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AM News: Huffman Resigns From Top TN Spot; Newark's Anderson Visits DC

Kevin Huffman Leaving Post as Tennessee K-12 Chief State EdWatch: Huffman was appointed state education commissioner in 2011, and has overseen major changes in Tennessee education policy, many of them tied to the common core. See also ChalkbeatTN.

In DC to talk education, Newark schools chief faces protest over reforms Washington Post: Cami Anderson, who runs the largest school district in New Jersey, came to Washington on Thursday to give a quiet talk about education at a think tank. But the staid event quickly turned dramatic when a busload of angry residents followed Anderson from Newark in a display of the slugfest politics that have infused debate over public education across the country.

Common Core Reading: The Struggle Over Struggle NPR: This idea, that kids really need to grapple with complex reading material, says a lot about the soul of the Common Core. And it's controversial, raising fears among some parents and educators that kids, in the process, are being asked to struggle too much.

A Botched Study Raises Bigger Questions NPR: The report attempted to use an approach called value-added modeling. And value-added is currently the golden fleece for anyone questing after what's really working in education. Value-added models promise to provide a detailed, nuanced picture of school performance — to screen out the background noise and zero in on the impact of individual schools and even individual classrooms. But value-added modeling, it turns out, is really, really hard.

Decades of Neglect Show Starkly as Indian Schools Cry Out for Repairs NYT:  Officials are working to improve congressionally funded schools in 23 states on reservations with decaying facilities where students struggle to meet academic standards and teacher turnover is high. See also AP.

Young and inexperienced, a new principal tries to turn around a New Orleans charter school Hechinger Report: “We know effective teachers are crucial to moving our students forward,” says Hardy, pausing for a few seconds before she enters a second-grade classroom. “We have good teachers. My challenge is this: How do I, as a school leader, grow their effectiveness and grow it more quickly?”

More news below and throughout the day at @alexanderrusso.

See how each D.C. charter school fared under new rating system Washington Post: More than 12,000 students — nearly a third of the city’s charter school students — are enrolled in charters that ranked in the highest of three performance tiers, an increase of 9 percent over last year.

L.A. Unified says girl, 14, could consent to sex with teacher LA Times: L.A. Unified officials are coming under fire for allowing their attorneys to argue that a 14-year-old student was mature enough to consent to sex with her middle school math teacher.

Parents Urge Mayor to Honor Pledge Against Co-Locations WNYC: In a letter sent on Friday, and signed by many members of the city's 32 community education councils as well as groups like Class Size Matters, they said co-locations violated students' rights because they led to crowded conditions.

Parents to grab power at Saturday convention Los Angeles Wave: The California case, which created the Parent Empowerment Law, also known as the Parent Trigger Law.

Could truant officers return to Chicago Public Schools? WBEZ: A state task force took a long, hard look at this question too, and it suggested some fixes for CPS to improve its record when it comes to keeping kids in class. It turns out the state of Illinois is interested in having truant officers return to CPS — at least in theory.

Civil Rights Figure: US Divided by Race Again AP: "You almost feel like you're back in the '60s," said Bridges, who is now 60 years old. "The conversation across the country, and it doesn't leave out New Orleans, is that schools are reverting back" to being segregated along racial lines, she said. "We all know that there are schools being segregated again."

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