Schools experienced a massive expansion of technology over the past few years. They put in place 1-to-1 computing programs, are now using a record number of digital learning tools, and improved the availability of home-internet access for students. It was essentially a "fast-forward" for the evolution of digital learning in schools. But…

Just days before a massive tornado devastated their community last May, a group of Joplin, Mo., educators and other community members had a meeting about "21st-century learning." Then May 22 arrived, bringing the catastrophic storm that ripped through the community of 50,000 in the southwest corner of the state. The tornado killed 161…

As it was conceived, the School of the Future was to be a study in contrast to the typical big-city high school. When the $62 million facility opened in 2006 with a relatively small student population, a computer-based curriculum delivered with the latest technology tools, and a unique partnership with corporate giant Microsoft, it set out to…

This article reports that young inventors at a Maryland high school are not only learning scientific principles, but also teamwork and the tenets of patent law. Twice a week, 10 members of the Clarksburg High School's Coyote Inventors Club gather in a second-floor computer lab to peck away at building a deceptively simple device: a cable that…

In this article, the author discusses the instructional challenges faced by educators this year in the 12,500-student Recovery School District (RSD), the state-run system that took over most of New Orleans' public schools after the storm in August 2005. Roughly 85% of the district's students scored at least two years behind grade level in reading…

Courses focused on renewable and alternative energy are taking hold across the country as educators seek to channel students' concerns about the environment and conservation into classroom lessons. This article talks about the rising interest in "green" curriculum. Here, the author describes the Green Tech class that introduces students to the…

Some schools are crafting lessons with help from local universities and companies that work in nanoscience. That's the case at Ballston Spa High, located in an area of eastern New York known as Tech Valley, home to many technology firms and top-flight research institutions. By delving into nanotechnology, a specialized subject that is more…

Under pressure to raise graduation rates, some high schools are turning to online courses to help faltering students revive their academic careers and retrieve the credits they need to earn their diplomas. As alternatives to remedial lessons, summer school, and other traditional ways of getting struggling high school students back on track,…

Intrigued by the interviews with high school valedictorians that the Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer publishes this time each year, researcher E. Ann York decided to gather up three years' worth of its stories to look for any gender differences in the aspirations of these highest-achieving local students. Were boys more likely to strive for careers…

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell signed legislation this month promoting the growth of virtual schools. The new law requires the state to develop policies for approving and monitoring a wide array of private and nonprofit online education providers. The legislative action in Virginia is the most recent major policy move by a state to expand the…

Launched last year, the SciTech Summer Camp is a joint project being led by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corp. (HENAAC). SciTech was created to get more Hispanic students into the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. SciTech…

The closing of hundreds of U.S. schools in recent weeks because of concerns about swine flu underscores the need for administrators to make plans for continuing their students' education during any extended shutdown, emergency experts and federal officials say. Fears about a severe flu pandemic had eased as of late last week, but experts say…

To build on classroom experiments and lectures, Daniel Sweeney has his 9th grade earth science students act out scientific concepts on a 15-by-15-foot mat on the floor of the room. Object-tracking cameras mounted on scaffolding around the space collect data based on the students' movements while immersing them in the experience through a video…

Having developed a technology-based teaching unit on weather that appeared to work well for middle school students, Nancy Butler Songer and her colleagues at the University of Michigan decided in the late 1990s to take the next logical step in their research program: They scaled up. This article discusses lessons learned by several faculty…

This article talks about a new school built, which is called "School of the Future," which was born of a partnership between the Philadelphia public schools and the world's leading software-maker, Microsoft Corp. A gleaming white building on the edge of a blighted West Philadelphia neighborhood, the $62 million school garnered wide attention when…