NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for the latest weekly report on education news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else, spiced with a dash of irreverence, from the nation’s leading voice in school reform.
NATIONAL COVERAGE
Charter schools offer scant edge over neighborhood schools: study (CER in the news)
Reuters, June 25, 2013
Charter schools across the United States have improved in recent years, but on average, they still offer little advantage over traditional public education, according to a new study released on Tuesday.
Charter Schools Receive a Passing Grade
Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2013
Students attending publicly funded, privately run charter schools posted slightly higher learning gains overall in reading than their peers in traditional public schools and about the same gains in math, but the results varied drastically by state, according to one of the most comprehensive studies of U.S. charter schools.
Charter Schools Are Improving, a Study Says
New York Times, June 25, 2013
An updated version of a widely cited study that found many students in charter schools were not performing as well as those in neighborhood public schools now shows that in a few states, charter schools are improving in some areas.
Charters not outperforming nation’s traditional public schools, report says
Washington Post, June 25, 2013
The nation’s public charter schools are growing more effective but most don’t produce better academic results when compared with traditional public schools, according to a report released Tuesday.
The solution to US public schools is not corporate America
Opinion
The Guardian, June 24, 2013
America’s K-12 schools are being hollowed out, dismantled and converted to private management. It’s the ultimate outsourcing of our children’s futures.
America’s mayors take lead on education reform
Politico, June 24, 2013
There’s been a sea change in the education landscape over the past two years, but you won’t see it if you’re looking toward D.C. Instead, look toward our nation’s mayors.
FROM THE STATES
CONNECTICUT
New legislation will put extra pressure on local school districts
West Hartford News, June 24, 2013
Local school districts have mixed reactions to new legislation that will affect how often they evaluate teachers and administrators.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. school system reduces truancy rate
Washington Post, June 24, 2013
Fewer students were chronically truant this year from the District’s traditional public schools, but absenteeism is still a rampant problem at many high schools, Chancellor Kaya Henderson told the D.C. Council Monday.
Pr. George’s should approve new charter school
Letter
Washington Post, June 24, 2013
As a parent of an incoming sixth-grade student at the newly formed College Park Academy (CPA), I was distressed to read [“Vote on Pr. George’s charter is shelved,” Metro, June 20] that one of the first actions taken by the reconfigured Prince George’s County Board of Education was to table a contract agreement with the charter school, which has already gone through approval processes.
Classroom observations to rate teachers are shifting focus to students
Washington Post, June 24, 2013
The new mandate in Virginia to make student achievement a significant part of teacher evaluations is bringing more than an infusion of test scores. It’s also changing the way classroom observations are conducted.
INDIANA
Funding issues threaten Indianapolis, Gary takeover schools
Indianapolis Star, June 24, 2013
The charter school organization hired to run Indianapolis’ Arlington High School after it was taken over by the state for poor test scores said Monday it might not be able to continue operating the school unless it receives extra aid from federal grants.
LOUISIANA
Charter school academic gains in Louisiana outpace conventional public schools, study finds
Times-Picayune, June 25, 2013
Louisiana charter school students are improving academically at a faster rate than their peers in conventional public schools, according to a major study from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University.
Principals get more control over teacher evaluations
Editorial
The Advertiser, June 25, 2013
An announcement last week by Superintendent of Education John White that principals would be given more authority in evaluating teachers may be a step in the right direction.
Louisiana school to pay Arkansas school to take students
KNOE, June 24, 2013
Louisiana officials plan to pay an Arkansas school to continue accepting Louisiana students.
MAINE
Process to create charter schools in Maine weak, ineffective
Column by Jeanne Allen
Kennebec Journal, June 24, 2013
On Jan. 17, 2001, the Maine Association of Charter Schools met in Bangor to discuss the possibility of creating charter schools here. It was another decade before the Maine Legislature passed a law to allow charter schools to serve students in need of more options.
Local districts shouldn’t bear burden of funding charter schools
Letter
Bangor Daily News, June 24, 2013
Communities have faced funding challenges in recent years as costs rise and state support at all levels shrink. Our local communities have been forced to make hard decisions.
MASSACHUSETTS
target=”_blank”>Ease the charter school choke hold
Opinion
Daily Hampshire Gazette, June 24, 2013
The Amherst school district has had to close a budget gap of $1.6 million for the elementary and regional secondary schools next year. Northampton schools are looking at educational cuts of more than $700,000.
MICHIGAN
Only 20% of Mich. students ready for college
Detroit News, June 24, 2013
Michigan’s high school juniors continue to improve their scores on the ACT college entrance exam and the Michigan Merit Exam, though some MME scores declined from the previous year, state education officials said Monday.
WayPoint Academy school board to keep their school open
Muskegon Chronicle, June 25, 2013
Emotions spilled over at a WayPoint Academy board meeting Monday afternoon where dozens of parents and students expressed anger and sadness over the closure of their charter school.
NEVADA
Nevada students in charter schools shortchanged on learning time, study shows
Las Vegas Sun, June 25, 2013
Nevada’s charter school students lose between six and seven months of learning each year compared with their traditional public school counterparts, according to a Stanford University study released Tuesday.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Excluding religious schools narrows reach of education tax credit
Concord Monitor, June 25, 2013
About 70 percent of scholarship applicants under the education tax credit law sought money for religious schools, and only a small portion of applicants were public school students looking to transfer to private schools.
N.H. NCLB Waiver Passed Over By Feds; State Says Acceptance Is Imminent
New Hampshire Public Radio, June 24, 213
The US department of education announced another round of waivers from the controversial federal education policy, No Child Left Behind, and once again New Hampshire’s application for a waiver has been passed over.
NEW JERSEY
New Jersey budget / Voucher plan dies
Editorial
Press of Atlantic City, June 25, 2013
Democratic legislative leaders did score at least one small victory in their budget “negotiations” with Gov. Chris Christie. The $32.9 billion budget, which lawmakers approved Monday, did not include Christie’s pilot school-voucher program.
NEW MEXICO
Eubank Elementary to get an academic boost
Albuquerque Journal, June 25, 2013
It’s not every day that a principal asks for a turnaround initiative at her own school. But that’s what Christy Sigmon did. Sigmon, who just finished her second year at the helm of Eubank Elementary School, went to associate superintendent Diane Kerschen and said she needed a boost turning around the struggling school.
Establishing a charter school worth trouble
Column
Albuquerque Journal, June 25, 2013
I am often asked by parents and teachers, “How do we start a charter school”? Although I have never started a charter school myself, I have observed a number of folks who have and here is my perspective on what it takes to successfully bring a new charter school to life….
NORTH CAROLINA
NC schools chief warns of teacher losses
Asheville Citizen-Times, June 25, 2013
North Carolina is losing ground in teacher pay and losing teachers to other states, state Schools Superintendent June Atkinson said Monday.
Ensuring the Best Form of School Accountability
Opinion
Carolina Journal, June 25, 2013
Few pieces of education legislation filed this year have been subject to more debate than House Bill 944: Opportunity Scholarship Act. The bipartisan bill would award private school vouchers of $4,200 to a relatively small number of low-income children.
OHIO
Districts double up on superintendents
Columbus Dispatch, June 25, 2013
Five Franklin County districts are getting new superintendents. In three of them — Dublin, Hilliard and Upper Arlington — school boards are paying two leaders at the same time.
PENNSYLVANIA
Reduced busing radius for private, charter schools could save districts money, Parkland officials say
Lehigh Valley Express-Times, June 25, 2013
Pennsylvania school districts are required by state law to provide transportation for students who live within their boundaries, but attend private or charter schools up to 10 miles outside them.
Lakeside’s grads overcame problems to get where they were
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 25, 2013
Lakeside is one of those alternative, last-chance schools. It opened in 1976 in Horsham Township at the request of the Montgomery County Juvenile Probation Department.
Poll: Voters would pay higher taxes to avert school cuts
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 25, 2013
Amid widespread concern over school-funding cuts, a majority of Pennsylvania voters would be willing to pay higher taxes to reverse them, a poll released Monday said.
TENNESSEE
More education in computer programming will put students on path to success, advocates say
The Tennessean, June 25, 2013
Children stare at computer screens, their faces tight with concentration, typing numbers, letters and symbols on their keyboards in a seemingly nonsensical pattern.
State board overhauls teacher pay
Murfreesboro Post, June 24, 2013
The Tennessee State Board of Education voted Friday to overhaul the state’s minimum payment requirements for public school teachers.
VIRGINIA
Moving quickly in Norfolk schools
Editorial
The Virginian-Pilot, June 25, 2013
Norfolk public schools’ need for drastic change has been clear for some time.
ONLINE LEARNING
Atlanta Public Schools Selects Blackboard as its First LMS
The Herald, June 24, 2013
Atlanta Public Schools has selected Blackboard Learn™ as its first district-wide learning management system (LMS) after a nine-month evaluation of leading commercial and open-source platforms. The district of 51,000 students will use Blackboard Learn to rapidly expand online classes offered to students and to align all class content with Common Core standards.
Oregon Connections Academy offers 10 tips for summer learning
Statesman Journal Blog, June 24, 2013
Oregon Connections Academy, a virtual school for students in grades K through 12, offered its list of the top 10 activities for exploring the arts this summer: