There was happy news for people like me Monday, when the National Endowment for the Arts announced the latest results of its annual survey of American reading habits. The percentage of Americans who reported reading a novel, a short story, a poem or a play has gone up, from 46.7 percent in 2002 to 50.2 percent in the last year - the first increase in that percentage since the NEA began investigating national reading habits in the 1980s. The NEA's 2002 report was titled "Reading at Risk;" this year's report is called "Reading on the Rise."

This site is intended to assist K-12 school districts and other K-12 entities in developing their own Acceptable Use Policy for use of the K-20 Network. Since "local control" is a major tenet of K-12 education in Washington state, it is up to each district to determine what elements they wish to include in their own policy, and if they wish to include other elements not contained in the template that has been provided. It is highly recommended that all K-12 entities using the K-20 Network should have their own board-approved Acceptable Use Policy, in addition to the basic "K-20 Conditions of Use/Acceptable Use Policy" (see link below). Since it forms the basis of ALL that we do in K-12 education, we have included the K-12 Mission [restated from the OSPI Home Page] below as a reference point, and suggest you may want to include it and/or your district's mission statement with your AUP.

Join our Free Book Club and Trade, Swap, or Exchange Used books with other Book Club members absolutely free. Looking for Free Books? You'll find tons of great used books to choose from.

have been a big fan of UbD for a couple of years. After we started our incredible staff development work a couple of years ago, a friend and colleague of Karl Fisch's, Chris Lehman, suggested the book since his school, The Science Leadership Academy, uses it extensively. I picked it up and read it right away buying the workbook as well. Soon, I found out that a colleague of mine, Lauren Gaffney, used it in her graduate studies at Trinity University as well. We have talked about UbD a lot with our cooperative planning on English Literature and 9th grade units. She has actually showed me more applications of it seeing as how the first time I read it, it was challenging to make it work in my mind.

ZooBorns brings you the newest and cutest exotic animal babies from zoos and aquariums around the world.

The Letter Generator is an interactive tool that invites students to learn the parts of a business or friendly letter and then compose and print letters.

Why do teenagers so often seem like a different species? Journalist Patricia Hersch gives a troubling answer in her fascinating, up-close-and-personal look at what it means to be a teen in today's American high schools. Rather than interviewing "high-risk" teens (those already swept up in a cycle of drug use, gang violence, or unintended pregnancy, for example), Hersch focuses her attention on "regular kids"--adolescents who are average achievers on academic and social levels. In light of this, A Tribe Apart is all the more startling to read: Hersch's investigative approach makes it impossible for parents to shrug off their responsibilities by saying "That's not my kid." This is your kid.

Work doesn't have to be a chore. For the third in our series on dream children's careers, Lucy Rodgers meets a man who as a teenager fell in love with video games - and now designs them.

At Xylocopa, we know that the key to a successful education is to begin learning at a young age. Like many of you, we are concerned about the state of science education in the public school system, especially in the lower grades. Specifically, we have noticed that there is absolutely no training in the K-6 grades that prepares students to become mad scientists. In this competitive 21st-century world, the need for mad scientists will only increase, but the lack of basic education in primary school leaves us concerned that there will be no future students capable of leading in this illustrious field.

It is important to stimulate students learning in many different ways. Keeping teaching interesting for students and allowing them to be the engine that drives the learning environment is key. This blog will follow one teacher's quest to Make Learning Interesting!

This site is for EFL & ESL students. Each day you can find a new simple online activity to help you improve your English.

When ninth-graders at St. Andrew's School, a private boarding school in Middletown, Delaware, sat down last year to take the school's College Work and Readiness Assessment (CWRA), they faced the sort of problems that often stump city officials and administrators, but rarely show up on standardized tests, such as how to manage traffic congestion caused by population growth. "I proposed a new transportation system for the city," said one student describing his answer. "It's expensive, but it will cut pollution."

Amid growing challenges to its role as the pre-eminent force in college admissions, the College Board on Wednesday unveiled a new test that it said would help prepare eighth graders for rigorous high school courses and college. The test, which will be available to schools next fall, is intended only for assessment and instructional purposes and has nothing to do with college admissions, College Board officials said.

The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued.

Many students across the country aren't prepared for the more rigorous math, a think tank has found, posing potential challenges to the education system.