It’s testing time:
- Last-minute prep is underway for the new Common Core-aligned state tests. (Times, Daily News)
- Both prosecutors and extra state monitors will look into Glen Cove’s possible cheating. (Times, WSJ)
- The “opt out” movement seems to be growing in steam, but how many will sit the tests out is unclear. (AP)
- The Daily News says the tougher tests are a difficult but necessary step on the path to better schools.
- Michael Goodwin: The Common Core standards could work, if we don’t worry about kids’ feelings. (Post)
In other news:
- The city is investigating 21 cases of possible misconduct on the annual school surveys. (Daily News)
- A South Bronx charter school with strong political ties got city permission to sell tax-exempt bonds. (Post)
- The city must pay teachers at least $2.6 million in overtime for using a slow special ed data system. (Post)
- Anthony Weiner didn’t fare well in an informal poll of some UFT members, sources said. (Post)
- The UFT is one of several major labor unions that so far has not picked a candidate to endorse. (Post)
- More than 2,300 kindergarteners are on wait lists at their zoned schools. (GothamSchools, Post, NY1)
- The DOE has a new chief operating officer — and he’s just 27 years old. (GothamSchools, Post)
- With JetBlue’s help, Aviation High School students flew to Florida for an aviation industry expo. (NY1)
- A teacher fired for a student affair also had sex with students at school, city investigators found. (Post)
- The Daily News calls on the city to look into the gender imbalance at its most elite high schools.
- The upstate teacher who assigned an essay asking students to think like Nazis was suspended. (AP)
- A Missouri school that’s training its teachers to carry guns to school has parents’ approval. (Times)
- Jal Mehta: Improving schools requires overhauling the teaching profession, not tinkering with it. (Times)