AM News: Undocumented Parents, Duncan's Chicago "No Comment," & Bush Speech

Obama’s Immigration Plan Mostly Covers Parents FiveThirtyEight: According to numbers calculated by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a nonpartisan think tank, the bulk of that five million — about 3.7 million — will consist of undocumented parents of U.S. citizens or legal residents who have been in the U.S. for at least five years. Obama’s plan would also expand Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), making another 300,000 undocumented immigrants eligible for the program.

Arne Duncan not taking sides on CPS' seeking delay on PARCC test Chicago Sun-Times: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Thursday he's staying out of a tussle between the Illinois State Board of Education and Chicago Public Schools over whether CPS students will take a new Common Core-aligned standardized test this spring.

Bush Seeks Common Ground With Common Core Critics AP: "For those states choosing a path other than Common Core, I say this: Aim even higher, be bolder, raise standards and ask more of our students and the system," Bush said. See also Washington Post, Washington Times, NPR.

Teachers Union Showcases Community Schools Model in Manhattan WNYC: There's been intense debate lately about whether struggling schools benefit more from additional services or by studying their data. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration closed down low-performing schools to get rid of ineffective teachers and supervisors. But Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Fariña have embraced more professional development and the community schools model, while reserving their right to close schools as a last resort. 

Charter CEO: Fariña has ‘obligation’ to release enrollment data after push-out claims ChalkbeatNY: “The NYC DOE has access to enrollment and discharge data and now has an obligation to release such data not just for every charter school but for every district school as well,” he said. “I call on the Chancellor to instruct the DOE to do so promptly.”

More news below and throughout the day at @alexanderrusso.

New Orleans charter schools not in any rush to rejoin local district Hechinger Report: It’s that odd time of year again in New Orleans when academically improving charter schools must decide if they want to stay with a special state system or rejoin the traditional Orleans Parish School Board. None have.

Report: Charter schools' requirements for parent volunteers preventing enrollments KPCC: Policies of nearly a third of California charter schools reviewed by a civil rights group violate the state’s free public education guarantee by requiring parents to volunteer up to 40 hours each school year, according to a report released Thursday. See also EdSource Today

Why Working With Young Children Is (Still) A Dead-End Job NPR: Twenty-five years after a landmark report, a follow-up study finds child care workers still earning about the same as fast-food workers.

CPS chief backs the mayor's $13-an-hour minimum wage WBEZ: CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey said they moved the meeting into a community and held it in the evening in order to give more people the opportunity to come. The district is also in the process of moving its offices to a new building downtown.

Not a pretty picture: A call to action for black girls in school Seattle Times: Across the country, educators are talking about new ways to handle student discipline, and while there is broad acknowledgement that punitive, zero-tolerance policies have fallen disproportionately on African-American boys, a recent report points out that black girls are suspended at a rate six...

Denver school board approves slate of charter renewals, enrollment changes ChalkbeatCO: In a series of mostly-unanimous votes, the Denver Public School board renewed its agreements with 15 charter schools and approved changes to school enrollment zones in southwest and southeast Denver.