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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
The global media giant News Corp. sought to push its way into the K-12 marketplace five years ago by betting big on technology. Now, despite a $1 billion investment and a steady stream of brash promises to radically disrupt the way public schools do business, the company’s education division, known as Amplify, is deeply in the red and on the auction block. (Education Week)
The Obama administration might be disappointed to find out there’s not much support for one of its key school-discipline reform initiatives—at least not from teachers or members of the general public. (The Atlantic)
Jeanette Jones sat in on a class as part of her job as a college administrator and saw an example of how technology is reshaping education. She said a student at the for-profit American InterContinental University in Schaumburg asked the instructor a question she couldn’t answer. But the instructor immediately posed the question to her Twitter followers and in seconds received responses from several experts in the field. (Chicago Tribune)
Personalizing education can change a kid’s life. It can keep the advanced ones from getting bored and the struggling ones from falling behind, because every kid, no matter their level of proficiency, is encouraged to move at his or her own pace. (Wired)
Getting a read on the American public’s views on education is no easy task, made more complicated by just how much local schools vary. In a country with more than 13,000 school districts that enroll nearly 50 million students, a range of experiences and perspectives are to be expected. (The Atlantic)
A performance gap on the ACT college entrance exam persisted this year between California’s Latino and white high school students, according to new test results. (Los Angles Times)
This past school year was a peak year for teacher retirements. We last talked to officials from the State Teacher Retirement System in May, when they were anticipating an uptick in retirements for this year because of new rules that took effect this month. (The Columbus Dispatch)
New Jersey
The Newark school district faces a budget hole of $15 million to $20 million going into the new academic year, its officials said Tuesday. (The Wall Street Journal)