AM News: Romney Denies Planned Education Cuts

In Debate, Obama Says Romney Would Cut School Funding AP:  President Barack Obama says Republican rival Mitt Romney favors cutting a fifth of the Education Department's budget while Romney is countering that Obama directed $90 billion to so-called "green jobs" – a sum, he says, that would hire 2 million teachers.

Romney: 'I'm Not Going to Cut Education Funding' PoliticsK12: "I'm not going to cut education funding. I don't have any plan to cut education funding and—and grants that go to people going to college...I'm not planning on making changes there," said Romney, who for the first time specifically addressed education spending—something he's been continually attacked on by the Obama campaign.

Karen Lewis, Street Fighter Chicago Magazine: A Halloween mask of Rahm Emanuel’s face was tacked onto a shelf in front of Lewis’s desk, staring straight at her and leaving little doubt that she considers the mayor her chief opponent. 

Education Economy" Continues to Suffer in Pennsylvania Statewatch: In a new survey about the financial health of Keystone State school districts, the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officers and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators report that while the labor market for Keystone State public school workers isn't as disastrous as it used to be, the numbers will still cause some school funding advocates to gulp.

Some Schools Actually Want Students To Play With Their Smartphones In Class NPR: For three years, Oyster River Middle School in Durham, N.H., has been letting students use their touch-screen devices in class. The kids learn how to make presentations on iPads, how to keep track of their homework on a smartphone, and what they should and shouldn't post on social media sites.

Comments

[Bruce]

Re smartphones in class: the United World College of South East Asia might be the best school in the world. I have been in contact with UWCSEA during the development of One World Secondary School. A few years back, the school started a 21st century teaching and learning initiative that recognizes the reality of the world our children are moving into and works with that reality and the new skills and devices the students want to bring to school, rather than work against it. The kind of learners we want our children to be, their competences and profile, requires that we prioritize, rather than discourage, "the innovative, interactive use of tools such as information technology" (from "Learning for the 21st Century", our school's description of the competences One World Learners should develop), so Durham is on the right track.