Friday’s ed news
WISCONSIN: The U.S. Justice Department orders the state to do more monitoring of special-ed kids in voucher schools.
FLORIDA: A section of the dead Parent Trigger bill, requiring that kids not be assigned to poor teachers two years in a row, is resurrected and sent to the governor.
FEDS: The Obama administration gives $5 million to big campaign donor American Federation of Teachers, but won’t tell the public what their money is funding.
NATIONAL: More than 40 members of the U.S. House tell Education Secretary Arne Duncan they want details on student privacy changes.
ILLINOIS: Unions introduce competing pension reforms.
WISCONSIN: A study of Milwaukee principals finds that, rather than improving instruction when faced with competitive pressure, they tend to buy ads.
TEXAS: The House passes a bill to let high-performing students skip the next year’s standardized tests. The state fails to move teacher evaluation legislation.
DC: The charter school wait list hits 22,000 children.
COLORADO: Lawmakers consider allotting $150,000 plus travel expenses for a state “parent engagement director.”
Thursday’s ed news
LOUISIANA: At least 3,000 more students will use a voucher this fall after the first round of applications concludes.
ARIZONA: The state moves ahead with a novel school voucher program called education savings accounts. It’s now available to more than 200,000 students.
COMPUTER TESTING: As students take computerized state tests across the country that determine teacher pay and school grades, Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Florida, and Minnesota report widespread server crashes invalidating tests.
VIRGINIA: The state’s first online school is likely to close, leaving families scrambling.
CHICAGO: Four hundred charter school teachers vote to join the city’s teachers union.
MAINE: Three-quarters of state schools received a C or worse on the new school grading system.
NEW YORK: Education publishing giant Pearson puts the same reading passages from its textbooks also on state tests.
CALIFORNIA: The Senate again rejects a mild teacher evaluation bill.
CALIFORNIA: This video depicts an Oakland teacher brawling with a student–kicking, throwing desks, and more.
EMOTIONAL TESTING: Business schools begin assessing applicants’ emotions.
Wednesday’s ed news
FLORIDA: The Senate votes down a Parent Trigger bill for the second time. More.
NATIONAL: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio promotes his federal tax-credit scholarship bill.
NEW YORK: Angry parents turn out for a townhall on student data-sharing company inBloom.
TEXAS: The House Education Committee passes a bill to expand the state’s charter school cap. Next top: Full House vote, then the governor.
GEORGIA: Teachers whose licenses were suspended for cheating will likely never teach again.
TEACHING: How a teacher performs her first year indicates her future performance, a new study finds.
OHIO: Students rise early to say goodbye to the substitute teachers they’ve had for eight weeks during a teacher strike.
IDAHO: School board leaders raise concerns about Common Core.
MICHIGAN: A school district chooses to demolish a school building rather than sell it to a charter school.
COMMON CORE: The Wall Street Journal finally notices the controversy.
Tuesday’s ed news
WISCONSIN: Citizens and leaders debate Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed voucher expansion.
FEDERAL: Florida’s Sen. Marco Rubio visits a private Christian school today to talk up his proposed federal education tax credit.
TEXAS: The House education committeee takes up a charter school expansion today, and may vote. More.
TEACHERS UNIONS: AFT President Randi Weingarten calls today for pausing and regrouping around Common Core.
SPIN ZONE: Jay Greene lambasts the education reform world for seeking spin rather than truth and debate.
FLORIDA: Parent Trigger supporters hurt their cause by releasing a questionable petition.
MICHIGAN: Why school marketing isn’t such a bad thing.
ARIZONA: Lawmakers consider a bigger, stronger student data system.
MARYLAND: The state’s school construction agency keeps incomplete records and manages projects poorly, says a report.
Monday’s ed news
INDIANA: A bill to pause and reconsider Common Core heads to Gov. Mike Pence. So does a bill expanding the state’s vouchers.
STEM: The science, technical, engineering and math worker shortage is a myth companies promote to get cheaper foreign workers, a study finds.
NORTH CAROLINA: Lawmakers turn to black families for support of a school voucher bill.
INTERNATIONAL: Middle-class students in the U.S. trail their foreign peers in academic achievement.
FLORIDA: A Parent Trigger “mystery video” surfaces, accompanied by petitions some signers say they never saw.
WISCONSIN: Milwaukee refuses to sell vacant buildings to private voucher schools.
PRE-K: Nationwide, pre-kindergarten spending is at its lowest in a decade, complicating President Obama’s efforts to federalize preschool.
NEVADA: The state’s former superintendent shows how to pay top teachers $200,000 a year.
FLORIDA: A town’s new charter schools also boost the economy.
MISSOURI: A Common Core opposition panel packs a town hall.
For last week’s School Reform News roundup, click here.
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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.
