Virtual School Is Weighing on Teachers

With no immediate return to normalcy in sight as vaccines are slowly rolled out, teachers’ stress level appears to be rising. So is their feeling that others—from administrators to the general public—aren’t taking their concerns to heart, beyond lip service about how valued teachers are.

Report: Students Plagiarized More When Instruction Moved Online

Plagiarism among students jumped by 10 percentage points after the pandemic, when classes went online — an increase in the average rate of copying in student work from 35 percent to 45 percent, according to an analysis undertaken by Copyleaks.

Even Where Schools Open for In-Person Instruction, Students Stay Home

The permutations of K-12 instruction being delivered are many right now, and so are the choices families are making for the education of their students. By mid-March 2021 more than three-quarters of fourth- and eighth-grade students (76%) were being offered the chance to attend public schools open at least some of the time for face-to-face lessons. But just a fraction of those students attended in-person instruction. The remaining 24% of grade 4 and grade 8 students were in schools that were only online.

Forget about Standardized Testing This Fall, Parents Say

Parents overwhelmingly opposed going ahead with standardized testing this spring, according to a survey done by a parent advocates group.

Two-Thirds of High Schoolers Want Only In-Person Learning

A new survey has found that a one in three high schoolers (33%) would like to keep online learning as an ingredient in their education. The remaining 67% – almost all of whom shifted to virtual education to some degree amid the pandemic – prefer learning completely in-person, while 29 percent favored a hybrid arrangement with up to half of their time in a virtual learning environment. Four percent said they would be happy learning virtually full time or much of the time.

Sheer Access to Tech a Big Part of Learning Loss

A big part of the "learning loss" being identified for K-12 students is due to family income. They can't afford the technology required for continuous access to classes, teachers and study resources.

Students More Positive about Online Learning

Overall, students felt more positive about online learning in the fall than they did in the spring, according to a recent report.

Instructure Intros Assessments to Help Schools Identify Learning Gaps

A December 2020 purchase of Certica Solutions is bearing fruit for learning management company Instructure. The maker of Canvas has announced a new collection of formative assessments specifically intended to help teachers measure "learning loss," built by the curriculum and assessment experts who joined as part of that acquisition.

Limitations Lurk in High School Graduation Pathways

While many high schoolers have myriad routes to graduation, those pathways are not all equal, and some may steer students into unexpected outcomes that limit their options early in life.

Texas CC Tests VR to Help Middle Schoolers Explore Careers

A Texas community college turned to virtual reality to help middle schoolers in the region figure out what careers they should declare for themselves as they enter high school, as well as to promote career and technical education (CTE).

Deadline Looms for Tech Micro Grants

The deadline for the Educators of America Micro Grant program is this Thursday, April 15, The program awards $250 to $5,000 to individual teachers and others involved in education for technology.

Global School Recovery Tracker Monitors Education Status

The purpose of the tool is to help 200 countries and territories make decisions about school reopening and recovery planning.

Colorado Latest State to Adopt Khan's Schoolhouse.world for Free Tutoring

Small groups of Colorado students can be paired up with tutors online through a new agreement struck between two education nonprofits. The program is being undertaken by Denver-based Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) and Schoolhouse.world, an organization launched last year by Khan Academy Founder Sal Khan and others.

Renaissance Adds Early Literacy Web App

Education technology company Renaissance has acquired Lalilo, an early literacy company that was started in Paris in 2016 by three graduates of École Polytechnique with a goal of ending illiteracy. Terms of the deal were not made public.

Tutoring Program Adds Specialized Texts for Dyslexic Readers

New Century Education Foundation is embedding lessons into its adaptive, online tutoring system, to address the needs of dyslexic students of any age. New Century, a nonprofit that focuses on helping teachers and parents improve the learning of students with specific needs, is working with Noah Text to add its stories into the organization's "Intelligent Tutoring System."

Discovery Ed and Partners Launch 3 Free Virtual Field Trips

Identity and belonging, the truth about vaping and the potential of nuclear science are the topics of three free "virtual" fieldtrips that have been introduced by Discovery Education working with various partners.

New Classroom Camera Tracks Teachers for Distance Learning

Audiovisual technology manufacturer Aver Information USA has launched a new camera for education that uses AI to “seamlessly track” teachers as they move around the classroom. The camera was designed with K–12 remote learning environments in mind.

Osmo Launching $2,000 STEAM Education Mini-Grants

Beginning July 1, public schools will be eligible to apply for one of 20 mini-grants designed to promote STEAM education.

Harbor Freight Competition Recognizes Teachers in Trades

Harbor Freight Tools for Schools has opened the new application window for applying to win cash prizes for teaching excellence. This competition puts the emphasis on recognizing educators and programs teaching the "skilled trades" in public high schools. It’s sponsored by the Smidt Foundation, established by Harbor Freight Tools owner and founder Eric Smidt, to support the advancement of skilled trades education in the United States.

New Program Promises Internet Access to 50,000 Students

New York state has launched an emergency fund to provide an estimated 50,000 students with free internet access.

Success of Videoconferencing Could Keep a Lot of Education Work Remote

Two-thirds of people in the education sector expect to see a continuation of remote work post-pandemic. Sixty-five percent of respondents in education agreed that due to the success of remote collaboration, facilitated by videoconferencing, their organizations are considering a flexible remote working model, according to a survey from Zoom.

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