Chicago Teachers Vote to Strike
(Photo: Flickr, Creative Commons) Teachers in the third-largest school district in the nation have voted in favor of a strike, but a number of steps must take place before a walkout could possibly take place next month. In all, close to 95% of the voting members of the Chicago Teachers Union supported the idea of […]
Penn State Faculty Union Sets Strike Date for October 19
(Photo: Flickr, Creative Commons) The president of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s faculty union has announced October 19 to be the official date that teachers will strike if a contract agreement has not been reached. The union has also filed an unfair labor practices charge, arguing that negotiators for the Pennsylvania State System […]
Dept of Education Offers New Guidance for English Learners
(Photo: Wikimedia, Creative Commons) English learners have been given a boost by the US Department of Education by way of non-regulatory guidance released to assist states, schools, and districts in providing adequate services to improve proficiency of the English language and academic achievement for ELs, according to a release from the Department. The move is being […]
California Test Scores Show Little Progress With Foster Children
(Photo: Pixabay, Creative Commons) With the release of the Smarter Balance test scores in California last month as part of the new assessment system referred to as CAASPP came the news that while test scores did slightly improve, large equity gaps continue to persist. For the first time, the scores of the state’s foster youth […]
Teacher Sexual Misconduct Hits All-Time High in Texas
(Photo: Pexels, Creative Commons) Educator-student misconduct in Texas has hit an all-time high for the eighth year in a row, reaching 222 investigations conducted by the Texas Education Agency in the 2015-16 school year. Due to the increase in their workload, TEA is seeking additional investigators in order to complete the cases in a timely […]
Michigan’s Snyder Receives Third Grade Reading Bill
(Photo: Flickr, Creative Commons) Michigan Governor Rick Snyder began his campaign to improve third-grade reading performance over a year ago. This week, legislators sent him a bill that would require educators to render more assistance to young readers who were struggling and hold them back if they are too far behind in their skills. Experts […]
White House Conference Adresses Discipline, Sexual Assault
(Photo: Flickr, Creative Commons) In an effort to bring a stronger focus to equality within the school system, the White House will be hosting a conference called Trauma-Informed Approaches in School: Supporting Girls of Color and Rethinking Discipline. The conference is a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Crittenton Foundation, the White […]
Navy Will Mandate Transgender Sensitivity Education
(Photo: Wikimedia, Creative Commons) The US Navy has made an announcement that it will be requiring all naval personnel to undergo transgender sensitivity training to be completed by July 2017. At that time, the navy will begin to accept transgender recruits. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced a separate decision in June to overturn a ban […]
New Mexico Continues to Struggle with Value-Added Evaluations
(Photo: Pixabay, Creative Commons) New Mexico has completed its third year of using its controversial teacher evaluations, and the results found that more than 70% of the state’s over 21,000 educators received a rating of “effective” or better. The numbers are down from last year’s roughly 74% and the 73% who scored the same in the 2013-2014 […]
Students Assert Speech Rights By Sitting for Pledge
(Photo: Pixabay, Creative Commons) Leilani Thomas was refusing to follow the pack long before Colin Kaepernick, quarterback for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, declined to stand for the playing of the US national anthem. Leilani, who is now 14, has been sitting while her classmates said the Pledge of Allegiance since she was in the […]