Education Week - November 12, 2014 - 1

Education WEEk
GOP Electoral Wave Expected to Roil K-12 Policy Waters
VOL. 34, NO. 12 * NOVEMBER 12, 2014
AMERICAN EDUCATION'S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD * © 2014 Editorial Projects in Education * $4
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Key Obama Priorities
Facing Lack of Allies
By Alyson Klein
After midterm elections that vastly favored
Republicans, President Barack Obama has
far fewer allies in Congress and in states
to champion his federal policy
push on such priorities
as teacher evaluation and
common academic standards
at a crucial stage in their
implementation.
At the state level, for example,
the gop surge means there will be more opponents
of the Common Core State Standards
in legislatures, and among state chiefs and
governors, potentially threatening an initiative
the Obama administration has backed
DIGITAL DIRECTIONS
Broad Poverty Index
Gives Fuller Picture
Of Stressed Schools
By Sarah D. Sparks
Poverty is not just a lack of money. It's a shorthand
for a host of other problems-scanty dinners and
crumbling housing projects, chronic illnesses and
depressed or angry parents-that can interfere with
a child's ability to learn.
Educators and researchers in several of the nation's
largest districts are trying to look at schools
based on a fuller picture of children's experiences,
rather than only seeing poverty as a label.
In a study released last week, researchers at
the Center for New York City Affairs linked data
from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community
Survey, the school district, and the municipal
housing, homeless services, and children's services
agencies, and matched the data with 748 elementary
schools that use geographic attendance areas.
Researchers found that 18 factors in a student's
Andrew Charleson, left, and Irene Song read assignments on Google Chromebooks during an advanced 6th grade reading class
at Ridgeview Middle School in Gaithersburg, Md. Educators say the laptops make student and teacher collaboration easy.
Chromebooks Gaining Popularity in Districts
Educators Tout Low Cost, Ease of Use With Google's Digital Devices
By Benjamin Herold
Gaithersburg, Md.
Suddenly, Chromebooks are surging.
Barely a blip on educators' radar
screens as recently as 2012, the inexpensive,
Web-based laptop computers
accounted for nearly one-third of all
mobile-digital-device sales to schools
in the United States in the first half
of this year. Over the past two years,
large school districts from California to
South Carolina have made significant
Chromebook purchases, and the Montgomery
County, Md., system recently
embarked on the country's largest confirmed
K-12 Chromebook deployment
to date.
The share of the U.S. education market
held by digital tablets such as the
iPad, meanwhile, has declined 7 percent
during that span, according to Futuresource
Consulting Ltd., a research and
forecasting company based in the United
Kingdom.
Even some experts who were initially
skeptical have begun touting the
Chromebook's benefits, including the
ease of managing large deployments, the
ways in which the computers can support
student and teacher collaboration,
and, especially, their cost: Most versions
of the device sell for under $300.
"The Chromebook is the next iteration
of where we're going with personal,
portable technologies for education,"
said Leslie Wilson, the chief executive
officer of the One-to-One Institute, a
PAGE 10 >
school and neighborhood strongly predicted his
or her likelihood of chronic absenteeism and the
student's scores on New York's accountability tests
that are aligned with the Common Core State StanPAGE
13 >
with both money and regulatory incentives.
At the federal level, the U.S. Senate-which
will shift to gop control in January-isn't likely
to pass a bill to reauthorize the badly outdated
Elementary and Secondary Education Act that
closely resembles the administration's vision in
areas like accountability and teacher quality.
With both chambers in Republican hands,
the 114th Congress also is unlikely to give
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan much
more money for the kinds of competitive
grants that have helped him carry his agenda
forward-leaving the U.S. Department of Education
running short on political carrots.
"The Obama administration has to rethink
its whole approach," U.S. Rep. John Kline, RMinn.,
the chairman of the House education
committee, said in an interview last week.
"Now, if he wants to get anything done, he
needs to talk with us."
For his part, Mr. Obama said he plans to
PAGE 19>
MORE ELECTION COVERAGE
ON TAP IN CONGRESS
15 School choice and renewal of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
are high on the Republican agenda.
BIG MONEY, LITTLE PAYOFF
15 The two national teachers' unions
poured more than $60 million into
campaigns, but many fell flat.
MARQUEE CONTEST
16 California's superintendent wins
re-election after a hard-fought-and
expensive-battle.
ELECTORAL SCOREBOARD
19 A roundup of winners and losers in the
2014 midterm elections, including for
state chiefs' races, gubernatorial
matchups, and ballot measures.
ONLINE ELECTION STORIES:
www.edweek.org/go/elections
Republicans Enhance
State-Level Advantage
By Andrew Ujifusa
Republican governors and state lawmakers
swept into office or re-elected last week are likely
to spark major K-12 policy changes in a fresh
crop of states and extend gop-driven initiatives
launched in the wake of 2010's electoral upsets.
Among the big winners this year could be advocates
of school choice programs in states like
Illinois and Massachusetts, where Republican
governors will take over, and in Wisconsin, where
an activist gop governor was re-elected.
Action to overhaul education funding is likely
in many states regardless of party control-one
consequence of an election in which K-12 spending
was a significant issue on the campaign trail.
However, the scope of action for governors of
PAGE 18 >
MAKING SENSE OF THE MATH
This special report-the latest in an ongoing
series on high-priority issues in K-12
education-looks at how the
Common Core State Standards
are changing instruction in
mathematics. It explores how
schools and teachers are
adjusting their practices and
shows where there are gaps
in support and understanding.
See the pullout section
opposite Page 14.
T.J. Kirkpatrick for Education Week
2014
ELECTION

http://www.edweek.org http://www.edweek.org/go/elections

Education Week - November 12, 2014

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