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Nebraska School Cook Who Served Kangaroo Meat to Students Is Fired

A school cook in Nebraska was canned after he mixed kangaroo meat into chili made for students.




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Why Is Fidelity Always Seen as the New Four-Letter Word?

Fidelity is often seen as a bad word in school, but it doesn't have to be that way. In this guest blog by George Toman, the concept of fidelity is explained and defended.




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New Public Data Tool Lets You See What Curricula Schools in Nebraska Are Using

Nebraska's education department released an interactive instructional materials map last week, showing what curricula districts have adopted for English-language arts, math, and K-8 science.




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Nebraska Education Department accused of software-pirating




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Alabama Issues Draft ESSA Plan Amid Tensions Between State Chief, Board

Michael Sentance, who would oversee ESSA implementation as state superintendent, is less than a year into the job and under fire by the state board for his communication and leadership style.




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Alabama Will Keep Its Common Core Standards--For Now

Board members didn't act on a resolution to revoke Alabama's version of the Common Core State Standards.




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Opening of New Charter School Brings Integration to County in Alabama

A K-8 charter school has opened in Livingston, Ala., that is making history.




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Alabama School Board Members Weigh In on Plan to Replace Them

State Board of Education members weighed in today about a proposal to eliminate their elected positions and replace the board with an appointed commission.




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Reading Instruction: A Flurry of New State Laws

Many states have recently enacted laws or rules designed to ensure that teachers are well versed in evidence-based reading instruction. Here are some highlights.




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Alabama lawmakers advance pared down budgets amid COVID-19




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Here's Why a Maryland School Finance Overhaul Could Prove Groundbreaking

Maryland's legislature has proposed a unique way to fund schools and also wants to hold school districts more accountable for how they spend their money as part of a new funding formula.




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School Closures May Go Into the Fall If Coronavirus Resurges, State Chiefs Warn

Schools may have to continue closures in the fall if the coronavirus resurges, state schools chiefs in Maryland and Washington said. The warnings came the same week thata key federal official predicted schools would be able to reopen for the 2020-21 school year.




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Teachers Without Internet Work in Parking Lots, Empty School Buildings During COVID-19

While most teachers have online access at home, internet service for many educators in rural areas is spotty, expensive, or nonexistent.




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Who's Afraid of Math? Turns Out, Lots of Students

A program in Howard County, Md., is built on the insight that children can have strong emotions around academics, and those emotions can sabotage learning.




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New York Poised to Revamp Certification Exams

A task force is recommending that the state lowers the score required on the controversial national edTPA exam.




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New York Plans to Seek ESSA Waivers on Testing

New York, which has had a politically contentious history assessing its students, will seek three waivers from how the Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to test students.




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New York Pre-K Tops Out At Over 68,500 Children

The city's prekindergarten program is approaching universal access, which was a campaign promise of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who convinced the state legislature to provide $300 million to help launch it.




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New York Proposes Increased Flexibility to Teacher Certification Process

To give districts more flexibility in the face of teacher shortages, New York's education department is proposing to modify its regulations on teacher certifications.




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'Open Algorithms' Bill Would Jolt New York City Schools, Public Agencies

The proposed legislation would require the 1.1-million student district to publish the source code behind algorithms used to assign students to high schools, evaluate teachers, and more.




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Buffalo and Rochester Work Together to Recruit Teachers of Color

The two Upstate New York districts are venturing beyond the largely white region to tap a more diverse pool of educators.




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New York Set to Revise Common-Core Reading and Math Standards

New York state is considering adopting a new set of K-12 reading and math standards that differ somewhat from the Common Core State Standards, which have had rocky reception in the state since they went into place in 2010.




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Yonkers, N.Y., District Commits to More Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

The U.S. Department of Education's office for civil rights said that some students were placed in self-contained special education settings without an individualized justification for doing so.




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New York Leap-Frogs ESSA With Its Own Financial Transparency Rule

New York will require some districts next year to have their school-by-school spending amounts approved by the state, an effort to assure that state funds are being distributed as intended.




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New York Denied ESSA Waiver to Test Students With Disabilities Off Grade Level

The state will be required to test all students using grade level tests, except for those with significant cognitive disabilities.




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Schools Are Required to Teach Mental-Health Lessons This Fall in Two States. And That's a First.

Students returning to schools in Virginia and New York this fall will be required to participate in mental-health education as part of their health and physical education courses.




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N.Y. Private Schools Didn't Have to Report Abuse to Police. A New Law Changes That.

Private schools in New York soon will be required to report suspected sexual abuse of students in their schools to law enforcement, bringing the independent schools under the same rules as public schools.




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New York Takes Final Step to Separate State Test Scores From Teacher Evaluations

The New York state legislature passed a bill that would make the use of state test scores in these evaluations optional, leaving the decision up to districts and making it subject to collective bargaining.




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New York City Schools Will Stay Closed for Academic Year, Mayor Says

Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed back on the Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement, however, saying "no decision" had been made about reopening schools in New York City or elsewhere in the state.




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New York Schools Staying Closed Through Spring, Cuomo Says

New York’s schools and colleges will remain shut through the end of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.




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Prominent Literacy Expert Denies Dyslexia Exists; Says to 'Shoot' Whoever Wrote Law on It

A group of teachers and literacy advocates are pushing back after Richard Allington, one of the country's most prominent experts on early literacy, made inflammatory claims about dyslexia at a Tennessee literacy conference this week.




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What Teachers Tell Us About the Connections Between Standards, Curriculum, and Professional Learning

A statewide survey of educators in Tennessee provides critical insights into connections that exist between standards, curriculum, professional development, and ultimately student success.




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How Teachers' Insights Inform State Policy in Tennessee

Teachers in Tennessee have an important voice in shaping state initiatives and policies.




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Tennessee Teachers Have Warmed to Evaluation System, But Not State Tests

Tennessee improved its teacher evaluation and training systems by integrating data and teacher voice, according to a new report. But value-added measures that evaluate teachers based on student test scores remain controversial.




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Tennessee School District Prohibits Crowdfunding for Class Supplies

A school district in Tennessee says it no longer wants teachers to use crowdfunding websites to get extra school supplies.




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A Once Homeless Teen Earned $3 Million in Scholarship Offers. Here's What Made His Story Possible

Tupac Mosley overcame homelessness to graduate as valedictorian, writes Jonathan E. Collins, but there’s an overlooked part of his inspirational story: policy.




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Reading Instruction: A Flurry of New State Laws

Many states have recently enacted laws or rules designed to ensure that teachers are well versed in evidence-based reading instruction. Here are some highlights.




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Tennessee Seeks New Teacher, Principal Requirements in 'Science of Reading'

The Tennessee department of education is proposing unsually comprehensive legislation that will require all current and new K-3 teachers, and those who train them, to know evidence-based reading instruction.




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Tennessee voucher program challenge heads to court Wednesday




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Judge weighs Tennessee voucher program arguments




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Judge rules Tennessee's voucher law is unconstitutional




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Will Colorado Teachers Go on Strike? Lawmakers Are Worried

Two Republican legislators in Colorado have introduced a bill that would enact harsh consequences, including jail time, for teachers and teachers' unions who go on strike.




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Ex-Obama Adviser Who Championed Teacher Evaluations to Seek Senate Seat

Can a Democrat with a record of tying test scores to teacher evaluations win a U.S. Senate seat in Colorado? Mike Johnston, a former Obama campaign adviser, wants to find out.




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Colorado to Downsize PARCC Testing

Colorado will no longer administer the full PARCC exam to students.




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Dual-Language Learning: How Schools Can Empower Students and Parents

In this fifth installment on the growth in dual-language learning, the executive director of the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Colorado, Boulder., says districts should focus on the what students and their families need, not what educators want.




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Colorado Lawmakers Pass Pension Reform Bill in Late-Night Deal

The final version of the bill reduces the cost-of-living raises and increases employee contributions to their retirement, among other changes.




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John Hickenlooper, Who Helped Start a Scholarship Program For Needy High School Students, Announces Presidential Run

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who helped initiate a shakeup of Denver Public Schools, has announced that he's running for president as a Democrat in 2020.




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Reading Instruction: A Flurry of New State Laws

Many states have recently enacted laws or rules designed to ensure that teachers are well versed in evidence-based reading instruction. Here are some highlights.




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Virus Outbreaks Lead to Closure of Two Colorado School Districts

All 46 schools in the Mesa County Valley School District closed last Thursday and Friday after students and staff at more than a dozen schools experienced norovirus-like symptoms.




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Will Academia Give Rural Schools the Attention They Need?

A push to open a center devoted to research and professional development for rural K-12 holds promise for educators who work in small, isolated communities.




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Tennessee voucher program challenge heads to court Wednesday