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S.C. Superintendent Proposes Rural Consolidation, Virtual Programs

State lawmakers must create a plan to improve rural schools in response to a 2014 state Supreme Court ruling.




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S.C. Supreme Court Ends Funding Oversight of 'Corridor of Shame'

The state's supreme court ruled that it is not its role to tell the legislature how to spend its money, ending a 24-year school-funding battle.




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Rural Districts Criticize S.C. Legislature's Plan for Schools

The court-ordered plan fails to provide ways to improve rural schools, according to rural districts.




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Betsy DeVos OKs ESSA Plans for South Carolina and Virginia

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has greenlighted two more Every Student Succeeds Act plans from Virginia and South Carolina. That brings the grand total of states with approved plans to 39, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.




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Will 3,000 Teachers in South Carolina Soon Retire Because of a Policy Change?

A program that lets retired teachers keep working while collecting retirement benefits is set to expire at the end of the month.




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A RedForEd Wave: Teachers in North and South Carolina Leave Classrooms in Protest

A sea of red swept the capitals of North and South Carolina on Wednesday, as thousands of teachers turned out to demand higher pay and more school funding.




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Betsy DeVos to Visit Manufacturer Where Hundreds of Teachers Work Second Jobs

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will hold a workforce event at a South Carolina drug manufacturer that employs hundreds of cash-strapped teachers in second jobs.




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Teachers Wanted: S.C. Company Hires Cash-Strapped Educators for Warehouse Jobs

Nephron Pharmaceuticals, a drug manufacturing company in West Columbia, S.C., recently hired 650 current and retired teachers through a new program designed to provide educators with additional income.




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Educational Opportunities and Performance in South Carolina

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.




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This Teacher Is Suing Her District Over Working for Free, Buying School Supplies

School districts have "unconscionably and impermissibly shifted operating costs of the classrooms directly on the financial backs of our teachers," the lawsuit alleges.




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Schools Handed Out Millions of Digital Devices Under COVID-19. Now, Thousands Are Missing

Some districts are scrambling to account for thousands of devices—a task made more urgent by the uncertainty over when students will be able to return to school buildings full-time.




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Briefly Stated: Stories You May Have Missed

A collection of stories from the previous week that you may have missed.




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Tension Rises in States Over Who Decides When to Reopen Schools

School administrators in some states are caught up in tensions about who gets the final say about when they can reopen their buildings and what precautions they should take to protect their communities.




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Rapid COVID-19 tests for SC schools in place next week




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Lawsuit Challenges Florida's Post-Parkland Plan to Arm Some School Employees

A Florida district's decision to put armed "school safety assistants" in its elementary schools puts the safety and well-being of its students at risk and oversteps existing state law, says a lawsuit, which could topple school security plans throughout the state.




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Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Vows to Stop Common Core

Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis is renewing a political trend that had fallen dormant: calling for the end of the use of the shared standards.




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The Parkland Shooting's Role in the Close Florida Senate Race

The impact of the killings of students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School could extend into the tight Florida contest that will help decide control of the U.S. Senate.




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Betsy DeVos Greenlights Florida's ESSA Plan. Now All 50 States Have Been Approved.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has finally OK'd Florida's plan to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act. That means that single state, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, has gotten the go-ahead for its plan.




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Florida State Education Commissioner Pam Stewart Resigns

The state's board of education had renewed Commissioner Pam Stewart's contract for a year before the midterm election but after the election of a new Republican governor, she said she'd leave in January instead.




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A Florida City Forever Changed

The scene at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the surrounding area after the shootings shifted from chaos and panic to grief, anger, and calls for swift and aggressive action to prevent other school attacks.




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Florida Governor Signs Divisive Bill Allowing for Armed Teachers

Florida's governor signed a bill that will allow schools to arm classroom teachers, part of a longer list of school safety changes made after a school shooting in Parkland, Fla., last year.




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Florida Coach, Wife Electrocuted While Installing Scoreboard

Officials say a high school baseball coach and his wife were electrocuted while installing a new scoreboard at a Florida baseball field to replace one that had been destroyed by Hurricane Michael.




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Florida Passes Anti-Semitism Bill for Public Schools

A bill prohibiting anti-Semitism in Florida's public schools and universities is going to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.




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Educational Opportunities and Performance in Florida

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.




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An Unexpected 'Education Governor' and What's Next for Florida

Ron DeSantis had a thin record on K-12 issues as a Florida congressman, but as a first-term Republican governor he’s pushed an aggressive agenda on issues such as vouchers, teacher salaries and bonus pay, and even the common core.




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Florida Teachers Seeking Pay Boost Have a Big Opportunity

Florida's teachers are marching on Tallahassee today. Hard-working teachers deserve a big raise and talented teachers are profoundly underpaid. But teachers ought not overplay their hand, or they're likely to face a backlash of their own.




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People Keep on Saying They're Killing the Common Core. How Dead Is It?

Florida's governor declares a standards overhaul would "remove all vestiges" of the common core. But it remains unclear how much is really changing under the Florida Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking.




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LGBTQ Issues Roil Florida School-Choice Debate

As lawmakers weigh expansion of the state’s voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs, some renew a push for anti-discrimination protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students.




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Educational Opportunities and Performance in Florida

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.




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In One School Community, Three Deaths From COVID-19

A Tallahassee, Fla., K-8 school is mourning two staff members and a former employee. All of them recently died from the virus.




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Florida School Reopening Date Arrives as Legal Skirmishing Continues

A state appellate court indicated it was likely to side with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration's emergency order requiring schools to open for brick-and-mortar instruction.




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Virus worries latest hurdle in Florida school shooting case




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Florida mayors plead with governor to take action on virus




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Florida Governor Says Closures Don't Work, Schools Will Stay Open

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Monday that schools will be required to remain open despite the rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, arguing lockdowns and closures have not worked.




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U.S. Backs Idaho Law Limiting Sports Participation by Transgender Females

In a case involving a transgender track athlete, the Trump administration says female transgender athletes are seeking "special treatment" to compete in girls' or women's sports.




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Idaho Seeks to Block Electronic-Signature Gathering for Education Ballot Measure

Idaho officials asked a U.S. Supreme Court justice to block an injunction that allows a group backing an education ballot initiative to collect electronic signatures because of COVID-19.




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Judge Blocks Idaho Law Limiting Sports Participation by Transgender Females

The judge said the law likely discriminates on the basis of transgender status in violation of the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.




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High Court Blocks Electronic-Signature Gathering for Idaho Education Initiative

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked an injunction that had allowed a group backing an Idaho education spending measure to collect electronic signatures because of the coronavirus pandemic.




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Virus surge: Schools abandon classes, states retreat




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Idaho's 2nd-largest school district goes online-only, again




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Educational Opportunities and Performance in New Hampshire

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.




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Transforming Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning

Although public and educators' concerns are growing about testing, performance assessment done well can strengthen instruction and enhance learning, says Linda Darling-Hammond.




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Innovative Assessments: Widening the Horizon

States are developing new forms of assessment, including assessments of learning and assessments for learning.




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N.H. Won't Overhaul the Common Core. Its Schools Chief Still Wants To.

The state's board voted not to open the Common Core to revision, but its commissioner still plans to review them informally, with an eye to future changes.




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From "Shock and Awe" to Systemic Enabling: All Eyes on New Hampshire

Instead of creating change through compliance and extrinsic motivators, the new era of education and education policy will require ecosystems of policy, regulation, investment, and operating structure that enable, rather than dictate. Under New Hampshire's PACE accountability system districts and sc




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A District-Level Effort to Replace the Common Core State Standards

The Manchester district in the Granite State has worked to develop its own content standards. How do they differ from the common core?




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Study: Rural New Hampshire Youth Struggle With Substance Abuse, Unemployment

The study found that youth in rural New Hampshire have poor perceptions of job opportunities in the area, and are more likely to be depressed or abuse substances than other rural youth.




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New Hampshire Gets Approval to Try Out Local Assessments

The state will be allowed to use competency-based tests developed by local and state officials, trying them out with a handful of districts in lieu of statewide tests.




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New Hampshire Delays Vote on Controversial State Education Chief

New Hampshire's education commissioner nominee Frank Edelblut, a businessman, Republican and school choice proponent, has been criticized throughout the state for his lack of education experience.




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Democrats Are Fighting Over Charter Schools. Will Key Early Primary States Care?

Charter schools are playing a notable role in remarks about education from candidates like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Yet it's not clear what if any role they'll have in important states like Iowa and New Hampshire.