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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
The conservative Bradley Foundation has spent millions over three decades to smash labor unions. Now an investment that could barely buy a house in Washington may bring it closer to that goal than ever before. (Politico)
In the past 15 years, education researchers have tracked the wake of a tsunami of education changes that swept through states under the No Child Left Behind Act—the 2002 revision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—from new ways of holding schools accountable for student achievement to national experiments on school improvement. (Education Week)
The man charged with downsizing the federal role in public schools is a passionate policy geek who says his own teachers saved his life. (Politico)
The latest national data shows that more students are getting their high-school diplomas than ever before. Just over 82 percent of the students who were high-school seniors during the 2013-14 year graduated, up from 81 percent the year before. The rate has inched up annually over the last few years, largely because of strides made by disadvantaged students—an accomplishment President Obama is likely to highlight in his State of the Union address Tuesday. (The Atlantic)
When the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranked countries based on the number of children enrolled in preschool, the United States came in near the bottom of all developed nations. Just over half of all American three and four year-olds were enrolled in preschool in 2013, compared to numbers near 100 percent for countries like France, New Zealand, Norway, and Spain. (KPCC)
New York
It was nearly two years ago that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo floated a plan for the state to pay for college courses for inmates. But it sank in the face of withering opposition from critics who mocked Mr. Cuomo’s initiative as “Attica University” and Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation who argued that New York should put “kids before cons.” (The New York Times)