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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Ever since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law in 1965, education funding advocates have relied on a highly technical provision they see as a safeguard for ensuring money earmarked for the nation’s most disadvantaged students is used as originally intended. (Education Week)
For the first time, government data back up what some parents have long suspected: Students who choose elite liberal arts colleges don’t earn as much money early in their careers as those who attend highly selective research universities. (The Wall Street Journal)
While most Americans were sleeping, first lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday delivered a major speech on girls’ education, urging world leaders not to separate issues of education from wider discussions about girls’ and women’s rights. (USA Today)
Ted Dintersmith is on a whirlwind tour of trying to change education in America, one community at a time. Dintersmith, a former venture capitalist, is executive producer of “Most Likely To Succeed,” a self-financed documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The documentary argues that modern American schooling is outdated, promoting rigid coursework and rote memorization of facts at the expense of creativity and natural curiosity. (Huffington Post)
An analysis of discipline in elementary schools across Texas shows that black students, especially boys, are suspended and expelled at disproportionately high rates and are labeled as troublemakers as early as pre-kindergarten. (The Washington Post)
Minnesota
Both nationally and in Minnesota, there’s a push to dial back standardized assessment. But annual student tests reveal gaps, measure progress and provide hope. We still need them. (Star Tribune)