Common Core State Standards, Accountability & Assessment


screenshot from YouScience website listing major features of new Brightpath education-to-career platform

YouScience Unveils New Education-to-Career Solution for Schools: Brightpath

Career training and aptitude assessment provider YouScience has launched a new education-to-career platform for K–12 students called Brightpath that helps students identify their natural aptitudes and skills, identify the learning path and school coursework best aligned to their aptitudes and future career opportunities, connect with post-secondary programs matching their aptitudes and interests, find internships and jobs matching their aptitudes, and even earn CTE certifications.

Renaissance to Acquire GL Education

Education technology provider Renaissance reported that it's entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GL Education, a UK-based provider of formative assessments.

photo of THE Journal Insider podcast host and guest with text reading Tutoring Triumphs How a Texas District

Tutoring Triumphs in Texas: Ector County ISD's Unique Approach is Yielding Remarkable Results

Over the three years since Ector County ISD launched its tutoring program, the district has achieved remarkable growth, and superintendent Scott Muri recently joined THE Journal Insider podcast host Kristal Kuykendall to share some of the lessons learned during the pilot and implementation, such as its use of outcomes-based tutoring contracts, strictly structured tutoring sessions, and teacher involvement.

new tools from Microsoft Education called Learning Accelerators

Microsoft Introduces Full Suite of Learning Accelerator Tools at No Extra Cost

Less than a year after introducing its Reading Coach and Reading Progress tools for education users, Microsoft today introduced an entire suite of similar tools called Learning Accelerators that focus on digital literacy, speaking and presentation skills, and math, each with a “Coach” tool for students and a “Progress” monitoring and assigning tool for teachers.

Image shows woman with a young student on a laptop alongside Microsoft Reimagine Education Feb 9, 2023

Microsoft Reimagine Education Event Set for Thursday, Feb. 9

Microsoft Education is gearing up to introduce new learning tools and share more details about recently launched tools during a virtual event for educators and education leaders on Thursday, Feb. 9, the company said.

Beanstack Unveils Revamped Admin Dashboard

Beanstack this week unveiled new features for K–12 administrators, teachers, and librarians to enable them to monitor students’ weekly reading progress, create classroom challenges and more in an effort to “grow a culture of reading” at users’ schools, the company said.

AI Writing Check free tool for teachers launched by Quill.org and CommonLit.org

New Free Tool for Teachers Can Detect ChatGPT-Generated Student Work, Nonprofit Creators Say

Education technology nonprofits Quill.org and CommonLit.org have launched AIWritingCheck.org to help teachers determine whether writing was human- or AI-generated text, the organizations said in a news release.

photo from SXSW EDU 2022 man holding microphone on stage with banner in background saying SXSW EDU LAUNCH

SXSW EDU Highlights: Education Design, Poetry and Nature as Teaching Tools, and 'Real Talk' with National Teachers of the Year

The second half of SXSW EDU 2023’s featured sessions focus on: building sustainable early childhood education; the roles of poetry, art, and nature in helping youths connect and establish their sense of identity; and what two National Teachers of the Year really think about educators, diversity, agency, and representation.

Sample fraction math problem illustrating why math schema is more important than skills alone, and THEJournal.com logo

Schools Must Adopt the Science of Math

With so-called learning loss from the pandemic continuing to harm students, schools can't just return to normal methods of teaching math. Fortunately, researchers have a strong understanding of how people learn math, just as they did with the now widely accepted science of reading. However, that understanding is taking too long to filter into classroom instruction.

NWEA Assets to Be Acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) said today that it's planning to buy out the assets and brand identity of NWEA, a not-for-profit organization that provides assessment and other solutions (including its flagship MAP Growth assessments). HMH is owned by private investment firm Veritas Capital.