Weekend Reading: How testing contracts could take down Common Core

Could the war over Common Core testing contracts take down the whole initiative? (Politico)

Newark’s embattled superintendent could stay another three years but internal strife seems unlikely to die down. (PolitickerNJ)

What’s right way to teach students how to read? A debate. (Room for Debate)

The problems with school discipline and mental health for students of color extend far beyond the classroom. (Colorlines)

In North Carolina, legislators are pushing out the Common Core, over the objections of the teachers’ union. (WFDD)

Beloved author Walter Dean Myers, who took on stories of adolescence that are rarely told, passed this week. (A.V. Club)

Longer school days haven’t gone over well with Washington D.C.’s teachers union. (Washington Post)

The national teachers union leader and Los Angeles’ superintendent go head to head over Vergara on stage. (Atlantic)

What’s wrong — and what’s right — with a “need-to-know” list of facts on education reform. (Shanker blog)

A teacher reflects on what it takes to write good math problems. (Rational Expressions)

Even doctors and airplane pilots struggle their first year. Why should we expect anything different of rookie teachers? (Education Next)

There’s a new degree specifically for those who hope to open a charter school or redesign an existing school. (EdWeek)

Reading Rainbow is for getting kids to enjoy reading, not teaching them reading in the first place. (New Yorker)