Beth’s Briefings (7-7-15)

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

 

Faced with rising calls to rewrite the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, Congress is once again trying to overhaul federal education policy—renewing a debate over national standards and states’ rights that derailed previous attempts. (The Wall Street Journal)

 

The opt-out movement is one of the biggest storylines these days in education policy. But so far, it hasn’t really been a key issue as Congress wrestles with a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (Education Week)

 

This is the tenth in a continuing series of letters between two award-winning school principals, one who likes the Common Core State Standards and the other who doesn’t. The debate over the Common Core State Standards has become so polarized that it is hard to get people who disagree to have reasonable conversations about it. The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news Web site focused on inequality and innovation in education, is hosting a conversation between Carol Burris of New York and Jayne Ellspermann of Florida (in a format that Education Week once used with Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier as the authors).  The Report’s editors as well as both principals have given me permission to republish each letter. (The Washington Post)

 

Is special education racist? That was the question posed in a recent New York Times op-ed by two researchers who claimed their study overturned 40 years of thought on the topic. Conventional wisdom has always held that, for decades, African American children have been overrepresented in special education. Some claim this has been in part due to a racially biased educational system that relegates kids of color to classes where less is expected of them. (The Atlantic)

 

America’s students face stiff competition from classmates and from around the world. Today’s job market is shaped by an increasingly competitive global economy, and government budgets at all levels are under increased pressure to do more with less. With all of these challenges, how do we best prepare American students for success? (The Hill)

 

The nearly 7,000 delegates to the National Education Association have wrapped up their convention, and we’re ready to fill in all the final pieces for you here at Teacher Beat. (Education Week)

 

A California lawsuit filed last week claims that the Los Angeles Unified School District is failing to abide by the state’s Local Control Funding Formula and diverting billions of dollars away from the needy students who should be benefiting from the money. (Education Week)

 

Who are we to think “our way” of preparing teachers in Minnesota is so superior to everyone else’s? As we prepare for a new school year in a state facing teacher-recruiting challenges and a nation-leading achievement gap between our white students and our students of color, it’s an urgent question. (TwinCities.com)