- Education-spending advocates: Breathe a sigh of relief. The House passed its proposed spending bill this afternoon (which would fund the feds through September). As it heads to the Senate, education is reasonably unscathed. The budget even offers up $700 million for a new round of Race to the Top, and another $150 million for another set of Investing in Innovation (i3) grants.
- Mathematica builds off its past research and rebuts Gary Miron’s recent report on student attrition at KIPP in a paper presented at last week’s American Educational Research Association annual meeting.
- Larry Cuban throws buckets of cold water on the online-learning parade. While he veers swiftly into Negative Nelly-ville, some of his concerns—especially around credit-recovery programs—are worth heeding. Even Michael Horn agrees.
- A wake-up call when it comes to Common Core assessments: It’s going to take some time before either consortium gets them right; don’t expect miracles when they roll out in 2014.
- A new study funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation is causing quite a stir. As it turns out, third-graders who struggle with reading are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma than proficient readers. Likewise, low-income students are more likely to drop out than those who had never experienced poverty. Two words: predictably depressing.
- If you’re Friday nights aren’t complete until you get your education-policy fix, Bloomberg radio can now oblige. Bloomberg EDU, hosted by Jane Williams, is a new weekly look at education in America.
- Students in one Seattle school can no longer get excited for Easter egg hunts. They now must look forward to “spring sphere” finds. At least the school’s administration found an alliterative term.
