Report Summaries
Up to age 11, kids are not heavy Internet users. Indeed, a report from Packaged Facts finds a fondness for TV, books and "old fashioned" toys along with tech-oriented entertainment.
The IT energy drain on school budgets can be better managed.
State efforts to create more rigorous standards in English and Mathematics show a remarkable degree of consistency.
The NCWIT Scorecard, from the National Center for Women in Technology, is intended as a barometer for women's participation in IT, an educational resource, a national conversation piece, and an impetus for change.
The Education Commission of the States plans to provide tools for school leaders to measure student performance against international benchmarks. From Competing to Leading: An International Benchmarking Blueprint introduces the initiative.
Teachers are holding on to print longer than media specialists or technology coordinators, but digital resources are making inroads.
Two years ago, a national opinion poll rated education as the most important issue. In 2008, Americans still care about education, but a new poll of voters from the Public Education Network shows that they rate it third, behind gas prices and jobs and the economy.
"Ensuring high-speed broadband access for all students has become a critical national issue especially when considering the necessity for the use of technology in assessment, accountability, engagement, and preparing our students for work and life in the 21st century," explains a report from The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).
Teachers may have access to computers and the Internet, but key components for tech-integration are still missing. They don't feel adequately prepared to use the technology to enhance their lessons, and they are not receiving the technical support they need.
This year, public school enrollment is expected to approach about 50 million students. Total public school enrollment is projected to set new records each year from 2008 to 2017, predicts the Condition of Education, at which time it is expected to reach 54.1 million.
What's Working: A Guide to Effective K-12 Math and Science Education in San Diego County highlights 23 local programs with proven success in enhancing one of four key priorities: teacher capacity, school-based innovation, community-based enrichment and system-wide connectivity.
State efforts to promote broadband access and adoption could significantly benefit schools as well as students' at-home resources.
The State Educational Technology Directors Association's (SETDA's) survey of the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program warns that significant progress by schools is threatened by budget cuts.
Exploring security challenges to schools, a new survey shows that public schools are investing their limited IT dollars for physical safety over network security. A second survey from EDUCAUSE marks security as a rising concern in higher education.
Although American parents believe that digital media skills are important to kids' success in the 21st century, they do not see a strong connection between digital media and the development of skills like communicating, working with others, and establishing civic responsibility.
Teens do not see a connection between electronic social communications tools and formal writing.
Federal policy can improve education, but we need change. That message comes from Democracy at Risk: The Need for a New Federal Policy in Education.
Simply Green, a report from the Center for Digital Government, outlines a "a few steps in the right direction toward integrating sustainability into public sector IT."
"Digital opportunity for kids is the equity issue of the 21st century," explains a new report from the Children's Partnership.
"Most of the nation's eighth- and 12th-graders are doing a solid job of writing to inform, persuade, and tell stories," said Amanda Avallone, vice chair of the National Assessment Governing Board and assistant principal and eighth-grade teacher at Summit Middle Charter School in Boulder, Colo.
Students want to have their personal technologies in school. Schools don't often go along and that marks a growing "digital disconnect" between students and their teachers and parents about learning and preparing for jobs with technology.
The 21st century is not likely to be a hospitable place for an adult without a high school degree. Frighteningly, some urban areas have graduation rates as low as 35%.
A significant 62% of Americans are part of a wireless, mobile population that participates in digital activities away from home or work. That figure grows with youth, showing an ever-widening gap between in-school technology use and the rest of life.
Educational technology programs are increasing student achievement and teacher quality. Even so, cuts to NCLB's Title IID Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program have forced states to eliminate highly effective programs or to scale back successful programs.
Stand-alone classes for personal finance are more effective than blending the topic into math or other classes--at least in the United Kingdom.
"A picture is worth a thousands words." Actually, research hasn't established a number, but most people accept the saying as metaphor rather than measurement. Many educators, however, accept the accuracy of the frequently cited "cone of knowledge."
A redesigned NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) should collect original survey and assessment data on achievement in numerous areas beyond math and science.
What gets tested is what gets taught. A new report from the Center on Education Policy (CEP) confirms that instructional time for mathematics and English language arts has increased in elementary schools.
With a focus on how libraries can best serve a tech-immersed public, a new report looks at research strategies of youth in the U.K.
The U.S. is behind in broadband deployment, and a concerted effort by the federal government, state governments, and the private sector must bring the country up to speed.
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Beyond the basics, students will need 21st century competencies to survive and thrive in the future. They will have to know how to think critically, apply knowledge to new situations, analyze information, understand new ideas, communicate effectively, collaborate, solve problems, and make decisions. School districts are looking for ways to help students acquire these new skills while they also address NCLB mandates.
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