Weekend Reading: Turmoil in Chicago schools could spread as bribery probe extends to Detroit

  • Corruption in Chicago’s schools is the latest education-related headache for Mayor Rahm Emmauel. (The Economist)
  • Investigators are checking to see if disgraced former Chicago school chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett gave sweetheart deals to benefactors during her time in Detroit. (Chicago Tribune)
  • Ex-Detroit principal to plead guilty in corruption case. (Detroit Free-Press)
  • Ohio’s winning federal grant application appears to have stretched the truth pretty far. (Columbus Dispatch)
  • Once the scourge of education reform in Kentucky, Floyd County schools are now the star. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
  • A panel of judges in Texas dismissed a lawsuit brought by the family of black students who were harassed for being black, even as the opinion acknowledged that many severe incidents against the students occurred. (Slate)
  • Here is a cool collection of interviews with New York City teachers on everything from why they chose to teach to their feelings on standardized testing to their own experiences in school. (Gothamist)
  • The mother of one of the few white students in her neighborhood school questions why her white neighbors want to start a charter school that emphasized diversity rather than attend the neighborhood school where diversity already exists. (Huffington Post)
  • A critical look at the legacy of outgoing U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan points to persistent gaps between rich and poor school districts and the backlash against the Common Core. (The Nation)
  • The school board in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., moved one step closer to adopting an enrollment plan that emphasizes choice and school diversity, but didn’t discuss a proposal to use factors such as race and socioeconomic diversity as considerations when drawing school boundaries. (Charlotte Observer)
  • A group of national, state and local teachers unions is pressuring school districts to abandon the McDonald’s-branded school fundraiser known as McTeacher’s Night. (NPR)
  • Why did Intel end its relationship with the high school science competition the Science Talent Search? It may be because the company is now focusing more on the newer Maker Faire. (The Atlantic)
  • Eva Moskowitz, the head of the high profile Success Academy charter school network, defends her schools’ practice of suspending very young students. (NewsHour)
  • Jimmy Fallon paid homage to his upstate New York high school in a funny school announcements parody sketch with Gabrielle Union. (Daily Freeman)