New York Sun:  How new generation of reformers targets Democrats on education

A money manager recently sent an e-mail to some partners, congratulating them on an investment of $1 million that yielded an estimated $400 million. The reasoning was that $1 million spent on trying to lift a cap on the number of charter schools in New York State yielded a change in the law that will bring $400 million a year in funding to new charter schools.

The organization from which they hope to launch their revolution, Democrats for Education Reform, does some of its work at cocktail parties hosted in Mr. Curry’s Trump Plaza penthouse. The group — actually two separate political action committees — has raised money for senators Obama, Clinton, and Lieberman.

Next week, at a June 5 launch party, they will press their next goals, including a plan to raise several more million dollars, expand into at least four different states, and shape the 2008 presidential race.

Teachers’ unions may give a big boost to the Democratic Party, but so do those working in finance. If Democrats for Education Reform can convince them to press issues like length of the school day and merit-based teacher pay, it could force a dramatic swing in the party itself.

Scripps Howard News Service:  Most Americans want ‘No Child’ law left behind

A survey of 1,010 American adults reveals that nearly two-thirds of them want Congress to rewrite or outright abolish the landmark No Child Left Behind Act that mandates nationwide testing of elementary students to determine whether public schools are performing adequately.

Dissent against reauthorization has developed within Bush’s own party. Fifty-two Republican House members and five GOP senators are calling for a repeal of the law in favor of a more flexible system of achievement standards.

Only about a third of those queried in the Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University poll said they think the law has had a positive influence on public education, while slightly less than half said it has had a negative impact and a fifth were undecided.

Taken together, 63 percent want the law abolished or amended.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:  St. Louis School Board awards no-bid contract to counter charters

The St. Louis School Board Tuesday awarded a no-bid contract to a marketing firm headed by a local radio show host with ties to two board members. According to the resolution, approved 4-3, the firm, Penetrating Urban Market Politics, will use the $25,000 contract to "drive the message of the negative impact of charter schools."

The document says Gracie Mae Entertainment has an address connected to Elizabeth Brown of St. Louis. Lizz Brown is a morning radio host on WGNU. 

In March, Brown and board member Donna Jones headed a five-day student takeover of Mayor Francis Slay’s office to protest a state takeover of the district scheduled for June 15. The state’s education department has revoked the district’s accreditation.

The board awarded the contract just as it searches for a way to erase a $6 million deficit from the proposed 2007-08 budget.

To find out more about this sordid tale, see the latest from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Apparently, the School Board may take another look at how they’re spending their $25,000.

Ohio School Fears Cuts Will Rewrite Its Success Story - The 32 students who graduated from the Dayton Early College Academy on Wednesday evening were mostly from low-income families. Few of their parents went to college.

SC Senate defeats school voucher proposals - Senators defeated attempts Wednesday to add private school vouchers to a bill that would allow students a chance to enroll in any public school regardless of attendance lines.

Disabled access in schools faulted - An audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s progress in building and remodeling schools to make them accessible to the disabled found chronic problems in the design of parking, restrooms, ramps and drinking water fountains, as well as a troubling lack of documentation and misstatements of accomplishments.

Charter school to open after all - The demise of Holy Trinity Catholic School was an opportunity for the Cesar Chavez School Network to get back on track in opening a Colorado Springs school this year.

St. Louis School Board awarded no-bid deal to counter charters - The St. Louis School Board Tuesday awarded a no-bid contract to a marketing firm headed by a local radio show host with ties to two board members. According to the resolution, approved 4-3, the firm, Penetrating Urban Market Politics, will use the $25,000 contract to "drive the message of the negative impact of charter schools."

City School Board may revisit anti-charter contract - It seems the St. Louis School Board has not seen the last of a $25,000 no-bid contract it awarded Tuesday to radio talk show host Lizz Brown.  Brown is to counter advertising campaigns for charter schools with her own marketing firm.

Local sponsor renews 73 charter-school contracts - The Lucas County Educational Service Center Governing Board spent nearly seven hours yesterday reviewing each of the 73 charter schools the agency sponsors across Ohio. Twenty-five schools were given five-year contract extensions.

Albany private school welcomes vouchers - Administrators at a South Georgia Christian school say they welcome a new law that gives parents of disabled children money to send their kids to private schools, but they don’t want the government to interfere with their operations.

Most Americans want ‘No Child’ law left behind - A survey of 1,010 American adults reveals that nearly two-thirds of them want Congress to rewrite or outright abolish the landmark No Child Left Behind Act that mandates nationwide testing of elementary students to determine whether public schools are performing adequately.

Board OKs charter school with conditions - The Corvallis School Board approved the application for Muddy Creek Charter School on Tuesday night, but neither the board nor the charter school’s supporters seemed particularly happy about it.

Officials call on state to block charter school - City officials stepped up their efforts to oppose the relocation of a charter school near 13 Mile and Ryan roads last week. Through a letter and a resolution, respectively, sent to Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Warren Mayor Mark Steenbergh and members of the Warren City Council  continued to express their concerns about the development planned by Conner Creek Academy East.

How New Generation of Reformers Targets Democrats on Education - A money manager recently sent an e-mail to some partners, congratulating them on an investment of $1 million that yielded an estimated $400 million. The reasoning was that $1 million spent on trying to lift a cap on the number of charter schools in New York State yielded a change in the law that will bring $400 million a year in funding to new charter schools.

New York City Expands Test Program in Schools - Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced yesterday that the city school system would spend $80 million over five years on a battery of new standardized tests to begin this fall for most of New York City’s 1.1 million public school students.

Planned charter school PSL divides residents - Keeping kids close to home for school is supposed to unite communities, but just north of Becker Road, a proposed charter school is dividing the neighborhood.

Debate on vouchers heats up - It is "disingenuous" for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to call a special session on vouchers before the Nov. 6 public vote, says House Speaker Greg Curtis, who vows to "vigorously" fight against repealing HB174 if such a session is called.

State OK needed for school plan - The New Leadership Charter School announced plans last Friday to close early this year, on June 7 instead of June 15, but state approval is required. "In order to drastically alter their calendar, New Leadership needs approval from the Commissioner (David P. Driscoll).

Opposing view: ‘Too destructive to salvage’ - Editorial: It’s time to say in a national newspaper what millions of teachers, students and parents already know: No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is an appalling and unredeemable experiment that has done incalculable damage to our schools — particularly those serving poor, minority and limited-English-proficiency students. 

New York Times:  New York is top sate in dollars per student

After the recent release of NAEP History and Civics test results, and continued evidence of stagnant achievement in schools across the country, this week the public gets a look at how much money those results cost.  Nationally, schools are spending nearly $9,000 per pupil, with some states like New York and New Jersey spending more than $13,000.  And still, no increase in achievement.

New York again leads all other states in school spending per pupil, according to the latest census figures.

Nationwide, public school districts spent an average of $8,701 per student on elementary and secondary education in the 2005 fiscal year, 5 percent more than in the previous year.

New York, which also came in highest last year, spent $14,119 per student, followed by New Jersey at $13,800, Vermont at $11,838 and Connecticut at $11,572.

Over all, public school systems spent $497 billion, compared to $472 billion the year before. About 60 percent of their $427 billion operating budgets was spent on instruction, with more than 9 percent allocated for operation and maintenance, 7 percent for administration and 4 percent for pupil transportation.

Nationwide, school systems spent nearly $42 billion on construction, with California and Texas, the two most populous states, accounting for almost one-third.

Toledo Blade:  Ohio urban school superintendents back Strickland plan

One important piece of information is mysteriously missing from this Toledo Blade article: the testimony of the charter schools that were attacked all morning by the district and the teachers union. When they finally did get to testify (at 5:30), they told their success stories and expressed the real will of the people - to bring quality education to all people. 

The superintendents of Ohio’s eight largest urban districts and teachers’ union leaders gathered yesterday to present joint testimony to the Senate Finance Committee in support of Gov. Ted Strickland’s education budget.

As co-chair of the Ohio 8 Coalition, former Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Eugene Sanders delivered yesterday’s testimony calling the proposed budget "critical to sustaining public education in Ohio’s big cities."

Mr. Strickland’s plan calls for an end to Ohio’s statewide voucher program that uses public money to pay private school tuition for children in low-scoring schools, a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools, and a prohibition against charter schools being run by private, for-profit companies.

"Voters in our cities have over the decades approved spending their money on public education," Mr. Sanders said. "They have not voted for vouchers or charter schools."

Washington Post:  Putting his wealth to work to improve urban schools

He counts the Prince George’s County school superintendent and D.C. school board president among his disciples. He has advised the D.C. mayor on cuts in school system bureaucracy. He and a better-known West Coast entrepreneur are spending millions to persuade the next president of the United States to improve teacher quality and lengthen school days. He is spawning a new generation of school administrators who hail his name.

The question is: Can Eli Broad succeed in his campaign to help America’s schools shed years of bad management practices and avoid the pitfalls of divisive community politics?

He and his wife, Edythe, have committed more than $250 million to school improvement projects since 1999, and they plan to spend most of the Broad Foundation’s $2.25 billion in assets on education. The Los Angeles couple, along with Bill and Melinda Gates, are widely considered the most influential public education philanthropists in the country.

Like other business leaders who have become involved in education, Broad is used to a corporate system where the top executive makes the decisions and the company board, with rare exceptions, goes along. School boards, on the other hand, often consider themselves in charge of major decisions, with the superintendent just there to carry out orders.

A Bush Brother Spreads His Vision of Computerized Teaching Programs - To review with her class of fifth graders the tapestry of reasons Europeans came to America, Cheryle Hodges clicks on a mouse that brings a roly-poly disc jockey to a screen at the front of the classroom here at Harrison Road Elementary.

Court decision bolsters unions’ strength - The Missouri Supreme Court this afternoon overturned a six-decade-old precedent in a school case out of Independence, a decision that strengthens bargaining rights for public employees throughout the state.

2 charter school permits OK’d; CitiFest funded - Toledo City Council approved permits yesterday for two new downtown charter schools - but not by veto-proof majorities. Council also approved spending $75,000 to keep CitiFest Inc. in operation this year, and nearly $1.6 million in city funds for the development of a riverfront park in the Marina District.

With lawsuit looming, Spellings discusses No Child Left Behind - U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings vigorously defended the No Child Left Behind Act today in Connecticut, which has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the education law.

Parents excited about charter school - Teachers wanted to know about the curriculum. Parents wanted to know where to sign. Tuesday’s charter school hearing to discuss the Robert H. Faulkner Academy brought out about 40 community members who expressed mostly excitement at the prospect of another educational option in Marion. 

Putting His Wealth to Work To Improve Urban Schools - He counts the Prince George’s County school superintendent and D.C. school board president among his disciples. He has advised the D.C. mayor on cuts in school system bureaucracy. He and a better-known West Coast entrepreneur are spending millions to persuade the next president of the United States to improve teacher quality and lengthen school days.

Ohio urban school superintendents back Strickland plan - The superintendents of Ohio’s eight largest urban districts and teachers’ union leaders gathered yesterday to present joint testimony to the Senate Finance Committee in support of Gov. Ted Strickland’s education budget.

Gorman closing all 6 schools - Financially troubled Gorman Learning Center of Redlands is closing all of its campuses by Thursday and will move its headquarters to Los Angeles County before September. The charter school will continue to offer independent study, said Kim Clark, board president.

At this charter school, music is the primary tool for teaching - Ten-year-old Isaiah Simmons of Roxbury is the picture of concentration as he carefully makes his way through a solo violin version of the venerable folk song "Old Joe Clark." Literally and figuratively, music is in the air at the Conservatory Lab Charter School — and in the curriculum, too.

Charter schools deserve larger share of state aid package - Editorial: Charter schools are closing the achievement gap among New Jersey’s poor urban schoolchildren, yet they continue to be treated as second-class citizens when it comes to receiving state education funding at levels enjoyed by other elementary and secondary schools.

Activists Push To Allow Vote On School Plan - A coalition of D.C. activists launched a campaign yesterday to enlist volunteers to gather about 20,000 petition signatures in an uphill effort to put Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s school takeover legislation to a referendum.

Charter school closing unclear - A week after New Covenant Charter School’s board said the school would close, bondholders sought a meeting that could alter that fate. The school’s board of trustees canceled a meeting with parents slated for Tuesday night, saying the bondholders for the building wanted to meet with the board first.

Board deals a blow to vouchers - The Utah State Board of Education on Tuesday refused to implement a school voucher program using an incomplete version of state law creating the program, a move that could speed a Utah Supreme Court decision on vouchers but leave the board without legal counsel.

School of Hard Knocks - During its brief existence the Garden City Community School has learned some tough lessons.  After opening last fall, the school has racked up debt, lost students and moved twice–all while dealing with the possibility of being closed down by the state because of some of those very factors.

New York Is Top State in Dollars Per Student - New York again leads all other states in school spending per pupil, according to the latest census figures. Nationwide, public school districts spent an average of $8,701 per student on elementary and secondary education in the 2005 fiscal year, 5 percent more than in the previous year.

New York Times Magazine:  Standardizing the Standards

“I know you’re restless today, but I need to see you sitting at your desks. Angel, that means you, too!” In the second-grade classroom at the Washington school where I volunteer, the teacher turned to me and said with a sigh, “It’s testing week.”

The president’s signature domestic initiative, now due for its five-year reauthorization, was supposed to be a model of the hardheaded rigor it aims to instill in America’s schools. “No ‘accountability proposals’ without accountability,” a Bush education adviser declared early on.

And all for what? Not leaps in learning, to judge by an older, federally financed test called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, whose format reflects clear standards for basic subjects and goes beyond multiple-choice questions.

Agreeing on common goals for what kids should be learning can free up teachers to focus more productively on how they could be learning better…Still, a good national exam would spread well-focused standards across state borders and spur progress.

Los Angeles Times:  More schools are ditching final exams

Instead of late-night cramming and tutorials on how to ace multiple-choice tests, Joshua Koenig prepared for finals by rehearsing a PowerPoint presentation on the challenges of trading stock options and what he learned while attempting to climb Mt. Rainier with his father.

As thousands of public school students sat for standardized tests last week and others prepare for upcoming final exams, Wildwood is one of a number of schools across the country using oral presentations — or exhibitions — to determine students’ readiness to move on to the next grade, or in Koenig’s case, to graduate.

"Standardized tests are just snapshots that measure mostly the ability to recall facts, whereas performance-based assessments measure the ability to synthesize information, compare and contrast, look for different points of view and think critically," said Brett Bradshaw, director of strategic communications for the Coalition of Essential Schools, a nonprofit organization with about 250 member campuses that promotes exhibitions as a preferred form of student assessment.

Seniors must put together a portfolio incorporating essays, research papers, reading logs, graph and statistical analyses and multimedia projects reflecting two years of academic work. The portfolio is included in their oral presentations.

Washington Post:  Core classes not enough, report warns

It’s no secret to most high school students that taking the required courses, getting good grades and receiving a diploma don’t take much work. The average U.S. high school senior donning a cap and gown this spring will have spent an hour a day on homework and at least three hours a day watching TV, playing video games and pursuing other diversions.

"Rigor at Risk: Reaffirming Quality in the High School Core Curriculum," by the Iowa City-based testing company ACT Inc. says, "Students today do not have a reasonable chance of becoming ready for college unless they take a number of additional higher-level" courses beyond the minimum.

Using research on the college success of students who took the ACT college entrance test, and comparing their test scores to their high school records, ACT researchers found that many core courses were not carefully constructed or monitored and that students often received good grades in the core courses even if they didn’t learn much.