WHAT WE’RE READING
In May 2011, C.J. Huff was superintendent of schools in Joplin, Missouri, when the small city was hit by a violent tornado that killed 161 people, including seven students, and destroyed six schools and a large share of area housing. Eve Fairbanks describeshow Huff’s decisive leadership helped the community rebuild its schools, and how that experience—including the toll it took on him personally—informs his current work helping communities through natural disaster recovery with little federal guidance.
EXTRA CREDIT:
Matt Barnum, “Here’s what happens when colleges make the SAT optional”
Arlen Benjamin-Gomez, Jeff Smink, and Jordan Pineda, “New York Must Not Abandon Regents Exams Without a Better Measure of Readiness”
Michael B. Horn and Thomas Arnett, “If you don’t like Alpha, it’s probably not for you. That should be OK”
Chris Lewis, “This Office Was the Best Defense Against Discrimination in Schools. Trump Destroyed It.”
Michael McShane, “What is a ‘homeschooling family’?”
Shantel Meek and Conor P. Williams, “Trump Administration’s English-Only Head Start Edict Is Bad for Young Learners”
Robert Pondiscio, “How Albany educrats turned NY’s once-proud schools into a national joke”
Benjamin Riley, “The Penalty Students Pay for Using AI”
Julia Ruehl, “Conservatives Must Get it Right on A.I. in Schools”
Naomi Schaefer Riley, “Coding Kids Review: An Education for the Future”
Mark Schneider, “Why Is New York Covering Up Test Scores?”
Aaron Smith, “How states can slow the staffing surge”
Todd Truitt, “Virginia Board of Education Chooses “Approaching Expectations” for Fall School Ratings”
Washington Post Editorial Board, “A multifront war against educational accountability”
Natalie Wexler, “Lower Academic Standards Can Perpetuate Unfairness”
Editor's note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli's Substack, SCHOOLED, a free Substack and email newsletter restarting the education-reform conversation. Click here to subscribe for sharp analysis of the week’s biggest K–12 debates, curated commentary from across the ed-policy world, and lively discussion—including reader reactions and pushback.
