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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
National
The Monumental Task Of Reopening Puerto Rico’s Schools
The schools in Puerto Rico are facing massive challenges. All the public schools are without electricity, and more than half don’t have water. More than 100 are still functioning as shelters. But Puerto Rico’s secretary of education, Julia Keleher, tells us that the schools that are open are serving as connection points for communities. They’ve become a place where children and their families can eat a hot meal and get some emotional support, too. On Wednesday, we reported on two schools that have reopened — one public and one private. (NPR)
10 Disruptions That Will Revolutionize Education
The idea that machines are smarter than humans has inspired a library of science-fiction stories and movies. What often happens when intelligent machines and ordinary humans cross cognitive swords? Humans lose. We weaker and dumber creatures are no match for machines that are out-thinking us at every turn, taking away our jobs, and planning to establish a dictatorship of computers. (Education Week)
TEACHER VOICE: In Finland, it’s easier to become a doctor or lawyer than a teacher — Here’s why
In Finland, teachers are trusted, appreciated and educated in advanced degree programs. Becoming and being a teacher starts with earning a placement at one of the country’s highly selective teacher education programs. I vividly recall the two educational books I was required to study for the first part of Finland’s initial classroom teacher education entrance exam. The books seemed different – much harder to read – from the readings I had done a few months earlier for the Finnish high school matriculation exam. (The Hechinger Report)
States
Florida
New Data Show Nearly 700 Students Displaced by Hurricanes Have Enrolled in One Florida School District
As residents of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico land plane tickets from the island to the mainland, school districts along the East Coast are experiencing a large influx of new students. Last week, The 74 reported on efforts by Orange County Public Schools, which includes Orlando, to help Puerto Rican families displaced by Hurricane Maria. Officials in the district, which educates more than 191,000 children, set up shop at the airport to help evacuees enroll their children in school, just minutes after their planes landed in Florida. District officials also had a message for Puerto Rican educators who fled to the mainland after the hurricane hit the island Sept. 20: We’re hiring. (The 74)
New Jersey
What did Zuckerberg’s $100 million buy in Newark? A bit of progress
In September 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg went on The Oprah Winfrey Show, along with then-Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, to announce an eye-popping gift: $100 million to reform Newark Public Schools. Local philanthropists and others would match that, doubling the gift to $200 million. In exchange, the struggling urban system was expected not only to welcome more independently run charter schools but to close low-performing schools, give families an easier way to choose a new school and enact a performance-based pay system for teachers. (USA Today)
South Carolina
Despite more choices in schools, private school enrollment on the increase, officials say
With the recession of a decade ago firmly in the past, more and more families are turning back toward private education for their children. Between 2013 and 2015, enrollment at private schools increased 7 percent nationally, according to a biennial count of private school students released in August by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. That continued the positive trend that started with a 2 percent increase from 2011 to 2013. (The Post & Courier)
Tennessee
Thousands of TNReady tests scored incorrectly
About 9,400 TNReady assessment tests across the state were scored incorrectly, according to the Tennessee Department of Education. The scoring issue affected about 70 schools in 33 districts. “There is no impact to the statewide results,” according to an email from state spokeswoman Sara Gast. The impact on individual schools’ scores, however, is unclear. (The Commercial Appeal)