The Daily Report Card: Back-to-School Costs, Vouchers & Extremism, Testing ‘Charades’ (No, Not The Game)

EDITORIAL: Tough times or not, parents still must pay school costs – Evansville Courier & Press “When it’s all over, the National Retail Federation estimates that the combined spending on kindergarten through high school and college will total $68.8 billion, well above pre-recession levels.” (courierpress.com)

Indiana school vouchers: subsidizing extremism – School Matters Steve Hinnefeld writes the larger danger isn’t state dollars funding school vouchers for schools who preach Islamic extremism. The bigger danger, he argues, is Christian extremism. (inschoolmatters.wordpress.com)

Purdue suspects frats of serving minors alcohol – Journal and Courier Kappa Sigma and Lamda Chi Alpha could face sanctions.

Ivy Tech Transfer Rate Up 22 Percent – Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick A press release from the community college boasts the rate of students transferring credits from Ivy Tech to 4-year schools has quadrupled in the past decade. (insideindianabusiness.com)

Our Annual Testing Data Charade – Shanker Blog “Every year, around this time, states and districts throughout the nation release their official testing results. Schools are closed and reputations are made or broken by these data. But this annual tradition is, in some places, becoming a charade.” (shankerblog.org)

The Mindset List: 2015 List Just for fun: For the incoming freshman class at IU, which moves in today, “Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents,” and to them, “Refer to LBJ, and they might assume you’re talking about LeBron James.” (beloit.edu)