Education Week - September 20, 2017 - 5

READERS REACT | NEWS

ers around the state to reduce the weight that
standardized-test scores bear on the evaluations.
The weight is among the highest in the nation.
The new results say the number of "highly effective" teachers rose 9 percent, while the number of
"ineffective" teachers fell around 41 percent.
-AP

For the First Time, Nebraska Schools
To Teach About Climate Change
The Nebraska board of education has approved
new science standards that will include teaching
about climate change for the first time.
Only one board member, Pat McPherson, voted
against the standards after offering a failed amendment that would have encouraged teachers to take
into consideration students' views on evolution, religion, and climate change.
Under the new standards, students will analyze
geoscience data and the results from global climate
models to make evidence-based forecasts of the
current rate and scale of global or regional climate
changes.
-AP

L.A. School Board President Charged
With Felonies Over Campaign Donations
Los Angeles County's district attorney last
week charged the city's school board president
with conspiracy, perjury, and offering false or
forged testimony, in connection with his 2015
school board race.
Authorities said that Refugio Rodriguez and his
cousin reimbursed $24,250 in campaign contributions to donors that Rodriguez reported had contributed to his campaign during his first run for
the school board. The reimbursement went to 25
people, many of whom were family members and
friends, the office said.
The charges came soon after Rodriguez's
selection as president of the Los Angeles Unified school board and just a few months after
a pro-charter-school majority was elected and
assumed control of the panel. Rodriguez is the
co-founder of a Los Angeles-area charter school
network known as Partnerships to Uplift Communities.
-DENISA R. SUPERVILLE

Michigan District Wants to Move
Dying Student to Another School

Transition

Readers Are Riled Up
Over DACA Action

VICKI PHILLIPS,

A Sept. 7, 2017, story by Staff Writer Corey Mitchell about
President Donald Trump's order to wind down a program that
shields some young undocumented immigrants-and its effects on
students and teachers-stirred up Education Week readers. Some
believe DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was an
abuse of executive authority when President Barack Obama
enacted it five years ago. Others say dismantling DACA is an
unjust action that punishes young people who had no say over
their entry into the United States.

a former director of
education at the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation
and a former
superintendent of the
Portland, Ore., school
district, will serve as
CEO in residence of
Educurious, effective
Oct. 2. The nonprofit,
aimed at preparing
students for college and
careers, was founded with
support from the Gates
Foundation under Phillips'
leadership during her
tenure there.

''
facility for children with special needs. Justina
Bernhardt wants her daughter, Anna Bernhardt,
to stay at the Ealy Elementary School, where she
has been since kindergarten.
Justina Bernhardt said Anna would be on a bus
three hours a day, while the district said the ride
wouldn't be nearly that long.
Anna has Sanfilippo Syndrome, otherwise known
as children's Alzheimer's. Bernhardt has letters from
medical specialists saying the change could be detrimental to Anna's already fading condition.
Citing privacy issues, district officials said
they couldn't discuss the case. A hearing was
scheduled for late last week with an administrative-law judge.
-TNS

PAT SKORKOWSKY,
the superintendent of the
Clark County, Nev., school
district, which includes Las
Vegas, has announced that
he will retire as soon as his
contract expires next June.
Skorkowsky has worked for
the 311,000-student
district for 25 years,
including a short stint as
the interim superintendent
before taking the reins on a
permanent basis in 2013.

CORRECTION
A box accompanying a Sept. 6, 2017, Education Week article about Nevada's Achievement School District incorrectly described the
state's intervention process for low-performing
schools. The district pairs its lowest-performing schools with charter school operators but
does not run schools directly. The accompanying article also mischaracterized parents'
rights to petition for state intervention, which
only applies to parents of children in some lowperforming schools.

A 9-year-old Michigan girl with a terminal illness and her family are embroiled in a dispute
with the Whitehall school district because officials
want to send the child some 14.6 miles away to a

order to graduate from high school. However,
another 18 states tried and failed to pass the
requirement. "Defeat of the legislation primarily reflects a rejection of additional mandated
high-stakes testing and concerns over the adequacy of the proposed test to ensure robust
civic learning," the report says. -SARAH D. SPARKS
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING
"The Evidence Base for How We Learn:
Supporting Students' Social, Emotional, and
Academic Development"
Students' social, emotional, and academic
development are "deeply intertwined," and
all are central to learning, according to a new
consensus report by a 28-member scientific
panel organized by the Aspen Institute's National Commission on Social, Emotional, and
Academic Development.
Beyond academics, the skills students need
to be successful in the classroom and in life

can be grouped into three areas:
* Cognitive skills, including executive functions such as working memory, attention control and flexibility, inhibition, and planning, as
well as beliefs and attitudes that guide one's
approaches to learning and growth;
* Emotional competencies that enable one to
cope with frustration, manage emotions, and
understand others' perspectives; and
* Social and interpersonal skills that enable
one to read social cues, navigate social situations, resolve interpersonal conflicts, work effectively in a team, and demonstrate compassion and empathy toward others.
-EVIE BLAD

CHILD POVERTY
"Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance
Coverage in the U.S.: 2016"
Eighteen percent of U.S. children younger
than 18 live in poverty-nearly a decade low-

new data from the U.S. Census Bureau show,
and federal supports for low-income families
and children make a big difference.
The data, based on the Census' annual Current Population Survey for 2016, show the official child-poverty rate declining from a high
of 22 percent in 2010, during the worst of the
global economic downturn.
Poverty overall also decreased from that
time, from 15.1 percent of all Americans in
2010 to 12.7 percent in 2006. Child poverty
has not been so low since 2007.
The Census Bureau also released a "supplemental poverty measure," which takes into
account families' medical and other critical
expenses, as well as supports from federal
welfare programs such as Social Security and
school meals.
Based on that measure, child poverty is
even lower, 15.1 percent, down 3 percentage
points since the Census began incorporating and tracking the supplemental measure
in 2013.
-S.D.S.

Most of these "dreamers"
are not children, they are young adults.
... After all the years of living in the U.S.
without legal status, why have they not
attained citizenship? This is not their
goal. Their goal is to overrun the system
and provide votes for the Democratic
Party. They know they are here illegally
yet they have done NOTHING to remedy
that problem. Why not?"
-ATB123
"They cannot attain legal status,
because they do not meet any of the
criteria required to achieve permanent
residency, and then citizenship. Many
people wrongly believe that getting the
'green card' is just a matter of 'waiting
for your turn.' Nothing further from the
truth, there is no such thing as 'a line.'
Ignorance of immigration law drives
many ill-intentioned people to criticize
these young adults."
-MCRUIZ
"The question that needs to be asked
is what have the DACA people done for
this country? Where does their loyalty
lie? They may live in this country, but
because of the culture of the household
that they grew up in, they are not
Americans. Most are Mexicans living in
America."
-BILL
"DACA recipients are doctors, teachers,
paramedics, business owners, and so much
more. They are giving back to America and
are Americans. America has always had
many cultures come together to make
a nation. Most DACA recipients have
or are in the process of getting a degree
that is not valid in the country they were
born in. Many can't read and write in the
language of that country. They are highly
invested in America, pay taxes, and give
back to their communities, even though
they aren't eligible for federal/state aid."
-WHITNEY KNIGHT

"Has anyone considered justice for those
who would like to come to America but
have chosen to obey our laws and not enter
the country illegally? What about their
children? Or is it just for our government to
let the lawbreakers and their children have
preferences over those [who] obey the law,
because of emotional arguments?" -IRONMAN

Want to read more responses?

www.edweek.org/go/DACA-rollback

http://www.edweek.org/go/DACA-rollback

Education Week - September 20, 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - September 20, 2017