As Common Core-aligned tests arrived, high-needs students face the toughest road

  • As states upgrade their tests to meet Common Core standards, low-income students are struggling more. (U.S. News/Hechinger)
  • The practice of delaying a child’s entrance into kindergarten (known as “redshirting”) could have consequences far beyond a single child’s competitive advantage because affluent parents are more likely to choose to do it. (The Atlantic)
  • A teacher on learning how to talk to her students about race: “We have to do better than we have been doing.” (Mocha Momma)
  • When Pinellas County, Florida, abandoned integration, it quickly became the worst county in the state for black students. (Tampa Bay Times)
  • In Hartford, an integration plan to attract suburban students from the suburbs to magnet schools is helping lots of low-income black students but is leaving many others behind. (This American Life)
  • Practically speaking, Sesame Street’s move to HBO is a smart financial move to keep the show on the air. Symbolically, the move to pay cable of a show designed to help low-income kids catch up to their more affluent peers is very sad. (Slate)
  • A group of foundations is in the early stages of planning a major expansion of charter schools in Los Angeles. (L.A. Times)
  • A teacher and — self-proclaimed — helicopter mom learns to embrace her children’s failure. (Vox)
  • The architect of a Georgia plan to allow the state to take control of struggling schools is now becoming a consultant to help districts improve schools enough to ward off state intervention. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  • Early findings from a multi-year study show that a teacher leadership program is having positive effects on student achievement and teachers skills and retention. (Leading Educators)
  • And Arne Duncan is stressing out over how he’ll do on the standardized Secretary of Education Test and wishes he could afford a high-priced tutor like Margaret Spellings. (The Onion)