What We’re Reading: Newark students protest for local control of schools

  • One teacher has a suggestion for rating schools without standardized tests: classroom grades. (Washington Post)
  • More, not less, reliance on standardized tests would make college admissions more egalitarian. (New Republic)
  • Newark students are protesting against the district’s superintendent and demanding local control of their schools. (Politicker NJ)
  • A long-shot Washington, D.C. mayoral candidate is making a bid to become the “education mayor.” (Greater Greater Washington)
  • Two Philadelphia principals are trying to reinvent the high school experience. (The Notebook)
  • A teacher at a high-performing NYC charter discusses what makes his classroom work. (Huffington Post)
  • What exactly are the Common Core standards and what do they do? An explainer. (NJ Spotlight)
  • The standards have become Obama’s biggest domestic battleground since healthcare reform, with backlash from both sides. (Mother Jones)
  • A Finnish teacher says the lauded school system is failing two-thirds of its students. (Yle Uutiset)
  • Girls don’t need different tech instruction. They just need to feel that they belong. (Hechinger Report)
  • Principals aren’t using teacher effectiveness data in their decision-making. (Education Week)
  • In Israel’s school system, there are wide funding disparities and improvised fixes for low-income schools. (Times of Israel)
  • Washington, D.C.’s school district is hiring a “student advocate” to help families navigate the school system. (Washington Post)
  • That story about summer vacation coming from our farming past? It’s not true. (PBS Newshour)
  • In “Building a Better Teacher,” Elizabeth Green looks at what teachers do to make a classroom work, rather than talking points. (Jose Vilson)