Education News

"We have to send a message to our kids so they know we’re serious that if they don’t take these classes they won’t get into college," Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen K. Reed said.

The legislative committee charged with proposing a new system of public school funding will mire if it listens to recent advice from its hired consultants, who say the state has too many small school districts for efficiency.

"I’m honored to work with Governor Schweitzer and the Board of Education to
ensure that all Montanans have access to excellent education and can learn all
their lives," Lombardi said. "As I tell my children, we’re students for life,
and must be responsive to the world around us. Education makes our families and
community strong."

"We’re moving over to an information-technology economy, to a new economy, and if we want to be competitive in about five, 10 years, we’ve got to shift the education system."

Textbooks are so last-century.

Online learning — also called distance learning or e-learning — is growing in popularity, in Montana and around the nation. Nearly 1 million U.S. students enrolled in courses that took place completely online in 2004, twice as many as two years earlier, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

"Anyone interested sharing your opinion about the current condition in your
schools and about how important that condition is to your local community should
take a few moments to complete the survey," said State Superintendent Linda
McCulloch.

For those who feel this way, the question is what to do about it?

As the Quality Schools committee gets information from consultants and staff, we will begin making policy recommendations to place before the Legislature later this fall. Those meetings are open to the public, are televised and audio streamed, and testimony is taken.

We are also considering moving our meetings around the state after the Quality Schools committee has developed proposals. That will allow all Montanans to scrutinize our work and make public comments. That will be later this summer and will be publicized as soon as a schedule is set.

Computer science, like other subjects, is fighting for time on student schedules and a place on the political agenda, where reading and math dominate.