CHEERS:
In 2010, Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein partnered with IBM to design a dual-enrollment program that let students earn a high school diploma and associate degree concurrently, with mentorship and paid internship opportunities that led to jobs in high-demand fields. Stanley Litow reflects on the success of P-TECH schools and calls for replication across the country. —The 74
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Clinics run by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus are screening young children for reading struggles starting at age 3, part of a growing recognition that early literacy intervention can’t wait for kindergarten. —Makiya Seminera, The Associated Press
JEERS:
“Undocumented students can attend public schools for free thanks to the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe, which held that denying children an education based on immigration status violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause. That ruling remains binding federal law” …yet the Heritage Foundation “published a policy document on February 17 calling on states to intentionally enact laws or rules restricting free public education for undocumented students and calling on the highest court to overturn the landmark decision.” —Ileana Najarro, Education Week
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“In a unanimous decision, the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that charter schools, as structured under HB 9, fall outside Kentucky’s constitutionally defined ‘common school’ system. Because of that, justices said, the General Assembly cannot direct public tax dollars to charter schools without first obtaining voter approval.” —Kelsey Souto, WKYT
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States are increasingly mandating cursive instruction, even though the claimed benefits don’t hold up to scrutiny. “As everyone who has ever written by hand knows, cursive is not the only way to do it. The other way, of course, is print writing. It seems cursive’s proponents are taking a general research claim—that writing by hand is better for learning than typing—and conflating it with the more specific claim that writing in cursive is better.” —Greg Fournier, Education Next
Editor's note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli's Substack, SCHOOLED, a twice-weekly free Substack and email newsletter restarting the education-reform conversation.
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Sharp analysis of the week’s biggest K–12 debates
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Curated commentary from across the ed-policy world
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Lively discussion—including reader reactions and pushback
