[Weekly EdNews Round Up] Hurricane Florence Keeps Over 800,000 Students Out of School

No one knows better than educators about the importance of staying up-to-date. In Edmentum’s Weekly News Round Up, you’ll find the latest and most interesting education news, all in one place.

More than 800,000 students from North Carolina's Outer Banks to Newport News, Va., are out of school as districts shut their doors and battened down in anticipation of Hurricane Florence. Read all about this story and more in this week’s EdNews Round Up!

From South Carolina to Virginia, Schools Batten Down Ahead Of Hurricane Florence
EdWeek
More than 800,000 students from North Carolina's Outer Banks to Newport News, Va., are out of school as districts shut their doors and battened down in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.

Teacher Pay Gap Reaches a Record High
neaToday
The overdue national attention on the erosion of teacher salaries across the nation couldn’t come at a more urgent time. According to a new paper by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the teacher pay penalty has reached an all-time high.

How 50 Years of Latino Studies Shaped History Education
The Atlantic
The first program of this kind, founded in 1968, inspired the expansion of ethnic studies as a discipline, which provides an important counter-narrative to typically Eurocentric college classes.

Researchers Seek DNA-Based Solution for Dyslexia
EdWeek
The New Haven, Conn., school district is working with a team of education, genetics, and neuroscience researchers from Yale University in what may be the first attempt to design so-called "precision" gene-based education help for the academic disorder.

How to Create Learning Opportunities For Kids on the Bus
MindShift
Kids who have to get on buses right after school can miss out on after school activities and help. Some schools are helping make up for that difference by bringing digital and analog learning opportunities to the bus.

What Putting Teachers in Charge of Personalized Learning Can Look Like
The Hechinger Report
Long before the movement gathered momentum, a student-centered model arose in Minnesota. What the teachers created was a handmade forerunner of what good educational software does now: Find students’ granular learning level and customize instruction.

Poor Students Rarely See Dollars From ‘Free College’ Programs
U.S. News
Two new reports suggest that ‘free’ or debt-free’ college programs are helping students from middle- and upper-income families.

Increasing Gender Equity in Elementary School
edutopia
Seeking to bring more girls into STEM classes, educators examined their students’ and their own attitudes about gender.

Education policy is often a topic of conversation in state and federal legislatures. Stay in-the-know with this week’s top stories regarding education reform.

As Florida Submits Fourth ESSA Draft, Governor Urges Fair Treatment From Feds
EdWeek
The state has fought with the federal government and civil rights activists over how it holds schools accountable for some groups of students. Florida is the only state still without a federally approved plan.

Missouri House Committee Hearing Shows Support for Computer Science, STEM Bill
News Tribune
A local state representative's bill regarding computer science and STEM curriculum — revived in special session after Gov. Mike Parson's veto of the Senate version in July — once again advanced in the legislative process with a unanimous "yes" vote and broad support from economic and education groups that see it as a first step to prepare Missouri's economy for greater investment by the tech industry.

Gov. Greg Abbott warns Texas Education Board of “Political Correctness” Over Alamo History Standards
The Texas Tribune
An advisory committee has suggested eliminating a line in seventh-grade history standards about “all the heroic defenders who gave their lives” at the Alamo.

Wisconsin Teachers, Librarians Granted $1.5 million for Edtech Training
edscoop
Funding from the Department of Public Instruction will go toward improving digital literacy of the state's educators.