New York District Sued For Barring Student With Down Syndrome From Entering Middle School.

Fox News (9/1) reports that a New York father is suing Long Island’s Westhampton Beach School District, alleging that it “won’t enroll his 12-year-old Down syndrome son.” He accuses the district “of ‘stonewalling’ him for two years after he initially inquired about where his son Aiden would be placed after his elementary school graduation.”

ABC News (9/1) reports that Chris Killoran “wants his 12-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, to attend the same middle school as his friends and siblings, but says the Westhampton Beach School District will not let Aiden Killoran in.” Killoran alleges that “denying Aiden entry is a violation of his civil rights.” CBS News (9/2) also covers this story.

Program Aims To Help Rural Students With Autism.

Jackie Mader writes for the Education Week (9/2) “Rural Education” blog that a new program developed in Utah “is attempting to bring more support to rural children with autism by providing online therapy courses for families.” The ReachASD program aims “to teach parents how to therapeutically play with their children” in order to “improve motor skills and social skills for children with autism through play, and also introduce families to therapeutic toys that can teach children specific skills.” The piece explains that rural districts are often unable to provide adequate services because they “struggle to attract and retain special education teachers and therapists.”

Today's COMMON CORE Stories:

ED Denies Blue Ribbon Awards To New York Schools For High Opt-Out Rates Generating Controversy. Newsday (NY) (9/2, Hildebrand) reports ED denied Blue Ribbon awards to 11 schools in New York because of the high number of students that opted out of taking standardized testing. Some school officials criticized the decision, “It’s a shame that the government...is basing it on a narrow test score,” said a school board trustee who oversees one of the schools denied an award. Steve Sigmund, the executive director of nonprofit High Achievement New York that supports Common Core standards, praised the decision. Sigmund said that a school thinking they can get award for their test results when so many of their students did not take the test “is just not realistic.” New York State Official: Students Have Right To Opt Out Of Common Core Testing. The Albany (NY) Business Review (9/1, Roiter, Subscription Publication) reports that, according to WAMC, New York State Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia said students will be able to opt out of Common Core testing, though she hopes that parents will “have their children take the tests again in the future.” The Business Review reports that “the number of students in grades third through eighth opting out of the rest quadrupled to 20 percent” last year, but Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch has said that “the state will not be taking money from districts” over the higher opt-out rates. Op-Ed: Oregon’s Smarter Balanced Test Is An Improvement. In an op-ed for the Oregonian (9/2), Sue Levin, the current board chair of Stand for Children Oregon, writes in support of the state’s Smarter Balanced tests, which according to the Beaverton School District “give a better measure of college readiness” than the previous test, the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS). Levin says, “I now have confidence that my daughter is mastering appropriate grade-level skills,” but asserts that the Smarter Balanced assessment must be carried out “in a smarter, more time-efficient way.” American Enterprise Institute Scholar Discusses Common Core. The Wall Street Journal (9/2, Subscription Publication) editorial board member Mary Kissel discusses the political debate over Common Core testing with American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Rick Hess, who explains how the assessment is intended to work. Hess also touches on some of the controversial aspects of the testing.

Washington Teachers Face Larger Classes As State Leaders Seek Funding Solution.

The KING-TV Seattle (9/1, Konopasek) website reports that teachers in Washington state will be dealing with larger classes this year after state lawmakers set aside a voter-approved “initiative to reduce class sizes...because, they said, there was no money to pay for it.” Gov. Jay Inslee and state House and Senate leaders are working on a funding plan, but in the meantime the “state Supreme Court is also putting pressure on Olympia, heavily fining the legislature until it gets the job done.” KING-TV reports that a study by the Center for Public Education found that young children achieve more in smaller classes, but that same study notes “some researchers have not found a connection between class size and student achievement.”

Alaska Has Achievement Gap Between White And Native Students, President Obama Names Alaskan Educator To National Council.

The Washington Post (9/1, Brown) reports Alaska has a significant achievement gap between white and Alaska Native students. In 2013 the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 78% of white students graduated on time compared to only 57% of Alaska Native students. The assessment also found that 41% of white fourth-graders are proficient in reading compared to only 7% of Native Alaskan students. During his visit to the state, President Obama named Doreen Brown, an Alaskan Native educator in the Anchorage School District, to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education, which advises Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Opinion: High Schools Need More Career And Technical Education Classes.

In an opinion piece in Forbes (9/1, Wyman), Nicholas Wyman, a Forbes writer, says that US high schools need to bring back more career and technical education classes as they had in the past. Wyman argues that the presumption that all high school students will go to college fails to prepare the many high school students who will not pursue higher education for the jobs available to them.

DC Schools Adding More High School Electives During “The Year Of The High School.”

The Washington Post (9/1, Chandler) reports DC Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson is calling the current school year “The Year of the High School” because the district is putting extra funds towards high schools to improve the number and variety of classes offered. The article highlights the increased offerings at Cardozo High School, which has 22 elective courses this year available compared to only 6 last year. The high school has added choir, ceramics, debate, and many other classes as electives for students this year.

State-Appointed Receiver Recommends Pennsylvania Pay Off Debt Of Troubled School District.

The Delaware County (PA) Daily Times (8/31, Sullivan) reports Dr. Francis Barnes, the receiver appointed by Pennsylvania to review the finances of Chester Upland School District, has recommended that the state pay an $8.7 million debt owed by the district to charter schools so that the district can stay open during the coming year.

Florida Becomes First State To Require High School Athletes Educate Themselves On Concussion Risks.

NPR (8/31, Sussingham) reports the Florida High School Athletic Association passed a new rule this summer requiring all athletes “watch a video about concussions and sign a form saying they understand concussion risks.” This makes Florida schools the first in the nation to take this step, and football programs “are already dealing with the extra paperwork.” Justin Harrison of the Florida High School Athletic Association explained the idea is to “educate as many people as possible, so that athletes — and not just coaches — can recognize concussion symptoms in other players.”

Hawaii BOE To Consider Scaled-Back Student Discipline Policy Tuesday.

The Honolulu Civil Beat (8/31, Terrell) reports the Hawaii Board of Education is considering a “scaled-back student discipline policy on Tuesday” that would “make suspensions an action of last resort.” The policy was first presented to the board in May, but delayed to June and again in August following “complaints from school principals who felt the BOE did not garner enough input from them.” The new version would also remove the section “addressing the presence of law enforcement officers of campuses.”

Circuit Court Rules Parents Do Not Have Constitutional Right To Choose Between Public Schools.

The Wall Street Journal (8/31, Gershman, Subscription Publication) reports the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a group of white parents who claimed they had a constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment to transfer their children out of a low-performing school district that is predominantly black to a neighboring district. The District Court that first heard the case ruled against the parents affirming the decision of the school district to deny the transfer requests because the school district is still subject to an integration court order that is more than 40 years old and also held that the US Constitution does not guarantee public school choice.

Maryland Teachers Union Launches Ad Campaign Against Too Many Standardized Tests.

The Washington Post (8/31, Wiggins) reports the Maryland Education Association launched a statewide advertising campaign called “Less Testing, More Learning” to reduce the amount of standardized tests teachers administer to students. The half-million, month-long campaign includes “two weeks of television commercials” on local stations, as well as “radio and digital advertisements.” Stephen Hershkowitz, a spokesman for the teachers union, “said the campaign is part of the union’s plan to make over-testing a priority in the 2016 General Assembly session.”

Study: Young Children Given Too Much Homework Causing Stress For Them And Families.

The Boston Globe (9/1, Albernaz) reports The American Journal of Family Therapy published a study that found young children are often given too much homework leading to stress for them and their parents. The National Educational Association and the National PTA both endorse the “10-minute rule”, which says students should only be given around 10 minutes of homework for each grade level (e.g. a second grader should get 20 minutes). The study found that first graders had an average of 28 minutes of homework per night, and that second graders had an average of 29 minutes per night. A contributing editor of the study Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman says, “Homework takes time away from free play and learning creative thinking. It increases stress and cuts down on time for building social skills.”

Mindfulness Can Help Teachers And Students.

In a nearly 4,000 word article, The Atlantic (8/31) reports that a group of new studies indicate that mindfulness through meditation or other means could benefit teachers and students at schools. The article highlights the findings of different studies that examined how meditation and other practices could impact student learning as well as students with learning disabilities or anxiety disorders. The articles also shares stories from teachers and students about how mindfulness can have a positive impact on education.

Report: Chronic Absenteeism Hurts Academic Performance.

The Washington Post (9/1, Brown) outlines the major points made in a new report created by two collaborating nonprofits: Attendance Works and the Healthy Schools Campaign. The report finds that chronic absenteeism from school is a major contributor to achievement gaps for poor and minority children. The report found that children who frequently miss school regularly fall behind in their academic achievement and often fail to ever catch up. EdSource (8/31, Tully) also outlined the findings of the new report from Attendance Works and how they affect education in California. The report found that “California’s low-income, black and disabled students are more likely to miss school frequently, which can be linked to future achievement gaps and dropout rates.”