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EduClips: Chicago Special Ed Overhaul Violated Law, State Says; Teachers, Student Activists Mobilize for Midterm Elections — and More Must-Reads From America’s 15 Biggest School Districts

EduClips is a roundup of the day’s top education headlines from America’s largest school districts, where more than 4 million students across eight states attend class every day. Read previous EduClips installments here. Get the day’s top school and policy news delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for the TopSheet Education Newsletter.

Top Story

DEVOS — U.S. Secretary Betsy DeVos’s team is mulling a significant reorganization of the office of elementary and secondary education or OESE, the main K-12 arm of the U.S. Department of Education.

The effort would be part of the Trump administration’s overall push to “streamline” government. The department signaled earlier this year that it would merge the OESE, which oversees programs like Title I grants to help districts serve disadvantaged students, with the office for innovation, which deals with charters, programs for private schools, and more.

As part of that merger, the department is considering a reshuffling of OESE itself. It could mean consolidating and reconfiguring the eight smaller offices within the broader OESE, according to a draft plan explaining the changes. Those are: the offices of academic improvement, early learning, Impact Aid, Indian education, migrant education, safe and healthy students, school support and rural programs, and the office of state support. (Read at Politics K-12)

National News

MIDTERM ELECTIONS — David Hogg Wants to Knock NRA-Backed Candidates Out of Office. His Biggest Obstacle? The Lackluster Voting Habits of His Young Peers (Read at the74Million.org)

CHARTERS — Two former staff members at Families for Excellent Schools planning a new pro-charter org (Read at Chalkbeat)

MIDTERM ELECTIONS — Teacher Activists Take Fight to the Polls (Read at Education Week)

District and State News

ILLINOIS — State: Chicago Special Education Overhaul Violated Law (Read at U.S. News and World Report)

FLORIDA — Nearly half of Florida’s VPK students not ready for kindergarten (Read at Herald-Tribune)

TEXAS — Texas schools chief to get $750K in wake of bullying claims (Read at WRAL)

CALIFORNIA — Talking schools with L.A. Unified’s new superintendent (Read at Los Angeles Times)

NEW YORK — In New York High Schools, the Sound of Music Is Muted (Read at New York Times)

FLORIDA — Florida group sues Collier schools over unbalanced science books (Read at ABC 7)

VIRGINIA — ‘It’s tragic’: Students go hungry in Northern Virginia (Read at Washington Post)

NEVADA — Opinion: CCSD must honor deal it made with its teachers (Read at Las Vegas Sun)

CALIFORNIA — The rise of restorative justice in California schools brings promise, controversy (Read at EdSource)

NEW YORK — At West Prep Academy, officials say the Upper West Side integration debate misses the larger issue: how students are sorted into middle schools (Read at Chalkbeat)

Think Pieces

BROWN’S LEGACY — How America’s Schools Have (and Haven’t) Changed in the 64 Years Since the Brown v. Board Verdict — as Told in 15 Charts (Read at The74Million.org)

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS — 5 High Schoolers and Their College Application Essays About Work, Money and Social Class (Read at New York Times)

SPECIAL EDUCATION — Veteran policymaker says 80 percent of special-ed kids don’t need that label (Read at Washington Post)

SCHOOL SAFETY — Rotherham: School Shootings Are Rare. We Need to Dial Back the Fear So Students Can Engage on the Issue of Guns in Society (Read at The74Million.org)

LEARNING — Students Learn Less When They Sense Teacher Hostility (Read at Education Week)

EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS — Are educational videos leaving low-income students behind? (Read at Hechinger Report)

CHARTERS — Charter Schools Point toward a Better Education for All (Read at National Review)

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING — Project-based learning and standardized tests don’t mix (Read at Hechinger Report)

Quote of the Day

“If you’re interested in ‘Will young organizers make a difference in this election,’ I think the answer is yes. But if you’re interested in ‘Do young people really participate in our democracy,’ then I think the answer is basically no. And that’s a bad thing.” — Peter Levine, who studies youth civic engagement and is the associate dean for research at the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. (Read at the74Million.org)

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