July 31, 2007
A New Kind of Riot
Why does it take a riot to get school district officials to focus on parent demands and student needs? Why did it take several rallies to dismiss Ohio Governor’s ill-conceived proposals to practically abolish all school choice programs? Freedom is a right, and Americans want more freedom, not less. In an age where we are free to do and say so much more than ever before, why are school officials allowed to close the door to freedoms that allow parents to be free to decide what kind of education their children should have? Given the choice, most parents choose good schools, not bad ones like those in Watts. That’s why there are new riots in Watts and elsewhere. Most parents are fed up and they're not going to take it anymore.
July 31, 2007
Cyber charters in jeopardy, MI markets public schools, no books for back to school, NCLB puts teachers/unions/administrators to the task...
Grassroots Action in the news...
Savannah Morning News, GA: Savannah-Chatham School District Sets School Choice Deadline - Parents planning to use their No Child Left Behind Act school choice options to transfer out of a Needs Improvement School must move quickly.
Inside Indiana Business: Friedman Foundation to Recognize Nobel Laureate's 95th Birthday - 47 states are joining in the celebration with breakfasts, policy briefings, lunches, forums, receptions and dinners, all concentrating on Friedman’s contributions to freedom. Regarded as one of the world's most influential promoters of freedom, Friedman argued that the voluntary choices of individuals, not the dictates of the state, should be the default mode of human life; government is justified only insofar as it preserves, protects and defends people’s liberty. His revolutionary work in economic theory earned him the Nobel Prize in 1976.
Education Reform Outrage in the news...
Post-Gazette, PA: Hearings to Focus on Cyber Charter Schools - Representative Beyer said cyber charters have "far less overhead" than regular public schools and absorb more money than they need from school districts, with some amassing unacceptably large fund balances as a result. Critics say her bill represents an attempt by school districts and labor unions to gang up on the competition. "It's a cartel," Timothy Daniels, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, said of the cyber charters' opponents.
Washington Times: Schools to Lack Books, Repairs at Classes Resume - A task force will be resolving a mix-up in which about half of the city's schools did not get textbooks or got the wrong books.
School Choice in the news...
Hawaii Reporter: Marketing Schools - Michigan public schools have taken to the radio, newspapers and direct mail to advertise. The competition created by schools of choice laws has produced marketing and customer service efforts as the public schools attempt to attract and retain students.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Sustained Mediocrity - What's needed is not more carrot -- for simply doing the job that's expected -- but more "stick." Specifically, better accountability, which is achievable through school choice. Competition for school dollars, put in the hands of parents instead of educrats, will reward the competent and weed out incompetents. All teachers are equal? We think not. A Congress willing to pay more for mediocrity, and a union that endeavors to protect the mediocre, will never achieve excellence in education.
Napa Valley Register, CA: Blog Comments on NCLB - This community has the right to take the school administration, teachers and unions to task. The are paid by the taxpayers to educate our children. They have failed! They don't teach, they don't maintain the buildings, but they whine! They whine about NCLB because it is a way to measure the success of our students, which should be the ultimate goal of our schools.
July 30, 2007
July 30, 2007
a 4-day school week, 72 failing DC schools, online education gains, NYC charters have the edge, NCLB shedding light on poor performing schools, ...
Grassroots Action in the news...
Vail Daily, CO: Asking the Right Questions - A Colorado news blog offers a template for the tough questions parents should ask when evaluating which school to choose for their student.
Dallas Morning News: Sounding Off: Who's Right on Schedule? - Parents and administrators clashed over a proposed four-day school week, which administrators say would save taxpayers' money. One parent notes, having a four-day workweek might save the taxpayers money; however, they will spend what they save, in additional childcare expenses.
Pioneer Press, MN: Minnesota Education/Online High Schools Are Niche Some Kids Need - Minnesota's online academies are growing, and news is spreading like wildfire over the tech-waves: text messaging, MySpace and blogs. Kids are wired like that, so online education is just a natural extension of the life they live outside schools. Advocates say online learning is a better fit for students who don't fit the mold at bricks-and-mortar schools. Students with physical handicaps that impair mobility, teen moms, professional athletes, gifted students and struggling students are among those who make up the student body.
Quad-Cities Online, IL: Readers Respond to Moline School's Restructuring Options - Parents and Citizens speak in the local paper about their opinions towards the district's restructuring.
The Tennessean: Teachers Speak Out on Upcoming Challenges - What are the challenges Midstate schools face when classes begin in August? Teachers offer their responses including: merit pay, teaching to prevent remedial college courses, parent involvement, community involvement...
School Choice in the news...
Education Week: Study Finds Edge for NYC Charters - Students in New York City charter schools are, on average, posting higher gains in reading and mathematics than they would have had they attended the city’s regular public schools, a federally financed study concludes.
Macon Telegraph, GA: New Law Gives Students With Disabilities Options - There are about 180,000 students with disabilities in Georgia, but Tofig estimates that only about 5 percent of them - or about 9,000 students - may use the vouchers. And, restrictions abound: only six weeks to apply, enrolled in public school last year, part of an individualized education program, has a special need from the list, the private school they apply to can meet their student's needs, etc.
Santa Cruz Sentinel, CA: Johnnie Wilson: Blinded By The Light - One CA teacher is grateful for the spotlight NCLB casts on the poor performance of schools serving poor and minority students. It is not acceptable that the teaching of poor and minority students should be hidden. It should be held up to the light, questioned, examined and made better.
Yahoo! Finance: Education Next: New National Survey Shows Majority of Americans Support Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind - The Education Next poll reveals that Americans are clearly open to a host of reforms to improve their schools, ranging from high-stakes student accountability to merit pay for teachers to school vouchers. The poll also shows that the public pulls no punches when grading the quality of its schools. Most give the nation's public schools only mediocre marks -- the majority give them no better than a C.
Education Reform Outrage in the news...
Examiner, DC: Reports Show DC Schools Failing Federal Education Standards - By law, any student in a failing school can transfer out to a successful school or receive publicly-funded tutoring. The article provides a spreadsheet of D.C.'s 72 failing schools, their label and the reasons they were put on the failing list.
Worchester Telegram & Gazette, MA: School Recruiting Race-Based - Parents might not realize at first that their race might dictate what options they are given.
Courier-Journal, KY: Judge Tosses Contempt Request Against JCPS - A federal judge yesterday abruptly dismissed a motion asking that an estimated 2,800 students be given the option to attend different schools because they had been denied their school choice because of race. Lawyers argued that failing to do so violated the Supreme Court ruling, and he asked that school board members and administrators be held in contempt.
Teachers' Unions in the news...
The Spectrum, UT: Will the NEA, parents or the state control public education? - Despite the unrelenting efforts of a generation of reformers, it is fair to say that we have gotten lost somewhere on the road to educational excellence. So we are faced with a choice: Keep driving around until the education-reform bandwagon runs out of gas, or swallow our pride, pull over, and look at a map."
WBBM780.com: Principals Inflating Teachers' Performance Ratings - 56 percent of CPS principals admitted inflating a teacher's rating at least once. Many blamed an ineffective evaluation form, while others said a union contract hinders their ability to lower a rating.
Response To: Parents Can't Win With These Odds
My husband and I had four children (and raised 7 others), two of whom needed special education services. It was one struggle after another to get the school district to do what the law clearly said was required to help our children. I am also a teacher and have had to fight with my administrators to get support services for students, especially if it was going to cost the district money (for example, if student was classified as under section 504 of the Federal law which meant s/he needed services but the district would not be reimbursed for providing them). The odds are indeed stacked; parents and teachers have to unite to overcome those odds on behalf of the children; especially those from poorer families who are less likely to have access to legal representation.
Read more parent responses to the article.
Posted by Edspresso at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Loud and Clear: Keep DC Vouchers
As the DC Opportunity Scholarship comes up for reauthorization this year, the message from parents is clear: forget about the politics and listen to the people. A good student who discovers a talent for art, another whose deficiencies were overcome, and the promise of opportunity when none existed before are all results of the DC Opportunity Scholarship program, and parents are prepared to defend it.
July 27, 2007
Sunrise for Vouchers
While vouchers might be flying under the national radar, they are beginning to soar in some states. As the "sun" (the NY Sun) reports, school choice vouchers are increasing across the nation and basking in the light of more recognition lately. Utah, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, and Washington DC are just the beginning as voucher programs come up for debate in South Carolina and New York in the coming months. It's more than about time these students get the chance to reach new heights.
July 27, 2007
Kids will walk 2+ mi., state adopts cyber summer school, race-based transfers won't be changed, merit pay grows in popularity, ...
RealClearPolitics, IL: RX for Failure - Pay More to Teach Less - While watering down accountability requirements so that schools don't have to do a better job teaching children, they'll dismiss NCLB by undermining the testing system so that illiterate students can be labeled as success stories.
Napa Valley Register, CA: With No Child, common sense must prevail - It is the powerful voice of parents and community members that Congress needs to hear.
Commercial Dispatch, MS: Area Public Schools Get Onboard Online Classes Bandwagon - Mississippi State Superintendent takes NCLB requirement for online coursework seriously. Many students zip to the keyboard for cyber summer school.
Education Week: Merit Pay Gaining Bipartisan Favor in Federal Arena - This is one of the fascinating ways in which NCLB has changed the world. In the past, supporters of performance pay have tended to be largely Republican, but regardless of political affiliation, lawmakers appear to be attracted to performance pay in increasing numbers because you want to use every tool on board to attract new teachers to the profession and to improve troubled schools.
Tribune, CO: An Honest Education in 'Professional Pay' - The single salary schedule fits the factory model: standardizing pay and ensuring that schools would not discriminate against teachers based on race or sex. But, having wiped out meaningless distinctions, the schedule also misses important ones, such as the ability to help students learn. With each passing year, the defense of the old system becomes less tenable. New studies demonstrate the effectiveness of merit pay. Meanwhile, better technology enables more precise measurements of individual teacher contributions to student growth.
Spartanburg Herald Journal, SC: Charter School Hearing Set for Tuesday - It's our tax dollars, it's our children, it's our community and it's our future. So even if someone has no school-aged children, it would be important to address whether or not one is for or against, for example school choice, because the reality is that the quality of our children's education determines the quality of our community at large - in terms of everything from employment rates to crime rates.
Courier-Journal, KY: Public School Assignments Back in Court - Officials should allow students who were assigned to schools this year because of their race to choose another school -- or be held in contempt. District estimates suggest that roughly 2,800 students were likely assigned by race for the 2007-08 school year, meaning they weren't granted a school choice because of the district's racial guidelines. District officials say they responded to the ruling by eliminating any further use of race, and they do not have to change the practices that were in place before the June 28 Supreme Court ruling.
Morning News, AK: State Legislator Enters School Choice Discussion Between Greenland, West Fork - A state legislator hopes he can find a solution to allow more than 60 Winslow elementary students to attend school in West Fork next year. West Fork was forced to rescind approval of school choice applications for 65 students because they are white. The state school choice law currently on the books won't allow West Fork to take in more white students because more than 95 percent of the district's students are white.
St. Petersburg Times, FL: Kids Face a Long, Hard Walk to School - For many, the July 19 night meeting was the first word they heard about changing bus stops. The change affects about 200 children who will now have to walk to school, some 2 miles each way. How, parents asked, could school officials expect small children to walk that far in a rural town with few to no sidewalks, across a highway with trucks hauling lumber and produce?
July 26, 2007
Changing the Race Without Joining the Race
There are a lot of questions about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Is he really a Republican or a Democrat? Is he actually going to join the presidential race? But amid all the questions, Bloomberg is one of the few people with answers on education. He’s already offering reforms like merit pay, school grades, and higher accountability in schools.
Posted by Edspresso at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
July 26, 2007
Several states' school choice transfers on hold, more boards advise on NCLB, FL vouchers get a second glance, teachers' union blamed for poor state of education ...
Fresno Bee, CA: School Choice Backers in Limbo - The "school district of choice" law, which was set to expire this month, allows any child to cross district boundaries to attend a "school district of choice" without getting permission from the district of residence (as is CA law). But parents received letters from the state denying transfers, so if the district of choice law is not renewed, the denials stand. One parent's response focuses on providing her children, ages 11, 7 and 6, the best education. "This is a free country," she said. "We should have the choice to send our kids where we want."
Northwest Arkansas Times: State Law Stopping Transfers - School choice faces a conflict, and most of the 75 requests for transfer have been denied. Under the current school choice law, a district cannot admit students under school choice if it has a higher percentage of students from that race than the students’ home district.
Yakima Herald-Republic, WA: State must get everyone on same page in math book - Since teachers (but not, we would note, the teachers union), are the ones charged with delivering knowledge in the classroom, let them be heavily involved in the planning and implementation stages of math reforms, rather than relying so much on Olympia bureaucrats and citizen lawmakers.
County Press, MI: Board gets behind changes to NCLB - To improve the performance of U.S. primary and secondary schools, a Michigan education board suggests increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts, and schools. It also proposes giving more flexibility to parents in choosing which schools their children will attend.
Times-Mail, IN: School officials ponder changes in education - From alternative instruction topics like charter schools, small learning communities and New Tech high schools, to the outlooks for graduation requirements, assessments and full-day kindergarten, there was a major theme — education is changing.
Lone Star Times, TX: What's in the 297 missing pages? - Steve Barr prefers to work with organized labor. The union representing Green Dot teachers has a 33-page contract that offers competitive salaries but no tenure, and it allows class schedule and other instructional flexibility outlawed by the 330-page contract governing most Los Angeles schools.
The Jersey Journal: 3 unique views of past 18 years - The past 18 years are the most educationally disruptive part of our history. We have not gained. It's been a setback. McCann blamed the teachers union for running up costs in the district so dramatically - mostly for teachers' salaries - that the takeover was the only way to limit the labor organization's domination.
Local10.com, FL: Tax Panel Gets School Voucher, Class Size Proposals - Florida leaders again heard proposals that would loosen class size restrictions voters approved in 2002 and reverse a 2006 Florida Supreme Court ruling that struck down one of the state's voucher programs. The statewide teachers union president claims that those who believe vouchers save money are "pie in the sky" and there's no evidence students do better because private schools are not required to meet the same testing and accountability standards as public schools.
NewsOK.com: Possibility of adding five days to school year without raising teacher salaries has Capitol phones ringing off the hook - This demonstrates that the teachers' union is opposed to good reforms regardless if they come from Democrats or Republicans. It reflects the tendency of the teachers' union to protect the stagnate status quo instead of trying to move our children's' future forward.
July 25, 2007
Parents Can't Win With These Odds
Schools Beat Back Demands For Special-Ed Services
26 out of 27? 108 out of 119? No, these are not impressive scores on a
new test, they are some of the ratios that arbitrators favored
districts over parents in deciding special education cases. Does that
sound right to you?
July 25, 2007
A cycling campaign for education reform, addressing school choice concerns regarding racial balance, cyber schools help not hinder, voucher veto ...
Digital 50: ED in '08 Team Cycling Across Iowa For Education Reform - More than 50 riders will be cycling across Iowa this week to raise awareness for the need for K-12 education reform.
USA Today: Our view on when schools fail: Let urban kids transfer out - Parents, students and educators in one suburban district are among the biggest supporters of a school transfer program that imports several thousand students from the poorest neighborhoods of St. Louis to the better-run, better-equipped schools in the suburbs. students who participate are more likely to graduate and more likely to go to college. The calm success of the program raises this question: Why can't the children in chronically failing urban schools elsewhere have similar transfer options?
Wall Street Journal: School Choice and Racial Balance - when parents can choose and schools use a lottery, minority parents are quite willing to look for options. In many urban areas, parents are now being given the choice of attending one of the country's nearly 4,000 charter schools. They're attractive in big cities, because they provide smaller, safer and friendlier educational environments. And, charter schools serve a higher percentage of minorities and disadvantaged students than traditional public schools.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Why see cyber school as threat? - Pennsylvania's cyber schools serve students from struggling and poor districts, and a disproportionate number of cyber students are low-income. Cyber schools use their resources more efficiently than traditional public schools,... despite fallacious claims to the contrary, cyber schools complete every accountability and performance measure that district schools do, and more.
Community Press, KY: Working to improve education in Ohio - After all the hard work for so many families whose lives would have been touched and improved with this initiative, the governor chose to veto the special education scholarship program. Now, more than 6,000 special needs children are not eligible to attend a school that would better suit them. Moreover, a number of these students will more than likely not be able to meet their educational potential.
The Sun News, SC: School-choice Leader to Appeal Free Speech Dispute - The district was sending out e-mails and memos against a school choice bill that included tax credits for private and home schools, and Page said, as a district taxpayer, he should be able to defend the bill on the same system. A federal judge ruled Friday that the school district was not obligated to provide a forum for opposing views because it was engaged in "government speech."
July 24, 2007
July 24, 2007
Vouchers get a good rep., the practically perfect school choice guide for parents, parents' fears of school choice addressed...
Market Wire, VA: Richmond Fed Publication Examines Academic Alternatives - Proponents of school choice argue that it would help poor-performing schools and the students who must attend them. With vouchers, parents can shop for the best schools, creating competition and improving educational outcomes. Until recently, however, there was little data to test the theory. In the cover story of the latest issue of Region Focus, Doug Campbell looks at a pioneering program in Milwaukee and concludes that while the evidence is mixed, school choice has benefited many of that city's schools and students. Soon, conversations about vouchers may be based on facts instead of opinion.
East Valley Tribune, AZ: Back to School - Here's a community newspaper touting choice and showing parents how to access info about their schools and choices. Teachers come and go, but parents are there every year of a child’s education. They pick the school, and in some cases the teacher. They get the test scores, the newsletters, the progress reports. They love their child more than anyone else. For a student, there can be no better watchdog.
National Review Online: There They Go Again - Trying to manufacture school diversity — whether through race or income — is a well meaning but ultimately bad idea. Districts should focus on improving schools for all students and providing real school choice for all families, not on re-jiggering pupil assignment plans. Schools need to return to the task at hand: educating all kids, regardless of what they look like or how much money their parents make.
The State, SC: Beaufort lawmaker backs school choice - Some parents are really upset when it comes to choice of a school; I know that. There are fears that the effectiveness of their schools will be destroyed, and that integration will be destroyed. These are really crazy concerns. Such fears exist because parents don't understand the power of their own authority to hold schools and administrators accountable.
Hold on To Your Hats!
Hold on to your hats... another seemingly objective forum by the Public Education Network is taking place this week, this time devoted to releasing "results" from three years of "surveys" about No Child Left Behind. PEN director Wendy Puriefoy once insisted in a public forum that school choice had no place in a democracy (go figure). We can only imagine what the public PEN purports to have surveyed and what it will have to say about NCLB. Meanwhile, groups truly concerned with civil rights and education have asked Congress to hold fast on accountability standards and not fall prey to requests to create a hodgepodge of measurements that could mask the real achievement gaps. Those gaps persist, but are now clearly recognizable thanks to sunshine and state requirements to test, which, while not perfect, have actually raised education to a level where even presidential candidates must take a stand on the hard issues.
Posted by Edspresso at 05:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)July 23, 2007
Pre-K for All?
Is too little Pre-K for disadvantaged children the problem? It probably depends on your goal. A new group, Pre-K for All DC, headed by well-regarded District of Columbia business leaders thinks so, and they may be right. After all, not only does summer pose a learning gap for many poor children, but it is also true that children from disadvantaged homes are not prepared with their basic learning by the time “real” school starts.
Assuming we have really good, highly successful, pre-K programs for these children as recommended in city after city and state after state (and that’s a big if), what happens when kids in great early childhood programs go on to schools that aren’t so great? Studies have demonstrated that children make gains when educated early, but those gains are short-lived if they enter schools that by all accounts fail to impart even basic skills. Pushing more early schooling should not be separate from pushing better schooling opportunities for all kids in all grades.
May 14-18: Robert Enlow vs. Jay Mathews on Vouchers (UPDATED, May 18, 4:43 p.m.)
Jay Mathews touched a nerve last month when he declared that he was "tired of the voucher issue" that enables politicians to "raise money on that issue forever, while in the meantime not doing much for schools." In the real world, he said, vouchers are "too risky, and too inconvenient." To which Robert Enlow responded, "Give me a break." So, picking up where they left off...
Jay Mathews is an education reporter and online columnist with the Washington Post. Robert Enlow is Executive Director of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation.
Posted by Featured Guest at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)July 23, 2007
pro-public school democrats seriously consider converting to school choice, Harry Potter has noses in books mid-summer, national debate call to address education...
Hot Topics in the news...
Wall Street Journal: Harry's Spell - Will Potter fans would soon return to video games and TV shows? or will these children with noses in Rowling's books grow into adults with a life-long reading habit?
Action in the news...
The State.com: Blacks Rethink School Choice - It would be a historic alliance — traditionally pro-public school black Democrats, such as Jackson, joining with school choice advocates, largely white Republicans — to allow parents to use public money to send their children to better-performing public or private schools. There is now a roster of legislators considering this alliance.
Associated Content: Call for Democrats to Debate on Education - Former Governor Jim Hunt Calls on Democratic Candidates to Stress Importance of Education in South Carolina CNN/YouTube Debate (tonight at 7PM EST).
Washington Post: Integrating Schools - After the socioeconomic status of a student's family, the biggest predictor of academic success is the socioeconomic level of the school. In light of the timely Supreme Court ruling, Presidential Candidate John Edwards endorses a plan to focus integration efforts on income rather than race.
NY Sun: 2 Park Slope Fathers Dream Big - A Charter Middle School - A proposed charter middle school promises a private school mentality in a public school package. We want to create a school where we absolutely nail the standardized test, but where the mission of the school is really focused on those larger, loftier habits of mind and habits of heart.
Sacramento Bee, CA: One New School, Three Languages - When it comes to foreign languages, our students get started too late -- and too few study critical languages. We can and must turn this around. A new charter school will teach children in three languages -- Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and English.
Outrage in the news...
Washington Post: Better Beginnings for DC Children - In DC, it's sad, but true... only 11% of 4th graders are proficient in reading, and only 10% are proficient in math. For DC to make good on its promise of educational reform, it's time to commit to preparing our children for school by investing in quality pre-kindergarten programs for all of the District's 3- and 4-year-olds.
The Union-Tribune, San Diego, CA: State Revenue Drop Results in $65 Million Budget Cut - Poor revenue = education budget cut = another road block in a decade-long push for a student information system to track dropout rates (already sky-high), transfers, and the productivity of new and veteran programs.
School Choice in the news...
The Detroit News, MI: Mayor Puts Off Charter School Plan - "I'm not going to Lansing with any charter legislation until I see that we can work as a community to get this done."
The Detroit News, MI: Support Mayor's Push to Improve Education - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick hopes his push for better schools will become a community-wide commitment that includes not only foundations and businesses, but also the teacher union and Detroit Public Schools. This is the right approach in a city where special interests block the best-intentioned reforms, but he should not to allow the absence of any part of the community to deter him from his goal.
July 20, 2007
Real Grassroots Action Challenges the Achievement Gap
Hope lies in communities meeting, brainstorming and speaking out against these rifts.Florida citizens packed a school auditorium ready to find solutions. The actions include a real fight for accountability.
In Maryland, teachers stressed the need to work at the areas they can influence instead of wallowing at the things they cannot control.
July 20, 2007
Reform Outrage in the news... LA district requires 8 tests/yr...leaving no time for curriculum, Supreme Court to hear Special Needs eligibility case, time to fix NCLB holes
Dallas Morning News: NCLB 2.0 Needs to Fix AYP Cracks - One Dallas principal points out that when AYP students transfer, the new school must pick up the slack in months (before exams), not years, to prevent those "behind" from pulling the next school down. Schools need to look at AYP transfers in a different light, but the law sets that stage because of the pressure to perform.
NY Sun: Supreme Court to Take NYC DOE vs. Special Needs - NYC DOE says it must only pay for private school if, after a child is first placed in a public school special education program, the school is unable to meet the needs of the child. The city claims that any other policy will require it to pay for the bias many parents have toward an expensive private education. (This standard is also the case in Georgia.)
Houston Chronicle, TX: Time to Rethink Discipline - In light of the Katy student's order to alternative school for four months after writing "I LOVE ALEX" on the gym wall, the Legislature moves for amendment of the discipline management plan. Administrators deciding punishment must consider the student's intent, disciplinary history and whether the student has a judgment-impairing disability or acted in self-defense.
Unions in the news...
The Times-Picayune, LA: Union Battles Against Interval Tests - A LA district's program requires teachers to give interval tests eight times a year; as a result, some teachers say there's no time left for teaching anything but the exams.
July 19, 2007
Who Knows What's Best for DC Students? Parents or Researchers?
A Conference in DC centered on vouchers and data on their progress to date. Researchers love numbers and their work is sure to influence the options available to parents. What do we know about choice? Does student achievement flow from choice or does choice have nothing to do with it? Are parents part of the equation? The DC scholarship program was implemented to include parents, and evaluations from parents say they are very satisfied. What else does the evaluation say?
Posted by Edspresso at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)July 19, 2007
NCLB = no choices left behind, VA approves one charter, DC evaluates vouchers, NJ wants school choice, sort of...
Reform Outrage in the news...
Chicago Tribune: Leaving Children Behind, Again - If no one argues with the worthiness of President Bush's goal of "proficiency" by 2014, it seems everyone argues about the best way to get there.
Daily Press, VA: Virginia is for Charters...Finally - The state's approach to charter school laws is restrictive, seemingly designed more to protect the educational fiefdoms of public schools than to meet the needs of children. Now that one charter has the go-ahead, the real challenges posed by the State are revealed.
School Choice in the news...
New York Sun: DC Conference Centering on Vouchers - Making the call on the effectiveness of DC's vouchers, researchers may say, "maybe," but parents overwhelmingly say, "We love it!" while the teachers unions and public school officials are still whining about their lost money.
St. Petersburg Times, FL: Tutoring Tops School Choice - 9,000 are eligible to transfer, but only 30 have responded. Of the 7,200 eligible for the public school tutoring program, only 2,000 have signed up. Two weeks remain. Are Floridian families on an education vacation? Or, are families not getting the critical information?
The Press of Atlantic City: NJ Pulls Out the Stops, Sort Of - After 5 years of slow school choice growth, accompanied by limited programs and restrictions, so-called expansion of the school choice program is at the mercy of the state's school-funding formula... whenever they get around to that one.
Twin Cities Daily Planet, MN: Chomping at the Bit for Stable Funding - It starts with the state and federal funding programs and trickles down into our communities. St. Paul's Superintendent takes a hard look at budget cut consequences on the larger scale.
July 18, 2007
July 18, 2007
Two grassroots movements for minimizing the achievement gap, no wonder LA has school woes, and a teacher's union OKs district spending leftovers from teacher contributions ...
Grassroots Action in the news...
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN: Avoid 'Summer Slide' and Narrow the Gap - Educators and others are working on a range of solutions to bridge the education gap: more parental involvement, charter schools, more emphasis on math and reading, culturally competent teaching, and summer reading.
Bloomington Pantagraph, IL: 'Achievement Matters' Movement - Empowered Citizens Stand in the Achievement Gap - A community-organized task-force of parents, education officials, business leaders, church leaders and social service agencies outlined a communication strategy to spread the word and focus on closing the achivement gap with pilot programs: a parent-centered Web site, a booklet on after-school and other services, and a list of simple actions parents can take.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI: Plenty of Demands for Options in Racine - People aren't marching, but they are meeting and organizing and talking about how to give poor families better options. Some parents had a series of small public talks in 2006 with businesses, educators and public officials, among them Representative Vos.
Reform Outrage in the news...
LA Times: LA Funding Dropouts - GOP leaders propose in secret to slash $400 million from schools.
LA Times: Case Dismissed - End Round 1 - Charter school advocates lost an important leal round when a judge dismissed two lawsuits demanding that LA Unified School District share school sites. The district wanted arbitration, and they got it.
School Choice in the news...
Education Week: Shedding Light on the Integration Decision - In the racial desegregation cases decided by the Supreme Court, the policies were attempts by locally elected school boards to allow a great deal of parental choice of schools, but with a guideline to ensure that the racial compositions of schools were not segregated.
The Republican, MA: Chairman Lists School Priorities - School choice falls by the wayside as elected officials claim the vacancy for Superintendent is in no hurry to be filled.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI: When School Choice is Your Own Choice - The Milwaukee school choice program is up for expansion ... I've never understood why lower-income residents haven't demanded state-wide expansion. Parents must take matters into our own hands. Why save money for a college fund if the first 12 years of schooling are in the sinkhole? I'm convinced the fundamental years are much more crucial than the final four.
Teacher Unions in the news...
Maryland Gazette: New Fight Erupts Over School Funds - The teacher's union had no problem with the County Council moving nearly $4 million left over from health care because teachers are contributing what they agreed to pay in the contract negotiations. Among other "cost-saving measures," Council members are keeping 50 teachers positions vacant and making students walk farther to bus stops in order to "best serve students."
No Wonder LA Schools Have Problems!
CA politicians are ready to take $400 million, and LA Courts don't even want to hear about charters demanding shared space in the public schools. Per yesterday's blog articles concerning income resegregation in San Francisco and LA's sky-high dropout rates, it shouldn't come as a huge shock that these problems exist in light of today's ordeals.
July 17, 2007
Real Problems, Real Reform
Real Problems Demand Real Reform
Income segregation has backfired for San Francisco. The Supreme Court's mandate for anti-racial segregation has forced school districts to look at other factors, but those factors are re-segregating schools.
A study on Chicago students revealed another backfire - NCLB leaving students behind, not just in the low achieving ranks, but also up where the gifted students normally soar.
And California drops the ball on 30-50% dropout rates across the state. Where did 35,000 9th graders go from the class of 2005? LA Mayor Villaraigosa won't tolerate any more.
Real Grassroots Action
Props to Dual Immersion Academy! In the streets of Salt Lake City, the Director of a Bilingual charter school is canvassing the open-air markets in the hopes of recruiting more students.
The battle is two-fold:
- charter schools are a foreign concept in a foreign language
- the Spanish-speaking community has internalized the message that preserving their native language will hurt their child.
Spanish one day, and English the next, the founders of Dual Immersion Academy believe the opposite to be true, and the research backs up their claims.
July 17, 2007
CA's 30-50% dropout rate, Chicago's students left behind, and NEA is sued by its own members.
Grassroots Action in the news...
Tucson Citizen, AZ: Bilingual Charter Set to Make Strides for Public Education - Truly bilingual, students will speak Spanish one day and English the next, and they will benefit from increased diversity and cultural awareness.
Tucson Citizen, AZ: Parents Consider Virtual High Schools a Viable Option - "The flexible schedule is great and a lot less stressful." "[My student is] learning more than in a classroom with a teacher; now she looks up more things on her own instead of relying on a teacher. It gives them initiative ... more confidence." These comments are among those coming from an increasing group of parents giving a serious consideration to virtual high school for their children.
Washington Post: Education Office May Quintuple Staff (80-400) - The DC Office of State Superintendent of Education is multiplying their ranks under the mayoral takeover of District public schools.
Reform Outrage in the news...
LA Times: California's 30%-50% Dropout Rates - The stakes are high. In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa forced an awareness of the dropout crisis in a district that has coolly accepted the slide of thousands of children into failure.
Education Week: For Chicago, NCLB Leaves Behind Gifted and Underachieving Students - A new study of Chicago students reveals that pre- and post-law, NCLB is leaving behind students on both ends of the academic spectrum: gifted and low achieving students
New York Times: NEA Under Lawsuit ... by its own members! - By actively endorsing products with high fees, NEA breached its duty to put its members' interests ahead of its own.
Portsmouth Herald News, NH: The State's Confusion Causes Holdup for 3 Charters - Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham, who chairs the Fiscal Committee and the House Finance Committee, announced recently that the long-awaited money would go out last week. On Wednesday, she said she was mistaken.
School Choice in the news...
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA: County Notifies Parents of Transfer Options - Last week, the school system mailed letters to parents whose children are eligible for transfers.
Posted by Edspresso at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)July 16, 2007
Real Options, Real School Choice
3,000 voices spoke out in request for special needs vouchers. This has taught Georgia schools a valuable lesson - special needs may be best met in places chosen by the ones who know each individual students' needs best - the parents. And Georgia's Education Department has made its website clear for parents to make those decisions.
July 16, 2007
Grassroots Action in the news...
Salt Lake Tribune, UT: Promoting Charters in the Open-Air Markets - This dual-language charter's director is educating the Spanish-speaking community on the concept of charter, the possibility of a dual-language education for their child, and that charter = free, public, and accepting
Houston Chronicle, TX: New Orleans Calls for Teachers, Incentives Abound - We have kids who are coming back, and they deserve the opportunity.
Akron Beacon Journal, OH: Governor Wants to Get It Done - Ohio Governor Ted Strickland focuses on education reform, especially the unconstitutional school-funding problems that continue to plague the state.
Herald News, NJ: Fed Up: When Charters Fail, How Far will Parents Go? - Now that their charter's future is uncertain, parents look to moving out of state before they would trust the public schools with their child's education.
Sun-Sentinel, FL: Empowering - Charter's Student with Lupus Inspires Fundraising and Awareness - Student with Lupus became the inspiration for several fundraisers at the Pines Charter Middle School to fight the disease.
Education Outrage in the news...
InsideBayArea.com: Oakland charter school director resigns amid cheating scandal - The founder and director of an East Oakland charter school has resigned amid mounting evidence of cheating, falsifying course credits and other unethical conduct.
School Choice in the news...
Augusta Chronicle, GA: System keeps black students trapped in low-performing schools - State Education Superintendent Jim Rex says he was disappointed that Governor Sanford vetoed his so-called public school choice bill because it "would have guaranteed additional public school choices for every child in South Carolina."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI: Keep good programs; don't expand choice - It truly saddens me to see the U.S. Supreme Court's decision effectively ending racial integration in schools. In a city like Milwaukee, which is clearly divided along racial boundaries, particularly in schools, it will lead to many more schools with populations that are singularly African-American, other minority or white.
New York Times: Income Segregation Backfires - San Francisco began considering factors like family income, instead of race, in school assignments ... school officials have found that the 55,000-student city school district is resegregrating.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA: Fighting Cyber with ... More Cyber? - Supporters of school choice against a bill to encourage districts to begin their own cyber schools - the reward? Getting out of paying tuition for students who choose independent cyber charters. Check out Bill 1655 for yourself to see what it is that Delegate Greg Vitali is pushing through.
Vouchers in the news...
Salt Lake Tribune, UT: Wording set for voter packets on school vouchers - The Votes are in! The wording locked. You can view what's on the docket for a Yes or No Vote on Utah Charters.
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA: School options are lesson in common sense - The pent-up demand for alternatives to traditional public schools erupted in Georgia last week. Erupted in the form of 3,300 families of children with special needs applying for vouchers to cover or supplement the purchase of services they want for their children elsewhere. And most will have real options.
Unions in the news...
San Francisco Chronicle: Education reform under attack - It’s no surprise to see presidential candidates pandering to contributors. But what is disappointing is how far some of them will go to take care of those who take care of them.
Washington Post: NEA's 'N' Stands for 'No' - In fairness, Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton uttered two words that National Education Association activists deem almost as dangerous as fellow candidate Barack Obama's version of merit pay: "charter schools."
Wall Street Journal: NEA Wants to Work With the Candidates...really, it does - Your editorial "Obama's School Uniform," July 9, unfairly and inaccurately characterized Sen. Barack Obama's address to the National Education Association recently.
Speaking Out
The only thing close to the heart of politicians is cold cash, and those with the cash -- i.e., unions such as the NEA -- want this law tossed into the dustbin. A commentator takes NCLB and teachers to another level "Education Reform Under Attack," accusing some classrooms of sacrificing the education of some (left behind) for the good of all (the well-off).
Posted by Edspresso at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)July 13, 2007
When Charters Manage Their Money Well, Taxpayers Throw a Temper Tantrum
Isn't it ironic that charters get press when they do something wrong, but when they do something right, taxpayers complain?
Allentown Morning Call, PA: Standardize charter school funding system, in fairness to public schools and taxpayers
Posted by Edspresso at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)When a student transfers to a charter school, state law requires the public school district where the student lives to reimburse the charter school for the student's education. The district must pay an amount equal to certain budgeted expenditures from the previous school year. But it is legal, under current law, for charter schools to keep leftover money.
In a report last month, state Auditor General Jack Wagner found that Roberto Clemente and two defunct charter schools in Erie received more funding from their local school districts than actually spent per student. So, though ASD struggles financially, it paid Roberto Clemente $474,888 more than the charter spent educating students over the 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 school years. There was no wrongdoing, but the size of the overpayment shows a serious need for reform. Mr. Wagner called on the Legislature to standardize the funding system for the state's 119 charter schools and 11 cyber charter schools. We agree.
Roberto Clemente has kept about 20 percent of its annual budget in a reserve fund for capital expenses and budgetary shortfalls -- on the face of it, good management. But public school districts' savings are capped by law at about 12 percent of their annual expenditures.
Gov. Ed Rendell and Reps. Jennifer Mann, D-Lehigh, and Karen Beyer, R-Lehigh, have expressed an interest in reform. In fact, a bill proposed by Rep. Beyer related to cyber charter schools might offer some guidance as a starting point. It proposes that cyber charters be paid by the state, using a sliding scale that is based upon enrollment.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Heated debate over special needs mainstream classrooms and vouchers, charters are public schools too, among today's real education reform headlines.
Special Needs in the news...
Wall Street Journal: Special Needs Mean Special Problems: How Must Schools Cope? - Abusive restraints are never the answer; appropriate support is. In fact, more restrictive environments are ultimately more expensive to taxpayers, rendering adequate training and support the more cost-effective solution.
Savannah Morning News, GA: 6 private schools to accept special needs vouchers - Six Savannah private schools likely will accept tuition vouchers in 2007-2008 from special-needs students seeking transfers from public schools.
Charter Schools in the news...
Press & Sun-Bulletin, NY: U.S. education official touts charter schools - Bush's administration is pushing to expand publicly funded private institutions under NCLB reauthorization.
Stuart News, FL: Indian River charter schools ask board for their share of building cash - Charter schools say they are public schools too.
Detroit News: DPS chief no charter fan - New Detroit Public Schools superintendent Connie Calloway said she does not support charter schools ... intends to present ideas that will help draw students back to the struggling school system.
One Public School Used Disciplinary Extremes on a Special Needs Student
Lack of regulation for special needs discipline in public schools opens a can of worms. How about your school? How are special needs students in your school treated? Perceived?
A shocking article WSJ covered about one Iowa special needs student disciplined with restraint and isolation in her public elementary school. The school took matters into their own "hands" (literally and figuratively) when, perhaps the lack of laws for intervention procedures used on special needs students opens the door to dangerous consequences for students, parents, teachers, administrators and districts.
There is little regulation in public schools. The federal government doesn't gather incident data. About half the states have no standards and most that do, have no reporting requirements, says Reece Peterson, a special-education professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Such punishments [hand-over-hand for 2.5 hours] are unusual and extreme, says Garry L. Martin, a psychology professor. "If they are doing this for even five or 10 minutes ... that is way too long." ... Unless such measures change behavior they should be abandoned.
Isabel was sometimes in the isolation room for up to five hours a day.
[Such] "highly intrusive interventions" that were not acceptable or beneficial to her.
The administrative-law judge ordered the educators to seek outside expertise, come up with a new education plan for Isabel and provide her with compensatory summer classes. In dealing with such students, the judge wrote, schools must "focus on positive behavior supports and not punitive techniques such as restraint, extended isolation, or time out."
It's certainly a multi-dimensional topic. Special needs students deserve to have access to public education, but they also deserve the best, most appropriate education available. Vouchers make that appropriate education accessible. But is it segregation? What about mainstream classrooms, mainstream students, mainstream teachers? What about embracing equality for all including special needs? Is such a topic forever sentenced to looping logic?
July 12, 2007
Special Needs Students in GA Can Receive Vouchers
View the 50+ blog comments already building on this GA special needs voucher conversation. GA BOE even has a voucher calculator.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Vouchers: Show Me The Money
The amount of comments on this particular article's blog tells all.
For nearly two months, parents have been able to get information on eligibility requirements and rules that participating private schools must follow, as well as being able to submit their “intent” to seek one of the tuition vouchers.
Now, they can also find out just how much tuition the voucher will cover. Yesterday afternoon officials put up a nifty “scholarship calculator” that estimates the potential award for each individual child ... based on what the state would pay for a specific child’s special education services in public school.
The largest scholarships will go toward those students with the most severe disabilities who have been receiving the most extensive services. But, after state lawmakers claimed the average scholarship would be about $9,000 when they were selling the program earlier this year, many parents have been banking on that figure.
The GA Department of Education Site Provides Families Necessary Information:
Georgia’s Special Needs Scholarship will allow parents of students with disabilities who were enrolled in the Georgia public schools (2006-2007) and have an active IEP to choose the educational setting—public or private—for their child.
Of course, these vouchers come with a strict eligibility.
Henry Daily Herald: Special-needs vouchers drawing large response
The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act ... was modeled after a voucher program for students with disabilities launched seven years ago in Florida.
But the initial response in Georgia has dwarfed the beginnings of Florida’s program, with more than three times as many parents applying for scholarships.
Under the new law, parents of students with physical, mental or emotional disabilities will be able to apply for a scholarship to a participating private school or seek a transfer to another public school.
To be eligible, a student must have spent the previous year at a public school in Georgia and have in place an Individualized Education Program (IEP) written by that school.
Many among the preliminary list of participating schools are geared toward special-needs students, such as Special Needs Schools of Gwinnett in Lawrenceville and The Owens Academy for Exceptional Learners in Riverdale.
Share your thoughts, or clips from these conversations on Edspresso.com
Posted by Edspresso at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)Harry Potter - Reading Hero or Hoax?
Most parents, educators and administrators will admit that "Potterized" students have been reading more, but statistics say otherwise. Blog your thoughts - hero or hoax?
It's tempting to see the 3" binding of these bestseller veterans and naturally conclude that the length and popularity of these books defeats fears of lengthy texts later in life.
USA Today: Johnny Won't Read: Report Shows Big Drop in Reading
The reading of books is on the decline in America, despite Harry Potter...
A report released Thursday by the National Endowment for the Arts says the number of non-reading adults increased by more than 17 million between 1992 and 2002.
Only 47% of American adults read "literature" (poems, plays, narrative fiction) in 2002, a drop of 7 points from a decade earlier. Those reading any book at all in 2002 fell to 57%, down from 61%.
NEA chairman Dana Gioia, himself a poet, called the findings shocking and a reason for grave concern.
"We have a lot of functionally literate people who are no longer engaged readers," Gioia said in an interview with The Associated Press. "This isn't a case of 'Johnny Can't Read,' but 'Johnny Won't Read.'"
New York Times: Potter Has Limited Effect on Reading Habits
The truth about Harry Potter and reading is not quite so straightforward a success story.
Some researchers and educators say that the series, in the end, has not permanently tempted children to put down their Game Boys and curl up with a book instead.
“The Harry Potter craze was a very positive thing for kids,” said Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, who has reviewed statistics from federal and private sources that consistently show that children read less as they age. “It got millions of kids to read a long and reasonably complex series of books. The trouble is that one Harry Potter novel every few years is not enough to reverse the decline in reading.”
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a series of federal tests administered every few years to a sample of students in grades 4, 8 and 12, the percentage of kids who said they read for fun almost every day dropped from 43 percent in fourth grade to 19 percent in eighth grade in 1998, the year “Sorcerer’s Stone” was published in the United States. In 2005, when “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth book, was published, the results were identical.
Many parents, educators and librarians say that despite such statistics, they have seen enough evidence to convince them that Harry Potter is a bona fide hero.
What have you found? Students' noses in books, or talk of the movie releases?
Posted by Edspresso at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)Call for Reform for English Language Learners in NCLB
A host of education associations, school districts and educators continue to call for provisions for English Language Learners in NCLB as it faces reauthorization this year. Mary Anne Zehr, editor at Education Week, stands among them.
Education Week: Researcher Proposes a 'Weighted Index' for ELLs under NCLB
David J. Francis, a psychology professor at the University of Houston and the director of the National Research and Development Center for English Language Learners, has an interesting proposal for how accountability provisions for English-language learners could be improved in reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. I hear through my sources that congressional aides have invited at least one expert on assessment of ELLs into their offices this summer to hear advice on how to reauthorize the act--but I haven't heard if they've contacted Mr. Francis about his views.
Mr. Francis proposes that the accountability system for ELLs under the NCLB Act continue to incorporate both English-language-proficiency tests and content-area tests. But he says that more weight should be given to English-language-proficiency test scores when ELLs are new to the country and don't know much English. As they spend more time in the United States and become more proficient in the language, their test scores on academic content tests should be given more weight, he says.
Mr. Francis' proposal for a change in the federal education law--along with several others proposals for change--is described in a summary of a roundtable discussion on ELLs and the NCLB Act that was hosted by the Center on Education Policy in March. The summary of the meeting was posted this summer.