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Trenton Times--No reason why any N.J. kids can't go to school | Editorial
You lose a great deal when circumstances conspire to leave you homeless: a permanent roof over your head, of course, but also your sense of security, and the luxury of knowing you're able to keep your family safe.
If you're a homeless child, the miseries are only compounded. You stand to lose the stabilizing influence of a decent education - the guidance of teachers, the closeness of friends - as well as the future that such an education provides.
A bill moving through the N.J. Legislature would require the state to pay the educational costs of students who reside in homeless shelters outside of their home district for more than a year.
The measure, Assembly Bill 3785, has been approved by the Assembly Education Committee. It now heads to Speaker Vincent Prieto for further action.
Although the number of homeless people in the state declined more than 12 percent this year over last, there are still close to 9,000 adults and children with no permanent place to hang their hats - some 465 in Mercer County, according to the most recent estimates.
By Times of Trenton Editorial Board? December 19, 2016 at 12:21 PM
Reuters (via The Atlantic)-- College Board faces rocky path after CEO pushes new vision for SAT
David Coleman spearheaded a sweeping redesign of America's oldest college entrance exam. His plan to act fast – and tie the test to the controversial Common Core - stirred up internal resistance and created new problems.
NEW YORK - Shortly after taking over the College Board in 2012, new CEO David Coleman circulated an internal memo laying out what he called a “beautiful vision.”
It was his 7,800-word plan for transforming the organization’s signature product, the SAT college entrance exam. The path Coleman laid out was detailed, bold and idealistic - a reflection of his personality, say those who know him.
Literary passages for the new SAT should be “memorable and often beautiful,” he wrote, and students should be able to take the test by computer.
Finishing the redesign quickly was essential. If the overhaul were ready by March 2015, he wrote in a later email to senior employees, then the New York-based College Board could win new business and counter the most popular college entrance exam in America, the ACT.
Renee Dudley| Filed Dec. 12, 2016, 1:07 p.m. GMT
Education Week-- States Beef Up School Counseling Corps
Several states are making investments to build their corps of school counselors in the wake of mounting, quantifiable evidence that counseling support can be a powerful weapon in the battle to get more students through high school and into college.
Minnesota recently announced a $12 million effort to send counselors, social workers, nurses, and school psychologists into 77 schools. College advisers joined the counseling staffs in 30 high schools in Tennessee this fall, thanks to a $7.2 million, three-year pot of money. Colorado is piling millions on top of a $15 million investment because it got such strong results. And the Lilly Endowment in Indiana has pledged up to $30 million to support the design of comprehensive counseling programs there.
The counseling initiatives are far from the biggest-ticket items in states' budgets. But they're a significant sign of a renewed commitment to school counseling, which took particularly heavy hits in layoffs driven by the Great Recession eight years ago.
"People are realizing that a school counselor really is essential in a student's education," said Richard Wong, the executive director of the American School Counselor Association. Ever more complex social pressures and the drumbeat calls for college readiness make counselors even more important, he said, so "we're very happy to see states' response to the need."
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/12/14/states-beef-up-school-counseling-corps.html
By Catherine Gewertz| December 13, 2016
