 |
New York Changes How It Tests for Lead in Schools’ Water, and Finds More Metal
When experts said last year that New York City’s method of testing water in public schools for lead could hide dangerously high levels of the metal, officials at first dismissed the concerns. They insisted that the city’s practice of running the water for two hours the night before taking samples would not distort results.
Still, the city changed its protocol, and the results from a new round o... |
| Read More
|
 |
 |
Obama's Legacy on K-12 One of Bold Achievements, Fierce Blowback
President Barack Obama entered the White House in 2009 amid the wreckage of the Great Recession and with education high on his list of domestic priorities.
He scored some early game-changing policy victories on teacher quality, academic standards, and school turnarounds during his first term, but faced a big backlash in his second. That reaction threatened the longevity of his signature initiat... |
| Read More
|
|
 |
Kentucky Suit Highlights Free-Speech Fight
The confidential informant had an explosive tip for the University of Kentucky’s campus newspaper: An associate professor of entomology had been accused of groping students, and the college, after an investigation, had permitted him to leave quietly.
On the trail of a hot story, the paper, The Kentucky Kernel, requested files from the university. Officials turned over some documents, but they c... |
| Read More
|
|
 |
Why some schools don't celebrate Halloween
DES MOINES — In many Iowa schools, Halloween is a holiday that isn't welcome.
Schools have been nixing the celebration since the '90s, according to longtime educators and Register news archives.
Schools in Des Moines, West Des Moines, Johnston and other communities are opting instead for more neutral "fall parties" — without the controversy and hoopla of Halloween.
It's also a policy that... |
| Read More
|
|
 |
Teenagers 'checking mobile phones in night'
Almost half (45%) of young people are checking their mobile phones after they have gone to bed, a poll suggests.
A survey of 2,750 11- to 18-year-olds found one in 10 admitted checking their mobile phones for notifications at least 10 times a night.
The poll was carried out by Digital Awareness UK and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
The organisations warn night-time usage of mo... |
| Read More
|
|
 |
Building new schools 'must be top priority' for government
Hundreds of extra schools could have to be built in England to cope with the school population bulge, say public sector buildings specialists.
Official figures suggest there will be almost 730,000 more school age children by 2020 than there were last year.
Scape group, which advises local authorities on new buildings, says this amounts to 24,287 more classrooms.
But ministers say there is "sign... |
| Read More
|
|
 |
Brexit: LSE foreign experts 'should not advise ministers'
The London School of Economics says some of its academics have been barred from advising the Foreign Office on Brexit because they are not British.
The university said the leader of a project had been told only UK passport-holders should be involved in talks on national security and foreign trade.
But the Foreign Office said nothing had changed following Brexit.
It said it would "continue to ta... |
| Read More
|
|
 |
Narcissism 'short-lived way to popularity'
New students, in those first awkward days of making friends at university, are being told that being a narcissist only works in the short term.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow were part of an international project looking at personality types and friendships among students.
It suggested those with "excessively positive self-regard" were initially the front-runners in making friends.
Bu... |
| Read More
|
|
 |
Diamond review: Loans 'should replace' tuition fees grant
A grant covering Welsh students' tuition fees should be replaced with support for living costs instead, a review of university finance has said.
All students would receive £1,000 a year before a means tested grant, according to an expert panel led by Prof Sir Ian Diamond.
A student from a family on average income could receive £7,000 a year.
But the current £5,100 grant towards tuition fees wou... |
| Read More
|
|
 |
School seeks to block critical Ofsted report
A school has gone to the High Court to try to prevent a highly critical Ofsted report from being published.
The report is understood to criticise the school for a policy of teaching boys and girls separately and segregating them at mealtimes.
Reporting restrictions mean neither the name nor the location of the school can be revealed.
The school has the backing of its local education authority i... |
| Read More
|
|
