September 16, 2015
Education Week, Vol. 35, Issue 04
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Family Partnerships Are Key to Digital Equity
Following their study of educational media and technology habits, researchers share three steps to better support Hispanic students.
Every Student Succeeds Act
Teacher-Evaluation Reins Loosen Under NCLB Waivers
The Education Department's earlier hard-line approach on tying evaluations to student test scores is giving way to greater flexibility.
Federal
Teacher-Equity Plans Approved for 16 States
Questions loom on enforcement as 16 states get the federal nod on their plans to make sure all students have to high-quality teachers.
Federal
Districts Diversify Languages Offered in Dual-Immersion
With strong demand for bilingual skills, more school districts are offering new target languages, such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Vietnamese, in dual-immersion programs.
Classroom Technology
Facebook Moves Into 'Personalized Learning' With Charter Network
The social media giant is bringing its engineering talents to the K-12 arena by teaming up with the Summit Public Schools on a personalized learning system.
Families & the Community
Probing the Impact of Parent-Teacher Digital Communication
Academic researchers are beginning to study what kinds of tech-based exchanges between educators and families bring the biggest academic payoff for students.
Teacher Preparation
Scholars Lament Decline of Ed. History Courses in Teacher Prep
Once a ubiquitous course requirement that nearly all aspiring teachers took, the history of education seems to be going the way of land-line phones, floppy disks, and shorthand.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Education, Not Political Correctness, Is the Answer
Learning social skills by age 5 is associated with the absence of criminal behavior later in life, writes Paul Marx.
School Climate & Safety
One Year Later, Ferguson Schools Poised for Change
A year after a police shooting set off racially charged protests in Ferguson, Mo., the school system and its new superintendent are looking to correct educational disparities and "give kids a voice" in determining their future.
School Climate & Safety
Q&A: Ferguson's New Schools Chief Shares Agenda for Change
Superintendent Joseph Davis lays out his plans for addressing the educational inequities and biases that fed into last year's demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo.
Equity & Diversity
Test Yourself: A Survey Tool for Gauging Bias
Interested in finding out how you would score on the Implicit Association Test? Try this short online test adapted for EdWeek readers.
Law & Courts
Schools Deemed 'Discriminatory' Struggle to Erase Disparities
Adams 14 in Colorado is among thousands of districts nationwide that are trying to root out discriminatory practices that can harm students' development.
School & District Management
Opinion
Empowering Students in the Wake of Michael Brown's Death
Normandy, Mo., teacher Inda Schaenen is changing her curriculum to embolden her middle schoolers in the wake of Ferguson.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Should We Seek Alternatives to School for Those Uninterested in Academics?
When child labor was part of our society, Horace Mann and others championed the idea of public schooling for everyone.
School Choice & Charters
Letter to the Editor
Blame Federal Infrastructure Failures, Not Katrina, for New Orleans Flooding
To the Editor:
Regarding the blog post "New Orleans Education 10 Years After Hurricane Katrina in Photos": The post begins, "August 29th marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history that also kicked off arguably one of the biggest experiments in modern-day public education." The fact of the matter, to my mind, is that the flooding of New Orleans was overwhelmingly the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was responsible for designing and building the levee system—not the hurricane itself.
Regarding the blog post "New Orleans Education 10 Years After Hurricane Katrina in Photos": The post begins, "August 29th marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history that also kicked off arguably one of the biggest experiments in modern-day public education." The fact of the matter, to my mind, is that the flooding of New Orleans was overwhelmingly the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was responsible for designing and building the levee system—not the hurricane itself.
Education
Obituary
Obituaries
Andrew Kohut, one of the nation's foremost opinion pollsters, died Sept. 8 from leukemia. Thomas Sobol, a former New York state education commissioner and professor of education, died Aug. 27 of complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 83.
Education
News in Brief
Transitions
Terry Grier, the Houston schools superintendent, will step down next March, after six years on the job.
Federal
Report Roundup
Accountability
School failure rates in the early days of federal accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act were only weakly connected to actual student proficiency rates, according to a study
School & District Management
Report Roundup
School Choice
Both poor and well-off families were more likely to transfer their students to other schools if their own was put on probation, but poor families transferred at lower rates than nonpoor families.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Four-Day School Week Linked to Gains in Math
Switching to a shorter school week—with longer days—may actually give students an academic advantage, according to a recent study of rural Colorado elementary schools.
Mathematics
Report Roundup
Math Anxiety
One-on-one mathematics tutoring may reduce anxiety in math-phobic students, finds a new study in the Journal of Neuroscience.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Rural Education
Eligible rural children are less likely to take part in federal meals programs than their urban peers, finds a new study.
Early Childhood
Report Roundup
Research Report: Special Education
Parents—not teachers—are the ones primarily pushing to have children assessed for attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder, finds the CDC.
Curriculum
News in Brief
Minneapolis Board Calls Books Culturally Offensive
Administrators say they didn't fully vet the material before buying the books.
Education Funding
News in Brief
Scholarship Fund Surpasses $100 Million for 9/11 Kin
A private scholarship fund for family members of 9/11 victims says it has awarded $115.9 million to 2,825 students.
Education Funding
News in Brief
Pa. Gives $5 Million to Pay Chester Upland Salaries
District officials say they will meet with charter operators to discuss a new funding formula.
School & District Management
News in Brief
Board Members Quit in Wake of New Transgender Policy
Two board members did not cite reasons for their resignations, and a third cited "strained philosophical differences," local media reported.
Student Well-Being
News in Brief
Coaches' Conduct Probed in Slam of Football Referee
The players and an assistant coach have been suspended by the Northside Independent school district pending the investigation.
School & District Management
News in Brief
Chicago to Reopen School After Fiery Protests
The district cited poor performance and declining enrollment, but officials later said they'd consider proposals to reopen.