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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News & analysis:
Experts’ views about Obama and Romney on education
The following are edited excerpts from telephone interviews and email exchanges with leading education analysts, writers and researchers regarding the policies and positions of the presidential candidates. (Los Angeles Times)
New data on public education released
Here’s an infographic with some new data about public education enrollment and spending, student achievement and other related issues just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. (Washington Post)
What Happens to the Children of the Unemployed?
Seventeen-year-old Contessa Skelton learned that her mother had lost her job—for the second time in two years—as they stood in the parking lot outside her dentist’s office.
Her mom told her the bad news. Together, they cried a little. “I was shocked,” Tessa says, about one year later. “I didn’t know what to think at first.” Her mother assured her that everything would be OK. Still, it was hard for Tessa to believe that after her mother’s employer, Remington Colleges, had given her all of one hour to clean out her desk—along with just a week of severance pay. Her mother had lost her previous, long-standing job at GE Capital less than two years earlier. (National Journal)
Florida schools’ race-based plan draws criticism
A five-year academic “road map” for Florida public school students is angering some educators and civil rights groups, who note that it sets different proficiency goals for African-American, Latino and white students, among others. (USA Today)
Jean-Claude Brizard, Chicago Public Schools CEO, Out By ‘Mutual Agreement’ After 17 Months
Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard stepped down Thursday after a little more than a year in the post, a spokeswoman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. Brizard’s departure comes weeks after the school district endured its first strike by teachers in 25 years. (Huffington Post)
Idaho education reform foes outraise supporters
Teachers unions and other foes of proposed education reforms easily outraised those promoting the measures ahead of a Nov. 6 vote that will determine if the changes survive. The group Vote No on Propositions 1, 2, 3 added $1.3 million through Sept. 30, compared with just $164,857 for the group Yes for Education, according to the Idaho secretary of state’s office. (Idaho Press)