Education Nation Weekly Newsletter Education Nation // March 4, 2015 // 5:36 PM EST Financing a college education can be complicated. Our latest Parent Toolkit blog post breaks down everything parents need to know about the process. New to the Parent Toolkit: Original Videos! Are you a health teacher? Our latest video series will be perfect for your class. Since March is National Nutrition Month, the Parent Toolkit will be unveiling a new video each week focused on childhood nutrition. This week's video focuses on why kids should eat a rainbow everyday. Each video will be available in both English andSpanish. This week in education news: Standardized testing starts across the country; a new report says the federal government is failing Native American schools; and worries about the teacher training pipeline grow. As always, you can join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Federal Government Has A Lot Of Work To Do In Fixing Up Native American Schools (Huffington Post, 3/4) Objections Spread to AP U.S. History Rewrite (Education Week, 3/3) Where Have All The Teachers Gone? (NPR, 3/3) Test Day: Schools Start to Give Exam Derided by Some Parents (Education Week, 3/3) As Enrollment Climbs, City Struggles to Keep Overcrowding from Growing (Chalkbeat NY, 3/3) Body Cameras on School Police Spark Student Privacy Concerns (Education Week, 3/3) Chicago Ends Standoff, Agrees to Give New State Test (WBEZ, 3/2) New Mexico Students Walk Out Over New Tests Contested in US (AP, 3/2) Teachers, Parents React to First Day of School Cell Phone Ban Lift (Chalkbeat NY, 3/2) As Common Core Testing Is Ushered In, Parents and Students Opt Out (New York Times, 3/1) The Snow Conundrum: How a School System Decides Whether to Open (Washington Post, 2/28) Unable to Repeal Common Core, Foes Try Sabotage (Politico, 2/26)

Muslim Holidays Added to New York Public School Calendar New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this morning that the city's public school calendar would now include two Muslim holidays, Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, a historic step that he said, "respects the diversity of our city." More

Standardized Tests? This Mom Says Bring Them On, the More the Better All over the country, from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Florida to Oregon, parents are rallying and rejecting standardized tests for their elementary, middle, and high-school kids. Not this mom, she wants more. More

High School Cross-Country Coach with 9 National Titles Focuses on 'Selflessness' Any high school would be thrilled with one national title, but Fayetteville-Manlius’ cross country running team has brought home nine in the last nine years. The key to their success? It starts with Coach Bill Aris. More