Oregon Will Permit Use of ‘Spell Check’ on Writing Exams

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Oregon students will be allowed to use the computer "spell check" function when taking riting—I mean, WRITING—tests next month, the Oregonian newspaper reports. State officials say the change is an opportunity to better assess students' writing skills and focus less on typos, according to the story. But some state legislators, upon ...

CIA Director Urges Stronger Focus on Foreign Languages

Friday, December 10th, 2010

At a national summit yesterday, Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta called for a strong national commitment to ensuring that Americans master foreign languages, saying the issue is vital to U.S. security and competitiveness. "A significant cultural change needs to occur," he said, according to a CIA press release. "And that ...

U.S. Students Trail In International Test Scores.

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

American high school students are lagging behind their global peers in test scores, recording average marks in most subject areas, according to results released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education. The test, called the Program for International Student Assessment, has been administered every three years since 2000 to 15-year-old students ...

College Board Revamps AP Latin and Spanish Lit

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

You've heard the mantra "fewer, higher, clearer" when it comes to standards, right? The College Board has revamped its Advanced Placement Latin and AP Spanish Literature and Culture courses to focus more deeply on narrower goals. The redesigns, announced today, are intended in part to "shift the instructional emphasis from breadth ...

Framing Your Image

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Blogger, Foursquare, Digg. There are endless ways to express thoughts, ideas and experiences on the Internet. Tayler, my best friend of 19 years, currently tweets for @nasahistory. After several weeks of back-and-forth conversation, she successfully convinced me to open a ...

SCOE’s Dry Creek Campus Hosts Family Holiday Celebration

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

A group of students from one of the Sacramento County Office of Education's (SCOE) community school campuses helped spread the holiday spirit by volunteering at the annual SCOE Special Education Program family celebration on December 3. The event, held at Dry Creek Elementary School in Rio Linda, ...