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Obama to announce $240M in new pledges for STEM education

EdCircuit StaffMarch 23, 2015055 views

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is highlighting private-sector efforts to encourage more students from underrepresented groups to pursue education in science, technology, engineering and math.At the White House Science Fair on Monday, Obama will announce more than $240 million in pledges to boost the study of those fields, known as STEM. This year’s fair is focused on diversity.Obama will say the new commitments have brought total financial and material support for these programs to $1 billion. Read the rest of the story at U-T San Diego

Capital: Poll – Voters say separate ethics, education from budget

EdCircuit StaffMarch 23, 2015041 views

By Jimmy Vielkind ALBANY—Voters offered a mixed appraisal of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s various budget proposals, but a new poll finds a majority believe he should separate his proposed changes to the state’s ethics and education plans from the $141.6 billion spending plan currently under negotiation with lawmakers.The Siena Research Institute found 56 percent of the 800 voters surveyed wanted to see the education plans dropped, and 54 percent wanted to see ethics addressed as a separate bill.Cuomo, a Democrat, has said he won’t approve a budget that isn’t linked to a five-point ethics plan that includes forcing lawmakers to disclose their law and business clients. He’s also yoked a proposed $1.1 billion increase in school aid to changes to teacher evaluation and tenure laws, an increase in the amount of charter schools in the state, the extension of tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants—known as the Dream Act—and a tax credit on donations to private and parochial school scholarship funds as well as public schools.Read the rest of the story at CapitalPhoto Credit: Comme Sisyphe by Honoré Daumier (displayed in the Brooklyn Museum) Photo of lithograph on newsprint courtesy of Wikipedia

Judge Denies Education Groups’ Involvement In Student Data Case

EdCircuit StaffMarch 22, 2015054 views

By Danielle Nadler Leesburg Today S chool employee advocate groups will not be allowed to intervene in a Lansdowne parent’s case to force the state to disclose student testing data, a Richmond City Circuit Court judge has ruled.The Virginia Education Association and the Loudoun Education Association argue that the release of Student Growth Percentiles that measure student improvement across grade levels could unfairly target specific teachers.But Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr. ruled Monday that the organizations lack standing to join the case, state education officials said. He also turned down requests from the Virginia School Boards Association and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents to intervene. Read the rest of the story at Leesburg Today

Sweet Briar closure not a sign of single-sex higher ed’s demise

EdCircuit StaffMarch 21, 2015042 views

Sweet Briar College, an all-girls school in Virginia, recently announced its closure, sparking debates about single-sex education.

eCampus News: Website aims to replace community colleges

EdCircuit StaffMarch 20, 2015017 views

Ron Bethke, from eCampus News, discusses what the re-launched Study.com aims to accomplish for education and community colleges.

Superintendents uncertain on impact of Alabama charter school law

EdCircuit StaffMarch 20, 2015025 views

Governor Bentley signed a bill supporting charter schools in Alabama, but superintendents still do not know what the bill means for their school systems.