EGGHEADS IN ONE BASKET
For high schoolers with their eyes set on the Ivy League, piling on extracurriculars, volunteer hours, and APs may seem like a necessary evil. These days, the competition to get through the eye of the admissions needle is nearly insurmountable, and many of the brightest, most overscheduled kids are being waitlisted. A recent article has some advice for these young hopefuls: Instead of spending all your time juggling, put your energy into one master project. In other words, now would be a good time to unearth those plans to start a nonprofit sending iPads to Sudan.
NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I NEED TO GO SEE A MAN ABOUT A CAMPAIGN JET
In a statement earlier this week, Scott Walker walked back some of his strong opposition to the Common Core. The Wisconsin governor went from supporting a repeal-and-replace agenda to allowing schools that might wish to use standards to continue doing so. Furthermore, in response to Jeb Bush’s presidential non-announcement, Walker claimed that he would not let the former Florida governor’s decision affect his own and that he would like to “do more with education reform, entitlement reform, and tax reform,” while serving the people of Wisconsin.
ORDER WITHOUT CASUALTIES
NPR has a terrific, granular look at one school’s application of what is being called “restorative justice.” The approach seeks to minimize the use of suspensions and expulsions as a punishment for disruptive behavior—punishments that have been shown to exacerbate behavioral problems and ultimately lead to further social failures for at-risk kids. Restorative justice instead fosters dialogue among school communities and imposes less drastic, communal consequences.
GIFTED AND TALENTED AND LOCKED UP
More on discipline: In the Hechinger Report, two New York teachers raise the troubling but underreported phenomenon of gifted children on the school-to-prison pipeline. Though intellectual talents are distributed evenly throughout the student population, exceptional students in low-income schools and families can often see their potential wither from lack of social support. According to research from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, just under half of high achievers from low-income families are no longer successful by fifth grade.
