EduClips: Florida Becomes Final State to Get ESSA Plan Approved; L.A. Parents Demand ‘Equitable Action’ in Schools as Possible Teacher Strike Looms — and More Must-Reads From America’s 15 Biggest School Districts

EduClips is off next week, returning Oct. 12 | EduClips is a roundup of the week’s top education headlines from America’s 15 largest school districts, where more than 4 million students across eight states attend class every day. Read previous EduClips installments here. Get the week’s school and policy highlights delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for the TopSheet Education Newsletter.

Top Story

SEXUAL ASSAULT — If students speak up about sexual assault, are their schools ready to help them?

Some researchers and advocates say there are too many barriers for students to seek assistance in such a vulnerable situation, and those concerns are being stoked anew amid a tumultuous Supreme Court confirmation process that has been complicated by allegations of sexual assault from three women.

Since the start of the #MeToo movement in 2017, educators and parents have watched to see how students would respond to resulting conversations about consent and power.

And now the allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have brought those questions into even sharper focus. Because the three allegations, which Kavanaugh has categorically denied, center on events that the women said occurred when the parties were in high school and college, the surrounding discussions are likely to resonate with students. (Read at Education Week)

National News

ESSA — Betsy DeVos Greenlights Florida’s ESSA Plan. Now All 50 States Have Been Approved. (Read at Politics K-12)

EQUITY — ‘This Zip Code Is Their World’: San Antonio’s Ambitious Plan to Expand School Options — and Horizons (Read at The74Million.org)

SPENDING BILL — Spending Bill Boosting Education Funding Clears Congress, Heads to Trump (Read at Politics K-12)

ADMISSIONS — Yale University Under Federal Investigation for Use of Race in Admissions Practices (Read at The Wall Street Journal)

SEXISM — Girls ‘ruin everything,’ school’s athletic director says, prompting backlash (Read at Fox News)

District and State News

CALIFORNIA — LA parents demand ‘equitable education’ as prospect of first LAUSD teachers strike in decades looms (Read at the Los Angeles Daily News)

NEW YORK — Find out how well your New York City school scored on state tests (Read at Chalkbeat)

ILLINOIS — How Chicago’s Public Schools Are Teaching the History of Police Torture (Read at The New Yorker)

HAWAII — Hawaii ‘worst state’ for teachers, and not just because of low pay (Read at Hawaii News Now)

CALIFORNIA — California’s schools superintendent isn’t very powerful. So why are groups throwing big money into the race? (Read at the Sacramento Bee)

NEVADA — The ‘Bucket List’: Education funding formula needs change, says group (Read at the Nevada Appeal)

TEXAS — Here’s why we on the Texas education board ditched Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller (Read at Dallas News)

NEW YORK — More schools are nixing homework because parents say it’s annoying (Read at the New York Post)

FLORIDA — Our Opinion: Florida fails the teacher test (Read at the Daily Commercial)

Think Pieces

IMMIGRATION — New Study: More Than 300,000 Children Have ‘Vanished’ From Schools After Local Police Formed Partnerships With ICE (Read at The74Million.org)

LOW-INCOME FAMILIES — Want to boost test scores and increase grad rates? One strategy: look outside schools and help low-income families (Read at Chalkbeat)

SCHOOL REFORM — Why Teachers Aren’t Buying What Education Reformers Are Selling (Read at Forbes)

MILITARY STUDENTS — Mesecar & Soifer — Appreciating the ‘Military Student Identifier’: How America’s New Education Law Will Help Schools Serve the Students Whose Parents Serve the Country (Read at The74Million.org)

DEAF STUDENTS – A bilingual app with sign language brings more stories to deaf children (Read at The Hechinger Report)

Quote of the Day

“Administrators too often attempt to shield students from ideas they subjectively decide are ‘hateful’ or ‘offensive’ or ‘injurious,’ or ones they just don’t like. This patronizing practice assumes students are incapable of grappling with, learning from, or responding to ideas with which they disagree.” —U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. (Read at Education Week)

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