- The education-leader musical chairs continues, as Paul Pastorek moves away from Baton Rouge while New York Deputy Commissioner John King takes David Steiner’s vacated seat.
- Pinch yourself—you’re not dreaming. NEA leadership, long seen to be immobile on nearly every facet of education reform, issued a policy statement calling for, among other things, the use of quality standardized student tests for teacher evaluations. Note that Randi Weingarten and the AFT released their own such statement back in February and that this bit of NEA catch-up still must face member approval in July. The curve of education reform is long.
- Take it from KIPP and other “no excuses” charter networks, culture is a very real component of student success. But how do ethnic cultures fit into this jigsaw puzzle of achievement? New York Magazine offers a thought-provoking perspective on America’s Asian population.
- With the unions gunning for the Idaho state superintendent, Tom Luna is on the counter-offensive. This week, his office released a cautionary note to teachers: Engage in politicking during school hours, or from school email accounts, and face potential suspension.
- We’ve long been worried about the watering-down of K-12 student expectations. And, it seems, the floodgates have opened onto the higher-education circuit as well. As Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, co-authors of Academically Adrift, explain: Rigor and critical thinking are being swept away as students opt for comfort and ease—and as colleges too willingly comply.
