
ON THE AGENDA | APRIL 6TH, 2018 | PUBLIC AGENDA
Every week we curate stories and reports on complex issues. This week: Struggles with partisan redistricting. Telling charts that explore inequality between sexes and races. A city council program that puts power in the hands of the people. Examining the larger concerns with the growing teacher strikes. A new federal program to ease the cost of textbooks for students. Health care in the world of a gig economy.
The
Decline of Local News is Bad for Democracy
(Pacific Standard)
Tracking the events in state legislatures and city councils requires skilled
beat reporters. They're becoming an increasingly rare breed.
The
2016 Exit Polls Led Us to Misinterpret the 2016 Election
(New York Times)
Crucial disputes over Democratic strategy concerning economic distribution,
race and immigration have in large part been based on Election Day exit polls
that now appear to have been inaccurate in key ways.
The
Supreme Court struggles with partisan redistricting
(The Economist)
The justices dislike gerrymandering but do not know what to do about it
Is
Inequality in America Irreversible? (inequality.org)
We are living in a time of extreme and extraordinary inequality. There is now a
genre of research looking at different dimensions of the income and wealth gap.
This body of work chronicles the shapes and facets of inequality and its
adverse impact on everything we care about.
What
Americans can learn from British class guilt (The
Guardian)
America is supposed to have greater social mobility. In the UK, everyone
ostensibly has a rung but they are also trapped in that position. But these
once-clear binaries are muddled
Income
Mobility Charts for Girls, Asian-Americans and Other Groups. Or Make Your Own.
(The Upshot)
Last week we wrote about a sweeping new study of income inequality, which
followed 20 million children in the United States and showed how their adult
incomes varied by race and gender. The research was based on data about
virtually all Americans now in their late 30s.
City
Council program lets you choose what public projects to fund in your
neighborhood (am New York)
That park near your apartment in need of a little TLC; a city-owned vacant lot
that would be perfect for a community garden; an intersection that could
benefit from public safety improvements — if you’ve ever had an idea on how to
improve the city, there’s a program that wants your input.
Digital
Literacy Is at the Heart of a Thriving Smart City
(Government Technology)
During the Smart Cities Conference in Kansas City, Mo., earlier this week,
thought leaders broke down the issues facing technology deployments and the
importance of bringing constituents along for the ride.
How to
Decide, Fairly, Which Transportation Investments Are the Best Ones
(StreetsBlog)
The Greenlining Institute, an Oakland-based nonprofit, released a report today
describing a three-step framework that can be used to help communities figure
out which transportation investments best serve their needs.
New
Teachers Report That They Feel Well-Prepared for Their Roles
(Education Week)
The majority of public school teachers with five or fewer years of experience
said they felt ready to lead their classrooms in the first year on the job,
according to a new report by the National Center for Education Statistics.
The
Larger Concerns Behind the Teachers' Strikes (The
Atlantic)
The teachers’ complaints go far beyond compensation, and when viewed in the
context of their other demands, it’s clear that the strike gets at the heart of
some of the biggest issues facing America’s children: access to effective
teachers, high-quality learning materials, and modern facilities.
High
School Grade Inflation: Real But Maybe Not a Worry?
(Inside Higher Ed)
Florida State shares data showing that high school students are in fact earning
higher grades. Yet the predictive value of the high school GPA hasn't changed.
More
Aid for Student Parents (Inside Higher Ed)
Congress triples federal funding for low-income student parents, and advocates
welcome the support -- the first new investment in years -- but say much more
is needed.
New
federal program tackles spiraling costs of college textbooks
(Salon.com)
The new grant program, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, will
support the creation or improved use of open textbooks for use at any college
and university. Open textbooks are made freely available online by their
authors. They can also be changed and combined by instructors who use them in
their classes.
In Many
States, Students at Public Universities Foot Biggest Part of the Bill (Wall
Street Journal)
State funding cuts mean students in a majority of states are paying more in
tuition than the government does
Promise
and Reality of Price Transparency (New
England Journal of Medicine)
More than housing, food, or retirement, the cost of health care is now the most
common financial concern for Americans, and almost half the adults in the
United States have some difficulty paying their out-of-pocket medical costs.
Hospitals
Fear Competitive Threat From Potential Walmart-Humana Deal
(Wall Street Journal)
Walmart has been a very sophisticated buyer of health benefits, and could
increase pressure on services provided within hospitals
How
health care turmoil hurts the gig economy
(Axios)
Independent contractors and freelancers make up an increasing share of the
workforce, yet Washington is largely neglecting the market where self-employed
workers get health insurance. That's bad news for people in the burgeoning
"gig economy," where work is divorced from an employer — and thus
from employer-sponsored insurance.