CEDAR RAPIDS — Families with children in second grade at Van Buren and Harrison elementary schools had a new experience this past academic year. Students and parents at the two schools made up the inaugural class of the Zach Johnson Foundation’s Kids on Course, an after-school program with the ambition of changing the role schools play [...]

Between scorching heat earlier in the week and the imminent arrival of RAGBRAI cyclists, this didn’t seem like a good week to start school in Cedar Rapids. But an overnight storm helped keep Thursday cool, and bikes were just starting to trickle downtown as students departed at 1:30 p.m., making for a “fantastic” first day [...]

All the schools in Martelle closed a while ago. The high school shut down in 1962 and the elementary school saw its last students in 1990, sending children in this 255-person town eight miles north to Anamosa schools. But it makes more sense to Martelle resident Kim Sherman to send her three kids to Mount Vernon schools. She owns [...]

The California-based cyberculture magazine “Mondo 2000” published a photo essay in 1990 entitled “R U a Cyberpunk.” It featured a long-haired, leather-jacketed model with the latest bits of technology clipped, attached and slung from every pocket, notch and loop. Science fiction author Bruce Sterling posted a scan of the spread online , which is how it came to [...]

A group of students from Kennedy High School currently visiting Japan as part of a student exchange program discussed their trip Friday  live from their Osaka hotel.

Click the box below for the a recording of that interview.

A group of Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School students in Japan as part of an exchange program will discuss their trip live from Tokyo at 5 p.m. Friday on TheGazette.com. The students are enrolled in Japanese language classes at Kennedy and have been in Japan the last two weeks along with their teacher, Dan Carolin. [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Polk Elementary School said goodbye to its elementary students in May before relaunching as the Polk Alternative Education Center. Now three community groups are coming together — with the Cedar Rapids school district’s blessing — to bring as many as 150 of those kids and their families back to Polk before and after [...]

The Center for American Progress made headlines across the web yesterday after releasing its report claiming that children are not challenged enough by schools . Given that the report is based on surveys and interviews with students, I wonder if some of them may have confused “easy” with “boring.” Lots of cities in Michigan are financially-troubled, but NPR reports [...]

  CEDAR RAPIDS — Attending a presidential speech dressed as Abraham Lincoln is a good way to get noticed. “Abraham Lincoln is in the house,” said President Barack Obama during his campaign appearance Tuesday, July 10, 2012, at Kirkwood Community College. “My homeboy from Illinois.” He was referring to Abraham Lincoln impersonator Lance Mack, of Marion, who was hard to miss in [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Republicans are hoping to use one of President Barack Obama’s campaign tactics against him. One of the ongoing criticisms the Obama campaign has made of Republican candidate Mitt Romney is that he was involved in outsourcing American jobs overseas as governor of Massachusetts and as a partner at Bain Capital. The Republican National [...]

The Huffington Post reports that gender-segregated classes are once again gaining in popularity. There’s a battle of studies in the middle saying that doing this halps/doesn’t help student’s learning, so you’ll just have to make up your own mind. Interesting news out of Florida that the governor there is concerned the state is “overtesting” students and wants to look [...]

The New York Times takes a look at some of the ways the Obama administration has sought to mitigate the effects of the No Child Left Behind law , including the waivers that Iowa failed to receive . The Seattle Times takes a close look at a change in the city teacher’s union leadership, prompting a more collaborative approach to [...]

I hope you enjoyed your Independence Day. Here’s a bit of education-related July 4 nostalgia.  An inspiring post by Air Force Colonel Walter Lindsley on the role education played in his life and career . Schoolbook has an interesting report on a call in New York City to rescind its school cell phone ban . Why? Because it’s only being enforced in schools [...]

Remember the suggestion yesterday from AFT head Randi Weingarten to create  a bar exam for teachers ? Eduwonk rightfully points out that this idea is far from new. USA Today reports that a federal appeals court ruling now makes ti possible for public school students in South Carolina to receive school credit for taking religion classes .

“We see no evidence that the program [...]

Welcome to July. The Washington Post carried a column over the weekend by veteran teacher Marion Brady with several well-thought-out arguments against high-stakes testing . The march toward the Common Core State Standards continues ever-onward with more than 30 districts committing to only purchase textbooks that adhere to the common core’s math and literacy standards , according to the New York Times. Some pretty shocking [...]

IOWA CITY — The final frontier is coming to the Englert Theater this weekend. The Englert is hosting Spacetacular on Saturday (7/7) an all-day celebration of America’s space exploration legacy hosted by a group that hopes to bring a space museum  to Johnson County. The event is not a fundraiser — all Spacetacular activities are free and open to [...]

Education week takes a look at what districts are generating buzz as possible winners  for the upcoming district-level Race to the Top competition . Did anyone else notice all of the districts mentioned are major metro areas? Is that because this is where all the coverage on this issue is centered or do rural districts just not have a [...]

An administrative law judge this month dismissed all three charges of abuse and unethical practice against former Mount Vernon Washington Elementary School principal Terry Eisenbarth. Eisenbarth resigned last June after it became public knowledge that he regularly used a padded hockey stick to lightly hit students with celebratory birthday “whaps.” In a ruling dated June [...]