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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
The Common Core State Standards were envisioned as a way to measure most of the nation’s students against a shared benchmark, but education experts say political upheaval and the messy reality of on-the-ground implementation is threatening that original goal. (Washington Post)
The state of Kentucky has released data that suggests 50% of kindergartners in the state did not enter the 2014-15 school year prepared to learn. (Education News)
Republican governors across the nation are proposing tax increases — and backing off pledges to cut taxes — as they strike a decidedly un-Republican pose in the face of budget shortfalls and pent-up demands from constituents after years of budget cuts. (New York Times)
Sen. Lamar Alexander, the new chairman of the Senate committee on education, walked into Congress this month with guns a-blazin’. (Time)
Vice President Joe Biden visited several Los Angeles sites on Friday to tout and gather support for two of the White House’s signature initiatives: a plan to make the first two years of community college free and the Affordable Care Act. (LA Times)
A new report by EdVoice has discovered that major school districts in California are ignoring a state law requiring them to evaluate teachers by how much their students have learned. (Education News)