AM News: Spotlight On Segregation & English Language Learners

Segregation Prominent in Schools, Study Finds NYT: White students account for just over half of all students in public schools, down from four-fifths in 1970, but they are still largely concentrated in schools with other whites.

Calif. Poised to Spotlight ELLs Stalled in Schools EdWeek: California is poised to become the first state to unmask the extent to which English-language learners languish in public schools for years without ever reaching fluency.

Conference on 'action civics' meets in Philadelphia TheNotebook: The effort, called the National Action Civics Collaborative (NACC), is also aimed at working with schools to move civics beyond classrooms and textbooks into real-world projects and activities, especially in schools that serve less affluent, marginalized students.

Tennessee Middle Schools Nix Graded Homework, Extra Credit In Hopes Of Improving TCAP Scores HuffPostEdu: In an effort to improve scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools are scrapping extra credit and graded homework for middle schoolers, WSMV reports. Administrators are hopeful these measures will allow for better confirmation that students have actually mastered the material they are being taught.

What 'The Influencing Machine' Teaches College Kids NPR: Several colleges and universities have adopted a common read program, in which first year students read the same book during the summer, then discuss it when they get to campus. NPR'S Neal Conan talks with Brooke Gladstone, co-host of On The Media, about her book, The Influencing Machine, a graphic novel that tries to decipher the rapidly changing media business and the ways people interact with it.

KIPP gains survive new scrutiny, with a footnote WashingtonPostLocal: New research on the nation’s largest and best-performing charter school network has a dull title — “Student Selection, Attrition, and Replacement in KIPP Middle Schools” — but it adds fuel to a fierce national debate over why KIPP looks so good and whether schools should follow its example.

Comments

[Bruce]

Although KIPP may be a rising tide that lifts all students, self-segregated schools are inherently unequal.