Friday's ed news
1. Alabama withdrew from Common Core testing recently, but state legislators say that's not enough. They want the entire program out [2].
2. If teachers like unions so much, writes Larry Sand [3], why do unions bully them into joining?
3. A suburban Minneapolis school district will save $2 million in two years by privatizing its bus system [4].
4. Poor parents visit DC to demand an end to ZIP code-defined education [5].
5. Why anti-testing advocates are making much ado about nothing [6].
6. How do teachers really feel [7] about defined-contribution versus defined-benefit pensions? DC works like a 401(k), while DB works like a traditional pension, but where taxpayers pay the cushy benefits.
7. Nevada struggles [8] to implement the Common Core and a comprehensive student database. Both are expensive and time consuming.
8. The Georgia Senate votes to remove legal barriers to after-school play [9]. Yes, you read that right.
9. New Mexico's House has approved the state budget, which includes merit pay for teachers [10].
10. Why education accreditation institutions are a racket [11].
Thursday's ed news
1. The shaky science [12] behind universal pre-k, by Charles Murray. Fix families [13], not preschool, editorializes USA Today.
2. Teacher job satisfaction has plummeted to the lowest level in 26 years [14].
3. Florida lawmakers have filed another Parent Trigger bill [15].
4. Schools are right now administering pilot Common Core tests [16].
5. New York's teachers union has sued the state to overturn its property tax cap [17].
6. Influenced by Democrat Superintendent Glenda Ritz, a Republican-led Indiana Senate panel has approved a bill to junk grading schools A-F [18].
7. California schools have assigned thousands of teachers to classes they aren't qualified to teach [19].
8. North Dakota lawmakers say 'no' to government preschool [20].
9. The GED shifts [21] as states consider alternatives to the alternative diploma.
10. Laura Bush continues to pursue education reform [22].
Wednesday's ed news
1. Reuters "deeply distorted" charter school research [23] and facts in recent reporting, charges the Center for Education Reform.
2. Texas state senators spend two hours complaining [24] about the state's new battery of high school tests.
3. South Dakota becomes the twelfth state to reconsider Common Core [25].
4. Minnesota teachers can't pass a basic skills test [26], so some lawmakers are considering repealing the requirement.
5. New York City's mayor donates $1 million [27] to Los Angeles school board candidates.
6. Researchers are trying to make computer tutors detect the emotions of their pupils [28].
7. After years of school funding battles, Kansas' senate committee approves removing spending oversight from courts [29].
8. Florida is developing a Plan B [30] for if Common Core tests don't work out even though it is coordinating the tests.
9. Why charter schools were never a corporate privatization conspiracy [31].
10. Duke University outlines what it took [25] for them to put up a massive open online course.
Tuesday's ed news
1. Massachusetts will now push transgenderism [32] in public schools.
2. Removing 8th grade algebra from California schools will mean fewer kids going to college [33], especially minorities.
3. What are Islamic private schools [34] like?
4. A newspaper investigation in Rochester, New York finds teachers kept in classrooms [35] after sexually and physically attacking children.
5. The biggest factors in college success are not demographics, personality, or extracurriculars. They are high school grades, ACT or SAT score, and persistence [36].
6. Texas legislators today discuss curriculum, testing, and vocational education [37].
7. Michigan unions are attempting to bypass the state's new right to work law [38]by extending their contracts before it takes effect.
8. There are far more elementary teaching graduates than open positions [39], and far fewer math and science graduates than positions.
9. College students at arts or liberal arts schools have more student loans [40].
10. Watch Michelle Malkin discuss [41] her decision to focus on education this year.
Monday's ed news
1. Florida lawmakers ask education Commissioner Tony Bennett how much the Common Core will cost [42] and time it will take.
2. Colorado's legislature kills two tax-credit scholarship bills [43].
3. Florida lawmakers propose a Louisiana-like