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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
The Senate voted on Monday to confirm John King Jr. as U.S. Education Secretary, a move that shows that education has become a rare issue on which a polarized Washington can reach bipartisan compromise. (The Washington Post)
As states press hard to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college or good jobs, many are hobbled by the very accountability systems they designed to leverage improvement, according to a report released Monday. (Education Week)
At the Democratic Town Hall on Sunday night in Columbus, Ohio, Senator Bernie Sanders was asked whether he supported charter schools. The Democratic presidential candidate’s answer—imprecise at best—set off a flurry of responses in the Twittersphere, if not the audience at the CNN broadcast. (The Atlantic)
In the next three months, an appeals court will rule in the landmark Vergara vs. California case, which could upend many union job protections for public schoolteachers in the state. If the appellate justices agree with L.A. County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu, teachers will no longer get tenure after only two years in the classroom, and they will no longer be laid off on the basis of “last in, first out,” the so-called LIFO rule that forces out new teachers regardless of how well they are doing their jobs. In 2014 Treu ruled that these and other employment practices endanger students’ constitutional right to an education. (Los Angeles Times)
Alaska’s schools are bleeding red ink. The University of Alaska has said it will reorganize its campuses and may have to cut more than 8 percent of the staff, but professors are already heading for the exits. The state’s largest public school district, here in Anchorage, is cutting 49 teaching positions and increasing class sizes. And in tiny rural schools like Nightmute — which has 80 students in a village of about 300 people — the pain has almost reached the point of paralysis: Five of the school’s six teachers are leaving at the end of the school year. (The New York Times)