Gauging the danger schools face
Jennifer Fink

LAUSD and the New York City Department of Education both received electronic bomb threats on December 15, 2015. LAUSD called off school. New York students remained in class. Some threats require evacuation, but careful analysis can keep kids safe without disrupting K12 instruction. Which district made the right call? Read more>>

Sponsored by Penguin Random House

At this year's ALA Midwinter Meeting, Manuel Gonzales’s The Regional Office is Under Attack!, Holly Jennings’s Arena, Ryan North’s Romeo and/or Juliet, and Matt Simon’s The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar were four of the 10 titles awarded a 2017 Alex Award. Read more>>

Remove gag from student journalists
The Seattle Times

High school student journalists, if they’re doing their work well, enjoy all the responsibilities and opportunities of professional reporters—except their work can be censored by school administrators in Washington state. The Washington Legislature should join 10 other states this year that rolled back that power and pass the editing pen back to student journalists. Read more>>

Sponsored by Middlebury Interactive Languages

Connecticut’s Hartford Public Schools has the largest percentage of English language learners in the state, with close to 20 percent of its students learning English as a second language. To develop a solution that would meet the needs of their ELLs, district leaders turned to Middlebury Interactive Languages. Read more>>

Who should teach our kids the difference between real and fake news?
Penn Live

In a post truth era where emotional appeals and unsubstantiated claims sway popular opinions over factual information, who teaches our K12 students how to interpret the multitude of media messages that daily bombard them? How do students learn to separate the valuable from the worthless to make good decisions and form valid opinions? Read more>>

Sponsored by itslearning

By calculating the return on investment (ROI) for a technology implementation, districts can determine if their investment will pay off. While there are some “soft” returns from a new, end-to-end learning management system, such as better student engagement, there are also quantitative measures districts can use to determine a solid ROI. Read more>>

How segregated schools built segregated cities
CityLab

We’ve gotten used to explaining the segregation we see in our schools by pointing to the segregation we see in our neighborhoods. It seems pretty simple: Kids who don’t live in the same place aren’t likely to go to the same school. But that explanation has it backwards. Read more>>

Raising the grade on teacher screenings
South Bend Tribune

Of all the legislation Indiana lawmakers are expected to address this year, expanding background checks on school employees should be near the top of the list. In the past, there has been weak mandatory reporting of teacher misconduct and very little information available online about teacher disciplinary actions and teachers’ misconduct not being shared with other states. Read more>>
Published by District Administration