In 1963, kids in the 10th percentile of income fell behind children in the upper echelon of wealth by about a year or so. Today, that gap is closer to four years.by Sarah GarlandOn a weekday afternoon in July, Jessica Klaitman pulled her 16-month-old daughter Hannah out of a stroller in the lobby of the New York Kids Club, a “child-enrichment center” with four classrooms, a dance studio, and gym space in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y.Read the rest of the story at The Atlantic.

by Erica GoodeJohn F. Nash Jr., a mathematician who shared a Nobel Prize in 1994 for work that greatly extended the reach and power of modern economic theory and whose long descent into severe mental illness and eventual recovery were the subject of a book and a film, both titled “A Beautiful Mind,” was killed, along with his wife, in a car crash on Saturday in New Jersey. He was 86.Read the rest of the story at The New York Times.

When it comes to education in South Korea, the demand is so strong it accounts for 12% of all consumer spending.BBC reporter Steve Evans met with one South Korean teacher who is earning a high salary to teach English.  You can watch the story at BBC News. 

Join us for a conversation with child protection advocate Francey Hakes, who will talks about rules to establish safety regarding kids and smartphones, including what constitutes a “friend,” and the topic of cyberbullying. Hakes was the first-ever National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney specializing in technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation.

by Rachel Crane, CNN(CNN) – Forty-thousand fans were chanting, screaming and cheering on their teams. The enthusiastic spectators had painted faces, were donning costumes, and no one was actually sitting in their seats — all were standing to get a better look at the action happening in the pens.No, I’m not describing a boxing match. I’m describing a robotics competition — rather THE robotics competitionRead the rest of the story at CNN.

Joshua Starr has taken a position as the new chief of a professional educators’ associationBy Andrew MetcalfThe former superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools is set to become the next CEO of an international association of educators.Read the rest of the story at Bethesda Magazine.See edCircuit’s March 2015 interview with Joshua Starr here.

Student access to relevant information and news continues to expand with technology advancements. I had the opportunity to interview Matthew Gross, CEO and co-founder, of Newsela. The Newsela team brings students current events and news aligning with current standards expected in today’s classroom.

By Moriah Balingit and Susan SvrlugaSWEET BRIAR, Va. — In her first year as Sweet Briar’s dean, Amy Jessen- Marshall struggled to come up with the words to welcome the Class of 2015. But inspiration struck suddenly from deep beneath her feet.That was the year that a rare and mild earthquake shook the rural campus here. And it gave the class one of its nicknames: the earth shakers.Read the rest of the story at The Washington Post.

Wednesday May 20th from 11:00am – 11:30pm EDT Join us for a conversation with child protection advocate Francey Hakes, who will be discussing rules to establish safety regarding kids and smartphones, including what constitutes a “friend,” and the topic of cyberbullying. Hakes was the first-ever National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney specializing in technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation. Note: You must RSVP to the event in order to see it.  Click on the link below and enter your name and email. You’ll receive a response with the link to the event. RSVP

If you look at the numbers, there’s the typical mix of good news/bad news for this year’s crop of college graduates. Let’s start with the good news.According to the National Center for Education Statistics, colleges and universities expect to award about 1.8 million bachelor’s degrees. Experts are noting that this class faces the most favorable job climate in years, due to a pent up demand for workers.

by Thomas KaplanIn a campaign-style tour meant to put pressure on lawmakers, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo visited churches and a yeshiva on Sunday to promote a bill to give tax credits to families of students at private schools, including religious ones.Read the rest of the story at The New York Times.

Bullying remains a serious issue for students and their families, and efforts to reduce bullying concern policy makers, administrators, and educators. According to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, “As schools become safer, students are better able to thrive academically and socially. The Department, along with our federal partners and others, has been deeply involved in the fight against bullying in our nation’s schools.” This is why we are so pleased to share that, after remaining virtually unchanged for close to a decade, new data indicate that the prevalence of bullying is at a record low.Read the rest of the story at the Homeroom blog at the U.S. Department of Education website.

by Arianna ProtheroA Michigan lawmaker’s push to regulate home schooling in the wake of a horrific case of child abuse is stoking anew a broader debate over the rights of parents to educate their children at home with little oversight from school and government officials.Like Michigan, few states obligate home-schooled students to meet regularly with mandatory reporters—people such as doctors, certified teachers, or clergy members—who might catch signs of abuse and report it, according to the advocacy and research group Coalition for Responsible Home Education.Read the rest of the story at Education Week.

by Maureen SullivanCarly Fiorina, the former CEO and chairman of Hewlett-Packard, today announced her run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. She has never held public office and calls her run a “return to citizen government.” She pokes fun at her undergraduate degree from Stanford in medieval history and philosophy but says it comes in handy when she wants to poke holes in President Obama’s comparison of ISIS terrorism with the Crusades.Read the rest of the story on Forbes.

edCircuit conducts a Skype interview with Michelle Herczog, president of the National Council for the Social Studies.  Herczog talks about the importance of this subject area, the latest NAEP results in social studies, and the C3 Framework for Social Studies Standards.