Evaluation

Batavia dropped from the "Financial Recognition" category—which is earned by 65 percent of the school districts in Illinois in the recent announcement—to the the "Financial Review" category, according to the ISBE document.

Carnegie Mellon University and one of the government’s top spy agencies want to interest high school students in a game of computer hacking. Their goal with “Toaster Wars” is to cultivate the nation’s next generation of cyber warriors in offensive and defensive strategies. The free, online “high school hacking competition,” open to grades 6-12, is scheduled to run from April 26 to May 6.

Evaluating teachers on their students’ performance has elicited much public comment of late. In essence, this view assumes that if students aren’t learning, the fault lies squarely with their teachers.

The Pearson Report called the Greenwich (Conn.) system one of the "worst" they have seen in "a high-priced district," citing poor internet connectivity, weaknesses in network infrastructure, inconsistent use of applications and overall lax standards.

Educators are experiencing almost relentless pressure to show their effectiveness. Unfortunately, the chief indicator by which most communities judge a school staff's success is student performance on standardized achievement tests.

There is a widespread belief among teachers that students’ constant use of digital technology is hampering their attention spans and ability to persevere in the face of challenging tasks, according to two surveys of teachers being released on Thursday.

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium offers a technology planning framework for member states preparing to implement the assessment system in the 2014-2015 school year. The framework provides minimum hardware specifications and basic bandwidth calculations that will allow schools and districts to evaluate which of their existing devices will support the administration of next-generation assessments.