Beth’s Briefings (6-9-16)

Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:

 

Teachers might be going astray if they’re using the Common Core State Standards as a guide to build college readiness in writing, according to a new study. The ACT’s latest National Curriculum Survey, released Thursday, points out mismatches between the skills in certain parts of the common core and the skills college instructors consider most important for success in higher education. (Education Week)

 

Diamonds are forever. Desegregation orders will be, too, if our end goal for Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is merely to color-code American classrooms rather than to create equality of opportunity. (The Washington Post)

 

There is this indelible image of college being a place where fresh-faced 18-year-olds spend their days in lecture halls and nights bunking in dorms on tree-lined campuses. In reality, higher education experiences are a lot more diverse than that. So much has changed in a generation: who attends college, how they learn, and what their lives are like outside of the classroom. A chart produced by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation captures the complexity of the higher education landscape and why there can be no one-size-fits-all approach. (The Washington Post)

 

An analysis of new federal data showing Washington state has the second highest rate of students skipping school is at odds with state numbers that don’t paint such a gloomy picture. (The Seattle Times)

 

California’s labor-relations board for public employees issued a mixed ruling on whether a major California charter management organization illegally tried to quash a unionization drive at its schools. (Education Week)

 

Although it has yet to finish its work, a state testing commission is not expected to recommend major reductions in the number of hours Maryland’s public school students are tested. (The Baltimore Sun)

 

From charter school funding to free SAT exams, everyone is buzzing about the education initiatives included in the House version of the state budget. (WPRI)