Here’s your weekly roundup and summary of important news in education.
First up, a roadblock for those hoping to get an Ivy League degree online…
Yale Medical School’s Request to Expand Campus Program Online Is Denied
The med school at Yale announced last month that it would offer a physician assistant master’s degree online through 2U, an online education company. However, the program was just denied accreditation.
This is a big deal because the degree would be the first of its kind—offering students a chance to earn an Ivy League degree online. It was seen as a sign that top schools in the U.S. were moving toward online degree options. What happened here shows us that getting there won’t be as easy as we thought. But 2U CEO Chip Paucek is still hopeful. He says accreditation is a hurdle in each new field, and he still plans to open five new academic programs (like the Yale physician assistant one) every year. We’ll see!
And then, of course, this happened…
Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton Announce They’re Running for President
What does this have to do with education? Well, both candidates have taken a stance on Common Core (you know, the state academic standards for students that have sparked many a debate between educations, politicians, and parents) but their views are way different from one another. Here’s where these two Oval Office hopefuls stand on the issue.
Marco says no way. He opposes Common Core and has criticized the feds for supporting the standards, saying it looks like an effort to set up a “national school board” to impose a wide-sweeping, national curriculum. Instead he supports school choice programs that, among other things, would offer taxpayer-paid scholarships to students to attend private schools. His stance puts him at odds with Jeb Bush, the (probably eventually) other Republican bid for president, who helped create Common Core.
Hillary says ok, but needs work. She thinks Common Core is (at its core) a good idea, but that it’s been unfortunately hijacked by political debate. Instead she called for teachers to “lead the way” in further developing the national standards. Her support for Common Core puts her at odds with teachers’ unions across the U.S. and even some fellow Democrats.
And for those of you bummed that you can’t get that online degree from Yale quite yet, here’s some good news…
The Senate Panel Approved a Bipartisan K-12 Bill That Could Replace “No Child Left Behind”
The new bill, called the Every Child Succeeds Act, was passed in a 22-0 vote by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee after three days of debate and lots of revisions. This bill would replace the controversial No Child Left Behind Act from the George W. Bush era.
For years, people have criticized No Child Left Behind for giving the government too much power in deciding what’s best for education and for placing too much emphasis on student test scores to judge and punish schools. Students would still have to take standardized tests under Every Child Succeeds, but this time the government would not be allowed to punish “failing” schools who don’t meet achievement goals. The new bill would also allow states to decide for themselves how much weight to give to test scores.
Now to see how the bill will do in front of the full Senate. But according to Education Dive, a date still hasn’t been set.
Did I miss any big education news from the week? Let me know! Drop me a message at maizie [at] magoosh [dot] com! 🙂
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Image 1: Photo courtesy of Wikimedia user Ragesoss. Licensed under Wikimedia Commons.
Image 2: Photo courtesy of Flickr user Gage Skidmore. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Image 3: Photo courtesy of Flickr user Brett Weinstein. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
Image 4: Photo courtesy of Wikimedia user LordHarris. Licensed under Wikimedia Commons.
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