<div style="font-family:arial;color:black;font-size:10pt;">
<div><img style="display: block;" name="aolmail_ACCOUNT.IMAGE.411" src="http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs160/1102261797723/img/411.jpg" border="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="640"></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" valign="top" width="100%">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding-bottom:6px;color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" height="1" valign="top"><img style="display: block;" alt="" src="http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="5"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK60"></a><table style="background-color:#ebf5f6;" id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK60" bgcolor="#ebf5f6" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:18pt;padding:25px 25px 0px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a shape="rect">
<div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Lawyers Run the Legal Profession. Doctors Run the Medical Profession. Why Don't Teachers Run Education?</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">by guest blogger Ellie Herman</span></div>
</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 18px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><span>I'm fed up with the inefficiency of the judicial system! I'm
going to become a judge. I may not be a lawyer, but I've been a
law-abiding citizen all my life, I mean, how hard could it be? I have 20
years of business experience in the TV industry. When I blow into the
courtroom demanding accountability, I am going to shake things up! Who
needs legal experience when you understand the bottom line?</span> <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopiJzvZQvmObvSSqZ7BLykcqwx1V6hKFCyH4Fl5r2bi7UwkkOeueAm-1T83ME9CnyPncZhwAB4QQ3LZyMcmIdfyeLNdUTogC_jQ6FDfhSPs6KD3f0wpPgyRQyFjD88xMoigicHUgSR7GgU7gao_GE3oqVSEHK4-CmvFnMJMewlIbyLHYzsxOcyBz7CKf_Hl8tAAhHrIEWTzAiM-Ge5YCB7bUXyEzOr9tRQ-mTE8MAunk5D1GW_qGBiUj9El4Y51oiCGi7ySqd7MNc=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">Read More & Comment</a><br>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;" align="center"><a class="aolmail_imgCaptionAnchor" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4Rv3ix6-Kb4IAwjGrl82yxnv3wdBwpVTCElfcGgkoCVY58wOUW8bbAr7ogNF_jxSC260EjC-AG4ocIVg-WNZ43TGLNmye3MOO7QOjrawwvlh_R7cNsxGNHpjVQxohvCYV7cIVzXpWtK1&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A=="><img name="aolmail_ACCOUNT.IMAGE.437" src="http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs160/1102261797723/img/437.jpg" border="0" height="51" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="192"></a> <br>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="background:transparent;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding:25px 0px 25px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" valign="middle" width="100%">
<table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK31" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:25px 25px 25px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" valign="top"><img style="border: 1px dashed black;" name="aolmail_ACCOUNT.IMAGE.415" alt="pencils" src="http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs160/1102261797723/img/415.jpg" border="0" height="209" hspace="0" vspace="5" width="220"> </td></tr></tbody></table></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<table style="width:270px;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="1">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center"><img style="display: block;" alt="" src="http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="5"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
<td style="background:transparent;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" valign="top" width="100%">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding:25px 0px 25px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" valign="top" width="100%">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="color:#76b5be;font-style:italic;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;padding:7px 25px 18px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>May 20, 2014 - In This Issue:</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;padding:0px 25px 0px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK17">Brown at 60: Why we're disappointed</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK45">The altered trajectory of Michelle Robinson</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK44">Brown's unfinished business</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK43">Redistricting in education</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK42">When EL reclassification works</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK53">A damning look at VAM</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK55">Charter/traditional cross-fertilization proves elusive</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK54">Less pleasure in reading</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK46">BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK56">BRIEFLY NOTED</a></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;border-bottom:2px dotted #8c8d8d;border-color:#8c8d8d;padding:7px 0px 7px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><a style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;font-size:10pt;" shape="rect" href="http://mail.aol.com/38563-111/cs_com-6/en-us/Lite/MsgRead.aspx?folder=NewMail&uid=27632884&seq=1&searchIn=none&searchQuery=&start=0&sort=received&sortDir=descending#aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK19">GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES</a></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" valign="top" width="100%">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="background-color:#989898;padding-bottom:3px;height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#989898" height="1" valign="top"><img style="display: block;" alt="" src="http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="5"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding-bottom:6px;color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" height="1" valign="top"><img style="display: block;" alt="" src="http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="5"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK17"></a><table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK17" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 9px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><span style="color: #f14e23;"><b><span>Brown at 60: Why we're disappointed</span></b></span></div>
<div style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">An issue brief from the
Economic Policy Institute highlights key elements of the American
education system in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. While
Brown prompted widespread desegregation of American society, it was
least successful in its purported aim: Black children are more racially
and socioeconomically isolated today than at any time since 1970. Black
academic achievement has improved dramatically in recent decades, but so
has that of whites, so huge achievement gaps remain. Resource
inequalities for schools are fewer, but resource equality in itself
insufficient, since disadvantaged students require greater resources for
success in school: high-quality early childhood programs, birth to
school age; high-quality after-school and summer programs; full-service
school health clinics; skilled teachers; and smaller classes. Even given
these, students rarely succeed in racially and economically isolated
schools where remediation and discipline supplant instruction, excessive
student mobility disrupts learning, involvement of more-educated
parents is absent, and students lack adult and peer models of
educational success. Raising achievement of low-income black children
requires residential integration, and education policy is housing
policy. Federal requirements for residential integration have been
unenforced, and programs to subsidize movement of low-income families to
middle-class communities have been weak and ineffective. Correcting
these policy shortcomings is essential if the promise of Brown is to be
fulfilled. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopnh7CmzA9XXJbzbJl74mJMg8wfaQHnu7rM1BaQPQez-yNrjfyqP6snR0r8paGz8cO584EJfnEzZMvRy3V8WuvSRIkvIkHP-5CvXR_N8GVH1VfIVWiNraPG3Y4mcw96z9kYbOs1tmY0gABWycNoIymhLZCMcY71NZB&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
<a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK45"></a><table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK45" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 9px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><span style="color: #f14e23;"><b>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">The altered trajectory of Michelle Robinson</div>
</b></span></div>
<div style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">In 1975, under pressure
from the Supreme Court decision desegregating public schools, Chicago
opened a racially integrated high school for high achievers that changed
young Michelle Robinson's life, writes Sheryl Gay Stolberg for The New
York Times. Her now husband, Barack Obama, attended a prep school in
multicultural Hawaii, but Mrs. Obama was raised in a one-bedroom
apartment and later a house in South Shore, a neighborhood experiencing
rapid white flight. By 1980, the year she turned 16, it was 96 percent
black, as were its schools. Yet the Whitney M. Young Magnet High School
seems to have truly changed Mrs. Obama's life, getting her out of her
neighborhood and exposing her to a truly diverse educational
environment. Mrs. Obama credits Whitney Young with setting her on a path
to Princeton University and Harvard Law School. But even at Whitney
Young, Mrs. Obama often recounts how adults insisted she was not Ivy
League material. "Get this," Mrs. Obama has told students, "some of my
teachers straight up told me I was setting my sights too high." Mrs.
Obama has always cast such conversations in terms of achievement, not
racial dynamics. To that, Charles Ogletree Jr., her law professor at
Harvard, said, "And she never will." But, he adds, "You can read between
the lines." <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopGozLoESutX_6QAFYmqt49SeKLIyqyHBphiBaZuNzthY_iQARF82yfnpp9NB_tDUhqaqgZNa5_OPHiXCtPOMKyGW4-qvbCqOJYCEjUUhWwJihxtLLGuQ_Os2iR8FJweTJ07FgJ1eAznzkp81vD87klt_eMcmR30Lfachbkl3pMKBr85tB7_4iJsH_o_qcPaphH3Zy_nW_-2BKSj9jVe-jYnx1Rv1rfbbsiuHCt3YPMFvYKEuGDq6NOg==&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table><a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK44"></a><table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK44" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 9px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><span style="color: #f14e23;"><b>Brown's unfinished business</b></span></div>
<div style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span>The
legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education has been clouded by unintended
consequences -- the destruction of an entire class of African-American
educators, for instance -- and shifting demographics, writes Peg Tyre
for Politico.com. Its intentions -- to equalize access to educational
opportunity for all -- have proven no match for the unprecedented
economic shift that has seen wealth and privilege centralized in the
hands of relatively few. As social policy, desegregation paid immediate
dividends, to be sure. The yawning achievement gap between white and
black students narrowed, and high school graduation rates for
African-American children rose. But 60 years after Brown v. Board of
Education, the achievement gap between rich and poor students is wider
than the gap between black and white students in 1950. One lasting,
positive legacy was Brown's opening the door for the 1965 Elementary
& Secondary Education Act, which compelled communities to spend
education dollars using race-blind formulas. Before Brown,
African-American children learned lessons in overcrowded schoolhouses
with outdoor plumbing and tattered textbooks, while white children from
the same communities attended schools with low teacher-to-student
ratios, generously funded extra-curricular activities, and brand-new
textbooks. But relative resource parity now masks another truth.
Currently, African-American children, and particularly low-income
African American children, are as likely to attend majority non-white
schools as they were in 1960.</span> </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpop1T5qzsSOEHi-8KwAuidgwtduzpdmm1MC2iTDwGtwKH3gIUIke-NJBVtNZ24IKlpJ6tdkxDbSLxq7T62u-gynagvwIuC-vWQgfSFHPCmx_D1P4IKmM7AnNm7wobPWGxi_4llTwOc7vzoiv4v70HayN2z-3tK_XUq0yEAQNxuSOB513vqKEuOmCvp5PFHxOyoerRyRnqIDDml7VRiaYklLRMC_uwDylXuqanWrTIiOnjM=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table><a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK43"></a><table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK43" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 9px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><b>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Redistricting in education</div>
</b></div>
<div style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span>Splinter
districts are a new secessionism anchored in the South, writes Susan
Eaton in The Nation. Cities, towns -- even unincorporated areas -- are
renouncing larger districts, breaking established education communities
into more narrow and racially homogeneous ones. Breakaway districts
exacerbate resource disparity and sweep away desegregation, and are
centered in the South because its districts tend to enroll students from
cities and towns throughout a county as opposed to a single
municipality. Secessionist districts take resources with them, most
obviously students on which tax-dollar distributions are based.
Generally, these districts capture all taxable property within tightened
boundaries, cutting off revenues previously shared. Rapidly developing
or well-developed suburbs have an advantage over older communities that
typically suffer population declines and shrinking tax revenue. And a
desire for "good schools" drives decisions about where to live. As
Professor Jennifer Holme of the University of Texas-Austin has shown,
white presumptions about "good schools" are driven by "status
ideologies" formed by race and class biases. Home values, tied to a
district's reputation, rise or fall accordingly, aiding a community's
ascension or decline. It may be power on school boards that
secessionists prefer not to share, or perhaps they're shunning
lackluster test scores. Even if we assume nonracial motivation,
secessionism is undermining whatever racial diversity still lingers in
some schools.</span> </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopJicg6yQD-bRSr-QCHO2r9XULmV34oaAQ_xpRUGschT5j5O8GF3IBzcqYKNXT32W3FZ5vNMH6xJ4dtDwAhrzQ1q9JMdwr8cmA9cpGfiKb27WyybG6FpRjpypKz-L0FDouHZYJDTrH_4ZMXNBNqSq09rpy0yl_djGpg9wyztXC2x7MAxq-sTxmJSowWTmQocjOlGfeZBYIUvmuW7l7nVUDeYsYhxZwQ002r4kbVf15Yqeexz26jfW5fg==&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table><a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK42"></a><table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK42" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 9px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><span style="color: #f14e23;"><b>When EL reclassification works</b></span></div>
<div style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span>A
new report from the Public Policy Institute of California finds that
English Learners (ELs) reclassified as proficient in English by the end
of fifth grade perform as well or better academically than native
speakers, and continue to do so through middle and high school. The
report followed students from Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified
over 10 years, from second grade through the twelfth. Reclassified
students were as likely or more likely than native speakers to make
on-time progress from one grade to the next, and were as likely or more
likely to graduate from high school. There is no evidence that the
removal of language support impedes student academic progress relative
to that of native English speakers. The report notes that Los Angeles
and San Diego have different criteria for reclassifying English
Learners, but the factors that predict success are remarkably similar,
despite the complexity of the process. The researchers conclude with a
list of recommendations to help ease transition to new policies:
Consider allowing districts to reclassify students on the basis of a
single test; consider use of reclassification criteria that are
rigorous; and consider a uniform standard for reclassification across a
state's districts. A standard set of criteria could improve fairness and
make it much easier to evaluate district successes.</span> </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopwyfL8aogaCtPueGnCca4xeBG-uX_2X1A1GKGP2nVSnVbwadUla-GI1NcqQtgXwQnrPiyPNk_21N5WWI0yF8id1DVTJmeIIaSm1fQj_h-D8weTfxWsD2QhvfzHVdzReDzBps-nOFZxLAgcahVxvjMF10BjhjJ4T5m&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
<a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK53"></a><table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK53" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 9px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><span style="color: #f14e23;"><b>A damning look at VAM</b></span></div>
<div style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">A new report from the University of Pennsylvania explores how <span style="font-size: 10pt;">teachers'
instructional alignment (content coverage) is associated with student
learning and teacher effectiveness, as measured by composite evaluation
measures including the value-added model (VAM). Researchers used a
sub-sample of approximately 300 teachers from the Bill & Melinda
Gates foundation's Measures of Effective Teaching study and surveyed
coverage of topics and levels of cognitive demand using the Surveys of
Enacted Curriculum (SEC) content taxonomies. Based on the sample, the
researchers found weak associations of content alignment with student
achievement gains, and no associations with the composite measure of
effective teaching. This could indicate that instructional alignment and
pedagogical quality are not as important as the standards-based reform
theory suggests, or that instructional alignment and pedagogical quality
are as important as previously thought but that the SEC and Framework
for Teaching (FTT) do not capture important elements of instruction.
Alternatively, decades of research underlying the SEC and FTT (and the
other instruments in the MET study) have not identified what really
matters in instruction. A third interpretation is that tests for
calculating VAM cannot detect differences in content or quality of
classroom instruction. Low correlations raise questions about the
validity of high-stakes (e.g., performance evaluation) or low-stakes
(e.g., instructional improvement) inferences made on the basis of
value-added assessment data. Taken together with the modest stability of
VAM measures, the results challenge the effective use of VAM data. </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpop8x6jZ7pKOi8oKFC3bDW5exxG1g-HKXLnA1YMZ41rE3Y5XL_Z87TYkmESni8BJhC3R3fSXgLfGdLp9i5u4oZooZrZ1jx7LtKZwmzEZfGlAYUJ3iuo8QEXO5TZ5jNaDeIGh4NViWPBvNgmD1U_CBf5CXjFJxJacI1H74xf7hfgCm9f4c6NqpDycR6lWMZQeNy6dHzChH6rT9E=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table><a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK55"></a><table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK55" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 9px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><span style="color: #f14e23;"><b>Charter/traditional cross-fertilization proves elusive</b></span></div>
<div style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span>In
the two decades since charter schools began, little of what has worked
for them has found its way into traditional classrooms, reports Javier
Hernández for The New York Times. Political battles over space and money
have inhibited collaboration, and the sharing of buildings, which could
foster communication, has frequently led to conflict. Some charters
have veered so sharply from the standard model -- with longer school
years, nonunion workers, and flashy enrichment opportunities -- that
their ideas are considered unworkable in regular schools. Public and
private attempts to spur collaboration have underscored the difficulty
in getting to idea-sharing, which charters were intended to foster.
Charter leaders have defended their efforts, pointing to strong academic
results in the poorest neighborhoods. But movement tactics are partly
to blame for the reluctance of district leaders to work with them, some
concede. "I got into this to create R & D for regular schools," says
Steve Barr of Green Dot Public Schools, a charter network. "Sometimes
we come off as if we've invented everything." Despite backlash, a few
districts have adopted practices embraced by charters, including longer
school days, smaller high schools, and more autonomy for principals.
Charters serve 5 percent of public-school students nationwide, according
to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, up from one
percent in 2003.</span> </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopFgb8e1t9s7Q3q1T3E7kQlEMXSaPCLzJ0bZ1xO98P-AVQwSap60tEjNnIqXbfgBaBGiFcJxU3lChWdONIINvQ_v81mlLRO1zUGkFKSrYY2IROLW1JYxiy2WFO__IeZxEvcuKZ9fB3y81SBRwCaeMPU3fts64gduFvMCsyj0v-pYyDvyGvHtGMJX2yvzDFgJ0A6K685qS12Bped5Ht30T_mZLGxLDj5YIW6L0qDEYj5VqEyVbJxhWfgL3ThDWD_5m6&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table><a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK54"></a><table id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK54" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 9px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><span style="color: #f14e23;"><b>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Less pleasure in reading</div>
</b></span></div>
<div style="color:#454545;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">A new report from Common
Sense Media finds that though American children spend part of their
days reading, they spend less time reading for pleasure than decades
ago, and have significant gaps in proficiency, writes Andrew Seaman for
Reuters. The report analyzes information from several national studies
and finds the percentage of nine-year-old children reading for pleasure
once or more per week dropped from 81 percent in 1984 to 76 percent in
2013. A third of 13-year-olds and half of 17-year-olds reported they
read for pleasure less than twice a year. Of those who read or are read
to, children now spend on average between 30 to 60 minutes daily. The
report also found only a third of fourth grade students are proficient
in reading, but another third scored below basic reading skills. Yet
scores among young children have improved since the 1970s, according to
one test that measures reading ability. Reading scores among
17-year-olds remained relatively unchanged. About 46 percent of white
children are proficient in reading, compared with 18 percent of black
children and 20 percent of Hispanic. These gaps are relatively unchanged
over the past 20 years. The report highlights behaviors tied to
children being more frequent readers, which include parents setting
aside time to read with children and reading themselves. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpophlG0q6mg-rtlBrtTl4An6_cJVYv9OnNZzIsxPTNW5Vd3wLrZOOvHncUc_WI8PfzfAXYY9Lzvofx1X9WvffV53rJjFvsofDGiZRcoKPGheLSnpjWuGupBg7pLBe0gGUdhBY8kzvXpLVhs8xHoWuV49tWxcjglUfDbLFTj9ol4S9kXMkRY6QFgzvbahlDh61zm&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="background-color:#989898;padding-bottom:3px;height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#989898" height="1" valign="top"><img style="display: block;" alt="" src="http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="5"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK46"></a><table style="background-color:#ebf5f6;" id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK46" bgcolor="#ebf5f6" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:25px 25px 0px 25px;font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(240, 79, 35);" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><b>BRIEFLY NOTED CALIFORNIA</b></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 18px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Even worse than elsewhere</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">As racial separation in
education steadily grows, California now leads the nation in children
going to school with their own kind, according to a new study. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopdW4Q5A84TVOd6LEcYq9lFC0cfhGMUe3spFZDxV8Zp1Brs8qcQyIU_102QXcjn85pgVKthDufALBmdXJQcsfcZ5YP7hU_FinleBdWjwkFgpKfJ6gHaKvEWlrzDZBv5z8G16VfBx903waitYJh8cOlUEdqUrQx2DmJoujVTxcv_VNhHgjEiubRNHH72NNNqy3SgtRehZRpQewYb_M46pU7cava1QaeHQeLvTiEYQVDaw9VZvf_eKCl9Fg7A24QgSXxfPiRymNGuXVlT4juOpX1ChX0r8VxPQ0F17dIJyd3ux0dJL60WhaVoZuuUiCBWRWayw_RXAES-3NVW0CtqqAVwv0JjO6XDVEY9giBNsogDTSkrc-uizSennTI4Utt6d9lCHssGsp1LgqEeyIs120b43JjJc7VeU8DqRRFzYmuUZ7m17s6xAMvpPpQVup6Lsjsp8WKagJ-BKe1So8w-7TiZg==&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Backward momentum</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">California's
state-funded preschool program enrolled about 15,000 fewer children in
2012-13 than it had the year before, according to the State Preschool
Yearbook by the National Institute for Early Education Research. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopej_e83nqvKskCkNWJFddj7zi-ZL4N43KNaHWc2Esan2Yjhi-XiYP_sZS7H0ATJgZN8xoo1bdq2x2Dem2utLgW2BE1Wvr8LOduB1_fUxZlTq-D-dhgixVYB4pp7GMUt-y3H_ytCIbivrEKv7DSwdDn7m8Rz8RKq-w0RthaQkfaKAx24b5R1Cdq46FKJbjYCQpzYYdLMj3WUBv4muye9DbQqEgCAfq-5Md&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Chipping away at the CalSTRS shortfall</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Consistent with his
philosophy of fiscal restraint and a commitment to pay down long-term
debts, Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing in his revised budget to make a
down payment on the $74 billion shortfall in the pension program for
teachers and administrators. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpop9_A7s7MSoVdt_4qulqUSBgqtbVedK18i687-hkCCYqnUBDnao4DO4HTVkImvQNU7Y9l-FDKVHLc8zlCeCcqhhgWyxOBbqOaABRugIHrIBorqZ1DLm6aYzhLRY5GbJ33vtQFTARNO7QT8ddzkUFA5itLGrGvTNKFDMzY6Sj5fKnnMjOPJeLd1YG-fZCvYWbx823skuM1oSiyULfUp3fGsrH-Ll1pGAHUFy4g0YmDnYw9PEcYiXP92Xw==&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>With district money</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">The financial
contribution districts will make to help close an unfunded liability of
$74 billion in teacher pensions will jump nearly 11 percent under Gov.
Jerry Brown's May budget proposal. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopERM4d169dnnm_ziTYNcimHkzI9a8M7HgBScLecoJ4rcLY6MYq7AB5yu05hrhUJgzewdT_tFYZodJSUF-hJLkkmOastVjLsqXXPiCrapTCv5jXcjw5iUBHCvC69VNwdox4yR7UrJhbjLB_j_YgT_jfv_tAi4npPbyCLHt0ejj27zhAq7TaeccLdPsC-YgsfeCGcQktSMbrQeXunZ0ubUM-LnLctqeky_08mDOgeo9Ojj0hEUHP-WJkryvLB6TZALA2C2yg4UCGhcXFh-oNTqM7PBKciuMe9dLW7O_rHHSOXPpnZq1r9GSGQuoj3_g44tLcI2AxOeZfK0HAHVl1YdD1X1ULfIQta6IHoh8JqEwOUVOFY7KVAiW-0iaYxLtEQHgbrujfguSZRHiqKQxKST5iwkyyOkhHxSWWIm4rIFx9Gb9dpzURiKGfivjM3MOqw6yuq01bYlwPvc=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Parched</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Access to free drinking
water at schools has improved, but California districts are not doing
all they can, despite state and federal laws on the issue and evidence
of the health benefits of drinking water. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopagrveGbXIMoTVOefFhp5meSlpVvMjj7UHNpYswt5KhHqysDTxsyz1ehrBAe9_zfpCaHF0hBnq3Dz8F3WxrazRHZyaIvdxm2uJxTQ9EzEhpKxMMsZNi7-TkcmcGT0nhbnm_sRLyC4JhWIX1mFGPWyDbq2dGyPeb-hK3Wry1c13GYGRkvkP6q6QS2NpmRysC9y8GJoAYQSDkTF0zY1CCZ5TItYx2Km_tnCeQsLhkCKd9Du5nRAOaeewo9IbcckT9Qwdo8ZiJpA1f-IZg3fRXOno0BCOCJLzt0P2wINb1Th8vFn-q5jGLtqKnFl7mKs3eEtAh-mTNerRjcg7_3y1nV6uIf2z1XqLQgM5udg612QnV5oVc6Z_AA1Gu1-DCOSY2EdDZ-l_3gb351XJiRkAcLI16W_0y9nAYyAmX3sV23m1JCDqlSn5TKo3PPzRkYhcZ3Z&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">More</a></div>
</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="background-color:#989898;padding-bottom:3px;height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#989898" height="1" valign="top"><img style="display: block;" alt="" src="http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="5"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK56"></a><table style="background-color:#ebf5f6;" id="aolmail_content_LETTER.BLOCK56" bgcolor="#ebf5f6" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td style="padding:25px 25px 0px 25px;font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(240, 79, 35);" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div><b>BRIEFLY NOTED </b></div>
</td></tr><tr><td style="color:#000000;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;padding:8px 25px 18px 25px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Not particularly stringent</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">The Indiana State Board
of Education has given initial approval to a proposal that would allow
college graduates with a B- average in any subject to earn a K-12
teaching license by passing one test. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopzBSKBEFrLtBwBuQYdgN6E6MczIRglw1viIVWtFGn4AFtLLtKt92OogB4sNqmVl6CicKktKV2vXNDcx_mecgOszAtxlCH-l6iABmkPSJZSFMWzdyvj8tAPXoP3Ehl6cIhtoVvGKrFvXSN_gHWv4yhZD41dOYK0ovFfOMJeEO2rTjsAqzArRRoyfkExeXEVugjZ9KBipX4h9pBxwA2TkOGAvikas2mynNxt0VmSLFdq7C-UMgIXaJJxt5zm0A8GsJ_UgbKbq6MEb4=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>So much for that</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">A money-saving
experiment by a handful of Minnesota districts that switched to four-day
weeks is winding down because of academic-performance concerns. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopBR_r7-hc63nwF3XXS1pCsENpbiI3F2fWQ_aI6iakYWxYPg3rN9tlrQ1riz02QEWwGbqpOhXmApRemhqC8eVvvqMlToaaPWxZdmkvQe2qe3F0041tUsRObiWoUco5hrv1lE7u91b5Tqw=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Unmoved</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">The teachers union in
Oregon wants the state to put off new statewide tests scheduled for next
year because a majority of students are expected to fail, but Oregon
Schools Chief Rob Saxton has refused. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpoplS2XXMYIqiI-ZSWQeV1gT_--9tNRr4qs054pBxS2SHVk3VJfODjRN2KeXXxke-E23ATIhuLVQzXwMRFE9b-hdnjnvMEWFoK5u1-mu3FZAa-5DslajIfnJlGXPV-3pJ4r0UZ89h5drVMNe9mqXlZVrUvATYlvjE9mhuaYpAkFxFOvsLBJB9oKwFnHGpbJspeTw23uUlbxZeoolPz1GqG75Rt3SLaBvQJY_5TXc5snxwrIOVEnAeLHqQ==&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Solid</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Tennessee Gov. Bill
Haslam has signed a law promising free community college tuition to
every high school graduate in the state, to be paid for by the lottery. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpop4CRzq2PnPw4tf9eiUEob58iha0nDZq06aGkxjzI6MwVi9J-cAq6OJCJMldiy1qcxOGYckltbWstM97315ncqJ3sVgG58L6h5s9-ewoPHuT6zl0sb-bFqxoZ4tUadn7vI1JbyiRUwX5rNrWOiQjJ8tTbX0ypRBEuP4fd0i-CIeEgjTSdEG4l5OI4MbElXeQnB&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>No slack</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Wyoming will not receive a waiver that would ease consequences for schools under NCLB. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopHjbLuqiqF5MxMc4EYfvOfQK69JMXwqUrS7CeWFSkH1pItTaiZGi1yA0KN9fNkcgd3pNa9k5oCh6KHbInGgHJCPTUU0PYhpEZtQX9X5qYW-d_foqwyIJjti3m8npNdbKtlwDuxftHmU3OVHcerFvgRNRO2UwxkDfCtHBxXZWYvGSunPb6eyBehjmmftWY29hZMIS4uWZDwH_JSv0OuXaEDS69hnhzT7vCL-7j-vXT7v9YYkb2Dc-No_V0u2YkvQKYwIDVaK1QPVU=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Now what?</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Bills to overhaul
Florida's school-grading system and respond to complaints about a move
to the Common Core standards were among more than 50 pieces of
legislation signed by Gov. Rick Scott. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpope5NLFOnTakP6kx23eEpCykeZGiS5O5Tp01xL7EmG7oxnFVqRFMJQb5G8yVWd8jLlubXhanZH2HDYUuDgy-aocIFiFq16UXZjsLewV3Au-QyHrT3Gvn1cuLb8VZnW1YkflTe91AJRtffriR76hHlW6u2SS615QWF-1Y06xmJbHgq7rIrvLOBs1zMMYNZwHj5TLNEKc__J4m52hO-izOgKKgZj9jsY4SpE&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Stealth concessions</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Tucked in a 291-page
document related to the Fiscal Year 2015 budget that New York City Mayor
Bill de Blasio unveiled on May 8 are two increases to charter schools:
$26.9 million for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and an
extra $219.7 million for next year. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopxTJ_sNBiZdX0hrr3UPhkX7UJjX9bCRDDSXWEgB6U-Rj72X9ZFv8U8PYaGdcm5CjT-mHB8sc9prhcYmSGrzMjoG8RcHV_Fg7xmlImfKA5IQ_TdaillMLFhOvWHj9D9_NNJRExOVcDPQrgP5baTaHUYRG9RUDm4gW-xNmGZolzLdfqu4a0EJm_jpGTWjo0DXsHF7I2Q4ZnnbR29crVOy-d7hdEO5sORFyYeOj6zfew3IEA-__ozxFRhljPnwvuxioQ9RqCRMkYpgI=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>Bellwether, perhaps</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">As Newark woke up to a
new mayor-elect, groups that backed him declared his victory part of a
rising tide across the country of voters' speaking out against charter
schools and other incursions against labor unions and public education. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopl6v33dFlIB5oWFGS-SB0vsOuRh4xnuYwU_TZjUxfFTBaCp98WeJAE7FCdNia_qsEgO3U_aWBKxtYYoe3tybnhRst4CiYTOhu3e50baS4kvXDnf1JHwSi4j3wmiFoiIW5JSbxO3sqo8xMsWWE9d4pcGv5A_1TNG37ZELZLOEUG_n1LIkXTom9qZXcfDMOEmOE2zquq27FM1_u8b6USiCqjGLIyVWarHINMS21FcNLqw0=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><strong>That's one method</strong></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">One Chicago non-profit could become the first of its kind to use crowdfunding to open a preschool. <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopwpVAEfVOSpPj-HjqD12FUh3TaLucs6rprVjD1Obu_4GNGZm2fk9pbpAnztB4ZOFRng_SgOrBCJQK-Jz4GUdYLwUFfaI0TrYFB2ccUlDQ_CJjHhGnoMBT68yhlVld5qsSuOvfjAGaYmU4RrYobsDM4V9GiZe2sMCtGDhQdyXmlU8FttH6J1Lxqw==&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==" shape="rect">More</a></div>
</td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="left" valign="top">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="background-color:#989898;padding-bottom:3px;height:1px;line-height:1px;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#989898" height="1" valign="top"><img style="display: block;" alt="" src="http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="5"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><a name="aolmail_LETTER.BLOCK19"></a>
<div><br>
<div style="color:#ee5624;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14pt;"><b>GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES</b></div>
<br>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4ZSs4vGHBYVA--fsO-17vsDNY2htxP0WEpo8yDli6CjXc9UNaqlynIh9Uvmo3inISgoa55Tx3ThcHKKMLNSaPiQbyR_yOOpfJBRFy_9ceJj_E7GY9ePhNuovP54etFhlOMbdUNdL6Vc1dWyUKn_ISyc=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">AASA: National Superintendent of the Year</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">The American Association
of School Administrators National Superintendent of the Year Program
pays tribute to the talent and vision of the men and women who lead the
nation's public schools. Maximum award: recognition; a $10,000
scholarship to a student in the high school from which the National
Superintendent of the Year graduated. Eligibility: Any superintendent,
chancellor, or top leader of a school system in the United States,
Canada, or international school who plans to continue in the profession.
Deadline: August 1, 2014.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4ZSs4vGHBYVA5sIP7cCVoapI8Mp2D5QN1UAVS98GR9tIwVTwiGRwdpOY0q3uEtnzAKLFiWJIZKLgES_CV8LR8ALF-AWooVesxGT9l52WZQoBieGYAQbxiGV9eR6--yo4Jg==&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">Open Meadows Foundation: Grants for Women and Girls</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">The Open Meadows
Foundation is a grant-making organization for projects that are led by
and benefit women and girls. It funds projects that reflect the
diversity of the community served by the project in both its leadership
and organization; that build community power; that promote racial,
social, economic, and environmental justice; and that have limited
financial access or have encountered obstacles in their search for
funding. Maximum award: $2,000. Eligibility: 501(c)3 organizations with
an organizational budget no larger than $150,000. Projects must be
designed and implemented by women and girls. Deadline: August 15, 2014.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4ZSs4vGHBYVA9i9q1oNOEayff9XUovk1z4NhEwbtfyKygmR3lYxEdzXP0SMazMopNLIvohbyjz-IUf4qFyFHtq_2LToIBCcM4XeXlcybPsC3zovUeQRa7Vv5UbetjkqTUeCyKLZMR_LoRoBhp1skwWDtJu-vD5bl0pOca8bh1mHE&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">Siemens/The College Board: Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement</a></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Siemens Awards for
Advanced Placement fosters intensive research that improves students'
understanding of the value of scientific study and informs their
consideration of future careers in these disciplines. Maximum award:
$100,000 college scholarship. Eligibility: students must enrolled in
high school (grades 9-12) during the 2013-14 school year, individually
or as a team. Deadline: September 30, 2014.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #ee5624;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>QUOTE OF THE WEEK:</strong></span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">"Today, by some measures, our schools are as segregated as they were back when Dr. King gave his final speech." -- <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(238, 86, 36); text-decoration: none;" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rX648bjxi_zO9PVlF-biuprOldfBrZnaMuzJWS7OwvjbJcFE-AbD4dKFj5mRGpopUX4O2geym9sasNrMJD3XXEBPInd3uT6ID3q0l0t8Kd6dipxjO10_qV450_Iaw65_Q5VJFwgTGTO76yVJ-FGkiFq42AN6mKFu2Z015lj2qQF0L_OfEh9sCF2TNxnSxvik-fUgugz33mGLd5B5ZwFqt8zslx6YwP1Ng8K8J9wHCPXVTUSxI7yQackpgieSPAAhMJD-ZtC7WvG5FCqxmC8EDHpZHmk4W75hy1kyXAloL-fmBxcbMECBZ2C6wIi1R71Lp20O5grFwGw124cOWfbL1CaC1bO5bqC3p8F6sP_YtEFxSYUJ0pnZEEu48BDaSItTjyibDOaB4_7WdSp-GitY9ErW_TG_-gwNGL9059kqsqoZJqVssM92un5DR7ckixzDM8aXFExsBds=&c=cHOXbcQ86nswtR9ncIrufK8O8Fn7V5QrIA2HqTlmgMGpyh-gN3sdAg==&ch=S9xSnGZeVPDeWnEp21gYvNdA4jtAHFX7zDgUdoClu1WZvlG1cdTA5A==">First Lady Michelle Obama</a>, speaking at a high school commencement in Topeka on the 60th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education.</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> <br>
</div>