Convincing kids that “grit” is the key to success teaches them that all challenges are possible to overcome, and that’s not always true. (The Atlantic)
Every year the story is the same in Ohio: poor districts do poorly on the state test while while wealth schools’ scores go up. (Cleveland Plain-Dealer)
Ohio charter school advocates push hard to shift school grades so they compare test scores with “similar” students. (Cleveland Plain-Dealer)
Patrick Harrel, formerly of The Mind Trust, describes how he hopes to make a similar push for change in Cincinnati. (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Indiana’s Greater Clark County Schools come back with a smaller facilities plan after a referendum defeat. (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Louisville schools struggle to control fights and other problems on school buses. (WDRB)
Is Michigan trying to turn Detroit schools into charter schools? The governor says no. Democrats say yes. (Detroit Free Press)
Chicago’s teachers union sets a strike vote for Dec. 9 to 11. (Sun-Times)
A third of Chicago principals call for state lawmakers to save the district from deep funding cuts. (Sun-Times)
Part of Mark Zuckerberg’s $45 billion gift (to his own charity) will advance “personalized learning.” Here’s what that means. (Time)
The remainder of Zuckerberg’s donation to Newark’s schools will fund “community schools” that offer social services. (N.J. Spotlight)
Those viral math problems that are meant to pillory the Common Core? A math teacher says they reflect good math sense but not always good teaching. (Salon)
How math gets taught has been and always will be a political question, not just a pedagogical one. (The Upshot)
A Harlem Children’s Zone-inspired initiative aims to improve the lives of children in 2.25 square miles in Colorado. (Chalkbeat)
Go inside the DreamYard Project, which is bringing the arts to children and teens in the South Bronx. (The New Yorker)
When teachers bar students from using the word “said” to promote creativity, they’re really promoting bad writing. (Slate)
Boston’s new schools chief says he’s drawing inspiration from a school that vaulted from worst to award-winning. (Hechinger Report)
The replacement for No Child Left Behind is called the Every Student Succeeds Act and would require states and districts (again) to overhaul low-scoring schools. (Politics K-12)
A top national teachers union official apologized after seeming to denigrate students with disabilities in a speech about how hard teachers’ jobs are. (Washington Post)
An economist argues that increasing educational attainment won’t end poverty. (Demos)