K-12

With a huge investment from A-Street — $100 million for scaling up innovative student learning materials, plus $50 million to make A-Street a minority stockholder — Great Minds PBC is poised for growth.

A camp for sixth through eighth graders at the university's Ruth Patrick Science Education Center covers a range of topics from password and file protection to malware, hackers, coding and robotics.

A Texas school district will use a software-powered audiovisual system that includes a laser projector, movement detection camera, sound system and automated lights to turn a gym wall into an interactive panel.

Led by Code.org, hundreds of leaders in major companies, nonprofits and schools signed an open letter pressing state governments and education leaders to make computer science a foundational part of K-12 curriculums.

Metal detectors made by CEIA USA, calibrated to see the metal density of guns and large knives, are being installed at West Virginia's Morgantown High, University High, Clay-Battelle and a technical education center.

The IT department at Kingsley Area High School discovered a technical misalignment with the grade-calculating program PowerSchool made 2,141 semester grades over a 3.5-year period higher than they should be.

STEM Fuse and Construct 3 have partnered to launch a new advanced-level “GAME:IT” curriculum, geared for students in grades 10 through 12, that covers everything from physics to design, marketing and monetization.

A Pennsylvania district is building a new school focused on science, technology, engineering, math and medicine, with a math/science merged block period and more emphasis on technical literacy and project-based learning.

In the second of a two-part series, career school technologist Kipp Bentley considers challenges that lie ahead for ed tech, including the need to manage screen time, make change equitable and teach media literacy.

The New York school district seeks public input after the pandemic necessitated changes to its three-year technology plan, aiming to codify its policies for a 1:1 student device program and best practices for technology.

Working with the fintech company BondLink, the district has launched a website to increase transparency into how bond dollars are being spent and to track investor interest for possible future reference.

In the wake of a cybersecurity breach over the weekend, an Iowa school district is putting programs on hold while investigators try to ascertain whether the incident was a ransomware attack or a data breach.

To get discounted rates and save member districts the trouble of doing their own procurement, the Northern Indiana Educational Service Center is working with LINQ to implement cloud-based nutrition software.

The Iowa school district this week suspended summer programming for 750 students, on short notice and with scant details, while school officials worked with third-party cybersecurity experts to review a breach.

The ed tech company, which has created its own VR headsets, announced a learning platform for K-12 that can be accessed by any device and brings students into a virtual environment for lessons and field trips.

Some Alabama school districts are planning to install vape sensors in restrooms after witnessing a dramatic increase in students vaping when they returned to in-person classes after the pandemic.

Panelists in a session at the ISTELive 22 annual conference emphasized the importance of advocacy groups, and how supporting them can lead to major dollars going to schools and ed tech through legislation.

A study by the Pennsylvania Charter Performance Center found enrollment in online charter schools surged 59 percent in the 2020-21 school year. Boyertown School District estimated this exodus added $5.4 million to its costs.