NJ Spotlight--State Could Expand In-State Scholarships, Benefit More NJ College Students
Assembly committee approves expansion of NJ STARS, a merit-based scholarship program
New Jersey is the largest net exporter of students to colleges in other states in the U.S.
Going to college in state would become more attractive, as in less expensive, to more New Jersey students under a proposed reinvigoration of a popular merit-based scholarship program that is moving through the Legislature.
Several of the bills considered at Thursday’s Assembly Higher Education Committee dealt with the high cost of college in New Jersey. The most significant measure approved (A-2769) seeks to repurpose, expand and sweeten the current New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship (NJ STARS) into the New Jersey HonorScholars program.
Colleen O'Dea | December 6, 2019 | Education
Jersey Journal (via NJ.com)--State lawmaker aims to make cursive writing education mandatory
A New Jersey lawmaker is taking another shot at making cursive writing part of the curriculum for young students across the state.
Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, D-Jersey City, recently proposed a bill that would be cursive writing education mandatory before kids enter the fourth grade. A similar bill was introduced by Shirley Turner, D-Ewing, in the state Senate in January.
Similar legislation has been introduced almost every year since 2014, but has never been passed into law.
Ron Zeitlinger | The Jersey Journal| Posted Dec 05, 2019
Press of Atlantic City—Op-Ed-Sweeney cap waiver proposal puts focus on school aid debate, says Carl Golden
When Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, expressed support for permitting local school districts to exceed the 2% spending cap to offset cuts in state aid, the immediate reaction was that he had stepped off the ledge and plunged into the political Hades that awaits anyone who flirts with the possibility of increasing property taxes.
Carl Golden For The Press| December 5, 2019
Politics K-12 (via Education Week)--With $100 Million Donation, Broad Center Moves Education Leadership Programs to Yale University
The Broad Center will move to the Yale University School of Management, using a $100 million gift from the foundation of powerful Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad to continue its educational leadership programs in perpetuity, the center announced Thursday.
The donation, the largest ever for the Yale School of Management, will fund successors to The Broad Residency in Urban Education, which will become a new master's program for "emerging public education leaders," and The Broad Academy, a training program for "top school system executives.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/12/broad-center-yale-leadership.html
Evie Blad on December 5, 2019 4:31 PM
Chalkbeat--Looking for a home? You’ve seen GreatSchools ratings. Here’s how they nudge families toward schools with fewer black and Hispanic students.
What’s the right way to judge a school?
Across the country, states and school districts have devised their own systems of letter grades and color-coded dashboards based on test scores and graduation rates. But arguably the most visible and influential school rating system in America comes from the nonprofit GreatSchools, whose 1-10 ratings appear in home listings on national real estate websites Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin.
https://chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/12/05/greatschools-ratings-poverty-race-segregation-housing/
Matt Barnum, Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee| December 6, 2019