K-12 Technology News

Here you'll find the latest news from the education technology world, from the newest hardware and software releases to policy and funding updates to research reports to school and district tech initiatives. Looking for more in-depth coverage of important topics? Be sure to visit our Features page.


Illinois Tutoring Initiative to Scale Statewide In Partnership with Pearl

Tutoring platform Pearl today announced that its partnership with the 1-year-old Illinois Tutoring Initiative will expand statewide to all districts meeting the eligibility requirements, thanks to leadership from Illinois State University and federal pandemic relief funds.

LAUSD Chief Gets Unlimited Emergency Spending Powers After Vice Society Claims Stolen Data From Ransomware Attack

New details about the Labor Day weekend ransomware attack on Los Angeles Unified School District have trickled out over the past week, indicating that district officials may be negotiating with the threat actors to preserve district data stolen during the incident — and that they are definitely diving into major IT and cybersecurity upgrades.

Tract Launches Free Standards-Aligned Project Guides for Teachers, Sets December 'Tract-a-thon' Symposium to Feature Students' Best Work

Tract, a digital platform where kids teach kids through multimedia they can also create themselves, today unveiled new standards-aligned, project-based lesson guides for teachers in five subjects: Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Art — all products of collaboration by subject-matter experts, educators, students, and influencers.

NCTM Seeks Math Teachers for Classroom Research Grants Application Deadline is Nov. 1

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is seeking PreK–12 math educators and classroom teachers who teach math for its Classroom Research Grant program, open to applicants through November 1, 2022.

Project Prevent Grant Program, with $6.8M for LEAs, Accepting Applications Through October 3

The U.S. Department of Education is accepting applications through Oct. 3, 2022, for its Project Prevent Grant Program, which will award $6.8 million to about a dozen local educational agencies impacted by community violence to “expand their capacity to implement community- and school-based strategies to help prevent community violence and mitigate the impacts of exposure to community violence.”

LAUSD Ransomware Attack: A Wake-Up Call for Policymakers?

Though Los Angeles Unified School District leaders framed last weekend's ransomware attack and response as "unprecedented," cybersecurity research shows the only things "unprecedented" were the immediate federal assistance LAUSD received in mitigating the damage and the international press attention — most districts have to fend for themselves, and experts say it's long past time for federal lawmakers to institute real change.

Report: Top State Education Priorities Lack the Resources They Require

A new report shines a stark light on the state of education technology in the United States. Among the findings: There's inadequate funding for information security and ineffective use of technology tools in schools, at least from the perspective of state education leaders, according to a new report issued today by the State Educational Technology Director's Association (SETDA) in collaboration with Whiteboard Advisors.

Inspirit and Meta Team Up to Provide VR Learning to Title I Schools

The online 3D and VR STEM learning platform Inspirit recently announced its partnership with Meta (aka Facebook) Immersive Learning to provide VR Lab Starter Kits to over 100 Title I schools, starting as early as November. Applications for the program opened Sept. 1.

Current School-Year Survey Assesses Teaching and Curriculum Choices in Light of Pandemic

A survey of 1,015 teachers and 343 preK–12 administrators across the U.S. asked how the pandemic had affected their teaching and curriculum choices, especially between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.

Los Angeles Unified, Feds Investigating As Ransomware Attack Cripples IT Systems

A ransomware attack over Labor Day weekend brought to a standstill the online systems of Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest K–12 district in the country with about 640,000 students, LAUSD officials confirmed this morning in a statement on its website.

Whitepapers