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.