Afternoon Announcements: National Assessment of Educational Progress Can’t Escape Budget Cuts

The 2015 budget estimates by the federal Office of Management and Budget project a 5% cut to the National Assessment of Educational Progress as part of the fallout from the federal sequestration cuts. Politics K-12

Some schools are offering virtual kindergarten, where children learn from their homes. Critics argue that it takes away from necessary social development. What do you think? NBC News

Two months after the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of education voted to spend $30 million to buy iPads for every teacher and student at 47 schools, the district began training those teachers on how to use them. Southern California Public Radio

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sees no need to step up the federal role in oversight of new accountability systems that are part of his department’s No Child Left Behind program, even in the wake of a school-grading flap that last week cost Florida Commissioner of Education Tony Bennett his job. Education Week