Current News

North Dakota has partnered with Microsoft for a groundbreaking program to help students with college readiness and learn 21st century skills. Under the program, Microsoft has agreed to offer free programs to North Dakota classrooms that focus on science and technology.

Montana education officials have contracted with Educational Testing Service (ETS) to create a new high school equivalency exam that will replace the General Education Development tests due to an increase in the test price to $120 from $55 by next year.

During a recent teleconference, Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White unveiled a $5 million grant program called Believe and Succeed to help schools graded as D or F to improve at a more accelerated pace.

The Hawaii State Board of Education and the State Department of Education (DOE) have created the Leadership Institute, which will be led by Douglas Murata, the DOE's assistant superintendent for the office of human resources, as part of an initiative to focus on developing effective school leadership.

MetaMetrics President and Co-founder Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., and Director of Professional Development Jason Turner have written a new policy brief focusing on the importance of communication in Common Core implementation.

Jessica Keigan, a high school English teacher in Thornton, Colo., and a teacher leader with the Center for Teaching Quality, says there are concerns that the Common Core State Standards will force teachers to stop teaching fiction to make room for non-fiction, but she stresses that a focus on "either/or" is not required.

Around 6,000 schools from 23 member states will test online assessment software from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium through May 2013.

Charlotte Danielson, creator of the "Framework for Teaching," says under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teachers will have to adopt instructional strategies that allow students to explore concepts, discuss them with their peers, and question and challenge their classmates in a respectable manner.

Twelve schools in Washington state will be honored by Gov. Jay Inslee and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn for winning national awards through Title I, Part A, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Rhode Island's Board of Governors for Higher Education and the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education officially merged on March 11 to become The Rhode Island Board of Education.