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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
The way schools respond to boys’ behaviors plays a significant role in shaping their educational outcomes years later. In fact, behavioral problems in early childhood have a larger negative effect on high school and college completion rates for boys than girls, according to a new study from Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. They’re also less likely to learn and more likely to be held back in school. (U.S. News)
A half-dozen sixth-grade teachers sat in a circle inside an empty classroom, poring over sheets of data showing their students’ attendance, grades and discipline. They were looking for children who were sliding, whose records indicated they were in danger of falling off the track to high school graduation. (The Washington Post)
The U.S. spends a lot of money on preschool — billions of dollars each year. When invested wisely, research suggests the costs are justified by significant returns to society, including savings from crimes not committed, welfare dollars not distributed, and taxes on higher earnings. (NPR)
Last week, Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled “A Better Way,” a policy blueprint for a Republican approach to “poverty, opportunity, and upward mobility.” Ryan’s previous blueprints decisively reshaped Republicans agenda on entitlements, and my Manhattan Institute colleague Scott Winship deemed Ryan’s safety-net reforms “ambitious and distinctive.” (U.S. News)
Big campaign spending from outside interests, including charter school advocates, helped propel a slew of state legislative candidates out of primaries onto November ballots. But in many cases, the candidates groups opposed also advanced, setting up costly general election rematches. (KPCC)
“Start sharing. Don’t be shy,” the facilitator said at the start a training last week for Asian, black, and Hispanic men hoping to teach in the New York City school system. He’d asked them to name a movie or song that spoke to them. (The Atlantic)