Beth’s Briefings (9-24-15)

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

 

The U.S. Education Department is developing a tool kit specifically for educators who work with immigrant English-learners who are new to the country, said Libia Gil, the head of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of English-language acquisition. (Education Week)

 

Federal programs designed to ease the burden of college loans are causing snarls in the bond market and raising concerns that banks may soon ratchet back lending. (The Wall Street Journal)

 

Economists often calculate the income disparities between companies’ CEOs and their average workers with ratios, expressing concern when the gaps grow too wide. For example, a recent report from Glassdoor, a labor-market research firm, found that Chipotle CEO Steve Ellis earned $29 million total in 2014, while the median worker serving those yummy burrito bowls earned just $19,000. That would make the median CEO-to-worker pay ratio at Chipotle 1,522 to one. Data on the salaries of college faculty and administrators is scattered and incomplete, making apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. Still, it’s possible to get a rough sense of how they compare—an important indication of a given higher-education institution’s fiscal priorities—based on the same calculation. (The Atlantic)

 

The University of Alabama and Michigan State University look pretty similar on paper. Both are selective public research universities. Students enter with similar standardized test scores. And the proportions of low-income and underrepresented minority students on each campus are roughly the same. (Inside Higher Ed)

 

In its purest form, education should be a great class equalizer. But that’s often not the case in practice, of course.Bias still seeps into education, in ways both subtle and blatant. These biases can have a chilling effect on students at an early age, discouraging girls from studying math and science and creating a discipline gap whereby students of color — especially boys — are more frequently suspended or expelled than their white peers. (Huffington Post)

 

Students, parents and teachers at McKinley Elementary started a composting initiative for leftover lunch waste when school began this year — partnering with local composting service Compost Crusaders, McKinley’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and teachers introduced composting bins and compostable bags to the cafeteria. (Wauwatosa Now)

 

Maryland officials plan to release results from the state’s first Common Core-aligned exams beginning in October. State-level data for high school exams in English and algebra are scheduled for release Oct. 27, and middle school and elementary school test results are expected Dec. 8. Individual student scores will be sent home to families in the weeks following the two state releases, officials said. (The Washington Post)