1. Due to parental concerns, the Chicago Public Schools is moving from 25 standardized tests a year to 10.
2. Teach for America will add 400 teachers in 9 cities–including 286 in D.C.–thanks to a $20 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation, which has also pledged another $43 million for training and support for Mississippi Delta teachers.
3. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education & Rehabilitative Services has warned educators in a “Dear Colleague” letter that moving a bullied student with a disability to a more segregated environment is a denial of his right to be educated in the least restrictive environment.
4. The first school forced into a major overhaul by California’s trigger law opened its doors for the first time this year.
5. Florida’s commissioner of education, Tony Bennett, resigned after ordering his staff to change a “C” grade to an “A”for the charter school Christel House Academy.
6. Funded by a $14 million grant from the Gates Foundation, the Crystals of Kaydor video game is “designed to measure children’s learning in real time while rewiring their brains to help them be more empathetic.”