Photo credit: John Morganby Megan McArdleIf you’ve reached that crotchety age I’m at, you may be as mystified as I am by the kids these days — especially by how they’re behaving on campus. I get the naive leftist politics and the wildly irresponsible partying; those things have been staples of student life for hundreds of years. I even understand the drive toward hamfisted censorship of views they don’t like. After all, I did my coming-of-age at the University of Pennsylvania during the “spring from hell,” when copies of the campus newspaper were stolen to protest perceived bias against minorities, and Eden Jacobowitz was famously brought up on racial harassment charges for screaming “shut up, you water buffalo” out the window at a black sorority that was conducting a rather lively promenade down the walk below his dorm window.Read the rest of the story at BloombergView.

by Howard Pitler, Ed.D.”The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.” — Anatole France, French novelist, 1844-1924There is much discussion in education these days about teaching curiosity. From my observation as a teacher, administrator, and most importantly, a grandfather, I think we are looking at curiosity through the wrong lens. The question to me isn’t “How can we teach curiosity?” but rather, “What can we do in schools to stop killing curiosity?”This realization came to me recently while watching my two grandsons, ages 2 and 4. I bought a toy for the 4-year-old that was labeled for ages 5 and up. It was a small foam rocket that was to be put on a launcher tube and then launched by air pressure created by squeezing a bulb. The 4-year-old took the toy and experimented with different …

Photo credit: Dan Spencerby Pragati VermaTechnology is reshaping how we teach, connecting classrooms and shaking up the fundamental business model of the education industry.The disruptive potential is evident in the flow of capital investment. Venture funding to education tech companies jumped 55 percent last year to $1.87 billion, with several firms closing in on $1 billion valuations, according to venture capital research firm CB Insights.Read the rest of the story at Forbes.

Explore the politics of ESEA and Title I with expert insights on federal education policy, program evaluation, and the impact on K-12 schools.

by Motoko RichROHNERT PARK, Calif. — In a stark about-face from just a few years ago, school districts have gone from handing out pink slips to scrambling to hire teachers.Read the rest of the story at The New York Times.

Photo Credit: Theresa Thompsonby Gerard RobinsonHere’s what education activist Campbell Brown should ask the 2016 GOP hopefuls.Read the rest of the story at U.S. News and World Report.

It’s not often that one comes across two articles in the same day that put the reader into a surreal mindset. But today I am stuck in that literary “Twilight Zone.”The first story appeared August 7 in The Onion, the widely-read satirical “news source.” It’s titled, “New Statewide Education Standards Require Teachers To Forever Change Lives Of 30% Of Students.”

by Howard BlumeA prominent local education foundation is discussing a major expansion of charter schools in Los Angeles aimed at boosting academic achievement for students at the lowest performing campuses.Read the rest of the story at The Los Angeles Times.

by Claudio Sanchez”If a kid is in first period when they should still be asleep, how much are they really learning?”Anne Wheaton is an epidemiologist and the lead author of a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study surveyed the start times of 8000 middle and high schools across the country. Last year the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. The goal is to accommodate the “natural sleep rhythms” of teenagers.Read and listen to the story at NPREd.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush again defended his support of the Common Core education standards, which are deeply unpopular within the Republican Party.Read the rest of the story at CBS News.

Ann Cunningham-Morris, ASCD Director of Professional Learning, talks about educational leadership and to redefine traditional PD as “Professional Learning.”Cunningham-Morris is presently a director of professional development for ASCD and a member of the ASCD Faculty.She has been a district-level instructional administrator; director of staff development; high school, middle school, and elementary principal; classroom teacher; special education resource leader, and job development specialist in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, California, and Virginia. During her 30-year career, she has also been an adjunct professor for several universities.Cunningham-Morris has also served as an educational consultant to many school systems throughout the world in the areas of curriculum development, effective professional development program design, instructional leadership, assessment literacy, instructional best practices, and supporting high academic achievement for diverse student populations.

Photo Credit: Caleb Roenigkby Suzanne WrightMy mother, now in her 70s, has beautiful handwriting. As a young girl, I admired and emulated her expressive script, ultimately winning a couple of penmanship awards for my efforts. My mom was proud and so was I.But with cursive writing instruction in decline since the 1970s in many elementary schools, widespread pride in the almost artistic form of penmanship seems to be waning.Read the rest of the story at USA Today.

Photo credit: P. MorganThe Chinese education system – with its long school days and tough discipline – tops global league tables. But how did British pupils cope when five Chinese teachers took over part of their Hampshire school?Read the rest of the story at BBC News.

Margaret Searle, ASCD author and educator, spent time with Dr. Berger to discuss the field of education and the value the profession of teaching can bring to those young people looking for their career path to emerge.Searle specializes in consulting with districts and schools in the areas of curriculum alignment, differentiated instruction, inclusive education, leadership team development, and training teams to implement Response to Intervention (RTI). She is also as an adjunct professor for Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.Her teaching experience covers every grade from preschool through 8th in both a general and special education capacity. Her administrative experience has been as a K–12 supervisor in Dayton City Schools as well as a middle school principal in Springfield, Ohio, and an elementary school principal in Toledo, Ohio. She served as an adviser to President George H. W. Bush on elementary and secondary education issues.Searle has also contributed her expertise as an author …

by John K. WatersNew “micro” online certification programs are changing the educational pathways to success in certain industries.Read the rest of the story on Campus Technology.