Daily Headlines for December 26, 2012
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FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
California Fails To Win Waivers From Restrictive No Child Left Behind Education Law
Marin Independent-Journal, CA, December 25, 2012
Signaling that California again is marching to its own drum — perhaps trailing the parade — the federal government has denied the state’s request for a waiver from a key U.S. education law, thus assuring that schools will have to keep striving to meet what’s generally accepted as unachievable goals, then be punished for missing them.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Charters Should Accommodate Students Of Closing DCPS Schools
The Washington Examiner, DC, December 25, 2012
A task force of city and school leaders is recommending that District charter schools reserve seats next year for students who attend neighboring DC Public Schools campuses that have been recommended for closure.
FLORIDA
Florida Schools To Adopt Common Core Standards
News Chief, FL, December 26, 2012
Common Core State Standards, which are designed to help American children compete with their peers around the world, are getting mostly high marks from Florida’s teachers, administrators and politicians alike. Forty-five states, the District of Columbia and three territories are adopting the standards, which cover kindergarten through high school.
GEORGIA
As Legislature Gets Ready To Convene, Education Leaders Offer Their Wish List.
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, December 26, 2012
Whenever the General Assembly makes decisions affecting schools, educators complain their views are overlooked.
INDIANA
Charter Schools Embrace Change
Evansville Courier Press, IN, December 25, 2012
The opportunity to make quick changes is an advantage charter schools have over traditional public schools, according to Evansville’s two charter school executive directors.
A Sensible Ruling For Public Schools
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN, December 26, 2012
Allen Superior Court Judge Nancy Boyer restored some common sense to the state’s misguided and conflicting policy affecting how traditional public school districts treat closed school buildings. The policy had conflicted with other state laws, was bad for taxpayers and – in at least one case involving East Allen County Schools – had the opposite effect of its goal of broadening school choice for parents.
IOWA
Failure To Reform Means No NCLB Waiver For State
Press-Citizen, IA, December 26, 2012
Earlier this year, the Press-Citizen Editorial Board identified 10 issues to watch in 2012. Here is one in a series of editorials analyzing how those issues look nearly 12 months later.
MICHIGAN
Michigan On Right Track With Education
Detroit News, MI, December 26, 2012
Much like last year, education proved a topic of debate and action throughout 2012 — with the Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder moving forward with their education agenda for Michigan.
Fewer Students Means More Money Woes For State’s School Districts
Detroit Free Press, MI, December 26, 2012
Swift declines in school enrollment across metro Detroit are increasingly driving school districts into debt and forcing administrators to sharpen their knives to make the cuts needed to avoid greater financial disaster — or a state takeover.
MINNESOTA
Bakk Wants Education Funding Overhaul
Duluth News Tribune, MN, December 26, 2012
A key Northland lawmaker is calling for changes in education funding that would make Minnesota school districts less reliant on local property taxes. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said he thinks the current referendum system has driven up property taxes and created unequal funding for schools across the state.
MISSISSIPPI
State Board Adopts Charter School Principles
Sun Herald, MS, December 25, 2012
The state Board of Education believes only it should be allowed to authorize charter schools in low-performing (D and F) school districts.
MISSOURI
Hiring Practices In Fox Schools Upset Some Residents, Spark Interest In Union
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, December 26, 2012
Anger about recent hires in the Fox School District, including a school board member’s daughter-in-law who worked at McDonald’s and now heads the district’s food program, has prompted a union to push for broader employee representation.
NEW JERSEY
Cory Booker Releases Secret Emails On $100M Facebook Gift To Newark Schools
Star-Ledger, NJ, December 25, 2012
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, gave $100 million to the Newark public schools in hopes of encouraging contributions as small as $5 and $10 from everyday people, but that never happened.
NEW MEXICO
Replication Reforms Education
Albuquerque Journal, NM, December 25, 2012
One of the guiding tenets behind charter schools as education reformers has to do with the concept of replication. Replication means taking a model or program that has proven to be successful in a charter school, copying that model or program, and putting it back into the traditional schools.
NEW YORK
Catholic Schools Open Doors to Storm-Tossed Students
New York Times, NY, December 26, 2012
Over 200 public school students from the Rockaways were absorbed by Roman Catholic schools in Brooklyn after the storm, offering some semblance of normalcy and, so far, free tuition.
Residency Of Troy Charter School Students Questioned
Troy Record, NY, December 25, 2012
School District officials believe they have been overpaying for alleged district students that attend private, parochial and charter schools in the area. Due to this, an agreement has been extended to a firm to look into residency issues.
OHIO
Charter School On Move – Again
Cincinnati Inquirer, OH, December 26, 2012
A troubled charter school that was launched then offloaded by the Cincinnati Public Schools district a decade ago has moved back into a CPS-owned building.
Cooked Books
Columbus Dispatch, OH, December 26, 2012
For months, Columbus City Schools Superintendent Gene Harris and Board of Education members have said they want to get to the bottom of the allegations that employees rigged data to cheat on state performance evaluations.
PENNSYLVANIA
City Student Overcomes The Odds On His Way To College
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, December 25, 2012
Doors that Manuel Rosado never knew existed are now opening to him.
Manny – who dropped out of high school at 14 but now is a high-achieving student on track to be valedictorian of his class at Olney ASPIRA Charter School – was profiled in The Inquirer last month.
SOUTH CAROLINA
State Superintendent, Teachers Feud Over Evaluation Plan
The Herald, SC, December 25, 2012
State education superintendent Mick Zais and educators are fighting bitterly over a proposal to give letter grades to teachers based, in part, on how students improve on standardized testing.
TEXAS
UT, A&M Piloting Early High School Graduation Program
American Statesman, TX, December 25, 2012
Under a program thought to be the first of its kind in the nation, some of the highest-achieving students at Texas high schools will be able to graduate a year early with a very good chance of admission to the state’s two public flagship universities.
Editorial: Texan Of The Year Finalist YES Prep
Dallas Morning News, TX, December 25, 2012
Imagine this: A high school where every student earning a diploma has been admitted into a four-year college. You may think that would be possible only at some fancy prep school, but the students at Houston’s YES Prep high schools have proven that ZIP code is not destiny.
Choice Program Is A Suicide Pact For Schools
San Antonio, TX, December 26, 2012
Over and above the merits or demerits of “school choice,” Texas’ euphemism for “let’s abandon public schools,” there is a certain disconnect in purely fiscal terms.
ONLINE LEARNING
Really Alternative Schools Rising
New York Post, NY, December 26, 2012
Regardless, change is coming in the K-12 world. It’s a knowledge industry, after all — and how many knowledge industries are the same in the 21st century as they were in the 19th?
Blended Learning Helps Students Prepare For The Real World, Educators Say
Streetsboro Gateway News, OH, December 26, 2012
Online learning is here to stay. So says Maureen Haska, the instructional technology specialist for Streetsboro City Schools
Virtual Schools: A Day In The Life
Contra Costa Times, CA, December 24, 2012
After hearing about virtual public schools, many may be left with questions. Do children still get recess? What about homework?