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NATIONAL COVERAGE
Charting New Frontiers for Charter Schools
By Jeanne Allen
Huffington Post, July 3, 2013
As leaders of the charter school movement gather in Washington, D.C. this week for their annual meeting, they do so in a decidedly mixed frame of mind. Charles Dickens’ famous words in A Tale of Two Cities — “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” — could never be more appropriate for this sector of American K-12 education.
Report notes shortage of high-quality STEM teachers
Desert News, July 5, 2013
While American colleges and universities train twice as many teachers overall as there are open positions, a new report by the National Council on Teacher Quality says only a small number are qualified to teach math or science.
Brown named Governor of the Year by National Education Association
Daily Californian, July 7 2013
Gov. Jerry Brown was named Education Governor of the Year by the National Education Association, a nationwide labor union that represents public school teachers and other education staff, on Thursday.
Teachers union: The good news is we are losing fewer members than expected
Washington Examiner, July 3, 20013
National Education Association Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle told the assembled delegates at the union’s annual assembly in Atlanta this week what passes for good news in the organized labor movement these days.
STATE COVERAGE
ALABAMA
100 percent proficiency is goal of state
Column
Tuscaloosa News, July 8, 2013
On June 21, the United States Department of Education approved Alabama’s Plan 2020 as our state-specific plan for assessing our students’ readiness for college, work and adulthood in the 21st century.
ARKANSAS
9 groups file charter-school letters in Arkansas
Northwest Arkansas News, July 6, 2013
Nine organizations have notified the Arkansas Department of Education of their tentative plans to open new charter school campuses in 2014.
ARIZONA
Other half of charter-school funding story
Opinion
Arizona Republic, July 7, 2013
Let’s get the facts straight. Public charter-school students are underfunded on average, $1,578 per pupil, when compared with their district peers. That amount is verified by Arizona’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee, a bipartisan fiscal oversight committee.
CALIFORNIA
Charter school waitlists grow steadily
Lodi News-Sentinel, July 5, 2013
The names of thousands of students whose families want them to attend charter schools remain on waiting lists throughout San Joaquin County.
Centinela Valley high school district to open two charter schools for wayward adults
Daily Breeze, July 7, 2013
The Centinela Valley Union High School District, serving Hawthorne, Lennox and Lawndale, is opening two charter schools that will cater to adults — one for inmates of the Los Angeles County jail system and the other for people who have dropped out of high school.
Don Brann’s biggest challenge yet: saving Inglewood schools
Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2013
The former administrator has revitalized struggling school districts before, but he has never faced the massive financial burdens of Inglewood Unified.
COLORADO
Denver charter schools show strong improvement in math, reading
Denver Post, July 5, 2013
Slow and steady sometimes wins the race. But not in the national scheme of charter school improvement, and Denver charter schools are playing the hare.
CONNECTICUT
Charter School Group Gears Up To Lower Suspension Rate
The Hartford Courant, July 6, 2013
Six-year-old Christopher Tate is fidgeting in his chair and looking around — but not at the teacher — when Brandon Clark, a behavior interventionist, sidles up to him at Achievement First Bridgeport Academy.
Schools Chief in Bridgeport Is Under Fire
Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2013
Paul Vallas, schools superintendent in Connecticut’s largest city, is no stranger to confrontation. He faced off with critics of his policies while leading high-profile districts such as Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C.’s charter schools get a gold star
Editorial
Washington Post, July 7, 2013
Students who attend charter schools in the District gained an extra 72 days in reading and an additional 101 days in math over the course of a year compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools.
FLORIDA
Charter school enrollment expected to grow again in Pinellas County
Tampa Bay Times, July 6, 2013
As enrollment in traditional public schools remains flat, charter schools are becoming an increasingly popular choice in Pinellas County, according to school district projections for the coming academic year.
Palm Beach County School District rates every teacher as effective
Sun Sentinel, July 6, 2013
There were no bad teachers in the Palm Beach County School District last year, at least according to their evaluations.
GEORGIA
New education lobby aims to change political dynamic in Ga.
Rome News-Tribune, July 8, 2013
A new organization aims to change the dynamics of Georgia’s education politics, StudentsFirst, led by the charismatic former head of the District of Columbia schools.
IDAHO
Making a Case for Idaho Core Standards
Twin Falls Times-News, July 7, 2013
American public education seems to be riding a see-saw of political experimentation, rocking from one administration to the next in the name of “reform.”
ILLINOIS
More than 1 million respond to first statewide education survey
Chicago Tribune, July 8, 2013
More than 1.1 million students, teachers and parents filled out Illinois’ first statewide education survey, offering an unprecedented peek into thousands of classrooms.
Rahm Emanuel’s battle with teachers union souring his political future
Washington Examiner, July 7, 2013
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been locked in an escalating grudge match with the Chicago Teachers Union over his efforts to close and consolidate several underutilized schools in the city.
Anxious CPS parents, push for change
Editorial
Chicago Tribune, July 8, 2013
Chicago’s schools have closed for the summer, but many principals aren’t feeling any relief. They’re grappling with huge budget cuts because the system faces a $1 billion deficit. Parents and teachers are anxious and angry about what they’ll find when schools open in the fall.
LOUISIANA
Where is state voucher money actually going?
Op-Ed
Times-Picayune, July 7, 2013
Would you pay $6,300 in tuition to send your child to a private school with uncertified teachers, insufficient computers and no proper classrooms, and at which the “teaching” occurred mostly by plopping students in front of televisions to watch lessons on DVDs? Of course you wouldn’t. But the Louisiana Department of Education would.
New Living Word vouchers were a waste of Louisiana taxpayers’ education dollars
Editorial
Times-Picayune, July 5, 2013
The Louisiana Department of Education should never have approved New Living Word School in Ruston to take voucher students transferring from public schools.
A workable balance for teacher evaluation?
Editorial
American Press, July 5, 2013
The state Department of Education continues to seek common ground between classroom teachers, their union leaders and education reformers on the prickly subject of teacher evaluation.
New Orleans school officials worry about families who miss Monday registration deadline
Times-Picayune, July 4, 2013
As the deadline looms for new students to register at the five Orleans Parish School Board conventional schools, the Recovery School District and several community groups are angry about what they consider a nasty surprise sprung on families at the last minute.
MINNESOTA
Encouraging but limited view of charter public school progress
Opinion
Mille Lacs County Times, July 4, 2013
Families and educators may be interested in a new national report about charter and district public schools
MISSISSIPPI
Launching charter school in Miss. a grueling process
Clarion Ledger, July 6, 2013
The first public charter school in Mississippi could open in less than two years.
District money follows students to charter schools
Clarion Ledger, July 6, 2013
When public charter schools open in Mississippi, most of the per-pupil state and federal funding from the local school district will walk in the door with the student.
MISSOURI
Rural Schools talk local control, evaluations
Missouri Times, July 5, 2013
Rural school districts across the state are lamenting what they see as a loss of local control of their processes and are continuing to search for the best way to evaluate teachers and school administrators.
NEVADA
System to track new teacher performance is long overdue
Editorial
Reno Gazette-Journal, July 7, 2013
A recently issued report found colleges in Nevada and across the nation lack programs needed to graduate teachers ready to instruct students in reading, math and science at the level needed to compete in the global economy. Rebuttals and arguments aside, this is worthy of broad discussion and action.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Four new charter schools seek approval
Concord Monitor, July 5, 2013
Four new charter schools will seek approval from the state Board of Education this month after nearly a year of waiting during a moratorium.
NCLB waiver good news in NH
Editorial
Nashua Telegraph, July 7, 2013
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was born of the best bipartisan intentions to improve public education in America by requiring schools to reach measurable levels of proficiency.
NEW JERSEY
Cost of Catholic high schools driving students to public schools
Press of Atlantic City, July 4, 2013
Twenty-two eighth-graders graduated from St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School in Mays Landing in June, but only 15 will go on to a Catholic high school. The rest will attend their local public high school or the county vocational school.
NEW YORK
Botched effort to evaluate Brown just the latest failure for School Board
Opinion
Buffalo News, July 5, 2013
It’s impossible to know if the rating given to Buffalo School Superintendent Pamela C. Brown is legitimate or not. The School Board that conducted the evaluation of her first year on the job messed it up so badly as to make its favorable rating all but meaningless.
A New Education Mayor
Editorial
New York Times, July 7, 2013
The next mayor of New York City will assume control of the country’s largest school system at an especially challenging moment. That person will oversee installation of the rigorous new Common Core learning standards.
Charter Schools and Their Enemies
City Journal, July 7, 2013
Among the many educational reforms that New York mayor Michael Bloomberg adopted or expanded, charter schools—public schools that enjoy autonomy from many district restrictions, such as the salary schedule for teachers and the length of the school day—are perhaps the biggest success story.
NORTH CAROLINA
New teachers arrive on charter school campus
Daily Southerner, July 4, 2013
The expansion of North East Carolina Prep School (NECP) is bringing new faces to Edgecombe County. The charter school’s new teachers arrived on campus this week and began training for the upcoming school year.
Bill Changes Charter School Expansion
WUNC, July 5, 2013
Charter schools in North Carolina may soon be able to expand without getting approval from the State Board of Education.
OHIO
Reading scores at many local schools miss new 3rd-grade mark
Columbus Dispatch, July 5, 2013
As many as one-fifth of the children who just completed third grade in Columbus City Schools would be facing a return to that grade this fall if Ohio’s “third-grade reading guarantee” were in full effect, an analysis reveals.
Cleveland school district plans staff changes, training and new approaches for 13 ‘Investment Schools’
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH
July 5, 2013
The Cleveland school district’s improvement plan for 13 schools this upcoming school year will bring major changes for some and smaller, but substantial, ones for others.
White Hat Management’s Ohio charter schools in the midst of upheaval
Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 7, 2013
David Brennan’s White Hat Management has been the most powerful and influential of Ohio’s charter school operators since state money started flowing to the privately run public schools 15 years ago.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pa. charter students’ skills fall far short, study reveals
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 7, 2013
Nationally, charter school students surpass gains made on standardized tests by students at traditional public schools but, on average, Pennsylvania’s charter students fall behind their public school peers, according to a recent study of charter schools by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University.
Changing Skyline: Bolstering school for the neighborhood
Column
Philadelphia Inquirer, July 5, 2013
The problem is, you like living in the city: There’s the diverse mix of neighbors; the summer block party; the sleek, new cafe; the great playground; the riverfront trail; the museums. It’s nice being able to walk to everything. If only there were a way to make the school thing work.
YouthBuild Charter School to expand services, thanks to grant
York Daily Record, July 8, 2013
A $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor will bring relief to the YouthBuild Charter School and its operator, the Crispus Attucks Association.
York City schools reach out to charter parents
York Daily Record, July 3, 2013
McKinley Elementary School teachers knocked on a door on Locust Street and asked why students living there wanted to attend charter schools.
TENNESSEE
Teacher salary plan sparks ouster call
Times Free Press, July 8, 2013
A decision by the state Board of Education to change how teachers are paid has led to a social media push to remove Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman.
New TN teacher pay plan is hybrid of other states’ plans
The Tennessean, July 7, 2013
With the recent adoption of a controversial teacher pay plan, Tennessee has moved closer to three states that have carved out reputations for dramatically overhauling their pay policies.
WASHINGTON
Coalition’s suit challenges state’s charter-schools law
Seattle Times, July 4, 2013
A coalition led by the state teachers union filed a long-awaited challenge to the constitutionality of charter schools on Wednesday, turning to the courts after state voters narrowly approved the schools on supporters’ fourth attempt last November.
Charter Schools Association an ally in shaping new schools
Editorial
Seattle Times, July 6, 2013
SKEPTICS and proponents of charter schools have a new ally. The Charter Schools Association sees the potential of innovative nontraditional public schools, but is smartly branding itself as an incubator for quality efforts and a watchdog ensuring those efforts yield results.
Suit flunks charter schools before exam
Editorial
The Spokesman Review, July 6, 2013
The Washington Education Association clearly doesn’t like the idea of charter schools, but it would be nice if they’d let a couple open and operate before hauling out the ruler and rapping knuckles.
WISCONSIN
DPI dealing with short timeline on voucher expansion
Wisconsin Radio Network, July 5, 2013
The first stage of a statewide expansion of the private school voucher program is set to begin in the next school year, and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers says that means his staff has to work quickly to be ready. Evers says they need to get information out to schools, before they will start taking in applications and determining which schools receive the most.
Voucher schools don’t always take special needs students
Wisconsin State Journal, July 7, 2013
With choice programs poised to go statewide, some lawmakers have voiced concern that students with disabilities will be left behind.
Private, parochial schools begin voucher application process
Green Bay Press-Gazette, July 4, 2013
Some private and parochial schools in the Green Bay area are laying groundwork to apply to be part of the expanded state school voucher program.
ONLINE LEARNING
Maine should not rush virtual charter schools
Editorial
Portland Press Herald, July 5, 2013
There is enough history in other states to cause regulators to proceed with caution.
Cyber lifelines
Letter
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 2013
The PG report on a new, largely positive charter school study by Stanford University takes an odd swipe at Pennsylvania cyber schools, blaming them for the state’s poor charter school performance (“Study: Pa. in Bottom 3 for Charter Schools Scores,” June 26).
Schools readying for online education expansion
Tampa Tribune, July 4, 2013
A new law aims to offer more online classes to Florida students than ever before, but making sure it works as intended will take lots of time and planning, school officials say.
Hutch district will offer online virtual schooling
Hutchinson News, July 5, 2013
The Hutchinson school district this week rolled out a new program that will make online school available to virtually any student within district boundaries – kindergarten through 12th grade – for the upcoming school year.
Online remedial classes get an A for effort but need work
Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2013
As colleges experiment with online remedial classes to save money and serve more students, they’re finding the concept isn’t as straightforward as it might seem.