To most of us who aren’t computer scientists, programming seems like a daunting prospect. We know that our computers, tablets, and phones could not function without vast quantities of code, but we couldn’t write that code ourselves – we couldn’t even make sense of it if we read it. WithRead More

Exhausted teenagers may soon see their dreams come true at a later morning hour. The school start time debate has shifted as proponents of later school start times now have greater scientific evidence to back up their claims. In August of this year, the American Academy of Pediatricians recommended thatRead More

One in twenty K-12 students has a diagnosed learning disability – or learning difference, to use the term now preferred by many educators. The distinction may seem trivial, but it captures an important truth. A learning “disability” implies that one is less capable of learning; a learning “difference,” on theRead More

Even at the early childhood and kindergarten level, many parents associate the idea of “a good education” with structured, skills-focused instruction. Kindergarteners must learn their letters, numbers, and colors and build the foundations that they will need for all future schooling; that is the point of kindergarten, is it not?Read More

Parents of toddlers and pre-kindergarten kids: do you let your kids watch TV? And what about using iPads? In the media-driven world of the 21st century, many children grow up with digital screens. These media are so ubiquitous – and, indeed, so useful for keeping children occupied – that itRead More

Perhaps the biggest trend in K-12 ed tech right now is the movement toward providing students with tablets and/or laptops for use in their schoolwork. Many of Houston’s best private schools provide this technology for their students, and under HISD’s PowerUp Initiative, Windows laptops will be made available on aRead More

There are many unique stresses associated with being the parent of a toddler – from the terrible two’s to the first day at preschool and beyond. One such stress comes from watching your children’s first steps into education. Will they be adequately prepared by the time they get to kindergarten?Read More

A new study commissioned by AT&T finds that 75% of surveyed drivers admit to at least glancing at their phone while behind the wheel. The reason, according to the study’s author Dr. David Greenfield, is that “we experience an elevation of dopamine” when a notification shows up on our phone. FurthermoreRead More

As many as one in five people suffers from dyslexia, a learning difference which affects the ability to parse text when reading and writing. If your child has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia, you probably have a lot of questions. What does my child see when looking at a pageRead More

Several months ago, we published an overview of educational games and their potential benefits. More recently, we also discussed a game-based productivity app in our recommended productivity apps for teens. From Minecraft-based curricula to edutainment apps for iPhone and Android, educational games are more widespread now than ever before, andRead More

In a day and age when tablets like the iPad are increasingly being adopted as educational tools, digital textbooks and homework portal apps are part of daily life for many students. But what about work and productivity apps? More than 200 programs are categorized as productivity apps in the AppRead More

Khan Academy has taken the world by storm in the eight years since its inception. The online video library hosts a wealth of subjects with video tutorials allowing its users to learn at their own pace. The non-profit organization is backed by some of the largest and most influential foundationsRead More

School is just around the corner! HISD starts on Monday, August 25th, but many private schools have already started. Take advantage of the first, slow weeks of school to make sure your student has a strong framework for success. We will cover the following topics: Establishing a conducive study spaceRead More

The kids are all right — at least that’s what a new wave of data from the Centers for Disease Control  reporting that teenagers are engaging in fewer risky activities strongly suggests. The figures stem from by the CDC’s annual Child and Adolescent Health study, an ongoing survey which justRead More

Many of us structure our days by prioritizing so that we create a healthy balance among work, school, friends, family, exercise, sleep, etc. As adults, we have had a few more years of practice balancing our lives. Kids, however, have not quite learned how to structure their days to createRead More

On a frigid February 26th morning, Dr. Frederick Chang, a former research director at the National Security Agency and current SMU professor, gave a talk on cybersecurity to a small group of SMU alumni. While the crowd may have expected an informative lecture on how cybersecurity works, the talk wasRead More