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• The Republican Party’s effort to rebrand itself could include a new focus on education policy. (BuzzFeed)
• A charter school consulting firm ranked number 14 on a list of best places to work in the city. (Crain’s)
• Two surveys of teachers have found that more support policies associated with “reform.” (Class Struggle)
• The city’s new mandatory kindergarten policy, required under law, gives parents an out. (Insideschools)
• The most recent NAEP exam of vocabulary skills shows American students’ skills stagnating. (HuffPo)
• A Missouri teenager is looking for funding to make a documentary about standardized testing. (GOOD)
• Jon Kest, a lifelong activist whose many fights included one again for-profit schools, has died. (Crain’s)

UFT President Michael Mulgrew's name appears on a fundraising letter for a mayoral candidate. Mulgrew has told all four likely Democratic contenders that they can use his name in their appeals.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said today that he hasn’t picked a candidate for mayor to endorse. But he has decided that he will lend a hand to all four people vying for the Democratic nomination, at least for now.

For political candidates, the UFT’s endorsement is valuable. Landing it means an influx of funds, supporters in every neighborhood in the city, and an army of potential volunteers to fuel the political ground game.

So the four likely candidates for the Democratic nomination for mayor — City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller John Liu, former comptroller Bill Thompson, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio — have been courting the union for some time.

At a panel discussion on education policy last month, each promised to depart from Mayor Bloomberg’s critical tone when talking about teachers. And each showed up to an event last week held by New Yorkers for Great Public Schools, a coalition formed to oppose Bloomberg’s education policies during the mayoral campaign, to emphasized where their policy positions line up with the union’s. (more…)

Students with long travel times to school may soon find it easier to learn close to home.

For years, the city has not allowed students to transfer high schools because of travel time unless their commute is longer than 90 minutes. But the Department of Education wants to reduce the required length by 15 minutes, according to a proposed rule change that was released today.

In another proposed rule change, students who seek to switch schools for safety reasons will no longer have to justify their request with a police report. Instead, according to the proposal, the department will consider transfer requests from students who are bullied or harassed at school.

Advocates praised the proposals, which face a school board vote later this month. It will also be welcome news for students whose long commute times were not enough to qualify for a transfer under existing department policies.

“I think a 90-minute commute is unrealistic,” said Insideschools editor Clara Hemphill. Many students voluntarily commute long distances to attend schools of their choice, “but to require them to do it ridiculous.” (more…)

For months, city and union officials have been expressing optimism about reaching a deal on new teacher evaluations by a state deadline in January — with some road bumps, of course. But what is keeping the two sides from reaching an agreement has not been clear.

That has started to change in the last week, as Department of Education officials have spoken publicly on multiple occasions about sticky issues that are still being worked out. The issues include how often observations should take place, what the observations should focus on, and when to schedule hearings of teachers who want to appeal low ratings.

Union officials have declined to comment on open issues, saying that they did not want to discuss negotiations while they are ongoing. But a top official said that no issue would be considered fully closed until the entire evaluation system is set.

David Weiner, the deputy chancellor in charge of teacher quality, stressed that the issues were “not sticking points” when he spoke with teachers at an event last week hosted by the advocacy group Educators 4 Excellence, which supports new evaluations. Department officials made the same assurance Wednesday morning after a panel discussion about teacher evaluations held at the Manhattan Institute, the politically conservative think thank.

Instead, they said, the issues are simply very complicated to resolve. (more…)

This story originally appeared in Spanish in El Diario, which supplied the translation.

Carmen Rojas (center), president of Parents Advocating for Their Children, led a protest last week against the possible closure of P.S. 132 Juan Pablo Duarte. (José Acosta/EDLP)

Dozens of parents of P.S. 132 Juan Pablo Duarte, located in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, demonstrated last week against the possible closing of the school that serves the largest population of newly arrived immigrant children.

The demonstrators, who were mostly Dominicans, also asked to maintain the name of Juan Pablo Duarte, no matter what happens with the school. Duarte was a founding father of the Dominican Republic, which is celebrating the bicentennial of his birth Jan. 26.

Carmen Rojas, president of the organization “Padres Abogando Por Sus Hijos” (Parents Advocating for Their Children), said Juan Pablo Duarte is among 36 elementary and middle schools that the city’s Department of Education could shut down at the end of the year. The school, which has a dual-language program in Spanish, has earned a D grade on its performance evaluation for the last two consecutive years. (more…)

• Florida reversed the release of teachers’ ratings after realizing the data were wrong. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Walcott warned of cuts and set a deadline on evals. (GothamSchools, WSJ, Schoolbook, News, Post)
• Buffalo, another “Big 5″ district, still isn’t negotiating because of a contract dispute. (Buffalo News)
• Education advocates traveled to Albany seeking mandated aid for needy districts. (GothamSchools)
• A dual-district zoned school in Brooklyn will set quotas for poor students and ELLs. (Daily News)
• A nun-run school is one of 33 Catholic schools in the region that could close in June. (Riverdale Press)
• The city and parents of displaced kindergartners at a crowded school are at odds. (Riverdale Press)
• The principal of Boys & Girls High School ripped the city at a pre-closure hearing. (GothamSchools)
• An upstate town could become the first district in the state to become insolvent. (Times-Union)