(National) Education Politics 
“Where is Trump’s Cabinet?” asks Politico. “It’s anybody’s guess.” The story include updates about US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her failure to disclosure her complete schedule.
“The Library of Congress No Longer Wants All the Tweets,” says The New York Times. Related thoughts from Ed Summers.
Andrew Rotherham on the new tax code’s provision to allow 529s for private schools: “A Lousy School Choice.”
Via Inside Higher Ed: “Britain May Fine Universities That Limit Free Speech.”
Via Wired UK: “UK’s Nudge Unit tests machine learning to rate schools and GPs.” “Nudge Unit.” JFC.
(State and Local) Education Politics 
Via Education Week: “Two Districts Roll Back Summit Personalized Learning Program.”
Via Inside Higher Ed: “Cuomo Wants Food Pantries at all New York Public Colleges.”
Via The Boston Globe: “Boston drops plan to change school hours.”
Education in the Courts 
I’m not sure the best section for this story as so many “hate crimes” actually never make it to the legal system. But here it is, nonetheless. Via ProPublica: “What We Discovered During a Year of Documenting Hate.”
Via the AP: “A federal judge has issued a final judgment, blocking an Arizona state law that prompted the dismantling of a Mexican-American history program in Tucson’s largest school district.”
Via The Washington Post: “Judge lifts restraining order against Project Veritas in case involving teachers union.”
Via The Wall Street Journal: “A Look at Sexual-Harassment and Assault Settlements in Schools.”
Via Security Boulevard: “Canada Proposes $17.5M Settlement for Student Loan Privacy Breach.”
Meanwhile on Campus… 
Via The Atlantic: “The Intrusion of White Families Into Bilingual Schools.”
Via The Boston Globe: “New college for conservative Christians planned in Boston.”
Go, School Sports Team! 
Via The Intercept: “The NCAA Makes Billions, College Athletes Get Nothing. LaVar Ball Wants to Shake Up the System.”
From the HR Department 
George Ciccariello-Maher has left his position at Drexel, citing threats to himself and his family.
The Business of Job Training 
“Best Online Classes for Job Skills,” according to MIT Technology Review.
Contests and Awards 
From the press release: “Alexa Skills Challenge Offers $250,000 in Prizes for Best Kid Skills.” “The best kids skills,” I’m just gonna say, should never include surveillance capitalism, folks.
Upgrades and Downgrades 
“Ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain,” says Hacker Noon. Except everyone in education who keeps insisting that it’s gonna “tokenize learning” or “revolutionize grades” or something. Or stuff like this, also on Hacker Noon: “Introducing The Crypto University.”
Via Buzzfeed: “ YouTube Has A Massive Child Exploitation Problem. How Humans Train Its Search AI Is Partly Why.”
“OER, Capability, and Opportunity” by David Wiley.
Via Edsurge: “OER Had Its Breakthrough in 2017. Next Year, It Will Become an Essential Teaching Tool.” “OER is about to become for course planning what LMS is for grading,” which frankly sounds awful.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “Textbook Shopping Goes Online, Driving Prices Down.”
Via Mindwires Consulting’s Michael Feldstein: “Cengage Unlimited Textbook Author Update.”
Robots and Other Ed-Tech SF 
Via Today Online: “Robot tutors set to help students take on China’s daunting Gaokao college entrance exams.”
Venture Capital and the Business of Ed-Tech 
PeerGrade has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, byFounders, Project A, Nordic Makers Learn Capital and Futuristic.VC. The peer feedback company has raised $1.89 million total.
Edlio has acquired Scholantis.
Eurazeo and Primavera Capital have acquired WorldStrides.
Privacy, Surveillance, and Information Security 
The most Wired headline: “Science Says Fitness Trackers Don’t Work. Wear One Anyway.”
Via The Hickory Record: “Newton-Conover City School use data walls to close academic gaps.”
There’s more about legal cases surrounding privacy breaches in the courts section above.
Research, “Research,” and Reports 
Via The Exstreamist: “Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes are Being Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year.” (I’m not so sure about this, but hey. Nice marketing for streaming services published on a site about streaming services.)
Icon credits: The Noun Project