Friday’s ed news:
More than two dozen Missouri lawmakers want to give teachers the freedom to bear guns. Indiana already allows designated teachers to bring guns to school.
Parents are rushing to buy bullet-proof backpacks for their children.
The U.S. Department of Education took four years to release data indicating federal preschool program Head Start does not benefit students.
A tax-sponsored Colorado university gives illegal immigrants cheaper tuition than U.S. citizens.
Middle-school students in Maine start using a computer program for math homework.
View the best charter schools in the country.
Atlanta Public Schools must top withholding local property tax money from charter schools, a judge has ruled.
Thursday’s ed news:
1. Texas lawmakers propose tax-credit school choice legislation.
2. No law can stop evil like the Newtown shooting.
3. Investigative reporting reveals Wall Street financial game-players unethically influence government rules on for-profit colleges and make a windfall.
4. Tennessee’s governor is hedging on his support for vouchers.
5. During a budget crisis, a Virginia Beach school district spent $300,000 on hotels, flights, local restaurants, and Weight Watchers.
6. A Minnesota exemption allows guns in schools.
7. College diversity requirements penalize Asians for performing better.
8. Early adopters of test score-tied teacher evaluations discuss what does and doesn’t work.
9. Indiana charter school students score higher than their traditionally schooled peers.
10. The Common Core will mean fewer U.S. students ever read Charles Dickens, write Charles Chieppo and Jamie Gass.
Wednesday’s top ten:
1. Chicago teachers union president Karen Lewis says a non-union program placing elite college graduates in urban schools “kills” like the Newton school shooting. Meanwhile, Chicago reporters refuse to report union workers marching with socialist signs.
2. Did Wisconsin’s controversial Act 10 lead to a wave of double dippers collecting state pensions and wages simultaneously?
3. A Louisiana judge upholds most of the state’s tenure reforms.
4. South Carolina and Texas join the states considering legislation to let teachers bear arms. Virginia’s governor said it’s something to think about. Teachers are flooding gun classes. Michigan’s governor vetoed a bill to let teachers concealed carry, saying it didn’t allow hospitals and daycares to opt out.
5. The Ohio senate passes an A-F school grading system.
6. Minnesota students can’t pass a basic high school math exam to graduate, so instead of addressing their problems educators argue the exam should be dropped.
7. American education is no longer the great equalizer.
8. The Chicago Tribune publishes an internal document hinting at the city’s school closing plan.
9. The nation’s largest teachers unions are going to show teachers how to teach the Common Core national education standards.
10. Why going to college won’t necessarily increase your income.
Tuesday’s ed top ten:
1. Resources for schools and parents on how to help children respond to the Connecticut school shooting. In 2008, a Texas school district let teachers concealed carry.
2. In Minnesota, California, Missouri, South Dakota, and Michigan, lawmakers consider allowing teachers to bear arms.
3. “Right-to-work legislation gives people more liberty, and therefore more ability to pursue happiness, by making our associations voluntary instead of forced.”
4. The Wisconsin Department of Education wants $19,969.49 to tell taxpayers about its diversity initiative.
5. Ending suspensions would exacerbate racial achievement gaps and disproportionately harm African-American students by increasing classroom disruption and reducing learning in predominantly-black schools.
6. Some people irrationally fear business involvement in education.
7. A task force of 25 states recommends that teacher preparation and evaluation be tied to the Common Core.
8. Test makers are considering how to learn more information about children than just their achievement, such as family income, access to the Internet, and number of books in the home.
9. The University of Missouri fights to keep course outlines secret.
10. Parents volunteer hours in school are valued at $54 billion.
Monday’s ed top ten:
1. Was the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting a school or societal problem? A former U.S. education secretary says schools should arm employees. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says discussing gun control is “inappropriate” in the wake of the tragedy, and that lawmakers can do little to stop determined evildoers. The school is closed indefinitely.
2. Massachusetts students faced down international competitors on standardized tests, but the Common Core may ensure that doesn’t keep happening.
3. Louisiana is creating an a la carte approach to education.
4. The best studies show charter schools are better than traditional public schools at increasing student learning.
5. Some Texas school districts create local school choice.
6. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will propose education bills related to teachers and promoting competition within schools in 2013.
7. Teachers unions promote envy rather than achievement, says Margaret Bengs.
8. Why students can no longer afford State U.
9. 2014 is a crucial year that may change how U.S. education runs.
10. Idaho lawmakers may resurrect some laws voters trounced.
For last week’s School Reform News roundup, click here.
For other top-notch school reform news selections, visit:
Image by Mo Riza.
Joy Pullmann is a research fellow on education policy for The Heartland Institute and managing editor of The Federalist, a web magazine on politics, policy, and culture.
