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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Weary from more than a month of demonstrations, accusations of bigotry and calls for “safe spaces” protected from offensive opinions, some college students and faculty are calling for calmer discussions and careful decisions in response to issues raised by protesters. (The Wall Street Journal)
At several points during the past year, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who is stepping down Dec. 31 after nearly seven years in office, has said his biggest regret in the job is the amount of time he spent lobbying Congress early in his tenure to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (Education Week)
The first thing I noticed about Sil Ganzo was her warm smile. It stayed put as the 33-year-old showed several journalists, myself included, around the center where she runs an after-school program, OurBRIDGE, for new arrivals to America. Roughly 70 kids from 20 countries, from kindergarten to fifth grade, pour into the center after school in waves. Most are refugees from countries like Nepal, Burma, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, El Salvador, and Honduras. (The Atlantic)
Free online educational courses may not be democratizing education as much as proponents believe, a new study reports. (The New York Times)
It was still dark at 7 a.m. when a yellow bus pulled up in a strip-mall parking lot outside a Rent-A-Center in Southeast Washington. A dozen teenagers climbed on board for a 10-mile ride to one of the city’s highest-performing public schools. (The Washington Post)
Google, Microsoft and Apple have been competing for years in the very lucrative education technology market. For the first time, Google has taken a huge lead over its rivals. (NBC News)
In the seemingly endless, invariably unfocused dialogue about what is wrong with higher education in the United States, the word “skills” is sure to come up often. (The Washington Post)