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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis:
Race to Top Winners Can Apply for Extra Year to Finish Work
The U.S. Department of Education will consider, on a case-by-case basis, granting the original 12 Race to the Top winners an extra year to finish their work. (Education Week – Politics K-12)
Nine High Schools, One Roof
When teachers heard footsteps thundering in the hallways at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in the Bronx, they threw down iron gates to stop student gangs from rioting, even as other students tried to deconstruct literature behind locked classroom doors. A decade ago, Stevenson, in the borough’s Castle Hill section, was one of the city’s most dangerous, overcrowded schools, barely containing its 3,054 students — when they showed up for class. (New York Times)
State schools chief wants to hold off on some standardized tests
A plan to suspend California’s standardized testing for certain grades while new computerized exams are developed could save $15 million, the state’s top education official said. (Los Angeles Times)
Debate the President’s Proposal All You Like–Preschool Expansion is Coming
Yesterday Russ Whitehurst and I participated in a debate on the federal role in early childhood education, hosted by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. Video of the full debate is now available online here. (Education Week – Sara Mead’s Policy Notebook)
Gift Aims to Add More Math Teachers
A Texas-based program that encourages math and science majors to become math and science teachers is getting a $22.5 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one of the largest such donations of its kind. (Wall Street Journal)
Rhode Island:
Providence Wins Bloomberg’s Mayors Challenge
Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced the winners of the Mayors Challenge, a competition to inspire American cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life – and that ultimately can be shared with other cities to improve the well-being of the nation. (Arch Daily)
R.I. adults took a standardized test, and they didn’t like it
This time it was the kids serving as proctors and the adults taking the standardized test. In Providence, R.I. on Saturday, several dozen state legislators, city officials, professors and others sat down for several hours at a library to take a standardized test that was created from actual questions off of the New England Common Assessment Program, or NECAP. (Washington Post)