The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has donated 122 million dollars to the District of Columbia’s poorest high school students.  The money will go towards ensuring that those looking to attend college are no prevented from doing so for financial reasons.

The foundation is the largest charitable organization of its kind with an estimated endowment of $31.9bn

Via: Business Week 

Bebo, MySpace, Facebook, all are common names around high schools and college campuses across America. Their popularity has led some teachers to suggest they are having a negative impact upon some students learning. And, has made one school Michigan High School go to extreme of not allowing anyone to attend if they have a profile on the popular MySpace.com

The addictive nature of these sites has hit headlines again this week with news that pupils at schools across England are giving up the sites for Lent! Rather than giving up chocolate, fizzy drinks and other typical vices, these students plan to give up there standard two hours a day in front of a screen.

This however is a significant improvement from when I was at college, I decided to give up coursework…

A senior at Westmoore High School Oklahoma has won a $100,000 scholarship which she hopes to use to attend either Stanford or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  17-year old Mary Masterman won the competition by building a $300 spectrograph, a device used to identify characteristics of different kind of molecules, which can cost thousands of dollars.

Mary was victorious over some 1,700 students who entered.

Story via The New York Times 

Robin Harris who is Principal at the Flecther-Maynard Academy has done something few Principals would dare; she has extended the school day. Now when the Children of the Fletcher-Maynard Academy see the clock hit 2:00pm they still have another two hours of Maths an English to go!

It’s not all bad news for the kids. With extra hours comes new, interesting subjects such as cooking an forensics!

It looks like the Univeristy of North Carolina has accidentally sent emails out to 2,700 applicants mistakingly accepting them for admission to the school.

According to a spokesman from the school the emails were the result of a clerical error, and that the school expressed “deep regret” at the mistake.

Sadly those involved will now have to wait until March to hear whether there application has been accepted or not.

The American Library Association has announced the the winners of it’s annual children’s literature awards.

Considered to be the Academy Awards of Childrens literature the ALA picks books across a range of different categories.

There you can

So for all those parents trying to hunt down he perfect school for their kids, here is some great before bed reading you may want to consider too. 

Oprah Winfrey has given 150 South African school girls something great to look forward to in 2007 with the official opening of a $40m leadership academy for disadvantaged girls.  The site features a state of the art computer laboratory, a library, a gymnasium, sports field and a beauty salon.

The event was attended by a host of international celebrities including Nelson Mandela, Spike Lee and Syndey Poitier.  On cutting the red tape Oprah said that it was the, “proudest, gravest day of my life.”

Via Guardian Unlimited 

As well as keeping you up-to-date with all the latest goings on here at Education Index, we plan to use the blog to pass on some of the more interesting news stories that come our way from the education world.

To get the ball rolling here is a rather light hearted story from Harrington Park School in Harrington New Jersey.  After losing a bet with his pupils to read 10,000 books Principal Scott Davis was forced to camp out on the schools roof for a night in freezing temperatures, and then shave the schools emblem into his head.

When asked if he would do it again Principal Davis said: “”If it encourages them to read, then I would do it all again -just not tonight.”

Via CNN 

Over the last 6 months here at Education Index we have been busily working to collect a database of every education institution in the entire US -and here she is- all 110,000 entries.

So what is Education Index?

Education Index is the premier source for all information concerning schools and colleges across the US. Quickly scan reviews from former and current students, teachers and parents to help you make better choices about education for you or your children.

At Education Index you become the inspector! Tell others about the quality of teaching you or your children received while at school using our simple score card that rates the different aspects of school life. But it doesn’t stop there! At Education Index you can also contribute to group topics on various campus issues so together we can create the ultimate online education resource.We’re also planning to add some great new features in the New Year. We going to look to provide more information concerning specific courses, and add greater layers of interactivity.

2007 is going to be a good year for education.