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NJ Spotlight--Op-Ed: Senate President Sweeney Must Post the PARCC Bill
This is not the first time that education advocates have watched a key bill languish and die a slow death at the senate president’s hands
Last Thursday, dozens of education advocates gathered to rally outside Senate President Steve Sweeney’s office in West Deptford to urge the senate president to post Senate Concurrent Resolution SCR-132, which would strike down the regulations making proficiency on the PARCC standardized test a graduation requirement for the classes of 2021 and beyond. The concurrent resolution has already sailed through the Assembly in a decisive 69-3 vote, but thus far, Sweeney has refused to post it for a vote by the state Senate.
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/04/27/op-ed-senate-president-sweeney-must-post-the-parcc-bill/
Sue Altman | April 28, 2017
Star Ledger--The 50 N.J. school districts paying their teachers the most - up to $105K
TRENTON — The median salary among New Jersey teachers is $66,117 this school year, but the paycheck for a typical teacher can vary greatly from school district to school district.
Statewide, the median teacher salary in school districts ranges from as low as $43,911 to as high as $105,650.
Why such a big difference?
A number of factors can affect teacher pay, such as regional cost of living, grade levels offered in the district and faculty experience, among others. Plus, the median salary in a district can swing by thousands of dollars in a given year if a district has a rash of retirements or major layoffs.
Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| Posted April 28, 2017, Updated April 28, 2017
Star Ledger--N.J. schools sending parents warning letters about Netflix teen suicide drama
Worry that the popular Netflix series "13 Reasons Why" dangerously mischaracterizes teen suicide has led at least two New Jersey school districts to send warning letters to parents.
Released on March 31, "13 Reasons Why," which is based on a popular young adult novel, tells the story of a high school girl who commits suicide and leaves behind cassette tapes that contain her reasoning.
In the letter sent to parents by Montclair Public Schools on Monday, district mental health coordinator Andrew Evangelista warns parents of the series' graphic content and expresses concerns over how the subject's suicide is portrayed.
Michael Sol Warren | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| April 27, 2017 at 10:01 AM, updated April 27, 2017 at 11:15 AM
Princeton Packet--Survey: Princeton High School students feeling stressed out
Large numbers of Princeton High School students reported feeling stressed by their schoolwork, putting them in common with their peers around the country, according to a survey that the district recently did.
Nearly 90 percent of the student body took a survey designed by Challenge Success, an organization based out the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane said Tuesday. The poll gauged students’ experience by asking questions on a range of topics, from stress, how much sleep students get and parental expectations, among other things.
Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer| Apr 27, 2017 Updated 16 hrs ago
The Atlantic--What a New Study on Vouchers Means for Trump's Agenda
The administration has promoted private-school scholarships as a means of empowering families. But they may undermine a child’s academic success.
The nation’s capital is the only city in the country where the federal government gives scholarships to underprivileged children to attend private schools. The goal of the voucher program, of course, is to help ensure low-income youth aren’t tethered to their often under-resourced and under-performing neighborhood schools.
But a report released Thursday found largely negative results for students who participated in the District of Columbia’s Opportunity Scholarship Program, suggesting that many of the program’s beneficiaries might actually fare better if they turn down the private-school money.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/do-vouchers-actually-work/524676/
Leah Askarinam| April 28, 2017
