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NJ Spotlight--NJ Among Most Vulnerable States if Recession Hits — Ratings Analysts
Moody’s, S&P fault Trenton’s reliance on last-minute scrambling for one-time sources of revenue, inadequate reserves, and absence of sustainable fiscal policies
If New Jersey’s budget gets rocked by the next economic recession, this time Wall Street analysts will be able to say, “We told you so.”
Separate, in-depth reviews released in recent days by two major credit-rating agencies place New Jersey among the states that are the most susceptible to the next downturn.
John Reitmeyer | September 24, 2018
Star Ledger--These N.J. kids won't do homework every weekend, and that's OK
Public schools in Wayne are the latest to embrace the no homework movement, aimed at giving young children and teenagers an occasional break from their demanding schedules.
Officials in the K-12 district recently amended the 2018-19 school calendar to allow for three "wellness weekends" on which no homework will be assigned.
Rob Jennings| Updated 6:56 AM; Posted 6:56 AM
Star Ledger--On PARCC, Murphy is failing the neediest kids | Editorial
Gov. Phil Murphy tossed the PARCC test into his campaign like a political frisbee, reviving the anger of a muted opt-out movement when he vowed to eliminate it entirely.
Since then, he's backed off, twice. He sought to pare the test down, and then, after an outcry, to re-examine it.
But his views, he says, haven't changed. "The white-knuckle, high-stakes test leaves me cold," he said, according to NJSpotlight. "And there is no evidence that I can find ... that it is otherwise." Really?
Star-Ledger Editorial Board| Updated Sep 23, 8:59 AM; Posted Sep 23, 6:45 AM
NY Times--The Couple Who Helped Decode Dyslexia
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — By now, Sally and Bennett Shaywitz might have retired to a life of grandchild-doting and Mediterranean-cruising.
Instead, the Shaywitzes — experts in dyslexia at Yale who have been married to each other for 55 years — remain as focused as ever on a research endeavor they began 35 years ago.
Sally, 76, and Bennett, 79, both academic physicians, run the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Their goal is not just to widen understanding of the scientific underpinnings of dyslexia, the most common learning disorder in the United States, but to push for public policies aligned with that knowledge.
Katie Hafner| Sept. 21, 2018
Education Week--Cash-Strapped Teachers Are Getting Up Early to Tutor Students in China
Chinese Sites Offer Flexibility, Pay
Most days, Lisa Newhouse, a library media specialist with the Upsala Area schools in Minnesota, wakes up at about 4 a.m., gets ready for work, and sits at her computer to teach her first students of the day—who live in China.
Newhouse is one of the more than 60,000 American and Canadian tutors who work for VIPKid, a Beijing-based online English-tutoring company.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/09/19/cash-strapped-teachers-are-getting-up-early-to.html
Sarah Schwartz| September 19, 2018
