April 30, 2007
Florida Charter Schools: Doing More with Less (David Calvo)
In 1983, A Nation At Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform was released. This report from the U.S. Department of Education highlighted a number of troubling findings on the state of education in the U.S. The most disturbing - U.S. students are lagging behind in test scores when compared to their overseas counterparts. According to the 1997 Florida Statute 228.056, one of the many purposes of charter schools was to “make the school the unit for improvement.” Charter schools have become the needed catalyst for change in public education. It is not surprising that both charter and traditional school test scores have enjoyed steady improvement since the charter onset.
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Posted by Featured Guest at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Morning Shots
The Indypendent - Education As Commodity: Corporate Dollars Seek To Redefine Public Schools - Anyone care to respond? Email edspresso@edreform.com if you’d like to provide a Guest Commentary.
The latest 2006 commission report represents a broad bipartisan consensus of the U.S. corporate elite. It was funded by Bill Gates and the Gates, Hewlett, Casey and Lumina Foundations. The commission includes two former U.S. secretaries of education — Rod Paige and Richard Riley; a former U.S. Secretary of Labor; the heads of the New York City and Washington, D.C., public schools; the “president emeritus” of the Communications Workers of America; the president of the Urban League; the head of the National Association of Manufacturers; major corporate players (e.g., Henry Schatz, former CEO of Lucent); and other prominent politicians and academics.
According to the report, “we” (U.S. capital) need a highly skilled and creative work force to compete in the world market. The report admits that the emphasis on standards-based learning discouraged creativity in favor of rote learning. And, the new report says, the stress on educating for high skills is inadequate for the current global economy, where the only way to thrive will be to always be the first to come up with new technological breakthroughs.
This vision of a dog-eat-dog world is, unfortunately, an accurate portrayal of the dynamics of global capital. And, as the new report admits, automation and digitization have made it possible for U.S. companies to export almost all manufacturing and many service jobs, skilled and unskilled alike. But the folks behind the report are the very folks who shift capital around the globe to wherever labor is cheapest and profits are highest.
Washington Post - Top Teachers Issue Call for Revamped Pay Plans
Tired of reports by business executives and Cabinet officers on how to fix U.S. schools, 18 award-winning teachers produced their own recommendations this month, starting with a major overhaul of how teachers are paid.
The report, sponsored by the Hillsborough, N.C.-based Center for Teaching Quality, said teachers should be able to advance through three tiers -- novice, professional and expert -- and schools should stop paying teachers more just because they have more years on the job.
"If you don't have a career ladder that encourages teachers to advance in their profession -- and be paid accordingly as they advance -- tinkering around the edges by providing $2,000 bonuses for a handful of teachers will not secure the stable, high-quality professional workforce we need," the teachers said.
Houston Chronicle - HISD Examines Charter School Success -
Posted by Edspresso at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)It sounds like a simple formula to fix broken public schools: Require students to spend more time in class. Ask parents to sign contracts committing to be involved. Hire teachers who believe every child is college material.
Popular charter schools such as the Knowledge Is Power Program and YES Prep Public Schools follow such rules, and both have waiting lists of students who want to attend.
With enrollment declining in the Houston Independent School District, the impending expansion of successful charter schools here raises questions about whether traditional districts could — or should — play copycat.
"I don't think there's anything we're really doing that couldn't be replicated in a traditional ISD," said Chris Barbic, the founder of Houston-based YES Prep.
Yet even Barbic acknowledges it would be difficult for traditional districts, which have more students and more red tape, to make big changes. It also would require schools to spend their money differently, on teacher salaries instead of football, perhaps.
Education News for Monday, April 30
Top Teachers Issue Call for Revamped Pay Plans - Tired of reports by business executives and Cabinet officers on how to fix U.S. schools, 18 award-winning teachers produced their own recommendations this month, starting with a major overhaul of how teachers are paid.
Education As Commodity: Corporate Dollars Seek To Redefine Public Schools - As the No Child Left Behind Act comes up for renewal, the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce is ushering in a new phase in the campaign to privatize public schools. The commission, whose last report laid the groundwork for NCLB, issued a book-length report December 2006
The Drive Is On To Save Recess - It's all work and no play for kindergartners in the Woodland Hills School District. Their school day starts at 8:40 a.m. and continues to 3:10 p.m., with no designated break for recess.
Alameda Point Thrives Despite Many Setbacks - In the 10 years since the Navy left the Island, Alameda Point has sometimes been compared to a ghost town. In many ways, it is. . .But hidden among empty hangars and old barracks is a community that teems with energy.
Negotiations Continue For Charter School - While the Mark Twain Academies charter school is getting closer to its target enrollment of 213 students, the school's leaders are concerned about having enough classrooms to house their students.
District Should Be More Open To Charter Schools - It is always difficult for those who hold power to allow the status quo to be upset in the name of progress. Any movement to break the inertia of a status quo is also a statement that standard operating procedure is failing.
Increase Aid To Charter Schools - Charter schools, the neglected stepchildren of the state education establishment, are gradually coming into their own thanks to their record of lifting the academic achievement of young inner- city children. Unlike regular public schools, with their phalanxes of administrators and strong teacher unions, the charter schools are still treated as an experiment, even 10 years after their start, and been starved for money.
GOP, Strickland Joust Over Solution To School Funding - Majority Republicans in the House have pledged to implement "Gov. Ted Strickland's School Funding Solution." The governor says he's amused when he reads a comment like that from the House budget briefing document released last week. It depicts Strickland's education budget as his plan to fix school funding, when he has made it clear he is still developing that plan.
HISD Examines Charter School Success - It sounds like a simple formula to fix broken public schools: Require students to spend more time in class. Ask parents to sign contracts committing to be involved. Hire teachers who believe every child is college material.
Charter School Grows, Raises Concerns - When Dawn Pope saw her daughter's fourth-grade class at Sams Valley Elementary, she was dumbfounded that one teacher was expected to instruct 30 pupils.
Charter Chains Shows Results, Ambitions - The preferred term is "promotion ceremony," for the record. But whatever you do, don't call what's about to happen at KIPP TRUTH Academy an "eighth-grade graduation."
Backlash Threatens Charter School Expansion While Some Public Schools Sit Empty In Gary - Local hostility toward charter schools is blocking building, leasing and expansion plans. Four local charter schools are looking for more space, among them Thea Bowman, Charter School of the Dunes, and KIPP.
Expand Charter School Opportunities In State - Oklahoma legislators have approved a bill that would make it easier to establish charter schools. But we think the bill doesn’t go far enough. The 1999 Charter School Act allowed school and CareerTech boards to be charter school sponsors.
Posted by Edspresso at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)April 27, 2007
Morning Shots
Cleveland Plain Dealer - GOP offers version of budget; Proposal emphasizes higher ed, school choice
As was widely expected, Republicans countered Strickland's move to end a voucher program outside of Cleveland - which provides fewer than 3,000 students in low-performing districts with vouchers to attend private schools - by fully restoring money for the program.
The Republicans also plan to allow charter school expansion in some cases rather than the moratorium sought by Strickland....
Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said the overall reaction to the GOP plan was "very positive."
Contra Costa Times - Teachers leaving profession in droves
Teachers stifled by bureaucracy and blocked from making decisions in their own classrooms are leaving teaching in droves, according to a new study by Cal State University's Teacher Quality Institute.
Nearly 22 percent of California teachers leave teaching after four years, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. With this type of exodus, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning projects a 33,000-teacher shortage in California by 2015....
The 1,900 teachers surveyed by the institute said they left mainly because of the endless amounts of paperwork, constant interruptions and fruitless meetings that take time away from actual instruction, said Ken Futernick, principal author of the study and director of K-12 Studies at the institute....
According to the study, teachers who left tough schools said poor working conditions trumped pay among reasons they left.
"They're almost saying 'you couldn't pay me enough to stay at this school,'" Futernick said. Interestingly enough, teachers surveyed who stayed in the field and felt supported at their campus cited their compensation as adequate, the study says.
Los Angeles Daily News - Antonio's schools (AVUSD): Mayor needs authority to set up his own charters
Posted by Edspresso at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa struggles to get some control over the Los Angeles Unified School District — the courts have struck down his takeover legislation, and next month's school board races promise to be close. So City Councilman Richard Alarcón ... is proposing that City Hall open an Office of Education, which would be empowered to create and run charter schools.
Assuming the office could run its schools better than the district does, which shouldn't be hard, students would start streaming in, and what we could then call the Antonio Villaraigosa Unified School District — or AVUSD — would thrive.
Although this proposal is no substitute for reform at the LAUSD — or for electing reformers in next month's school board election — it could help. Given the district's hostility to charters, it would be useful to have another local entity empowered to create them.
Education News for Friday, April 27
Fund Was Poorly Monitored, Audit Finds - D.C. school system officials failed to properly monitor spending in a special account that allowed them to carry over funds from one fiscal year to the next, according to an audit released by the city's chief financial officer yesterday.
GOP offers version of budget; Proposal emphasizes higher ed, school choice - Columbus- House Republican leaders rolled out their version of the state's next two-year budget with a heavy emphasis on higher education and school choice.
Let's work together for the sake of children - Public school choice is alive and well in the Denver Public Schools as the Rocky Mountain News has reported in its "Leaving to Learn" series. Denver parents have more choices than most Americans, and Colorado has worked to expand those choices through charter schools, magnet schools and open enrollment.
Public vs. charter: Great schools come in various forms as long as teachers, principals remain dedicated - Atlanta's Charles R. Drew Elementary School garners a lot of great press for being a charter school success story, and for good reason, but state data reveal an even more effective but mainstream public school — East Lake Elementary — just down the road.
Senate accord fleshes out online schools' oversight - The Senate compromised Thursday on far-reaching legislation to oversee online schools, aiming to address problems of sloppy spending and poor student performance raised in a state audit.
Antonio's schools (AVUSD): Mayor needs authority to set up his own charters - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa struggles to get some control over the Los Angeles Unified School District — the courts have struck down his takeover legislation, and next month's school board races promise to be close. So City Councilman Richard Alarcón has come up with a promising alternative: Let the city start up its own district.
Teachers leaving profession in droves - Stephan Goyne entered teaching as a "fight the good fight" kind of guy, taking a job in East Oakland right out of college. . . . But after six years in the trenches -- transferred from campus to campus, forbidden from organizing field trips and ordered to teach math only after lunch -- Goyne left the profession.
Coach Class - Next fall many New York City public school teachers may find their "literacy coach" — most likely a young woman — compelling them to teach reading and writing exclusively by the methods of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.
Chester Upland board caps charter school enrollment - Over the objections of charter school parents, the three-member board that runs the troubled Chester Upland School District voted last night to cap charter school enrollment at about its current level.
Charter school issues grow as hope of leasing space dies - After a month-long, behind-the-scenes struggle between Metro Schools and the city’s newest charter school over its location, one school board member is calling on Director of Schools Pedro Garcia to start cooperating.
Charter school gets Cambridge OK; Rigorous curriculum a key step for Oasis - The University of Cambridge has certified a Cape Coral school to teach a rigorous international curriculum. Oasis Freshman Academy, which will be housed at the city-run Oasis Charter Middle School beginning in August, learned of the certification recently.
Posted by Edspresso at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Missouri State School Board Takes Over the St. Louis Public Schools (Sarah Brodsky)
On March 22 the Missouri State Board of Education voted to remove the Saint Louis Public Schools’ provisional accreditation. The decision hands control of the district to a transitional panel consisting of three members appointed separately by Gov. Matt Blunt, Saint Louis Mayor Francis Slay, and the president of the Board of Aldermen. The takeover will be effective at least through 2013; the elected school board will remain in place, but it will no longer have any control over the district’s operations.
Posted by Featured Guest at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)April 26, 2007
Edupundit Myopia (Will Fitzhugh)
Edupundits have chosen very complex subject matter for their investigations and reports. They study and write about dropouts, vouchers, textbooks, teacher selection and training, school governance, budgets, curricula in all subjects, union contracts, school management issues, and many many more.
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Posted by Featured Guest at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Morning Shots
The battle over school choice in Ohio continues as urban school chiefs back Gov. Strickland's call for a moratorium on charter schools in the state. But for all the canvassing of the defenders of the status quo, the charter students are making their message clear with rallies across the state.
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Urban school chiefs lobby on charter proposals
Leaders of Ohio's eight big-city school districts are lobbying lawmakers this week to support Gov. Ted Strickland's proposal to ban for-profit charter schools and ax a statewide school-voucher program.
"We strongly support his position that for-profit entities not operate in our state," said Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders, co-chairman of the Ohio 8, a coalition of superintendents and teachers union presidents from the state's largest districts.
The door-to-door canvassing of legislators, which will peak today, represents the most visible foray into politics for the 5-year-old organization.
The school leaders want legislators to know they are weary of watching students, as well as tens of millions of tax dollars, fly out of their coffers and into the hands of charter schools.
Washington Post: Panel urges schools to replace junk foods
A prestigious scientific panel urged the government yesterday to ban soft drinks, sugary snacks and other junk food from schools, saying the typical fare available in vending machines, at snack bars and at class birthday parties is contributing to the growing obesity of America's children.
Federal officials recently proposed raising the nutritional standards for school lunches or breakfasts, but the recommendations issued yesterday are the first national attempt to address the healthfulness of "competitive" school foods
"Children eat 30 to 50 percent of their calories at schools on school days," Wootan said. "When parents send their kids to school with lunch money, they don't want to worry that it will be spent on Cheetos and Gatorade."
New York Times: Higher graduation rates in city, but 'more work to do'
Half of New York City’s high school students graduated on time in June 2006, up from 47 percent the year before, according to figures released yesterday by the New York State Education Department.
The figures also showed that statewide, the four-year high school graduation rate barely budged, rising to 67 percent from 66 percent.
The news for the rest of the state was somewhat less optimistic. The numbers showed some of the same vast disparities — between poor cities and rich suburbs, and also between white students and their black and Hispanic counterparts — that have persisted for years, with rich children and white children more likely to graduate on time.
The numbers also highlighted the enduring challenges for students with disabilities; only 37 percent statewide graduated on time, and only 48 percent did so after six years.
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Education News for Thursday, April 26
Vocational education can keep students hooked on school - Sen. Jack Scott, a career educator, remembers when his daughter broke the news that she was going to marry a commercial fisherman. "This guy was not too happy," the Altadena Democrat says, referring to himself.
Urban school chiefs lobby on charter proposals - Leaders of Ohio's eight big-city school districts are lobbying lawmakers this week to support Gov. Ted Strickland's proposal to ban for-profit charter schools and ax a statewide school-voucher program. "We strongly support his position that for-profit entities not operate in our state," said Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders, co-chairman of the Ohio 8, a coalition of superintendents and teachers union presidents from the state's largest districts.
Panel Urges Schools To Replace Junk Foods - A prestigious scientific panel urged the government yesterday to ban soft drinks, sugary snacks and other junk food from schools, saying the typical fare available in vending machines, at snack bars and at class birthday parties is contributing to the growing obesity of America's children.
Charter school closes the gap - To do well at at Amistad Academy — where students clad in navy and khaki uniforms walk in single file, college pennants hang in rows above lockers, and the hallways abound with inspirational slogans reading “whatever it takes” and “success starts here and now” — you must learn to “sweat the small stuff.”
Give all students an equal chance - Editorial: The state’s highest court earlier this month heard arguments about whether charter schools in Baltimore City should receive the same funding per student as traditional public schools. We would like to ask the court a different question: Should parents who send their children to charter schools — which are public schools — pay the same taxes as those who go to traditional public schools?
Higher Graduation Rates in City, but ‘More Work to Do’ - Half of New York City’s high school students graduated on time in June 2006, up from 47 percent the year before, according to figures released yesterday by the New York State Education Department. The figures also showed that statewide, the four-year high school graduation rate barely budged, rising to 67 percent from 66 percent.
Charter school plans hit snag - The group trying to start a charter school in downtown Charleston hit another speed bump in its quest to use space at the former Rivers Middle School building. Organizers of the Charleston Charter High School for Math and Science asked the district to sign an agreement that would have let them use the gym, cafeteria and land behind the school to set up trailers.
Nevada lawmakers consider changes to charter schools - As the popularity of charter schools increases, the state needs to make sure the schools are well-run and held accountable, lawmakers were told Wednesday. The Senate Human Resources and Education Committee voted unanimously to pass AB334, sponsored by Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, which tightens several regulations regarding charter schools.
Schools to Hire Accountants To Help With Fiscal Problems - District officials announced yesterday that they will hire an accounting firm to help the public school system fix financial problems that threaten the city's overall fiscal health. After a private meeting with D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi that lasted about 30 minutes, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Board of Education President Robert C. Bobb said the school system had agreed to bring in a firm as soon as today.
Charter schools get the word out - Charter school supporters are taking their information metrowide. About 40,000 Twin Cities families with school-age children are getting booklets in the mail with information about area charter schools. The booklets represent a new collaboration of 54 metro charter schools and the Center for School Change. Last year separate booklets were sent to families in the east and west metro areas.
Speak up for charters, Mr. Mayor - Editorial: Mayor Adrian Fenty is scheduled to announce tomorrow more details on his education plan, which, approved last week by the D.C. Council, would effectively change every aspect of school governance since LBJ was in the White House. We hope the mayor voices support for charter schools.
Girls school founders plan public meeting - Founders of a charter school for girls being planned for the Norcross area in 2008 will share their ideas with parents and educators Friday. The community seminar on Ivy Preparatory Academy will be at 7 p.m. in the main auditorium at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Gwinnett Drive, in Lawrenceville.
No Child Left Behind foes fear $600M loss - Lawmakers agreed Wednesday that while it might be a good idea for Arizona to opt out of mandates required by the No Child Left Behind act, giving up more than half a billion dollars in federal funding is not a good idea.
Schools are meeting Husted's challenge on charters - The city school district will offer its vacant school buildings to charter schools, board President Yvonne Isaacs said. In fact, she said Tuesday, the district already has done so as required by Ohio law.
More CPS graduates going on to college - The number of Chicago public school graduates going on to college is on a steady uptick, rising from 44 percent to 46 percent to 48 percent over the last three years, CPS officials revealed Wednesday. Even so, the college enrollment rate of CPS grads is still well below the national average of 64 percent.
Board denies renewal of E. Liberty charter school - The Pittsburgh school board voted last night to shut down an East Liberty charter school. Officials cited financial concerns, a lack of criminal background checks on employees and other problems with Renaissance Academy of Pittsburgh Alternative of Hope, an elementary school.
Vicki Phillips to step down as Portland school superintendent - Fighting back tears and praising the community's commitment to education, Portland Schools Superintendent Vicki Phillips announced Wednesday afternoon that she has accepted a job heading up U.S. education grants for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the most powerful education jobs in the nation.
Charter school for at-risk youth announces layoffs - An Austin charter school for at-risk youth recently laid off nearly 15 percent of its staff because of lower than expected student attendance rates that affected the amount of money it received from the state, school officials said.
Posted by Edspresso at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)April 25, 2007
Anonymously Rating Teacher Performance (Paul Marks)
South Australian teachers are outraged by the website RateMyTeachers.com.
The site asks students to anonymously rate the performance of teachers in categories titled: Easiness, Helpfulness, Clarity, Popularity and Overall Quality. So, why are teachers outraged? What is the problem with sites that rate performance?
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Posted by Featured Guest at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Morning Shots
Washington Post: A boom for DC charter schools
Demand for the District's publicly funded, independently operated charter schools is at a high -- enrollment has risen an average of 13 percent annually since 2001. If the trend continues, more students will attend charter schools than traditional public schools by 2014, according to a study last year by Fight for Children, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
In a rapidly shifting educational landscape, at least a dozen charter schools that opened a few years ago in church basements or vacant shops are pursuing state-of-the-art campuses, a sign that the city's once-fledgling charter movement is maturing. The schools are popular even though the vast majority of them failed to meet federal academic targets last year.
"Charter schools were considered something you laughed at -- no one presumed they would have any impact at all," said Hense, whose school in Woodridge, in Northeast, with pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, was among the few D.C. charter campuses to meet academic targets last year. "Now we are a force to be reckoned with."
Congress passed legislation in 1996 allowing charter schools in the District, and the nation's capital has been fertile ground for the movement. The city's 55 charter schools are operating on 71 campuses, and the District has the highest concentration of charter students in the nation behind New Orleans, according to the Center for Education Reform.
New York Times: Billionaires start $60 million schools effort
After Bill Gates' "Stand Up" campaign seemed to disappear, Gates has reappeared with Eli Broad to bring education to the fore in the 2008 election.
Eli Broad and Bill Gates, two of the most important philanthropists in American public education, have pumped more than $2 billion into improving schools. But now, dissatisfied with the pace of change, they are joining forces for a $60 million foray into politics in an effort to vault education high onto the agenda of the 2008 presidential race.
Under the slogan “Ed in ’08,” the project, called Strong American Schools, will include television and radio advertising in battleground states, an Internet-driven appeal for volunteers and a national network of operatives in both parties.
“I have reached the conclusion as has the Gates foundation, which has done good things also, that all we’re doing is incremental,” said Mr. Broad, the billionaire who founded SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home and who has long been a prodigious donor to Democrats.
The project will not endorse candidates — indeed, it is illegal to do so as a charitable group — but will instead focus on three main areas: a call for stronger, more consistent curriculum standards nationwide; lengthening the school day and year; and improving teacher quality through merit pay and other measures.
New York Sun: Bush praises charter, calls for more
Posted by Edspresso at 06:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)During a visit to a charter school in Harlem yesterday, President Bush called on school districts to reorganize their failing schools into charter schools and said he would expand a federal merit pay program for teachers to $200 million.
Mr. Bush said he chose the charter school, the Harlem Village Academy, as the backdrop for his speech because of its reputation for rapidly raising the test scores of low-performing students.
He praised the school's ability to bend rules with its nine-hour school day and Saturday classes, a jab at teachers unions that have traditionally opposed longer hours for schools.
Education News for Wednesday, April 25
School district says spending was proper - Facing a possible investigation by the state, officials at the Val Verde Unified School District in Riverside County on Tuesday said they were within bounds when they used state bond money to build 5,000-square-foot weight rooms, stainless steel whirlpools in locker rooms and other accouterments even though the district declared it was a hardship case.
Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort - Eli Broad and Bill Gates, two of the most important philanthropists in American public education, have pumped more than $2 billion into improving schools. But now, dissatisfied with the pace of change, they are joining forces for a $60 million foray into politics in an effort to vault education high onto the agenda of the 2008 presidential race.
A Boom for D.C. Charter Schools - Demand for the District's publicly funded, independently operated charter schools is at a high -- enrollment has risen an average of 13 percent annually since 2001. If the trend continues, more students will attend charter schools than traditional public schools by 2014, according to a study last year by Fight for Children, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
Bush Presses Schools Plan During Trip to New York - President Bush fought with the Democrats over war financing yesterday morning. But in the afternoon he came to Harlem to seek common cause with the rival party, on its home turf, on his signature education initiative, No Child Left Behind.
Bush Praises Charter, Calls for More - During a visit to a charter school in Harlem yesterday, President Bush called on school districts to reorganize their failing schools into charter schools and said he would expand a federal merit pay program for teachers to $200 million.
Guv takes step back on vouchers - Though Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said earlier this spring he would stand by the public should voters reject school vouchers, this week he said it would be up to the Legislature to respond to the vote. "I will certainly respect what the will of the people is, but I don't have the power unilaterally to do much about it," Huntsman told the Deseret Morning News Tuesday.
Special Education Abuses - Letter: Re “Word by Word, the World Becomes a Little Less Mystifying for Illiterate Adults,” by Joseph Berger (On Education column, April 18): The reasons for the dramatic growth in the number of students in special education classes are more complex than they appear.
Many cases, many causes - Editorial: After two years as head of the Marion County Superior Court's truancy program, Commissioner Kelly Rota-Autry will tell you that not every truant is a slacker. Their reasons may vary, but the results are the same, as the following examples show.
Charter schools plan teacher raises - Cape Coral's city-run charter schools face the problem of trying to pay competitive teacher salaries when money is tight. With the end of the 2006-07 school year approaching, the charter system will soon unveil a spending plan for the 2007-08 school year.
State says LEAP violated N.J. law, its own charter - The state Department of Education found that LEAP Academy University Charter School violated New Jersey law and its own charter by recruiting out-of-state basketball players. LEAP has until May 25 to craft a plan for bringing its enrollment procedures into compliance with state law and its charter, the department said in a letter released Tuesday.
7 elementary schools get approval to add middle school grades - Seven San Diego elementary schools received permission yesterday to add middle school grades to their campuses under a $9.5 million plan. The board of the San Diego Unified School District voted 4-1 to allow Audubon, Bethune, Fulton, Golden Hill, Knox, Logan and Perkins elementary schools to expand to eighth-grade.
Board to close charter school - The Language Academy charter school ran out of borrowed time Tuesday as the Pasco School Board decided to shut the financially troubled school once the academic year ends. The board first threatened to close the school last summer amid reports that the school was running a deficit and was not likely to pay all its bills through the year.
School choice welcome in today’s world - Editorial: Watching the final hours of legislative debate, when the Georgia House considers a bill that represents one of the most significant education reforms in ages, the stark contrast between two views of the role of government could not be clearer.
Pittsburgh schools rethinking special ed logistics - The Pittsburgh Public Schools last night said it would consider moving five classrooms and already had taken other steps to allay parents' concerns about the relocation of about 400 special education students as part of the district's reorganization last year.
Posted by Edspresso at 05:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)April 24, 2007
Who is Public Education Supposed to Help? (Dave Johnston)
I read three items recently that led me to the conclusion that many people don't really understand who public education is intended to help. I've always thought that public education was about preparing California's children for success in college and the world of work. As I read these articles, I can't help but feel that other people have a different view.
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Posted by Featured Guest at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Morning Shots
Washington Post - Looking at KIPP, Coolly and Carefully
Jay Mathews looks at the rose-colored reporting on KIPP charter schools' success, and offers to balance that with some scrutiny of their challenges, including student retention problems and the handful of schools from which the KIPP name has been withdrawn for poor performance. He concludes:
The report card said the average student who has been with KIPP three years started at the 44th percentile in math and the 34th percentile in reading at the beginning of fifth grade. By the end of seventh grade that student was at the 83rd percentile in math and the 58th percentile in reading. It is important to note that many students who start KIPP in fifth grade move away or decide to return to the regular school system, so the number who stay three years is relatively small. Also, these results are from tests given not by the school district but by KIPP officials so they can place students properly, diagnose weak areas and keep track of their progress. Such internal assessments lack external monitors and thus, at least in theory, can be subject to cheating. But at least three independent studies have decided the KIPP gains are real, and more such research is under way.
I continue to look for programs that have done better than KIPP in raising the achievement level of low-income children, the central problem in American education today. I have not found any yet, and will keep looking. But I will also continue to watch KIPP, with caution and with some hope.
New York Sun - Bush To Salute a Charter in Harlem
Look for more coverage tonight on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric
"The president is highlighting charter schools specifically as a useful option for parents who are seeking choices for their children — especially children who are not achieving at their current schools," a spokesman for the president, Blair Jones, said. The Harlem school, he added, "sets high standards and has worked in innovative ways to make sure all students achieve."
The No Child Left Behind Act requires all schools to bring all students up to grade level in reading and math by 2014, and the founder of the charter school, Deborah Kenny, said she believed the school's track record in quickly improving the performance of low-achieving students is the reason the White House chose her school for the president's speech.
...the recent increase in the statewide cap on the number of charter schools and the Bloomberg administration's school reorganization efforts have recently drawn national attention — and also mirror many of the president's own education plans.
Mr. Klein, who will accompany the president today and often repeats Mr. Bush's line about the "soft bigotry of low expectations" in his own speeches, is currently pushing through a reorganization of the school bureaucracy that borrows from many of the major elements of the No Child Left Behind Act — including increased accountability for individual schools.
Also accompanying the president is Rep. Charles Rangel, the Harlem Democrat who chairs the Ways and Means Committee and who has been more critical of the No Child Left Behind Act in its current form.
In a recent article in The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper, Mr. Rangel wrote: "Education officials … are right in complaining that it has unfairly burdened school districts because it fails to provide sufficient funding for full implementation. That needs to be corrected."
Mr. Bush faces some hurdles in getting the act reauthorized, and it is possible that Congress will wait until a new president takes office before revising the federal education law. The stop in Harlem is a part of an ongoing campaign by the president to convince lawmakers to reauthorize the law.
Altanta Journal-Constitution: School choice welcome in today’s world
Posted by Edspresso at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)The problem with politics is the perpetual existence of one reality of representative democracy. That reality is that most elected officials — and editorialists, too, for that matter — are forever making assumptions based on the world as it existed during their childhood or formative years. New information is reinterpreted to fit the worldview we hold.
The consequence is that legislators are most always legislating for yesterday. In the case of education, that means they’re completely unmindful of the culture, of lifestyles, of the education marketplace that has evolved. Consequently, they keep trying to reconfigure the model, convinced as they are that if the class size is smaller, or if more money is made available for teacher salaries, or nicer buildings or newer books, the problems that existed a few generations ago would be cured. And they might. If this was then.
Reality is, however, that many children reach school with far more needs and far less appreciation for learning. Their families are often never formed, transient, overly litigious, demanding and altogether unreasonable.
Children, regardless of need or potential, are thrown together, sometime for no other reason than to achieve political correctness. And the teacher monopoly on talented women vanished decades ago.
Education News for Tuesday, April 24
Looking at KIPP, Coolly and Carefully - Some critics decry the way the Knowledge Is Power Program presents itself as the savior of inner city education. My answer: KIPP doesn't do that. We sloppy journalists do.
Bush To Salute a Charter in Harlem - President Bush will today visit a charter school in Harlem, aiming to push Congress to pass a renewed version of the No Child Left Behind Act, Mr. Bush's signature education law. The president, along with his education secretary, Margaret Spellings, will tour the Harlem Village Academies charter school.
East End Charter School Forces Others To Compete - The opening of the Hamptons' first charter school on a country road here lined with sprawling summer estates has spurred improvements in at least one local public school, which was forced for the first time to compete for students.
Charter school to make cutbacks - A Redlands-based charter school accused of fiscal mismanagement will implement layoffs and consider campus closures after a state commission decided to award the school 60 percent of the public funding it could have received this year.
Virtual classes a challenge for schools - Fed up with middle school, Ian Hemingway of Moraga escaped the drama two years ago with the click of his computer mouse. In a modern-day version of dropping out and tuning in, he enrolled in the virtual Laurel Springs School and took all his eighth-grade classes online.
SFUSD, three schools take state tech grants - The San Francisco Unified School District and three charter schools in The City have recently been awarded grants through the state’s Enhancing Education Through Technology program.
Bill to freeze property tax passes committee - Governor Bill Ritter’s plan to freeze property tax rates to increase education funding, finally given a vote after six weeks of discussion, passed out of the House Education Committee along party lines Monday. . . .also ramps up oversight of charter schools in several areas.
School choice welcome in today’s world - Watching the final hours of legislative debate, when the Georgia House considers a bill that represents one of the most significant education reforms in ages, the stark contrast between two views of the role of government could not be clearer.
Anti-Voucher Group Opposed to Gov's Plan for Feb. Election - Governor Jon Huntsman Junior is inclined to put vouchers on the presidential primary ballot in February rather than call a special election this year. That's according to his spokesperson Lisa Roskelley, who says a special election would be too costly. But voucher opponents think it should happen sooner.
Charter school supporters rally at the Capitol - Hundreds of charter school students and their parents and teachers gathered at the Capitol on Monday to talk to legislators and show support for the schools. "Not every legislator here is fully supportive of charter schools," former House member Jeff Kropf said during a midday rally on the front steps of the Capitol. "You have an opportunity to change their minds."
Project-based learning starts next year in Erie - Erie High School will begin changing to a full project-based learning environment next year. Last week, the Kansas State Board of Education agreed to allow the school to begin operating as a charter school.
Agassi Academy Gives Students a New Start - One of the most beloved athletes in the world and husband of fellow tennis great Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi is now helping at-risk kids hit the books in his hometown of Las Vegas by creating a college preparatory charter school.
Rockford charter school plan targets black males - Rockford’s schools chief and teachers union are separately exploring whether the School District should establish a charter school, possibly one specifically for black and other academically challenged males.
Posted by Edspresso at 08:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)April 23, 2007
More Charter Schools for New York State (Thomas Carroll and Peter Murphy)
After several years of heated debate, the New York State Legislature, at the urging of the new governor, Eliot Spitzer, doubled the number of public charter schools allowed in New York State, which he labeled a “signature accomplishment.”
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Posted by Featured Guest at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Morning Shots
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Legislature approves limited school vouchers
Parents would be able to use state money to send their special needs children to private schools, under legislation that passed the General Assembly Friday following impassioned debate and a tie-breaking vote in the House.
At the heart of Senate Bill 10 is the belief that parents, not educators, should be making the decisions, said Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn), who carried the bill in the House.
"Children don't belong to the board of education. Children don't belong to your so-called experts. Children don't belong to PhDs. And they certainly don't exist to serve the needs of government," Casas, a public school teacher, said.
The bill says, to be eligible to receive the new vouchers, children must be enrolled in public school and have a defined disability. Bill proponents estimate the average voucher would be $9,000 and that a small percentage of children would actually use it — about 4,100 the first year.
Washington Post: Education 'Peace Corps' expanding area presence
Teach for America, which has operated in the District since 1992, has 160 teachers working there this year. The number will grow to 250 in the fall, with 25 assigned to Prince George's schools. If the school systems agree, there could be 500 such teachers in the District and Prince George's by 2011, making Teach for America by far their largest supplier of new teachers.
The expansion reflects what organization officials see as a new commitment to reform by the administration of D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Prince George's officials.
School officials in Prince George's said they are excited about the organization's launch there. "These are people who come in on a mission, so to speak," said schools spokesman John White, "and we can certainly use their help in teacher recruitment, because we are looking for the best teachers to work in our schools of greatest need."
"Our mission is to close the achievement gap," said Amy Black, executive director of Teach for America-Metro D.C. "There is no reason an 8-year-old in D.C. should be two to three grade levels behind his counterpart in Fairfax County."
Los Angeles Times: L.A. charter schools scramble for space
Despite a state law that calls for public school campuses to be "shared fairly" between traditional schools and independently run charter schools, Synergy and dozens of other charters in Los Angeles Unified School District have nothing like a regular school to call their own.
Charter schools operate out of churches, high-rises, warehouses and portable buildings slapped down on parking lots. Just this month, the operator of the CityLife Downtown Charter told the school board she's held some classes in a park.
The district, beset with overcrowded schools, typically puts charter schools on waiting lists or offers classroom space that is far away, too small or both.
Top district officials adamantly reject claims that L.A. Unified has violated Proposition 39, the referendum passed in 2000 that requires "reasonably equivalent" conditions for charter school students.
Washington Post: Fenty, Janey and Bobb pledge united effort to address issues
Posted by Edspresso at 05:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)The District's mayor, school superintendent and school board president pledged yesterday that they would work together, proffering a show of unity one day after the D.C. Council approved a mayoral takeover of the schools.
"We think it's mandatory for the future of this city, and the future of the children in our school system, that the three of us . . . get together as soon as possible to start discussing how we are going to work together," Fenty said during a 19-minute news conference at the school system's headquarters.
Donna Power Stowe, executive director of the nonprofit DC Education Compact, said she didn't expect to hear specific plans or a timetable for addressing issues. But she said she was glad that after months of often-contentious debate, it seemed that the men had exchanged olive branches.
Education News for Monday, April 23
L.A. charter schools scramble for space - Despite a state law that calls for public school campuses to be "shared fairly" between traditional schools and independently run charter schools, Synergy and dozens of other charters in Los Angeles Unified School District have nothing like a regular school to call their own.
Education 'Peace Corps' Expanding Area Presence - Teach for America, which has operated in the District since 1992, has 160 teachers working there this year. The number will grow to 250 in the fall, with 25 assigned to Prince George's schools. If the school systems agree, there could be 500 such teachers in the District and Prince George's by 2011, making Teach for America by far their largest supplier of new teachers.
Polk Students, Schools Lose Passionate Leader - Clint Wright was a big man with a personality to match. Wright, superintendent of Lake Wales Charter Schools and a longtime Polk County educator, died Friday of a heart attack. He was 54.
Key Initiative Of 'No Child' Under Federal Investigation - The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading initiative at the center of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law, another blow to a program besieged by allegations of financial conflicts of interest and cronyism, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.
Legislature approves limited school vouchers - Parents would be able to use state money to send their special needs children to private schools, under legislation that passed the General Assembly Friday following impassioned debate and a tie-breaking vote in the House.
Fenty, Janey and Bobb Pledge United Effort to Address Issues - The District's mayor, school superintendent and school board president pledged yesterday that they would work together, proffering a show of unity one day after the D.C. Council approved a mayoral takeover of the schools.
Brewer promises reforms after critical LAUSD review - In the wake of a top-to-bottom review that harshly portrays the Los Angeles school system as inefficient and ineffective, Supt. David L. Brewer on Friday promised to quickly bring in outside experts, hire a chief academic officer and elevate almost all schools to academic success by 2013.
Briefs: Immigrant charter school hires principal - The New America School, a public high school designed to help immigrants learn English, will open classes in Gypusm and Edwards in August with Kathleen Brendza as its principal.
Va. Schools Yield, Yet May Shape 'No Child' - Faced with the possible loss of millions of dollars in federal aid, Northern Virginia school systems have acquiesced reluctantly to federal requirements for testing children with limited English skills. But the dispute between local educators and federal regulators could influence the rewriting of the No Child Left Behind law.
Schools seek to tack on middle grades - Seven San Diego elementary schools want to add middle school grades so parents can have the option of keeping their children in neighborhood campuses through early adolescensce.
Paging Gov. Strickland - Editorial: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has some explaining to do. He plans to gut the state's school-voucher program, ending a two-year statewide experiment building upon 12 years of vouchers in the city of Cleveland. Through EdChoice, 2,829 students around the country receive vouchers to attend private and parochial schools instead of failing local public ones.
Appleton panel backs charter school for construction - The opening of a charter school to help students explore careers in commercial construction is proposed for the fall of 2008 at Appleton East High School.
Fresno Mayor Announces The City's New Urban Charter Initiative - Fresno Mayor Alan Autry was touting parental choices in announcing the city's new "Urban Charter Initiative" in Downtown Fresno Friday morning. Not only did the Mayor detail his City of Fresno Urban Charter Initiative, he also vowed to convert two Fresno Unified elementary schools into charter schools.
Are gifted children being left behind by NCLB? - The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act aims at reaching those students- who are low academic performing or special needs- before they fall behind. However, some county parents and education officials believe NCLB is leaving behind another group: gifted students.
Some charter school leaders critical of teacher recruiting effort - Some charter school leaders are criticizing a state plan to bring out-of-state teachers to New Orleans, saying the incentive package would be financed with money meant for rebuilding and reopening schools _ not housing aid or other perks _ and that it excludes teachers already here.
Different students, different schools - Mina McClelland always planned to enroll her children in a charter school because, she said, the increased parental involvement leads to higher academic achievement. “I knew I was going to send them to charter school, hands down,” McClelland said.
Charter school has big dreams - Jeremy Kane is all white starched shirt, SUV and wrap-around sunglasses. This is an industrial part of Nashville, a neighborhood both West and North, tucked near prisons and factories. The students who live in the tiny homes go to struggling schools. But this 28-year-old has gotten to know this barbecue-eating neighborhood.
Choice schools offer more than just academics - Passages from the Bible line the walls of Messmer High School, a Catholic school in inner-city Milwaukee, where students read Shakespeare, study theology and even learn from a lawyer about the legal system. Most of the 600 students are from low-income black families, and the majority pay no tuition to attend the school.
School rallies to raise cash - Middle-school students at the New Mexico Academy for Science and Mathematics went on a field trip to the Grand Canyon last week. High school students visited universities and museums in Dallas.
Posted by Edspresso at 05:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)April 20, 2007
Voucher Debate Continues
The debate over vouchers continues here at Cato-at-liberty.
Adam Schaeffer writes:
Jay Mathews, education reporter for the Washington Post, urges everyone to drop the voucher issue because:
1. “I am tired of the voucher issue.”
Mathews may feel like he’s had to write about vouchers too much, but most of the public hasn’t heard a thing about them, and certainly doesn’t know much about education tax credits, which get far less coverage and are usually called “vouchers” by journalists covering the education beat in any case...
Posted by Edspresso at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
A Response to Jay Mathews (Robert Enlow)
This is a response to an article by Washington Post education reporter and columnist Jay Mathews.
I am tired of all the tortured arguments against vouchers like the ones presented by Jay Matthews.
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Posted by Featured Guest at 06:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)Morning Shots
Chicago Tribune: Labor backs off on tax plan
The 1 million-strong Illinois AFL-CIO has backed off its support of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's $7 billion tax plan for education and health care because of a flap over charter schools.
The labor organization had been poised to lobby for the tax plan, but it switched its position to "neutral" after learning of a provision that would double the number of charter schools allowed in Illinois, said spokeswoman Beth Spencer.
At issue is language in the legislation filed by Senate President Emil Jones, who is pushing the governor's plan in the General Assembly. The provision, not part of Blagojevich's original proposals, would increase the number of charter schools allowed to 120 statewide from 60. Thirty more charter schools would be allowed in Chicago.
Senate President Jones favors charter schools as an innovative approach to improving public schools, said spokeswoman Cindy Davidsmeyer.
Washington Post: Fenty's school takeover approved
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty won final approval from the D.C. Council yesterday to take control of the city's public schools, beginning a historic transfer of power that will place him in charge of fixing the troubled 55,000-student system.
For the second time in two weeks, the council voted 9 to 2 to reduce the authority of the Board of Education and put Fenty (D) in control of the school superintendent, operating budget and $2.3 billion capital program.
"The purpose of this vote is to create an excellent, world-class system, and we'll start right away," Fenty said.
Under the legislation approved by the council, Fenty will have the power to fire and hire the superintendent and line-item control of the schools budget until 2010, when the council will assume line-item budget control.
Detroit News: Debate heats up over No Child law
Rep. Pete Hoekstra says the law is like something out of the old Soviet Union: an odious federal mandate, with Washington bureaucrats sticking their noses into the business of communities. "It's nuts!" Hoekstra says. "Nuts!"
Keep in mind: This is a GOP ally of the White House, talking about a law that is widely seen as President Bush's signature domestic policy achievement. It's one sign of how complicated the debate has become over the No Child Left Behind Act, the 2001 education law that has changed school life for every student, teacher and parent in the country.
Several states have challenged the law, seeking waivers from some of its requirements. Pontiac School District joined a lawsuit by the National Education Association, a teachers union, accusing the Bush administration of mandating federal standards without providing the money to meet them.
New York Times: Mayor revises some points of school budget proposal
Posted by Edspresso at 06:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Ceding ground to the city teachers’ union, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced changes yesterday to his plan for a new school budgeting system. The changes mean that it will be harder and take longer for the mayor to redistribute senior teachers, who tend to cluster in middle-class neighborhoods, more evenly across the school system.
“Over the last few days, we have realized that we are a lot closer together on many of the issues surrounding school initiatives than some might have thought,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “Now we are ready to move forward to achieve some of our common goals.”
The mayor’s new system would ultimately finance schools based strictly on numbers of students and their needs, with extra money provided for children from low-income families, for students needing English language instruction, for disabled students and for high-achieving students. And principals would have to meet payroll.
Still, amid the declarations of newfound collaboration there were signs of tension. Both the administration and its critics insisted that they had conceded little.
Education News for Friday, April 20
Fenty's School Takeover Approved - Mayor Adrian M. Fenty won final approval from the D.C. Council yesterday to take control of the city's public schools, beginning a historic transfer of power that will place him in charge of fixing the troubled 55,000-student system. For the second time in two weeks, the council voted 9 to 2 to reduce the authority of the Board of Education and put Fenty (D) in control of the school superintendent, operating budget and $2.3 billion capital program.
LAUSD to get more funding from state program than expected - A massive new state program to reduce class sizes will benefit the Los Angeles Unified School District more than anticipated. District officials had expected the state to fund about 80 local schools. Instead, the actual number is likely to be 86 to 93 campuses.
'Going Green' helps environment, charter school - Kermit the Frog says "it ain't easy being green," but students at the Sebastian Charter Junior High School have made the leap easier. The school has joined forces with Shaklee Corp. to promote the use of environmentally friendly cleaning products through its "Get Clean, Go Green" campaign.
Debate heats up over No Child law - Rep. Pete Hoekstra says the law is like something out of the old Soviet Union: an odious federal mandate, with Washington bureaucrats sticking their noses into the business of communities. "It's nuts!" Hoekstra says. "Nuts!" Keep in mind: This is a GOP ally of the White House, talking about a law that is widely seen as President Bush's signature domestic policy achievement.
Thumbs down for proposed health-focused charter school - State education leaders today voted down a proposed health education-focused charter school. Education Secretary Valerie Woodruff and Board of Education members supported the concept of Genesis Academy, a kindergarten to fifth-grade school planned in the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend area, but said school leaders need to work out too many details, including an exact location, before receiving approval.
Old Albertsons soon to be home to charter school - A Harmony Science Academy charter school soon will move into the vacant building that last housed Albertsons grocery store on North Valley Mills Drive, school officials said Thursday.
Testimony alleges mismanagement of federal reading program - Federal advisors mismanaged President Bush's $1 billion-a-year reading program and profited from close ties to the Bush administration, according to testimony released Thursday — in one case repeatedly rejecting one state's funding proposal until state officials dumped a successful reading test and bought one written by a top Bush advisor.
Rally held to preserve charter schools - Quesha Jefferson has always enrolled her two children in a charter school and she hopes Gov. Ted Strickland's proposed budget doesn't force them into a traditional public school. "I really love this school and my kids are doing very well here," Ms. Jefferson said of Winterfield Venture Academy.
Mayor Revises Some Points of School Budget Proposal - Ceding ground to the city teachers’ union, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced changes yesterday to his plan for a new school budgeting system. The changes mean that it will be harder and take longer for the mayor to redistribute senior teachers, who tend to cluster in middle-class neighborhoods, more evenly across the school system.
Labor backs off on tax plan - The 1 million-strong Illinois AFL-CIO has backed off its support of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's $7 billion tax plan for education and health care because of a flap over charter schools. The labor organization had been poised to lobby for the tax plan, but it switched its position to "neutral" after learning of a provision that would double the number of charter schools allowed in Illinois.
Bullying charter schools - Editorial: Democratic state representatives are certainly being good public servants, if you think the public begins and ends with the Indiana State Teachers Association. As directed by ISTA, Democrats in the House of Representatives are ganging up on a type of charter school deemed particularly threatening by public-education lobbyists.
Gates fund gift helps transform Atlanta schools - With the help of $10.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was approved last fall and announced at a news conference Wednesday, Atlanta Superintendent Beverly L. Hall is transforming all of her high schools from large, traditional campuses to schools that focus on providing a personal and challenging experience for students.
Southwest Charter School gets state's OK - The Oregon Board of Education on Thursday unanimously approved the Southwest Charter School, the second time the board has approved a charter school that had been rejected by the Portland School Board. If the school can find a home, it will open next fall in a location in Southwest Portland.
Parents want businesses to aid schools - Michigan parents believe businesses should have a role in schools, but less than a third of those polled believe businesses are doing a good enough job of helping to provide a quality education. That's according to a Detroit News/Channel 7 survey conducted in conjunction with the Skillman Foundation and Your Child, a coalition of education, business and family groups.
New charter school given reprieve - Pleas from supporters and backing from at least two school board members earned Kinnickinnic Valley Middle School a second and possible final chance to open next fall. Monday night the full school board agreed to put the proposed charter school on its Monday, May 21, agenda as an “actionable item.”
His Honor's appeal - Editorial: Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa paid us a visit this morning, scorching the Times for its tepid reception to his State of the City address, and providing some more detail on his plans to keep hope alive for AB 1381, the state school-takeover law that has now been struck down and struck down again by the courts.
Posted by Edspresso at 05:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)April 19, 2007
A Special Place in Hell (Terrence O. Moore)
The vast majority of visions offered of the afterlife, whether that of Dante or the ordinary man on the street, figure that the fires of Hell will be reserved for murderers, thieves, rapists, and other malefactors, while a rather better fate awaits faithful saints, brave warriors, and the caretakers of children. The Democratic education leadership of the Colorado state legislature apparently has greater insights into such matters than the rest of us. Among them one will find the new Dante: State Representative Mike Merrifield, until a couple of weeks ago chairman of the House committee on education. In a private e-mail to Sue Windels, the state Senate education chairwoman and long-time choice opponent, Merrifield proclaimed, “There must be a special place in Hell for these Privatizers, Charerizers [sic] and Voucherizers!” Thus Merrifield condemns to their own circle in the Inferno parents and public spirited men and women who want to give children a chance to leave a failing public school system and enter schools in which they will actually learn to read, write, do math, and think about important things. Due to public uproar, Merrifield resigned his position as chairman. However satisfying that resignation may be for the moment, the legislator’s opinions are hardly unique to him. Rather, they finally bring to light the true animosity and contempt the educational establishment has for school reform and not a little about the establishment’s methods as well.
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Posted by Featured Guest at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Morning Shots
Dayton Daily News: Parents, students rallying for charters
Tura Chalfan grew up in Northridge, the daughter of a school maintenance worker, and graduated from Northridge High. When the time came to send her two oldest children to school, she picked her alma mater. But one of them, bored with school, dropped out in 10th grade. The other fell behind and struggled.
For her youngest, now in third grade, she picked Pathway School of Discovery, a charter school, where she said her daughter gets more personal attention.
Chalfan was among about 600 charter school students, parents and supporters who came from as far away as Columbus and Cincinnati to a rally Wednesday at Dayton View Academy to tell House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, why they favor school choice.
Many who attended wore T-shirts with messages such as "I love my charter school," and held handmade signs that read "save our schools."
Washington Post: Reading First paying off, Education Dept. says
Students in the Bush administration's embattled $1 billion-a-year reading program have improved an average of about 15 percent on tests measuring fluency over the past five years, according to an analysis of data by the Education Department.
The data, scheduled to be released today, indicate that students have benefited from the program, which provides grants to improve reading in kindergarten through third grade.
A department official said the data show that the number of students in Reading First programs who were proficient on fluency tests increased on average over the past five years by 16 percent for first-graders, 14 percent for second-graders and 15 percent for third-graders.
"That's the irony," said John F. Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy. "The program was poorly -- even unethically -- administered at the federal level, yet it seems to be having a positive effect in schools."
Detroit Free Press: Detroit school district seeks to dump posh offices
Posted by Edspresso at 06:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)About five years after Detroit Public Schools sold its headquarters and committed $57 million to buying and leasing swanky offices in the New Center area, the cash-strapped district has decided it can't afford all the space.
"We did not make those decisions, but we have to undo some of them because they're not serving the district," said Joyce Hayes-Giles, the Detroit school board's vice president and finance committee chairwoman.
In a memo obtained by the Free Press, board member Marie Thornton listed the prices for the leases -- all with the Farbman Group -- and wrote that she was "appalled." The district pays between $4,120 and $63,784 per month to lease the office spaces -- or about $12 to $19 per square foot.
Parent Joseph Williams said as children are uprooted from 34 schools this year to try to save money, it is only fair that the administrators move out of their nice offices.
Education News for Thursday, April 19
Parents, students rallying for charters - Chalfan was among about 600 charter school students, parents and supporters who came from as far away as Columbus and Cincinnati to a rally Wednesday at Dayton View Academy to tell House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, why they favor school choice. Many who attended wore T-shirts with messages such as "I love my charter school," and held handmade signs that read "save our schools."
Reading First Paying Off, Education Dept. Says - Students in the Bush administration's embattled $1 billion-a-year reading program have improved an average of about 15 percent on tests measuring fluency over the past five years, according to an analysis of data by the Education Department.
Money talks focus on taxes, schools - State legislators on Wednesday began tackling their differences on two of the General Assembly's thorniest issues this session: property tax reform and education funding. Outside the Statehouse, mayors from across the state gathered to rally for broader taxing authority to help balance budgets stretched by rising pension obligations and public safety costs.
Town to show teachers support - The story of Black Friday has shaken the small Anna school district, but tonight many people here hope to make it a legend of the past. Some residents of this rural Collin County town have painted their cars, donned T-shirts and posted signs to protest Black Friday, the day known by staff for the practice of publicly firing teachers.
Charter mania isn't good for LA- Editorial: LISTENING RECENTLY to Steve Barr, the charter school movement's fair-haired boy and founder of the ever-expanding Green Dot Public Schools company, you'd think that the Los Angeles Unified School District is on a mission to kill charter schools.
Charters' enrollment exploding - Like a growing number of the city's families, they have chosen a charter school over the traditional options in Denver Public Schools. Evan is a fourth-grader at the Omar D. Blair Edison Charter. Enrollment in DPS charter schools grew by 300 percent — to 6,846 — from 2000 to 2006. At the same time, enrollment in traditional DPS schools fell by 4,028 students.
Secretary Spellings Joins First Book and Scholastic Inc. to Launch 2007 Gulf Coast Summer Reading Initiative - Press Release: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today visited Gulfview-Charles B. Murphy Elementary School in Kiln, Mississippi, to launch the 2007 Gulf Coast Summer Reading Initiative, a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education, First Book, and Scholastic Inc.
Fairfax Schools Concede On Testing - Fairfax County school officials backed down yesterday from a vow to defy federal testing rules for students with limited English skills, saying they would give most of those students grade-level reading exams even if they were likely to stumble on items dealing with metaphors, poetry or other difficult material.
Education choice issue heats up budget - Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and House Republican leaders are running out of time but still hope to compromise on Strickland's plan to place a moratorium on new charter schools and yank the state's school voucher program everywhere except Cleveland, both offices said Wednesday.
Vouchers Spark More Capitol Hill Debate - School vouchers sparked more heated debate on Utah's Capitol Hill yesterday as lawmakers disagreed on how to respond to a pending voter referendum. Many who voted against vouchers want the Governor to call a special session so they can eliminate the legal loophole…
All 13 charter schools get renewals - Despite tough talk earlier this year about closing poor-performing charter schools, the School Reform Commission yesterday voted to renew the operating agreements for all 13 charter schools that were up for renewal. James Nevels, chairman of the reform commission, said that the renewals followed a rigorous review process, which he defended.
Detroit school district seeks to dump posh offices - About five years after Detroit Public Schools sold its headquarters and committed $57 million to buying and leasing swanky offices in the New Center area, the cash-strapped district has decided it can't afford all the space.
Charter schools want $1.8m more - A coalition of three state charter schools told lawmakers Tuesday they will need an additional $1.8 million to continue operations through the next two years. Dressed in matching orange T-shirts, about 75 students, parents, and teachers took turns telling the members of the Senate Committee on Finance how much they valued their charter schools and how only a last-minute injection of money would save their schools.
School bounced from voucher program - The Marva Collins Preparatory School in Roselawn is the first private school in Ohio to be kicked out of the state’s fledgling voucher program, state regulators confirmed today.
Rehab school has charter denied - A proposed charter school aiming to help teens with substance abuse problems was denied by the Sequoia Union High School District which cla