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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
National
5 Things To Look For In Betsy DeVos’ Confirmation Hearing
There hasn’t been a more controversial pick for Secretary of Education, arguably, in recent memory than Donald Trump’s choice of Betsy DeVos. The Senate confirmation hearings for the billionaire Republican fundraiser and activist from Michigan start today. (NPR)
Is government a ‘force for good,’ or does it ‘really suck’? Education Dept. is at a pivot point
The fiercest critics and most ardent supporters of President Obama’s Education Department — which has arguably wielded more influence and sparked more controversy than any of its recent predecessors — generally agree that the agency’s efforts were rooted in the faith that government has a critical role to play in improving people’s lives. (The Washington Post)
Can school vouchers give kids a shot at a better education?
Betsy DeVos, the wealthy Republican activist from Ada who faces her first Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, is likely to be a strong advocate for private school voucher programs if she becomes U.S. Secretary of Education. (Detroit Free Press)
How Mass Incarceration Pushes Black Children Further Behind in School
In the summer of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the closing remarks at the March on Washington. More than 200,000 people gathered to cast a national spotlight on and mobilize resistance to Jim Crow, racist laws and policies that disenfranchised black Americans and mandated segregated housing, schools, and employment. Today, more than 50 years later, remnants of Jim Crow segregation persist in the form of mass incarceration—the imprisonment of millions of Americans, overwhelmingly and disproportionately black adults, in local, state, and federal prisons. (The Atlantic)