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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
With the goal of protecting students’ civil rights and limiting unnecessarily harsh school discipline, the Obama administration is calling on schools to ensure that the role of on-site police is limited and clearly defined. (Education Week)
Hillary Clinton has made affordable higher education a major component of her presidential campaign, releasing detailed policy proposals more than a year ago. In July she added a promise that low-income and middle-class students will be able to attend public college without paying tuition. Critics have charged that her ambitious plan would have unintended consequences. These concerns are understandable but misplaced, and Mrs. Clinton has already rebutted them. (The Wall Street Journal)
Hillary Clinton has spent decades talking about the needs of children and touting the benefits of early education. It’s a new subject for Donald Trump. The Republican presidential nominee added plans for education to his still relatively thin roster of policy proposals this past week, unveiling an effort to spend $20 billion during his first year in office to help states expand school choice programs. Trump wasn’t shy about his intentions, debuting his ideas at an inner-city charter school in Cleveland as part of his new outreach to minority voters. (Associated Press)
Some school districts had only a smattering of foreign-language speakers, so maybe that’s why no one tried to teach them English. In others, perhaps, it was difficult to find qualified staff — or these students weren’t the highest priority. (Los Angeles Times)
The two Connecticut school districts sit side by side along Long Island Sound. Both spend more than the national average on their students. They prepare their pupils for the same statewide tests. Their teachers, like virtually all the teachers in the state, earn the same high marks on evaluations. (The New York Times)
Each year, Los Angeles Unified School District officials identify between 15 and 20,000 students as no-shows or potential drop outs. To reach those students, district officials spent Friday making home visits to try to bring them back to school. (KPCC)