Honors students help seniors master tech
Elaina Loveland

The superintendent of Cohoes City School District in New York received a phone call from a local senior center in fall 2016 inquiring if any of her high school students could help senior citizens learn technology. Since January 2017, junior and senior honors student have spent about an hour each week helping seniors set up laptops, operate smartphones, archive digital photos and organize email inboxes. Read more>>

Sponsored by AdvancED

Whether schools in America and around the world are urban or rural, large or small, homogeneous or diverse, they face a myriad of challenges. So simply assigning the same, cookie-cutter education solution is not only ineffective, it is a miscarriage of justice. Read more>>

For families with special needs, vouchers bring choices, not guarantees
NPR

Even though Florida has the most choices of any state for students with special needs, some families still can't find a good fit. Outside of public and charter schools, there is no right to FAPE. This includes things like due process, the right to an evaluation, and having an individualized education plan followed. And free therapies and other services, sometimes funded by Medicaid, that private schools may charge extra for. Read more>>

Sponsored by Penguin Random House

At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, The Fire Next Time is an intensely personal and provocative book. Request a complimentary examination copy. Read more>>

How teachers can learn from one another
KQED

Informal gatherings are helping teachers find the professional development and support they need outside of traditional settings. Generally speaking, unconferences offer as much expertise as a more conventional conference, but they’re cost-free, with no salespeople, and the participants propose the topics on the spot and drive the conversations. Read more>>

Sponsored by Kronos Incorporated

Complete, accurate and accessible project data is critical for public sector entities to attract and sustain essential grant funding. Learn how an online workforce management system enables K12 districts to manage grant-related labor data while eliminating the time and inefficiencies of manual tracking processes. Read more>>

Don't ban for-profit charters
U.S. News & World Report

Any outright ban on for-profit charter schools would not only clean up bad actors; it would also take away an option with really good charter schools that is working for some families. And that's why this debate is not as simple or straightforward as many advocates make it out to be. Read more>>

Medicaid cuts would hit services in, outside classroom
The Detroit News

For school districts still getting their financial footing after the Great Recession, the Medicaid changes being advanced as part of the health care overhaul are sounding familiar alarms. Administrators say any reduction in the estimated $4 billion schools receive in annual Medicaid reimbursements would be hard to absorb after years of reduced state funding and a weakened tax base. Read more>>
Published by District Administration