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
Charter School Gravy Train Runs Express To Fat City
Forbes, September 10, 2013
Charter schools are booming. “There are now more than 6,000 in the United States, up from 2,500 a decade ago, educating a record 2.3 million children,” according to Reuters.
Loud Voice Fighting Tide of New Trend in Education
New York Times, NY, September 11, 2013
Diane Ravitch made her name in the 1970s as a historian chronicling the role of public schools in American social mobility.
State Senate approves bill to overhaul standardized tests
Los Angeles Times, CA, September 11, 2013
The Obama administration has threatened to withhold education funds from the state unless students, parents and school officials have access to this year’s scores.
Teach for America is a deeply divisive program. It also works.
Washington Post Blog, DC, September 10, 2013
Teach for America, the nonprofit organization that places high-achieving college graduates in school districts in underserved areas of the country, hasn’t lacked for evaluations over the years.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
Magnets attract top students
Arizona Daily Sun, AZ, September 10, 2013
Flagstaff Unified School District’s magnet programs stacked up well against local charter schools during the AIMS test.
CALIFORNIA
Jerry Brown pushes school testing delay despite federal threats
Sacramento Bee, CA, September 11, 2013
State officials are pushing forward with a plan to suspend mandatory school testing for a year despite U.S. Department of Education threats to withhold federal funds.
L.A. school board approves new parent trigger rules
Los Angeles Times, CA, September 10, 2013
Pioneering guidelines to help Los Angeles Unified school staff and parents navigate the complex and controversial process to overhaul failing schools under the state parent trigger law were approved Tuesday by the school board.
Manteca Unified plans PR blitz to counter exodus to charter schools
Manteca Bulletin, CA, September 11, 2013
Coming soon to a movie theater near you – advertising touting the good things about the Manteca Unified School District.
DELAWARE
James L. Wilson: Give all schools the flexibility to perform
News Journal, September 11, 2013
One of the most significant pieces of educational legislation introduced this year was House Bill 90, which was passed overwhelmingly by both the House and Senate.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
District officials turn to home visits to boost schools
Washington Post, DC, September 7, 2013
After years of focusing their attention on the quality of teaching inside city classrooms, District public schools officials are turning to a new front in their efforts to improve the schools: family living rooms.
Jesús Aguirre to be D.C.’s new state superintendent for education
Washington Post, DC, September 10, 2013
Jesús Aguirre, director of the District’s parks department, will become the city’s new state superintendent of education, Mayor Vincent C. Gray announced Tuesday.
FLORIDA
Now the hard part begins, after more than 200 dropouts return to school
Orlando Sentinel, FL, September 10, 2013
One former student failed to make up half an English credit. Another dropped out because she became a mother and didn’t have child care. And a third didn’t return to school this fall because he was working to help his mother pay the bills.
West Palm Beach charter school could help — and hurt.
Editorial, Palm Beach Post, FL, September 10, 2013
West Palm Beach wants to start a city charter school for the best of reasons — to boost reading and math results for up to 600 elementary-age children. Even if it works, or perhaps especially if it works, such a charter school could have unintended consequences that won’t all be wonderful.
MINNESOTA
Minneapolis school board votes to sign on to Q Comp
Star Tribune, MN, September 10, 2013
It’s been a long, bumpy ride, but the state’s third-largest school district is finally on the verge of joining the Minnesota alternative teacher pay program known as Q Comp.
MISSISSIPPI
Charting a New Path
Delta Business Journal, MS, September 10, 2013
By working with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS), Mississippi’s charter school advocates received insider information on how to make the state’s charter school law strong, thus ensuring only high performing charter schools will open in Mississippi.
State could take over three more school districts
Clarion Ledger, MS, September 11, 2013
The Mississippi Department of Education’s Commission on School Accreditation voted Tuesday to send resolutions to the state Board of Education recommending a state of emergency be declared in Claiborne County School District, Yazoo City School District and Leflore County School District.
MISSOURI
Challenges in St. Louis schools have some teachers quitting
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, September 11, 2013
Laura Sahaida knew teaching kindergarten at a low-performing elementary school in the city would be a tough job — but not like this. Just six days after she started at Ashland Elementary this school year, she decided to resign.
NEW JERSEY
N.J. teacher evaluation rules up for vote; hundreds weighed in
Star-Ledger, NJ, September 10, 2013
More than 600 people — from elementary school teachers, to New Jersey Education Association officials, to concerned citizens — have weighed in on new proposed rules for teacher evaluations and tenure.
NORTH CAROLINA
NC could get 170 new charter schools in 2015
News & Observer, NC, September 10, 2013
As many as 170 new charter schools could open in North Carolina in 2015, including 39 in the Triangle and 43 in Mecklenburg County.
OHIO
Keeping the lines open
Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, OH, September 11, 2013
Walking into the meeting of a local tea party group to explain the benefits of the Common Core couldn’t have been comfortable for Worthington City Schools Superintendent Thomas Tucker.
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Schools Reopen Amid Financial, Academic Distress
Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2013
As Philadelphia students returned to school this week facing larger class sizes and slimmed-down arts programs, a fight raged over how to keep the district from sinking further into financial and academic distress.
York City superintendent optimistic as 134 students return to district
York Dispatch, PA, September 10, 2013
York City School District officials are celebrating the first bit of evidence that shows their effort to woo the parents of former charter-school students is working.
TENNESSEE
Achievement School District Getting Bigger, Maybe Better
Memphis Flyer, TN, September 10, 2013
The Achievement School District for low-performing schools in Shelby County will have eight or nine new members next year, including one high school that was targeted for closing.
VIRGINIA
Campbell County School Board to take stand on state’s new school takeover initiative
News & Advance, VA, September 10, 2013
The Campbell County School Board plans to take action next month on a resolution in support of a lawsuit against a new state institution that would take over schools that fail to meet state standards.
WASHINGTON
Charter school weighed for Battle Ground
The Columbian, WA, September 10, 2013
Karl Johnson, a teacher at Summit View Middle School in Battle Ground, says he’s committed to finding a better way to reach students who don’t thrive in a regular classroom.
WISCONSIN
Common Core raises the bar for schools
Editorial, Wisconsin State Journal, WI, September 11, 2013
As Wisconsin students settle back into classrooms, they might notice something is a little different this fall. K-12 teachers push them a little harder, and the homework is a little more challenging.
Voucher school accountability bill on right track
Opinion, Steven Point Journal, WI, September 11, 2013
As he promised during the state budget process, Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, has come up with a plan to provide for better accountability for voucher schools.
WYOMING
Wyoming version of No Child Left Behind on track
Star Tribune, WY, September 10, 2013
A new education accountability system in the works at the Wyoming Department of Education would hold schools accountable to a state-developed set of performance standards starting in the spring of 2015.
ONLINE LEARNING
After two weeks open, cyber academy “nothing but good news”
Danville News, PA, September 10, 2013
Since opening at the start of this school year, Danville’s e-Learning Cyber Academy has enrolled 18 students.
Erie’s Barker: Indictment of online-schools boss ‘completely surprised’ him
Erie Times-News, PA, September 11, 2013
Over the past several weeks, former Erie schools Superintendent Jim Barker has seen his former boss indicted and his 17-year tenure at the Erie School District questioned once more.
Online classes a hit for students
Statesman Journal, OR, September 11, 2013
Last year Natalie Bensing, a high school junior, lived in the southern Oregon coastal town of Brookings.