Weekend Reads: GOP candidates on school choice, Common Core, and teachers lounges

  • Here’s a video recap of the discussion at the New Hampshire education summit for GOP presidential candidates hosted by Campbell Brown. (The 74 Million)
  • The candidates talked a lot about school choice but said very little about issues of race, class, and poverty. (Slate)
  • New research suggests that, even when it’s well-intentioned, “colorblind” social norms hurt black and Latino kids because race is salient to their identities. (Science of Us)
  • And another new study suggests that non-black teachers have lower expectations for their black students to succeed, which is a problem since teacher expectations can be self-fulfilling prophecies. (Vox)
  • In some school districts and reservations, officials are becoming increasingly convinced that hiring more American Indian teachers will help their struggling students succeed. (Slate)
  • The pressing questions that face Nashville and especially its schools in 2015 are very similar to the ones the city faced in 1971. (Nashville Scene)
  • A Teach for America alum calls the organization’s approach a “bait and switch,” arguing the approach capitalizes on young teachers’ idealism and then tells them they are making excuses when they struggle. (Alternet)
  • Dale Russakoff’s forthcoming must-read book “The Prize,” about the rise and fall of reform efforts in Newark, got a rave review from Alex Kotlowitz. (New York Times)
  • For the first time, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is advising educators to start middle and high schools later in the mornings because of research showing the time switch’s benefits. (The Atlantic)
  • But as the story of a time shift proposal in Denver shows, moving start times back is a policy easier said than done. (Chalkbeat Colorado)
  • Here’s maybe the only time Diana Ravitch will give Michelle Rhee a professional recommendation. (Twitter)