Topic - Education Today

President Obama Grants Waivers to 10 States for No Child Left Behind Act

By Blog Editor Susan Wells

Yesterday, President Barack Obama gave 10 states a waiver from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) 2001 Act. It was a bipartisan federal law signed by President George W. Bush on Jan. 8, 2002 that was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The ESEA was enacted in 1965 and reauthorized in 1994. It was the federal government’s flagship aid program for disadvantaged students. The No Child Left Behind Act came at a time when the public was highly concerned about education. It was designed to drive improvements in student achievement and to hold states more accountable for student progress.

NCLB worked to help disadvantaged students and touched every public school in America while expanding the federal government’s role in education. The goal was to get students up to reading and math standards by 2014 by building accountability into the education system through standardized testing. If schools did not show progress, they would face sanctions.

Since its inception, NCLB has been under fire in the education community. Some high-performing schools began failing to meet set

Reaching a Communication Balance – Best practices for Parent-Teacher Communication

- By Guest Blogger Carissa Rogers and VolunteerSpot.com

What do parents and teachers have in common?

We want what’s best for our kids…and we’re busy! Parents and teachers don’t get to spend much time together,  plus the teacher is out numbered, easily having 50-60 class parents!

Building a strong parent-teacher relationship can be challenging. However, the closer the connection between teachers and parents, the better our kids are going to perform. These communication best practices help parents and teachers strike a balance and work together for a great year!

Douglas County Vouchers – Student Choice or Protecting Public Taxpayer Funded Education?

By Blog Editor Susan Wells

There is a fight going on in Douglas County, Colorado. Not over school lunches, school hours or even the amount of homework assigned.

The fight is over a parent’s right to choose vs how taxpayer money is spent.

Let’s not forget, this issue is also about kids and their families getting caught in politics.

Last year, the Douglas County Schools approved a school voucher program, the first of its kind in Colorado. The voucher program gave parents the ability to choose the right school for their child. If Dougco wasn’t able to provide for and meet the needs of a student, parents were able to take some of the money allocated for their child’s public education and spend it at the school of their choice, including private or religious schools.

The district spends about $6,000 for each student per year, and the district offered “scholarships” of $4,575 to use at a private school. Families would receive four checks during the school year either covering the cost of tuition at their chosen private school or 75% of what the district would have spent if the child attended class in

The Big Brain Club Teaches Kids that Smart is Cool

By Blog Editor Susan Wells

Peer pressure is a state of being and survival for school age children. Kids deal with daily pressure to have the right clothes, say the right things and own the right possessions. The pressure bounces off the charts when kids reach junior high.

No one wants to be singled out as “the smart kid” in middle school. You want to be cool, blend in and not receive the “nerd” label.

That’s where Dom Testa, Denver young adult author and radio personality, and the Big Brain Club step in. They want kids to be proud of their intelligence and not feel the need to dumb down to fit in. They tell kids “Smart is Cool.” Now that’s a message we at Steve Spangler Science can get behind.

Photo Courtesy Clayton Jenkins

After working with kids for over 20 years, Testa noticed a silent epidemic of intellectual peer pressure – or kids dumbing down to be considered popular. The Big Brain Club was created in 2003 as an online

The Best Teachers Make Learning Memorable

By Blog Editor Susan Wells

As the summer begins to wind down, parents begin to trek to the stores with supply lists in hand and the summer learning break turns to talk about our education system.

What do teachers do over their summer break? Some take to the classroom to do a little learning themselves. Some of the best of the best travel to Denver for Science in the Rockies, a 3-day hands-on science class taught to teachers by our very own Steve Spangler.

Over 100 teachers from across the country (and a few from across the globe) came to learn how to squeeze a little science, a little laughter and a little engagement into their classrooms this next school year.

As testing pressures increase, budgets shrink and class sizes grow, how do teachers motivate and cultivate learning and thinking inside and out of their classroom?

Preschool is all about hands-on learning – tactiles, imaginative play, color mixing and science centers. But what happens when they trek off to elementary school?

At our elementary school, science and social studies rotate. Two weeks for science, while social studies take a break, then