April 19, 2017
Education Week, Vol. 36, Issue 28
Every Student Succeeds Act
Explainer
Approved ESSA Plans: Explainer and Key Takeaways From Each State
Here's a breakdown of what states plan to do with their new flexibility under the Every Student Succeeds Act.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Algorithmic Bias a Rising Concern for K-12 Ed-Tech Field
RAND researchers argue that it's important to raise awareness about the role that algorithms play in K-12 and other fields such as criminal justice and banking.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Mobile Learning, Cybersecurity Are Top Priorites for Ed-Tech Leaders
Despite the recent scaling up of the open educational resources movement, the report also found a shift in district officials' preferences for proprietary digital resources.
School & District Management
Opinion
How to Hire a Superintendent Who Will Stick Around
Here are five common pitfalls when hiring new district leadership and how to avoid them, writes Cathy Mincberg.
Mathematics
Statistics Lessons Get New Look in Early Grades
The subject's profile is rising in elementary schools, thanks to the common core and growing demand for statisticians.
School Climate & Safety
Calif. Shooting Redoubles Attention to School Security Protocols
The man who shot two students and his estranged wife in a special education classroom entered a San Bernardino, Calif., elementary school with approval from office staff, officials said.
Budget & Finance
Do Private Donations Reinforce School Disparities?
An Education Week analysis of three neighboring Wis. districts shows how private dollars help shape differences in public schools.
Families & the Community
How Parents Widen—or Shrink—Academic Gaps
Middle-class parents are more adept than low-income families at navigating the social networks that link their children to school opportunities.
Every Student Succeeds Act
ESSA Aims to Shine Brighter Light on Per-Pupil Spending
States and districts gird for the federal K-12 law’s new mandate for school-by-school spending data that can prove both complex and elusive.
School & District Management
In Minnesota and U.S., Teacher-Powered Schools Take Root
Impact Academy at Orchard Lake is among a growing number of public schools where teachers have a say in what goes on, from the learning approach to staffing and scheduling.
Federal
Opinion
The Trump Budget Puts America's Students Last
Proposed Trump budget cuts would be devastating for low-income students and magnify summer learning loss, says Margaret McKenna.
Federal
Opinion
Advice From a Formerly Homeless Youth
The first step in achieving educational equity for homeless students is to make them more visible, argues researcher Earl J. Edwards.
College & Workforce Readiness
Report Roundup
Black Teachers Make a Difference
Low-income black boys showed benefits from having a black teacher in grades 3 to 5.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Music Education
A new study from the University of Maryland indicates that those who participated in K-12 music education are more likely to continue to be involved with the arts as adults.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Merit Pay
Teacher participation in a merit-pay program led to the equivalent of four extra weeks of student learning, according to a new analysis of 44 studies of incentive-pay initiatives in the United States and abroad.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
School Schedules
Starting the high school day a little later is associated with higher rates of attendance and ultimately graduation, finds a study in the April issue of the journal Sleep Health.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Research Report: Teachers
In the past 25 years, the American teaching force has grown significantly, becoming less experienced but more diverse, a new analysis by the National Center on Education Statistics finds.
College & Workforce Readiness
Letter to the Editor
Academe Is Politically 'Out of Step' With the Nation as a Whole
To the Editor:
"[Frederick M.] Hess is overreaching when he argues that academe is 'unrepresentative of the nation as a whole,' " says Ron Wolk, the founding editor of Education Week, in a March 8 letter to the editor ("K-12 Scholarship's Leftward Tilt Is No Surprise and Not a Concern"). Wolk cites liberal Hillary Clinton's popular-vote victory. "It's more accurate to say that academe is out of step with the ultra-conservative minority that has moved further right as the world has changed," he says.
"[Frederick M.] Hess is overreaching when he argues that academe is 'unrepresentative of the nation as a whole,' " says Ron Wolk, the founding editor of Education Week, in a March 8 letter to the editor ("K-12 Scholarship's Leftward Tilt Is No Surprise and Not a Concern"). Wolk cites liberal Hillary Clinton's popular-vote victory. "It's more accurate to say that academe is out of step with the ultra-conservative minority that has moved further right as the world has changed," he says.
School Climate & Safety
Letter to the Editor
Parents Need to Feel Empowered
To the Editor:
Kudos to Trise Moore and to the Federal Way public school system in Washington state for developing a community- and family-engagement model in schools that empowers parents to advocate for their children ("Giving Parents a Prominent Voice in Schools," Education Week, Feb. 22, 2017). It is heartening to not only learn about such programs, but to read that they are being used as models for other districts to emulate.
Kudos to Trise Moore and to the Federal Way public school system in Washington state for developing a community- and family-engagement model in schools that empowers parents to advocate for their children ("Giving Parents a Prominent Voice in Schools," Education Week, Feb. 22, 2017). It is heartening to not only learn about such programs, but to read that they are being used as models for other districts to emulate.
Special Education
Letter to the Editor
When It Comes to Service Learning, Students Are Community Partners
To the Editor:
Thank you for shining a spotlight on service learning in the first-person piece by San Francisco teacher Kyle Redford ("How Can We Make Service Learning Less Self-Serving?," Education Week Teacher, Feb. 28, 2017).
Thank you for shining a spotlight on service learning in the first-person piece by San Francisco teacher Kyle Redford ("How Can We Make Service Learning Less Self-Serving?," Education Week Teacher, Feb. 28, 2017).
Education Funding
News in Brief
More Security for Secretary DeVos Adds Millions More to Costs
Government officials say that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos requires additional security detail because of a threat to her safety and that it may cost up to $7.8 million through September to protect her.
School & District Management
News in Brief
Student-Newspaper Probe Leads to Principal's Resignation
An incoming high school principal has resigned in Kansas after student reporters investigated and raised questions about her credentials.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Group Seeks Processed-Meat Ban in Two California Districts
An advocacy group last week sued the Los Angeles school district for serving hot dogs and other processed meats to students, arguing that they increase the risk of cancer.
Science
News in Brief
Climate-Change Skeptics Lobbying Science Teachers
The Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank, is on a quest to deliver mailers to 200,000 teachers encouraging them to consider and teach explanations for global warming that reject humans' role in a changing climate, PBS's Frontline reports.
Equity & Diversity
News in Brief
Transgender Supporters Survive Ballot-Box Challenge in Illinois
School board candidates who supported a plan to let a transgender student use the girls' locker room at a suburban Chicago school have survived an election challenge.
Federal
News in Brief
Evers Wins Re-Election as Wisconsin Schools Chief
Superintendent Tony Evers easily won a third term as Wisconsin's top education official over an underfunded conservative opponent dogged by questions over whether he broke state law by using a public school account to send campaign-related emails.
Equity & Diversity
News in Brief
U.S. Court Rules Title VII Covers Sexual Orientation in Workplace
Ruling in the case of an Indiana community college instructor, a federal appeals court has held that employment bias based on sexual orientation is covered by Title VII's prohibition against sex discrimination.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Connecticut, New Mexico Relax Use of Test Scores in Teacher Reviews
Connecticut's state school board voted last week to prohibit the use of students' standardized-test scores in evaluating a teacher's job performance.
Federal
News in Brief
New Federal Law Could Affect Students' Internet Privacy
President Donald Trump has signed into law a measure that critics say clears a path for internet-service providers to share and sell customers' web-browsing histories and other personal data, a decision that could have ramifications for student privacy.