Singer’s Clips (7-8-14)

Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:

 

The Obama administration will announce plans on Monday to enforce a long-ignored federal mandate: a decade-old requirement that states give students of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds equal access to good teachers. (Huffington Post)

 

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has brushed off a call for his resignation from the National Education Association. (Politico)

 

President Obama wants to limit the number of students expelled every year from high schools. He believes the rates of suspensions and expulsions are racially biased, arbitrary and ineffective. “Although African-American students represent 15 percent of students in the CRDC, they make up 35 percent of students suspended once, 44 percent of those suspended more than once, and 36 percent of students expelled,” writes the Education Department. “Further, over 50 percent of students who were involved in school-related arrests or referred to law enforcement are Hispanic or African-American.” So the administration sent to educational leaders a Dear Colleague guidance letter on civil rights and discipline. To close the racial gap, he said, go easy with the zero-tolerance policies. Predictably, the ed-reform types, rending their garments and gnashing their teeth, see this is as a disastrous stripping of school autonomy. (Washington Post)

 

The New Jersey State Board of Education is expected to elect Mark Biedron of Pottersville as its new president at its monthly meeting Wednesday in Trenton. (Star-Ledger)

 

This fall, 62 New York City schools will try a range of ideas—such as staggering start times and changing class sizes—under a new program that lets them bend union rules and city regulations if enough teachers vote for the proposal. (Wall Street Journal)