Educational technology giant Blackboard is exploring a sale, according to anonymous sources who spoke to Reuters. The company, which develops the learning management system Learn and a host of other products, is reportedly seeking a deal of around $3 billion. Read more...

Conservative websites on Wednesday spent time mocking a "bias-free language guide" at the University of New Hampshire, which isn't new, but that somehow captured attention this week. Read more...

The meeting is expected to include a discussion of how these entities might partner with traditional colleges. The U.S. Department of Education is considering an experimental sites project to allow federal aid to flow to a limited group of boot camps and MOOC providers that partner with accredited colleges. Read more...

The U.S. Department of Education is moving closer to an official announcement of an experiment to allow some prisoners to receive Pell Grants. On Monday Arne Duncan, the education secretary, came close to dropping the details for an experimental sites project, which would grant a limited waiver to the federal rules that prevent prisoners in state and federal prisons from receiving Pell Grants. Read more...

Adults in the U.S. who have graduated with more than a bachelor’s degree are the most likely than others to feel that they learn something new or do something interesting every day, according to a new poll released by Gallup Tuesday. Read more...

Higher Ed, Not Debt is a nonprofit advocacy group with a focus on for-profit colleges. It joined with the Service Employees International Union and Student Debt Action to organize a Monday protest outside the annual shareholder meeting of ITT Educational Services Inc., which owns ITT Tech, an embattled for-profit chain that is facing federal fraud charges and various other state and federal lawsuits. Read more...

The University of Alaska at Fairbanks first removed the state flag of Mississippi and then restored it to a display of state flags. The flag (at right) was removed because it contains the Confederate battle flag in one corner. In a statement on Facebook, Chancellor Brian Rogers explained both the decision to remove and restore the flag. Read more...

States receiving federal funding for their teacher preparation programs are required by federal law to identify which ones aren’t performing well, but the U.S. Department of Education hasn’t checked to make sure they do, according to a Government Accountability Office study released Thursday. Read more...

The federal panel charged with advising the U.S. Department of Education on accreditation is calling on policy makers to give it the final authority to decide which accrediting agencies deserve the federal government's recognition. Read more...

The British government is planning a referendum on whether to remain in the European Union, prompting leaders of British universities to start Universities for Europe to encourage British voters to keep the country in the E.U. British academic leaders fear a loss of E.U. funding for research, and also a lessening of the collaboration between academics in Britain and the rest of Europe. Read more...