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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
As we leave our morning meeting, my kindergarten students decide which learning center they will go to. Some mumble a quick outline of their plan: “I’ll go to the Lego area to finish making the tower I started yesterday,” Jasmin says, while Michael considers going to the writing center to see who is in the daily story problem. They approach the centers with excitement and vigor; they have work to do, and they want to get started right away. (Huffington Post)
They have tried and failed to loosen tenure rules for teachers in contract talks and state legislatures. So now, a group of rising stars in the movement to overhaul education employment has gone to court. (New York Times)
The No Child Left Behind Act waiver landscape just got more complicated, as the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday that it has awarded more flexibility in testing and teacher evaluations to five states. (Education Week)
Minnesota
It will take $300 million more a year in state aid to give all of Minnesota’s school districts the resources they need to maintain their school buildings. (Twin Cities)
New Jersey
School choice may survive on life support; vouchers, extended days, and seniority-blind layoffs are pretty much dead on the table. (NJ Spotlight)
New York
In one of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first shots at charter schools, his administration on Friday proposed pulling $210 million in funds slated for buildings used by charters and nonprofit groups and using it instead for prekindergarten space. (Wall Street Journal)