December 3, 2012

National News

Education Week
Report finds economic success hinges on education equity  
An Alliance for Excellent Education report says the nation’s failure to provide all children with an equal education has “dire economic consequences” that will only worsen as the population of students of color grows. The achievement gaps are closing, but wide disparities remain. About 25% of all students do not graduate from high school, but the numbers are closer to 40% for students of color.

New York Times
School districts in 5 states will lengthen their calendars
The school day and year are about to get longer in 10 school districts in five states, where schools will add up to 300 hours to their calendars starting next fall. In an effort to help underperforming students catch up on standardized tests and give them more opportunities for enrichment activities, 35 schools that enroll about 17,500 students will expand the school day and year in the 2013-14 academic year. Forty more schools that enroll about 20,000 students will also extend classroom and after-school time in the next three years.

Los Angeles Times
Student scores may be used in LAUSD teacher ratings
After months of tense negotiations, leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District and its teachers union have tentatively agreed to use student test scores to evaluate instructors for the first time, officials announced Friday. Under the breakthrough agreement, the nation’s second-largest school district would join Chicago and a growing number of other cities in using test scores as one measure of how much teachers help their students progress academically in a year.

Related Topics: Achievement Gap, Expanded Learning Time, Teacher Effectiveness, Teacher Evaluation