Obama encouraging limits on standardized student testsAP: Hillary Rodham Clinton embraced the principles laid out by Obama. “We should be ruthless in looking at tests and eliminating them if they do not actually help us move our kids forward,” she said in a statement. See other coverage here.
The Online College That’s Helping Undocumented Students NPR: There are no federal laws in this country that prohibit undocumented students from enrolling in college. But few can afford it. Now, one online college is offering them an option.
With Switch From Pencils To Computers, GED Gets Tougher For Inmates NPR: Formerly, the test to get a GED diploma was multiple-choice, and taken with a pencil. Not anymore: Now, it requires computer skills some inmates simply don’t have.
Superintendents in Florida Say Tests Failed State’s Schools, Not Vice Versa NYT: Superintendents are arguing that student tests imported from Utah were flawed and should not be used to give schools A-to-F grades.
Grading on the Curve: Surprise: Florida and Texas Excel in Math and Reading Scores NYT: A new analysis, taking into account student demographics, finds the states in third and fourth place, after Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Setting Bold Course, Delaware Serves Up Info on Teacher-Prep Performance Teacher Beat: The reports also contain data on some of the measures the U.S. Department of Education wants states to use to grade their preparation programs.
Porter Ranch bucks trend of students flocking away from LAUSD LA Times:About a third of the campus’ 1,100 students in kindergarten through eighth grade have come from nearby charter and private schools – a development that caught officials off-guard. “We didn’t anticipate that; these students were off the grid,” said Principal Mary Melvin.
How a growing Arkansas town avoided segregation in its two high schools PBS: They wanted to open a new school, but they didn’t want schools to be segregated by ethnicity, which would surely happen if the schools were zoned by neighborhood. Nearby Springdale had been in the same position and had ended up with one school that had almost twice the percentage of Latino students as the other.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexander Russo
Alexander Russo is founder and editor of The Grade, an award-winning effort to help improve media coverage of education issues. He’s also a Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship winner and a book author. You can reach him at @alexanderrusso.
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