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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
The pending departure of Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the speaker of the House seems to have lit a fire under negotiations on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (Education Week)
Education Secretary Arne Duncan is preparing to unveil a package of proposals aimed at forcing colleges that receive federal money to improve graduation rates and to provide students with job skills. (The Wall Street Journal)
High school graduation rates ticked up in a majority of states in 2014, and graduation gaps between white and minority students narrowed in most states that year, according to new federal data. (The Washington Post)
High school graduation rates were on the rise during the 2013-2014 school year, according to new preliminary data released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education. The numbers also show that the graduation rate gap between white and black students and white and Hispanic students is decreasing in many states — a positive sign. (Huffington Post)
Of all the teachers in the U.S., only 2 percent are black and male. That news is bad enough. But it gets worse: Many of these men are leaving the profession. Just last month, a new study found that the number of black teachers in the public schools of nine cities dropped between 2002 and 2012. In Washington, D.C., black teachers’ share of the workforce dropped from 77 percent to 49 percent. (NPR)
As districts across the country struggle with how to integrate into their public school systems students who have streamed into the U.S. without legal permission from Central America and elsewhere, the U.S. Department of Education has unveiled a playbook to help them. (US News)