1. Great small feature in the DMN today about the kindergarten dual-language immersion program at Sanger Elementary near White Rock Lake. Good book-end reading with this essay about the debate on how kindergarten learning should be structured — is it not playful and “child-centered” (too academically rigorous and stressful), or does that ignore research that says pre-K and K programs should be academically challenging?
2. On the DMN‘s education blog, Haag notes that of the 39 new campus leaders coming into DISD next year, only three are outside hires. The rest are promotions.
3. New York State is in the middle of its own school-reform efforts, the majority of which (common-core-aligned assessments and teacher evaluations tied in part to student performance) are highly controversial. Less so are the state’s new guidelines for English-language learning students. The core components of the guidelines: “All teachers, regardless of grade level or content expertise, should consider themselves teachers of English-learners; and that school leaders at all levels—including principals and superintendents—are responsible for the academic, linguistic, social, and emotional needs of ELLs.”
