Often when I'm searching on the Internet for a school district Web site, I  come up with a bunch of Real Estate sites and aggregation sites that tell you the test scores and characteristics of a school district, but not how to actually go to the district's own Web site.

 The National Institute for Early Education Research wants to see more math and science taught in preschool.

Yet opportunities for young children to learn math are often limited to memorizing the number words in sequence up to 20 and counting objects. Some teachers also encourage children to identify patterns or basic shapes in the environment, such as squares and circles. Similarly, opportunities to explore science concepts are provided occasionally but are rarely available on a daily basis or integrated into daily activities.

I'm posting this here to make these stories more searchable, but these links are all available under  Special Projects to the right.

Akron Public Schools spent more than five years designing a $14.5 million math and science middle school where students would learn in ways dramatically different from traditional classrooms.
Every detail of the new school, which opened in the fall of 2009 in a temporary location, was planned to grab and keep a student's interest by solving real-world problems and exploring the concepts underlying mathematical formulas rather than just memorizing them for a test.
Years of planning, millions of tax dollars and the contributions of practically every significant public and private institution in Akron are riding on the effectiveness of these methods.
What do they actually look like and feel like in the classroom?
The Akron Beacon Journal, with the assistance of a fellowship from the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, explored that question in a periodic series in 2009.
The first group of stories is a 5-part narrative account of the school's first big project.
The second group of stories, which ran in the summer of 2009, explores project-based learning from the point of view of students, teachers and parents.
The third group of stories provides some background.

In a new national report out today from the Data Quality Campaign on how well states collect data to track student achievement from grade to grade all the way from early childhood through college, Ohio has developed 9 out of 10 "Essential Elements of a robust longitudinal data system."  One more than Pennsylvania and Indiana, one less than Kentucky.

Like most states, however, Ohio doesn't have a data system that allows two-way communication between the K-12 system and the college/university system.

New York Times today has interesting story on making expensive college educations more relevant to actually getting, you know, a job. The story paints a gloomy picture for the future of philosophy and classics majors, but also notes that employers aren't demanding that college grads be career specialists. 

The American School Counselor Association has named Stanton Middle School counselor Laurie Knuth among the top eight in the country, choosing her from a field of 250 nominations from around the country for "Counselor of the Year."

P.S. Next week, Feb. 1-5, is National School Counseling Week.

We'll have a brief on this tomorrow, but the scoop goes to Eric Mansfield at wkyc.com.

Ingram Myers, 50, attended a disciplinary hearing Wednesday morning to discuss the incident that occured at Ellet High School.

Most parents know it's important to read to their children and many make it a bedtime ritual. But can we make math a daily ritual too? We do at our house -- just enough during breakfast to keep it fun for my kindergarten-age daughter.  This proposal appeared in the Washington Post in November and bears repeating. See also this entry by the author on the Early Ed Watch blog.

National Council on Teacher Quality's 2009 yearbook out today gives Ohio D grades in

The Ohio ACT State Organization and ACT on Tuesday recognized 35 Ohio high schools from which at least one student in the class of 2009 earned the maximum composite score on the ACT college admissions and placement exam.

Akron Public Schools and the teachers union have agreed to apply for federal stimulus money targeted at education reforms, a move that could bring millions of dollars to the Akron district over the next four years.

The list of Ohio residents who were degree candidates for The University of Akron's 2009 fall commencement.

The Northwest school district is in such a deep financial hole that even if it passed a 15-mill property tax levy, it still wouldn't be able to restore high school busing.

Hatton Elementary School in Akron's Ellet area gets good parent turnout for activities. In fact, too good. The school is so cramped, events often must take place in shifts.

The Stark County Government Leadership Academy is looking for some leadership potential. The group is accepting applications for the six-week program.

Katherine Rawson, an assistant professor of psychology at Kent State, will receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers today in Washington, D.C.

The Akron school board seated three new members on Monday and asked a former board member to come back for two years.

Voters in only two area school districts will have a reason to go to the polls next month. The Nordonia Hills and Streetsboro districts are asking voters to approve additional property taxes for operations Feb. 2.

In the 1970s, Edgar L. Garrigan Jr. played a key role in shaping Summit County's form of government: an elected county executive and an elected county council governed by a charter.

Barber elementary school will begin the new year Monday in a new building back in its old eastside neighborhood.