Weekend Reads: Spring Valley video opens new round of school policing debate

  • Is it fair to connect the nation’s collective NAEP stumble to the introduction of the Common Core? It’s hard to say. The Hechinger Report
  • People pretty much saw what they wanted to in the country’s first-ever decline in NAEP scores. Answer Sheet
  • What we know and what we don’t about Spring Valley High School, the South Carolina school where a police officer was videotaped tackling a student at her desk. Kicker
  • A teacher argues that the best way to prevent incidents like the one in Spring Valley is to lead with love every day. Jose Vilson
  • The incident was an extreme example of South Carolina’s otherwise dismal record on school discipline. The Atlantic
  • Roxane Gay: Spring Valley is yet more proof that black children are not safe anywhere in America. The New York Times
  • A coalition of educators tells Deray McKesson, the Teach For America alum at the fore of the Black Lives Matter movement, that TFA undermines equity. Jacobin Mag
  • Are the problems in Kentucky’s education system really costing the state $1 billion a year? Louisville Business First
  • Two teachers who aren’t working for their unions have started a political action committee of teachers who support Hillary Clinton for president. The Los Angeles Times
  • Many sharp tensions in Denver’s school board race can be traced to evolving definitions of “neighborhood school.” Chalkbeat
  • A defender of good standardized tests says the Obama administration’s call for less testing has downsides. Grand Rounds
  • Parents in China pay 35 times the regular school tuition to get their children Common Core-aligned, American-style instruction. The New York Times
  • The hottest show on Broadway, “Hamilton,” will soon get an audience of 20,000 schoolchildren. Hollywood Reporter
  • Happy Halloween! Follow #eduween for some not-so-scary surprises.