This week’s Education News Round-Up discusses important changes in the New York City Public school system, the current state of STEM education and a very special opportunity given to Chicago public school students.
A Special Lecture for Chicago High School Students
This Monday, the students of Chicago’s Frederick Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center attended a guest lecture by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union. With t…
Education is currently at a crossroads as traditional methods and tools are changing as a result of advances in technology and learning theory. We are beginning to see some schools across the country take the lead in merging sound pedagogy with the effective integration of technology. These schools and educators, whether they realize it or not, are not only enhancing the teaching and learning process, but they are also providing their learners with essential skill sets pivotal for success in today’s society. These skill sets include critical thinking/problem solving, media literacy, collaboration, creativity, technological proficiency and global awareness. The ultimate result with this shift has been increases in engagement as well as a sense of relevancy and meaning amongst learners, all of which are foundations for improving achievement.
Even as we are seeing more schools and educators transform the way they teach and learn with technology, many more are not. Technol…
April has been a busy month for education reform, and this week’s news round-up covers recent legislation aiming to make important changes.
The 2012 Race to the Top Fund Invests in Early Education Reform
The Race to the Top Fund is an initiative by the Obama Administration that allocated over $4 billion in grants to education reform and invites states to apply for funding to create their own education improvement plans. On Apr…
The Westerville South High School math department has been creating a stir on the Internet with their autotuned math raps. Last year, math teacher Tracey Kearnes created a parody to Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" with the help of her students from Westerville South High School in Westerville, OH which has gotten over 200,000 views. The parody's revised lyrics highlight the basic algebraic principles behind exponents and how to calculate them. The video features visuals that reinforce these rul…
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education, also known as STEM education, affects all aspects of society, but during the last two decades, there has been an overall decline STEM interest among American students. STEM is an important part of an advanced economy, and it is essential that today’s students become tomorrow’s leaders in STEM.
Each state has responded to this STEM crisis in their own way. New York has enacted several initiatives to improve the quality of STEM education in the state and to further engage students in an attempt to inspire the…
The next advancement in the grading of standardized tests is already underway with a new initiative to automate the assessment of essays. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, an organization that offers grants for efforts in education, environmentalism and global development, is planning to award $100,000 to the designers of a software that will accurately and automatically grade student essays for state tests.
This competition will be an effort to streamline the scoring of standardized tests by reducing the costs and mini…
