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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
KINGSPORT, Tenn. – Alison Cotey, a 23-year-old, first-year teacher at John Adams Elementary School in Kingsport, Tennessee, recently gave her fifth-graders a poem littered with sound effects. (Hechinger Report)
This isn’t his mother’s first grade class. My son is seven years old and attends a public school in Oak Park, Ill., just outside Chicago. He reads ahead of most of his classmates, so he accesses a specialized online curriculum instead of the standard printed book. He uses a mobile device to compete in math games with kids all over the world. Much of his homework involves picking a subject he’s interested in, investigating it on his own, and then reporting back in a classroom discussion. (TIME)
A shift away from neighborhood schools in some parts of Denver is highlighting the fact that in families’ eyes, not all schools are created equal. (Chalkbeat Colorado)
Before Betsy Chao, a senior here at Rutgers University, could take midterm exams in her online courses this semester, her instructors sent emails directing students to download Proctortrack, a new anti-cheating technology. (NY Times)
Under a state law allowing families such power, a parents group has launched a petition drive to force changes at a Los Angeles elementary school. (LA Times)
As Ohio schools transition to new, tougher state tests, this is bound to be a trying year, experts say. (The Columbus Dispatch)
Minnesota
Four teachers have sued the Minnesota Board of Teaching, accusing the state agency of routinely denying licenses to qualified teachers, many of whom are teachers of color or teach in hard-to-fill areas such as special education or English language learner instruction. (Star Tribune)