[Weekly EdNews Round Up] Could Looping be the Low-Cost Answer to Boosting Achievement?

No one knows better than educators about the importance of staying up-to-date. In Edmentum’s Weekly News Round Up, you’ll find the latest and most interesting education news, all in one place.

Could teaching the same group of students two years in a row lead to higher test scores? According to a recent study in North Carolina, looping might be the low-cost answer to boosting student achievement. Read all about this and more in this week’s EdNews Round Up!

'Looping' With Students Boosts Learning, Especially for Kids of Color, Study Says
EdWeek
According to a new study, matching elementary teachers and students together for two years in a row not only yielded higher test scores for students, but also boosted teacher performance. Could looping be the low-cost answer to boosting achievement?

MLK's Legacy in the Classroom: Truncated and Tidied Up
EdWeek
Fifty years after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., experts say the complicated legacy of the civil rights leader is often reduced in school curricula to just one speech, if not four words: “I have a dream.”

Inside the $29M DonorsChoose Gift That’s Making Teachers Very Happy
edsurge
Last month, cryptocurrency and finance company Ripple made a huge donation to fund every project on education crowdfunding site DonorsChoose. In all, Ripple donated $29 million to fund more than 35,000 classroom requests.

Digital Dissection May Be Heading to an Anatomy Class Near You
EdWeek
Instead of learning with your typical miniature body model, biomedical science academy students in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, now have the opportunity to dissect bodies. A virtual table makes the academy one of only two in high schools in the state where students can dissect a virtual body in class, without all the mess.

Five Ways to Sustain School Change Through Pushback, Struggle and Fatigue
MindShift
Sustaining transformative change to complicated school systems is hard work, requiring leaders to attend to five pillars: permission, support, community engagement, accountability and staying the course.

Striking the Right Tone: Staff Collaboration Key to a Healthy School
neaToday
Teamwork, camaraderie, and mutual appreciation are the pillars upon which one New Jersey school operates. This spirit of staff cooperation stems from the same impulse present at most if not all public schools: the desire to help one another succeed on behalf of students.

Engaging Parents in Digital Homework
edutopia
In many schools, educators are using connected devices to support personalized learning and collaboration. But when students are asked to use these devices for homework, new challenges arise. Empowering parents to support their children is a key aspect of making sure digital homework is a success.