Friday’s ed news
FEDERAL LOANS: President Obama promises to “shake up” higher education with a new college ratings system. Richard Vedder says the idea will further escalate college costs.
SOUTH CAROLINA: The state’s education department sets up its first school choice program, to open January 1.
NORTH CAROLINA: The state enrolls all public schools in a unified data collection and management system controlled by the world’s largest education company. It collects everything from student grades to bus schedules to class schedules.
GEORGIA: Gov. Nathan Deal orders a review of Common Core and asks the state education board to immediately ditch part of the program.
DISCIPLINE: Are schools hostile to boys?
Thursday’s ed news
ALABAMA: An activist group sues to stop the state’s new school choice program, arguing giving students an ability to leave a failing school is discrimination.
WISCONSIN: Voucher students may not be able to attend their private schools until October.
AP TESTS: Taxpayers are paying for more students to take AP classes and tests, but that just means more students failing the exams.
PENNSYLVANIA: The state’s new No Child Left Behind waiver ends a school choice program for the most desperate students.
NEW YORK, MINNESOTA: Two blue states see agitation against Common Core.
ALGEBRA: Using a new program that uses a computer tutor boosted students’ algebra knowledge by 8 points, says a study.
TENNESSEE: Since 2000, the state hired school administrators five times the rate of student enrollment, and hired teachers twice the enrollment rate.
Wednesday’s ed news
COMMON CORE: A new poll finds 62 percent of the public have never heard of the new national education standards and tests.
PENNSYLVANIA: The federal government has waived the No Child Left Behind law for this state, contingent on several policy changes.
MAINE: The state will be first to face a ballot initiative aimed at repealing Common Core.
PARENT POWER: Most parents believe they have little power over their kids’ education, another poll finds.
ALABAMA: Teachers come under fire for distributing Common Core flyers on the job.
VIRGINIA: New test results are in, with kids up in math and down in English.
SCHOOL BOARDS: Why they must separate from union control.
Tuesday’s ed news
STUDENT LOANS: For the first time in history, a majority of college students now rely on federal money for college.
TESTING: A poll finds most parents don’t think their kids take too many tests, and they support using tests to judge teachers.
NEVADA: A think tank appeals to the state Supreme Court to obtain school employee email addresses in the nation’s fifth-largest district.
COMMON CORE SCIENCE: A think tank releases another evaluation showing the Next Generation Science Standards are of poor quality and do not match Common Core math.
MISSOURI: Despite high spending, cities have lost a dramatic number of students.
Monday’s ed news
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Critics of the state’s new tax-credit scholarships have found another way to harrass their administering nonprofit: Complaints to the state tax authority.
PARENT TRIGGER: A new documentary tells the story of parents with more power over their kids’ schools.
CHARTER SCHOOLS: See the top five states for growth. And here’s why it’s fine for churches to host them.
PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia schools will open on time despite a massive budget hole, their superintendent says. A new report says the funding crisis is of Detroit proportions and due to public pensions.
SCHOOL LUNCH: The feds say just six states meet new regulations on time this year.
KANSAS: The state quarrels with the feds over its No Child Left Behind waiver.
TEXAS: A judge rules a lawsuit against controversial curriculumCSCOPE cannot proceed.
OKLAHOMA: What’s missing from Common Core math in first grade?
MATH: How teacher training destroys math instruction.
INDIANA: The governor stands behind the state’s A-F school grades despite emails revealing politically induced manipulation.
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.
