Midway through the school year, about half the state’s teachers have access to a new "Digital Library" the state purchased to help them teach the Common Core State Standards, but it’s unclear how many teachers are actually using it and how useful it is.
Updated with correction: With the State Board of Education’s approval, California became the eighth state Wednesday to award a contract to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium for the standardized tests in the Common Core State Standards that students will take next spring.
Earlier this year, the secretary of state’s office gave sponsors of six proposed education-related ballot measures the go-ahead to collect the 505,000 signatures each needed to appear on the November ballot. None qualified.
Gov. Brown ended three years of high-decibel battles in the Legislature on Wednesday by signing a bill he helped shape that should make it quicker and easier to fire teachers accused of the most abhorrent forms of misconduct.