AM News: I See National Standards, Everywhere

States Embrace National Standards for Schools NYT:  States that adopt the standards by Aug. 2 win points in the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition for a share of the $3.4 billion to be awarded in September... D.C. and Massachusetts to vote on national school standards Washington Post:  School boards in the District of Columbia and Massachusetts are on the verge of adopting national standards for English and math, adding momentum to a movement that in a few months has swept Maryland and two dozen other states... 'Common Core' standards clearer, more rigorous AP:  An analysis by an education policy think tank finds that the common academic standards many states will be adopting are clearer and more rigorous than those currently used in most states... Mass. Democrat Joins GOP Against Common Standards Vote EdWeek/AP:  Two leaders of the landmark 1993 Massachusetts education overhaul said Tuesday that a proposal set to be voted upon to replace the state's math and English public school curriculum with the common core standards was "high risk" and "a retrograde step."... Racial tensions roil NC school board; 19 arrests AP:  Protesters and police scuffled Tuesday at a school board meeting in North Carolina over claims that a new busing system would resegregate schools, roiling racial tensions reminiscent of the 1960s... District To Pay Lesbian Teen $35K Over Prom Dispute NPR:  Constance McMillen challenged the Itawamba County School District's rules banning prom dates of the same gender and allowing only male students to wear tuxedos. The rural Mississippi school district responded by canceling its prom, prompting the ACLU to sue claiming the teen's rights had been violated.