Yes, Charters Do Hurt Public School Funding

As a result of the findings of a new study, researchers encouraged states to "ease the fiscal burden on public school districts," possibly by providing "transitional aid" to reduce the revenue losses to public school districts as charters expand.

Report: Rural Districts Deserve More Policy and Research Focus

Nearly 20 percent of the nation's students attend rural schools, but those students are largely ignored by policy makers and researchers, according to a new report from the National School Boards Association's (NSBA) Center for Public Education (CPE), leaving unaddressed issues stemming from poverty, isolation and other inequities.

Training Cuts Phishing Success

A new study by a security training company has found that even a few months of security awareness instruction can have a big impact on how well recipients respond to phishing attempts. In the education segment, specifically, KnowBe4 found that 27.16 percent of staff were "phishing-prone" — likely to open e-mails or click on files containing malware. After three months of training, the same people were 30 percent less likely to open such e-mail; and after a year, they were 88 percent less likely to do so.

$1 Million DoD Grant to Improve Math Achievement, STEM Career Readiness

Much of the funding will go toward professional development, interventionists and counselors, to help students look ahead toward their careers, as well as summer STEM programs.

Knewton Unveils $44 Adaptive Digital Textbooks

Ed tech company Knewton has launched a collection of digital courseware that integrates its adaptive technology with open education resources, with the intention of selling directly to instructors and students. Previously, the company licensed its adaptive functionality to textbook publishers for integration with their course content. Under the new strategy, the company noted, it could own "all aspects of the user experience" and "make a greater impact on outcomes and affordability." Each title in the new line costs $44 for two years of digital access.

New Service Uses Speech Recognition, Auto-Scoring for Early Reader Assessment

Non-profit NWEA is launching a new oral reading fluency assessment for K-3 that uses speech recognition, automatic scoring and computer adaptive technology rather than human judgment and individual administration.

SAM Labs Introduces 3 New STEAM Kits for Classroom Use

SAM Labs is launching three new STEAM kits designed to encourage student interest in coding and computer science.

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