posted on
Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Federal corruption investigators looking into a $20.5 million no-bid contract at Chicago Public Schools also have asked for any records related to an elite nonprofit education group that has long been at the center of city school reform efforts — the first indication that the public relations problem could extend beyond Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration. (Chicago Tribune)
There’s a bracing moment early in the 1991 movie ” Grand Canyon.” A tow truck driver played by Danny Glover miraculously appears to rescue a stranded motorist played by Kevin Kline, who is being terrorized by thugs on a deserted Los Angeles street. Glover’s character appears, calmly hooks up the disabled car to his rig, then appeals to the gun-toting gang leader to let him and Kline go on their way. (US News)
The president made a very specific claim about the cost-benefit ratio of high-quality pre-kindergarten education, which caught The Fact Checker’s attention. He made a case for investing in early childhood education, a proposal he announced in 2013, with this figure on the return on investment. (Washington Post)
While most of the Senate spent the week wrestling with a human trafficking bill and arguing over the confirmation of a new attorney general, the Senate education committee was collegially zipping through its rewrite of No Child Left Behind. (Politico)
New York
Across New York state this week, some students are refusing to take a test, and they’re not getting punished for it. The test is the Common Core-aligned, federally mandated test, and students, parents and educators are part of what they’re calling the opt-out movement. (NPR)