Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Charters educate just five percent of America’s student—yet they dominate this year’s rankings, thanks to one very simple key to success. (The Daily Beast)
Reaching the threescore-and-ten milestone recently, and embarking on a new role at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, prompted me to do some stocktaking on the state of American education in 2014. (Education Week)
Minnesota
Fasten your seatbelt, it’s about to get a little ranty around here. I’ve been at the keyboard for hours trying to pound out a story that has become an annual tradition: an effort to cloak the release of state test scores in helpful context. (MinnPost)
New Jersey
Kindergarten is the new Grade 1. Thanks to the adoption of Common Core standards by New Jersey in 2010, its schools are expanding the concepts they must teach and when those concepts are taught. Skills traditionally introduced in first grade — reading and math — are now finding their way into the kindergarten curriculum. (North Jersey)
New York
Success Academy C.E.O. Eva Moskowitz is the subject of a glowing seven-page profile in MORE Magazine, the latest bit of national attention for the charter-movement leader. (Capital New York)
Lawyers in New York working with former CNN anchor Campbell Brown on a legal challenge of teacher tenure have agreed to consolidate their case with an earlier complaint filed by a group of public school parents that also seeks to change job protections for teachers. (Washington Post)