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Educational Opportunities and Performance in Maine

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.




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Supreme Court Won't Hear Challenge to Union Exclusive Representation

The justices declined to take up a major challenge to exclusive-bargaining arrangements for teachers' unions and other public employee labor organizations.




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How One School Avoided a COVID-19 Outbreak and Shutdown

Strict protocols and limited community spread helped a Maine high school stay open for in person instruction when its first coronavirus case turned up.




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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Maine Bar on Tuition Aid to Religious Schools

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit turns away claims of religious discrimination by families seeking to use Maine's "tuitioning" program.




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New investigator picked for Bangor High School racism probe




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Stop Scapegoating Gifted Students for Inequality

Eliminating gifted programs all together is the wrong solution to fixing racial and economic imbalances, argues James R. Delisle.




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Yonkers, N.Y., District Commits to More Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

The U.S. Department of Education's office for civil rights said that some students were placed in self-contained special education settings without an individualized justification for doing so.




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Elementary Principal Touts Benefits of Extended School Day

Students at Bellevue Elementary in Syracuse, N.Y., spend an extra 70 minutes at school each day, and their principal says the extended school day has improved their academic performance.




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N.Y. Private Schools Didn't Have to Report Abuse to Police. A New Law Changes That.

Private schools in New York soon will be required to report suspected sexual abuse of students in their schools to law enforcement, bringing the independent schools under the same rules as public schools.




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Educational Opportunities and Performance in New York

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.




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Schools Are Required to Teach Mental-Health Lessons This Fall in Two States. And That's a First.

Students returning to schools in Virginia and New York this fall will be required to participate in mental-health education as part of their health and physical education courses.




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New York Denied ESSA Waiver to Test Students With Disabilities Off Grade Level

The state will be required to test all students using grade level tests, except for those with significant cognitive disabilities.




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School Accessibility Gets $150 Million Boost in N.Y.C. Budget

The money, which will be allocated over three years, is expected to make major and minor improvements to schools throughout the city.




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New York Takes Final Step to Separate State Test Scores From Teacher Evaluations

The New York state legislature passed a bill that would make the use of state test scores in these evaluations optional, leaving the decision up to districts and making it subject to collective bargaining.




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A Teacher's Diary of a Week of School Closure

It's hard to keep the coronavirus crisis in perspective, especially when that perspective keeps shifting, writes New York City teacher Colin Lieu.




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'Bright Star' Principal, 36, Dies From Coronavirus

Dez-Ann Romain, a Brooklyn principal, is believed to be the first full-time, front-line educator to die from COVID-19.




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One Teacher's Life in a Coronavirus Epicenter

The days are a technology overload, mixed with the joy of seeing her students' faces and worry about her own family's health and safety, New York City teacher Ariel Sacks writes.




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New York City Schools Will Stay Closed for Academic Year, Mayor Says

Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed back on the Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement, however, saying "no decision" had been made about reopening schools in New York City or elsewhere in the state.




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School Closures for Coronavirus Could Extend to the End of School Year, Some Say

More than half of all states have ordered schools closed for multiple weeks to help slow the pandemic.




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Briefly Stated: Stories You May Have Missed

A collection of articles you may have missed from the previous week.




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State targets emerging virus clusters in western, central NY




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NYC schools stay open, deputies break up illegal fight club




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NYC virus rate stays below school-closing threshold, for now




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NYC to reopen schools, even as virus spread intensifies




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Mayor: No in-person learning for upper grades until new year




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State of the States: Nebraska

Gov. Dave Heineman used part of his speech to blast the federal Affordable Care Act, saying its mandatory provisions will cost the state.




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Civics-Test Bills Hit State Legislatures Again in 2016

A bill in Nebraska would require high school students to take a civics examination before graduating.




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Nebraska

Student Achievement (NAEP 2003)




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Nebraska




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Nebraska

State of the States: Education highlights from latest governor's address before the legislature.




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Nebraska

Nebraska education officials were hoping the legislature would come through with funding for plans to improve and coordinate distance learning throughout the state.




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Heavy Response to Nebraska Restraint Bill Illuminates Teachers' Frustrations

A Nebraska senator introduced a bill that would give teachers legal cover to physically restraint disruptive students, prompting a strong positive response from members of the state teachers' union.




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Nebraska

Gov. Heineman is calling for a simplified student-measurement system, increased parental involvement, and more-rigorous academic standards to close the achievement gap and increase overall academic performance.




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Nebraska School Cook Who Served Kangaroo Meat to Students Is Fired

A school cook in Nebraska was canned after he mixed kangaroo meat into chili made for students.




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Why Is Fidelity Always Seen as the New Four-Letter Word?

Fidelity is often seen as a bad word in school, but it doesn't have to be that way. In this guest blog by George Toman, the concept of fidelity is explained and defended.




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Nebraska




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Betsy DeVos Greenlights ESSA Plans for Nebraska and North Carolina

U.S. Ed Secretary DeVos has approved plans for 46 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Still waiting: California, Florida, Oklahoma, and Utah.




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New Public Data Tool Lets You See What Curricula Schools in Nebraska Are Using

Nebraska's education department released an interactive instructional materials map last week, showing what curricula districts have adopted for English-language arts, math, and K-8 science.




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Educational Opportunities and Performance in Nebraska

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.




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Elegy for the Educators

This poem pays tribute to the more than 400 teachers, principals, bus drivers, custodians, and other staff members we have lost to the pandemic so far.




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Did a Misunderstanding Put One State's Aid for Disadvantaged Students At Risk?

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is not famous for pressuring states into desired outcomes, but did put at least two states' Title I funding on "high-risk" status last year.




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Paraprofessional With 'Gentle Spirit' Dies at 27 From COVID-19

A former high school athletic standout and homecoming king, Pedro Garcia III “could connect with anybody,” no matter the language, said a teaching colleague in Cozad, Neb.




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This Pandemic Is No Time to Backtrack on Special Education

It's worth remembering how far we've come on educating students with disabilities, writes Nebraska's education commissioner Matthew L. Blomstedt.




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Educational Opportunities and Performance in Nebraska

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.




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Home Schooling Is Way Up With COVID-19. Will It Last?

The shift could have lasting effects on both public schools and the home-schooling movement.




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Anchorage School District in Alaska projects a $15.2M loss




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Winter sports practices, extracurriculars allowed to resume




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Noem says Education Secretary moving to Historical Society




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Ohio lawmakers OK revamp of eligibility for school vouchers




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Georgia high school tests won't count toward student grades