Massachusetts voters vote against expanding charter schools

In a devastating loss for supporters of charter schools, Massachusetts voters voted against a ballot question that would have allowed the state to approve up to 12 new or expanded charter schools a year, outside of an existing cap. Read more>>

The number of school bomb threats has soared nationwide while also ticking upward in North Carolina as more people use social media to cause disruptions, law enforcement officials say. The North Carolina Department of Education reported an 18.2 percent increase in bomb threats made during the 2015-16 school year as compared to 2013-14. Read more>>

Unofficial results for two Oregon's measures show support for creating an earmark in the state's general fund for programs aimed at improving the state's dismal high school graduation rate. The second would take 4 percent of state lottery dollars for a new Outdoor School Education Fund. Read more>>

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board is about to make big changes to how students are admitted into magnet schools.In the past, seats were divvied up in a random lottery. The school board is now planning to move to a system where students in low-income areas have a better chance of getting in to a higher-performing school. Read more>>

A study revealed that high school athletes who specialize in a single sport sustain lower extremity injuries at significantly higher rates than athletes who do not specialize in one sport. Specialized athletes were also twice as likely to sustain a gradual onset/repetitive-use injury than athletes who did not specialize. Read more>>

In the free-for-all online world we're dealing with, facts, opinion, deliberate distortion and ludicrous comments co-exist on the screen. We still must teach an orderly, sequential process of finding, organizing and evaluating information. The process has not changed. Read more>>

The concept behind the California’s new color charts is a good one. Schools should be judged and compared by more than their test scores. Unfortunately, the state hasn’t been willing to provide a coherent way to do that—which threatens to bring California right back to the days when all anyone looked at were test scores. Read more>>

For years there has been a steady drumbeat that teachers are fleeing the profession. Over the past six years, as New Mexico has instituted education reforms tied directly to student improvement, that drumbeat has increased in volume and tempo. And misleading numbers feed the frenzy. Read more>>

The Union City School District in New Jersey pioneered districtwide STEAM curriculum through the integration of 3D printing technology with the Dremel Idea Builder. Read more>>

The Idaho State Department of Education recently approved Curriculum Associates’ Ready Common Core Mathematics as part of its 2015–2016 K–12 Mathematics Review. Of the programs approved by the state, Ready Mathematics was the only program that was approved in all grade levels K5 and 6–8. Read more>>

Amnet Systems has inked a deal with Kezban Media and Publishing to market an online library platform combined with digital rights management services to publishers and libraries. Publishers will be able to host all or parts of their library on the platform; libraries can curate specific content collections to be offered to their members. Read more>>