California’s out-of-school suspension rate is way down, but the “discipline gap” remains, reports Mario Koran on The 74. Black students are much, much more likely to be suspended. The number of out-of-school suspensions declined by 46 percent from 2011-12 to 2016-17, Koran reports. That reflects national trends. In 2014, an Obama administration “rethink discipline” guidance pressured schools to reduce disparities in suspension rates for black and Latino students and for speci

Well, it looks like tracking to me. And I’m fine with it. Jonathan Plucker, a Johns Hopkins education professor, sees “a subtle shift” in the last four years from boosting minimum competency to challenging achievers. He advocates placing “high-achieving and high-ability students in advanced classrooms for their strongest subjects, but not for every subject,” writes Goldstein. The groupings should be more flexible than the rigid “tracking” of students in decades past, the advo

Discipline reform may have contributed to the violence at Douglas High School, writes Erika Sanzi, who blogs on Good School Hunting, on Real Clear Education. . . . since 2013, schools have been under enormous pressure — for good reason — to lower their suspension, expulsion, and student arrest numbers. Broward County was part of the PROMISE program (Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Supports & Education), which was intended, according to t

Screening all children for giftedness could help close the “gifted gap” and reduce inequality, suggests a Fordham report. Only 6.1 percent of students in high-poverty schools have access to advanced learning, compared to 12.4 percent of students in low-poverty schools. Photo: Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth Failing to develop the potential of capable students from low-income families means “we lose potential Einsteins,” write Amber Northern and Checker Finn i

Percentage of children and youth ages 3–21 served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by race/ethnicity: 2014–15 Don’t set racial quotas for special education, writes Jerome Woehrle on Liberty Unyielding. The Education Department is soliciting public input on delaying or dumping an Obama-era regulation that threatened funding of districts that  disproportionately place blacks and Latinos in special education. The rule should be repealed, writes Woehrl

Gifted classes in Miami schools include a mix of low-income and minority students, reports Claudia Rowe for the Seattle Times. That’s because the district uses a different standard for identifying disadvantaged children as “gifted.” In Miami, middle-class and affluent kids need IQ scores of at least 130, while low-income children or those whose first language is not English can get in with scores 13 points lower — provided they rate highly in measures of creativity and academ

At 25 percent of urban charter schools, 99 percent of students are non-white, reports AP. That compares to 10 percent of traditional public schools. Does it matter? Kindergartners at a New Orleans charter school. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images Some inner-city families prefer “cultural homogeneity,” AP concedes. Others simply want a safe, effective school. Test scores tend to be higher at integrated schools, reports AP.  Only 20 percent of students reach proficiency at traditi

Progressive San Francisco is one of the worst districts in the state when it comes to educating low-income black and Latino students, concludes an Innovate Public Schools analysis. Overall, San Francisco Unified outscores other urban districts because it has so many (35 percent) high-scoring Asian-American students; another 14 percent of students are white. However, the black/Latino achievement gap is huge. Percent proficient in English and math, 2016-17, San Francisco Unifie

Chicago Public Schools is the fastest-improving urban district, concludes Stanford’s Sean F. Reardon. Test scores for the average Chicago student went up by six grades in the five years between third and eighth grade, he told a conference of education experts. The gains mean CPS has moved from a low-performing urban district to the national average for big cities, notes the Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago’s Latino students are narrowing the achievement gap. Photo: Jose M. Osorio/C

White teachers’ low expectations for their black students could become “self-fulfilling prophecies,” concludes an analysis published in Education Next. When evaluating the same black student, 33 percent of black teachers expected the student to finish college, compared to 24 percent of white teachers, the study found. There was no difference in predictions for white students. Teacher expectations affect student success, conclude Seth Gershenson, a public policy professor at A

Latinos’ high school graduation rates have soared and they’re far more likely to enroll in two- and four-year colleges. However Latino college graduation rates have stalled, reports Catherine Gewertz in Education Week. Latino Education and Economic Progress: Running Faster but Still Behind. Two-thirds of Latino students enroll in community colleges with low graduation rates, the study finds. However, 60 percent of Latinos complete certificates, compared to a 47 percent comple

A majority of working-class whites think college is a “risky gamble,” according to a new survey, reports the Houston Chronicle. Only 44 percent of whites said getting a college education is a smart investment, while 54 percent said college may not pay off, the PRRI/Atlantic analysis found. Blacks and Latinos strongly believe going to college is worthwhile, the survey reported. Overall, 55 percent of Americans called getting a college education a smart investment. In a survey