Get Pat Montgomery's New Book Free if you Register this Week!

Every response was thoughtful, supportive, and full of information on what is happening today with democratic schools across the country. Of course, they are busy and overworked, which is one of the reasons for the slow response. But a picture is emerging that indicates that democratic, learner-centered education is definitely on the rise. Some schools were full, with waiting lists. There were some great stories. For example, remember that boy who was trying to raise funds to he could go to Glacier Lake, a democratic school in Montana? He's graduating this year. Many of the schools  plan to attend and some have already registered, such as Raw Learning in Virginia, Houston Sudbury, Ridge and Valley Charter School, Alpha II in Toronto, Self-Design, Makarios Community School, TX, Clonlara School, MI, Pono Learning, NY, Summerhill School, Agile Learning Center, The Farm School, TN.

You can still register at $225 for the whole conference. And if you are a current AERO member you can use the member coupon to get a further 10% discount. You can actually hold the rate with a $50 deposit for individuals and a $100 deposit for group

We will be taking proposals for workshops through march 15 or earlier, when we've approved the 25 workshops.

The accepted workshops are now on the conference site.

Register at the early bird rate here .

He was a long-shot candidate with no prior political experience, and so very few people noticed when Aaron Coleman announced he was running for governor of Kansas last July. Those he told did not take him seriously - he could not even vote in the last election.

But in Kansas, there are no minimum age restrictions to run and at 17, Mr. Coleman is one of six teenagers who have announced their bids in the last year to become chief executive of the state.

Now, amid  significant interest in their  novel candidacies, some state lawmakers are clamoring to reform the eligibility process. The attention could create a  carnival-like note to the race, and some lawmakers are calling for clearer election guidelines.

The Trump administration has opted out of a global, standardised test which would assess whether school-age children can identify fake news.

US education authorities decided not to include a "global competence test" developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in standardised tests used to compare education systems around the world.

The test includes sections on cultural awareness, the ability to resist extremism, and whether students can identify fake news.

The United States was named as one of the countries refusing, alongside England, Belgium, and Japan, according to OECD data seen by Business Insider.

By  Benjamin Herold  and  Michele Molnar

Is virtual reality finally ready to make inroads in K-12?

Technology companies are making a fresh push, and some market dynamics could provide them a tailwind. But there's plenty of reason to remain skeptical.

That's the takeaway from Education Week's reporting from two conferences last month:  Bett, a global ed-tech trade show hosted in London, and  EduCon, a gathering of progressive educators and technology enthusiasts in Philadelphia.

Reasons to be bullish include new hardware advances, falling prices, and a wave of districts that will soon be looking to replace their existing computers and laptops. As a result, more than 15 percent of U.S. schools will have virtual-reality classroom kits by 2021, predicts Futuresource Consulting, a U.K.-based market-research firm.

Desert Sky Montessori, a 501c3 public elementary charter school in Bend, said Thursday it applied for and received a substantial, $450,000 implementation grant from the Oregon Department of Education.

Desert Sky Montessori School received confirmation their grant application had been approved while also receiving ODE's highest ever score on a grant of this nature. These grant funds will go directly to supporting and enhancing Desert Sky's educational classrooms with Montessori materials, teacher training, playground development and will be crucial to the school's growth.

Desert Sky Montessori currently serves over 100 children in grades Kindergarten - 3rd and is the first tuition-free Montessori elementary school in Central Oregon.

Schools in  Germany are asking naughty and hyperactive children to wear heavy sand-filled vests to calm them down and keep them in their seats.

The controversial sand vests, weighing between 2.7 and 13Ib, are used by 200 schools in the country - despite reservations of some parents and psychiatrists.

Supporters of the vests, which cost between £124 and £150, say they are very effective at curbing children's restlessness in many cases.

Several new job openings were announced this week including such places as the School Around Us,