Arne Duncan, John King: Don’t Cap Testing at the Expense of Testing Quality PK12: “Everybody has had a hand in what our current testing system looks like—this situation was not created by just one entity,” said Michael Casserly, the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools. See also Washington Post, EdWeek, PBS NewsHour.
USDA Sees 20 Percent Increase in Schools Offering Free Meals to All StudentsEdWeek: More than 17,000 high-poverty schools now offer free federally subsidized meals to about 8 million students through the provision, Vilsack announced at a meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington.
Video Shows Officer Flipping Student in South Carolina, Prompting Inquiry NYT: A white school police officer is seen flipping a black female high school student backward in her desk and dragging her on the floor. See also Washington Post, Huffington Post.
Merryl Tisch to Leave N.Y. Regents After Busy, Polarizing Tenure State EdWatch: Tisch oversaw big changes to Empire State K-12 policy during her six-year tenure as the leader of the Regents, and unleashed a torrent of political controversy in the process. See also NYT, ChalkbeatNYT.
Louisiana State Board Elections Give Boost to Common Core State EdWatch: Of the eight seats on the 11-member Louisiana state school board that were up for election, six were won by those that favor the common core.
Urging Students to Apply to College, New York City Will Make SAT Free for Juniors NYT: The change, which Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced, is intended to encourage more students to apply to college.
Many Montgomery teachers say they don’t want to eliminate final exams Washington Post: Teachers union survey finds an “overwhelming number” object to the idea of scrapping county final exams.
New financial problem at state’s first charter school AP: The Washington Supreme Court’s September ruling that the state’s new charter school law is unconstitutional is causing new financial problems for the state’s first charter school.
