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Published by: District Administration 11/8/2016
Top News
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

For the first time in years, all Missouri school districts performed well enough on their annual report cards to qualify for at least a provisional seal of approval from the state. For the beleaguered Normandy school system, the new state ratings show a 34-percentage point spike in performance. Read more>>

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Chicago Tribune

Illinois for years has tracked how often students skip school, but data made public show how often their teachers miss school. Across the state, 23.5 percent of public school teachers are absent more than 10 days in the school year. Nearly 1,600 of the nearly 3,600 public schools fared worse than the state average. Read more>>

AL.com

National experts contend the way Alabama funds its schools through the state's Foundation Program, enacted in 1995, exacerbates inequities by not providing funding based on student needs. Read more>>

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From DA Magazine

DA Trend Watch 2017: Predict the cutting-edge of K12

Matt Zalaznick

Not long ago, few of us were talking about social-emotional learning or makerspaces—now, many districts use the latter tool to teach the former. Please follow the link to forecast what little-known issue, initiative or technology will dominate classrooms three, five and 10 years from now. Select predictions will appear in the January edition of District Administration. Read more>>

Detroit Free Press

The floundering Education Achievement Authority will return its schools to the city's main school system and pay it $2.25 million—a fraction of what it originally owed—to settle its debts. The reunification of schools was expected under legislation that lawmakers approved in June. Read more>>

The Kansas City Star

For the first time in nearly 30 years, the district has scored at full accreditation level on the state-issued report that measures progress in a number of performance areas. But the district may have to wait another year before the state grants it that status. State officials have said they first want proof the district can sustain its newly reached performance level. Read more>>

The Salt Lake Tribune

Is enrollment at Utah's charter schools nearing a saturation point? The alternative public schools welcomed roughly 4,000 additional students in 2016, according to new data, for a growth rate of 5.9 percent. It's enough to outpace the state as a whole, but also the second consecutive year for slowing growth among charters. Read more>>

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Opinion & Analysis
HealthDay

All U.S. states have "return-to-play" laws designed to protect young athletes who've suffered a concussion. But only eight states had "return-to-learn" laws aimed at managing kids' concussion recovery, researchers found. But physical activity isn't the only issue during concussion recovery. Kids also need an appropriate return to mental work. Read more>>

KQED

Schools are beginning to recognize that arts education is an important vehicle for kids to learn skills that can also be applied to their other academic studies. Arts integration has become increasingly popular as educators mesh art with content learning. However, some schools have used arts integration as an excuse to sideline trained arts teachers. Read more>>

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The Journal

Public school officials who find ways to give struggling students the individualized attention they need economically should not be deterred from doing so. West Virginians ought to be disturbed that it required a ruling from the state’s highest court to allow a school system to help struggling students efficiently. Read more>>



Industry News
Follett Corporation

Project Connect, formed by Follett to advocate for librarians to serve as leaders in their district and schools, will be debuting a set of professional development online courses. Designed for school and district librarians, these courses cover educational leadership and digital citizenship, among other topics. Read more>>

Discovery Education

The latest phase of Schuyler Community Schools three-year partnership with Discovery Education focuses on professional development with the Digital Leader Corps initiative. The professional development system provides participating educators with approaches to integrating educational technologies and digital media into classroom instruction. Read more>>

NWEA

Texas' Killeen ISD has selected the NWEA Measures of Academic Progress growth assessments for use with almost 30,000 K8 students. The district piloted MAP as an assessment for English language learners during the 2015-16 school year and has expanded use of the assessments to include all K8 students this fall. Read more>>

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People Watch
Santa Monica Observer

Ben Drati comes to the California district from the Santa Barbara USD where he has served as the assistant superintendent of secondary education since 2012. Drati replaces Sandra Lyon, who left the district in July for the superintendent position at Palm Springs USD. Read more>>

KRWG

Las Cruces School Board chose Gregory Ewing as the new leader for Las Cruces Public Schools. Ewing is currently the chief accountability and research officer with the Cobb County School District in Marietta, Georgia. Read more>>

Madison County Record

Dee O. Fowler has resigned as superintendent of Madison City Schools. He has accepted the position of deputy state superintendent of education and chief of staff for Alabama State Superintendent of Education Michael Sentance. Read more>>