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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
National
Delaying College, Getting Out the Vote: As They Stage Another National Walkout Over Gun Violence, Students Look to Movement’s Sustainability
In Washington, D.C., students fled their classrooms to protest outside the White House. In Iowa, hundreds of students gathered outside the state capitol to demand change. And in Ridgefield, Connecticut, where Friday’s national school walkout originated, student activists began the day with a 13-second moment of silence for the victims of a mass school shooting that riled the nation before they were born. (The 74)
It Doesn’t Just Happen at Starbucks. Teachers Need Racial Bias Training Too.
Last week, two Black men were arrested for sitting in a Starbucks here in Philadelphia. They were waiting for a friend who arrived shortly after his friends had been handcuffed. The men were supposedly “causing a disturbance” and “refused to buy anything.” It is easy for supposedly non-racist White people like myself to read stories like this and feel disgusted by such blatantly racist behavior. But before we get too proud of our post-racial selves, I’d like to challenge us to truly investigate our own implicit racial biases. (Education Post)
One big upside of career and tech programs? They push more kids to graduate
As a high school teacher in Pennsylvania, Shaun Dougherty noticed that students in career-focused programs seemed much more engaged than his other students. Now a researcher, Dougherty set out to see whether data backed up his experience. Could the programs not just prepare students for the workforce, but keep students from dropping out of school? (Chalkbeat)
Report: Report finds wide disparities in punishment of students with disabilities by race
A new report providing the first state-by-state estimate of lost instruction due to discipline for black and white students with disabilities finds dramatic disparities in suspensions by race. The study, called “Disabling Punishment: The Need for Remedies to the Disparate Loss of Instruction Experience by Black Students with Disabilities,” was conducted by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School (CHHI) and UCLA’s Center for Civil Rights Remedies at The Civil Rights Project. (Harvard Law School)
States
North Carolina
Matthews to CMS: No deal on town charter bill. CMS: Maybe we’ll reassign your kids.
The rift between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the town of Matthews widened dramatically Thursday after the Matthews mayor texted the school board chair saying “no thanks” to a CMS overture. The school board had hoped the south suburb’s governing board would withdraw its support for a bill allowing the town to create its own charter schools, instead working with CMS to craft solutions to school crowding and other worries. (The Charlotte Observer)
Washington D.C.
D.C. Council members propose independent education watchdog
A majority of D.C. Council members are calling for the creation of an independent watchdog empowered to make sure the city’s schools rely on sound data as they emerge from a torrent of scandals. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) introduced legislation that would establish a research arm of the government focused on education data and rebuilding trust in the District’s public schools. (The Washington Post)