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Los Angeles Unified iPad comes to San Fernando Valley school
Having been part of a two-month trial run last year, the students at the arts-based high school could justifiably have been blasé about Thursday’s rollout of the Los Angeles Unified iPad project at their San Fernando campus. Instead, the seniors in teacher Faraaz Qureshi’s homeroom excitedly exchanged tips and offered advice as they tackled their first assignment — snapping “selfies” with the iPad’s camera, then embellishing their portraits to create a collage reflecting their personalities and passions. LA Daily News
Should ‘Common Core’ override common sense?
Commentary: Here’s some more wackiness in the Common Sense department: I don’t give my grade schooler multi-hundred dollar toys and I bet you don’t either. They drop things, they break them, they lose them, they forget them, they enroll them in snowball-substitution fights. They are young kids and they are not sufficiently responsible to be held accountable for expensive toys and so … I don’t force them to be thus-responsible. It’s just asking for trouble and guilt and hard feelings and lost money. City Watch
Bill already tinkers with school funding formula
Legislative leaders and Gov. Jerry Brown struck a landmark agreement in June over restructuring state funding of K-12 schools – but lawmakers are already at work on changes. AB 344 by state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, would enhance accountability requirements of the Local Control Funding Formula specifically as it relates to educational services provided to English learners. SI&A Cabinet Report
State and locals to U.S. Senate: rewrite No Child Left Behind Act
A collection of big-name state and local government groups really, really wants U.S. Senate leaders to bring a bill to the floor to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and soon. Ed Week
Later start to school day helps, Education Secretary says
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that starting the school day later in the morning could help teenagers get the most from their classroom time, touting a recent study showing that a later start to the school day makes students refreshed — and that well-rested students are ready students. Ed News
Study finds no link between teen aggression and video games
New research has found that playing violent video games does not cause teens with symptoms of depression or attention deficit disorder to become aggressive bullies or delinquents. According to researchers, the impact of violent video games such as Mortal Kombat, Halo and Grand Theft Auto (GTA) has been overstated. – See more at: http://www.educationnews.org/technology/study-finds-no-link-between-teen-aggression-and-video-games. Ed News