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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis:
White House Gives Outline of Early-Childhood Ed. Expansion Plan
President Barack Obama used his State of the Union speech to make a big splash on early-childhood education, calling for expanding access to preschool programs to just about every child in the country. But he gave almost no details on the plan in his Tuesday address, including how Congress would pay for it in a tight budget year. (Education Week – Politics K-12)
Five Common Myths on Pre-k Evidence
With last night’s State of the Union proposal to expand pre-k access, there’s a lot of buzz out there on pre-k today–and, as always with D.C. or the internet, a lot of misconceptions. I want to clear up a few common myths about the evidence on pre-k. The following statements are not true. (Education Week – Sara Mead’s Policy Notebook)
Can We Really Give Everyone Access to High Quality Preschool?
I said in my last post that the president wasn’t proposing much that was truly transformative. But if it works, there was one proposal that truly could have lasting (positive) effects on society: his suggestion of universal, high quality pre-school. (The Daily Beast)
Bill would force Kansas to write new math, English standards
A bill in the House Committee on Education would force the Kansas State Department of Education to scrap and replace newly adopted mathematics and English standards and develop tests to match them — something the department says would cost millions of dollars. (Topeka Capital Journal)
Common-Core Foe Waters Down Opposition in Indiana
A bill that would suspend implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Indiana has passed the state senate’s education committee on Feb. 13, and now heads to the full senate for a vote. (Education Week – State Ed Watch)
Waste Is Seen in Program to Give Internet Access to Rural U.S.
The bank is gone from this once-thriving ranching and farming community on Colorado’s windblown eastern plain, as are the dairies, the hotel and the Union Pacific depot. The post office remains, at the corner of Main Street and First Avenue, the intersection of the town’s two paved streets. (New York Times)