learning expert. Two virtual schools are already using BOCES-vetted best practices including the Fontan Relational Education model, Fuel Education Online Courses and Career Readiness Pathways. Read more>>

In addition to be encased in hard, industrial rubber and damage-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass, the thin HP ProBook x360 11 EE is built with student-friendly innovations for immersive classroom experiences. The Windows 10 Anniversary Update operating system enables educators to get up-and-running quickly and securely. Read more>>

ClassLink signed a new agreement with Istation, a comprehensive e-learning program used by more than 4 million students across the world. This relationship will provide educators and students with secure OneClick access to Istation, enabling faster, easier access. Read more>>