Current News

New Mexico schools receiving "A" letter grades and those that have improved grades will receive a portion of the $1.7 million the state has set aside as cash rewards, with about 88 schools from 41 districts receiving some of the money.

The implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Kansas by 2014 has teachers scrambling to prepare for educational changes in reading and math. Emily Seaman, a fourth-grade teacher at Hillcrest School, is just one of several teachers who have engaged in special training sessions on the new standards; teachers at all grade levels and throughout the school districts are receiving training through weekly district collaborations.

Washington, D.C., lawmakers are considering legislation that would enable the District to join the Military Interstate Children's Compact Commission to ensure that children of active-duty military officers are afforded smooth transitions when they move from state to state and school to school.

Alabama Superintendent of Education Tommy Bice proposed an initial budget that includes $5 million in "new state funding" for arts education. If the State Board of Education and the Alabama Legislature approve the budget, the funding will be used to expand or start arts programs in Alabama public schools.

The West Virginia Department of Education’s (WVDE) Office of Healthy Schools and the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ Office of Healthy Lifestyles have teamed up with Microsoft to get kids moving. The group is gaming on the Xbox helping students increase their physical activity.

A broad coalition of national education, business, philanthropic and policy groups, including CCSSO, has come together to create a clear, unified and focused vision for what it means to be career ready. The coalition known as the Career Readiness Partner Council, issued a statement on October 18, “Building Blocks For Change: What it Means to be Career Ready,” making clear that career readiness is a process of connecting “education and employment to achieve a fulfilling, financially-secure and successful career.”

Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), an initiative dedicated to improving college readiness and completion, has announced grants totaling $5.4 million for 13 new models of personalized, blended learning at the secondary and postsecondary levels.

Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday has filed paperwork with the Secretary of State's office to establish the Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky. The foundation would be separate from the State Department of Education and would seek grants and funding outside of state, federal, and local sources to help school districts.

Idaho has been granted a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law by the U.S. Department of Education, which also approved the state's new accountability system that uses academic growth and other measures to assess student achievement. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna believes the new system will better gauge student achievement and better identify schools performing well and those that are struggling.

Education officials in Florida are standing behind the new strategic plan approved earlier this month by the State Board of Education, which sets different goals for reading and math achievement based on race and ethnicity. The goals are required as part of Florida's No Child Left Behind waiver from the federal government, and the state must halve its achievement gap for all students by 2018.