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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
The Obama administration on Thursday released new guidance explaining what states and school districts must do to meet new legal obligations to students in foster care, who are often among the nation’s most vulnerable children. (The Washington Post)
Everything in American education is broken. Or so say the policy elites, from the online learning pioneer Sal Khan to the journalist-turned-reformer Campbell Brown. As leaders of the XQ project succinctly put it, we need to “scrap the blueprint and revolutionize this dangerously broken system.” (The Atlantic)
A coalition of civil rights organizations says that while some of the proposed accountability regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act are a positive step, they might need additional teeth, while some of the draft rules simply aren’t up to snuff. (Education Week)
With student activism sweeping the country over issues that include sexual assault, police brutality and racial inequality, American higher education is at a crossroads, as it was in the 1960s when college students were galvanized by the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. (The New York Times)
“My goal for this special session is to keep the schools open,” said Sam Brownback, Republican governor of Kansas, talking about a high-stakes gathering today in Topeka. He called lawmakers back from their vacations for a special session after the state’s Supreme Court doubled-down on its demand that they make school funding more equitable across districts or risk a calamitous funding freeze. (NPR)
New York
In the fraught final hours of the legislative session on Friday, the Republicans in the State Senate agreed to give Mayor Bill de Blasio control of the New York City schools for one more year, but in return they demanded two provisions related to charter schools. (The New York Times)