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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
The latest government snapshot of school crime paints a picture of safer schools with declines in violent crime, bullying and harassment because of sexual orientation. (Associated Press)
Some of the wealthiest, most-educated towns in the United States have the biggest academic-achievement gaps between white students and their peers of color. That is one of the depressing facts emerging from a wide-ranging new analysis of more than 200 million test scores of 40 million students from around the country between 2009 and 2013 by Stanford University researchers. (The Atlantic)
In Colorado the economy is booming. The unemployment rate is 3 percent. And shiny new skyscrapers are rising all over Denver as revelers pour fistfuls of cash into downtown bars and restaurants. (NPR)
A tug of war over what and how many measures a new accountability system should use to judge schools is brewing between legislators and state policy officials. California’s policymaking body for public schools, the State Board of Education is crafting a system that would include test scores, graduation rates and English learner proficiency. (KPCC)
Detroit Public Schools reopened Wednesday, welcoming tens of thousands of students back to their classrooms after two days of widespread closures due to teacher sickouts over pay. (The Washington Post)
North Dakota and Wyoming state superintendents indicated this week that they will further distance themselves from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. (Education Week)
The U.S. Departments of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division entered into a voluntary settlement agreement late yesterday with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) under the Equal Educational Opportunities Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (U.S. Department of Education)