May 30, 2017
Education Week, Vol. 36, Issue 33
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Do Our Schools Reflect the Students They Serve?
Schools must adjust to changing demographics by creating diverse learning environments, writes Tammy Wawro, president of the Iowa State Education Association.
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
Faith-Based Schools Matter. Here’s Why
Faith-based schools play an integral role in upending the inequality at-risk students face, argues John Schoenig of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Fix School Discipline to Fix Inequity
Before tackling bigger K-12 challenges, states must address unfair suspension rates, writes Peggy Lehner, a Republican state senator from Ohio.
States
Opinion
A Budget Blueprint for Equity
States should re-evaluate education spending to prioritize the students who need it most, writes Pedro A. Rivera, Pennsylvania’s secretary of education.
Families & the Community
Opinion
To Fight Inequity, Empower the Families It Harms Most
In an effort to close opportunity gaps, let’s position families to lead the movement for change, writes Veronica Palmer of RISE Colorado.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
'Equity for All Is Everyone's Business'
A mix of school, community, and state partnerships are necessary to treat all students fairly, argues Milwaukee school superintendent Darienne Driver.
Education Funding
Opinion
A Bipartisan Approach to School Funding Boosts Equity
A broader funding base gives states more tools to improve public education, writes Steve Canavero, Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction.
Accountability
Opinion
Our Schools Have an Equity Problem. What Should We Do About It?
As the federal role in schooling recedes, state education leaders will be key to driving equity, write Aspen's Ross Wiener and Danielle Gonzales.
Reading & Literacy
Reading and the Mind: A Talk With Dan Willingham
The cognitive psychologist's new book explains "what's happening in the mind when a skilled reader reads” so that teachers can extract lessons for their own teaching.
IT Infrastructure & Management
Questions Over New Construction Projects Raise More Worries About E-Rate's Future
More than 100 school districts have received letters questioning their plans to use federal E-rate funds to support construction of fiber-optic networks.
School & District Management
Puerto Rico Shutters Scores of Schools Amid Financial Crisis
The cost-cutting plan could hasten the departure of families and veteran teachers, bringing an already weakened public education system to its knees in the U.S. territory.
Every Student Succeeds Act
States' Special Education Work Offers a Jump on ESSA's Demands
The requirement that states create ambitious blueprints to improve student performance under the Every Student Succeeds Act mirrors efforts by special education officials to focus on results, not just compliance.
College & Workforce Readiness
Ark. Students Get Early Start on Career Planning
The state hopes to put students on more promising pathways by dispatching college and career coaches to middle and high schools in 34 counties.
Student Well-Being
Is Your Child Showing Grit? School Report Cards Rate Students' Soft Skills
As more schools size up students on nonacademic skills such as grit and responsible decisionmaking, it's a challenge to make the feedback useful—and understandable—for parents.
Every Student Succeeds Act
States Struggle to Define 'Ineffective Teachers' Under ESSA
The Every Student Succeeds Act has reignited battles over how to determine which teachers fall short and whether state or local leaders should make those decisions.
Equity & Diversity
Letter to the Editor
Teachers of Color Contribute to Better Student Outcomes
To the Editor:
I agree with certain points about school integration expressed by Rafiq R. Kalam Id-Din II in his recent Commentary ("Black Teachers Matter. School Integration Doesn't," May 10, 2017).
I agree with certain points about school integration expressed by Rafiq R. Kalam Id-Din II in his recent Commentary ("Black Teachers Matter. School Integration Doesn't," May 10, 2017).
Federal
News in Brief
DeVos Declines Invitation to Address Education Journalists' Conference
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has declined an invitation to address the Education Writers Association at its upcoming national conference in Washington.
Equity & Diversity
News in Brief
Poor Roads on Tribal Lands Lead to Student Absenteeism
A federal report released last week casts a critical light on the conditions of roads on tribal lands, highlighting the widespread challenge of getting Native American children to school during bad weather.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Startup Grades Student Papers for Teachers—for a Fee
A new startup called the Graide Network aims to lighten the load for teachers by grading their students' papers.
Science
News in Brief
Students Get Pepper-Sprayed for Criminal-Science Class
A group of Ohio high school students voluntarily got pepper-sprayed in the face—and called the painful experience a useful lesson.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Judge Orders Pa. to Approve Thrice-Rejected Cyber Charter
A Pennsylvania court has ordered the state education department to grant a five-year charter to the Insight PA Cyber Charter School—an applicant the state had rejected three times, largely because officials said its nonprofit governing board was not sufficiently independent from K12 Inc.
Education Funding
News in Brief
GAO Faults Education Dept. on Grant Monitoring
The U.S. Department of Education did not do a sufficient job of documenting its monitoring of key federal competitive grants, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Ohio Court Upholds Search of Unattended Backpack
Ohio's highest court has upheld a warrantless search of a high school student's unattended book bag, ruling that such searches are justified by schools' obligation to keep students safe in the era of the Columbine and Sandy Hook campus attacks.
School Choice & Charters
News in Brief
Colo. Districts Must Split Funds With Charters Under Passed Bill
Charter school advocates say a bill passed by the Colorado legislature that requires districts to split local tax dollars with charter schools is the first of its kind in the nation.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
High Court Won't Hear 'Fake Burp' Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to take up an appeal in a case in which Neil M. Gorsuch, as an appeals-court judge writing in dissent, had been sharply critical of involving the police in the matter of a student who disrupted a class with "fake burps."
Education
News in Brief
Transitions
Christina Kishimoto the superintendent of the Gilbert school district in Arizona, has been selected as Hawaii's public schools superintendent.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Whither to Fidget
Are fidget spinners helping antsy students sit still and concentrate on their lessons, or just driving kids (and teachers)
to distraction? Depends on who you ask.
School & District Management
Report Roundup
Education Statistics
Children whose parents did not graduate from high school and who are poor enter kindergarten less prepared than pupils without those risk factors, and they trail other students academically through 3rd grade, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
College & Workforce Readiness
Report Roundup
Career Education
The skills needed for technical careers have changed significantly, and school and adult education programs need to do more to support evolving technical education, according to a sizeable new report on career education by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.