March 22, 2000 

*       Kudos to the Association of Educators in Private Practice (AEPP) which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. AEPP is the organization that serves as an advocate for educators who also see themselves as business people, providing much needed options for education and holding themselves accountable for their entrepreneurial work. It's one of the most vibrant and enterprising reform-minded groups around. If you want to know what it’s all about, check out www.aepp.org.

*       Speaking of teachers, the organization A+PEL (Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana) advocates a business-like approach to teacher pay. Says A+PEL’s director and professional educator Polly Broussard, "Politicians should ponder the question of how to pay teachers in the same way other professionals are paid: by a wage market tied to competencies and demand. Architects, lawyers, nurses, engineers choose among several options to practice their profession. Other professionals can be employed by organizations, they can work with other colleagues in private practice or they can remain independent and work for themselves in an individual practice... Schoolteachers do not have any of these options unless they are willing to leave the classroom... Why not contract for instruction in a similar way? Teaching must become competitive with other professional careers."

*       The approved conversion of the Washington, DC-based school Paul Junior High from a traditional to a charter school has drawn ire, not only from the superintendent and company, but now four of the Board of Trustees for D.C. Public Schools have resigned over the Control Board’s support of the conversion. The former trustees contend that they can’t work in a system where decisions are made that they feel is at odds with what they are trying to do. What was that saying?... Pride goeth before the fall....

        With so much confusion in DC, it's no surprise that the quality of DC’s charter school application for federal start up funds is the worst among all the applications the U.S. Department of Education received, according to the DC Public Charter School Coalition. The quality may have had an impact on how much the DC charters receive.

*       And among the public school leaders who are making a real difference, the principal of an inner city Southern California school which stands out among its peers is being duly recognized. Nancy Ichinaga of Bennett-Kew Elementary in Inglewood was appointed to the California State Board of Education. Ichinaga took control of the school and instituted direct instructional practices. As a result, this year Bennett-Kew third graders averaged in the 80th percentile in math on the Stanford 9.

*       Last week's circuit court decision in Florida is getting a lot of news, especially with NEA president Bob Chase's proclamation that the decision "drives a stake in the heart" of the voucher movement. Not so, says national civil rights leader Howard Fuller, who says to Chase, "The voucher movement hasn't skipped a beat. It is strong.... The issue remains clear, it is unacceptable to deny low-income parents, mostly of color, the power to choose where their children attend school." [Link to full statement.]

*       Finally, beginning this week, PBS will air a documentary on school choice: "Education – A Public Right Gone Wrong." The program provides a discussion on major school choice options available to many American parents – charter schools, private scholarships and vouchers – and it offers comments from policy experts and community leaders from both sides of the debate. Check your local listings for times and availability.

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