Black and white students score far apart on a new test of technology skills

Originally posted on Chalkbeat by Philissa Cramer The first attempt by the “nation’s report card” to measure students’ ability to think creatively and use technology found wide racial achievement gaps — and evidence that schools aren’t effectively teaching important skills. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, has long been the only way to compare student test scores in math and reading across states. In 2014, amid growing calls for testing to go beyond basic academic skills, the group added a new exam to measure students’ “technology and engineering literacy,” or their ability to solve real-world problems. The test …

More schools are online than ever before – but it’s far from perfect

Latest CoSN survey measures how far technology has spread This article was written by NICHOLE DOBO To take full advantage of all the internet has to offer, schools need to have reliable, speedy connections. When teachers don’t know if a program will crash midway through class – or work at all – they are often hesitant to use online programs to enhance lessons. In 2013, before a massive federal push to fund and support school internet upgrades, just 19 percent of public districts in the United States reported that all their schools had a speedy internet connection, according to a …

How technology helped deliver a taste of victory to a struggling Newark School

This article was written by JACKIE PUGH When Sara Neufeld wrote in The Hechinger Report last year that Newark’s Quitman Street Renew School had the greatest test score gains in reading of all 45 elementary and middle schools in Newark the prior spring, we at Education Elements saw it as triumph. Quitman Street is one of the schools that has used our blended learning models to help improve results. Our journey to personalized learning at Quitman Street Renew School began during the 2013-2014 school year. Because over 80 percent of their third and fourth graders were struggling readers, Principal Erskine …