Education Reform Starts With Pension Reform
Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2010
This week children across the country are returning to the classroom, and with the new school year comes a renewed debate about the best way to challenge the culture of mediocrity that prevails in too many public schools.

States Test Out New Math
Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2010
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has used much of his $100 billion budget-almost twice what his recent predecessors had-to lure states into reshaping schools through programs such as Race to the Top and school transformations like the one Marshall is undergoing.

The Life-Changing Lottery
City Journal, September 7, 2010
“Please, please, please,” whispered the boy sitting to my left in the crowded auditorium, clenching his fists. Clearly too young for the sixth grade, he seemed to be praying for his brother, who sat nearby. If the brother’s name was called from the podium, he would begin sixth grade next year at Democracy Prep, a four-year-old Harlem charter school.

FROM THE STATES

California

Broke-and Building the Most Expensive School in U.S. History
Wall Street Journal, September 4, 2010
The district’s building spree has sparked outrage from charter schools, not least because they are getting only a tiny piece of the bond pie. California Charter School Association President Jed Wallace says a charter school can be built at a seventh of the cost of the Kennedy complex and a quarter of most L.A. schools.

Temecula Charter School Stresses Individual Needs
Press - Enterprise, CA, September 4, 2010
The Keegan Academy , a new charter school in Temecula, opened two weeks ago, but already the school is delivering on its mission to provide an individualized education for its students, parents say.

Colorado

New DPS Charter School For Girls Only
Denver Post, CO, September 6, 2010
About 120 sixth- and seventh-grade girls who enrolled in the Girls Athletic Leadership School now inhabit the third floor of Calvary Temple , near Cherry Creek mall. G.A.L.S. is the only single-gender public school in Colorado , aimed at empowering girls and providing them opportunities denied in a co-ed setting.

District of Columbia

How D.C. Schools Might Be Affected If Rhee Decides To Move On
Washington Post, DC, September 7, 2010
The scenario is familiar in the District and big cities across the country: An ambitious leader is appointed to reform schools. Policies and practices are upended, five-year plans unveiled, a flurry of initiatives launched with high hopes. After two or three years, political pressure from interests and constituencies unhappy with the changes forces the newcomer out.

Florida

25 Groups Seek Charter Schools
Tampa Tribune, FL, September 7, 2010
Twenty-five charter school applications - a record number - have been submitted for consideration to the Hillsborough County school district.

Racing to the Top: Now the Hard Part Begins For Unions, Educators
Orlando Sentinel, FL, September 5, 2010
Hashing out a merit-pay plan for teachers is the biggest challenge, as the state tries to meet federal deadlines.

Maine

Maine Gets Clear Education Message And Continues To Ignore It
Portland Press Herald, ME, September 7, 2010
When teachers, administrators and political leaders unite to plug their ears, there’s got to be an alternative.

Michigan

Nontraditional Schools Help Revive Kids Yearning To Learn
Detroit Free Press, MI, September 7, 2010
The school is Michigan ’s newest nontraditional school, seeking to make interests of the student the driving educational force, rather than a preset curriculum. Interest in these types of schools is increasing alongside interest in schools of choice and charter schools.

Minnesota

Governor’s Race and K-12 Reform
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN, September 6, 2010
Thinking ahead to a possible third round of funding next year, Minnesotans should evaluate the three leading candidates for governor through an education lens. Which of them has the best chance of building the consensus, political will and widespread support necessary to approve needed K-12 reforms?

New York

In a New Role, Teachers Move to Run Schools
New York Times, NY, September 7, 2010
As the doors opened on Thursday at Brick Avon Academy, they welcomed students not as novice teachers following orders from the central office, but as “teacher-leaders.”

North Carolina

Charter School For Gifted Kids Is Finally Home
Charlotte Observer, NC, September 7, 2010
The move was a decade in the making for the Scholars’ Academy, one of the top-scoring public schools in North Carolina . As a charter school, it receives government funding, but no separate funds to buy a building. In 2009, the school community of about 200 families raised $1.1 million as a down payment toward its $5 million building campaign.

Pennsylvania

School Voucher Breakout
Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2010
This is an encouraging season for education reform, and the latest development is a bipartisan political breakout on vouchers in the unlikely state of Pennsylvania.

As New Year Starts, High Hopes for Phila.’s Promise Academies
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, September 5, 2010
Ackerman is also keeping a close eye on seven other city schools being taken over by charters. But she takes personally the Promise Academies - overhauled district schools with new teaching staffs, longer days and years, and $7.2 million in extra funding.

West Virginia

House Called Roadblock To Education Reform
Charleston Daily Mail, WV, September 7, 2010
State Senate Education Committee Chairman Robert Plymale said the Senate has no difficulty passing education reform bills but “there’s a real problem trying to pass any reform in the House of Delegates.”

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Virtual Learning Academy Benefits Students With Special Circumstances
The Newark Advocate, NJ, September 7, 2010
The subject of students participating in virtual learning academies has come up lately, and whether or not these students are leaving the district. The simple answer is they are not.

Northeastern Launches Its Own Cyber Schooling Program
The York Dispatch, PA, September 6, 2010
This fall, the Northeastern School District joined the growing number of York County districts offering their own cyber program.

No Room In The Virtual Classroom
Sun Herald, LA, September 6, 2010
A state education official who helps coordinate a virtual on-line school says the program is so popular and in so much demand that all slots are now filled and no more applications are being accepted for now.

Online Teacher Prepares For Class
Gresham Outlook, OR, September 4, 2010
It’s that time of year when parents and students are rushing around, getting ready for back to school. Worrying about schedules and school supplies can be stressful. However, at Oregon Connections Academy (ORCA) there’s less anxiety because, instead of the student going to the classroom, the classroom comes to the student.