The upcoming issue of Education Next includes a fascinating article on the charter school explosion in post-Katrina New Orleans.  It’s not out just yet, but I can share a few tidbits.

More “New Orleans charters and disaster recovery”

Education chief says law is close to perfect - Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said Wednesday that the No Child Left Behind Act is close to perfect and needs little change as its first major update draws near. 

Mass. charter schools get a leg up in testing scores - Massachusetts charter school students are performing as well as, or better than, their counterparts in regular public schools, in contrast to a recent national study, according to a state report released yesterday.

Women aren’t good in math… or are they? - Strange but true: Women score much lower on math tests if they are first asked unrelated questions about gender issues. 

$3 billion plan for struggling CA schools revealed - A sweeping $3 billion agreement to give hundreds of low-performing schools smaller classes, more qualified teachers and additional counselors was revealed yesterday by the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Teachers Association.

No cure-all seen in Baltimore bonus for principals - Experts and educators are divided on whether the money would result in better schools.

AZ GOP candidates debate what it means to be conservative - The only candidate to support the ballot initiative which will raise the cigarette tax to pay for more children’s programs, Hershberger, 57, says he is working to provide a safe and healthy environment for children while providing a quality education.

Check back later for more education news. 

UPDATE:

Why Hide SAT Data? - Yesterday The College Board published the SAT scores for the Graduation Class of 2006. However, it refused to publish any statistics regarding the 49 grammar/usage questions even though this part of the Writing test is worth around 70% of the Writing score.

For Villaraigosa, Opportunity and Daunting Challenges - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa faces a formidable challenge in trying to reform the Los Angeles Unified School District. But the legislative deal that gives him partial control of the school system also provides him with an opportunity.

John at AFT responded to yesterday’s post in the comment thread.  I’d like to address that here, because I also see a connection to Jay Mathews’s new column.  

More “The AFTies and eduresearch”

As part of his cease-fire with the California Teachers Association, Arnold has agreed to set aside $2.9 billion over the next seven years for the state’s 500 lowest-performing schools in order to lower class sizes.  But how would the money be spent?  That’s still up in the air, which has various educrats disgruntled:

The California Association of School Business Officials opposes the measure on the grounds that the money should be available to all school districts, not just those with troubled schools. And the group says there might not be enough available classrooms and teachers to reduce class sizes rapidly.

"We’re school business officers," said Sandy Silberstein, director of government relations at CASBO. "Our job is to make it pencil out and work on the ground. And we see a long list of implementation problems."

The California School Boards Association does not officially oppose the measure, but it "has concerns," said Rick Pratt, a spokesman for the group.

The organization agrees that the money should go to the poorest-performing schools in the state, but believes districts should be able to spend the funds on more than class-size reduction. Currently, the measure would allow only 15 percent of the money to go for other needs such as health programs.

"There are out-of-school factors that influence the ability of kids to benefit from smaller classes," Pratt said. "There are health issues, hearing and vision problems that go undetected. …"

So in the waning days (hours, really) of the legislative session, they’re proposing to spend around $5.8 million per school with no real plan of how to get there?  And various and sundry agencies are swarming around demanding the money be spent differently?  I don’t suppose this is much different than most other states, but with an annual education budget of around $55 billion, I guess California is just on a different level.

National Education Foundation to provide $400 million in online scholarships to disadvantaged U.S. high schools -  CyberLearning has over 3,000 courses including courses that lead to business skills, IT certifications and high-paying jobs. It also has a complete digital literacy curriculum for teachers and students leading to an international (IC3) certification.

SAT reading and math scores show a significant decline - The drop confirmed earlier reports from puzzled college officials that they were seeing lower scores from applicants. 

Why we’re losing ground - Efforts to reform our public education system received a blow recently when a federal court reopened a challenge to the testing procedure the State of New York requires as part of the certification process for new teachers.

Upon further reflection, a few random thoughts - Dear teachers and students, dear principals and counselors, as the new school year begins, let us reflect. Let us reflect on our reflections about reflecting.

Check back later for more education news. 

UPDATE:

Privaticizing New Orleans’ schools - Opinion: After seeing how public education is being drastically altered there, she said she feared that very system would spread.

40 Percent of NH Schools Don’t Make Grade -New Hampshire released revised test results for elementary, middle and high schools, and an unhealthy minority are not making the grade under No Child Left Behind.

Performance data driving education now - James Turner is flooded by so much data on schools and kids that he is reminded of the ancient mariner who was stuck on a windless sea, surrounded by undrinkable salt water.

Utah’s school funding paradox questioned - Stephen Kroes, executive director of the Utah Foundation, said his group aimed to gather many perspectives, ensuring that conservative voices such as Utah Taxpayer Association and Parents for Choice in Education would be heard, along with representatives of the education community like the Utah Education Association.

Ed Week: CA lawmakers grant LA mayor partial control over school system - (subscription required) The plan would give him considerable sway over the hiring of the superintendent, but falls short of the strong mayoral control in cities like New York City and Chicago.

Ed Week: In every core class, a qualified teacher - (subscription required) A year from now, every academic class must be headed by what is considered to be a “highly qualified” teacher. Federal officials say the vast majority of states are well on their way to that goal. Others, however, are skeptical the resources are there.

Ed Week: NCLB reauthorization hearing tackles flexibility, standards - (subscription required) The key House subcommittee studying the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act held its first field hearing here this week in what is normally a federal courtroom.

Ed Week: NCES calls for sticking to the stats - (subscription required) In discussing a new federal study on charter schools last week, the commissioner of statistics for the U.S. Department of Education reiterated that his office should not be initiating analyses such as that one and a recent comparison of public and private schools, both of which he believes rely too much on subjective judgments.

Ed Week: Reanalysis of NAEP scores finds charter schools lagging - The average reading score for the 150 charter schools examined, taking into account a range of background characteristics of students and schools, was 4.2 percentage points lower than in a pool of more than 6,700 regular public schools…