EduClips: Teacher Walkouts Continue in OK, KY; LAUSD Board to Play More Direct Role in Setting Rules for Charters — and More Must-Reads From America’s 15 Biggest School Districts
EduClips is a daily compilation of education news highlights from the largest school districts in the United States. These districts serve more than 4 million students across eight states. To catch up on previous EduClips, please refer to our archives. Stay up to date with the latest school and policy news by subscribing to the TopSheet Education Newsletter.
Top Story
Next week, the nation’s most respected assessment of academic progress, known as NAEP TEST, will be released in Washington, D.C. However, the results will not include data from some states showing that students performed worse than their peers. This discrepancy is not due to academic deficiencies but rather the fact that some students have had less exposure to computers. According to sources, around 10% of this year’s tests exhibited significant differences between students who took the exam on tablets and those who took it on paper. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which oversees the testing, has been discussing these results with state officials. The NAEP test is administered to fourth and eighth graders in reading and math every other year in all 50 states. This year marked the first time it was conducted electronically. State education leaders have expressed concerns to NCES officials about the potential impact of poverty and lack of online testing experience on students’ scores. They are worried that the NCES will not provide data that enables fair comparisons between states. (Read more at The74Million.org)
National News
TEACHER STRIKES – Teachers in Oklahoma continue their walkout (Read more at Wall Street Journal)
NATIONAL – Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Puerto Rico apply for ESSA Innovative Testing Pilot (Read more at Politics K-12)
TEACHER STRIKES – Striking teachers organize themselves on social media platforms (Read more at The74Million.org)
District and State News
CALIFORNIA – LAUSD board gains more authority in establishing regulations for charter schools, receiving praise from charter leaders (Read more at KPCC)
PUERTO RICO – Teachers union in Puerto Rico seeks to prevent the introduction of charter schools (Read more at ABC News)
NEW YORK – Richard Carranza’s handling of Houston’s special education crisis and its potential implications for New York City (Read more at Chalkbeat)
ILLINOIS – Teachers claim Noble Charters are "dehumanizing" (Read more at NPR Illinois)
NEW YORK – Department of Education inappropriately took steps to terminate a tenured teacher, rules judge (Read more at New York Post)
FLORIDA – Union advises against teachers walking out in Florida (Read more at Tampa Bay Online)
NEVADA – Clark County teachers win arbitration over 2017-18 contract (Read more at Las Vegas Review-Journal)
TEXAS – Editorial emphasizes the need for Texas to find alternative disciplinary measures for its youngest students rather than resorting to suspensions (Read more at Houston Chronicle)
PUERTO RICO – Charter schools and vouchers with a Puerto Rican flavor are introduced to the hurricane-ravaged island, prompting opposition from the union (Read more at The74Million.org)
VIRGINIA – Hackers attempt to alter grades at a Virginia high school (Read more at The Washington Post)
CALIFORNIA – California districts participate in a groundbreaking study on school safety (Read more at EdSource)
NEVADA – Another leadership change takes place in Nevada schools with Jessup’s departure (Read more at Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Think Pieces
TEACHER PAY – The stagnation of teacher salaries and its implications for students amidst demands for higher pay (Read more at Chalkbeat)
DACA – Study reveals that DACA has incentivized more students to pursue higher education (Read more at Inside Higher Ed)
TEACHER STRIKES – Analyzing the broader concerns behind the recent influx of teachers’ strikes (Read more at The Atlantic)
CLASSROOM DESIGN – The utilization of creative classroom design to foster innovative teaching practices (Read more at Hechinger Report)
TEACHER STRIKES – Evaluating whether weak labor laws contribute to increased teacher strikes (Read more at Governing)
Quote of the Day
"Is there a difference at the state level because we have more low-income kids or less experience with computers? The answer is, of course." – Louisiana State Superintendent of Education, John White, discussing the transition to electronic administration of the NAEP test. Sources suggest that 1 in 10 scores may have been negatively affected by this change, particularly in states with higher poverty rates and limited technology access. (Read more at The74Million.org)
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