>see some research...spaced repetition into our actual education system.<
I have followed the research in this area closely for several years. Most of the (excellent) foundational research was done by university psychology professors who used college students as subjects; it's much harder for them to use primary school students, hence far less research with young learners. Implementing these techniques in elementary schools is more challenging then many would guess. Two good books: "Make it Stick" Brown, Roediger, McDaniel; "Powerful Teaching" Agarwal & Bain. PM me if you'd like more info. The second book describes research with middle school students. Pooja Agarwal also hosts the informative site www.retrievalpractice.org which informs K-12 teachers and has lots of free downloads. I am involved in a startup that is beginning (pilot teachers in September) to implement spaced repetition for elementary school math.
Retired teacher here...glad to see fresh thinking on this problem. The mega-publishers that serve school districts are stuck in a 1980s model. A project related to yours is ASSiSTments at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The market is big, with space for several innovative projects.
I've used URL Manager Pro for years...very pleased with it (Mac only).
http://www.url-manager.com/
It creates a local bookmarks file; folders/subfolders; search; each bookmark has a Notes field; I sometimes copy a clip from the website into Notes to act as search bait. I use it to build a professional library.
The BBC also has a useful smartphone app. Each day it offers just a few items related to the US; can scan through them in a couple of minutes; seem free of any American left/right tilt.
Macintosh-only stand-alone local database for URLs; Costs $25; url-manager.com.
I've been using it for years...have 10s of thousands of bookmarks...it's where I keep all my research...has saved me many times. All data in one local file (or Dropbox)...easily portable; no annual fee.
Click on the icon in the menu bar to save the current web page Title and URL; optional field for Notes permits you to add keywords or large excerpts from the site or article.
Organize the database/outline by making folders/sub-folders. Fast db search;
Mac OS X app : Customizable toolbar, standard Window Menu and Fonts Panel, Font Smoothing, Sheets and Drawer Windows, Cocoa Status Item and support for Dropbox. Includes Yosemite Share extension and Spotlight importer.
Import and Export : URL Manager Pro can import from and export to Safari, Firefox, Chrome, OmniWeb, Camino, iCab, Mozilla and Netscape. It lets you 'harvest' bookmarks by importing XML (XBEL), HTML and text files for bookmarks and URLs. Export entire db or any one folder to HTML or text format.
Very insightful! I think these are 100% valid. I wish I had been sensitive to them before sinking a couple of years into a project. Thanks for explaining them in detail.