catalyst-chicago.org

As part of its efforts to expand digital learning in the classroom, Chicago Public Schools is lifting a ban on YouTube.

Teachers will now be able to jump onto YouTube and find other teaching tools on the video website and others to create playlists for lessons, individualize instruction and make learning fun, according to the Tribune.

In celebration of the first national digital learning day, Chicago Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard taught a science class via iPad at Spencer Elementary Math & Science Academy, 214 N. Lavergne Ave. (Tribune)

A parent survey at Drummond Magnet School shows that a majority of parents want a longer school day, but not 7½ hours. (Tribune)

IN THE STATE
A proposal to create a new committee to deal with special education issues was part of a written offer made by the Deerfield Public Schools District 109 negotiating team to the Deerfield Education Association teacher’s union at their mediation session Jan. 31. (Deerfield Patch)

IN THE NATION
Since Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker championed a law restricting collective bargaining for most public employees, almost 5,000 teachers, administrators and staff members retired last year, doubling the 2010 number, according to the Wisconsin Retirement System. Classes in hundreds of schools have grown as there are fewer to lead them. (Business Week)

The idea that financial incentives — such as bonuses for performance or teaching in hard-to-staff schools — is a complex empirical question, and an open one at that, writes Eleanor Fulbeck, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. (The Washington Post)

Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski on Wednesday challenged schools and companies to get digital textbooks in students' hands within five years. The Obama administration's push comes two weeks after Apple Inc. announced it would start to sell electronic versions of a few standard high-school books for use on its iPad tablet. (Education Week)

New research last week showed that students at New York City’s growing crop of small public high schools had outperformed their counterparts at more traditional schools. (The New York Times)