- With our laser-like focus on American K–12 education (and the even narrower territory of American K–12 reform), it can be easy to forget that good schooling can be found in many forms—and many settings. This week, the New Yorker brings us the story of Ayub Mohamud, a Kenyan teacher working to stave off religious extremism among Somalia-born students in Nairobi. The article is a riveting account of moral leadership in a complicated environment, but it may offer lessons for American education as well. Bereft of opportunity, exploited by local authorities, and vulnerable to negative influences, these young Somali refugees bear more than a passing resemblance to some disadvantaged populations here in our own country. Though the downside risks are vastly different, we need to develop ways of reaching out to similarly overlooked kids here at home.
- It’s a pretty easy concept to grasp: You can’t teach kids if they’re not in the building. Chronic absenteeism—defined as student absence over at least 10 percent of a school year—is often wrought by family factors like economic dislocation or the prolonged illness of a caregiver. Missing just two days per month, as roughly five million U.S. students are estimated to do yearly, puts children at grave risk of dropping out of school. But it’s not an insurmountable problem: NPR has a fantastic story this week of a Grand Rapids district administrator who has drastically reduced absenteeism through a coordinated campaign involving teachers, parents, and community partners. Using big data tools to discover which pupils had trouble making it to school, the district reached out personally to families with resources and education about the importance of regular attendance. Now they’ve cut the number of chronically absent kids by half. Like the man said, showing up is 80 percent of shrinking achievement gaps and boosting upward mobility.
- Remember the heady days of December, when the unicorn of bipartisan cooperation roamed the grounds of the Capitol and education voices from across the political spectrum were approaching harmonic convergence? Well, it’s now June, and Democrats and Republicans are at each other’s throats again. Specifically, the GOP is up in arms after the Department of Education’s release of nearly two hundred pages of draft regulations guiding the states in implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act. Republicans Lamar Alexander and John Kline, who played major roles in drafting and passing the law, have charged President Obama and Education Secretary John King with flagrantly disregarding the intent of Congress on school finance. Our own Mike Petrilli thinks they won’t like what they find in the proposed rules on accountability, either. Democrats claim that King is acting within his authority, but Mike ain’t having it: “Right now, it doesn’t feel like they have any interest in meeting the Republicans halfway. They are in the 'rhymes with bucket’ phase of the administration.”
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