Race to the Top District Winners Announced!

Earlier this week, the Education Department announced the 16 winners of the Race to the Top school district grants (RTTD). 61 Finalists had been announced recently out of an original 372 districts that turned in applications in November. A total of $400 million was due to go out, and winners ranged from $10 million to $40 million for a period of four years, depending on the population of the given district. The winners included urban and rural districts, small districts and large consortia, and public and charter schools. The only large, urban school district to win was Miami-Dade (FL), which also just won the Broad Prize.

Education Week reported that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the winners' circle includes "a really good mix" of both districts that are already education-reform leaders, and districts that have not received as much attention.

The winners, by order of total mean score, are as follows:

• Carson City, NV (208.33)
• New Haven Unified, CA (207.67)
• Miami-Dade, FL (207.00)
• Puget Sound Consortium, WA (205.33)
• Guilford County, NC (205.33)
• Metropolitan School District of Warren Township in Indianapolis, IN (205.00)
• IDEA public schools, TX (203.00) [charter schools]
• Charleston County, SC (201.67)
• Harmony Science Academy consortia, TX (201.67) [charter schools]
• St. Vrain Valley, CO (200.33)
• Galt Joint Union, CA (199.67)
• Iredell-Statesville, NC (199.67)
• Middletown City, NY (199.33)
• KIPP, DC (199) [charter schools]
• Green River Regional Education Cooperative, KY (197)
• Lindsay Unified, CA (196.33)

Congratulations to all of these school districts!

Read Education Week's full report.

iON Future: Exactly What STEM Needed

Every day, professionals in STEM careers help people get better, discover new things, save the planet, build the future, solve mysteries and play with some very neat tools. Makes you wonder why getting today's youth involved in STEM can be so difficult sometimes.  Well say hello to Change the Equation's iON Future: The STEM Exploration Game!

iON Future lets you explore STEM careers, identify the ones that best match your interests and then play your way to your dream STEM future. Can you say genius?! What kid doesn't enjoy a good, engaging computer game these days. I know I can't think of one. Combining iON Future with all the other platforms designed to ignite excitement in students about STEM, the United States is moving in the right direction.

iON Future dispels notions that STEM embodies the traditional science, technology, engineering and math careers that so many students find daunting and boring. In fact, the site includes careers like 3D animator, athletic trainer, automotive designer, librarian and science reporter. Any child can find something they're interested in and then discover how it relates to STEM. It's exactly what STEM education needed to supplement classroom efforts.

Check out the website, create an account with your child or play as a guest - you may even learn something new!

Resources for Women in STEM

By now, just about everyone who's anyone has reported on the low percentage of women in STEM career fields. In 2011, the Economics & Statistics Administration found that less than 25 percent of STEM jobs are held by women, even though they make up more than half of the workforce and college degrees in the nation. 

The United State can no longer deny that a glass ceiling is looming over these industries and that men and women are like are doing their best to throw stones at it. I won't discount the progress that has been made over the past few decades, but I will say that more efforts need to be made to ensure a more equitable place for women in these traditionally male-dominated industries. This ideal is something that these 40 essentials share!

Check out 40 Important Online Resources for Women in STEM!

40 STEM iPad Apps for Kids

With the need for students looking towards a STEM career path growing, it's no surprise that technology has figured how to do their part. With iPad apps that revolve around STEM appealing to children, there's a whole new way for them to learn without even knowing it.

These apps are great for giving your child practice, repetition and reinforcement: something that will definitely come in handy during the upcoming holiday breaks!

Categorized by math apps and science, technology and engineering apps, this site is a great tool for parents and educators a like.  Check it out!

Today's Education Means Twitter School

That's right, I said it: Twitter School. We all know that social media is paving a way for itself in the classroom, and it was more obvious than ever before at the Advancing Improvement in Education Conference this month in Austin, Texas. As fifteen-year-old Adora Svitak stood in front of nearly 3,000 teachers, principals and administrators and gave them the tools they needed to implement Twitter and Facebook into their schools, the social media sphere rejoiced.

Svitak acknowledges that students today "live, work and play" social media." She also noted to her audience that when the characteristics present in social media don't exist in the classroom, it's easy to tune out.

Taking note, first-time Twitter users in the audience learned how to sign up and began tweeting - thanking Svitak for her presentation, hashtag and all.

Svitak wrapped things up by saying, "Any good teacher knows how important it is to connect with students and understand our cultures. That could start with something like pursuing Reddit and knowing popular memes...Social media has definite benefits for education."

To read more and look at the to must-have apps for successful high school students, click here.

"Keeping the 'T' in STEM"

In 1994, Laura Reasoner Jones started an after school club called Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS Club) to encourage girls to engage in STEM activities and spark their interest in STEM career fields.  Over the past 18 years, Jones says they've had a ball and the girls have thrived.

This year, Jones wants to do something she hasn't done before: motivate girls to embrace technology as creators, not users. Since it's been easy to offer experiences and activities in the other three STEM components (science, engineering and math) Jones wants to focus her energy on breaking down the barriers that keep women and young girls away from technology.

Jones explains that early exposure to IT can build confidence in girls, and encourage them to pursue future educational opportunities in the field. Even better, careers in IT are plentiful, high-paying and meaningful.

Despite the facts, enrollment and participation in computing classes has been dropping steadily since the 1980s, and fewer and fewer women are graduating with computer science or IT degrees. There's two problems here: girls are missing out on great career opportunities, and the world is missing out on their talents and perspectives as women.

Jones says that there are several resources we can look at to overcome this dilemma. The National Center for Women and Information Technology offers educators 60 downloadable ideas, including Computer Science in a Box, which teaches the premises of computing without the use of machines. Then there's Alice (alice.org), a program that encourages children, particularly girls, to explore computer science and programming.

While the programs Jones mentions may spark an interest in IT, a girl won't really be enticed unless she feels comfortable in the area. Jones encourages everyone to look around the computer lab/room where girls learn. If the room looks like a locker room or "man cave," educators may want to consider transforming the room to a place where girls and boys of all cultures are welcome with posters of successful men and women alike. 

We can all work together to make technology inviting and not intimidating for girls - let's do it!

To read more of Jones' commentary, click here.