Hot Topics – controversial

by Arianna ProtheroA Michigan lawmaker’s push to regulate home schooling in the wake of a horrific case of child abuse is stoking anew a broader debate over the rights of parents to educate their children at home with little oversight from school and government officials.Like Michigan, few states obligate home-schooled students to meet regularly with mandatory reporters—people such as doctors, certified teachers, or clergy members—who might catch signs of abuse and report it, according to the advocacy and research group Coalition for Responsible Home Education.Read the rest of the story at Education Week.

by Jennifer GreenOver the last two weeks, teachers in Baltimore have worked tirelessly to support their students, their schools and their community. I have two words for them: thank you.Ashley Smith, a fourth grade teacher at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School in Southwest Baltimore, used her classroom as a safe harbor where her students could openly express their reactions to the Baltimore riots through their writing. “I knew the students would be coming into class… with a lot of questions about what had taken place,” she told ABC News. Ashley relied on her skills as an educator to encourage an open, healthy dialogue among her students. She not only gave them a space to share their feelings by writing essays, but also established an open communication channel between peers. It was through this channel that her students’ discussed the power of peaceful protests and the tragedies that often result from violent uprisings.Read the rest of the story on the Huffington Post.

Last week’s events in Baltimore did not start the race discussions and teachable moments for the students and faculty at Washington Latin PCS in Washington, D.C., they continued them. The community, lead by Head of School Martha Cutts, has been facing the issue of race head on using its “classical education for the modern world” as its foundation.

Discover who is truly responsible for bad data use in education and how better data systems and clear reporting can improve decision-making for educators.

by Katrina Schwartz S andwiched between preschool and first grade, kindergarteners often start school at very different stages of development depending on their exposure to preschool, home environments and biology. For states adopting Common Core, the standards apply to kindergarten, laying out what students should be able to do by the end of the grade.* Kindergartners are expected to know basic phonics and word recognition as well as read beginner texts, skills some childhood development experts argue are developmentally inappropriate.“There’s a wide age range for learning to read,” said Nancy Carlsson-Paige on KQED’s Forum program. Carlsson-Paige is professor emerita of education at Lesley University and co-author of the study “Reading Instruction in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose,” which criticizes the Common Core standards for kindergarten.Read the rest of the story at KQED News.

by Elissa Nadworny

T he Foundation for Excellence in Education, also known as ExcelinEd, released its annual Digital Learning Report Card today. Digital Learning Now, an initiative of ExcelinEd, bases the report card on “Ten Elements of High-Quality Digital Learning” that identify specific policies and issues states need to pursue regarding digital learning. Included in these elements are student eligibility, student access, personalized learning, advancement, quality content and instruction, choice, assessment, funding and delivery. The Digital Learning Report Card examines what states are doing to advance digital learning by gauging 42 actionable metrics related to these elements.This 2014 report assigns a letter grade to each state based on those metrics. The states of Florida and Utah each received an “A” grade. Fifty percent of the states improved their grades overall, and nine states improved from their previous “F” grades. The report cites overall progress nationwide, but also acknowledges that states have been busy at work implementing the more than 400 digital learning laws enacted in the past four years.In addition to the grades, the report examines related issues such as data privacy, course access and E-rate, and summarizes major state policy initiatives related to digital learning.The Foundation for Excellence in Education was founded in 2009 by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. The Digital Learning Council, which created the Ten Elements cited above, was convened a year later and co-chaired by Jeb Bush and former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise.You can read the entire 2014 Digital Learning Report Card here.

by Mike Anderson

After-school activities shape 21st-century learners. These five rules help schools and parents create safe, fun, and equitable programs for every student.