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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis:
States Show Spotty Progress on Education Gauges
The 17th edition of Education Week’s Quality Countscontinues the report’s tradition of tracking key education indicators and grading the states on their policy efforts and outcomes. Each year, Quality Counts provides new results for a portion of the policy-and-performance categories that form the framework for the report’s State-of-the-States analysis. The 2013 edition presents updated scores and letter grades, for the states and the nation as a whole, in three of the six major areas tracked in the report. (Education Week)
Link to Quality Counts 2013 report: http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2013/state_report_cards.html
Early-Childhood Education Advocates Wary of Automatic Cuts
Early-childhood educators and advocates are bracing for a series automatic, across-the-board cuts set to hit a broad swath of federal programs on March 1, unless Congress can come up an agreement to avert them. (Education Week – Politics K-12)
Mississippi School Reform Debate Over Charters Evokes Broader Racial Divide
Mississippi lawmaker Kenneth Wayne Jones, a Democrat, briefly became a political pariah last winter when he voted in favor of a proposal to expand charter schools in his state. He was the only African-American state senator to support the bill, which most members of Mississippi’s legislative Black Caucus disavowed. Jones liked the idea of expanded school options for families, but he also understood his colleagues’ mistrust. (Huffington Post)
Maryland:
Maryland ranks No. 1 in education for fifth year in a row; Virginia ranks fourth
For the fifth year in a row, Maryland’s public school system took the top ranking in an annual study that examines state education policies and student achievement across all 50 states and the District. (Washington Post)
New York:
Record Number of Misconduct Complaints Are Made Against City School Employees
A record number of allegations of wrongdoing against teachers and other Department of Education workers were received last year by the office that investigates misconduct in New York City schools, according to a report released on Tuesday. (New York Times)