posted on
Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis:
State funding for preschool drops as Obama calls for expansion
State funding for preschool across the country dropped last school year after a decade of growth, tapping the brakes on the quality and reach of programs as President Obama has called for a massive expansion of early childhood education, according to a national survey scheduled for release Monday. (Washington Post)
The Recovery School District
Tennessee’s Achievement School District (ASD) is the latest character onstage in the most interesting act of contemporary education reform: structural changes in the governance and operation of public schools. (Education Next)
New York:
The education of the future starts now with Common Core standards: Commentary by Julie Marlette
The time to change our classroom standards, and the way we measure performance against those standards, is now. For too long students have been allowed to move from grade to grade — and ultimately graduate — without developing the analytical skills they need to master collegiate work and succeed in a career. That is why the shift to the Common Core standards in our classrooms, and the administration of tests that measure learning against those standards, is immediate. (Syracuse.com)
View Point:
Sean Reardon: No Rich Child Left Behind
Here’s a fact that may not surprise you: the children of the rich perform better in school, on average, than children from middle-class or poor families. Students growing up in richer families have better grades and higher standardized test scores, on average, than poorer students; they also have higher rates of participation in extracurricular activities and school leadership positions, higher graduation rates and higher rates of college enrollment and completion. (New York Times blog)
Frances McLaughlin: Cage-Busting Network Performance
Rick Hess is right about the choice we have to work within or “bust” the cages that prevent us from educating every child in this country well. “Cage-busting” as a term is making its way into the Education Pioneers vernacular. But is cage-busting enough? (Education Week – Rick Hess Straight Up)