Eugene Weekly

Out with the old, in with the new: The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) announced to the press today that field tests are complete for Smarter Balanced, the standardized test that will replace the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills next year. In spring of this year, students from 90 Oregon school districts took preliminary tests of Smarter Balanced, a test run before all Oregon public schools switch over to the new tests in spring of 2015. Continue reading →

It’s official: Wolf OR-7 and his lover have been busy making magic together and are now the proud parents of at least two wolf-lings, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Adorable baby wolves are good news in general, but OR-7 is particularly important because his love affair resulted in the first known wolf reproduction in the Oregon Cascades since the 1940s. Oh what a night! Continue reading →

The Common Core approacheth: Starting with the 2014-15 school year, Oregon public schools will do away with the old OAKS testing and usher in the Smarter Balanced Assessment, a new standardized test that evaluates student performance by Common Core standards. Continue reading →

High school is a terrible time to be different or stand out, and without support from mentors and peers, LGBTQ students face issues that don’t affect straight students in the same way. Bullying, homophobia and prejudice are all struggles that LGBTQ kids have to deal with on a regular basis.   Continue reading →

After years of fruitless searching in southern Oregon and northern California, the wolf known as Journey or OR-7 has partnered up. It's not a sure thing, but according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, remote cameras in the Cascade Mountains of southwest Oregon captured what appears to be a female wolf, roaming close to Journey's current location. The same cameras recently snapped pictures of Journey himself.  According to the press release: Continue reading →

The Eugene School District’s teachers’ union, the Eugene Education Association (EEA), participated in “what turned out to be an exercise of frustration,” last night, according to the EEA’s bargaining newsletter. In the second full bargaining session between EEA and District 4J, members of the EEA bargaining team tried to understand why District 4J wanted to make significant changes to their contract, the newsletter says. According to the newsletter: Continue reading →