Tennessee graduation rate hits all-time high in the 2018-19 school year – By Jason Gonzales, Nashville Tennessean
Tennessee inched closer to a 90% high school graduation in the 2018-2019 school year, hitting a milestone for the rate at which students are earning a diploma.
The state increased its overall graduation rate to 89.7% and gained half a percentage point over the previous year. Over 72,000 students graduated in 2018-19, with 183 graduates over the previous year, according to state numbers.
The state's graduation rate is the highest-ever for the state, which has steadily seen increases since changes made in 2011.
Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn celebrated the accomplishment, but said she believes the state can top this year's results.
"Ultimately, I would like to see all 130 districts that serve high school students have a 90 percent graduation or better," she said. "That’s something my team will be very focused on over the next four years, along with making sure those students have a career or college path in mind the day they walk across the stage to get that diploma.”
'Our house is on fire.' Global Climate Strike draws out hundreds of thousands of protesters in New York, DC - By Doug Stanglin, Grace Hauk and Janet Wilson, USA Today
A boisterous crowd of at least 200,000 people turned out to chant and march in Manhattan on Friday, joining hundreds of thousands - possibly millions - of protesters from Australia to Thailand to London in Global Climate Strike rallies.
While supporters of all ages turned out, the day was billed as a walkout by high school students to call on world leaders to step up their efforts against climate change, carbon emissions and other environmental issues.
Greta Thunberg, the noted 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist whose efforts have been raising environmental consciousness around the globe, spoke to a crowd of tens of thousands in New York City's Battery Park.
"Around the world today about 4 million people have been striking," Thunberg said. "This is the biggest climate strike ever in history and we all should be so proud of ourselves because we have done this together."
New York City schools excused the city's 1.1 million students from class to participate.
DeVos: Federal funds for students with disabilities can be used for postsecondary ed – By Naaz Modan, Education Dive
Vocational rehabilitation funds and funds from the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) can be used to support the enrollment of students in postsecondary programs while still in high school, the U.S. Department of Education clarified Tuesday.
These funds may also be used to support comprehensive transition programs, a type of postsecondary education program for individuals with intellectual disabilities, while students are still in high school.
However, in order for IDEA funds to be used to support students with disabilities who have been accepted in dual enrollment programs, students' individualized education program (IEP) teams must first determine that the courses offered as part of a transition program are considered a necessary component of a secondary education.
New Mexico announces plan to offer college tuition for free to state residents – By Ella Torres, ABC News
New Mexico is hoping to make college tuition free for all state residents looking to attend its public institutions in the first plan of its kind in the U.S., the governor announced Wednesday.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the program would apply to all 29 of the state’s two- and four-year public colleges and universities and all New Mexico families, regardless of their income, for the fall 2020 semester.
"This program is an absolute game-changer for New Mexico," Grisham said in a statement. "Higher education in this state, a victim of the recession, has been starved in recent years."
Grisham said the plan is intended to increase access to higher education to underserved populations in the state.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
