Not to belabor the point, but charter schools did not come out winners in the ‘Race to the Top.’ In fact, they were hardly a factor at all. They counted for next to nothing (a possible 40 out of 500 points could be awarded for “ensuring successful conditions for high-performing charter schools and other innovative schools“) and states without strong charter laws (Maryland, Hawaii) fared just as well as those with them (Florida, DC).

Advocates and the Department of Education say that 15 states raised caps and strengthened laws during the ‘Race’, thus causing the public - and policymakers - to think much of the hard work has been done.

Take a look at this list and decide for yourself whether such actions merit the rhetoric…

California: Eliminated their annual cap of 100 new schools per year, but have only ever approved between 70 and 90 charters a year. Their cap didn’t inhibit existing growth at all.

Connecticut: Eliminated enrollment restrictions only on high-performing charters, but left a cap on the number of schools allowed to operate and still limits enrollment in most schools.

Delaware: Simply allowed a moratorium on the creation of new charters to expire and did nothing to proactively help or promote charter schools. A new moratorium could be enacted at any time.

More “Tall Tales”

NATIONAL

Race to the Top Limps to the Finish Line
National Review Online, August 31, 2010
By serious reformers’ rankings, Colorado and Louisiana lead the states in education reform. So how did they lose out?

FROM THE STATES

Georgia

Good Schools Should Be A Civil Right
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, August 30, 2010
Her nod of affirmation was all I needed that day to know I was on the right track, along with the thousands of other charter leaders, teachers, parents, boards and students around the country. We all know that the public school system as it is now designed cannot be the answer for the growing needs of our diverse community.

Teacher Merit Pay
MyFox Atlanta, GA, August 30, 2010
Race to the Top funds could lead to a statewide system for evaluating Georgia teachers and some think that’s a first step toward merit pay.

Louisiana

Pastorek: Schools Should Stay in RSD
WVUE-TV, LA, August 30, 2010
State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek is now officially committing to keeping most - if not all - of the schools within the Recovery School District …at least for the next few years.

Maine

THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR: Cutler has Plan for Schools
Morning Sentinel, ME, August 31, 2010
Independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler said Monday he would lengthen the school year, allow charter schools, tie teacher pay to student performance and merge the university and community college systems to improve education in Maine.

Massachusetts

New Law Sets City For More Charters
Salem News, MA, August 30, 2010
Salem is experiencing an influx of new charter school proposals that stems, in part, from a new law impacting school districts with the lowest MCAS scores in the state.

Minnesota

Enrollment Up at Duluth’s Charter, Private Schools
Duluth News Tribune, MN, August 31, 2010
Some Duluth families appear to be looking for alternatives to the Duluth school district this fall, with enrollment up at charter and private schools and down in the traditional public schools.

New Oversight Law Worries Charter Schools
Minnesota Public Radio, MN, August 30, 2010
Some charter school leaders in Minnesota say a new law has them worried about their futures. The law was meant to strengthen oversight of charter school. But some advocates say the new rules are stifling, not encouraging, their work.

New Jersey

Education Fill-In Rochelle Robinson Hendricks Experienced in Charter Schools
Daily Record, NJ, August 31, 2010
While the Christie administration casts its net for a permanent replacement for Bret Schundler, fired last Friday in the Race to the Top application fallout, the education department is now being headed by a 23-year state employee who leads the division that includes charter schools, one of Christie’s top education priorities.

New Mexico

Faith in Charters
ABQ Journal, NM, August 31, 2010
As a teacher and parent, Lisa Keck has no illusions about charter schools as a magic bullet. She knows that teacher quality varies as much in charter schools as anywhere else and that Montessori of the Rio Grande, where she heads the parent association, did not make Adequate Yearly Progress last year under No Child Left Behind. But she feels great about her choice to send her children there.

New York

NY’s First All-Girls Charter High School Opens
Wall Street Journal, August 31, 2010
The $10 million Albany Leadership Charter High School for Girls has 150 students in ninth and 10th grades and 83 students on a waiting list. The school plans to add 11th and 12th grades over the next two years.

Pennsylvania

Judge Validates Charter Petition
Standard Speaker, PA, August 31, 2010
The court validation is key to securing a hearing before the state Charter Appeals Board, where supporters of the proposed Valley Academy hope the board’s May 2009 vote denying the charter could be overturned

South Carolina

Give Educational Choice To Parents
Sun News, SC, August 31, 2010
The most promising hope begins with a sound childhood education. That’s why so many parents are now saying the Republican candidate for governor has let them down. They’re disappointed that our candidate removed what is a key piece of the GOP’s official platform. Instead she now says parental choice of schools - the freedom to choose schools - is not her focus.

Virginia

Does Petersburg Need A Charter School?
NBC 12 Richmond, VA, August 30, 2010
The topic of charter schools is gaining momentum around Virginia . First Richmond successfully launched the Patrick Henry School of Arts and Sciences and now there are folks in Petersburg clamoring for a school of their own.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

More Local Students Going To School Online
KGTV San Diego, CA, August 30, 2010
Hundreds of San Diego-area students attended their first day of school Monday without entering a school or classroom.

The Viewpoint of a Virtual Teacher
The Oregonian, OR, August 30, 2010
It’s that time of year when parents and students are rushing around, getting ready to head back to school. Worrying about schedules and school supplies can be stressful. But at Oregon Connections Academy, there’s less anxiety because instead of students going to the classroom, the classroom comes to the students.

Charter Schools Finding Niches
Washington Times, DC, August 29, 2010
While many of the first-generation charter schools mimicked their public counterparts in structure and scope, many of the second-generation schools are tailor-made, according to subject matter or populations or moral goals.

Education Secretary Takes Reform Show On The Road
Washington Post, DC, August 29, 2010
Duncan faces a curious situation. In the past year and a half, he has dispensed tens of billions of dollars to sustain schools through fiscal crises and to fund ideas to improve.

FROM THE STATES

California

Grading Teachers
The Press-Enterprise, CA, August 29, 2010
California needs a better method of evaluating teachers than infrequent, pre-announced classroom visits by school principals. School districts should provide more comprehensive and valuable teacher assessments by including student test scores, as well as less objective measurements, in that process.

Georgia

Charter School Has Head Start Training The Kinds Of Workers Needed Today
The Times-Herald, GA, August 29, 2010
Coweta County seems to have a head start when it comes to training the kinds of workers the world needs right now, according to a recently released research paper by Manpower Inc.

Illinois

Ray of Hope for Catholic Schools?
Southtown Star, IL, August 30, 2010
The Archdiocese of Chicago is fighting an uphill battle to persuade parents to do what was once a given for many of the area’s Catholic families - send their children to parochial schools.

Indiana

State Education Chief’s Agenda Gets Good Grades
Indiana Business Journal, IN, August 28, 2010
Tony Bennett, the state’s superintendent of public instruction for nearly two years, deserves accolades for shoving education reform toward the top of Indiana’s agenda.

Louisiana

After the Deluge, A New Education System
Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2010
Five years ago yesterday, the levees broke. Hurricane Katrina flooded roughly 80% of this city, causing nearly $100 billion in damage. The storm forced us to rebuild our homes, workplaces and many of our institutions-including our failing public education system.

Massachusetts

Teachers Union A Booster, Not Barrier, On Federal Program
Boston Globe, MA, August 30, 2010
THE GLOBE once again trots out tired, inaccurate, and inflammatory anti-union rhetoric in an editorial about the state’s winning Race to the Top funding (”For Mass., reform bears fruit,” Aug. 26). Far from standing in the way, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union, supported the Race to the Top application and played a critical role in crafting it.

Missouri

An Opportunity to Make Things Right
Kansas City Star, MO, August 28, 2010
The public won’t tolerate another year of failure. A state takeover of the district would become more likely. The exodus to charter schools would accelerate, even though most charters are also posting low test scores. Those are high stakes indeed. The district has to make its year of change its best year.

Nevada

Candidates Spar on Education
Las Vegas Review - Journal, NV, August 30, 2010
Whether either man seeking to be the next governor of Nevada can really deliver meaningful education reform without spending more tax¬payer money still isn’t clear, even after their first debate on the subject Sunday evening.

New Jersey

House Calls Help Galloway Charter School Teachers Build Bonds
Press of Atlantic City, NJ, August 30, 2010
Home visits have been a requirement of the charter school since it opened in 2000, and they are an element school founder and director Deborah Nataloni believes is crucial to the school’s mission to offer individualized education.

New York

Handout With Strings
New York Post, NY, August 30, 2010
Let’s be honest: Handing Albany such a huge sum in exchange for promises and baby-step “reforms,” as Team Obama did, is a bit like giving an unemployed junkie cash for a fix, based on a vow to, maybe, peruse the want ads one day.

North Carolina

Effectiveness of Good Program Limited by Cap
Winston-Salem Journal, NC, August 28, 2010
You would think these would be good days for North Carolina charter schools. President Obama’s Race-to-the-Top program has sought to increase the number and quality of charter schools in the states and seeks to reward states that do so.

No Cash for Charters?
Carolina Weekly, NC, August 27, 2010
Charter schools such as Mint Hill’s Queen’s Grant and Socrates Academy in Matthews will likely not see any of the federal cash awarded to North Carolina this week. It’s a situation officials don’t expect to change.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Cash Crunch Keeping Virtual Classes In Check
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC, August 30, 2010
Parents are virtually beating the doors down to get their kids into the poorest school district in America . And it’s right here in the Palmetto State .

E-Schools Offers Flexibility, Backers Say
Springfield News Sun, OH, August 28, 2010
The e-schools are public charter schools that receive taxpayer dollars. They are operated by sponsors that might be a for-profit corporation, a school district or other educational entity.

Academy to Offer Online Instruction to Arizona Students
White Mountain Independent, AZ, August 29, 2010
The AZ 2020 Online Academy will offer a state of Arizona high school diploma to students ages 14-21 throughout the state of Arizona .

‘Virtual High School’ Filling Real Gaps For Schools
Press Herald, OR, August 30, 2010
The online academic program is gaining popularity in school districts across the state as administrators struggle to expand opportunities for students in anticipation of another reduction in state and federal aid for education.

The news is just breaking that Commissioner Bret Schundler has been asked to step down from his position after several missteps over New Jersey’s ‘Race to the Top’ application.

(You can get the back story here.)

We have been pleased to work with our good friend over the past several months to further Gov. Christie’s education agenda for the Garden State, and no doubt, this news will be perplexing to many reformers.

You can bet that Governor Christie will find a great substitute and we applaud the high standards to which he holds himself and his Administration; an attribute lacking in far too many public officials.

Race to the Top Itself Needs Some Reform
Washington Post, DC, August 27, 2010
WITH RACE TO THE TOP money now awarded, it is clear that some states that lost out were more deserving than some that won the much-coveted grants. Yet, overall, the program has been a success in driving school reform.

Did Race to the Top Help Or Hurt The Push For A Common Curriculum?
Stateline, August 25, 2010
Nowhere was the competition among states more fierce than in their efforts to adopt a common academic curriculum known as the “Common Core” standards. So far, 36 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the new standards. Many of them seemed motivated by the possibility that doing so would help their applications for the Race to the Top money.

Grading Teachers in Los Angeles
City Journal, August 27, 2010
Teacher evaluations yield absurdly positive results because they’re not tied to objective measures of performance. The current system relies on classroom observation, a thoroughly subjective measure. Tenure protections ensure that poorly rated teachers can’t be removed even when they receive poor performance reports. The result? Principals everywhere hand out positive evaluations to undeserving teachers.

FROM THE STATES

Alabama

Finishing Last in the Race
Gadsden Times, AL, August 26, 2010
Riley unsuccessfully lobbied during the last legislative session for legislation that would allow charter schools, so that facet obviously was missing from the state’s second application.

Connecticut

Children Deserve Real School Reform
Norwich Bulletin, CT, August 27, 2010
Just how committed is the state to providing students with the best educational opportunities available? It seems like a fair question to ask in light of Connecticut’s failing grade in the most recent round of Race to the Top funding.

Louisiana

Giant Step for N.O. Schools
Times Picayune, LA, August 27, 2010
The transformation of New Orleans public schools has been one of the brightest and most consequential developments post-Katrina. That’s why the Obama administration’s decision to fully pay for a citywide school construction plan is a momentous step for our recovery.

Necessity Is the Mother of Invention
Newsweek, August 26, 2010
After Katrina, the failing schools of New Orleans were turned over to privately run charters. Five years later, they’re on the mend.

Maryland

Race to the Top Will Bring Changes, No Cash
Frederick News Post, MD, August 27, 2010
Selection as a winner in the federal Race to the Top education reform initiative was good news for Maryland and not-so-good news for Frederick County Public Schools after declining to sign on in support of the state’s application.

Minnesota

Clarkfield Area Charter School Develops Road Map to Success
Granite Falls Advocate Tribune, MN, August 27, 2010
“Our strategic plan will provide a road map of what is to be accomplished within the next five years at CACS,” shared Kathy Koetter, director/ lead teacher at the Clarkfield Area Charter School.

Pennsylvania

33 Schools In The Philadelphia Region Will Share $58.7 Million In Federal Grants
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, August 27, 2010
Fifty-seven struggling Pennsylvania schools - most of them in Philadelphia - will share $101 million in federal grants over three years to boost student achievement.

Virginia

It Works
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, August 27, 2010
If you want proof that charter schools work miracles, look no further than Petersburg . For years, the city has been saddled with woefully underperforming schools. Consider this Times-Dispatch news report from May, 2008:

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Old-Fashioned Education
Washington Times, DC, August 27, 2010
In the United States , virtual education is growing at 30 percent annually in kindergarten-through-12th-grade schools, with an estimated 1.5 million students in online courses last year.

Virtual Schooling A Good Fit For This Family
Capital Times, WI, August 27, 2010
I have been a long-time supporter of public schools and a fierce advocate for involving parents as partners in education. Yet I also came to realize that bricks-and-mortar schools could only go so far toward individualized education.

Montana Digital Academy Aims To Equalize and Expand Educational Opportunities
The Missoulian, MT, August 26, 2010
That’s the day the Montana Digital Academy launches for the 500 students and 64 teachers who have signed on to meet in virtual classrooms.

Growing Number of Students Enrolling in Online Schools
KKTV 11 News, CO, August 26, 2010
In Colorado alone, more than 13,000 students attended an online school last year, which is up 12.5 percent from the previous year.

Nevada Virtual Academy Students Prepare to Head Back to School
Reuters, August 26, 2010

On Monday, August 30, Nevada Virtual Academy (NVVA) students will head back to school. But you won’t see the traditional buses or backpacks, instead these students will power up their computers and log on back to school from their own homes for the official start of the 2010-2011 school year.