Mentors, Encouragement, Hands-on Learning Boost Girls' Interest in STEM Substantially

Generally girls lose interest in STEM careers as they get older. But, according to a new study, small changes at school and at home can have a profound impact on how girls perceive STEM careers, how confident they feel in class and how likely they are to pursue STEM academically and into their careers.

School Funding 'Stubbornly Unfair' Across States

In spite of research showing that school funding leads to better outcomes for students during their school years and afterward, a new report from the Education Law Center and Rutgers University's Graduate School of Education finds dramatic unevenness among education funding across states. New York and Alaska, for example, spend more than 2.5 times what Arizona and Idaho spend. There's been no improvement since the end of the "great recession" in those states that don't provide additional funding to districts with high student poverty.

New Framework Offers Way to Validate OER Commitment

A new report proposes a framework by which open educational resource initiatives — and particularly those promulgated by for-profit organizations — might be measured. The CARE framework has three purposes, according to its authors: to help make sure "the O.E.R. community's values can be maintained as the movement scales"; to gauge the practices of "new entrants" to the O.E.R. field (especially those out to make money from it); and to build educator confidence in participating in O.E.R., including those who contribute their own materials and may be uncertain regarding its use by for-profit publishers.

Former ED Secretary Arne Duncan Joins Turnitin Board

Arne Duncan has added another organization to his CV. The former secretary for the U.S. Department of Education under President Obama recently joined the board of Turnitin, an education technology company that provides services for writing help, literacy skill development and plagiarism checking in K-12 and higher education.

Character Lab Expands School Research Capacity with Qualtrics Partnership

The Character Lab Research Network, a nonprofit aimed at advancing the science behind social and emotional learning and character development, has partnered with Qualtrics to expand research efforts and make it easier for scientists to work with middle schools and high schools. The partnership was announced at the Qualtrics X4 Summit in Salt Lake City, UT.

New Jersey REN Adds Amazon Web Services

A research and education network in New Jersey has signed a deal with Amazon to offer that company's web services to its members at reduced prices. Institutions, schools and districts that are members of N.J. Edge will be able to connect directly through the state's fiber connections run by N.J. Edge or create new ones through AWS Direct Connect, putting them, "one hop away" from Amazon's web services, according to N.J. Edge C.E.O. and President Samuel Conn.

Non-Profit to Crowdsource On-the-Ground Ed Tech Effectiveness

When Consumer Reports wants to know how well a new car is holding up, it heads into the crowds to ask drivers' opinions about their vehicles. That form of crowdsourcing is now infiltrating education with the launch of a new non-profit organization that will call on teachers and school leaders to document how well their education technology works for them in their schools and classrooms. In exchange, the contributors will receive money and tech support.

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