September 28, 2007
September 28, 2007
Los Angeles' Garcia takes voices of 700,000 ELLs to the Hill, 50 yrs after Little Rock Nine, Alabama tops NAEP ...
CNN Money: What to Do to Improve Our Schools - Fifty years after nine black students broke the color barrier at Little Rock Central High School, black educators, parents, congressional leaders and presidential candidates are grappling with inadequate public school education -- a national problem that will immeasurably impact the lives of generations of black children.
Washington Post: Individual Student Improvement Should Trump All Else - As a fifth-grade math teacher at KIPP DC: AIM Academy public charter school, I would suggest changing one aspect of NCLB to improve teacher accountability. AYP status is based solely on an absolute measure of proficiency and does not account for student growth. I think an accountability program that does both would be more useful for teachers and schools.
KHTS Radio, CA: Nation's Report Card Gathers Praise - Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), issued the following statement: “The 2007 Nation’s Report Card confirms what we already knew – student achievement is on the rise, achievement gaps are narrowing, and greater numbers of students are at or above basic and proficient levels in the fundamentals of reading and mathematics.
South Alabamian, AL: Alabama leads nation in gains made in fourth grade reading - On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the nation's report card shows that Alabama's public schools made more improvement in fourth grade reading than any other state in the nation.
LA Times: L.A. Unified backs education reform law - "I'm here representing 700,000 children who absolutely need critical attention on No Child Left Behind. Your work to better serve English-language learners . . . is super, super important," L.A. Board of Education President Monica Garcia told aides to lawmakers.
September 27, 2007
September 27. 2007
Youngstown Vindicator, PA: Board, teachers union resolve charter concerns - In one PA district, any drop in student enrollment at the charter school sponsored by the city school district won't translate into a reduction in teaching positions within the district. That's the crux of a memorandum of understanding between the city school board and the Youngstown Education Association, the union representing some 650 teachers.
Washington Examiner: Voucher program at record-high enrollment this school year - A record number of District of Columbia students are enrolled in the city’s school-choice voucher program this year, officials announced Wednesday, pointing to what they consider strong interest in the controversial scholarship initiative.
Springdale Morning News, AR: Distance Learning Conference Scheduled Friday In Rogers - The University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform will host a daylong look at distance learning in Arkansas to examine questions about how distance education can be used to help rural schools satisfy academic requirements in Arkansas with a focus on technical and legal barriers.
Arkansas News: Lawmakers Discuss Ways To Stop Districts From Failing - The Arkansas Legislature needs to find ways to intervene in failing school districts before they fail completely and the state takes a district over.
September 26, 2007
September 26, 2007
WI worst reading gap, unbiased study reveals vouchers work... opponents brush off, NAEP (nation's report card) results reveal choice impact ...
Atlanta Journal Constitution: A Slip-Up on Vouchers: Plan off to a tardy start - Program to help students with disabilities might have done more good if it hadn't come after private schools' deadlines.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI: Reading gap is nation's worst - The average reading ability for fourth- and eighth-grade black students in Wisconsin is the lowest of any state, and the reading achievement gap between black students and white students in Wisconsin continues to be the worst in the nation.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI: 'Ho-hum' says much about school choice foes - Another study suggesting good results from school choice in Milwaukee, not that it will make much of a dent with the opposition. This tells you something about the opposition. The latest study links the ability of poor parents to take state aid to religious schools to improvements at Milwaukee Public Schools. Not linked to any school choice organization, Economist Chakrabarti of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, found that scores improved more at schools that were more subject to competition - schools where a greater proportion of students were poor and could use a voucher if their parents chose. This shows the improvements weren't driven by other changes in MPS, such as new leadership. It was the increased competition.
Daily Tar Heel, NC: Grant helps state's ESL teachers - One federal grant combined with proposed changes to NCLB could reshape the way North Carolina instructs its non-English-speaking students. UNC-Greensboro recently received a five-year, $1.4 million federal grant for its Teach English to Speakers of Other Languages project. North Carolina has a growing ESL population and needs to prepare teachers to teach all the children in their classroom.
Myrtle Beach Online: Study: Residents want high teacher quality - The study involved 3,000 hours worth of interviews with more than 800 people - business leaders, parents, students, superintendents, principals, teachers and school board members - from each county and school district. The institute is calling it the largest education study ever done from the grass-roots level.
Jackson Sun, TN: Bredesen extols state education reforms to business group - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen promoted a simple approach to education reform focused on improving the quality of teachers during a speech today to business and education leaders. Ways to improve the teacher quality include paving the way for non-traditional career experts to move into the classroom, professional development, bonus pay for outstanding performance, and evaluating teachers more closely before they are granted tenure.
PRNewswire: Nation's Report Card: Policy Changes Have Impact - The NAEP snapshot of student achievement tells us students are learning more, but not nearly enough. With proficiency levels still well below 50 percent, we have much more to do. This data can drive education policy changes that are critical to our children's success.
Evansville Courier & Press, IN: Advocate finds government can't micromanage education - NCLB still doesn't get to the core of what's wrong with education in the United States: a public education system that forces most children to go to a school of the government's choice, not the parents'.
September 25, 2007
September 25, 2007
NCLB improving reservations, educating/empowering Utahns on vouchers, cyber schools booming in KS/PA, re-educating New Orleans, preventing dropouts, business leaders back charters ...
Great Falls Tribune, MT: Reservation schools working hard and improving - Just four years ago, only nine of the reservations' 60 schools managed to pass NCLB muster — called making "adequate yearly progress." Because of increased attention because of the failing status and hard work from faculties, the number has more than doubled to 20.
Deseret Morning News, UT: Public meets abound before voucher D-day - Stephenson, the public education appropriations co-chair, is holding meetings for the public to better educate them on vouchers. "I believe in families and parents and their right to choose how and where their children will be educated," he said. "To me, that's the most fundamental element of private school vouchers."
Beaver County Courier Times, PA: Cyber charter officials say hearings boost business - “These hearings have driven more kids to cyber charter schools,” Trombetta, chief executive of Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, said. “What you are doing is educating the public about alternatives and options.” Since lawmakers first introduced bills in spring 2006 to tighten the reins on cyber charter school finances, Trombetta said enrollment at his school has doubled to roughly 8,000 students.
Lawrence Journal, KS: Competition increasing in online education options - Every school district in the state could have a virtual school. Gary Lewis, principal of the Lawrence Virtual School, said virtual schooling is giving families in Kansas more options, and this competition will also improve quality.
USA Today: New Orleans school system re-educated - One goal of educators at New Orleans College Prep (NOCP), a new charter school in New Orleans' Central City neighborhood, is to inject a fresh zeal for learning that the system previously lacked. Another is to raise expectations and test scores far higher than before.
Arkansas Democrat Gazette: JAG’s mission to keep teens learning - 90 Springdale students deemed at risk of dropping out are enrolled in the state’s Jobs for Arkansas’ Graduates program, known as JAG. High school juniors and seniors earn academic credit for working. They get job and life-skills training in the classroom, and then they’re monitored for one year after graduation to ensure they’re doing something productive.
Worcester Telegram, MA: Boosting charters - The Massachusetts Business Leaders for Charter Public Schools properly see charter schools as a vital part of the state’s public education system, which is responsible for supplying businesses the well-educated, well-skilled work force upon which Massachusetts’ knowledge-based economy is dependent. Members of the group are scheduled to testify today before the Legislature’s Education Committee, which is holding a hearing on all charter legislation. Two crucial proposals are before the committee. One would lift the cap on charter schools in communities that have large low-income and minority populations and schools termed underperforming by the state Department of Education.
September 24, 2007
September 24, 2007
Can Special Ed students reach grade-level standards?, Ed Officials mandate school choice options distribution, utilizing web-tech for school choice ...
Foster's Daily Democrat, NH: Fairness of special ed testing debated - Federal testing guidelines unfairly hold special needs children to the same standards as students in regular education, educators say, leading to what one calls a "blame game." Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. said it would be a reversal of the belief that all students can reach appropriate standards when given the necessary tools to succeed.
Washington Times: School options urged for parents - Top federal education officials have released a new handbook urging state and local administrators to explain more effectively to parents that they can transfer their children among schools or access free tutoring services if their child's school is consistently subpar. This guide provides school administrators with strategies and tips on how to ensure more eligible parents are aware of and participate in the options.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Use Web to help parents pick a school - While the Web has spawned an explosion of consumer-oriented information, public schools aren't used to treating parents like customers with options. Parents are treated as a captive audience whose job is to comply with the rules a large bureaucracy sets up mostly for its own purposes. Most public school Web sites are set up to convey rules, or offer defensive, image-buffing PR. A customer focus is long absent in Philadelphia, where so many of the parents are working-class or poor. Middle-class parents, the folks with income to pursue options, have long voted with their feet, either leaving town or turning to the city's rich network of private and religious schools.
Arkansas Catholic: Fort Smith principal analyzes school choice for doctoral thesis - Dr. Karen Hollenbeck, an Arkansas private school principal, chose to write her thesis on "Factors Affecting Non-Public School Choice by Parents in Arkansas." She sent out questionnaires to parents in all elementary schools accredited by the Arkansas Non-Public School Accrediting Association asking them whether they had attended non-public schools, their income level, religion and other demographic questions. She then asked them to look at the most reported reasons for choosing non-public schools and rate their importance. By correlating parental priorities with demographic information, she was able to determine why parents chose non-public schools, and whether those priorities were different for parents choosing Catholic, other religious or secular private schools.
September 21, 2007
September 21, 2007
Grand Rapids Press, MI: KISD Seeks Independent Audit on Student Transfers - Kent County educators want the state Education Department to audit their school transfer policies as parents complain Grand Rapids administrators are preventing some students from attending suburban schools.
Lawrence Journal World, KS: Virtual school spurs district increase - Lawrence Virtual School, which opened in 2004 and enrolls students from across the state, continues to drive the district’s overall growth. Before it opened, the district saw four years of decline.
Leland Tribune, NC: Lessons from an Education Poll - Education-policy researchers have found that, across the board, the most important factor in school effectiveness is teacher quality, while average class size has only a modest effect. Based on the evidence, it would be reasonable to conclude that scarce resources should be devoted first to recruiting and retaining better teachers, and secondarily to reducing the number of students exposed to the average teacher. The public doesn’t agree, however. Asked whether it is a better use of educational dollars to improve teacher compensation or decrease class size, poll respondents voted overwhelmingly (77 percent to 23 percent) for class-size reduction.
September 20, 2007
September 20, 2007
Roadblocks in OR for cyber charters, TX dropout rates can be solved by school choice, Los Angeles Superintendent demands reform ...
Newport News-Times, OR: Online high school proposal faces major opposition at state level - State school officials will focus on Insight's request to waive the state statute that requires 50 percent or more of the students attending any public charter school that offers any online courses as part of its curriculum to reside in the sponsoring district. Charter school law authorizes the state board to waive this provision (and certain others) if it meets certain criteria. This is the first time the state board has received a request to waive ORS 338.125(2)(b).
WHPCBS.com, PA: Cyber Charter School Debate - Numerous educators and parents from as far as Philadelphia came in support of the virtual school program. “I’m gonna talk about our experiences as far as education and the fact that this is an innovative approach, and we love being students enrolled at PA virtual school,” says Sophia Lewis, cyber school parent.
East Texas Review: Dropout rates show one size doesn’t fit all - From the very beginning, school choice has been a civil rights issue, according to Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, a former assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. Our failure to recognize choice as a civil rights issue comes at tremendous cost. The NCPA study finds that a modest school choice program would reduce public school dropout rates. Every hour of every day, 93 Texas students drop out of public schools. The majority are inner city minority males. Choice is powerful. It provides the flexibility to serve various needs.
Los Angeles Times: LAUSD chief convenes reform summit - Seeking to overhaul chronically failing campuses, Los Angeles schools Supt. David L. Brewer quietly convened out of the public spotlight with union leaders representing teachers, administrators and non-teaching employees, neighborhood activists, leaders of the charter school movement, college deans and business leaders to help him devise an education reform plan.
September 19, 2007
September 19, 2007
George Lucas promotes education reform, DC charters so popular 8 parochials may convert, Univ Akron tackling 40% minority graduation rate ...
Education Week: D.C. Parochial Schools May Become Charters - As remedy for the problems of falling enrollments and rising operating deficits for urban parochial schools, eight Catholic campuses in DC may be converted into secular charter schools run by an independent operator. Most of the schools’ students come from low-income non-Catholic families.
American Digital Networks, MD: Filmmaker Brings 'The Force' to Education Reform - At the Dreamforce 2007 conference, George Lucas will share his personal passion and commitment to education and the mission of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, an organization dedicated to creating a country where innovation in education is the rule, not the exception. Lucas will look to encourage conference attendees to more actively support education reform.
Akron Beacon Journal, OH: Teens tackle high school & college - A University of Akron program debuted this fall, giving at-risk students the means to excel in high school and college. It is a nontraditional high school that serves a targeted audience: average to good students from lower-income, often minority families who would be the first in their families to go to college.
PRNewswire, NY: New National Study Shows Increase in Schools; More Accountability - According to a new study conducted by the Center for Education Reform, the number of charter schools opening this school year is up 8% from last year, and more than 4,100 charter schools currently serve over 1.2 million students across the country. Despite continuing opposition and debilitating laws, more parents than ever are choosing charter schools over conventional public schools when it comes to educating their children.
Gainesville Times, GA: State Moves Deadline for Vouchers - The Georgia Department of Education has extended the deadline for students receiving the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship to be enrolled and attending one of the state-approved private schools.
September 18, 2007
Ready Or Not, Merit Pay Skyrockets
Could this spell a loss of power and influence for teachers' unions and the Democratic allies they back? Properly compensated educators won't need to strike, and underperforming instructors can't hide behind tenure, contracts or seniority.Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, asserts this is the future if education intends to attract talented educators. 22 states have at least one district with performance incentives in place. Check out your state's teacher incentive fund programs.
Already popular and thriving in one district, the Association of Professional Oklahoma Educators can't ignore 2/3rds of their members asking for merit pay.
September 18, 2007
Union Leader, NH: NH's first virtual high school to open in January - Virtual Learning Academy will be the first virtual charter school for New England, following a school-funded virtual program set up in Maynard, Mass.
Minneapolis Start-Tribune, MN: A course in marketing - School choice in St. Paul and Minneapolis used to mean magnet schools, busing and desegregation -- a way to balance diversity and keep middle-class families. But as charter schools and open enrollment siphon thousands of students away, choice now means persuading parents to choose traditional public schools.
St. Petersburg Times, FL: School plan: Out with the old - Breaking the tradition of 36 years of efforts to racially balance schools, one county's schools set the tone - it's time for more schools to adopt choice-centered plans.
Providence Journal, RI: State policies make it hard for principals and parents to talk freely - If the governor, legislature and the public are serious about improving schools, they need to admit that a principal’s job is difficult to the brink of impossible.
WRAL.com, NC: Judge tired of excuses: Public Schools Failing N.C. Students - "Your instructional leadership is not doing the job in the classroom," Judge Howard Manning told a group of local educators, legislators and testing experts who comprise the state Board of Education's Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability.
September 17, 2007
September 17, 2007
UT is OK with 28% failing, standards for online education released, school choice advocates call for more parental options, ...
Deseret Morning News, UT: Voters, approve vouchers in November - Because I'm a public school advocate, I'm also an enormous voucher supporter. I am absolutely convinced that by every measure Utah's public schools, students, parents, teachers and taxpayers will be much better off if vouchers are approved by voters in November.
Deseret Morning News, UT: 28% of Utah schools 'left behind' - 18% failed AYP last year, 28% failed this year... can we expect 38% next year?
dBusiness News, OR: Aventa Learning Announces College Board Approval of 22 Advanced Placement® Courses - Aventa Learning, a leading provider of online learning content and services to K-12 educational institutions, announced today that the College Board has approved all 22 of Aventa Learning’s Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Now that the College Board must approve AP offerings due to the inconsistency of content and rigor across the nation's high schools, some schools are turning to distance learning to ensure adequate coursework for students.
PR Newswire: NACOL Releases National Standards of Quality for Online Courses - NACOL released National Standards of Quality for Online Courses, an important measuring tool to help policy leaders, schools, and parents across the nation evaluate course quality and implement best practices.
Emediawire, WA: School Choice Advocates Call for Effective Parental Options in No Child Left Behind - 18 State and National Groups Urge Congress, President Bush to Include Effective, Meaningful Choice in Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.
Daily Camera, CO: Demanding unions - Denver's school system is facing diminishing academic performance along with losing around 30,000 students. Critical infrastructure shortcomings have also forced it to consider closing up to 40 schools. f Denver's school officials and union bosses paid a bit more attention to what was going on a hundred miles away in Pueblo, they might pick up a clue on how to achieve their primary goal of improved student performance - Cesar Chavez Academy, a charter school.
Denver Post, CO: Teachers want more red lights - More than 900 Denver third-graders earned "unsatisfactory" scores on state reading tests two years ago, yet only 39 repeated the grade, according to the district. Under an education reform plan offered by the Denver teachers union, however, hundreds of those students would have been held back.
Dallas Morning News: Sue Blanchette: Let's get at the core issues of education reform - As the furor over American education increases, the demand for simple answers to complex issues escalates.
Worchester Telegram, MA: It’s working - In Massachusetts, scores improved across racial and ethnic lines. It's working, but the 73% versus 90% achievement gap is a problem that state and local education officials must make a top priority.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA: The state of education - Members of Congress who adamantly deny Americans the right to choose their children's schools still don't walk the talk. If they did, school choice today would be the rule -- not the exception.
September 14, 2007
September 14, 2007
EMedia, WA: School Choice Advocates Call for Effective Parental Options in No Child Left Behind - 18 State and National Groups Urge Congress, President Bush to Include Effective, Meaningful Choice in Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.
Cornell Daily Sun, NY: Lawsuit questions credentials of Teach for America participants - Teach for America, a program that annually places 5,000 recently graduated college students in inner-city schools in an effort to improve the education system, may be stalled in its cause due to a lawsuit challenging a loophole in the No Child Left Behind Act. Lawyers from San Francisco-based Public Advocates claim that because NCLB allows teachers like those in TFA to gain teaching credentials through alternative certification programs, many teachers are mislabeled as ‘highly qualified’.
September 13, 2007
Outraged Charter Parents and Teachers School CA Speaker Núñez
Embarassed legislators have backed down under charter parents’ and teachers’ show of strength. When the State played politics with charter laws, parents and teachers fought back—and won.
Fed up with special-interest politics masquerading as “local control,” hundreds of Los Angeles parents and teachers recently rallied against Sacramento’s latest assault on charter schools.
In recent years, opponents have sought to slow, if not stop, the expansion of charter schools in California. Leading the nation with more than 600 public charter schools, California charters are educating nearly a quarter of a million students. The Governor’s veto pen has thwarted them thus far, so now charter foes are playing brinkmanship … and charter school parents and teachers called them on it.
The California Assembly slashed facilities support for charter schools serving high-poverty students to less than half of full funding, but they didn’t stop there. Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) then added a prohibition against the State Board of Education authorizing statewide charter schools, a move long-pushed by teachers’ union bosses, at a time when public demand for charters couldn’t be higher. That’s when the Fabian bill turned Faustian.
Under the cover of night, Núñez combined the charter ban and the funding cuts into a “trailer bill,” Senate Bill 92. To preserve statewide charter schools—critical in areas like the Los Angeles Unified School District, where 300,000 students attend failing schools— Governor Schwarzenegger intended to veto the trailer bill, and with it the funding crumbs from the Assembly table.
This diabolical deal would have spelled disaster either way: Hurt thousands of poor charter schoolchildren now by limiting facilities money, or deny educational opportunities to hundreds of thousands of them later by making hostile district school boards the primary authorizers of new charter schools.
An outpouring of support from charter parents and teachers at a late-August rally in Speaker Núñez’s own district speaks volumes to the power of parents and teachers who demand choice. Without facilities funds “we can’t pay for the best teachers,” said Los Angeles charter school parent Corri Ravere. She was fortunate enough to get her child into View Park Preparatory Charter High School, which is so successful at educating inner-city children its waiting list has swelled to 5,000, “We will fight to the end.” And fight they did.
Although the battle has subsided for now, the power of midnight legislation remains a force to be reckoned with in the future. Without charter schools, thousands of schoolchildren and their teachers would have no alternative to district-run schools that don’t work for them. Students would have to return, but many of their teachers would likely quit. Given the growing concern about teacher shortages, those who purportedly represent California educators should be fostering more attractive teaching environments, not snuffing them out.
California’s district-run schooling monopoly is an increasingly unattractive prospect for teachers. It is the relic of a bygone era that held few employment opportunities for women, historically three-quarters of the teaching workforce. The times, and employment opportunities, have changed, but California’s schooling system founders in a time warp.
A 2005 California Charter Schools Association survey of Los Angeles charter school teachers showed 42 percent of respondents came from LAUSD. Former LAUSD employees represent more than half of charter school staffs at 10 percent of the district’s charter campuses, and eight percent of teachers surveyed came out of retirement specifically to teach at Los Angeles charter schools.
More than one in four charter teachers surveyed nationwide said they would do something else entirely if they could not teach at a charter school. Among non-retiring California teachers, more than half who leave blame job dissatisfaction, compared to only one in three of their peers nationwide. Inadequate support, excessive bureaucracy, a lack of collegiality, and insufficient input under the current district-managed schooling system are the top reasons that California teachers quit.
More than three out of four former California teachers would consider returning to the profession if working conditions were better. Independent, educator-directed schools like charter schools hold great promise for winning such teachers back, as well as improving teacher retention and recruitment rates.
At 82 percent, overall satisfaction rates among teachers in charters across the country are more than three times as high as their district-managed counterparts. An average of two-thirds of U.S. charter school teachers, compared to just one-third of teachers in district-run schools, report high levels of satisfaction with the influence they have over curricula, student discipline, and professional development, as well as school safety, collaboration with colleagues, and their schools’ learning environments.
Fortunately, Speaker Núñez’s Faustian gambit backfired. Instead of embarrassing the Governor, he embarrassed himself and enraged charter school parents and teachers who won’t tolerate dysfunctional, district-run schools without a fight.
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D., is the Education Studies Senior Policy Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in Sacramento. She is also Visiting Fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum in Washington, D.C., and author of the new IWF study Empowering Teachers with Choice: How a Diversified Education System Benefits, Teachers, Students, and America.
September 13, 2007
USA Today: Our view on education: Merit pay for teachers begins to earn high grades - Objecting to merit pay today amounts to opposing a proven tool for making teachers more effective.
National Review Online, NY: Educational Freedom by Every Means Available - While millions of children are denied a quality education daily, we ought not to recklessly dismiss good solutions. It is gross hyperbole to conclude, as Schaeffer does, that “school choice opponents have thrown everything at education tax credits to no avail.” Vouchers and tax credit programs have both opened educational doors once closed to children nationwide. Relying exclusively on tax-credit school choice programs would unnecessarily restrict the range of policy options reform-minded legislators could pursue. Such a premature narrowing of options is unwise for a reform movement that needs to maximize choice and develop a variety of models for differing environments.
September 17 - Signing of the Constitution, 220 years
To mark the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, Congress is requiring public schools across America to dedicate one day to teach students about the U.S. Constitution. If schools don’t, they can lose federal funding. Just one day to teach the Constitution? Imagine a school saying they are just going to teach multiplication one day out of the whole school year! Both subjects are important and both subjects require much more than one day to learn. The same is true for other core subjects.
From Jay Leno’s TV segment “Jay Walking” (where Americans routinely show their ignorance on elementary-level questions) to the much-publicized ramblings on the runway of the Miss Teen USA pageant, American students’ lack of knowledge about essential knowledge has been a source of great humor to the rest of us. Indeed, many adults are embarrassed as they lose on the new TV Game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” Lot’s of fun to watch but it’s no joke when you realize that American education is failing in many respects.
No wonder more and more parents are choosing to send their children to charter schools or applying for vouchers. School choice gives parents more control over what and how their children learn. So they can spend more time involved in their children’s education and less time dealing with the red tape and bureaucracy of traditional public schools.
So, let’s celebrate the choice the framers of the Constitution made 220 years ago by celebrating and speaking out for school choice. And as many American school children simultaneously say the pledge of allegiance on September 17 during the “Pledge Across America," let’s also pledge as a country to support school choice so parents can decide what and how their children learn best.
For more information on how your school can participate visit www.celebrationusa.org.
September 12, 2007
September 12, 2007
Los Angeles Times: Green Dot charter organization to take over Locke High School - The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Tuesday to turn over one of the city's most troubled high schools to a charter school organization, marking the first time an outside group will run a traditional public school in Los Angeles. Leaders of the teachers union said they would file a grievance to block the transfer on grounds that the decision violates the teachers' labor agreement and state law.
Mlive.com, MI: Tensions high at meeting about student transfers - Parents asked for a meeting with the county school chiefs to vent concerns about county superintendents making it more difficult for students in charter and parochial schools to transfer to suburban districts. Families now have to compete with others in the choice program or hope their home district agrees to release the students."This is a school choice issue and Kent County is one of the worst school choice counties in the state. Parents shouldn't have to beg, and something has to take hold to fix this problem."
Washington Examiner: D.C. schools seek teacher certification numbers - District of Columbia Public Schools officials are trying to get a handle on how many uncertified teachers are in the system so they can alert parents if their child is in a class with someone lacking credentials, according to officials. The No Child Left Behind Act requires the notification, but DCPS has not previously met this mandate.
September 11, 2007
September 11, 2007
Toledo Blade, OH: Big Schools get smaller in Ohio - Enrollment in Ohio’s largest school districts appears to have declined again, continuing a trend of diminishing numbers in urban systems that started more than a decade ago. School leaders blamed charter schools, vouchers, low birth rates, and suburban migration for the declines. The number of charter schools in the state, for example, increased slightly over last year and the number of private-school vouchers that were awarded more than doubled.
KCPW, UT: Online Charter School Approved for 2008 - Utah already has a virtual high school, which led some members of the State Board of Education to question the need for a virtual charter school. But Harmon says the Utah Virtual Academy will have a more comprehensive offering for students.
Edmond Sun, OK: Surprising Truth About Teacher Pay - “Few clichés permeate our culture more thoroughly than that of the underpaid schoolteacher.” Nobody perpetuates that cliché better than the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union.
ABC12.com, MI: Bill could permit teachers to carry concealed weapons - Guns in the classroom could soon be a reality if one Michigan lawmaker has his way.
Washington Examiner: Catholic school conversions raise placement issues - Where nearly 550 low-income students involved in D.C.’s voucher program would go is a big question mark as officials decide whether to convert eight Catholic schools into public charter schools.
Deseret Morning News, UT: Utahns hope to reform NCLB - Utah's congressional delegation is probing ways to give power back to the people who run local schools ... the administrators, not the parents.
September 10, 2007
September 10, 2007
Open enrollment... except if you're white,
Education Reform Outrage in the news ...
WI State Journal: Open enrollment closed to white Madison students - If he lived anywhere else in Wisconsin, Zachary Walton, 12, wouldn't have this problem. If he were black, Asian, Hispanic, or American Indian, Zachary wouldn't have this problem, either. But he's in Madison, where growing numbers of white students are discovering that because of their race, the state's open enrollment program actually is closed.
Orlando Sentinel, FL: Merit pay for teachers reveals sway of affluence - The Sentinel's review showed that teachers at predominantly white and affluent schools were twice as likely to get a bonus as teachers from schools that are predominantly black and poor. It wasn't supposed to work that way. Florida education officials promised that imbalances along racial or income lines would not happen under the state's beleaguered and now-defunct merit-pay program known as Special Teachers Are Rewarded, or STAR.
Grassroots Action in the news ...
Washington Times: Web-savvy teacher starts virtual class - Mrs. Goldberg is the founder of Write Well University, a virtual school that teaches writing skills over the Internet. The startup school offers live, online writing lessons to people from across the world looking to improve their writing skills.
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX: E-ducation - The Texas Legislature approved another step along the digital learning path for Texas students. By the 2008-09 school year, they'll be able to tap into the state's first "virtual school network" to take online courses. Those courses might be advanced language, math or science courses that their own districts simply don't offer, electives that don't otherwise fit into the student's schedule, or even classes for early college credit.
NC: Questions about charter schools - Have questions about NC Charter schools and rules? This site allows you to get your questions answered.
Forbes.com: Cosby brings back TV Teaching Program - Bill Cosby is getting behind efforts to improve education. Cosby announced last week that his animated series, "Little Bill," which is aimed at getting preschoolers interested in learning, is returning to television on cable's Noggin network.
School Choice in the news ...
National Review Online, NY: Credit Where Due - So, which of the two options for real school-choice reform are more popular: vouchers or education tax credits? Surveys generally demonstrate that tax credits command five to ten percent more support than do vouchers.
WFIE-TV, IN: Test for Schools: How Should Teachers be Graded? - As the curtain opens on a new school year, the spotlight is on teachers. Off in the wings, a noisy debate ensues about how to ensure that public school teachers are well qualified - and receive enough support - to do their jobs.
Commercial Appeal, TN: Revolving door leaves teacher ranks short - Which states are really suffering from teacher shortages in public schools.
Lincoln Tribune, NC: Spend A Lot, Teach A Little - Debates about parental choice and school reform come down to productivity. I don’t doubt the good intentions and efforts of most public-school leaders and educators. And I have long favored a governmental role in ensuring that all children have access to educational opportunities. But monopolies cost too much and deliver too little.
September 06, 2007
Parent Power!
Check out these tips for parents to promote real education reform.The Center for Education Reform offers some tips (and there are lots more out there) about how parents can be more effective advocates for their kids... asking the right questions, getting the right information, making the right choices for each student. Posted by Edspresso at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Get a job!
Tired of the problems? Ready to get real with real education reform?
Check out the Job Watch section at www.edreform.com for opportunities to roll up your sleeves and get involved.
September 6, 2007
Heritage Foundation: How Members of Congress Practice Private School Choice - Many Congressmen decide that school choice is OK for themselves, but openly refuse to make that an option for those they represent.
KCPW, UT: Utah Continues to Draw Fire from Feds Over NCLB - Utah's quaking in their shoes over how poorly they performed, and don't want "big brother" to watch.:
News Tribune, MO: Missouri virtual school reopens enrollment - Missouri's new virtual school reopened enrollment, because the program now has spots to accommodate more students. There are 1,800 students currently taking part, with room for as many as 400 more this school year. “We're growing by the hour right now,” said Curt Fuchs, Missouri's virtual school director.
Washington Examiner, DC: District reform redux? - Previously, DC Mayor Williams held strong to his no-pink slips policy, and bureaucrats signed on but kept sitting. Now comes Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray vowing to reform a failed education system. Will they be more concerned about 11,000 employees than 50,000 children registered in D.C. Public Schools and their taxpaying parents? Will they protect workers, most of whom aren’t District residents, or citizens who year after year finance a corporation that can’t ensure that students read and perform mathematical equations at proficient — never mind advanced — levels?
CBS 21, PA: School concerns - One Pennsylvania mother spoke out, "We live in the ghetto and we know that education is one of the keys to get out of that so I want him to get a good education so that he can get a better job and he can do better in life.” Because she was so concerned about how the district was doing, she has actually signed her son up for cyber school this year. That means he will remain in the district but will receive his education through the computer at home.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot, MI: Students learn on stage at Cascades - For 23 students at Cascades Elementary School, the first day of school was spent on the auditorium stage. The 14 first-graders and nine kindergartners are spending the week in the temporary classroom with a substitute teacher who is using a portable dry-erase board and is hanging a temporary calendar alongside the stage's curtain. The shortage of classroom space and teachers is largely due to the district's decision to close Wilson Elementary School, Cascades Principal Ed Peterson said. "It will probably be the end of the week before we know if they'll be able to stay here or be transferred to the school of their choice," Peterson said.
Chattanooga Times Free Press: Students ponder school choice - Many Catoosa County upperclassmen have until December to decide if they want to attend the new Heritage High School or stay where they are. But class president Kain Weaver says, "A lot of my friends don't have the option of going to Heritage. Plus, I'm class president, so I think it would set a bad precedent for me to just blow off my responsibilities."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI: For back to school, be sure there's a school - As the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program continues to expand, each year brings yet another "cut-down day" informing some students and parents that their particular school of choice won't be available this year. The decision about which schools get to participate in the state-funded educational voucher program for low-income families is made by the state Department of Public Instruction, which can bar schools for a variety of reasons. Just last week, the state released a list of 10 schools barred from the choice program.
September 05, 2007
September 5, 2007
Arizona English language learners' teachers haven't mastered English, University of Arkansas hosts lunches with education experts, more vouchers in Ohio ...
Education Reform Outrage in the news ...
Arizona Republic: State faults teachers of English learners - In a five-year study of language learners in Arizona schools, problems are surfacing: teachers speak poor English, teachers still use Spanish in the classroom, some schools have avoided applying for tutoring grants to aid language learners, and many teachers lack credentials to teach ESL.
Davis Count Clipper, UT: Anti-voucher campaign hits the airwaves - “We hope that through this campaign we will let people know that the voucher program doesn’t reach all children,” said State Board of Education Chairman Kim Burningham. “We need to invest more into our public schools.”
Cleveland Free Times, OH: Charters And Gaffes - Akron-based White Hat Management and former Clevelander Robert Townsend once enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. White Hat operates charter schools, reporting to each school’s board of directors. Today the whole affair is in court, with Townsend and eight fellow board members on one side, and White Hat and the state legislature and department of education on the other.
Grassroots Action in the news ...
Asianjournal Online, CA: Mayor Villaraigosa and LAUSD Launch District-wide Education Reforms - Under the IDEA Partnership, each school will draw up comprehensive plans outlining the visions and goals for improving student achievement and the specific benchmarks for measuring that achievement. These plans will be made public on a website, and parents will receive an annual “report card” measuring the school’s progress. This is an initiative for parents, teachers, principals and superintendent coming together in support of our schools. We are flipping the way we think of schools on its head and creating a model in which teachers, principals and parents are the ones holding the reins at their schools.
Siftings Herald, AR: Open Forum: Arkadelphia Speaks - Superintendent answers readers' questions - Dr. Stan Miller, superintendent of the Arkadelphia Public School District, answers questions that have been submitted to him by readers.
University of Arkansas Daily Headlines, AR: Do Lunch With Top Education Researchers - University of Arkansas is hosting a series of lunch lectures to provide the community opportunities to speak with key education researchers, experts in their fields.
School Choice in the news ...
Columbus Dispatch, OH: More Ohio kids can get school vouchers - Low ratings for a greater number of Ohio schools on recent Department of Education report cards means thousands more public-school students are eligible to receive private-school vouchers in 2008.
Reason Online, CA: The Agony of American Education - Imagine a city with authentic public school choice—a place where the location of your home doesn’t determine your child’s school. The first place that comes to mind probably is not San Francisco. But that city boasts one of the most robust school choice systems in the nation.
Education Week: Waiting for the ‘Tipping Point’ - Arguing for public school choice in the form of charter schools or voucher programs is not the same thing as claiming that any program offering choice will deliver all of the concept’s potential benefits.
September 04, 2007
September 4, 2007
Parents take the schools to court, more OH vouchers, 1/3 CT schools fail, parents confused with all the acronyms ...
Columbus Dispatch: More Ohio kids can get school vouchers - The Department of Education rated 229 Ohio public schools as under "academic watch" or "academic emergency," adding 17 schools to the list of schools where students are eligible for the vouchers, according to state report cards. Students at underperforming public schools are eligible for Ohio Educational Choice scholarships to the state's private schools, worth up to $5,000 per student.
Garden City Telegram, KS: Another Virtual School to Come Online in State - Yet another online program for Kansas high school students is springing up with Kaplan Academy of Kansas, a virtual high school operated by the national organization Kaplan Virtual Education.
PRNewswire.com: Chicago Virtual Charter School Students Log on for a New School Year - Chicago Virtual Charter School is an innovative, tuition-free, public virtual school offering a unique blend of virtual learning and traditional brick-and-mortar schooling. Students learn outside the traditional classroom, as well as
once a week at the CVCS Learning Center, all while receiving instruction
and guidance from certified teachers.
The Day, CT: A Third Of State's Schools Fall Short On NCLB - About one-third of Connecticut public schools did not meet federal standards this year.
The Tennessean: Parents call for fewer educational acronyms - FAPE, NCLB, AYP ... To some, these acronyms may seem excessive or even ridiculous. They can also make what's going on in public education that much harder to understand.
Press & Sun-Bulletin, NY: Out-of-state students lack skills, despite NCLB - Some fourth grade students from other states who move into the Maine-Endwell district don't know how to multiply -- a skill third-graders in New York are expected to master, teachers said. Not every state requires third-graders to learn multiplication.
Los Angeles Times: State's API results a mixed bag - For the first time, California has required schools to begin closing the achievement gap, and many schools, even some apparently successful ones, are not hitting the mark, according to data released Friday by the state Department of Education.
American.com, DC: Suing to Shut Down ‘Teach For America’ - When education schools act like a cartel, children are harmed.
