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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Mel Atkins has spent most of his life with Grand Rapids Public Schools in Michigan. He graduated from Ottawa Hills High, where he played baseball. But his real love was bowling. He says he’s bowled 22 perfect games. (NPR)
Wealthy private colleges and universities are under the microscope for failing to open their doors to more smart students from poor families. Congress has asked 56 private colleges with endowments of more than $1 billion each for detailed information about their holdings. Some lawmakers would like to force these elite institutions to devote at least 25% of their annual endowment income to financial aid or lose their tax-exempt status. Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett recently chided schools with large endowments and high tuition for not spending more on aid. (The Wall Street Journal)
Through organizing and activism—and the uproar surrounding the issue of immigration—the plight of undocumented youth has been forced onto the national political stage. From rallies and civil disobedience to protest marches and trips to Capitol Hill, a pattern begins to emerge of smart, hard-working, undocumented Latino students tackling enormous barriers to gain citizenship and college opportunities. (The Atlantic)
Standing before the Los Angeles Unified School Board, Susan Zoller delivered a startling assessment: More than 100,000 students in the nation’s second-largest district were now enrolled in charters, draining more than $500 million from the budget in a single academic year. (Associated Press)
Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a Democratic Assembly candidate from the small Northern California farming town of Winters, got a surprise when she bumped into a friend at a local coffee shop. (Los Angeles)
On San Jose State University’s lush inner-city campus, students in their graduation gowns pose with their families in front of ivy-covered buildings. They’re the lucky ones. Just 10 percent of students graduate from this public university in four years. After six years, it’s only a bit more than half. (NPR)
As 76 seniors from East Side High School’s Class of 2016 made their way across the modest stage one by one, each drew rambunctious applause, the most forceful cheers coming from four dozen members of the school’s Class of 1966. (The Washington Post)