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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
National
Charter Principals Are More Diverse (and Other Highlights From New Federal Data)
A larger share of charter school principals are black and Hispanic compared to their peers who run traditional public schools, new federal data show. The profession—across charter and traditional public schools—is still largely white and female, according to the data which provide a snapshot of who sits in the principal’s chair in the nation’s public schools. (Education Week)
Quality Early Learning Programs Are a Key to Future Success. Why Don’t States Put Them in Their ESSA Plans?
Grades are a touchy subject. Understanding how students are doing, and how well schools are serving their students, is an imperfect science. But as states rethink what success looks like, they can use more holistic measures of school quality to improve school and student performance. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the main K-12 federal education law, gives states this opportunity. (The 74)
States
Louisiana
Louisiana teachers to face tougher job reviews in new school year under controversial evaluations
Louisiana public schools are starting the 2017-18 academic year anew, and students will not be the only ones facing a new challenge. After a four-year moratorium, around 15,000 of the state’s roughly 50,000 teachers will again have their annual job reviews linked to how students fare on key tests. The most controversial part of the evaluations has been sidelined since the 2012-13 school year during the state’s move to tougher academic standards, including Common Core. (The Advocate)
New Jersey
‘Turnaround Principal’ returns to open Paterson charter school
PATERSON — Gemar Mills comes from the type of background that usually poses challenges for city educators. Mills’ mother was 16 when she gave birth to him. She raised him and his sisters as a single parent in Paterson’s notorious Christopher Columbus housing projects. He grew up with friends who later became part of the city’s street crime problem. Some of them ended up dead. Others were sent to prison. Mills went to school. His mother made sure of that. “She believed that education was the great equalizer,” he said. (NorthJersey.com)
New York
Five things we still don’t know about who is in New York City’s Absent Teacher Reserve
A new city policy that will place hundreds of teachers without permanent positions back into classrooms this fall has revived a longstanding debate over forced placement — and raised questions about the teachers themselves. Who are they? What are their track records like? Are they even certified to take open jobs? The truth is, we know very little about the teachers in the pool. (Chalkbeat)
Pennsylvania
Critics say Education Savings Accounts proposed in Pa. are just vouchers by another name
School vouchers have failed multiple times to get enough support in Pennsylvania, but some GOP legislators are hoping a new school choice program may be the next accompaniment to charter schools and scholarship tax credits: Education Savings Accounts. Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin County, announced Tuesday that he intends to introduce legislation in September to create a program that will allow students in Pennsylvania’s struggling school districts to use state money for private school tuition, tutoring services and other pre-approved education expenses. (Pittsburg Post-Gazette)
Tennessee
As opening bell rings, thousands of Memphis students are yet to register
It’s not uncommon in Memphis for parents to wait until the first day of school to register their students. That scenario played out again on Monday as some 6,000 students were signed up for Shelby County Schools, bringing total enrollment to about 71,000 thus far. The numbers are still far short of the 90,000-plus students anticipated to attend the district’s 141 traditional schools. (Another 13,000 students are expected at 51 district-authorized charter schools, which handle their own registration. (Chalkbeat)