EducationNews.org

Some Baltimore County teachers will give tests starting this month via hand-held devices instead of the usual pencil and paper, in a pilot program aiming to make their jobs easier - and engage students.

Fueled by federal stimulus dollars, school districts in Baltimore City and Baltimore County are speeding up construction projects that have been on hold for years for lack of funding, including the possible construction of the first new city school in a decade.

A retired city schoolteacher who alleged she was forced to retire after blowing the whistle on testing improprieties at the elementary-middle school where she worked has been awarded $293,000 by a Baltimore Circuit Court jury.

An animal rights group has declared Baltimore schools the "Most Progressive Public School District of 2009" for going vegetarian in school cafeterias once a week.

The newly admitted Johns Hopkins freshman discovered that he was the only member of this year's class from Arkansas. So he joined the university's Facebook site for recently enrolled students, where he mentioned often that he loves sweet tea. By the time he reached campus in late August, he had a first-night sipping date with three fellow tea lovers.

Sixteen students who were involved in serious incidents of misbehavior have been told they can never return to Baltimore public schools, even as city and state school board members debate the legality of denying students an education.

The freshmen arrived in a flood, forcing the Johns Hopkins University to reopen a defunct residence hall, lease a nearby inn and create new sections of popular math and science courses.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore released standardized test scores Thursday for the first time, showing that students who attend Catholic schools in the region score significantly above the national average.

He has to wait in longer lines at the airport. He couldn't vote in last year's historic presidential election.

Approaching Evergreen Elementary, it's clear right away that there's something different about this new school. A pair of silo-like structures squats in front of the two-story brick building - cisterns storing rainwater for flushing the toilets.