Daily Archives: March 3, 2014

Teachers Want More Time to Prepare for Common Core, Survey Finds

While most teachers support the Common Core State Standards, teachers acknowledge there are challenges around implementation of the standards, with a large majority saying they need more time to find materials and prepare lessons, a report from Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation finds.

Based on a survey of more than twenty thousand math, English language arts, science, and social studies teachers nationwide, the report, Primary Sources: America's Teachers on Teaching in an Era of Change (216 pages, PDF), found that the percentage of teachers who believe the new standards will improve the quality of the education their students receive increases as implementation of the standards progresses.
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Foundations Pledge $200 Million to Expand Opportunity for Young Men of Color

Ten foundations have announced that they will invest at least $200 million over five years as part of My Brother's Keeper, a White House initiative to expand opportunity for boys and young men of color.

Over the next ninety days, the foundations will design a strategy and infrastructure for coordinating their investments with commitments from other funders and the business community and identifying and scaling the most promising solutions. Areas of focus will include boosting early child development and school readiness, strengthening parenting and parent engagement, school discipline reform, providing access to jobs and economic opportunity, and supporting healthy families and communities.

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