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Virginia district launches summer kindergarten readiness initiative

eSchool News

Under this initiative, children who will be starting kindergarten in fall 2016 will receive a free summer subscription to Smarty Ants®, an effective, research-based literacy program designed specifically for young learners. Smarty Ants is not the only Achieve3000 solution currently implemented at Virginia Beach.

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How a dropout factory raised its graduation rate from 53 percent to 75 percent in three years

The Hechinger Report

According to data provided by district officials, in spring 2016 (the most recent year available), Webster graduated 75 percent of its seniors, a 22-point increase in just three years. The results have been impressive. Related: Rural schools join forces to make college the rule rather than the exception.

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Not enough students have mentors, and we must change that

The Hechinger Report

Fifth graders Davonayshia Hollis, left, and Denaya Rippey, review a group entrepreneurial project for a parent-approved music device, developed in a mentorship program, Thursday May 19, 2016, at Brooklyn’s P.S. 307 in New York.

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Charters felt pressured to promise miraculous progress — but none met the targets

The Hechinger Report

While seven of those 27 schools were able to reach 70 percent student proficiency in either English or math in 2016, none had attained 80 percent. At Arise, the school whose name begins with Achievement, not even 40 percent of students were proficient in 2016, based on composite scores for English and math.

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2017’s Ho-Hum, Unremarkable, But Too-Often Ignored Lessons in Education Technology

Edsurge

There’s a difference between the promises of “personalized learning” and the policies that school leaders enact—whether through changing academic standards, testing tools, teacher accountability and technology implementation—to make them a reality.

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In one state, students are ditching classrooms for jobs

The Hechinger Report

For the past four years, Vermont has prioritized broadening work-based education in secondary schools, to include more than what has traditionally been offered in career-technical education. Between September 2016 and June 2017, the number of licensed work-based learning coordinators in Vermont increased from 38 to 53.

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Innovative ideas for school libraries

eSchool News

While these roles were drafted to appeal specifically to university and college librarians, they are universal enough to be relevant to school librarians working in primary and secondary school media centers, too. But this simply isn’t true in the modern educational climate.