 | News and views for progressive change in education A project of the Institute for America's Future, in partnership with the Opportunity to Learn Campaign JEFF BRYANT, Editor |
THIS WEEK: Feds: Do More To Promote Equity … “Reform” For “Other People’s Children” … New Tests Outpace Lessons … Common Core Standards Attacked By Republicans … Florida Teachers Sue State For Unfair Evaluations TOP STORYWrong Lesson From Sandy Hook ShootingsBy Jeff Bryant“While federal lawmakers hesitated and then faltered to take action on restricting gun commerce, policy makers elsewhere in America have had no problem using the Sandy Hook shootings to rationalize new ways to turn school buildings into harsher, more punitive environments for the students who populate them … If the horrendous crime that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary can’t provide the impetus for positive action on gun control, let’s make sure it doesn’t provide the rationale for turning schools into extensions of a brutal, uncaring culture we want our children to abhor.” Read more … NEWS AND VIEWSFeds Can Do More To Promote Funding Equity, Report UrgesEducation Week“Civil rights leaders and education advocates say it’s time to push for new efforts to address decades-long disparities in how resources are parceled out to public schools … Those recommendations … are outlined in a new report from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights that … focuses on five areas to help close the resource and achievement gaps between poor students and their middle and upper-class peers.” Read more … Of Rich Dads And iPadsThe Huffington PostChicago parent activist and attorney Matt Farmer asks: “When is a Chicago elementary school with 23 kids in a classroom not considered by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to be an ‘underutilized’ school? Answer: When it’s his kids’ school … Chicago’s school ‘reform’ efforts have always worked best on other people’s children.” Read more … Students Face Tougher Tests That Outpace Lesson PlansThe New York TimesIn New York, “a pall has settled over classrooms across the state because this year’s tests … have been redesigned … are tougher… and cover at least some material that has yet to make its way into the curriculum. The new tests … align[ed] with Common Core standards … are so new that many New York schools have yet to fully adopt new curriculums – including reading material, lesson plans and exercises – to match.” Read more … Common Core Standards Attacked By RepublicansThe Washington Post“Republicans have launched an attack on the Common Core State Standards, an initiative that more than 45 states and the District of Columbia … that has been facing increasing opposition in recent months from both right and left. This new effort could undermine what has largely been bipartisan cooperation … Those on the right say that the initiative is nothing more than a federal move towards a national curriculum.” Read more … Teachers Union Suit: Florida’s Merit-Pay Law Violates U.S. ConstitutionOrlando Sentinel“Florida’s teachers union Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit … challenging how the state ties teacher evaluations to student test scores. The lawsuit argues that Florida’s sweeping merit-pay law unfairly resulted in many teachers’ evaluations being based on the test scores of students or subjects they did not teach. That violates the equal-protection and due-process clauses of the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit claims.” Read more … |
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