I made my San Diego Explained debut on TV yesterday — complete with my mad drawing skills! Look for the link later. Now for the newsblitz:
- We blogged about a new blueprint for helping black students, the debate over a new school district data center, worries about school repairs and finally, what happened to the college dreams of one teen.
- The Union-Tribune reports that the Grossmont superintendent is on his way out, taking a job with an international education corporation.
- We also fact checked the claim that half of students in southeastern San Diego drop out. The verdict? Barely true. Here’s why.
- KPBS reports on why San Diego Unified is reshuffling repair projects.
- The fate of one tiny school has split a rural California district, the Los Angeles Times reports. This is a fascinating look at the politics of school closures.
- Also in the LAT: A teacher says if parents get a “parent trigger” to force big changes at schools, he should get a “family trigger” to restaff families.
- The Sacramento Bee writes about the strange phenomenon of the “likely letter” — a letter telling a student that they are very likely to get into an elite college.
- More than 2,000 educators in the Sacramento area got layoff warnings, the Bee reports.
- Educated Guess blogs about why the changes in teacher evaluation that Los Angeles Unified is considering could be a big deal.
- The San Gabriel Valley Tribune highlights a few schools pegged as “persistently low achieving” by the state that may turn down big money to avoid making immediate changes in their schools.
- States and school districts are closing schools and programs, but not just for budget woes — they’re trying to transform their districts during the economic downturn, Education Week writes.
- Also in EdWeek: Boys trail behind girls in reading in every U.S. state where data is available. One professor calls it “the gender gap.” Check out the full report here.
- The Obama Administration is trying to sway teachers unions to get on board with the new No Child Left Behind, The New York Times reports.
- The Educated Reporter has more questions than answers about the new No Child Left Behind. But she does note a few interesting changes: switching to a growth model for measuring schools (see our article about why this matters) and schools will now have to show how boys and girls are performing.
- Jay Mathews at the Washington Post argues that we shouldn’t let students reject college readiness unless they’re very, very mature.
— EMILY ALPERT