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"It started with a move by resourceful students who were able to unlock security settings on their iPads. The disastrous $1 billion iPad rollout by the Los Angeles Unified School District in September 2013 provided a cautionary tale to districts looking to spend public dollars on technology and digital curriculum. But below the surface of the news stories were thousands of kids feeling hurt by the way they were portrayed by the media and the school district's lack of trust in them. To explore the aftermath of the scandal that put them front and center of that cautionary education technology tale, students at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights conducted their own research on how the rollout was handled, talking to peers and family members and ultimately painting a very different picture of the lasting consequences."

This is a collaborative project to generate Social Media Guidelines for school districts. The goal of this guideline is to provide instructional employees, staff, students, administrators, parents and the school district community direction when using social media applications both inside and outside the classroom.

"At my district, the MSD of Wayne Township in Indianapolis, we have found that changing the way we think about teacher training not only benefits staff developers and administrators, but schools, the district as a whole, teachers, and ultimately students. A critical part of our revitalized PD plan has been the use of professional learning communities (PLCs), which are essentially groups of educators that work collaboratively and share ideas, often in an online format."

"Text Engine was developed to offer cell phone users a means to search the web using their text messaging service. This is great news for educators and students in low-income and rural communities.   And that's a good thing, because while smartphones are popular, there is still a great need for text-only services in low-income and rural districts. There is also a need in districts like NYC that empower students to bring their own devices to school, but don't have the means to enable students to connect to the internet.  "

"The embracement of the maker movement is being seen in K-12 schools and districts across the world. As a result, makerspaces are being instituted to allow students to tinker, invent, create, and make to learn.  A makerspace can best be defined as a physical place where students can create real-world products/projects using real-world tools in a shared work space. With natural connections and applications to STEAM areas as well as a focus on self-directed, inquiry-based, and hands on learning, it is difficult not to appreciate and admire the positive impact that makerspaces can have on all students.  In times when many schools and districts have cut programs such as wood/metal shop and agriculture, makerspaces provide a 21st Century alternative to meet the learning needs of our most at-risk students.  "

"Many American teenagers try to put in a full day of school, homework, after-school activities, sports and college prep on too little sleep. As evidence grows that chronic sleep deprivation puts teens at risk for physical and mental health problems, there is increasing pressure on school districts around the country to consider a later start time. In Seattle, school and city officials recently made the shift. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the district moved the official start times for middle and high schools nearly an hour later, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. This was no easy feat; it meant rescheduling extracurricular activities and bus routes. But the bottom line goal was met: Teenagers used the extra time to sleep in. Researchers at the University of Washington studied the high school students both before and after the start-time change. Their findings appear in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. They found students got 34 minutes more sleep on average with the later school start time. This boosted their total nightly sleep from 6 hours and 50 minutes to 7 hours and 24 minutes."

"It's clear coding and computer science have become key priorities in K-12 education. From Code.org's massive round of funding and the formulation of the Computer Science Coalition to President Obama's Computer Science For All initiative to big school districts, like the San Francisco Unified School District, building K-12 computer science curriculum - there's indications that this is more than a passing fad. Many educators are excited about the opportunities coding and computer science offer students, but with these new curricular priorities come the major practical, pedagogical challenges of building a scope and sequence and then transforming it into units and lessons (not to mention, you know, teaching). Given the problems computer science has had meeting the needs of all students - especially early on - there's some tough challenges ahead for school leaders and educators to make sure computer science for all doesn't fall flat."

"In this half-hour presentation at Education Week's Leaders To Learn From event in Washington, Aileen Owens, director of technology and innovation for Pennsylvania's South Fayette school district, describes her efforts around cultivating students' "computational thinking." At the event, Owens was recognized as an exceptional school district leader for her leadership in innovation in curriculum. Since being hired at South Fayette in 2010, Owens' passion has been on cultivating students' "computational thinking." That includes coding. But the real emphasis is on helping students learn to problem-solve; to think algorithmically, in step-by-step sequences; to debug and revise; and to work with abstract concepts."

"Please, No More Professional Development! By Peter DeWitt on April 17, 2015 8:10 AM Today's guest blog is written by Kristine Fox (Ed.D), Senior Field Specialist/Research Associate at Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA). She is a former teacher and administrator who has passion for teacher learning and student voice. Kris works directly with teachers and leaders across the country to help all learners reach their fullest potential. Peter DeWitt recently outlined why "faculty meetings are a waste of time." Furthering on his idea, most professional development opportunities don't offer optimal learning experiences and the rare teacher is sitting in her classroom thinking "I can't wait until my district's next PD day." When I inform a fellow educator that I am a PD provider, I can read her thoughts - boring, painful, waste of time, useless, irrelevant - one would think my job is equal to going to the dentist (sorry to my dentist friends). According to the Quaglia Institute and Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center's National Teacher Voice Report only 54% percent of teachers agree "Meaningful staff development exists in my school." I can't imagine any other profession being satisfied with that number when it comes to employee learning and growth. What sense does it make for the science teacher to spend a day learning about upcoming English assessments? Or, for the veteran teacher to learn for the hundredth time how to use conceptual conflict as a hook. Why does education insist everyone attend the same type of training regardless of specialization, experience, or need? As a nod to the upcoming political campaigns and the inevitable introduction of plans with lots of points, here is my 5 Point Plan for revamping professional development. 5 Point Plan Point I - Change the Term: Semantics Matter We cannot reclaim the term Professional Development for teachers. It has a long, baggage-laden history of conformity that does not

The K-12 Computer Science Framework was developed for states, districts, schools, and organizations to inform the development of standards and curriculum, build capacity for teaching computer science, and implement computer science pathways. The framework Computer science is powering approaches to many of our world's toughest challenges. The K-12 Computer Science Framework informs standards and curriculum, professional development, and the implementation of computer science pathways. 2 K-12 Computer Science Framework Executive Summary promotes a vision in which all students critically engage in computer science issues; approach problems in innovative ways; and create computational artifacts with a practical, personal, or societal intent. The development of the framework was a community effort. Twenty-seven writers and twenty-five advisors developed the framework with feedback from hundreds of reviewers including teachers, researchers, higher education faculty, industry stakeholders, and informal educators. The group of writers and advisors represents states and districts from across the nation, as well as a variety of academic perspectives and experiences working with diverse student populations.

"A new wave of e-textbooks is giving students more than just words and a few hotlinks on a digital page. Publishers over the last few years have been adding video, interactive maps and gamified quizzes designed to engage students more deeply in their learning. "Think of it as making the textbook a hands-on activity," says Andrew Miller, an ASCD faculty member and technology expert. "It's making the content come to life in a way that meets the needs of different learners-auditory learners, visual leaders, text-based learners." The latest e-textbooks, developed by traditional publishers as well as new players like Discovery Education, are powered by a host of adaptive features, such as adjustable levels of difficulty and instant translation into other languages. And in some districts, teachers are using platforms like Apple's iBooks to create their own digital course materials."

Alamo Heights Independent School District recently changed its policy to allow students to bring personal electronic devices - laptops, iPads and smart phones - to use for educational purposes at the discretion of the teacher. It's backing that policy change with content-filtered, districtwide Wi-Fi access for such devices.

"Calif. District Pushes Digital-Text Initiative Forward"