K-12

A pair of bills expected to be introduced to the Ohio House and Senate next week propose to make computer science a graduation requirement for all high schoolers by 2027-28.

A tip to the Sandy Hook Promise Say Something Anonymous Reporting System prevented a mass shooting this month at Mooresville High School in Indiana. The system allows students to submit tips via app, website or hotline.

The National Association for Amateur Radio hosted a four-day training event to show educators how to download weather satellite images, use digital decoding tools and use radios and antennas to find signals.

A new competition from the National School Boards Association and the Center for Digital Education honored three school districts this month for their innovative approach to K-12 technology integration.

Labor unions successfully argued that the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Personnel Management violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by giving DOGE access to citizens’ personal information.

The editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette argues that Pennsylvania's cyber charter schools are failing students while siphoning money from public schools, and they need accountability.

Law enforcement is still investigating last year's phishing attack on Grand Forks Public Schools, but they recovered more than half the $2.2 million stolen, and the loss has not impacted funding for day-to-day operations.

The Alabama State Department of Education and the nonprofit Be Pro Be Proud launched a mobile workforce development tour, bringing virtual and augmented reality job site simulations to students throughout the state.

Racine Unified School District in Wisconsin is offering free credit monitoring and identity protection services to employees after a Dec. 13 cybersecurity incident. Forensic investigators said students were not impacted.

In a survey of 300 students, 32 percent of high schoolers reported pursuing a STEAM career directly because of the Starbase program. That doesn’t include students who were already interested in science.

In her State of the State address this week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to call for state legislation to address smartphone distractions in schools, but local control remains important to many superintendents.

While many teachers and administrators have reported positive changes after phone bans, students found ways to bypass those rules by slipping calculators or dummy phones into pouches, or switching to smartwatches.

A school board in New Jersey adopted a policy prohibiting its own members from using smart devices during board meetings, aiming to lead by example after adopting phone restrictions for students last September.

A student group at Denham Springs High School won the national Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition with a project involving sensors to monitor Lake Maurepas and relay data to a public app.

With ed-tech resources removed from the U.S. Department of Education website, experts said state and district leaders may have to rely more on each other and national education groups for future guidance.

Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools in Virginia are back online after a Feb. 9 cyber incident that precluded virtual learning during a snowstorm last week.

More than $20,000 from the Maryland State Department of Education will go toward gifted and talented education programs, including game-based learning software designed to develop analytical thinking skills.

While a proposed bill addressing smartphones in schools makes its way through the Legislature, West Virginia teachers attest to the seriousness of the problem and the benefits of parting students from their phones.