Weekend Reads: How Denver students are analyzing the gentrification in their own neighborhoods

  • Students at a Denver high school (that already has seen a lot of change) are using their AP Human Geography class to examine the gentrification that is taking hold in their own neighborhood. Westword
  • Hillary Clinton likely will depart significantly from the Obama administration on education policy, but it’s still difficult to predict what concrete policy solutions she might propose. New Republic
  • U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan remembers Ron Thorpe, the president and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, who died this week of lung cancer. USDOE
  • After 44 years, Sonia Manzano — better known as Maria on the TV show “Sesame Street” — is retiring. NYMag
  • The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a challenge to a 40-year old precedent that allows unions to charge service fees to non-members, a case that could have big implications for teachers unions. Education Week
  • How one Michigan elementary school not only brought its English language learners to read on grade level, but is now competing with its district’s more affluent schools. Bridge
  • An interview with Morgan Polikoff, the education policy researcher who is becoming a prolific commenter on both policy and how journalists cover policy. The Grade
  • A radio reporting project to cover education in the Southeast is starting again after a rocky first round. Current
  • An argument against “D” grades, which signify almost-failure but don’t require students to try harder. The Atlantic
  • Children’s books that celebrate the Confederacy are out there. Here’s what they’re like. Slate
  • An aspiring teacher considers the ways that educators can speed up or slow down time in the classroom through the theory of Flow. Magnifying Minds
  • Imprisoned gangster Whitey Bulger confesses his life of crime to high school students who wrote to him for a class project. The Boston Globe
  • Although both have measurably positive effects, careful study shows often-cut music programs have far greater long-term impact for students than rarely cut football programs. Education Week
  • It might be the end for for-profit colleges. Talking Points Memo
  • A former clerk for Ruth Bader Ginsberg tells what the U.S. Supreme Court justice taught him about the relationship between gender equity and being a stay-at-home dad. The Atlantic