2012 December School Reform News

President Barack Obama’s re-election with no change of leadership in the House and Senate means he and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are likely to maintain current policies: multiple federal grants for favored initiatives and increased federal control over state and local education.

Also in this issue:

• Common Core language arts standards reduce the amount of classic literature students in 46 states will read for school, with potentially destructive consequences for students’ future college study and careers.

• Michigan lawmakers consider a weak version of the Parent Trigger school reform.

• Federal school lunch intervention has school kids launching hunger protests.

• In the latest year of data, states spent an extra $15 billion on salary hikes that don’t benefit students.

• The optimal education system would deposit K-12 spending in education savings accounts that parents control, says a new report.

• More special-education spending doesn’t equal a better education for disabled children, concludes a new study.

• Arizona’s two-year-old education savings accounts program shows good collecting and processing of data can prevent fraud and inspire further innovation while giving students the best education available.