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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
In a stark about-face from just a few years ago, school districts have gone from handing out pink slips to scrambling to hire teachers. (New York Times)
Hillary Clinton is proposing an expansive program aimed at enabling students to attend public colleges and universities without taking on loans for tuition, her attempt to address a source of anxiety for American families while advancing one of the left’s most sweeping new ideas. (The Wall Street Journal)
An effort by the local technology community to have computer science taught in more Massachusetts public schools will move forward this year after the Legislature provided $1.5 million in matching funds. An advocacy group representing technology interests, the Massachusetts Computing Attainment Network, or MassCAN, will use the funds to train teachers in computer science instruction and to lobby more school districts to introduce the lessons. (The Boston Globe)
It seems that America’s biggest nurseries are failing at their job. Those “nursuries”—the states with the largest-growing youth populations—tend to produce the worst outcomes for kids, judged by such measures as high-school graduation, access to health insurance, and exposure to poverty. The states that produce the best outcomes for kids tend to be either stagnant or declining in their youth populations. (The Atlantic)
Summertime means summer jobs for many college students. But a summer job just doesn’t have the purchasing power it used to, especially when you compare it with the cost of college. (NPR)
A prominent local education foundation is discussing a major expansion of charter schools in Los Angeles aimed at boosting academic achievement for students at the lowest performing campuses. (Los Angeles Times)
New York
A federal judge on Friday ruled that a new licensing exam for teachers given by New York State did not discriminate against minorities, saying that even though they tended to score poorly, the test evaluated skills necessary to do the job. (The New York Times)
North Carolina
I am no fan of hyperbole, but I mean it when I say this: North Carolina is waging war against public education. The pathway that brought us here has been paved with underfunded budgets, tactical strikes against public school teachers, fundamental changes in charter school operations, the diversion of public funds to private or religious schools, and the erosion of our hallowed University of North Carolina system. Here’s what’s happened. (The Washington Post)