Marijuana legalization and its impact on schools
Jessica Terrell

Superintendents in states that passed referendums legalizing marijuana in November are pressing for more clear legal guidance on how to best address issues like drug possession. They also say more research is needed on the possible impacts of marijuana legalization on K12 academic achievement. Read more>>

Sponsored by Ready

A recent study of 1.1 million students shows that Ready students outperform their peers on state assessments. Schools using Ready had significantly higher percentages of students achieving proficiency on the 2014 Common Core-based state assessment than schools that did not use the program. Read more>>

The learning disability that must not be named
NPR

Schools are required to provide special services to help students with dyslexia. But many schools don't have the resources to provide these expensive accommodations. That has led some parents and advocates to worry that some schools are making a careful calculation: If they don't acknowledge the issue—or don't use the word "dyslexia"—then they are not obligated to provide services. Read more>>

Sponsored by itslearning

Today’s districts are being asked to do a lot more with much fewer resources. An enterprise-level LMS facilitates districtwide efficiency while also helping schools to save money, manage standards-based curriculum, implement modern pedagogical methods, and engage students in 21st-century learning. Read more>>

Banning books is a slippery slope
Martinsville Bulletin

Books such as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and "To Kill a Mockingbird" are important, and the lessons they teach are—tragically—still desperately needed today. At the same time, these books do contain offensive language, because they are true to the eras when they were written. How do we reconcile the important message and the troubling language? Read more>>

Reading comprehension expands with liberal arts curriculum
The Seattle Times

In reality, reading is more dependent upon background knowledge than anything else. Having a broad background in social studies, science and the arts brings meaning to passages and helps make sense of the world. Schools need to make time to study ancient civilizations, U.S. history, modern world government, languages, our natural world and the full range of the arts. Read more>>

What you don’t see
The Fairfield Mirror

While attempts are made to crackdown on the influx of mass shootings that have occurred over the past year, many still concur with the notion that gun violence is impossible to predict. But there is a connected commonplace issue that our society does not talk enough about: adolescent mental illness. If our society continues to ignore mental illness, we will be unable to prevent these shootings. Read more>>

Why are we still teaching cursive in schools?
Huffington Post

In the technology era where computers in schools and homes are the new normal, why are we still teaching children to write cursive? Should it be left behind to generations past, or should we keep teaching it in schools even though it does not get used in practical life? Read more>>
Published by District Administration