Tag Archives: child development

Exclusive: Free New AI Tool to Help Americans Search and Compare Student Test Scores Across All 50 States (The 74)

Posted on by
Reply

The 74: Exclusive: Free New AI Tool to Help Americans Search and Compare Student Test Scores Across All 50 States. “Scheduled to go live today, the new website sports a simple interface that allows users to query it conversationally, as they would a search engine or AI chatbot, to plumb math and English language arts data in grades 3-8. At the moment, there are no firm plans to add high school-level data.”

I spent a little time with this. It looks to me like the AI part is mostly to give the search natural language powers. The search engine knows how to say “I don’t know” and provides you with the SQL query that generated the response you see (and explains the query if you need it.) More solid and transparent than the “AI” in the headline might lead you to believe.

New York Times: Snowplow Parents Are Ruining Online Grading

Posted on by
Reply

New York Times: Snowplow Parents Are Ruining Online Grading. “I’ve spent the past couple of weeks talking to teachers about their experiences with online grade books like Schoology and Infinite Campus, and many of their anecdotes were similar to what Miller shared: anxious kids checking their grades throughout the day, snowplow parents berating their children and questioning teachers about every grade they considered unacceptable, and harried middle and high school teachers, some of whom teach more than 100 kids on a given day, dealing with an untenable stream of additional communication.”

Opinion: Schools should ban smartphones. Parents should help. (Washington Post)

Posted on by
Reply

Washington Post: Opinion: Schools should ban smartphones. Parents should help.. “Understandably, individual schools and school districts — in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and elsewhere — are trying to crack down on smartphones. Students are required to store the devices in backpacks or lockers during classes, or to place them in magnetic locking pouches. In 2024, these efforts should go even further: Impose an outright ban on bringing cellphones to school, which parents should welcome and support.”

Channel 3000: DHS launches network to help families of children with disabilities find needed services

Posted on by
Reply

Channel 3000: DHS launches network to help families of children with disabilities find needed services. ” The Wisconsin Department of Health Services on Thursday launched a new website and helpline to connect families of children with disabilities with the services they need. The Wisconsin Wayfinder: Children’s Resource Network is designed to ease access to essential services by partnering with providers and care systems across the state. Through the network, families will be helped by a children’s resource guide.”

New York Times: School Cellphone Bans Are Trending. Do They Work?

Posted on by
Reply

New York Times: School Cellphone Bans Are Trending. Do They Work?. “A recent report from UNESCO, the United Nations’ educational and cultural agency, found that nearly one in four countries now has laws or policies banning or restricting student cellphone use in schools. Such bans typically make exceptions for students with disabilities and for educational uses approved by teachers. Even so, the smartphone crackdowns are contentious.”

University of British Columbia: UBC researchers launch new online tool to help teachers take their classes outdoors

Posted on by
Reply

University of British Columbia: UBC researchers launch new online tool to help teachers take their classes outdoors. “Researchers from UBC and BC Children’s Hospital have launched a new online Outdoor Play and Learning tool, to help parents, caregivers and educators gain the skills and confidence to support outdoor play and learning in elementary schools from kindergarten through Grade 7.”

The Growing Pains of AI: Professor to study how tools like ChatGPT affect children (Chico State Today)

Posted on by
Reply

Chico State Today: The Growing Pains of AI: Professor to study how tools like ChatGPT affect children . “What is the impact of AI on kids? Tools like CHATGPT and virtual learning assistants have provided plenty of fodder for people to debate—in schools, around the dinner table, and at parent groups. Chico State professor Abbas Attarwala wants to help answer this question. The Center of California Studies at Sacramento State awarded Attarwala a $30,000 grant this summer to provide much-needed background on the current research landscape of AI and its impact on children.”

KTAR: Arizona Department of Education activates website for free tutoring program

Posted on by
Reply

KTAR: Arizona Department of Education activates website for free tutoring program. “The web page for Arizona’s free tutoring program has been activated, the state Department of Education announced Friday. The Achievement Tutoring Program was designed for public district and charter school students in grades 3-8 who test below proficiency levels in reading, writing or math.”

State of Illinois: Illinois DCFS Launches Child Welfare Dashboard and Study of Child Protection Services to Increase Transparency and Accountability

Posted on by

State of Illinois: Illinois DCFS Launches Child Welfare Dashboard and Study of Child Protection Services to Increase Transparency and Accountability. “The Illinois Child Welfare Insights Tool is the latest innovation supported by the Pritzker administration at DCFS, which is responsible for investigating reports of suspected child abuse and neglect; licensing Illinois’ childcare centers, adoptive and foster homes, and adoption agencies; and providing community resources to families experiencing social and economic hardships. The launch of this new Insights Tool marks the first time that Illinois residents, child welfare advocates and the families receiving these services have near real-time access to information used by DCFS administrators.”

WIRED: How to Talk to Your Kids About Social Media and Mental Health

Posted on by

WIRED: How to Talk to Your Kids About Social Media and Mental Health. “Around the world, lawmakers have been mounting pressure on the likes of Meta and TikTok to restrict the addictive design features that young users are subjected to. But social media can be valuable to young people too. Digital spaces can be beneficial settings to build friendships and receive social support from peers. So if your kid starts asking about social media (or you suspect that they already have secret accounts), what’s a parent to do?”

PR Newswire: Innovative digital tool equips policymakers with strategies and innovations from all 50 states to advance and strengthen early education and care (PRESS RELEASE)

Posted on by

PR Newswire: Innovative digital tool equips policymakers with strategies and innovations from all 50 states to advance and strengthen early education and care (PRESS RELEASE). “The Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education today launched the Zaentz Navigator, an innovative, user-friendly, and interactive digital tool to help policymakers and leaders learn how cities and states across the country are working to structure, finance, expand, and advance early education and care.”

Politico: The EU wants to cure your teen’s smartphone addiction

Posted on by

Politico: The EU wants to cure your teen’s smartphone addiction. “Countries are now taking the first steps to rein in excessive — and potentially harmful — use of big social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. China wants to limit screen time to 40 minutes for children aged under eight, while the U.S. state of Utah has imposed a digital curfew for minors and parental consent to use social media. France has targeted manufacturers, requiring them to install a parental control system that can be activated when their device is turned on.”

Route Fifty: More states look to boost kids’ social media literacy

Posted on by

Route Fifty: More states look to boost kids’ social media literacy . “The push for greater social media literacy is in keeping with several states’ efforts to boost the overall digital literacy of their young people, something that has caught on in states like Illinois, New Jersey and others amid worries about misinformation and a lack of civic online reasoning.”

New Digital Collections: Carol Hardgrove Papers and Hulda Evelyn Thelander Papers (University of California San Francisco)

Posted on by

University of California San Francisco: New Digital Collections: Carol Hardgrove Papers and Carol Hardgrove Papers. “The UCSF Library Archives and Special Collections is pleased to announce the digitization of the Carol Hardgrove papers and the Hulda Evelyn Thelander papers. The digitization of the collections is part of our current grant project, Pioneering Child Studies: Digitizing and Providing Access to Collection of Women Physicians who Spearheaded Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics, supported by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).”

Western University: Study finds link between screen time and anxiety, depression in children

Posted on by

Western University: Study finds link between screen time and anxiety, depression in children. “New research from the Faculty of Education has found a link between screen time and anxiety and depression in children. The study, led by assistant professor of education and Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Learning Disorders Emma Duerden, also found children were on screens for more than double the daily recommended amount during the COVID-19 pandemic.”