Lawsuit settlement results in $50 million for reading programs in California schools – By Carolyn Jones, EdSource

Seventy-five California elementary schools where students have the lowest average reading scores will share $50 million in state grants to improve reading and writing instruction, according to a legal settlement announced Thursday.

The settlement in Los Angeles Superior Court ends a much-watched lawsuit filed on behalf of students who struggled with reading at three elementary schools — La Salle Avenue Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Van Buren Elementary School in the Stockton Unified School District, and Children of Promise Preparatory Academy, a charter school in the Inglewood Unified School District. The lawsuit, Ella T. vs. the State of California, alleged that the state violated the students’ civil rights by denying them a quality education.

“Achieving literacy for all children is one of the single most urgent issues in California,” said Mark Rosenbaum, a director at Public Counsel, a public interest law firm that filed the lawsuit with the law firm Morrison & Foerster. “This settlement is a milestone in that struggle.”

The literacy block grants, given over three years, will pay for literacy coaches, teacher’s aides, training for teachers and reading material that reflects the cultural makeup of the student population.

More rural North Dakota schools opting for 4-day week - By Jack Dura and Bilal Suleiman, Rapid City Journal

After 10 years in education, Wing Public School District Superintendent David Goetz began to notice a trend.

Students and teachers would begin the school year in August feeling refreshed and motivated to learn. But by the end of the school year, everyone felt burned out, and it was a slog to get through the remaining curriculum. He noticed this pattern recur as a teacher and as an administrator, in Kidder County, Gwinner and now in Wing.

“The first semester, the kids are learning. They really seem to be receptive of things. Then you take your second semester and it's just an extensive, long, drawn-out block,” Goetz said. “This time of year is always such a dread.”

He thinks North Dakota’s long winters, combined with a lack of holiday breaks during the spring semester, contributes to low morale and results in student-teacher burnout. And while the weather is out of his control, he could do something about the schedule.

Wing Public School District is the latest district in the state to convert to a four-day school week, a concept common in Montana and South Dakota but something that is just starting to catch on in North Dakota. In South Dakota, 34 school districts, or 23%, utilize a four-day week, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Montana, 62 school districts, or 13%, are on a four-day week.

Identifying Local Skills Gaps – By Madeline St. Amour, Inside Higher Ed

In a new report that analyzes the landscape in Minnesota, for example, Emsi found large gaps between supply and demand for discrete skills in med-tech manufacturing, including lean manufacturing, Six Sigma methodology and statistical process controls.

"We’re picking up the keywords that employers are saying they’re struggling to find," said Rob Sentz, chief innovation officer at the firm. While some professions -- nursing, for example -- might not require detailed postings because most people know what the job consists of, other industries that are changing quickly are asking for very specific skills that might not be traditionally implied with the job, he said.

This may be the furthest a firm has gotten in accurately assessing the gap between supply and demand for jobs and skills, according to Jim Fong, lead consultant at the University Professional and Continuing Education Association.

“Their ability to link labor … and education data, apply their forecasts, and link the external databases is impressive, and the job analytics they are producing are very good,” Fong said. “They’ve taken these external databases and organized them in a way that allows them to cross-reference so much data, including skills asked of employers for specific jobs, by occupation, industry and various levels of geography.”

Ohio graduates won’t have to be “proficient” in math or English, under state superintendent’s plan – By Patrick O’Donnell, Cleveland Plain Dealer

High school students won’t have to be “proficient” in either math or English to graduate, under minimum required test scores proposed by State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria.

They will just need to know enough to do the most basic of jobs.

New high school graduation requirements passed this summer require most students to show “competency” in math and English through scores on Ohio’s Algebra I and English II tests to qualify for a diploma. The new requirements start with the class 2023, this year’s high school freshmen.

The legislature left it to DeMaria and the Ohio Department of Education to set minimum scores on those tests by March 1, in consultation with the state Department of Higher Education and Office of Workforce Development.

With that deadline approaching, DeMaria told the state school board this month he plans to require scores of 684 on both exams, scores that are above the state’s “Basic” level of minimal skills, but short of its higher “Proficient” bar.