EDUCATION

Microsoft plans to spend more than $35 million over the next five years to add a U.S. component to its overseas Partners in Learning program, which has endeavored to train teachers and students in technology. The goal stateside is to create technology-infused learning models that can be replicated and sustained by schools from Puget Sound to New York City, and everywhere in between.

The nation’s first large-scale school laptop program appears headed for expansion, regardless of whether state lawmakers vote to fund the initiative next year.

Without visionary school leadership, backed by supportive communities, the disparities in ed-tech budgets increase.

The governor has said creating a state trust fund that would provide tuition grants is a key priority for his administration, as tuition has risen steadily and as state support for public universities declines.

"The Company," a class devoted to teaching both soft skills, such as how to get along with co-workers and greet clients, to hard skills, like creating spreadsheets, filing, banking and planning the perfect business trip.

Northface University says it can produce more useful job hires than Ivy League schools in barely half the time.

"I don’t know where these kids go to school," counselor Katreena Whitted, a 22-year-old University of Maryland graduate, said, laughing. "They know a lot more than I do."

New solutions are needed to improve public education without dramatic
increases in funding

The Rocky program is the only bachelor’s degree aviation program in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.