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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Mya Alford dreams of studying chemical engineering in college, but the high school junior is at a disadvantage: Last year, her chemistry teacher at Pittsburgh’s Westinghouse Academy quit just weeks after school started, and the class was taught by a substitute who, as Alford put it, “didn’t know chemistry.” (The Washington Post)
Northwestern University came here to teach journalism and communication, a tough assignment in a country with tight controls on public speech. It was the latest in a series of prestigious U.S. universities the wealthy emirate lured to a monumental complex on the desert’s edge, called Education City. (The Washington Post)
Tunette Powell travels across the country counseling families and mentoring youth. An award-winning motivational speaker and author, her professional work in the education field ranges from training nonprofit leaders to consulting for colleges and universities. But none of Powell’s career-related skills could prepare her for the frustration and helplessness of seeing her two sons suspended from preschool, which she pegged to overly harsh and racially biased discipline. In a July 2014 Washington Post opinion piece that gained national attention, Powell relates how her boys—ages 3 and 4—were suspended from their Omaha preschool program eight times total in one year. Once published, the essay resonated with readers nationwide. “So many parents reached out [to me] … a lot of black mothers” who shared her experience with excessive suspensions, said Powell. “We live in a time when we just say, ‘Suspend them, get rid of them.’” (The Altantic)
Every morning, the familiar routine plays out in hundreds of thousands of classrooms: A teacher looks out over the desks, taking note of who’s in their seats and who isn’t. On any given day, maybe there are one or two empty chairs. One here, one there. And that all goes into the school’s daily attendance rate. But here’s what that morning ritual doesn’t show: That empty desk? It might be the same one that was empty last week or two weeks ago. The desk of a student who has racked up five, 10, 20 absences this year. (NPR)
The Los Angeles Board of Education held an unusual Sunday meeting to interview candidates for the job of superintendent of the nation’s second-largest school system. Except for brief periods to open and close the meeting, the entire session was conducted out of public view, and no announcement was made at the conclusion. (Los Angeles Times)