Obama signs education law rewrite shifting power to states AP: Calling it a “Christmas miracle,” President Barack Obama signed a sweeping overhaul of the No Child Left Behind education law on Thursday, ushering in a new approach to accountability, teacher evaluations and the way the most poorly performing schools are pushed to improve. See also Washington Post, NYT, NPR, EdWeek, NPR.
State Chiefs’ ESSA Accountability Pledge: ‘There Will Be No Backpedaling’ PK12: So what do state superintendents plan to do with the new power they’ll have under the Every Student Succeeds Act? And how much do they see accountability changing?
Some States’ Share of Federal Teacher Funds Will Shrink Under ESSA TeacherBeat: The change to the Title II program will benefit Southern states, while Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania, among others, will see their allocations shrink.
Cuomo Panel Calls for Further Retreat From Common Core Standards NYT: The panel, in recommendations released on Thursday, is calling for changes in what New York State students learn and how they are assessed. See also WNYC, The Seventy Four.
Divided On Arrival: Even In Diverse Schools, New Immigrants Face Bullying WAMU: Immigrant students face a number of challenges coming to the U.S., and as some Montgomery County schools are finding, young people face bullying, fights and attempts to “otherize” them.
Achievement gap in D.C. starts in infancy, report shows Washington Post: New report shows stark disparities in the health and well-being of infants and toddlers in the city’s richest and poorest neighborhoods.
Top AFT aide to run troubled Detroit teacher’s union Detroit Free Press: “My appointment of Ann Mitchell comes at a time when the local and our members are facing internal divisions and external challenges such as austerity, benefit cuts, and a threat of widespread charterization and layoffs,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
Next U.S. education secretary talks computer science, and college, with D.C. high school students Washington Post: John King, Jr., who takes over the Education Department in January, emphasized the need for college graduates with degrees in the STEM fields.
