Our team is always seeking the latest news in the field of education. As advocates for a quality education for ALL students, we know we have to stay up-to-date on everything that’s going on in the education spheres of our nation…from the White House to the local public school district, from new legislation to the small acts of bravery and kindness made by a single teacher, from the milestones and celebrations to the hazardous injustices affecting many of our nations students.
Here are the best stories we came across last week…because we believe you should stay up-to-date, too!
Concerns Mount Over K-12 Education Plans via US News and World Report
As states cement education plans for their schools under the federal K-12 law, the Department of Education is working furiously to assess them amid mounting concerns about states’ commitment to following the law, their proposals to ensure historically disadvantaged students have access to quality education, and the department’s capacity – and in some cases, lack of desire – to police it all.
So far, the department’s feedback to states has irked Republicans, whose goal is to ensure states have as much flexibility as possible when devising their education plans. At the same time, it’s vexed Democrats, who argue Obama-era regulations informing state education officials of exactly how they are supposed to implement the new law should not have been eliminated.
Nine education predictions for 2018 — some of them heartbreaking via The Washington Post
Every year, veteran teacher Larry Ferlazzo makes a list of education predictions — and here’s his list for 2018. (You can see his predictions from earlier years at the bottom of this post.)
“More academic studies will be published supporting the effectiveness of restorative practices as a school discipline strategy (particularly in high schools); the substantial impact of teacher bias on student discipline; and the inadequacies of standardized test scores to accurately measure student growth.”
Children Forced To ‘Deal With It’ And Bundle Up As Classrooms Lose Heat via Huffington Post
When social studies teacher Jesse Schneiderman arrived at school after the holiday break on Tuesday, he found a dangerous environment waiting for his students. Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore was in shambles. Pipes that had just been turned back on had burst, leaving some rooms flooded. Heating vents weren’t working. Entire rooms were destroyed and inaccessible.
For cities like Baltimore, this isn’t a heat issue ― it’s a matter of inequality and state funding, Schneiderman said. Cold classrooms highlight the problem of inadequate public school funding, but fixing infrastructure that’s been ignored for years could take a long time, if it happens at all.
One thing to read this week…
Inside the fight over how to address San Francisco’s ‘state of emergency’ for black student achievement via The Los Angeles Times
Black students in San Francisco would be better off almost anywhere else in California.
Many attend segregated schools and the majority of black, Latino, and Pacific Islander students did not reach grade-level standards on the state’s recent tests in math or English tests.
A local NAACP leader called for declaring a “state of emergency” for black student achievement, a problem the city’s school board acknowledged. “The problem cannot be reduced to one sickness or one cure,” said Rev. Amos C. Brown, San Francisco’s NAACP branch president. “Black students have been underachievers. They’re living in toxic situations. It’s amazing they’ve done as well as they have done, but it’s criminal that sophisticated children in progressive San Francisco are performing at these levels.”
Did any of these articles particularly speak to you? We would love to know your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below: