The Grade

One of 2015’s big education stories has been the very small schools that have been popping up around the country as part of the AltSchool network. According to my Twitter feed, I’ve come across several articles (WIRED, Business Insider, NPR, TechChrunch, New Yorker, NYT, etc.) over the past year. The model has also been featured on […]

Following up on one of last week’s big issues, the Poynter Institute’s Jim Warren noted on Friday that the decision by the LA Times to request and publish the investigative file on a famed former LAUSD teacher had proven to be divisive and could turn out to be problematic if Esquith is exonerated: “The teacher did […]

Can States Use Special Needs, ELL Students To Manipulate Test Scores? WAMU: Maryland was the only state this year that showed declines on all four tests — reading and math for both 4th and 8th graders. It’s the first time this has happened for any state in the history of the test. Gov. Larry Hogan and […]

BEST OF THE WEEK Morning Consult: How Old-School Legislating Brought an Education Bill to the Finish Line http://ow.ly/VCpBo Mother Jones: This is What It’s Like to Be a Muslim Schoolkid in America Right Now http://ow.ly/VH9lq NYT: Cuomo Task Force Signals Further Retreat From Common Core School Standardshttp://ow.ly/VJFIX USA Today: San Bernardino school cafeterias checked for tampering http://ow.ly/VF3LN Tampa Bay Times: Pinellas […]

In case you hadn’t noticed, BRIGHT – the lively if not exactly hard-hitting education site on Medium that debuted this past summer – hasn’t been the short-lived “popup shop” that it might have been.  Originally the effort was presented as a feel-good, summertime fling with a focus on solutions journalism. At the time, it reminded […]

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, […]

I’ve seen a lot of descriptions of this LA case as a witch hunt [https://t.co/CErKS1oaNF]. Turns out not so much: https://t.co/RXe6qFbcub — Libby Nelson (@libbyanelson) December 8, 2015 On Tuesday, the LA Times published a story about famed/infamous LAUSD teacher Rafe Esquith including disturbing new details about the district’s allegations against him — descriptions of inappropriate […]

New Education Law Passes, With A Power Shift Back To The States NPR: States are thankful for the opportunity, but critics say there’s no guarantee that states will succeed in two crucial areas the old law — known as No Child Left Behind — failed. See also Washington Post, HuffPost, AP, NYT, PK12. ESSA Spin Patrol: How Various Groups Are […]

Senate prepares to vote on No Child Left Behind rewrite AP: Although the federally mandated reading and math exams in grades three to eight and in high school continue, legislation expected to be voted on by the Senate on Wednesday encourages states to set caps on overall testing. Senate approval would send the bill to the White […]

Kudos to the Tampa Bay Times for being mentioned in the Columbia Journalism Review’s Best and worst journalism of 2015: “The project, framed with slick visuals and interactive graphics, is stunning in its totality. The work provides yet more proof of the continued value of beat reporting in an era of cutbacks at local news […]