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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
In my story about resistance to the Common Core State Standards, I noted that some of the anxiety focuses on how states plan to use new common-core-aligned tests in their accountability systems. Today, two more states, Florida and Louisiana, are making news along these lines. Let’s look at Florida first. (Education Week)
There are certain times when the pose of objective journalism falls apart completely, and Sunday’s New York Times story about the Walton Family Foundation’s sponsorship of charter schools is one of those times. A straightforwardly left-wing attack on charter schools would be coherent. But since the Times’ news section can’t run an ideological polemic, the argument is instead submerged in the form of insinuations. (I should note that my wife works for a Washington charter-school network, though it does not receive any funding from the Walton Foundation.) (NY Mag)
If you’ve lost Louis C.K. and Chuck Norris, have you lost America? Both the acerbic comedian and the action-star-turned-activist have come down hard on the Common Core academic standards, which were once widely hailed as a bipartisan success story but are now drawing fire from liberals and conservatives alike. (Politico)
You’d think an effort to improve school standards and promote higher expectations for students — adopted by 45 states, embraced by the business community, and endorsed by governors and education reformers from both parties — would be about as controversial as motherhood and apple pie. (Sheybogan Press)
New Jersey
New Jersey education officials released school aid figures today that show K-12 school funding would need to grow by $1 billion to meet the formulas spelled out in the 2008 School Funding Reform Act. (NJ.com)