NJ Spotlight--Op-Ed: Students Must Move Beyond Social Media to Become Truly Engaged
It may sound old fashioned, but today’s students need to learn to read reputable news sources, in hard copy or online — for motive as well as content
Students are reading less and less from traditional news sources and getting more and more information from social-media outlets, many of which circulate misleading news content that significantly affects public opinion. In a world where people are beginning to value quick information over the correct, detailed, and complex stories that current events often are, a greater amount of the public is making uninformed choices and statements in their civic engagement.
Karan Chauhan | October 16, 2017
Star Ledger--Did Facebook-funded school reform efforts work? This study takes a look
NEWARK -- The schools here made national headlines when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced his $100 million contribution. The donation helped launch a series of reforms starting in 2011 -- many of them controversial -- in an effort to transform an urban school district into a model for the country.
But did it work?
A Harvard study released Monday takes a look at a narrow slice of data to understand the impact these reforms had on student growth outcomes in both charter and traditional public schools when compared to similar peers statewide. And the results -- based on data from 2011-2015 -- show students in grades 4-8 made learning gains in English while math results remained constant.
Much of the improvement, the study found, was due to the one of the most contentious changes: The district's decision to shutter 14 under-performing public schools. Results show student gains made over time were largely due to the movement of students from the lower-performing schools to higher-quality ones.
Karen Yi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| Posted October 16, 2017 at 07:00 AM | Updated October 16, 2017 at 07:02 AM
Star Ledger--Drug tests during 3rd period? N.J. district proposes screening most students
LIVINGSTON — Next year's schedule: English, biology, P.E., random drug test, fifth period study hall.
Drug testing might become just part of a typical day for students in Livingston, the latest district to consider implementing a random drug testing policy at its high school.
Parents in the community have just started learning about, and questioning, the proposal, which would randomly pick students out of class to drug test them at the nurse’s office.
The debate in Livingston — which would be the first district in the area to adopt such a policy but not the first school system in New Jersey to do so — has reignited a discussion that has administrators, parents, and the ACLU weighing in.
Jessica Mazzola | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| Posted October 13, 2017 at 07:28 AM | Updated October 13, 2017 at 04:54 PM
Education Week-- As Eli Broad Steps Down, Will His Influence on K-12 Education Last?
High-profile education philanthropist Eli Broad has announced he’s stepping away from day-to-day duties at the foundation that he and his wife founded—as well as public life in general—but his legacy in reshaping how private money can influence policy and the politics around those ideas will extend into the foreseeable future, experts say.
The 84-year-old Broad is the founder of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, based in Los Angeles. He’s generated much national attention for his outsized influence on the charter sector, shaping hundreds of school district leaders through a training academy, some of whom continue to lead the biggest systems in the country, and energized school districts and charters seeking the prestigious Broad Prize that comes with a handsome cash award.
His departure, announced late Thursday in a piece by the New York Times, raises the question of whether the foundation will be as aggressive on education issues now that he is no longer at the helm.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/10/13/as-eli-broad-steps-down-will-his.html
Arianna Prothero and Francisco Vara-Orta| October 13, 2017