Daily Headlines for March 31, 2011

Congress Goes to Bat for DC Students Most in Need
PR Newswire, March 30, 2011
In a true show of support for families and students in the District of Columbia , the US House of Representatives today voted to restore and expand the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP). The program provides scholarships for some of DC’s poorest families, allowing them to choose the school that best fits their children’s needs. The program was created in 2003, but was discontinued by the Obama Administration, even after years of demonstrated success by multiple measures.

Study Says Charter Network Has Financial Advantages Over Public Schools
New York Times, NY, March 31, 2011
Most charter schools receive less government money for each student, on average, than traditional public schools.

Education Reform Success That Obama Ignores
Washington Times, DC, March 30, 2011
As a mother of three who has spent more than a decade working alongside thousands of parents to improve education for children in the District of Columbia, I can’t help but cringe when the president tells moms and dads they need to fight for better schools and be more responsible.

Cheating on the Hard Work of School Reform
TIME blog, March 31, 2011
Cheating in school became education topic number one this week, except this time it wasn’t students cheating on tests - it was adults cheating for them. As part of a series, USA Today published an article strongly suggesting that teachers or administrators goosed student test score gains at an elementary and middle school in Washington, D.C.

FROM THE STATES

District of Columbia

House Approves D.C. School-Choice Bill, But Future Remains Cloudy
Washington Post, DC, March 30, 2011
The House approved a bill Wednesday to revive the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, even as the controversial school-choice measure faces an uncertain future.

Florida

Charter School Expansion Bill Passes First Test in Florida
St. Petersburg Times, FL, March 31, 2011
A bill to expand Florida’s charter school system sailed past its first hurdle Wednesday, gaining unanimous approval by a Senate committee.

Georgia

State Supreme Court Delays Decision On Charter Case
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, March 30, 2011
In a rare move, the Georgia Supreme Court decided Wednesday to delay handing down an opinion over who has the power to fund and open public charter schools.

Indiana

Indiana House OKs Using Tax Money to Pay for Private Schools
Evansville Courier & Press, IN, March 30, 2011
Indiana students who transfer from public schools to private schools would be able to use tax money to help pay their tuition under a vouchers program the state House of Representatives endorsed Wednesday night.

Maryland

Grasmick to Retire As Md. Schools Superintendent
Washington Post, DC, March 30, 2011
Maryland Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick announced Wednesday that she will retire at the end of June, ending two decades at the helm of a state school system that has won national recognition as an educational powerhouse.

Michigan

Detroit Considers 45 Charter Schools
Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2011
The state-appointed manager of Detroit Public Schools identified 45 schools in the struggling district that could be turned over to private charter operators in a bid to improve student performance.

Ohio

Kasich, D.C. School Reformer Make Their Case
Columbus Dispatch, OH, March 31, 2011
The same night that Senate Bill 5 reached his desk, Gov. John Kasich joined a woman famous for taking on teachers unions to show a film that blames America ’s public-school struggles on bad teachers.

Oklahoma

Former Florida Governor Talks About Education Reform
The Oklahoman, OK, March 31, 2011
Gov. Jeb Bush was touted as an expert on the forefront of school reform Wednesday, and he in turn complimented Oklahoma’s efforts to implement a reforms.

Tennessee

Charter School Bill Advances in TN Senate
The Tennessean, TN, March 31, 2011
Legislation that seeks to create more charter schools in Tennessee would hurt public schools, critics said as the proposal advanced in the Senate on Wednesday.

Wisconsin

State Proposals Could Lead To More Charter Schools
The Northwestern, WI, March 31, 2011
State proposals opening the door to new charter schools could put Oshkosh in a unique position for more expansion than most communities.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Cyber School Success Spreads
The Intelligencer, PA, March 31, 2011
Quakertown school district has been hosting presentations and consulting with administrators throughout Bucks and Montgomery counties. By all accounts, Quakertown School District’s cyber school is a success.

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Daily Headlines for March 30, 2011

School Founder Says Class Size Doesn’t Matter
National Public Radio, March 29, 2011
Small class size is thought to be a ticket to classroom success. Some states require schools, by law, to limit the number of students assigned to one teacher. But Eva Moskowitz, founder and chief executive of the Success Charter Network, argues that formula doesn’t guarantee a good education.

School Reform Means New Ideas, Tools, Not Just Spending Cuts
Washington Examiner, DC, March 29, 2011
Republicans should stick to their government-downsizing plan, but they need to embrace, in addition, the language of reform — technology-based reform. Better life through technology is the story of the last three centuries; the GOP needs to make that trend its friend.

Black and Hispanic Leaders Blast President Obama’s Opposition to D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program
PRNewswire, March 29, 2011
Statement from Kevin P. Chavous, Chairman of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, and Julio Fuentes, President of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options

FROM THE STATES

California

Hard Cap On Charter Schools Isn’t ‘Reform’
San Diego Union Tribune, CA, March 30, 2011
The annual battles in Sacramento over charter schools have eased in recent years. Charters continue to have some high-profile flops, but in general they’ve made headway in establishing their bona fides as a K-12 alternative, and the enthusiasm they generate among many parents and students is impossible to deny.

Victories for ‘Parent Trigger’
San Bernardino Sun, CA, March 29, 2011
School reform supporters are celebrating two recent victories for the Parent Empowerment Act, a 2010 law that gives parents of students in failing schools the power to petition for drastic changes.

District of Columbia

Henderson Asks Inspector General To Investigate Test Erasures
Washington Post, DC, March 30, 3011
Acting Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson asked the D.C. inspector general Tuesday to investigate reports that sharp gains in some standardized test scores may have been the result of cheating.

School Funding Puts Gray Under Fire
Washington Times, DC, March 29, 2011
As funding for D.C. students and schools hang in the balance on Capitol Hill and City Hall, school choice proponents are criticizing Mayor Vincent C. Gray for planning to renege on a promise to put charter school funding on par with traditional schools.

Illinois

Taking School To The Next Level
Chicago Tribune, IL, March 29, 2011
With more than $1.2 million in funding from the MacArthur Foundation and other philanthropic organizations, the public charter school to be called Chicago Quest is scheduled to open in September in a renovated school building at Ogden and Clybourn avenues on the edge of the old Cabrini-Green public housing development.

Indiana

Indiana GOP Pushes Ahead With Big Voucher Program
Associated Press, March 29, 2011
Indiana’s Republican leadership is pushing ahead with a proposal that would be the nation’s broadest use of school vouchers, allowing even middle-class families to use taxpayer money to send their kids to private schools.

Louisiana

Special-Needs Students Can Get Tuition Assistance Through State Program
Times Picayune, LA, March 29, 2011
Families in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes have until Friday to apply to a new tuition-assistance program that could help pay for disabled children to attend private school.

Charter Groups Get $2.3 Million
Times Picayune, LA, March 30, 2011
Three charter school groups have won a total of $2.3 million to help cover the cost of adding or taking over schools in the next year as the state continues the process of turning over traditionally run schools to independent nonprofits.

Maryland

Montgomery Board of Education Member Attacks Charter School Policy
Maryland Gazette, MD, March 30, 2011
In a repeat of last year, the Board of Education voted down two charter school applications, although it offered an olive branch of sorts - an extended deadline to apply again this year.

Ohio

School Reformer To Join Kasich At Film Screening
Columbus Dispatch, OH, March 30, 2011
Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he was going to show the movie in this state, and now he’s bringing one of its stars here as well.

Challenge and Choice
Columbus Dispatch, OH, March 29, 2011
For Ohio’s 612 school districts, the new state budget promises to provide a learning experience. Transformative change is coming as Gov. John Kasich’s budget pushes to expand charter-school offerings, quadruple the number of private-school vouchers and prompt efficiencies necessary to weather budget cuts.

Pennsylvania

Education Chief Defends Corbett Cuts
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 29, 2011
HARRISBURG - Facing a bipartisan barrage of criticism, the state’s education chief Tuesday defended Gov. Corbett’s proposal to slash $1 billion in aid to school districts, saying money doesn’t make better schools.

Rhode Island

Brady Resigns as Providence School Superintendent
Providence Journal, RI, March 30, 2011
The Capital City’s school system was pummeled Tuesday as Supt. Tom Brady announced his resignation and four more schools were designated among the state’s worst.

5 R.I. Schools Targeted For Intervention
Providence Journal, RI, March 30, 2011
Five schools in Providence will be targeted for intensive intervention because they have been failing their students for years, state education officials announced Tuesday.

Tennessee

Political Trap For Charters
Commercial Appeal, TN, March 30, 2011
Stung by City Hall’s funding holdout, MCS passes the pain along to financially vulnerable schools.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Bill Opens Door To More Virtual Charter Schools
Indianapolis Star, IN, March 30, 2011
Currently, there are 62 “bricks-and-mortar” charter schools in Indiana, with most of them located in Indianapolis , South Bend , Fort Wayne and Gary . Typically, brick and mortar charter schools are not in sparsely populated areas.

Digital Technologies Must Change Failed Public Education Model
Erie Times-News, PA, March 30, 2011
Only a break with the past and an embrace of the present will give us the public education system we all need and want — and our children deserve.

Virtual Charter School First for La.
Monroe News Star, LA, March 30, 2011
Connections Academy, one of two virtual public schools recently chartered to operate in the state is holding sessions around the state prior April 1, the beginning of its enrollment period for the 2011-12 school year.

Computer-Based Classes Help Students Graduate On Time
Beacon News, IL, March 30, 2011
A pilot program will start up this summer for East Aurora High School seniors who are just one class shy of graduating, with plans to expand this fall to more at-risk students and homebound students.

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Daily Headlines for March 29, 2011

Return of the One-Room Schoolhouse
American Spectator, March 29, 2011
While Detroit’s move is certainly driven by cost-cutting, the district is conceding to the reality that the school district model — with its expensive central bureaucracy, woeful inefficiency, and lengthy record of academic failure — no longer works either for children or taxpayers.

State-Union Battles Revive School-Choice Hope
Washington Times, DC, March 28, 2011
After a major loss in their battle with Wisconsin taxpayers over collective bargaining powers, teachers unions are reeling. States are caught in a vicious cycle in which the private sector is shrinking while public liabilities grow and politicians have finally realized they must rein in spending and restore economic sanity to their budgets - even if that means pushing back against union influence.

A Second Chance For Students
Washington Times, DC, March 28, 2011
Imagine you could buy a car at only one dealership, shop for clothes at only one outlet, buy food at only one grocery store. What kind of service would you expect?

FROM THE STATES

District of Columbia

D.C. to Review High Rates of Erasures on School Tests
USA Today, March 29, 2011
The District of Columbia’s Board of Education will hold a hearing next week on irregularities in public school test scores, even as former chancellor Michelle Rhee defended the integrity of test results that showed unusual “erasure rates” from wrong answers to right.

Georgia

Charter Schools Awaiting Court Ruling Consider Options
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, March 28, 2011
Ivy Preparatory Academy held a lottery Saturday to select a new class of sixth graders even as a pending state Supreme Court case threatens to shut down the school.

Indiana

House Resumes Work After 5-Week Standoff
Journal and Courier, IN, March 28, 2011
A five-week standoff, one of the longest in Indiana’s and the nation’s legislative history, ended Monday after Republicans made some final changes to a bill that affects labor union jobs and wages.

Maine

How to Attract More-Qualified Teachers? Not Tenure, But Higher Pay
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 29, 2011
The reason half of all teachers come from the bottom third of college classes is a matter of comparative rewards.

Maryland

Montgomery County Again Shoots Down Charter Schools
Washington Post, DC, March 29, 2011
Montgomery County’s school board again swatted down the applications for what would be the county’s first two charter schools on Monday night.

Michigan

DPS Board, Robert Bobb Meet To Discuss Roles, Powers
Detroit Free Press, MI, March 29, 2011
The elected school board in Detroit has no legal authority or powers but does not expect to be dismissed by state appointee Robert Bobb, the board president said tonight.

Minnesota

Ratings Could End Tenure For Minnesota’s Teachers
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN, March 28, 2011
A radical new approach to evaluating teachers could end their tenure protections and tie job ratings to student test scores, changing the face of education in Minnesota.

North Carolina

School Fails Budget Test
Wall Street Journal, March 29, 2011
School districts across the country face tough financial choices, but no one here ever thought a budget crunch would claim the town’s top-flight elementary school.

Change: Good and Hard
News & Observer, NC, March 29, 2011
After two months of the 2011 legislative session, the trend is pretty clear. Republicans who won the 2010 legislative elections and control the General Assembly for the first time since the 19th century are not just having their way on plans to cut the 2011-12 budget and trim state government. They’re also making up for lost time on dozens of issues that have been nagging at them for years, especially some hot-button issues.

Pennsylvania

Proposed Pennsylvania Law Would Give Local School Boards More Freedom To Award Charters
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 29, 2011
Legislation introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate would give school districts more freedom to convert public schools to charters and set up a new state oversight board. The proposal would also tighten ethics and financial oversight regulations for charter school management.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Online School Session Began Monday
The Advocate, LA, March 28, 2011
Enrollment is about to begin for Louisiana’s first online charter school for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, which could radically change the way children are educated.

New Online High School Free to Ga. Residents
Augusta Chronicle, GA, March 28, 2011
Provost Academy, a free public online high school, announced in a news release today that it is opening its virtual doors to Georgia students, starting this August.

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Daily Headlines for March 23, 2011

Bill Gates Seeks Formula for Better Teachers
Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2011
Bill Gates shook up the battle against AIDS in Africa by applying results-oriented business metrics to the effort. Now, he is trying to do the same in the tricky world of evaluating and compensating teachers.

Ron Bancroft: End to Teacher Tenure Essential To School Reform
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 22, 2011
As long as it’s linked to fair evaluations, the removal of tenure will improve learning.

FROM THE STATES

District of Columbia

Will a BASIS Charter School Work in D.C.?
Washington Post, DC, March 21, 2011
For Washington suburbanites who think their local high school is straining from the weight of Advanced Placement courses and other academic demands, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Florida

Florida Education Secretary Said He’ll Step Down This Year
Miami Herald, FL, March 21, 2011
Florida’s top education official announced his resignation Monday, fueling speculation over who will replace him.

Georgia

Two Groups Rally For School Choice
Athens Banner- Herald, GA, March 22, 2011
The state Capitol was full of the chatter of children and their parents Monday as they buttonholed legislators about various types of school choices, from public charter schools to private schools funded by tax credit-enhanced scholarships.

Indiana

All Students ‘My Public,’ Schools Chief Says
The Tribune Star, IN, March 22, 2011
It wasn’t just the party faithful attending Tony Bennett’s talk before the Clay County Republican Club Monday night.

Massachusetts

Too Much Jargon, Too Few Fixes
Boston Globe, MA, March 22, 2011
THE TEACHER evaluation process in Massachusetts is broken. Principals conduct drive-by classroom observations of teachers who know there will be no consequences for poor performance and no rewards for excellence. Federal officials are fed up.

New Jersey

Furor in N.J. Over Charter School Space
Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2011
The union representing Newark’s teachers is rallying its members to what is expected to be a raucous meeting Tuesday night over whether charter schools should share space with traditional public schools.

A Voucher for Chris Cerf in New Jersey
Star-Ledger, NJ, March 22, 2011
Chris Cerf has been nominated as commissioner of education in New Jersey . He has a long and illustrious background in education reform - more than a decade at Edison Schools Inc. and at the New York City Department of Education combined - and, not surprisingly, he has stepped on a few toes along the way.

Oregon

Oregon Senate Unanimously Approves Changes To Charter School Law
The Oregonian, OR, March 22, 2011
The Oregon Senate unanimously passed a bill to modify the Oregon charter school law. The bill would change the appeals process and some application time lines but remains silent on controversial issues such as funding, transportation and what should be required in the application.

Texas

Let’s Give Charters Access To Funds
Houston Chronicle, TX, March 21, 2011
All around us, we hear we must do more with less. It’s a common theme from how we manage our personal budgets to how our state legislators must cope with our enormous budget shortfall this session. Is it really possible to meet this daunting challenge?

Wisconsin

Poll finds Support In Milwaukee For Voucher Expansion
The Journal Sentinel, WI, March 21, 2011
A majority of Milwaukee residents favor Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to expand the city’s voucher program by removing family income restrictions on participants, according to the results of a poll commissioned by School Choice Wisconsin, a voucher-advocacy group.

Republican Bill Calls For A Board Of Political Appointees To Authorize Charter Schools
Capital Times, WI, March 22, 2011
Under a Republican-sponsored bill, nine political appointees would get to authorize public charter schools while local school districts foot the bill. The creation of this state-wide charter school authorizing board - with members appointed by the governor and the leaders of the state Senate and Assembly - is a key provision of legislation authored by Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills that will get a hearing on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the Capitol before the Senate Education Committee.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Online schools seek funding in Georgia
Augusta Chronicle, GA, March 21, 2011
The Capitol was full of the chatter of children and their parents as groups roamed the halls Monday to buttonhole legislators about various types of school choices, from public charter schools to private schools funded by tax-credit-enhanced scholarships.

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Fast Tracking the Status Quo

clock(Originally posted to the National Journal’s Education Experts blog.)

Perhaps it’s not so unusual that the same person who fought to get a waiver from NCLB’s tutoring requirement is the same person who is pushing a fast track for making the bill’s requirements more flexible. When some of Arne Duncan’s Chicago schools were failing kids, he asked then Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings for a waiver from the requirement that students be permitted to leave and take their tutoring money elsewhere. Arne Duncan thought he could do tutoring better than the private sector, so he sought to deliver tutoring rather than send the money out of house. There’s no data on whether it worked, and some in Chicago say not much changed during that period of time following NCLB, other than a heightened awareness of the problem and a tenacity by Duncan to pursue some modest, external reforms (charters, some contracting). Once a school superintendent, always a school superintendent. And while Duncan is not the issue, his brand of reform puts Superintendents and school boards in the driver’s seat. Problem is, last time they drove that car, it kept getting banged up.

But it was NCLB’s teeth - the threat of loss of money or worse - that got people motivated. The hard, fast consequences of accountability, and the spotlight on data, however challenged by differing vantage points, prevented the country from hiding the shameful state of education in our schools, from the world or ourselves…

Read the entire post HERE.

(*Image courtesy of yellowcloud)

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