On Reading, Charters Outperform - The most recent round of reading tests show students attending charter schools in the city outperforming other public schools on reading tests.

Parents, Teachers Protest Principals’ Styles - Principals at two well-regarded D.C. public schools have become the target of demonstrations and organized efforts to oust them because parents, and in one case teachers, too, have lodged complaints about their management styles.

House scuttles charter school reform - A measure to shutter the state’s lowest-performing charter schools and reward the best with financial incentives fell apart in the House on Friday.

A second separation - For the second time in less than a year a charter school has proposed to open in Twin Falls, and once again the school district has decided to separate itself from that charter school.

Two N. Phila. schools win accolade in Time - Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia has collected national accolades for improving student test scores, hosted a visit by U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, and been profiled in a new book from Harvard Education Press.

Themed schools still a draw, but not all are magnets - Calypso singer Cyril Paul tried three times before most of the kids in his audience at Birch Grove Elementary waved their arms and swiveled their hips at the right time while singing … all … the … lyrics … clearly.

City Officials Squabble Over Takeover Plan - Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s high-stakes effort to seize control of the District’s struggling public school system has set off a fight for influence and power among the city’s top elected leaders.

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.”

School’s creed helps boys believe in themselves - D’Angelo Gardner didn’t like it when staff members at Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men started telling him to tuck in his shirt, pull up his pants, straighten his tie.

Charter school talks over campus an issue - Talks on whether a construction-themed charter school could open on the former Lincoln Middle School campus are expected to continue over the next several weeks after a narrow vote by the Vista Unified school board Thursday night.

Vouchers courtbound? - In a move to clear up school voucher confusion as swiftly as possible, opponents want to send the crux of the voucher issue straight to the Utah Supreme Court. Friday Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, submitted a "request for agency action" asking the State School Board to issue an emergency order that would declare the voucher amendment law, HB174, invalid and unable to stand on its own apart from the original voucher bill, HB148.

Texas’ dropout problem probably worse than reported - Sunday after Sunday, Sarah Luna’s prayer never changed.  With about a month to go until graduation, the 20-year-old Lanier High School senior pleaded with God for one life-changing miracle that seemed hopelessly out of reach: her diploma.

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.

‘Middle School Syndrome’ Undergoes a Reversal - Scores on state tests at Westlake Middle School were disappointing for years, and school officials had largely written them off as “middle school syndrome,” a mysterious decline in achievement between elementary school and eighth grade that seemed to afflict most schools in the state.

Nation’s charter school leaders focus on N.O - With 57 percent of students in Orleans Parish now enrolled in charter schools, New Orleans is ground zero for charter school monitors nationwide.

State warns KIPP school to shape up or be closed - Buffalo’s KIPP Sankofa Charter School, considered a promising alternative for inner-city middle school students when it opened in 1993, is plagued by failure and is fighting for its life.

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.

Encourage community input by advancing charter school - Educators consistently identify parental and community involvement as indispensable assets in the critical mission of improving public schools. That makes the turnout of approximately 250 people for Tuesday night’s public forum at Burke High School highly encouraging.

A Civics Lesson for D.C. Students to Skip - Editorial: Let’s hope D.C. public school students are too busy with their studies to pay much attention to the officials overseeing their school system. Goodness knows those adults are teaching lessons that students should never learn.

Tucson charter school in Newsweek’s top 10 list - BASIS Tucson, a charter high school, is again ranked in the nation’s top 10 by Newsweek magazine in the May 8 issue, said the school’s director, Gloria Mitchell. 

Last week, when I heard that the new National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) civics and U.S. history results were about to be released, my curiosity was piqued. No, not in anticipation of finding out whether the results would be dismal or dismal-er, but because I really wanted to see how the Bush administration would handle the news, good or bad. Schools aren’t held accountable for civics and U.S. history under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and I couldn’t wait to see how the administration would somehow tie the results to its favorite law.

More “Spare Us the Spin (Neal McCluskey)”

Time Magazine:  How to fix No Child Left Behind

It’s countdown time in Philadelphia’s public schools. Just 21 days remain before the state reading and math tests in March, and the kids and faculty at James G. Blaine Elementary, an all-black, inner-city school that spans pre-K to eighth grade, have been drilling for much of the day.

To understand the impact of the 2001 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, indelibly rebranded as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), you need to visit a school like Blaine. The astonishingly ambitious law, the Bush Administration’s proudest domestic achievement, was crafted with high-poverty, low-achieving schools like this one in mind. NCLB proponents and critics alike agree that the law’s greatest accomplishment has been shining an unforgiving spotlight on such languishing schools and demanding that they do better.

Ask almost any school administrator, education policymaker or think-tank wonk about NCLB, and you’re guaranteed to get at least one sunny metaphor about how the law opened a window, raised a curtain or otherwise illuminated the plight of the nation’s underserved kids.

There’s plenty of argument, however, about how the law seeks to achieve these goals.

Salt Lake Tribune:  Voucher confusion deepens

Confusion surrounds a November vote on the state’s private school voucher program despite actions taken Thursday by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and legislative leaders meant to clarify the situation. If anything, things got muddier.

Despite requests from the attorney general, education officials and some Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, Huntsman refuses to call a special session to sort out the mess. 

The referendum aims to repeal one voucher law, but another that accidentally re-enacted major portions of the first one would remain on the books. Some say that second law can be used to give parents state money to help defray the cost of private school tuition.

"Oh man, it’s such a mess," Senate President John Valentine said.

Los Angeles Times:  Schools could use funds better, study says

The Los Angeles school district gets more of its money into the classroom than most urban school systems, but doesn’t use those funds nearly as well as it could, according to a study commissioned by the district and the teachers union.

The results were released on the same day that Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. David L. Brewer unveiled broad plans to eliminate 500 positions, while refashioning the very bureaucracy that may be less bloated than widely believed.

In this more extensive review, researchers concluded that L.A. Unified receives less money than most other urban school districts, while putting 59% of its budget into the classroom.

Echoing other research, the Education Resource Strategies team said state and federal rules hamstring local reform, while adding costs and bureaucratic layers.

Washington Post:  Teachers lacking certification face dismissal

A D.C. public schools official has notified more than 300 teachers that they will be terminated next month if they do not have the proper credentials to remain in the classroom.

The teachers were told they "will be terminated from DCPS effective June 30," unless they notify the Office of Human Resources that they can produce a valid District teaching or service provider license, Johnnie Fairfax, the office’s acting director, wrote in a May 21 letter. If the teachers can verify that they are currently enrolled in a program and will complete the course work by Aug. 31, they will be granted an exception.

The numbers are far lower than last year, when the superintendent reported that about one-fourth of the teachers in the school system, or about 1,100, were not certified.

Charter-school limits ignite passions - Friends and foes of charter schools took to the streets Thursday as part of an escalating battle for state education dollars. Hundreds of charter-school students, parents, teachers and administrators gathered at Citizens’ Academy near University Circle to voice loud support for a budget bill approved by the Ohio House this month that rejected a proposed moratorium on new charters.

Despite mistakes, FCAT isn’t going away - Like it or not, high-stakes testing will remain a way of life in Florida — and across the nation. The blunder caused by human error in last year’s FCAT third-grade reading test — which was discovered only this week — and a history of other errors nationwide are not enough to persuade state leaders to toss the exams.

Voters’ voucher decision will be honored, Huntsman says - Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Thursday he and legislative leaders are putting together a letter pledging to honor whatever decision voters make about private school vouchers at the polls in November — even if Utahns reject the funding program. The letter, which Huntsman said may also be signed by Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, "will essentially state that whatever the vote is in November will be respected as a vote up or down on vouchers."

Voucher confusion deepens - Confusion surrounds a November vote on the state’s private school voucher program despite actions taken Thursday by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and legislative leaders meant to clarify the situation. If anything, things got muddier.

Keep school choice, Evans warns district - State Rep. Dwight Evans called the Philadelphia School District’s top official yesterday with a stern warning: Don’t eliminate or severely reduce funding for private groups managing 41 public schools, or else face a loss of state funding.

How to Fix No Child Left Behind - It’s countdown time in Philadelphia’s public schools. Just 21 days remain before the state reading and math tests in March, and the kids and faculty at James G. Blaine Elementary, an all-black, inner-city school that spans pre-K to eighth grade, have been drilling for much of the day.

District gives OK for online charter school - Overruling opposition from teachers, Antelope Valley Union High School District trustees have approved an online charter school. The 3-2 vote came on the condition that a suitable memorandum of understanding is developed that will detail how the school will be operated, trustees said.

Charter schools a growing threat to DPS - How do you fix a troubled school system? Critics and reformers say you replace it with one new school — or group of schools — at a time. The charter school movement that has already attracted tens of thousands of Detroit children is poised to systematically deplete the troubled Detroit Public Schools system — and soon.

Faculty at 2 more campuses discuss breakaway idea - Signaling deep discontent and a possible spreading revolt among the city’s public school teachers, faculty at two more Los Angeles high schools met this week with a leading charter school operator to discuss alliances aimed at breaking away from the school district.

Curtain to close on charter school - After a long conflict with the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Sacramento County Office of Education, leaders of the Visual and Performing Arts Charter school have decided to call it quits.

Charter school countersues CPS - Harmony Community School in Roselawn filed a countersuit against Cincinnati Public Schools alleging the district has improperly “flagged” some Harmony students, causing the charter school to lose state funding for those students. The countersuit is the latest salvo in a legal battle between Cincinnati Public and Harmony, which has 630 students.

Teachers Lacking Certification Face Dismissal - A D.C. public schools official has notified more than 300 teachers that they will be terminated next month if they do not have the proper credentials to remain in the classroom.

Family goes from killing fields to charter school land in PSL - Walking through orchards of Asian fruit trees, Rithy Nau looked at the progress of his mangoes and lychees, still too early in the year to be picked. Only a short unpaved road connects his 8-acre island of farmland to the surrounding city, buffered by a smattering of homes and undeveloped lots.

Cuffee named one of the best charter schools in country - The Paul Cuffee School has been named one of the best charter schools in the country by the Center for Education Reform, a national education policy and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Cuffee, a K-8 charter school built around a maritime theme, was of one of 53 honored during the National Charter School of the Year program held at the National Press Club last Wednesday.

Schools could use funds better, study says - The Los Angeles school district gets more of its money into the classroom than most urban school systems, but doesn’t use those funds nearly as well as it could, according to a study commissioned by the district and the teachers union. 

Los Angeles Times:  Broad gives charter school group a boost

In his continued effort to bring pressures to bear on the Los Angeles public school system, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad has committed more than $6 million to a high-performing charter school group to help it dramatically expand.

The $6.5-million grant to the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools from Broad’s education foundation, along with $3.5 million raised by Alliance board members, clears the way for the group to open 13 middle and high school campuses by 2010 in impoverished neighborhoods where traditional schools are foundering.

Broad’s gift to Alliance is the latest indication that he views the work of charters, and not the efforts of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa or the district’s Board of Education, as the best chance to reform the nation’s second-largest school system.

"If you don’t have mayoral control … what other options do we have?" he said. "The option is to get the best public schools you have to act as a catalyst to force the others to become better."

The State:  Bill puts limits on school choice

The S.C. Senate is poised for action on a bill that would allow students to apply to attend any public school in the state, regardless of where they live.

But students may not truly stand a chance of enrolling at the school of their choice. That’s because fast-growing school districts — including two in the Midlands — likely won’t have any space for them.

House bill H.3124 and proposed Senate amendments to it call for school districts to start admitting out-of-district students beginning in the 2009-10 school year. School districts also would be required to offer school choices to students already living within their own district boundaries starting in 2008.

The proposed S.C. plan sets some limits regarding how many out-of-district students may enroll in a school.

Washington Post:  One engineer’s pet project: an AP course

Leigh Abts knows high school students would love his profession, if they just had a chance to explore it.

That’s why Abts, an engineer and research professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, has created a model Advanced Placement course in engineering and led an effort to implement it at high schools nationwide.

Abts and a tight circle of engineers, university faculty and high school teachers will know soon if their efforts have paid off. Next month, the College Board, which runs the AP program, will decide whether an engineering class will be added to the curriculum.

Engineering could be introduced on the AP level through pre-AP classes, which would cater to students in eighth, ninth and 10th grades, Abts said.

Engineering could be ideal for students who learn by doing rather than by listening, and Abts has worked to promote AP engineering across the country, said fellow enthusiast Buzz Bartlett, executive director of advancement at the University of Maryland’s College of Education.