Top 20 Best Education Systems Countries In The World

The following is a list of the top 20 Best Education Systems countries in the world and where there strengths and weaknesses in the education system lye’s. It’s purely to show the areas they are doing well in and what needs to be improved.

1.Japan : Japan has had the best education system in the world for three straight quarters in a row. The main reason for being at the top is its technology based educational background and a firm investment in its education system with a lot of money being put into it.

2. South Korea : South Korea comes 2nd on the top 20 most educated countries in the world. It is worth noting that South Korea was able to defeat Japan in 3 out of the 5 levels that were looked at in the ranking but just couldn’t out pace Japan. This was mainly due to the fact that Japan has invested more into early childhood education compared to South Korea.

3. United Kingdom :The UK seems to have done quite well in this poll done on September 2013.Of all the European countries, the UK is the only country that was able to make it to the top 10 of the ranking.

4. Singapore : The Singapore education system has continued to impress over the years and is giving the UK education system a run for its money. The country ranks highly in primary education and is thought to be inching closer to beating the UK in terms of quality education.

5. Russia : Their luck of investing in early childhood education has been their major undoing as its the main reason why they are not ranked at the top of the list. Russian education system is simply the best.

6. Finland : It is important that although Finland is considered to have one of the best education systems in the world, it does not rank first in any of the levels that were looked at. Its early childhood enrollment was quite poor a fact that made it miss out on the top 5 ranking.

7. Canada : of all the countries in the world, Canada has the highest rate of college graduates. Although this is quite impressive they tend to overlook the benefits of investing in their children’s education in terms of early childhood education. Once they do that they will simply rank highly on the list.

© Serg Nvns – Fotolia.com

8. Netherlands: Netherlands is quite the opposite of all these other countries. They have invested a lot in early childhood development and are ranked quite highly but have not done the same in the other areas.The country has one of the lowest high school graduates hence their poor ranking.

9. Ireland : Ireland has done quite a great job with their education system. If only their government would look into the early years of development of their children and invest in that area they would definitely give the other countries a run for their money.

10. Israel : It is known that Finland has modeled their education system based on that of Israel. This is the main reason why Finland is ranked highly. The only reason why Israel has not been ranked highly is the same as that of other countries i.e not investing in their early childhood education program.

11. China : It is worth noting that China has one of the largest education systems in the whole world. With this fact one cannot help but wonder why their education system is still ranked one of the best considering the high number of students involved. Their major undoing is the low number of students competing high school and poor investment in early childhood education.

12. New Zealand : New Zealand can easily give any of the top 10 ranked countries a run for their money. Their major undoing is their poor primary level test scores.

13. Norway : This is also another country with a great education system. It is only ranked lower due to its poor primary level test scores.

14. Belgium : Belgium was doing so well on their education system until they started decreasing funding to their education sector.

15.Germany : Germany has always ranked highly as a power house as far as education is concerned. However it has seen a steady decline on this area due to its inability to address social change in the country.

16. Denmark : Denmark tends to perform averagely in all levels of education. It has quite a remarkable early childhood education system.

17. Estonia : No one ever thought that this small country could rank higher than even the United States as far as education is concerned. Estonia has an impressive primary and early childhood education system.

18. United States of America : Most people thought that the United States would be able to rank highly due to its financial muscle but this is far from the reality. The US needs to work on their high school graduation rates and their early childhood education in order to rank highly.

19. France : The country has an impressive early childhood education system but it all stops there with years of neglect of other levels of education taking its toll on the education system.

20. Portugal : Portugal closes the list of the top 20 most educated countries in the world. Its high school graduation rate however is still contentious as it has been challenged by the European Union.

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20 Best Education Systems In The World

Education is one of those things that is considered pretty important throughout the world, but it still remains that not every country does it the same and indeed some countries are better at it than others. In the west we often assume that our own education systems are the best, but that may not actually be true. An education group called Pearson periodically test such assumptions by comparing measurable things like grades and attempt to rank different countries according to the success of their education system.

Needless to say, results vary, but the results are still interesting, particularly when you learn that the USA, long known to have one of the best education systems has recently been ranked in 14th Position, a long way below many European countries.

Which countries have been classed as the most successful in offering education to their citizens?

The Social Progress Imperative has compiled research on basic education levels throughout the world and presented it via the Social Progress Index; this offers a rigorous and comprehensive way of measuring social progress, including – and most relevant for our current interests –  a score for a country’s level of access to basic knowledge including factors like adult literacy rate, primary school enrolment, secondary school enrolment, and women’s mean years in school.

These components determine which countries offer better educational opportunities. We’ve compiled the list of the ten best-performing countries when it comes to access to basic education, according to research from the United Nations as brought together in the SPI basic education ratings:

Read on to find out how and why these ten countries are so well-educated. (Picture: Francisco Osorio - University Life)

Countries with the best education system

Key findings: 2015/2016

• East Asian nations continue to outperform others. South Korea tops the rankings, followed by Japan (2nd), Singapore (3rd) and Hong Kong (4th). All these countries’ education systems prize effort above inherited ‘smartness’, have clear learning outcomes and goalposts, and have a strong culture of accountability and engagement among a broad community of stakeholders.
• Scandinavian countries, traditionally strong performers, are showing signs of losing their edge. Finland, the 2012 Index leader, has fallen to 5th place; and Sweden is down from 21st to 24th.
• Notable improvements include Israel (up 12 places to 17th), Russia (up 7 places to 13th) and Poland (up four places to 10th).
• Developing countries populate the lower half of the Index, with Indonesia again ranking last of the 40 nations covered, preceded by Mexico (39th) and Brazil (38th).

Key findings: 2012

• These two countries have similarities in their education systems, but many differences too. South Korea it could be argued is one of the most dedicated countries in the world. Children often attend school 7 days a week and do homework from a very young age.
• In both Korea and Finland though, education is held in high regards and teachers are treated with great respect (equal to how we revere doctors or lawyers in the west).
• Interestingly, South Korea also score ‘moderately proficient’ in English speaking ability, which is a good result for an Asian country. They actually speak English better than the French do, which is probably due in part to their strong emphasis of English learning and a high number of native TEFL teachers working over there.

Top 20 countries 2015/2016

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1. South Korea

   • Japan and south-Korea have fierce competition for the 1st rank. Koreans defeated Japan in 3 levels. Japan despite investing in childhood education is compromised in some rankings as no#2 and almost tying with Japan in the ranks. Do you know that children in South Korea attend school often seven-day a week? The national education budget estimated last year was $11,300,000,000. The literacy rate is total 97.9% out of which males are sharing 99.2% and 96.6% of females.
   • The GDP (PPP) per capita estimated in 2014 is $34,795.  

2. Japan

   • The technology-based educational structure has provided the nation with some great figures in the knowledge and insight.
   • The GDP nearly 5.96 trillion USD is well evident to prove the claim.  

3. Singapore

   • The strong and highly ranked primary education system is none less than 3rd rank in the competition.
   • The GDP (PPP) per capita is U$D 64,584 is also number 3rd in the world.  

4. Hong Kong

   • The school education management is pretty much in the way as UK model of education. The educational budget for the last year was $39, 420 per capita. The primary, secondary and higher education levels are exemplary in their approach and work. English and Cantonese Chinese are the mainstream languages for educational texts. The 94.6% literacy rate is making a pretty good sense about the numbers.
   • The GDP (PPP) per capita accumulated in 2014 is $404.892 billion.  

5. Finland

   • The old champion is loosing ground to it´s asian rivals. A number of folks still consider Finland as no#1 in the best educational system which exactly isn’t the fact anymore. The premature child admission is a big drawback in the system. The no tuition fees system has an annual educational budget of €11.1 billion.
   • The country’s Gross domestic product wasn’t less than $36,395 (per capita).  

6. UK

   • With the devolution of the Education in UK, the individual governments are administrating the matters relating education on their own. The Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and English governments are minding their businesses on an individual basis instead of a collective dealing under kingdom’s authorities. The Pearson has ranked UK second in the European ranks and given the rank of #6 in the worldwide ratings in their 2014 publication. However, as a matter of fact Scottish system has a slight edge over the England when it comes to comparative competitiveness.
   • The GDP per capita is 21st highest in the world with $38,711.  

7. Canada

   • English and French are the primary levels for interacting with bookish knowledge. The literacy rates are not less than 99% (Both male & female). The attainment ratio is also recording good percentages. The college graduates have the world’s highest ratio. The Canadians follow compulsion in the education up to the 16 (most provinces) or 18 years (exception for a couple). The educational calendar varies from 180-190 days. The results will be impressive to a great extent after prioritising the investments in childhood education.  
   • GDP per Capita: $44,656 Canada is investing 5.4% of its Gross Domestic Product in the education sector. 

8. Netherlands

   • The low investments, weak planning and management in the high school education, have put Netherlanders on 8th in the ranking. 
   • GDP per Capita: $42,586 

9. Ireland

   • The literacy rate is 99% for each male and female. The education in the country is free for all levels from primary to third or college/university level. The students from the European Union are the only to be charged for fees and funds, mainly the tuition fees.  
   • The Irish government is having an investment of 8.759 billion euro annually on the education.  

10. Poland

    • The polish ministry of education is heading the business in the country. The Pearson and Economist combine ranked the country as the 4th best in Europe and the no#10 in the world on the accounts of its well established primary, secondary (lower and upper) educational bases. 
    • GDP per Capita: $21,118 

11. Denmark

    • The Denmark’s educational structure consists of Pre-school, primary, secondary, higher and adult education. The secondary education further divided into gymnasium, higher preparatory, higher commercial, and higher technical and vocational education examination programs. Likewise, post-secondary education also includes a number of programs. The education is compulsory for the children up to the age of 16. The “Folkeskole” or post-secondary education isn’t mandatory, but 82% of the students are enrolled which is a damn positive thing for the nation. The educational and UN’s Human development indexes are among the highest in the world.  
    • GDP per Capita: $57,998 

12. Germany

    • Germany is dedicated to developing one of the best educational systems in the world. The education is fully a state matter and hence has nothing to do with the federal government. The kindergarten is optional, but the secondary education is compulsory. Secondary education follows five types of schools. German universities are among one of the world’s best institutes and a powerhouse to impart education in Europe.  
    • GDP per Capita: $41,248 

13. Russia

    • There is much that can be done to improve the ranks as the country has never prioritised or paid heed to the childhood and primary education. The literacy rate is rounded off to 100%. A World Bank survey figured the 54% of Russian labor force as graduated which is undoubtedly the highest achievement in college level education in the world. The current educational expenditures are above 20 billion USD of the year 2011.  
    • GDP per Capita: $14,645

14. United States

    • Many would fancy US as the nation top ranked in the education systems which is a far off thing. Despite a well developed and one of the strongest economies in the world, the educational systems are ranked are not even cracking in the top 10. The $1.3 trillion (overall) national educational budget is earning a literacy rate of 99% (both male & female). 81.5 million Students are enrolled annually with 38% in primary, 26% secondary and 20.5 million making to post-secondary. 85% of the students have attained the secondary diploma while other 30% of the post-secondary diploma holders are also estimated. All the citizens are entitled to free education until high school education.  
    • GDP per Capita: $54,980 (6th highest in the world) 

15. Australia

    • The annual budget is more than $490 million more than 5.10% of GDP in 2009. The English is the primary mode of education in the country. The primary literacy rate is nearly 2 million. The nation owns 99% literacy rate. Secondary diplomas mark a percentage of 75 while post-secondary diploma has 34% attainment. The states and territories are almost in full control of their respective educational systems and boards. The PISA has evaluated the Australian education system in terms of reading, science and mathematics as 6th, 7th & 9th. The Pearson ranked Australian education as #13 in the world. 
    • GDP per Capita: $44,346 

16. New Zealand

    • The national education spending incurred by the ministry is NZ$13,183 million for the session 2014-15. English & Maori are the mainstream languages to get educated. The poor primary test scores are a major setback to improve ranks. The PISA accumulates the country 7th in science and reading each while 13ht in math. The education index amassed by HDI ranks country highest in the world but it only assesses the childhood years spent at school instead of the achievement levels. 
    • GDP per Capita: $30,493 

17. Israel

    • The approximately 28 billion Sheqel budget manages the educational business in the country. Hebrew and Arabic support the education in the country. The literacy rate of both males and females is cracking the 100% mark. The primary, middle and high school education make the comprehensive education system of the country. OECD ranked Israel as second most educated nation in the world in 2012. The report revealed the fact that 78% of investments being drawn are public while 45% of the citizens have made to high school or University/college education. The lower rank suggests the very common reason which is obviously poor investment levels in primary and child education.  
    • GDP per Capita: $35,658 

18. Belgium

    • Belgium has a diverse education system mainly financed, run and administered by Flemish, German-speaking and French. The federal government has to play a minimal role in sponsoring and funding the community’s education systems. The education in the country is compulsory up to secondary schooling. All the communities follow the same stages of education including basic, preschool, primary, secondary, higher, university and vocational levels. The UN’s education index ranked country 18th in the world. 
    • GDP per Capita: $38,826 

19. Czech Republic

    • The education is free and has compulsion up to the age of 15. The education system mainly has five divisions including pre-school, elementary, high school, colleges, and universities.  
    • GDP per Capita: $28,086 

20. Switzerland

    • The education is purely a matter taken by the cantons. The primary education is obligatory for the children in the Swiss state. 10 of the total universities in the confederation are owned and run by the cantons while the remaining two are under federal jurisdiction managed and controlled by State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. Basel is well-known for hosting the centuries-old university of Swiss confederation founded in 1460 and well-known for the medicine and chemical research. The Switzerland has the second highest rank after Australia for enrolment of foreign students in tertiary education. The country owns a relative higher numbers of Nobel Laureates. The country is ranked 25th in science, 8th in math and 15th in overall positions. The Global Competitiveness Report released by World Economic Forum ranked country no#1.  
    • GDP per Capita: 47,863 (8th highest in the world) 

2012

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1.     Finland
2.     South Korea
3.     Hong Kong
4.     Japan
5.     Singapore
6.     UK
7.     Netherlands
8.     New Zealand
9.     Switzerland
10.     Canada
11.     Ireland
12.     Denmark
13.     Australia
14.     Poland
15.     Germany
16.     Belgium
17.     USA
18.     Hungary
19.     Slovakia
20.     Russia

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Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients

4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
Pinch cayenne
Pinch salt
EGGS BENEDICT
8 slices Canadian bacon
4 English muffins, split
2 teaspoons white vinegar
8 eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste
Hollandaise sauce, recipe above
Fresh chopped parsley, for garnish
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Directions
Watch how to make this recipe.

Vigorously whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a stainless steel bowl and until the mixture is thickened and doubled in volume. Place the bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water (or use a double boiler,) the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Continue to whisk rapidly. Be careful not to let the eggs get too hot or they will scramble. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and continue to whisk until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume. Remove from heat, whisk in cayenne and salt. Cover and place in a warm spot until ready to use for the eggs benedict. If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in a few drops of warm water before serving.

Brown the bacon in a medium skillet and toast the English muffins, cut sides up, on a baking sheet under the broiler.

Fill a 10-inch nonstick skillet half full of water. Add white vinegar to the cooking water. This will make the egg white cook faster so it does not spread. Bring to a slow boil. Gently break 1 of the eggs into the water taking care not to break it. Repeat with remaining eggs. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook 3 1/2 minutes until the egg white is set and yolk remains soft. Remove with a slotted spoon, allowing the egg to drain. To assemble: Lay a slice of Canadian bacon on top of each muffin half, followed by a poached egg. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon hollandaise sauce over the eggs. Garnish with chopped parsley. Yield: 4 servings

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/hollandaise-sauce-recipe.html?oc=linkback

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Osso Buco

Ingredients

1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 dry bay leaf
2 whole cloves
Cheesecloth
Kitchen twine, for bouquet garni and tying the veal shanks
3 whole veal shanks (about 1 pound per shank), trimmed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
All purpose flour, for dredging
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 small carrot, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 stalk celery, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon zest
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Directions
Watch how to make this recipe.

Place the rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and cloves into cheesecloth and secure with twine. This will be your bouquet garni.

For the veal shanks, pat dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Veal shanks will brown better when they are dry. Secure the meat to the bone with the kitchen twine. Season each shank with salt and freshly ground pepper. Dredge the shanks in flour, shaking off excess.

In a large Dutch oven pot, heat vegetable oil until smoking. Add tied veal shanks to the hot pan and brown all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove browned shanks and reserve.

In the same pot, add the onion, carrot and celery. Season with salt at this point to help draw out the moisture from the vegetables. Saute until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Return browned shanks to the pan and add the white wine and reduce liquid by half, about 5 minutes. Add the bouquet garni and 2 cups of the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. Check every 15 minutes, turning shanks and adding more chicken stock as necessary. The level of cooking liquid should always be about 3/4 the way up the shank.

Carefully remove the cooked shanks from the pot and place in decorative serving platter. Cut off the kitchen twine and discard.

Remove and discard bouquet garni from the pot.

Pour all the juices and sauce from the pot over the shanks. Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon zest.

Recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/osso-buco-recipe.html?oc=linkback

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Apple Roses

How to Make Apple Roses

Yield: 6 individual pastries

Prep Time:25 minutes

Cook:1 hour 5 minutes

How to Make Apple Roses with this simple recipe for beautiful and gourmet individual apple pastries. Can be made ahead of time and perfect for Thanksgiving! Step-by-step video included.

You’ve probably seen these apple roses floating around the internet lately and thought they looked way too difficult to actually make. Well, I’ve made a video tutorial and am sharing an easy recipe with you to show you just how simple they are!
In one of my first baking classes in culinary school it felt like if something could be potentially made into a rose shape, we ended up doing it. That’s when I discovered it really isn’t all that difficult to manipulate something just enough to make it look absolutely gorgeous and totally gourmet!

Watch the step-by-step video below to see exactly how these come together. The full printable recipe is further below! Also, this is the mandolin I used to get super thin slices. Love it!

How to Make Apple Roses – Step by Step Video:

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Recipe Rundown

Taste: Kind of like apple pie but with more of a pastry twist!
Texture: Flaky, buttery, tender, and juicy.
Ease: Surprisingly easy and can be made ahead of time! Just requires a little bit of prep.
Appearance: Obviously the best part – absolutely beautiful!
Pros: Super fun and impressive individually sized dessert perfect for special occasions.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Yes!

How to make Apple Roses

Yield: 6 individual pastries

Prep Time:25 minutes

Cook:1 hour 5 minutes

15

Ingredients

2 apples (pink lady, braeburn, or honeycrisp)
Juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
Flour, for dusting
3 tablespoons apricot or strawberry preserves
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a standard muffin tin.
Core the apples and slice in half. Using a very sharp knife or mandolin on the second setting, slice paper thin 1/8-inch slices and immediately sprinkle and toss in lemon juice prevent browning. Toss in the butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Microwave the slices for 45 seconds, or until soft and pliable enough to mold.
Place the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out into a 9 by 12-inch rectangle. Cut six 2-inch wide strips of dough.
In a small bowl, combine the preserves with 2 tablespoons of water. Microwave for 30 seconds if it was refrigerated. Spread evenly over each strip of dough. Arrange about 10 apple slices lengthwise in a straight line, overlapping slightly, on a strip of dough. Fold up the bottom part of the dough and begin tightly rolling the dough to form the rose shape. Press the edge to seal. Repeat for all the pies and place in the muffin tin.
Make ahead: at this point the unbaked assembled roses can be covered and stored in the fridge for up to 1 day before baking as directed.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Pastries are best served the day they are baked but can be stored in an airtight container and rewarmed in a 300°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until warmed through and flaky again.

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20/20 Diet

The 20/20 Diet by Dr. Phil

The 20/20 Diet: Turn Your Weight Loss Vision into Reality is published by Bird Street Books and is available now at the following retailers:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Powell's Books
• Indiebound
• Walmart
• Target
• The Book Nook
• Books-A-Million
• Costco

Dr. Phil McGraw reveals the secret for finally putting an end to the never-ending rollercoaster of failed weight loss attempts with his new diet plan, The 20/20 Diet. In the no-nonsense, get-real style that he’s known for, Dr. Phil brings much-needed truth and reality to the struggle of losing weight. Then, he addresses each of these roadblocks by applying the latest research and theories that have emerged since his last best-seller on the same topic, The Ultimate Weight Solution (Free Press; September, 2003).

The book not only programs readers for success by helping them take control of their eating and exercise habits, it also harnesses the power of emerging scientific theories and research indicating that certain foods can potentially increase caloric burn and work with the body to amplify the feeling of fullness. The 20/20 Diet is being released a full 10 years after Dr. Phil's initial weight management book, The Ultimate Weight Solution, his biggest selling book of all time and updates 10 years of progress.

Readers will discover 20 key foods, called the 20/20 Foods, which theories indicate may help enhance the body’s thermogenesis (or caloric burn) and help you feel full. But that is just the beginning! This book reveals the truth about why some people haven't been able to lose weight in the past and gives readers important cognitive, behavioral, environmental, social and nutritional tools to finally reach their weight loss goals. As Dr. Phil says, "You can choose to see your goal with 20/20 accuracy, and when you see a goal that clearly, you can achieve it." 

Read an excerpt!

The 20/20 Diet App

As a companion to the book, get The 20/20 Diet app, free on iTunes or Google Play!

• The 20/20 Diet app makes it easier than ever to improve and maintain health while following the 20/20 Diet.
• Get all the recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for each phase of the 20/20 Diet. 
• Track your meals and exercise progress. 
• Get meal reminders so you don't forgot to eat. 

Learn more about The 20/20 Diet app here!

Please note: You need to purchase the book in order to use the app.

Share great recipes from The 20/20 Diet on Pinterest!

Related Links

• Rebellion Triggers: 7 Reasons Why People Fail to Lose Weight 
• Foods That May Make You Hungry
• "My Fight with Food is Ruining My Life"
• "Get Off My Back about My Body"

• Dr. Phil's Family, Weight Loss, and You
• 8 Foods That Could Actually Make You Feel Hungrier
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• 'I Don't Deserve The Wedding Of My Dreams Until I Lose Weight'
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• Why You May Never Again Weigh What You Did In High School (And Probably Shouldn't)
• You Probably Won't Lose Weight Without First Doing This
• How to Curb Emotional or Habitual Overeating
• How to Splurge without Derailing Your Weight Loss
• 6 Inspiring Diet Success Stories

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Garry Shandling

Comedian Garry Shandling Dies at 66

Garry Shandling

Photofest

The comic, whose career has spanned decades in the industry, is known for his turns with the 'Larry Sanders Show' and 'It's Garry Shandling's Show.'

Comedian Garry Shandling died Thursday, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 66.
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to an address believed to be Shandling's at 10:40 a.m. on "a medical emergency." The patient was then transported to Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica.
A Los Angeles medical examiner told THR on Friday morning Shandling died of suspected natural causes.
For the moment, no autopsy is planned as doctors' reports are pending for the exact cause of death, Lt. David Smith with the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner told THR.
Those reports may be done by the end of the day, Smith said.
The comic, whose career has spanned decades in the industry, is known for influential and highly regarded turns in two comedy series: The Larry Sanders Show and It's Garry Shandling's Show.
In recent years, a more private Shandling popped up intermittently and unexpectedly in mainstream movies such as Marvel's Captain America: Winter Soldier and Iron Man 2.
Born in Chicago, Shandling's family relocated to Tucson, Ariz., to help treat his older brother, Barry, who suffered from cystic fibrosis. Barry died at age 10 but the family remained.
Shandling moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to give comedy writing a shot. He first earned a living writing ad copy, but his dry, cerebral wit quickly earned him staff-writer gigs on such sitcoms a Sanford and Son and Welcome Back, Kotter.
In 1977, when he was 27, Shandling was in a serious car accident in Beverly Hills that nearly killed him.
"I had a vivid near-death experience that involved a voice asking, 'Do you want to continue leading Garry Shandling's life?'" he later wrote. "Without thinking, I said, 'Yes.' Since then, I've been stuck living in the physical world while knowing, without a doubt, that there's something much more meaningful within it all. That realization is what drives my life and work."

Read More Garry Shandling: Self-Deprecating Outsider and Ultimate Industry Insider

Garry Shandling's Career Through the Years

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Garry Shandling's Career Through the Years

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Read More 'The Larry Sanders Show' First Episode: THR's 1992 Review

From that moment on, Shandling decided to concentrate on stand-up comedy, finding the constraints of traditional sitcom writing limiting. He started performing at the Comedy Store in L.A. a year later, and quickly developed a stage persona that capitalized on his real-life neuroses.
In 2007, Shandling told Esquire, "I remember when I was a struggling comic appearing for the first time in Las Vegas. Don Rickles came in to watch the new guy. Afterward, he came backstage, and I asked him if he thought I was funny. He said, 'You know when you're funny. You don't have to ask.' And he was right."
Shandling's career-making moment — a spot on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show — came on March 18, 1981. Carson immediately warmed to Shandling and the comic was soon a regular fixture on the late-night talker, eventually replacing Joan Rivers (who Carson shunned after she left to host her own show on the fledgling Fox network in 1986) as the permanent guest host.
In the meantime, he forged a reputation as one of premium cable's most dependable stars, headlining a series of specials for Showtime and HBO. In 1985, he also developed his first sitcom — It's Garry Shandling's Show — for Showtime. Meta before that concept was commonplace in the comedy world, the series' characters all openly acknowledged being characters in a TV comedy.
Even its catchy theme song broke the fourth wall, with self-explanatory lyrics that describe how the tune came into existence: "Garry called me up and asked if I would write his theme song."

Read More Hollywood Remembers Comedian Garry Shandling

The experimental series was a critical success in the fledgling world of scripted cable, and ran for 72 episodes on Showtime from 1986 to 1990. Fox, meanwhile, aired a toned-down version on Sunday nights from 1988 to 1990, introducing Shandling's comedy style to an even wider audience and setting the stage for his next series, the groundbreaking The Larry Sanders Show on HBO. He also served as a popular awards show host, emceeing the Grammys in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994, and the Emmys in 2000 and 2004.
In 1992, Jay Leno was named as retiring Carson's successor. Shandling was reportedly offered CBS' The Late Late Show at the time, but declined. He also turned down a reported $5 million offer to take over from David Letterman after he departed Late Night in1993, choosing instead to work with HBO to develop a backstage series set at a fictional talk show.
Larry Sanders premiered in August 1992 and ran through May 1998, totaling 89 half-hour episodes. The darkly comic show, which starred Shandling as a morose talk show host surrounded by a constantly scheming and bickering staff, took full advantage of its behind-the-scenes Hollywood milieu, with stars regularly appearing as parody versions of themselves, years before Entourage traded in the trope.
Among them: Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Courteney Cox, David Letterman, Chris Farley, Sharon Stone and David Duchovny (who was involved in a running gag in which Sanders thinks Duchovny is trying to seduce him). A pre-Daily Show Jon Stewart was featured on the series as well, playing Sanders' guest host. (Sanders grew jealous and insecure that Stewart was booking higher-profile guests in his absence.) A full list of celebrities who played themselves on the show is available here.
Among the standouts on the series, the first cable series to be nominated in major Emmy categories, were Jeffrey Tambor, who played Sanders' desperate-to-be-liked sidekick, Hank Kingsley, and Rip Torn, Larry's "fixer" executive producer, Artie, who keeps his star's many demons at bay while playing staff peacekeeper.
The Hollywood Reporter said in its review: "Despite its generally unsympathetic cast of characters, most of whom seem willing to lie, cheat and steal to achieve their relentlessly greed, superficial goals, the show is a winner because the very funny scripts are so finely tuned that industry-wise viewers will barely have time to catch their breath from one yuk to the next."

Read More Garry Shandling: An Appreciation in Clips

Judd Apatow — who cites Shandling as having given him one of his first breaks, writing gags for an award show — also worked as a writing producer on the series, once telling THR, "I learned almost everything I know from Garry." The series won two Emmys for writing and directing for its final episode, and one for Torn in 1996 for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series.
"Today we lost a comedic genius and a very dear friend. Garry entertained millions of people and was an inspiration to generations of comedians, actors and writers. He will be greatly missed," says Steve Mosko, chairman of Sony Pictures Television, the studio that produced and owns The Larry Sanders Show.
In the years that followed, Shandling withdrew from the public eye and turned to Buddhism, surfacing occasionally to cameo in mainstream comedy films. In 2015, he sat alongside another comedy legend, Jerry Seinfeld, in a 1979 Porches 930 for Seinfeld's web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
The pair, whose careers paralleled closely, reminisced fondly in the episode, unfortunately titled "It's Great That Garry Shandling Is Still Alive."
A 2010 profile in GQ called Shandling "the comedian's comedian's comedian." It described him as being an avid basketball fanatic who hosted game-viewing parties at his Brentwood home that typically turned into matches on his backyard court, where regulars like Duchovny, Sarah Silverman and Peter Berg faced off with the likes of Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler.
While he never married or had children, his devotion to Buddhism only deepened — a faith whose origins lay in that life-altering car wreck back in 1977 that informed all of his work.
"I have this very abstract idea in my head," he said of new comedy material he was working on at the time. "I wouldn't even want to call it stand-up, because stand-up conjures in one's mind a comedian with a microphone standing onstage under a spotlight telling jokes to an audience."
Shandling continued: "The direction I'm going in is eventually you won't know if it's a joke or not. What I want to happen is that I talk for an hour and the audience doesn't realize it is funny until they're driving home."

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Katrina Pierson: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Katrina Pierson with Donald Trump. (Facebook)

Katrina Pierson is national spokesperson for Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. The Texan Republican activist has been “linked” to a National Enquirer story regarding alleged extramarital affairs by her boss’s 2016 rival Ted Cruz. Cruz called the article “garbage” and said the “smears are completely false.”
Born to a single mother, Pierson was given up for adoption, but her mother later changed her mind. After a rocky start to adulthood, Pierson became active in Republican and Tea Party politics, at one point even gaining the endorsement of Rafael Cruz, Ted’s father. Like Trump, Pierson is known for controversial remarks, including calling the 2012 major party nominees “half-breeds.”
Here’s what you need to know:

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1. The National Enquirer Included a Pixelated Photo Said to Look Like Her

With the hashtag #CruzSexScandal trending on Twitter, one user noted the similarities between Pierson and a pixelated photo included in the National Enquirer story on Cruz. Right-wing blog Conservative Treehouse ran with the story, saying:

Firstly, they post pictures of the collective mistresses. NE would never legally ‘go there’ if they did not hold a very reasonable certainty the outlined players were factually part of the story.
Secondly, there’s at least one face in the group that is easily identifiable.
When you accept the NE editorial/legal requirement for research and attributed comment prior to publication, you recognize there is more than a strong probability each of the outlined group (pictured) was contacted prior to publication; and one of those is very close to the Donald Trump campaign.  Ergo, it’s entirely likely presidential candidate Donald Trump knew this story was coming out.

Trump memorably threatened to “spill the beans” after a Cruz-affiliated Super PAC used his naked wife in a Facebook campaign. That detail, however, makes things “a little too convenient” for some observers, like the left-leaning blog Crooks and Liars:

The pictures they weakly disguise are pretty easy to match up with people. The image above suggests that Katrina Pierson is one of his so-called mistresses, as well as others.
It feels to me like Trump dropped a whole lot of garbage over at the Enquirer to discredit Ted Cruz, and that sense is backed up even more by the fact that one of the lovely ladies is supposedly Donald Trump’s spokeswoman. That’s just a little too convenient.

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2. Rafael Cruz, Ted’s Dad, Endorsed Her Senate Run

Ted Cruz and Katrina Pierson during her 2014 Congressional campaign. (Twitter)

In 2014, Katrina Pierson challenged incumbent Republican Representative Pete Sessions’s seat, and was ultimately unsuccessful in garnering the nomination. The primary race was cast as the insurgent Tea Party movement, represented by Pierson, against establishment Republicans, and her two-to-one loss was seen as a serious blow to the movement.
She did, however, get key support from future rivals. Rafael Cruz, a Texan preacher and the father of 2016 candidate Ted, endorsed her run, calling her a “strict constitutionalist.” Sessions campaign officials, however, were quick to point out that Rafael’s endorsement did not imply Ted’s. Pierson, however, claimed at the time that the younger Cruz had called her “a fearless, principled conservative.”

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3. Her Comments May Have Contributed to Cruz’s Win in Utah

Cruz led the polls for Trump for a long time, and ran away with the caucus, with Trump finishing a distant third. A major contributor was Trump’s high unfavorability among Mormons, who make up a substantial portion of Utah’s population and an even bigger slice of its Republican electorate. Pierson unwittingly aided in this unfavorability with comments in an interview, seen above, in which she defended Trump’s comments about Muslims, in the process conflating fundamentalist LDS sects with the mainstream LDS Church in describing government actions against them:

This is no different than a Christian church, it’s not different than a Mormon church. You’ve had the DOJ investigate Mormon churches and shut them down and Seventh-day Adventist churches.

While local media suggested she may have misspoken, the Salt Lake Tribune quoted Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz criticizing the campaign for not knowing better.

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4. She Called Mitt Romney & Barack Obama “Half-Breeds”

In 2012, Pierson called attention to the two major party nominees’ multi-country backgrounds, asking about “pure-breed” candidates:

Pierson received heavy criticism for the comments, with Gawker calling her remarks “menacing” and “eugenical.” Pierson defended herself on CNN, chalking the remarks up to campaign “silliness” and stating that she identifies herself as “half-breed.”

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5. She Was Almost Given Up for Adoption at Birth & Arrested at 20

Katrina Pierson with former Vice President nominee Sarah Palin in 2014. (Twitter)

Pierson’s mother became pregnant with her at 15, deciding to give her up for adoption to a Kansas family rather than an abortion, of which Pierson’s grandfather disapproved. While in Kansas, Pierson’s mother changed her mind, bringing the newborn Pierson back to Texas and raising her there. Pierson’s family received government assistance, but she later said her success was in spite of, not because of, government aid.
It wouldn’t be Pierson’s only unusual stop on the road to politics. At 20, Pierson and a friend stole $168 worth of clothes from a department store in Plano, Texas. Pierson told police that she hadn’t wanted to go through with it but needed the clothes for jobs she was trying to obtain. She later pleaded no contest, and the case was deferred. She credits the incident with helping her turn her life around.

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Follett offering asset management and storage to schools

New service outsources asset management to company

A new offering from Follett is letting schools outsource operational activities — what it calls “routine and seasonal tasks” — in a bid to help school admins and staff save time and space.
According to the company, the customized program, called Managed Services, “provides valuable outsourced services for administrators when they’re lacking the resources — staffing, facilities or time — to efficiently and effectively run their district.”
Many of the tasks have to do with asset management, and include:

• Locating, counting, and barcoding school assets, and doing physical inventories on-site.
• Ordering and logging new assets, like textbooks, and distributing them throughout a district.
• Helping schools open, shutter, or relocate school buildings and move materials, such as library books.
• Store various assets at off-site warehouses.

Follett has already rolled out the service in a handful of pilots and is now expanding.
Material from a press release was used in this report.

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One district’s innovative ideas to engage parents

Free tutors, workshops, and cold hard cash gets more parents involved in Guilford County

As research suggests, students do better in school when their families are more actively involved in their education. Students with engaged parents traditionally have better attendance, a more positive attitude, and higher rates of graduation than peers with less support.
In an effort to encourage this involvement, North Carolina’s Guilford County Schools has taken several innovative steps—such as offering free online tutoring to every family, as well as online videos and face-to-face training in the workplace to show parents how they can support their children’s success. The district also allows certain parent volunteers to earn a cash incentive for participating.
“We’re doing whatever we can to get parents engaged and involved,” said Chief of Staff Nora Carr.
A few years ago, Guilford County formed a task force to come up with ideas for boosting parent engagement. The district also surveyed parents to find out what their biggest needs were. These efforts led to the formation of the Guilford Parent Academy (GPA) in 2011, a multifaceted parent engagement initiative that is partly supported by federal Race to the Top money.
Free online tutoring
GPA Director Lindsay Whitley said many parents want to support their children’s learning at home, but often they don’t have the resources they need to do so. To fill this need, the district is paying to make a live online tutoring service from Brainfuse available to parents at no cost.
“We thought: What better way to support parents … than giving them 24-7 access to a live online tutor to help their kids at home?” Whitley said. “Now, parents know that if their child is having trouble with algebra homework at 9 o’clock at night, and they don’t know how to help, they can get an instant response. That’s pretty powerful.”
The tutoring, which is available for a wide range of subject areas, occurs through a live online chat session with a subject matter expert, and the platform includes a virtual whiteboard tool in which the tutor and student can work out a problem together. “The tutors don’t give students the answers; they help students work through problems on their own,” Whitley said.
Felicia Andrews is the parent of a sixth-grader at Eastern Guilford Middle School. “I attended school many years ago, so when my daughter needed help on topics like finding the least common multiple in math, that was something that escaped me,” she said. “It’s priceless to be able to have a tutor whenever you need one—and what’s even greater is that we don’t have to pay for it.”
On the go
Online tutoring isn’t the only educational service that Guilford County makes available to families free of charge. The district also provides access to a large library of e-books for students and their families. “We’re trying to address the opportunity gap,” Carr said.
What’s more, Guilford County has partnered with Connect with Kids to provide video content that helps parents support their children’s learning. The videos cover topics such as how to make sure you’re not overscheduling your child, or how to recognize when your child is being bullied—and Guilford County shows these videos on its local cable TV station and makes them available to parents on the GPA website.
The GPA program also offers face-to-face workshops for parents to address similar topics, such as how to talk to your children about risky behaviors, or how to plan for and apply to college.
“Many parents want to attend these sessions, but they have to work,” Whitley said. “We thought: How can we make this content available to parents who can’t attend an in-person session?”
To solve this problem, Guilford County launched the “GPA on the Go” program, in which it delivers face-to-face sessions for parents at their workplace. The district has partnered with about two dozen companies that employ large numbers of parents, including Polo-Ralph Lauren, to offer the workshops on site during employees’ lunch breaks.
“It’s our way of reaching parents where they are,” Whitley said.
Michelle Gill-Moffat is the youth development director for the City of Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department. She works with the district to plan and deliver GPA on the Go sessions to city employees.
“I hear great feedback from the parents who attend,” she said. “They’ll say, ‘This is perfect, because I don’t have time [to attend a class] when I get home.’ There’s soccer practice, or Brownies, or what not—and they don’t have time to go back out to yet another [event] at night. By attending during their lunch break, they’re still able to get that information.”
Parent liaisons
With a staff of only four employees serving 72,000 students and their families, the Guilford Parent Academy relies on a team of “parent liaisons” to help spread the word about its various programs. These parent volunteers “are an extension of our office,” Whitley said. “They know how to reach out to other parents in ways we don’t think of.”
Last year, Andrews served as a parent liaison at her daughter’s elementary school. “I did outreach within the parent community to make sure they were getting information they needed,” she said. She made a bulletin board that parents could see as they entered the school, set up tables at afterschool events, and spread news to other parents via social media.
Andrews said she spent up to 20 hours per month in this volunteer role. That’s a lot of hours, and school systems often struggle to find volunteers who can take that much time from their hectic schedules. To help solve this challenge, Guilford County allows its parent liaisons to earn a small cash incentive of up to $150 per month in exchange for their time and the completion of certain tasks.
“This helps reduce the barriers to participating,” Carr said.
The program began with a grassroots parent coordinator at each middle school. It proved so successful that the district expanded it to every Title I school with the help of Title I money.
Volunteering as a parent liaison is something that Andrews would have done regardless of the cash incentive—but the money was “highly appreciated,” she said. It also reimbursed her for what she spent out of her own pocket in service to the district.
An independent evaluation of the GPA program released this year concluded that it has heightened parent engagement significantly. “Participation in programs and activities has increased each year since its inception,” the report noted. “Since January 2011, there has been a 212 percent increase in GPA participation.”
“We’ve continued to build on the idea of a department created by parents, for parents,” Whitley said. Citing a direct correlation between parent engagement and student achievement, he concluded: “That is why we do what we do.”
The former Editor in Chief of eSchool News, Dennis Pierce is now a freelance writer covering education and technology. Reach him at denniswpierce@gmail.com.

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New guide offers ed-tech purchasing insight

Free resource for K-12 school, district administrators aims to help them navigate the procurement process

LearnBop, a web-based interactive K-12 math learning system, has released a free eBook, The Administrator’s Guide to EdTech Purchasing, created in partnership with Superintendent John Carver of the Howard-Winneshiek district in Cresco, Iowa.
Billions are spent every year on purchasing education technology, but agreed-upon best practices and processes around procurement vary.
This eBook is meant to set out a clear process, and also to provide tips, resources, and follow-up links to other quality information to help administrators go through the three main steps of procurement—identifying the problem to be solved; identifying technology to solve the problem; and then vetting and implementing that technology.
“Administrators are constantly bombarded with budgeting and other decisions, which can make it difficult to navigate edtech procurement in a clear, consistent manner,” says LearnBop’s School Services Coordinator Zacc Dukowitz, who helped write the eBook. “As a mathematics education technology company, we think its crucial that purchasers have all of the information they need to make a decision that’s right for the needs of their community. That’s why we created this resource in partnership with Superintendent Carver, to provide a framework administrators can follow when it comes to edtech procurement.”
Superintendent Carver was one of the first signers of the Office of Education Technology’s Future Ready Pledge, which was created to help move education into the 21st century. Additionally, he was one of 100 superintendents from around the US invited to the White House as part of the Future Ready initiative. His district, Howard-Winneshiek, was named “25 District Worth Visiting” by Tom Vander Ark, CEO of “Getting Smart.” Superintendent Carver’s writing on edtech procurement has appeared in eSchool News, and those same writings appear as subsections in this new eBook.
“Because they’re so busy, when it comes to procuring education technology administrators can often end up going after the shiniest object instead of the one that will best serve their students,” says Superintendent Carver. “This isn’t because they don’t care, but simply because they’re overwhelmed with decisions to make and don’t have established best practices. This eBook is a big step toward correcting that.”
LearnBop became involved in the project, ultimately creating The Administrator’s Guide to EdTech Purchasing eBook, after speaking to a number of superintendents and other administrators who shared the feeling that there was not enough information and established best practices widely available around the entire purchasing process.
“Every day we’re trying to provide valuable resources and information for educators and administrators,” says LearnBop founder and CEO Bharani Rajakumar. “Usually our resources are focused on mathematics, because that is our specialty, but in this case, we saw a real need and wanted to create a resource that could help K-12 administrators all over the country. Partnering with Superintendent Carver, we knew we’d be able to create something that would really be helpful.”
To learn more, or to download the eBook, you can go to The Administrator’s Guide to EdTech Purchasing website now.
Material from a press release was used in this report.

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Is there enough diversity in your social media?

As we consume more social media, our perspectives are getting less diverse. That’s a problem — for us and for students

Ed. note: Innovation In Action is a new monthly column from the International Society of Technology in Education focused on exemplary practices in education.
Once, while living in Santa Barbara, a small but jolting earthquake hit close to home. I went directly to Yahoo and Google to see what I could learn. Surprisingly, I could not find any useful links or information. So, I turned to Facebook, where my news feed was overflowing with comments, links, and resources about the earthquake.
Since then, I’ve started using Facebook and Twitter to learn about all kinds of recent events and news happening nearby and around the world. And I’m not the only one using social media sites in this way. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 50 percent of American adults get their news from social media sites, and this percentage is much higher for Millennials.
It turns out there’s a reason behind the trend. One of the benefits of getting the news from your digital networks is that you don’t have to search for, or filter through, various news sites to find the news that is most important to you. Facebook friends and the people you follow on Twitter often have similar interests, opinions, and attitudes as you. So when someone from your digital network shares a news story, you’re more likely to be interested in reading it compared to the other stories that you come across on news sites. This saves you time and energy and also allows you to stay up-to-date on the latest news.
Or does it?
Did you hear about the multiple black churches that were set on fire in the south after the Charleston shooting? Or, did you hear about the police shooting of the unarmed Native American, Corey Kanosh? What about the fact that the Los Angeles City Council approved a law that encouraged authorities to seize and destroy the property of homeless people?
Too many people are getting hurt and too many lives are being destroyed and we often don’t even hear about these events. At the 2015 Digital Media and Learning Conference, Van Jones made a poignant comment, “We pretend to have diversity in the United States. We don’t. We have bubbles that touch.” This is exactly what is happening in social media sites. We cultivate networks of people who are like us and who share the same news articles that we would share. When people who are very different than us are hurt or hurting we may not even realize it because we live and learn in a bubble.
However, social media can be more than a space for likeminded individuals to connect, it can be a game changer (think Ice Bucket Challenge or #YesAllWomen). It can enlighten people, encourage conversations, and facilitate action. It can be the place where, together, we redefine what “mainstream media” is and who controls information and knowledge.
The first step in using social media as a tool to create change is gaining awareness. Awareness of who is or isn’t in your network. Awareness of the resources that you can use to expand your knowledge and access diverse perspectives. Awareness of how mainstream media is skewing ideas and concealing events that may not be of interest to the “general public.”
Next, we all need to actively seek out diverse perspectives, ideas, and people to join our networks. Diversity is essential for innovation and transformation. This can easily be done with social media by following Twitter hashtags (e.g., #blacktwitter, #climatechange, #LatinosUnidos, #autismawareness), following grassroots media sites on Facebook and Twitter, and by joining social media groups and discussion forums that challenge your perspective and knowledge.
And, finally, it is important to start asking questions and engaging in critical conversations—should Los Angeles authorities be allowed to take away the makeshift homes of homeless people? Why is the media only focusing on the negative riots in Baltimore? Why are so many unarmed minorities being shot by police? What are we doing to address climate change?
Feigning ignorance is no longer an option. Social media sites provide a multitude of ways to break out of your bubble, connect with individuals with diverse perspectives, and create lasting change that can improve the lives of many people.
The ISTE Standards for Students recommends that teachers provide opportunities for students to:

• Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
• Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
• Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation.
• Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

These are standards that encourage awareness, diverse perspectives, critical thinking, and problem solving.
In the age of social media learning, it is essential for both teachers and students to develop digital citizenship skills in order to become critical consumers, distributors, and producers of the news. In his book, Digital Citizenship in Schools, Mike Ribble identified digital literacy, digital communication, and digital etiquette as three of the nine elements of digital citizenship. According to Ribble, it’s important for teachers and students to understand how information is exchanged in social media sites (digital communication), how to learn in a digital society (digital literacy), and how to identify the rules and norms that shape knowledge in social media sites (digital etiquette). These three skills can help individuals become more informed and mindful social media users who know how to evaluate popular news, identify gaps, seek out diverse perspectives, and ask thought-provoking questions.
Now it’s your turn. Scan your Facebook and Twitter feeds and examine the news articles that your friends and followers post. Who are the people sharing these articles? Do your friends and followers seem to share the same type of news? Do they share news from the same outlets? What types of questions come to mind as you read these articles? How can you engage in critical conversations about the information presented in these articles? How might you find articles that present different perspectives?
Answering these questions will help you develop your digital citizenship skills and become a more informed consumer of the news. The next step is to think about how you can help your students develop these same skills.

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