No SAT or ACT? No Problem...

At Smith College and Wake Forest University, students need not worry if they haven't taken their SATs. These two institutions join a growing number of small liberal-arts colleges that have decided to make these admissions test optional for applicants due to their concern of the validity of standardized tests to predict academic success.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/education/27sat.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Dept of Education Outlines Plans to Guarantee Student Loans

Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, announced a plan, on Wednesday, that commits the federal government to buy college loans for the upcoming school year as well as ensure that students will have access to financing, despite troubled credit markets. Experts agree that the move will work to significantly stabilize the college student loan market.

Read more of this article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/education/22loan.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Girls' Gain Not at Boys' Expense

The American Association of University Women released a report on Tuesday that surmises the gains made by girls have not cost their boy counterparts in the classroom. Echoing a report released two years ago by the American Council on Education and other groups, that while girls have graduated from high school and college at a higher rate than boys, the largest disparities in educational achievement are between different races, ethnicities, and income levels.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/education/20girls.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

MIcrosoft to Join One Laptop per Child Group

A years-long disagreement between Microsoft and the education project "One Laptop per Child" is fundamentally over - the organization will soon bring Windows to their computers. Microsoft had long resisted joining the project because most of the organizations laptop were based off of a Linux operating system that is a freely distributed alternative to Windows. Though the idea is to get the laptops into the hands of children in developing nations, usually it is the ministries of education that purchase the computers.

Check out the rest of the article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/technology/16laptop.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Virtual Schools Becoming a Popular Option

Enrollment in online courses, last year, grew 22 times the level of enrollment in 2000 according to the North American Council for Online Learning. This report was quickly followed up by a paper from the Hoover Institute (a conservative Stanford University think tank) projecting that half of the courses in grades 9 through 12 will be delivered online.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0514/p03s08-usgn.html

Yearbooks Become a Memory

Yearbook sales have plummeted down by 80% in teacher Peggy Miller's tenure as yearbook advisor at Alief Hastings High School. Several schools in the Houston Independent School District have eliminated the creation of yearbooks all together. Though no one tracks yearbook sales nationally, many believe with the advent of social networking websites, that the popularity is diminishing.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5774505.html

Sanctions by No Child Left Behind

Four hundred eleven school districts across twenty-seven states failed to meet the standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act and now face sanctions and intervention by the federal government. The act, meant to shine a light on inequity in the nation's education system, will now affect an already shrinking budget for these school systems.

Check out the entire article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-05-10-school-districts-sanctions_N.htm