ON TRACK FOR SEGREGATION?
A recent press release from the U.S. Department of Education declared that tracking students by ability perpetuates a system of segregated schools and adds to the widening achievement gap. Because white students are more likely to enroll in gifted talented and classes from an early age, black and Latino students fall behind and are separated for the remainder of their schooling. In related news, Fordham’s fearless President Michael J. Petrilli passed withering judgment on the department’s approach to achievement gaps just a few days ago.
UNCOMMON POSITION
As outlined in the Wall Street Journal, education might be a decisive issue if Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and perpetually embittered little brother, chooses to run for president. Bush’s outspoken support of Common Core (he is, after all, the chairman of an education think tank that has been unabashedly pro-standards) puts him at an uncomfortable distance from his natural base: As of October, 58 percent of GOP parents oppose Common Core.
KIDS TODAY
You’ve heard about the millenial kids, right? The trophy kids living in their parents’ basement? The “Me Me Me Generation” (real original, Time magazine)? Yeah, those guys. Using data from the Census, Department of Labor, and the Pew Research Center, NPR has put together a nice generational profile of the latest batch of young people to be dismissed as ungrateful little twerps. In brief: They're less white, less married, and more educated than the public at large.
REVIVING DETROIT
After sixteen months, the city of Detroit recently emerged from bankruptcy with harsh mandates to cut public pensions and demolish thousands of dilapidated structures. Now the fight begins to rebuild its tax base by attracting families and businesses back to the urban core. Ingrid Jacques of the Detroit News writes that all other efforts will be wasted unless the city fixes its schools by empowering Mayor Mike Duggan to dramatically improve oversight. The unstoppable Nelson Smith came to a similar conclusion in his fantastic Fordham report on Michigan’s flailing “turnaround” district.
