Must be spring: there seems to be plenty of new ideas sprouting up in this weekend’s newsfeed. Syracuse.com reports on plans in central New York for a new Innovation Tech high school in September: “Officials say it will shred traditional concepts of the school day, the division of subject areas and even the relationships between students and teachers.” NJ.comprofiles two schools using new tech in classrooms to great effect: “Everything about this technology-rich school is different, from the iLEAP media center to the eye-popping number of big-screen computers in the classrooms. Rather than face the teacher in rows of orderly desks, students are clustered in groups, with teachers roaming around the clusters to help when needed. And in the Sioux City school district, technology has improved teaching and learning according to this story in the Sioux City Journal: “Instead of spending hours grading multiple choice and true/false tests, teachers can provide online assessments that students take on their laptops…This allows teachers more time to spend on complex assessments, such as essays.” Strip away the politics, and the value of tech in classrooms is obvious. —Kevin Hogan, Editorial Director
