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

There are three ways of paying college tuition fees: 1) grants and scholarships (from the government, the school, or outside organizations) that need not be repaid; 2) student loans, which typically come with steep interest rates; and 3) financial support from the student’s parents. Option 1 is not equally availableRead More

In last night’s meeting, in addition to approving the plan for the Arabic immersion magnet school, the HISD board also addressed a proposal that could impact students across the district. The board voted 7-0 to recognize a group called the HISD Student Congress as a representation of the voice ofRead 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

You probably have an opinion on “helicopter parenting” – the ever-vigilant, ever-helpful parenting style practiced by many in America and around the world. Some people feel strongly that helicoptering stifles children’s independence and their ability to think and learn for themselves, but others would say that a certain amount ofRead 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

Many parents of younger elementary school students wonder whether their children’s homework is really necessary. Should my child really be devoting this much time to spelling worksheets? Can’t we let kids be kids until they’re just a little bit older? In a recent Huffington Post op-ed, entrepreneur and mother Kate SolomonRead More

It seems like the holiday marketing season has come earlier than ever this year. If the relentlessly cheery music already playing in department stores has inspired you to start thinking about Christmas gifts, you may be interested in the list of the 10 best illustrated children’s books of 2014 recentlyRead More

In American high schools, dropout rates are at an all-time low, and graduation rates are at an all-time high. 86% of the class of 2014 graduated successfully, while 7% dropped out. Graduation rates for Latino students, in particular, have risen dramatically. In yesterday’s The Atlantic, writer Janie Boschma discussed thisRead More

UPDATE: As of 11/14/2014, HISD is officially moving forward on plans for an Arabic immersion magnet school. The Houston Chronicle has more. HISD is well-established as a hotspot for excellent programs in world languages. A combined total of 11 languages are offered in HISD schools, starting as early as PreKRead 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

On Saturday, HISD administrators and officials ceremonially broke ground on the construction of the new Condit Elementary. The new Condit school building, to be constructed adjacent to the old building at 7000 South Third St. in Bellaire, is being paid for with funds from the $1.89 billion 2012 HISD bond.Read More