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Biden administration moves to protect Alaska wilderness; opening statements and first witness in NY trial; SCOTUS hears Starbucks case, with implications for unions on the line; rural North Carolina town gets pathway to home ownership.

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The Supreme Court weighs cities ability to manage a growing homelessness crisis, anti-Israeli protests spread to college campuses nationwide, and more states consider legislation to ban firearms at voting sites and ballot drop boxes.

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Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

What Education Act Changes Could Mean for Oregon

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Tuesday, July 21, 2015   

PORTLAND, Ore. – The federal law that governs public education across the country is getting a makeover, and so far Oregon educators say they're pleased with the possibilities.

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a major revision of "No Child Left Behind," the law that was criticized for its emphasis on student achievement tests. The House version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is much different, so a conference committee will soon be working on a compromise.

Judy Harris, a teacher in the Central Point district, says it's important that parents and educators stay involved in the process in order to balance the corporate lobbying that is an inevitable part of it.

"We want to make sure that those companies that are profiting from public education are not driving the decisions, and that the Senate and the House both come to the table and really keep what's good for our kids at the center of all of this work," she says.

Harris is on an Oregon committee that has been working for 18 months to develop more effective forms of student assessment. It includes representatives from the Oregon Education Association, Oregon Education Investment Board, and the state Department of Education. She says Oregon is already seeing interest in the committee's findings from other states.

As the compromise is hammered out to reauthorize the ESEA, Oregon Education Association President Hanna Vaandering says Congress heard – loudly and clearly – that standardized tests are given too often and have taken up too much classroom instruction time. She says changing the system should benefit Oregon public schools.

"For sure, it'll mean a couple of things. There will be more local control in decisions about spending, assessments and other components of education," she says. "And more ways to measure student performance in learning, and how districts are doing, from a more inclusive, comprehensive set of indicators."

Both new versions of the ESEA have received some criticism. The House version includes a voucher system, which teachers say will prompt more parents to move their children to charter schools and undermine the public school system. Civil rights groups have said the Senate version doesn't do enough to ensure that poor schools improve.


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