News briefs: Thursday, January 17, 2013

California won’t be joining the 33 states that have already received a federal waiver from meeting No Child Left Behind math and English language competency goals. The state will lose funding as a result. The sticking point: the state’s unwillingness to evaluate teachers based in part on how well their students do on standardized tests.

Acting on a request from the state treasurer, the board of the state teachers’ pension fund in California has begun the process of selling its holdings in some gun and ammunition-clip manufacturers. Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s motion was approved unanimously by the Investment Committee of the $154 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre’s stance that schools are safer when teachers are armed was slammed by the leaders of both national teachers unions as itself dangerous and unsafe. “Guns have no place in our schools. Period,” read a joint statement from the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.

Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino wants to change state law so school systems can accelerate efforts to overhaul low-achieving schools with what he called “fewer roadblocks from teachers unions.”

Philadelphia schools head William R. Hite Jr. plans to close some 40 schools — one in six of the city’s total — by June, affecting 17,000 students and 1,100 teachers. Hite cited both poor academic records and building deterioration in his decision.

Philadelphia schools head William R. Hite Jr. plans to close some 40 schools — one in six of the city’s total — by June, affecting 17,000 students and 1,100 teachers. Hite cited both poor academic records and building deterioration in his decision.

Few students who fall far behind academically in the 4th or 8th grades ever catch up to the levels needed for 12th-grade college and career readiness, according to a new study by the national testing organization ACT, Inc. The challenge is even greater for students who attend high-poverty schools.