K-12

Ed-tech developers have released a slew of programs in recent weeks to detect AI-generated writing, hoping to address widespread concern among educators about students plagiarizing answers from AI chatbot programs.

The Central Rivers Area Education Agency convened superintendents, IT specialists, business managers and public relations staff to discuss ways to prepare for cyber attacks against K-12 school districts.

Planning to convert its entire bus fleet to electric by 2030, Boston Public Schools this month will put 20 new electric buses on the roads and collect data on route efficiency, operations and climate and health effects.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay, and optimizing it for the classroom will require a careful accounting of its implications, both good and bad: for tutoring, assessments, data security and other functions.

School threats aren't new, but their dispersal through technology has necessitated innovations to catch culprits. Pennsylvania's Safe2Say Something tip line, for example, has received nearly 83,000 tips since early 2019.

K-12 schools have long relied on homework, and in some cases competition between students, to prompt the hard work of learning and processing information. But it’s possible these tactics do more harm than good.

With enrollment plummeting since the onset of the pandemic, Portland Public Schools is closing its Online Learning Academy in June as a cost-cutting measure. Its enrollment has dwindled to 225 students across 13 grades.

An intergovernmental collaboration will grant all 80 school districts in Los Angeles County free access to Hazel Health’s virtual mental health program, including one-on-one therapy sessions.

A high-tech educational tool at the Dayton Funk Music Hall of Fame teaches music history with custom hardware that allows participants to interact with software by waving a hand over three touchless motion sensors.

Education advocates and researchers say recent increases in federal funding for the Institute of Education Sciences could help further the evaluation and development of new instructional tools and methods.

Following a 2020 state law targeting illegal bus-passers, safety tech company BusPatrol says it has equipped 1,000 school buses in Pennsylvania with cameras that captured just under 8,000 violations since August 2022.

A nonprofit advocacy group says Pennsylvania’s 14 cyber charter schools held a combined $164 million in unassigned fund balances in the 2020-21 school year, essentially stockpiling funds that should be spent on students.

The ransomware group Royal sent an extortion letter to Tucson Unified School District earlier this week following a successful cyber attack. Teachers are continuing in-person lessons even as some systems remain offline.

Responding to concerns about students using chatbot programs like ChatGPT to do their homework for them, OpenAI developed a classifier tool that can, with limited accuracy, identify text generated by an AI chatbot.

B3K, a workforce development initiative between aerospace companies and Kern County schools and colleges, will share data to inform schools when positions become available and what skills or certifications they require.

A dual credit program at Daviess County Public Schools has experienced growth and success in the last five years with offerings that include advanced placement, technical courses, coding and an engineering academy.

Funded by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, the University of Missouri will connect to the Wi-Fi servers of 26 rural school districts, scan them for potential threats and prepare schools to respond.

Identity and access management of users in K-12 districts, including students, teachers and administrative staff, can have many benefits in terms of cybersecurity and time saved creating and deleting profiles.