National Honor students Zach Calkins and Aaron Gonzales, seniors at Brandeis High School, read to kindergarten students in a crowded classroom at Wanke Elementary School in San Antonio on March 9, 2012.
National Honor students Zach Calkins and Aaron Gonzales, seniors at Brandeis High School, read to kindergarten students in a crowded classroom at Wanke Elementary School in San Antonio on March 9, 2012. Jennifer Whitley

As districts around Maine prepare to welcome the Class of 2021 this fall, educators are grappling with both policy and practice in the classroom. Without much guidance from the state, districts are able to define their own standards for proficiency in eight subject areas. But just how to guide individual learners is up to the teacher, and state officials have remained silent as to how they might measure implementation and success. (The Hechinger Report)

John Reynolds was the newsletters editor for the Tribune from 2013 to 2017. Prior to that, he was a reporter for Quorum Report, a non-partisan online political newsletter focusing on the ins and outs under...