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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
John King, the newly minted acting education secretary, dropped by Joanne Leleck Elementary School at Broad Acres in Montgomery County, Md., to welcome students back from the holiday break, highlight the school’s use of new federal money for preschool—and chat with reporters. (Education Week)
In September, Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, committed $50 million to be shared by winners of a competition to redesign the American high school. The effort, known as XQ: The Super School Project, is an open call to students, teachers, and policymakers—anyone who thinks she or he may have a good idea—to rethink the core qualities that have defined high school education for decades, such as testing, grade levels, and school schedules. Proposals for the future of public high schools are accepted online and, by next fall, a team of judges will select five of the best ideas and support them for the next five years. (Education Week)
The face of the movement seeking to upend the public-employee labor sector has had a back-and-forth relationship with her own local teachers’ union. Rebecca Friedrichs, the lead plaintiff among a small group of California teachers whose case goes before the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 11, started her teaching career in a small school district in Orange County by refusing to join the local union. Later, she joined the union and even became an officer. (Education Week)
According to Common Sense Media, tweens log four and a half hours of screen time a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. For teens, it’s even higher: nearly seven hours a day. And that doesn’t include time spent using devices for school or in school. (NPR)
The Los Angeles Board of Education remained stuck in neutral Tuesday, unable to pick a new leader for the nation’s second-largest school system after a five-hour meeting and a hunt that has lasted more than five months. (Los Angeles Times)