[Weekly EdNews Round Up] Scavenger Hunts and Pickle Ball: Disney-Inspired PD

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.

Who knew that developing professionally could be fun? One school district is using Disney-inspired professional development activities to help teachers empathize with students in their classrooms. You can read all about how much fun they’re having, catch up on 2020 election education policy news, and find out how US children today are better off than kids in 2000, all in this week’s EdNews Round Up.

A Whole New World of Disney-Inspired PD
EdWeek
With sessions that involve pickle ball, scavenger hunts, and LEGOs, one district is has developed professional development experiences that are so informative—and so much fun—that teachers line up to attend them, for fear of missing out.

US children better off today than in 2000
Education Dive
Save the Children’s global report shows declines in the dropout and teen birth rates, but the U.S. is still not in the top 25 countries on eight measures of child well-being.

2020 Dems Go Big on Public Education
U.S. News
The candidates in the 2020 Democratic field are jockeying to prove who is the biggest defender of public education with a series of high-profile proposals.

Democrats see energy behind teachers strikes as a force in 2020
CNN
Democratic presidential candidates and operatives within their campaigns have stepped up their outreach to teachers' unions, hoping to seize on the energy that propelled nationwide teachers strikes.

Joe Biden's Education Plan: Triple Title I to Boost Teacher Pay and Student Supports
EdWeek
Former Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a broad K-12 education plan Tuesday that calls for tripling Title I money to pay for teacher salary increases and student supports, his first major policy announcement in his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

As K-12 VR use grows, researchers consider impact on children
Education Dive
While the long-term effects on development remain unclear, experts recommend limiting time and ensuring that immersive media experiences are "positive, productive and safe."

Burger King’s Dystopian Student-Debt Sweepstakes
The Atlantic
The restaurant’s contest to pay off student loans is the latest offer to treat the idea of debt relief as a sweepstakes that only a lucky few can win.

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 at the state and national level.

Shorter summer? Michigan schools might begin earlier
WILX
Summer could be cut a bit short for Michigan students. Two new bills in the legislature would allow schools in Michigan to begin before Labor Day, after hundreds of districts applied for permission to start their school year early.

SCOTUS Won’t Hear Transgender Bathroom Case
U.S. News
The justices declined without comment to take up a case challenging a policy that allows transgender students to use school facilities consistent with their gender identity.

Tennessee governor signs controversial education voucher bill into law
Chalkbeat Tennessee
Gov. Bill Lee quietly signed his education savings account plan into law on Friday, setting the course to let some public school students in Memphis and Nashville use taxpayer money to pay toward private school tuition or other education services.

Bill allows Navajo Nation students to use Arizona vouchers across state lines
Arizona Capital Times
The Arizona Department of Education and state legislators came to a compromise that would no longer punish students and parents on the Navajo reservation who use school vouchers to attend out-of-state schools

Texas House, Senate approve budget deal with agreements
Texas Tribune
Completing negotiations that have taken place over the last few months, Texas House and Senate lawmakers accepted a compromise on a state spending plan for 2020-21.