schools

High schools with bank branches, ATMs and tellers to help students withdraw money? Can we trust teenagers with these just down the hall from chem lab? I gave it some thought last week when I went to pick up my cousin Cate, who I blogged about recently regarding her pondering the merits of public...

Last night, I had a devastating conversation with one of my favorite dads, about kindergarten. It started innocently enough. "Do you think test scores matter?" he asked. He has a little boy -- friend since (practically) conception to my second son -- entering kindergarten in the fall. This is the...

There is nothing more depressing than those beat-up, decrepit portable buildings that schools across the country use for classrooms or offices. Most of these trailers on blocks don't meet modern construction standards. That's because many are decades old, in use well beyond their accepted lifespan....

Remember Schoolhouse Rock!? Meet Flocabulary, a program that teaches science, Shakespeare, SAT words and ancient civilization through hip-hop. The music, developed by producers who have worked with Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige, is the reason students take it seriously -- it's used in more than...

Box Tops For Education is a concept that has helped American schools to earn more than $300 million in the past 12 years. The idea is to save the box tops from participating General Mills products and send them to the school of your choice. The program is open to any accredited public, private...

A recent episode of Speaking of Faith on NPR discussed children's spiritual development and the guest, a rabbi, noted that schools do a very good job of teaching children to be "workers and consumers" (but not much else). A little 20-minute online video could very well change that, if a story in...

Raising money for causes or friends in need is nothing new. This basic idea has existed practically forever in the offline world, with fundraising drives, bowl-a-thons and charity dinners. But with the rise of social networks, our "friend-base" has grown from our co-workers and neighbors to an...

Over the past year the economic downturn has created plenty of hardships for our schools. With increased costs, reduced funding from the government and a lack of public support for levies; schools are working to find new ways to meet budgets without sacrificing their quality of education.So far...

When the times get tough, it's time to get creative. When administrators slashed his school's supply budget, California Calculus teacher Tom Farber found himself in a bind. All of his quizzes, tests, and exams added up to $500 in copying expenses -- almost $200 over his allotted paper budget. A...

Will the great recession of 2008, result in school children spending less hours in school? Due to record fuel prices and the mortgage crisis, school districts have less funds to meet budgets. As a result, some are fewer daily bus routes, the loss of field trips, and shorter school weeks. school...