Education News

Virginia Board of Education President David M. Foster is bringing his around-the-state listening tour to Northern Virginia on Thursday, with a stop in Fauquier County.

Foster’s goal is to visit all eight of Virginia’s educational administrative regions by the end of the year. He and board member Winsome Sears will host a forum on education issues Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Kettle Run High School in Nokesville.

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All that time cutting paper and tracing shapes helps young pupils master math later on, according to new research.

What is the most important problem facing American children today?

According to the Academic Pediatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is the effects of poverty on the health and well being of young people. But, they concede, there is no sustained focus on childhood poverty, or a unified pediatric voice speaking on the problem, or a comprehensive approach to solving it.

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Congressional Republicans may eye changes to the National Science Foundation’s grant review process.

The Fairfax County School Board decided Monday to postpone a review of the district’s criteria for school renovations.

The board opted to delay the review of the so-called renovations queue until November, after the new superintendent, Karen Garza, begins her tenure.

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Andrew Zuckerman will serve as Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr’s new chief of staff starting June 17.

Zuckerman is an associate superintendent in Prince George’s County public schools and will replace Brian Edwards. Edwards has been chief of staff since October 2007, but added duties overseeing the school system’s communications department when the chief communications person left in 2010.

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Prince George’s County NAACP officials said Tuesday that they support County Executive Rushern L. Baker’s school takeover plan and will not work with opponents to block the measure from taking effect next month.

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Catholic University announced Tuesday that a charitable foundation has pledged $4 million to the university’s school of nursing to fund scholarships for students in financial need.

The donation comes from the Bedford Falls Foundation Charitable Trust, a foundation established by William E. Conway Jr., co-chief executive officer and managing director of the Carlyle Group, and his wife, Joanne.

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Superintendent Joshua P. Starr on Tuesday announced the first Montgomery County “Innovation Schools” to pilot an initiative for improving student achievement.

The following were designated as Innovation Schools:

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A New York high school in Cooperstown -- home of the National Baseball Hall of Home -- is changing its sports nickname from the Redskins to the Hawkeyes. As a result, the Oneida Indian Nation is giving the school $10,000 to buy new jerseys.

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Incumbent James Lander won the Democratic endorsement for the Arlington School Board in a very close primary campaign.

Lander beat out economist and children’s book author Barbara Kanninen, by 47 votes in a two-day caucus that ended Saturday.

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The D.C. Council’s education committee stepped into a looming fight over school boundaries last week when it voted unanimously to ensure that parents get at least a year’s notice before boundary changes take effect.

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The Louisiana Senate overwhelmingly rejected an attempt Monday to repeal a 2008 law that permits public school science teachers to use material outside of the adopted textbook in the classroom.

Federal aid cuts are forcing some of the publicly funded preschool centers to scale back on student slots and reduce staffing.

Ordinarily, a professor would worry if only one out of every 10 students passed a class. But University of Virginia historian Philip Zelikow seems enormously pleased with such results from the course he just finished teaching on the history of the modern world.

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The American Association of University Professors, the largest organization of U.S. academics, stepped into the fray between New York University and its faculty in Italy.    

(See Part 2 below)

The following fourth grade science quiz for a unit called "Dinosaurs: Genesis and the Gospel" has been making the rounds on Facebook and elsewhere on the Internet, and it turns out it is real.

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How involved in your life are your parents? How much do they step in to “help” you with your schoolwork, social life, college applications, hobbies or sports, or anything else? How often do they try to solve your problems? Do you like having their help, or do you find it burdensome?