[Weekly EdNews Round Up] Hey, Alexa, What Are You Teaching Our Kids?

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.

It may be time for spring break for schools, but education news never rests! Check out this week’s EdNews Round Up, featuring stories on the Oklahoma teacher strike, smart speakers, the decline of bullying, and more.

Fed Up with Low Pay, Oklahoma Teachers Prepare to Walk Out
EdWeek
Union leaders have given the Oklahoma state legislature an April 1st deadline to pass a funding package that includes a $10,000 pay raise over three years for teachers and a $200 million boost to public schools. If that doesn't happen, teachers across the state will walk out of their classrooms and will not return until they get what they're asking for, union officials pledge.

Hey, Alexa, What Are You Teaching Our Kids?
MindShift
One in six Americans now owns a smart speaker like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home, and 75 percent of homes are likely to have one by 2020. That means information and learning opportunities are more accessible to children than ever before, but it also raises unsettling questions for educators and parents.

Student Bullying Is Down Significantly
U.S. News
About a third fewer students from 12-18 years old say they’re being bullied compared to a decade ago. Could it have something to do with social and emotional learning?

Federal Spending Bill Would Boost Education Aid, Reject Trump Choice Push
EdWeek
Lawmakers sent a message to President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in their bill to fund the federal government: We're not the biggest fans of your big education ideas.

School Choice May Be Accelerating Gentrification
The Atlantic
The ability to opt out of a neighborhood school increases the likelihood that a black or Hispanic neighborhood will see an influx of wealthier residents.

Research-Tested Benefits of Brain Breaks and Recess
edutopia
Regular breaks throughout the school day—from short brain breaks in the classroom to the longer break of recess—are not simply downtime for students. Such breaks increase their productivity and provide them with opportunities to develop creativity and social skills.

To Connect Classes to Careers, Consider Erasing Grade Levels
EdSurge
Project based learning allows for students to use knowledge from all areas of study to complete a project or task, a process that prepares them for the challenges that they may have to overcome in a future career. Find out how it's revolutionized learning at one school.

A Deeper Look at the Whole School Approach to Behavior
MindShift
Classroom management is an essential tool for an effective teacher, but it’s not always easy to do well. That’s why getting behavior under control was Michael Essien’s number one goal when he started as the assistant principal at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School (MLK) in San Francisco.

This Draw-A-Scientist study reveals how kids’ attitudes about gender are changing
Mashable
A new study published in Child Development analyzed dozens of Draw-A-Scientist studies conducted since Chambers' landmark experiment and found that, on average, 28 percent of participants drew a female scientist in the subsequent studies.