December 4, 2015
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December 4, 2015
Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice
ESEA reauthorization: The Every Student Succeeds Act explained
Alyson Klein, EdWeek
The newest proposed version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—dubbed the Every Student Succeeds Act—has officially been released.
Is it time to reform education reform…again?
KCRW, Guests: Mary Kusler, National Education Association; Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post; Janel George, NAACP Legal Defense Fund; Rick Hess, American Enterprise Institute
It could be a rare compromise in a sharply divided Congress. Democrats and Republicans want to get rid of No Child Left Behind. The likely replacement would be called Every Child Succeeds — with less standardized testing and more power to states and local districts. But, conservatives complain there’s still too much federal involvement; liberals worry the rights of low-income and minority students will be ignored. We hear details of efforts to thread the needle between teachers, advocates of school choice, civil libertarians and many other interested parties.
LAUSD board gets first names of superintendent candidates
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC
On Tuesday L.A. Unified’s school board got a first look at a list of people who want to be the school district’s next superintendent.
Language, Culture, and Power
California school suspensions decline, driven by fewer punishments for disruption/defiance
Daniel J. Losen, Michael A. Keith II, Cheri L. Hodson, Tia E. Martinez, Shakti Belway, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project /Proyecto Derechos Civiles
Districts making progress toward reducing racial/ethnic suspension disparities, though gaps still remain. Study shows higher test scores correlated with lower suspension rates, reducing concern that discipline reforms may jeopardize student achievement.
L.A. Unified sees success in counseling rather than arresting truants and kids who fight
Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
Just before 8 a.m. at Peary Middle School in Gardena, a boy was refusing to leave his mother's car. The school police officer on duty could have barked orders at him to get to class. He could have written him up for truancy. He could have forcibly moved him — as a South Carolina police officer did to a student last month, sparking a national uproar. But Los Angeles Unified School Police Officer Henry Anderson did none of that.
The changing face of America’s Chinese schools
Audrey Cleo Yap, The Atlantic
Non-Asian students are increasingly spending their Saturdays immersed in China’s language and culture.
Access, Assessment, and Advancement
College enrollment rates are dropping, especially among low-income students
Emma Brown, The Washington Post
Low-income high school graduates were far less likely to enroll in higher education in 2013 than in 2008, a downward trend that came at the same time the Obama administration was pushing to boost college access and completion, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data.
Report: California’s failure to invest in public universities has hurt access
Fermin Leal, EdSource
California’s public universities can no longer accommodate the increasing number of college-ready students because the state has failed to invest the needed resources in higher education, according to a report released today.
To measure what tests can't, some schools turn to surveys
Anya Kamenetz, NPR
Last year, Susan Avey, the principal of Bogle Junior High School in Chandler, Ariz., had a heart-to-heart with one of her new teachers about how he was relating to students. In a previous year, this might have been a conversation based on subjective impressions. The teacher might have gotten defensive. But this year, Avey had a new tool up her sleeve: a survey of her students.
Inequality, Poverty, Segregation
Less equal than ever? Talking about inequality
The Commonwealth Club, Panel: Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher, The Nation; Van Jones, Former White House Special Advisor for Green Jobs, CNN Commentator; Robert Reich, Professor, Author, Former Secretary of Labor; Ai-jen Poo, Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Judge LaDoris Cordell (Ret.), Former Independent Police Auditor, City of San Jose—Moderator
The wealth controlled by the top tenth of the top 1 percent has more than doubled over the past 30 years in the United States, approaching unprecedented levels. What does this mean for the political process? The environment? Our civil society? Our civic culture? The future of our democracy? What can be done?
School segregation is bad and getting worse, but it’s supposed to be solved voluntarily
Casey Quinlan, ThinkProgress
Six decades after the Brown v. Board of Education decision that determined that segregating white and black children is unconstitutional, American schools are drifting back toward racial segregation.
Study: State should increase, overhaul school construction bonds
John Fensterwald, EdSource
The state’s system of school construction and upkeep is inadequate and inequitable, with districts serving low-income students more often underfunding construction, then overspending on patching up facilities that needed major renovations, a new research study has found.
Public Schools and Private $
Gates Foundation put millions of dollars into new education focus: Teacher preparation
Valerie Strauss, The Answer Sheet
You can say this about Bill and Melinda Gates: They are persistent. They poured a few billion dollars into various school reform efforts in the past 15 years — but when things didn’t go quite as planned, they didn’t give up. They always came up with something else to try. That’s just what they are doing now (again).
Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan pledge huge gift to education, public health
Sean Cavanagh, EdWeek
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, today pledged to donate 99 percent of their company shares—currently valued at $45 billion—to support efforts to improve public health, education, and communities. A portion of that money will go into backing the popular, if often vaguely defined, goal of promoting "personalized learning" opportunities for students.
PAC shielded $2.3 million in donations by L.A. charter school backers
Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
Nearly $2.3 million in donations made by charter school supporters during this year's Los Angeles school board races were shielded from disclosure until after the election was over, a review of records shows.
Other News of Note
Protesters want qualitative diversity on campus
Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Slate
This past week an unknown perpetrator vandalized the portraits of Harvard Law School’s black faculty members, mine included. Many students, colleagues, and friends responded to the defacement by expressing gratitude for the contributions that my colleagues and I make to the law school. I cherished these reactions for what they conveyed about my relationships with students, friends, and colleagues.
Students’ protests may play role in Supreme Court case on race in admissions
Adam Liptak, The New York Times
As student protests over racial injustice are exploding at campuses across the nation, the Supreme Court is preparing to hear a major case that could put an end to racial preferences in college admissions.
Just News from Center X is a free weekly education news blast edited by Jenn Ayscue.
