Afternoon Announcements: Study Finds Blended Learning Can Improve Students’ Test Scores

Prominent business leaders and education advocates butted heads at a Michigan House subcommittee hearing about proposed Common Core State Standards that went beyond five hours. Business Leaders for Michigan attended the meeting to voice their support for the Standards. Michigan Live 

In what officials called a first-of-its-kind effort in the nation, the city Department of Education released reports Wednesday on colleges that educate the city’s public school teachers. The education department hopes to set a national trend with the data and encourage school districts to “improve their relationships with their universities and colleges,” said David Weiner, deputy chancellor for talent, labor and innovation. The Wall Street Journal

A new study by the RAND Corporation and the Department of Education gives new credibility to the popular notion that blended learning – a combination of traditional classroom methods with computer-mediated activities – can improve students’ test scores. Information Week Education

College for America at the nonprofit Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) in Manchester partners with employers to offer low-cost, competency-based associate’s degrees to their employees. Instead of being locked into at least two years of classes to earn credits, students work on projects at their own pace, submitting work to trained reviewers, until they’ve mastered all 120 defined “competencies.” Christian Science Monitor