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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
All college commencements are happy, but community-college commencements are the happiest of all. Many of the graduates are the first in their extended family to have earned degrees. When their name is read, big cheering sections erupt with horns and roars from the stands. Many students are older; you’ll see 50- or 60-year-old women grasping their diplomas awash in happy tears. The graduates often know exactly where they’re going to work; they walk with an extra sense of security as they head off campus. (New York Times)
Congress is gearing up for its most serious attempt yet to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act. So what will President Barack Obama say about revising the law in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night? (Education Week)
President Obama is planning to propose new federal legislation to safeguard student privacy, a move that comes as new classroom technologies gather sensitive personal information about children in order to deliver personalized lessons. (Washington Post)
New Jersey
As New Jersey Governor Chris Christie moves toward a decision on whether to run for president, he is touting his education success stories, including tenure reform and more charter schools. Yet one victory has eluded him – the Opportunity Scholarship, a voucher program for students in the worst-performing public schools. (Forbes)
Pennsylvania
Compared with big-city peers, the Philadelphia School District spends less per pupil than almost any other education system in the country – even Detroit’s. (Philadelphia Inquirer)