AM News: More Districts Taking Curriculum Purchase Decisions From States

States Are Losing Power Over Classroom Materials, and Districts Are Gaining It State EdWatch: The number of states that exert direct control over districts' choice of instructional materials through state funding has dipped from roughly 25 to 18 in recent years.

White House Won't Seek To End 529 College Tax Break NPR: All 50 states and the District of Columbia sponsor 529 plans. Critics had called the proposal to limit them a tax hike on the middle class. See also WSJ, NYT.

Senate Ed. Panel Unlikely to Require Teacher Evaluations in NCLB Overhaul PK12: The lack of teacher-evaluation language in the reauthorization will likely stop in its tracks the Obama administration's efforts to push states to adopt evaluation systems based in part on student test scores and performance-based compensation systems, both of which were at the heart of U.S. Department of Education's NCLB waivers.

As numbers of homeless kids rise, resources fall short Marketplace: The number of students experiencing homelessness in the U.S. has increased 85 percent since before the recession, according to Department of Education data. But the resources available to help them have remained flat.

States Move to Make Citizenship Exams a Classroom Aid NYT: Arizona became the first state to require its high school students to pass the test that is given to immigrants who want to become United States citizens.

Football As A Tool In The Hands Of A Master Craftsman NPR: Our 50 Great Teachers series profiles a football coach who's made academics ... and a sense of family ... part of his winning strategy.

More news below (and throughout the day at @alexanderrusso).

Grading Rahm: Education WBEZ: Rahm Emanuel made education a focus of his first term as Chicago mayor. Did he pass the test?

To protect his son, a father asks Marin County (CA) school to bar unvaccinated children WBEZ: Carl Krawitt has watched his son, Rhett, now 6, fight leukemia for the past 4 1/2 years. For more than three of those years, Rhett has undergone round after round of chemotherapy. Last year he finished chemotherapy, and doctors say he is in remission. Now, there's a new threat, one that the family should not have to worry about: measles.

A Teacher's 'Pinch Me' Moment: Cheering The Super Bowl From The Sidelines NPR: On Sunday, this Massachusetts teacher will be up close with her favorite team — as a cheerleader on the New England Patriots squad.

Relishing A Day to Play Before School Resumes Wednesday WNYC: Plenty of New York City school children made the most of their snow day in textbook fashion, with sledding, snow ball fights and hot chocolate. Schools re-open Wednesday.

Mass. High School Dropout Rate Is Lowest In Decades Boston Learning Lab: Statewide, around 500 fewer students dropped out in the 2013-2014 school year than the year before, bringing the dropout rate to 2 percent. However achievement gaps still persist between students along race and class lines.