Click here for Newswire, 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
In defense of No Child Left Behind
Commentary, Baltimore Sun, September 4, 2013
Just weeks after the U.S. House Republicans made a purely symbolic move to dismantle No Child Left Behind, the law that forces schools to report standardized test scores, standardized testing season hit our household.
School-takeover law staggers as Cuccinelli bows out of fight
Watchdog.org, September 4, 2013
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s decision not to defend Virginia’s school-takeover law signals its imminent demise.
Why Obama should drop U.S. suit opposing school choice
Opinion, Washington Post, September 4, 2013
While President Obama was publicly celebrating the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech last week, his administration took action behind the scenes in Louisiana that was a complete rejection of King’s dream.
STATE COVERAGE
ALABAMA
Most Alabama Accountability Act transfers in-district
Dothan Eagle, September 4, 2013
Numbers released by the Alabama Department of Education show 789 students statewide are taking advantage of the Alabama Accountability Act to transfer out of failing schools, but only a handful of students choosing to leave public schools for private school.
ARIZONA
Legacy superintendent says school will be more careful about attendance
Arizona Daily Star, September 5, 2013
The superintendent of a statewide charter school district said he has taken measures to ensure students are not falsely reported missing.
CALIFORNIA
California accelerates shift in student testing
Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2013
The plan to hasten use of computerized exams would upend LAUSD effort to use scores to evaluate teachers.
Denair schools prep for possible state takeover
Modesto Bee, September 4, 2013
Denair Unified trustees will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Friday to receive a formal notice that moves the district one step closer to a state takeover.
Home-school charter offers alternative for families
Agoura Hills Acorn, September 5, 2013
At the end of every summer, Emily Wells spends several hours reviewing the state education standards and planning her curriculum for the coming school year.
COLORADO
$950 million Colorado school finance measure officially on ballot
Denver Post, September 4, 2013
It’s official: The proposed school finance restructuring known as Initiative 22 will appear on the November ballot, now under the title Amendment 66.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Eight D.C. schools receive planning grants to establish career academies
Washington Post, September 5, 2013
The District has allocated $2.8 million to help city high schools plan for nine new “career academies” meant to help students gain the skills they will need to enter the workforce after graduation, Mayor Vincent C. Gray announced Wednesday.
FLORIDA
Teachers air merit-pay concerns
Column, Florida Today, September 5, 2013
When the Brevard Federation of Teachers surveyed some of its members to get their input on the state merit pay plan, it found that most teachers support merit pay in theory. However, the majority has serious concerns with the current plan.
INDIANA
‘Achievement gap’ shown for at-risk students
Kokomo Tribune, September 5, 2013
More Indiana third-graders are passing the state’s reading proficiency test, but students who live in poverty or don’t speak English as their native language are failing the test at a higher rate than their counterparts.
LOUISIANA
Public school principals, counselors are evaluated in new grading system
Times-Picayune, September 4, 2013
Just as Louisiana public school teachers are being evaluated in a new way, so, too, are principals and school counselors. New data from the state Department of Education show that principals’ scores largely mirror those of teachers, but counselors’ results were more varied.
MAINE
LePage emphasizes Maine education autonomy
Morning Sentinel, September 4, 2013
The governor says there will be no federal overreach into Common Core State Standards.
MICHIGAN
Michigan recovery school district opens 2nd year in Detroit
Detroit News, September 5, 2013
Students in Michigan’s statewide turnaround school district returned to classes Wednesday at 15 buildings across Detroit.
State earning A in education reform
Opinion, Lansing State Journal, September 5, 2013
The truth is, as we head into a brand new school year, Gov. Rick Snyder and lawmakers in the House and Senate deserve a great deal of praise for getting so much right in the last year.
MISSOURI
Auditor bothered by social promotion in St. Louis schools
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 5, 2013
A state audit of St. Louis Public Schools says the district is violating the law by promoting thousands of students who cannot adequately read to the next grade level.
NEW JERSEY
School vouchers not dead yet, at least in Governor Christie’s eyes
New Jersey Spotlight, September 5, 2013
Teacher evaluation framework for tenure reform hardly a surprise as second priority for education agenda.
NEW MEXICO
Effort, not sour grapes, would advance APS
Editorial, Albuquerque Journal, September 3, 2013
When New Mexico lost out on a share of $133 million in 2012 federal Race to the Top education dollars, nobody in the education establishment cried foul, claimed the fix had been in for the nine winners or wasted time with a round of “poor me.”
NEW YORK
Bronx charter school named in whistleblower suit
New York Daily News, September 4, 2013
Alexis Riley, formerly a project manager at South Bronx Classical Charter, said she was fired for reporting financial and academic improprieties.
Catholic schools provide an outlet for city district
Opinion, Buffalo News, September 4, 2013
No other options seem to exist for these 2,200 children, 90 percent of whom can’t go anywhere this year to escape a failing school despite their parents’ expression of a need for choice.
Charter school probed over special-ed kids who might not exist
New York Post, September 4, 2013
Schools investigators are probing a Bronx charter school for allegedly billing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars for nonexistent special-education kids, The Post has learned.
Educators stunned by Cuomo’s school ‘death penalty’
Newsday, September 4, 2013
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s recent suggestion that failing schools on Long Island and elsewhere should face a swift operational “death penalty” if they don’t shape up has stunned local educators, who say meaningful reforms generally take years to achieve.
NORTH CAROLINA
Low-income parents can apply for private school vouchers next year
Fayetteville Observer, September 5, 2013
Beginning next year, low-income parents can apply for a voucher program that provides state dollars to cover private school costs.
McCrory asks for bonus pay for more master’s-seeking teachers
News & Observer, September 4, 2013
Gov. Pat McCrory asked his state Board of Education Wednesday to guarantee extra pay for all teachers now enrolled in master’s degree programs, something the board chairman said it could not do.
OHIO
Schiavoni wants to tighten charter school rules
Salem News, September 5, 2013
State Sen. Joe Schiavoni plans to introduce legislation to increase greater oversight of Ohio’s charter schools equivalent to what is found in traditional public districts.
PENNSYLVANIA
Can for-profit education rescue Camden’s kids?
Philadelphia Daily News, September 5, 2013
So Morales sees hope when he looks across narrow Pearl Street at the new Camden Community Charter School, its red buildings surrounded by freshly poured white sidewalks and black faux-iron fences. It used to be a vacant lot.
PFT releases new ads, poll on education issues
Philadelphia Daily News, September 4, 2013
THE PHILADELPHIA Federation of Teachers hasn’t just been busy at the negotiating table lately – today, the union is expected to release two new ads, one of which attacks Mayor Nutter and Gov. Corbett because they “failed to lead” in the school-funding crisis.
Schools chief opposes charter school for autistic children
Reading Eagle, September 5, 2013
A Lehigh County group outlined a plan to put a charter school for children with autism in the former Longswamp Elementary School at a recent public hearing in Brandywine Heights High School.
RHODE ISLAND
Please support new charter school
Letter, Valley Breeze, September 4, 2013
As a lifelong Valley Falls community member and the proud parent of one scholar (soon to be two) at Blackstone Valley Prep (BVP) Mayoral Academy, I am writing to support the approval of building a permanent home for BVP’s second elementary school at 52 Broad St., right here in our community.
UTAH
Utah charter schools grades no better than traditional schools
Deseret News, September 4, 2013
Charter schools fared about the same as traditional schools under Utah’s controversial new public school grading system.
Utah’s school grades are opportunity for real reform
Opinion, Deseret News, September 5, 2013
Some schools received F’s, a lot were deemed mediocre, and many children in low-income areas performed poorly.
VIRGINIA
Bedford County School Board to take up school takeover legislation
Roanoke News & Advance, September 5, 2013
The Bedford County School Board is considering giving its support to an effort to oppose new legislation enabling a state entity to take over academically failing schools.
McDonnell says he will vigorously defend school takeover law
Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 5, 2013
Gov. Bob McDonnell said Wednesday that he’s disappointed that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will not defend the statewide school division that McDonnell championed, but that he will vigorously defend the law.
WISCONSIN
Choice a positive in teacher evaluations
Editorial, Sheboygan Press, September 4, 2013
A new state law says school districts must evaluate the effectiveness of teachers and other educators, beginning in the 2014-15 school year. Most districts, however, will conduct pilot runs this year using one of two evaluation models.
Green Bay-area schools adjust to handful of voucher students
Green Bay Press Gazette, September 4, 2013
Most of the 41 students coming into the Green Bay Area Catholic Education system using private school vouchers already are part of the parochial school system.
ONLINE LEARNING
Evaluate virtual schools, don’t shut them down
Opinion, Daily Caller, September 4, 2013
The Kammann family received the letter in June. Just weeks after their daughter Sophia completed her first year in Virginia Virtual Academy as a sixth grader, Carroll County Public School District suddenly announced they would not be continuing their partnership with the online charter.
Fox Chapel Area expands into full-time cyber school
Pittsburgh Tribune-REview, September 4, 2013
Fox Chapel Area School District is putting muscle behind its motto of “anytime, anyplace learning.”
Online charter school helps my child achieve
Column, Orange County Register, September 4, 2013
When my daughter was in third grade, her math grades started to decline. An incredibly bright young lady, she was struggling in subjects she had previously excelled at, and my husband and I grew concerned.
‘Uncertainty’ hangs over virtual school contract delay
The Recorder, September 4, 2013
The Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School is operating without a signed contract with curriculum provider K12 because state officials have not yet approved it — a delay the school’s officials call problematic.