Tara García Mathewson
The Hechinger Report
Brighton, MA, United States
Contact Tara
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Tara:
Project-based learning gets its moment during the coronavirus
After the coronavirus forced the Shelby County Public Schools to shift to remote instruction, all teachers embraced project-based learning. → Read More
EducationSuperHighway is leading the charge to close the ‘homework gap’
EducationSuperHighway has pivoted to solving what has become known as the “homework gap,” by working to provide internet access to students' homes. → Read More
Summit Learning shows promise for personalized learning despite criticism
Nearly 400 schools use Summit Learning to personalize learning for students but there has been criticism over its ties to Zuckerberg and screen time. → Read More
Virtual learning and Coronavirus poised to inflame inequality in schools
Unequal internet access is just the tip of the iceberg as most schools are completely unprepared virtual learning and coronavirus. → Read More
Genealogy research takes high schoolers deep into their family histories
In a genealogy research course, students practice research and writing skills through project-based learning that is inherently personal → Read More
Innovative Learning: Letting high schoolers design the future of space food
Students are taking the lead on projects that aim to solve local or global problems, and otherwise experimenting with innovative learning experiences. → Read More
Nearly all American classrooms can now connect to high-speed internet, effectively closing the “connectivity divide”
The classroom internet connectivity gap is effectively closed, one year ahead of schedule. The nonprofit EducationSuperHighway found that just 30 percent of school districts in 2013 had sufficient bandwidth to support digital learning, or 100 kbps per student. The group wanted 99 percent of students to have that level of bandwidth by 2020. → Read More
5G means smoother virtual reality and a chance for students to birth stars
Verizon’s Innovative Learning initiative will bring 5G internet connections to 30 more schools, all of them under-resourced, in the first half of 2020 and grow to 100 total schools from there. → Read More
What does it take to make educational innovation succeed?
An education nonprofit published a list of the five conditions it believes are necessary for educational innovation to flourish. → Read More
States increasingly extend charter-like flexibility for innovative schools
The majority of these innovation programs give a district the ability to select innovative schools from within its ranks. → Read More
Personalized learning can either close or increase achievement gaps
Research finds personalized learning can increase achievement gaps, if teachers let lower-performing students have easier lessons → Read More
Does lunch have to be 45 minutes? Rethinking school schedules to support innovation
Several groups are helping schools redesign traditional class-period lengths and school schedules, to increase innovative teaching and learning practices. → Read More
In Juab school district, personalized learning boosted high school grad rate
The Juab school district in Utah made a number of structural changes resulting in an increase in high school graduation rate from 78 percent to 97 percent. → Read More
Intrinsic motivation is key to student achievement – but schools kill it
The Met high school in Providence goes to the extreme to tap into students’ intrinsic motivation in the classroom, which leads to achievement → Read More
PedsAcademy gives kids personalized learning opportunities in hospital
PedsAcademy launched at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, offering personalized learning opportunities for each patient tailored to their needs. → Read More
A South Carolina district looks at more data to identify struggling students
If teachers wanted to identify struggling students, they would spend hours looking through spreadsheets. Now, a software program does that automatically. → Read More
A 17-year-old has created a startup to offer virtual sciences labs, and hopes to expand the idea to democratize education
Steven Wang, a 17-year-old co-founder of an education startup has created a way to offer students otherwise costly or dangerous science labs virtually. → Read More
Some schools personalize learning by giving students a say in what they learn
Giving students more control in the classroom is a common feature of personalized-learning programs, in theory, but in practice, how teachers do that and how much control they offer varies widely. → Read More
Using project-based learning, school embeds agriculture and environmental education into all classes
Project-based learning, giving students more control by letting them work on projects that interest them, has become a common strategy in modern classrooms. → Read More
Innovative assessments can build student skills, not just measure them
The Assessment for Learning Project is trying to create innovative assessments that lead to greater equity and deepen students’ skillsets by virtue of their design. → Read More