K-12

Los Angeles Unified School District will require students who are physically in class to be vaccinated starting this fall, but it’s creating up to six new virtual schools that could enroll 15,000 kids if necessary.

With help from his computer science teacher, a recent graduate of Deering High School in Maine created an app that has caught on in local schools and received a major financial investment from Faria Education Group.

The Gula Tech Foundation awarded the Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory, whose “capture the flag” competitions challenge high school or college students to use hacking tools and coding skills to solve puzzles.

A literacy campaign by the California Department of Education and Wisconsin-based Renaissance Learning has yielded impressive results, leading state Superintendent Tony Thurmond to extend the partnership.

The Kearns Academy of Computer and Information Sciences has seen growing interest in its high-tech classes on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, humanoid robotics, space exploration and smart transportation.

The 13th annual INTERalliance TechOlympics event will feature 38 breakout sessions, 10 competitions, 11 workshops and a three-day, innovation-focused hackathon to acquaint students with the regional technology industry.

Lawmakers introduced a bill last week to require the Georgia Department of Education to find contractors who could provide technology that can filter obscene materials and notify administrators when students access them.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers have introduced a bill that would appropriate $45 million to the state Public Education Department to develop a cybersecurity program for schools over a three-year period.

To promote alternative, less expensive pathways to in-demand careers, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced new investments in community colleges, dual enrollment, apprenticeship programs, educator resources and other programs.

The online tutoring company counts about 100 school districts as clients, many of which are looking to remote academic support to help students make up learning loss as money pours in from state and federal relief bills.

The Maryland district has seen waitlists at its schools shrink since last August as vaccines, loneliness or academic struggles motivated some students to stick with in-person classes, but interest still exceeds capacity.

Staff at Carroll County Public Schools in Maryland have proposed expanding the district’s world language offerings by having teachers lead online classes that students at other schools could access remotely.

The editorial board of the Buffalo News implores New York state lawmakers to set aside funding and other resources to help school districts, including rural ones, prepare for cyber threats such as ransomware.

The Indiana Department of Education’s transparency tool shows how locally developed spending plans are putting to use three rounds of federal ESSER funding, as well as competitive state grants.

Seeing the popularity of its hotline and video chat options last year to help students struggling with homework after-hours, the Ohio school district is contracting with TutorMe for 24/7 support in more subject areas.

K-12 districts in the Colorado Springs area are planning more STEM-intensive lessons in elementary schools, updating course pathways to college and expanding the range of subjects that incorporate STEM into curricula.

Seven years after launching Boom Learning, former attorney Mary Oemig and her husband Eric, formerly a Washington lawmaker, have seen it grow rapidly during remote instruction. The tool is temporarily free for new users.

Operational changes forced by COVID-19 proved schools can shift gears when they have to. Given all that educators have learned about the limits of one-size-fits-all instruction, now is a time for exploring alternatives.