NEW BEDFORD – School officials in this seaside city are pressing parents to allow their children to take the controversial PARCC exams, claiming that too many opt-outs of the Common Core-aligned tests may harm the district financially and otherwise.
The controversy over the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing highlights resistance to the exam, which the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to scrap in November. This is the last year that students in Massachusetts will take the PARCC exam. The state plans to develop new assessments, labeled MCAS 2.0, to be rolled out in spring 2017.
NEW YORK (AP) — In the aftermath of California and New York becoming the first states to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15, some small businesses with hourly workers are rethinking how they can absorb the increase.
The owners of Dog Haus, a chain of about 20 franchise restaurants in the West, may have customers pick up their meals at the counters in two company-owned stores instead of using servers to carry food to tables. The Pasadena, California-based company is also looking at hiring more experienced workers who can shoulder more responsibilities than entry-level staffers who earn minimum wage. For example, a cashier might now take on some administrative tasks. That way, Dog Haus could hire fewer people.
