Amid promises and photo ops, real talk about education is missing from the campaign trail. Here are five key issues candidates must address.

by Elizabeth A. HarrisAs summer began, Dan Akim, a junior at Manhattan’s ultracompetitive Stuyvesant High School, planned to attend debate camp, to study for the PSATs and to go on some family vacations.Yet he felt that he could pack more into these months, so he also signed up for three online courses, in precalculus, computer science and public health. While on car rides with his family in Italy, he would sometimes use a mobile hot spot to chip away at one of the courses, while his mother asked why he was not soaking up the view instead.Read the rest of the story at The New York Times.

Photo Credit: TimlewisnmAmericans look beyond testing when they evaluate schools.Student engagement at school and whether students feel hopeful about their future are far better factors to consider when evaluating schools than using standardized test scores, according to the results of the 47th annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.Read the rest of the story at PDK/Gallup Poll.

by Corey MitchellA group of Chicago parents and residents fighting to have a say in what happens to their neighborhood high school have entered the second week of a hunger strike.The Chicago Sun-Times reports that members of the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School havelobbied for years on behalf of the school, first to prevent a planned closure, then to put a new neighborhood school in the building.Read the rest of the story at Education Week.

Photo Credit: Ed Yourdonby Rebecca KleinStudents in America’s schools are much, much poorer than they were nine years ago.In 2006, 31 percent of America’s students attended schools in “high-poverty” districts, meaning that 20 percent or more of the district’s students lived below the federal poverty line. By 2013, however, this number jumped to over 49 percent, according to an analysis of U.S. Census estimates from the nonprofit EdBuild. This means that nearly half of the nation’s children between the ages of 5 and 17 attend schools in communities where a large chunk of families are struggling to get by.See the map and the rest of the story at the Huffington Post.

Photo Credit: dcJohnby Grace SmithThere will be no penalty for New York state school districts that had large numbers of students who refused to sit for the New York standardized tests this year.Education officials made the announcement to put to rest the uncertainty over how districts would respond to the anti-testing movement. Kate Taylor of The New York Times reports that state and federal officials had warned for months that districts that fell below the 95% participation rate might stand to lose federal funds. Leaders of the “opt-out movement” argued that these were nothing but empty threats.Read the rest of the story at Education News.