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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
National
He Wants Chicago Kids to Build the Next Silicon Valley. He’s 13.
For as long as he can remember, Ian Michael Brock has considered himself a salesman. Now, the self-described “nerd with swag” is making his biggest pitch yet. Flanked by his parents, Ian, 13, is trying to convince dozens of families gathered at a South Side community center to follow in his footsteps and make a pilgrimage to Silicon Valley. “We want to bring computer science and coding education to kids from economically challenged communities,” Ian says in his carefully rehearsed remarks. (Education Week)
How mass school shootings affect the education of students who survive
A Washington Post analysis found that more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools in the United States have experienced a shooting on campus since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, which is sometimes cited as the first in a string of modern mass school shootings. What happens to these survivors a year, or two, or three later? Is their schooling affected? How have they developed emotionally? (The Washington Post)
Do community schools and wraparound services boost academics? Here’s what we know.
New York City has been trying to help struggling schools by partnering them with nonprofits that provide counseling and health services. A Detroit school recently added a washing machine to make sure students have clean clothes. A Tennessee superintendent just petitioned the state for more funding to offer similar help to students and families. The strategy, often referred to as the “community schools” model or “wraparound services,” has been embraced by districts across the country. It also makes intuitive sense to help kids in class by directly dealing with out-of-school factors, like poverty, that affect learning. (Chalkbeat)
States
Maryland
Maryland bill would require 90 minutes per week of physical education in schools
Ruthie Hoang’s squeals of delight echoed across Fallsgrove Park playground, as she zoomed down the spiral slide, again and again. “It’s very important,” Ruthie’s mother Anne said, smiling, as she watched her daughter. “Children learn best through play, especially at a young age.” Hoang, who home-schools the eight-year-old, says she tries to take a half-hour to hour recess breaks every day. (ABC 7)
North Carolina
N.C. governor touts importance of workforce education
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says the Vernon Malone College and Career Academy is “a perfect example of what works.” Cooper visited the Cooperative Innovative High School to unveil his new jobs initiative, called NC Job Ready, which focuses on education and skills training, employer guidance to ensure training is relevant and innovative programs like Vernon Malone CCA. “We need more places like this all over North Carolina,” Cooper said, “and the business community needs to know that it wins with this type of program.” (Community College Daily)
Tennessee
Shelby County Schools resisting state’s recommendations for two long-struggling schools
Shelby County Schools is pushing back on the state’s recommendations for the future of two long-struggling schools. The school board on Tuesday reviewed a resolution, to be voted on next week, that would commit the district to putting American Way Middle School into the SCS turnaround program, the Innovation Zone. That’s in contrast with what the Tennessee Department of Education recommended for the school in a letter to the district last week. The state gave SCS two options: partner with a charter network to take over operation of the school, or it will be absorbed into the state-run Achievement School District in 2019-20. (Commercial Appeal)
Washington D.C.
D.C. Public Schools leader to resign after skirting school assignment rules
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson, appointed last year with a mandate to close a persistent student achievement gap, was forced to resign Tuesday amid revelations he skirted the city’s competitive lottery system so his daughter could transfer to a high-performing school. The end of Wilson’s one-year, 19-day tenure — announced at a late afternoon news conference by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) — sends another jolt through a beleaguered school system already engulfed in a graduation scandal. He was the second casualty of a crisis that emerged Friday with little warning: Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles was the first to go. (The Washington Post)