What we're reading: What Vox's list of 'need-to-know' facts about U.S. schools leaves out

  • What’s wrong — and what’s right — with a “need-to-know” list of facts about U.S. schools. (Shanker Blog)
  • Newark’s embattled superintendent could stay another three years, but internal strife seems unlikely to die down. (PolitickerNJ)
  • Could the war over Common Core testing contracts take down the whole initiative? (Politico)
  • What’s right way to teach students how to read? A debate. (Room for Debate)
  • The problems with school discipline and mental health for students of color extend far beyond the classroom. (Colorlines)
  • In North Carolina, legislators are pushing out the Common Core, over the objections of the teachers’ union. (WFDD)
  • Beloved author Walter Dean Myers, who took on stories of adolescence that are rarely told, passed this week. (A.V. Club)
  • Longer school days haven’t gone over well with Washington D.C.’s teachers union. (Washington Post)
  • The national teachers union head and Los Angeles’ superintendent go head to head over Vergara on stage. (Atlantic)
  • A teacher reflects on what it takes to write good math problems. (Rational Expressions)
  • Doctors and airplane pilots struggle their first year. Why should we expect anything different of rookie teachers? (Education Next)
  • There’s a new degree specifically for those who hope to open a charter school or redesign an existing school. (EdWeek)
  • Carmen Fariña’s push for balanced literacy isn’t backed up by data. (Real Clear Education)
  • Reading Rainbow is for getting kids to enjoy reading, not teaching them reading in the first place. (New Yorker)