Families Sue to Stop Science Standards, $1 Billion on iPads, and More: Friday’s Ed News

Published September 25, 2013

Friday’s ed news

KANSAS: Several families file suit against the state’s adoption of national science standards, arguing these amount to government establishing atheism as a religion.

LOS ANGELES: The school district spends $1 billion in iPads but can’t figure out who is responsible for broken or lost computers.

MICHIGAN: The House reinstates funding for Common Core, with a few caveats.

REFORM: The frenzy for teacher evaluations and school turnarounds has accomplished essentially nothing

MAINE: The federal government intervenes in the Portland school district because 4 percent fewer girls are involved in sports

MILITARY: Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can get college credit for their service.

WORLD: For the first time in history, 9 in 10 kids now attend school.

 

Thursday’s ed news

ARIZONA: Meet the charter school that puts the rest of the world in the academic dust. 

PENNSYLVANIA: A bill would make it harder to transfer sexually abusive teachers

LOUISIANA: This chart shows segregation is a bigger problem within public schools than the voucher system the Obama administration is suing. 

TESTS: This year’s SAT results are out, and not much has changed. 

NEW MEXICO: An audit finds state-funded early childhood centers are susceptible to fraud and several have live-in sex offenders. 

COLORADO: A union-backed candidate for Douglas County school board gets caught splicing audio to make her opponent look bad. 

PENNSYLVANIA: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor praised a Marxist educator in his speech on school choice. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE: A union local files a grievance over volunteer painting and clean-up.

PENNSYLVANIA: A state lawmaker proposes making school spending publicly transparent and accessible.

NEW JERSEY: A law that requires schools to notify parents of bullying may hurt gay kids, say activists. 

 

Wednesday’s ed news

LOUISIANA: The Black Alliance for Educational Options seeks to join the state’s defense against a federal lawsuit that would limit its vouchers program. The Department of Justice appears to backpedal on its suit, but Gov. Bobby Jindal says they’re pulling a PR stunt

WISCONSIN: Gov. Scott Walker says the state can do better than Common Core. Meanwhile, left and right unite to lobby lawmakers against the national standards and tests. 

NATIONAL TESTS: Sixty-one percent of “Insiders” believe Common Core foes have the momentum; 79 percent believe more states will drop the national tests in 2013, and 90 percent think more states will drop in 2014. 

ED TECH: Cyber attacks on school databases and networks are on the rise, and expensive to combat. 

SCHOOL CHOICE: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says every child in America will have school choice in 10 years

ONLINE LEARNING: Why investor Whitney Tilson is betting against tech giant K-12

NEW JERSEY: Schools try four-day weeks

 

Tuesday’s ed news

FLORIDA: Gov. Rick Scott withdraws the state from Common Core tests and seeks public comment to revise the standards.

LOUISIANA: A lawmaker ups the pressure on Gov. Bobby Jindal to withdraw the state from Common Core tests.

TENNESSEE: Sounds like almost everyone dislikes state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman.

GEORGIA: The state Supreme Court rules charter schools do not have to pay pension obligations they didn’t rack up.

GATES FOUNDATION: How one of the world’s richest men is flooding education reform with bad ideas.

NEW MEXICO: Teachers bristle at the governor’s offer of a $5,000 salary boost to teachers who transfer from highly rated schools to F-rated schools.  

EARLY CHILDHOOD: A new study suggests it’s important to talk directly to small children, not just near them.  

 

Monday’s ed news

MARYLAND: A father gets arrested and fined for protesting Common Core at a public meeting.

PHILADELPHIA: The school district created its own financial crisis.

USDOE: Education Secretary Arne Duncan has turned from bipartisan broker to imperial autocrat. How his decisions to let states substitute Common Core pilot tests for accountability tests will muddle education for years. 

OHIO: A lawmaker seeks to fund school choice through special license plates

ARIZONA: The state renames Common Core standards but changes nothing else about them.

TENNESSEE: Parents pack school choice fairs in Nashville. 

NEW YORK: Eight thousand parents opted their kids out of state tests this spring.

NEW MEXICO: The governor says third grade reading is her top education priority.

NEW JERSEY: Ten percent of schoolkids must take an extra pilot test this year

MICHIGAN: A new bill would prohibit the state from adopting national science standards or tests. 

 

 

For last week’s School Reform News roundup, click here.
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Image by Mo Riza.