Weekend reads: Guns, germs, and tanks in L.A. schools

It’s hard to keep up with the flood of education news throughout the week. Here are a few links worth clicking as it winds down:

  • The probable mayoral run of Chicago’s teachers union chief, Karen Lewis, has broad implications. (Vox)
  • New Jersey KIPP schools respond to criticism about student attrition with raw (and reassuring) data. (TEAM Schools)
  • Vaccination rates are really low and infection rates on the rise in some Los Angeles-area schools. (Hollywood Reporter)
  • L.A.’s education department is shedding grenades but keeping other weapons in an effort to keep schools safe. (Salon)
  • A new coalition, Educolor, is aiming for a “progressive way to discuss race in education reform.” (Jose Vilson)
  • Nineteen states (but not this one) are planning to delay tying student test scores to teacher ratings. (Politics K-12)
  • Boston Magazine retracted its rankings of area private schools amid concerns about the data. (Boston Globe)
  • A national poll finds growing support for making it harder to become a teacher. (Teacher Beat)
  • Across the country, a growing number of charter schools are serving mostly students with disabilities. (EdWeek)
  • Research and common sense say it’s unwise to judge superintendents by test scores during their tenure. (Shanker)
  • As expected, the Common Core is proving to be a cash cow for education publishers. (Hechinger)
  • D.C. teachers are drawn to Project Zero, a teaching approach aimed at getting students to think. (Greater Greater)