Mixed Report for Race to the Top Education Grants (The Wall Street Journal) – After four years the Race to the Top program has yet to prove itself as a success or failure. The states that received funding have shown varying degrees of progress. However, the development of the Common Core was in part due to the program, and that appears to
Willoughby-Eastlake Schools creating platform for STEM education (The News Herald) – Northeast Ohio’s Willoughby-Eastlake Schools are adding a new School of Innovation that will provide students with a rigorous, problem based curriculum that will focus on STEM subjects.
Coursera To Open Learning Hubs at Some NYC Public Libraries (The Wall Street Journal) – Coursera, the largest provider of MOOCs, is partnering with the NYC library system to create ‘learning hubs’. Students enrolled in a MOOC will be able to come to the library to discuss the lectures, which will hopefully improve engagement in the course, resulting in better completion rates.
SC Senate approves replacing Common Core in 1 year (Sun Herald) – South Carolina is close to passing a bill that will repeal the Common Core over the next year. The compromise will allow teachers to use their Common Core based curriculums for now while state officials work to draft a new set of standards for the state.
Diversity more common in students than in teachers (The Columbus Dispatch) – A look into data from the U.S. Dept. of Education has found a major diversity gap between K-12 teachers and students. While nearly 45% students come from a nonwhite minority group, only 18% of all teachers are. A number of education groups feel that this diversity gap is problematic and needs to be addressed.
