AM News: Debate about School Closings and Charter Schools Rages On

Activists to U.S. Education Department: Stop school closings now WashingtonPost: Activists fighting school closings across the country converged at the U.S. Education Department on Tuesday to demand federal action to stop the shutdowns, which they say disproportionately affect poor and minority students. In a raucous meeting, parents, community organizers and students from as far away as California detailed how school closings are disrupting lives and destabilizing neighborhoods.

Charter advocates rally as school-closing critics pack meetings ChicagoTribune: As opponents of school closings in Chicago pack community meetings this week to make their voice heard, charter school advocates took part in a rally Tuesday at Union Station to draw attention to their call for greater school choice.The rally was part of a cross-country tour organized by the coalition behind National School Choice Week. The local organizer, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, used the occasion to fire up parents who it says want access to higher-quality schools.

School Board Members to Arne Duncan: Back Off PoliticsK12: For the most part, school board members didn't want to hear about his agenda. Instead, they sent a clear message: Your policies continue to overreach into our territory. (They voiced similar complaints about federal overreach last year, and fought with him over mayoral control of schools in 2010.)

Union Backs 'Bar Exam' For Teachers NPR: The system for preparing and licensing teachers in the U.S. is in such disarray that the American Federation of Teachers is proposing a "bar exam"similar to the one lawyers have to pass before they can practice.

Internships Help Students Prepare for Workplace EdWeek: "The central goal is to get students out of the classroom and into the real world so they can feel and see the entire work process," said Randy McPherson, a counselor at Trezevant Career and Technology Center in Memphis, Tenn., and the American School Counselor Association's counselor of the year in 2011. "Otherwise, they don't really grasp what a day looks like or what a job entails."