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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
PARCC announced Thursday that it will now offer states the option of buying parts of its testing system and choosing their own vendor. Previously, states could purchase only the entire system, and they had to use Pearson for test administration. (Education Week)
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, which created a standardized test to measure whether students have mastered the Common Core State Standards, announced Thursday that it will allow states to pick and choose whether to buy a complete test or just a portion or even individual test questions. (The Washington Post)
Christmas seems to have came early this year for education advocates. After weeks of long and hard negotiations, House and Senate lawmakers have reached preliminary agreement on a bill for the long-stalled reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, multiple sources say. (Education Week)
With the Obama administration’s signature school reform program coming to an end and battered by politics, the secretary of education, Arne Duncan, came to a once-failing high school in one of this city’s most troubled neighborhoods on Thursday to highlight the progress that has been made here and across the country. (The New York Times)
Minnesota
The Minnesota Board of Teaching has much to deal with. It faces a legislative audit of operations, a licensing lawsuit by out-of-state teachers and a January deadline to comply with new state laws aimed at getting the board under control. (Watchdog)