Alexander Russo

On Wednesday, the Columbia University School of Journalism announced the latest group of Spencer Fellows, four journalists “to pursue ambitious projects examining immigrant education, school segregation, common core standards, and the impact of big data in education.” Hechinger’s Jill Barshay is going to be “researching a book that explores how academic researchers and private industry are collecting giant […]

Politicians, union leaders, and teachers blast school turnaround plans Philly Inquirer: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Katie McGinty, candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, joined local union and political leaders Wednesday in opposing a turnaround plan for an elementary school in North Philadelphia. Clinton courts union support in Philadelphia Newsworks: Seeming […]

Stories about predatory and opportunistic testing companies aren’t a difficult narrative to sell these days, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re accurate or complete — even when they come from the New York Times. Yesterday’s Kate Zernike piece, Rejected by Colleges, SAT and ACT Gain High School Acceptance, describes how the two big testing companies have found […]

Opt-Outs Persist as Exams Begin Across New York – WSJ http://ow.ly/10lTtm Teachers union touts victory in evaluation fight – The Washington Post http://ow.ly/10lSD9 FOP want Chicago Teachers Union to condemn rally comments to ‘F— the police’ | Chicago Sun-Times http://ow.ly/10kYOb Besieged teachers unions reach out to their members | EdSource http://ow.ly/10lTop Taking High School Courses In […]

The good news for the Tampa Bay Times’ investigative team keeps coming in. Last week, the team was named a finalist in the EWA education writing awards. This week, the USDE announced it opening a civil rights investigation into the district that had allowed some of its schools to become overwhelmingly black and poor. “The U.S. […]

Opt-out movement aims to lure more African-American, Latino parents Politico: Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan drew attention to the racial disparity in 2013 when he remarked to state superintendents that “white suburban moms” were rebelling against new academic standards because their kids had done poorly on the tough… Chancellor on State Tests: ‘I Don’t Believe in Opting […]

A study conducted by Johns Hopkins University, using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, found that white teachers are less likely than black teachers to think black students will succeed academically. Courtesy Johns Hopkins University Kudos to the Seattle Times’ Claudio Rowe and NBC’s Sylvia Cunningham for their coverage of a recent Johns Hopkins […]

BEST OF THE WEEK Chicago Sun-Times: UNO’s secret spending spree http://ow.ly/10bLKg Texas Tribune: At High Schools Just Miles Apart, a World of Difference in College Paths http://ow.ly/10bG35 Reuters: Uncovering a major security hole with the SAT: http://reut.rs/1Uqu99O NYT: Schools Nationwide Still Grapple With Lead in Water http://ow.ly/10bFBr WNYC: For Syrian Refugees in New Jersey, a Bumpy Adjustment […]

Envisioning me and @lizbowie are at the #ewaAwards banquet like: pic.twitter.com/5RIV2x4te7 — Erica L. Green (@EricaLG) March 31, 2016 It’s a big deal for education reporters when EWA (the national association of education writers) names the finalists for the annual awards, which came out yesterday. There are several familiar stories and names in the list […]

Chicago Schools to Close as Teachers Launch One-Day Strike AP: Teachers in Chicago are launching an unprecedented one-day strike. See also Sun-Times, Tribune, WBEZ.  Chicago Teachers Union pushes broad message for fiscal reform with walkout Tribune: The union’s repeated threats to strike over pay and pension issues in recent weeks have evolved into a labor-led fight against Rauner’s anti-union […]