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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Melinda Gates said she and her husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, learned an important lesson from the fierce pushback against the Common Core State Standards in recent years. Not that they made the wrong bet when they poured hundreds of millions of dollars into supporting the education standards, but that such a massive initiative will not be successful unless teachers and parents believe in it. (The Washington Post)
At every stage, getting and keeping teachers in U.S. classrooms has become a challenge. Longtime teachers are retiring while mid-career and novice teachers are leaving for other pursuits. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 8 percent of the men and women teaching in public schools during the 2011-12 school year left the profession the next year. And fewer young people are signing up to spend time in classrooms in the first place. (The Atlantic)
Earning a college degree can be a pathway to higher wages and better employment opportunities, but for those who fail to graduate, those prospects quickly fade. And at a time when a majority of students finance their education with loans, dropping out of school comes with greater risks. (The Washington Post)
A U.S. Education Department proposal set to become final this fall will offer billions of dollars in student-debt forgiveness for thousands of Americans who were drawn to schools by what they say was deceptive marketing. (The Wall Street Journal)
Education is the backbone of our society, yet, for decades many United States jurisdictions have neglected this important area. The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, unfortunately, belongs on that list. There’s almost a universal call on the Island to change how the local public education system is managed and to refocus efforts on complying with state and federal laws, especially with the recent signing into law of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, better known as PROMESA. (The Hill)
Back in her days as principal of a Los Angeles Unified school, Hilda Maldonado remembers sifting through lists of students still learning English, trying to figure out which ones needed help. (KPCC)
The video was startling and soon went viral: A white sheriff’s deputy in a South Carolina high school drags a black girl from her desk, slams her to the floor and then handcuffs her. The girl’s crime? She had refused a teacher’s order to put away her cellphone, then refused an order to leave the classroom. (The New York Times)