Today’s education news includes Gov. Walker’s formal campaign announcement, a new report showing just how inequitable access is to good teachers, and a warning that kids don’t like it when parents are on their smartphones all the time:
Gov. Walker Enters Presidential Race Claiming He ‘Improved Education’ in Wisc. EdWeek: As far as education is concerned, Walker is perhaps most prominent for his successful push to strip collective bargaining rights for teachers and other public employees in 2011.
Study Paints Sobering Picture of Unequal Access to Teacher Quality TeacherBeat: Any way you slice it, disadvantaged students get shortchanged on teacher quality, the study finds.
Major teachers union ready to work with charter schools Washington Examiner: Teachers unions want public schools to be the centers of communities, and they are ready to work with charter schools to achieve that goal, according to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Nevada’s Clark County Hopes to Lure Retired Educators Back to Teaching District Dossier: The nation’s fifth-largest school district, which started the year searching for about 2,600 teachers, is turning to retirees to fill critical positions in elementary schools.
Few parents opt elementary children out of new state tests The Bellingham Herald: Complaints about the new statewide tests based on the national Common Core curriculum have been heard loudly on social media. But few Washington parents acted on those complaints and opted their children out of the new tests, according to data…
Many Kids Feel ‘Unimportant’ When Parents Are Distracted By Smartphones, Survey Says HuffPost: The survey results showed that 54 percent of kids think their parents check their devices too often and 32 percent of them “feel unimportant” when their parents are distracted by their phones.
How Textbooks Can Teach Different Versions Of History NPR: About 5 million public school students in Texas this year will get new and controversial textbooks that critics say water down history.
A New Look at Apprenticeships as a Path to the Middle Class NYT: After facing a steep falloff during the recession, apprentice programs are making a comeback, and have caught the notice of students, parents and even some presidential candidates.
Lisa Ruda leaves her D.C. schools post, and also leaves a revitalized system Washington Post: When Lisa Ruda arrived in Washington to help Michelle A. Rhee begin a transformation of D.C. Public Schools, Ruda had less than eight weeks to clear her first major hurdle — preparing the city’s schools for opening day.
