XplanaZine

Updates on: formation of English Language Proficiency Collaboration and Research Consortium, MIT’s OpenCourseWare extended to secondary schools, presidential candidates’ views on education and technology, No Child Left Behind program receives theatrical commentary, Carnegie Mellon University’s digital library reaches 1.5 million books, Sacramento State’s podcast-only course, Texas Education Agency director loses job over Evolution vs. Creationism debate

Six state education agencies serving an estimated 320,000 English language learners have formed an independent English Language Proficiency Collaboration and Research Consortium (ELPCRC) to collaborate, provide unified representation, and undertake studies and research for the improvement of ELL testing and instruction. All six states implement CTB/McGraw-Hill’s LAS Links English language proficiency assessment for their statewide English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. — CNN

Five years after the initial pilot of MIT’s OpenCourseWare initiative, it’s now making its way into secondary education with the launch of “Highlights for High School,” which aims to bolster high school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education through free and open course materials, from complete curricula and syllabi to videos, lecture notes, and animations. — Campus Technology

In this post, Andy Carvin reports on some of the presidential candidates’ views on educational policy, technology, and the digital divide. — learning.now (a PBS blog)

Nilaja Sun’s one-woman play, “No Child,” tells a story about a visiting artist who tries to turn a class of unruly students at Malcolm X High School into “thespians” who put on a play about putting on a play. “No Child” takes on the federal No Child Left Behind law, and the play slaps the law across the face. Sun wrote the play on commission for the New York State Council on the Arts and the Epic Theatre Ensemble, a New York City nonprofit that advocates the idea that “plays are ideally suited for helping students explore the connection between politics and their personal lives.” — Boston Globe

Nearly a decade ago, computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University embarked on a project with an astonishingly lofty goal: digitize the published works of humankind and make them freely available online. The architects of the project said they have surpassed their latest target, having scanned more than 1.5 million books – many of them in Chinese – and are continuing to scan thousands more daily. — Times Leader News

Nick Burnett has eliminated live lectures in one of his presentational speaking classes this semester at Sacramento State. He gave all the lectures this summer in a studio, where they were recorded and launched onto iTunes. And in what Burnett believes is the first such large-scale experiment at California State University, Sacramento, 224 of his students will be able to hear him only by downloading his lectures onto their iPods or MP3 players. — Sacramento Bee

After 27 years as a science teacher and 9 years as the Texas Education Agency’s director of science, Christine Castillo Comer said she did not think she had to remain “neutral” about teaching the theory of evolution. Consequently, she lost her job. — New York Times