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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Her husband, Steven P. Jobs, famously helped reboot Apple with the “Think Different” advertising campaign. Now Laurene Powell Jobs is starting a $50 million project to rethink high school. (The New York Times)
The White House is taking new steps toward simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the much-maligned form that provides access to billions of dollars in federal grants and loans for postsecondary education. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Seattle Public Schools teachers are heading into the second week of a strike, with no school planned Monday. Negotiations between the Seattle Education Association (SEA) and the school district continued Sunday, but without enough progress to predict an end to a teacher walkout. (The Seattle Times)
Colleges give prospective students very little information about how much money they can expect to earn in the job market. In part that’s because colleges may not want people to know, and in part it’s because such information is difficult and expensive to gather. Colleges are good at tracking down rich alumni to hit up for donations, but people who make little or no money are harder and less lucrative to find. (The New York Times)
Results released this week from the new Common Core tests taken by California public school students earlier this year show a troubling trend: black and Latino students continue to perform lower than their white and Asian counterparts. (Southern California Public Radio)
An impoverished pocket of Northeast Washington has been receiving $25 million in federal grants to fund tutors, literacy programs and early-childhood education, largely to improve the neighborhood’s three struggling schools. Officials say school attendance is up, and the local charter high school has seen a boost in math scores. (The Washington Post)
New York
As 65,000 4-year-olds start free, full-time prekindergarten today as part of New York City’s ambitious universal pre-k program, questions persist about whether the program is spending public funds wisely. Education advocates and officials from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration say the $300 million a year program is a success because the city was able to offer a place to every family who asked for one and is building broad public support that will protect the program long-term. (The Atlantic)