K-12

With a mission to help future first-generation college students, the nonprofit AVID is giving member schools access to Packback’s AI-enabled writing tool, because writing can be a gateway to more advanced coursework.

Given a massive influx of personal devices in the years since COVID-19, schools are making more use of asset-management systems to keep track of inventory and plan ahead for technology audits.

The public school system's CIO Anuraag Sharma's tenure coincided with cyber attacks targeting file-transfer software MOVEit, learning management software from Illuminate Education and a personnel information application.

According to a national survey of over 1,000 13- to 17-year-olds by research firm Big Village, 44 percent of them said they're likely to use AI to do their schoolwork for them, while 60 percent consider that cheating.

A survey of students and educators at both high school and college levels found less then half of them think AI has had a positive impact on student learning, although educators seem more optimistic than students.

Students are going to use their cellphones one way or another, and trying to ban them precludes their potential usefulness as PRTs — portable research tools — that can enrich lessons and engage students in novel ways.

Addressing a recent conference for the STEM Leadership Alliance, Norwalk Public Schools Superintendent Alexandra Estrella emphasized the need to prepare students for a world in which AI will be part of daily life.

The Chicago Public Schools Board of Education approved a $1 million contract to replace X-ray machines currently in elementary and high schools that detect firearms, knives and ammunition in bags and backpacks.

The Norway-based Inspera, which expanded to the U.S. market last year, has added Crossplag’s AI Content Detector and other anti-plagiarism tools to its suite of digital assessment and remote proctoring software.

When a school or district suffers a cyber attack, informing the public avoids fueling speculation, engenders trust and helps the public understand why it makes sense for government agencies to invest in cybersecurity.

As schools across the U.S. consider banning cellphones amid a student mental health crisis, a Michigan district is weighing the need for study and deliberation against the need to make a decision before the new year begins.

A school district in Minnesota wants voters to approve a new funding stream that would bring in $10 million a year to support technology-related needs such as cybersecurity, security cameras and financial software.

According to a new report from UNESCO, "Technology in Education: A Tool on Whose Terms," it will take more than money to bridge the digital divide, and more than technology to solve the problems of contemporary education.

The nonprofit International Society for Technology in Education is developing Stretch, an AI chatbot intended to be factually reliable, by training it only on information created or approved by educators.

Nebraska's second largest school district will not allow students to use phones during class, and it's rolling out digital hall passes in high schools to track missed instructional time and limit out-of-class behavioral issues.

While it has no authority to require governments to act, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization found excessive smartphone use negatively affects student performance and emotional stability.

Toyota USA Foundation has earmarked up to $5.7 million in grants, and will work with local and national nonprofits, to close educational gaps by funding equipment, staffing, job shadowing and other STEM support programs.

U.S. schools invested heavily in Chromebooks during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they're now having to throw thousands of them away because Google built them to be impossible to update within three to six years.