Daily Headlines for October 24, 2013
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
Better News in New Study That Assesses U.S. Students
New York Times, October 24, 2013
Amid growing alarm over the slipping international competitiveness of American students, a report comparing math and science test scores of eighth graders in individual states to those in other countries has found that a majority outperformed the international average.
Seven States Agree to Pilot Teacher-Prep Changes
Education Week Blog, October 23, 2013
Seven states will overhaul their teacher-preparation and -licensing systems under a two-year pilot program created by Council of Chief State School Officers, the group announced today.
Teachers’ unions fight bill that would bar sex offenders from schools
FOX News, October 23, 2013
A bipartisan bill that would stop convicted sex offenders from working in schools has been passed by the House but is running into a foe as it heads to the Senate: major teachers’ unions like the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.
Why Teacher Colleges Get a Flunking Grade
Opinion, Wall Street Journal
Let’s give up on education majors. Too much theory, not enough practical learning about teaching.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Segregating English learners in schools
Editorial, Los Angeles Times, CA, October 23, 2013
The Los Angeles Unified School District has little choice in the matter. Yet there is reason for concern.
COLORADO
Language-centric Fort Collins charter school working to find permanent home
Coloradoan, CO, OCtober 23, 2013
“It’s not ideal,” Spicer said, but it’s what the new, state-approved language-immersion charter school has to work with until it finds a permanent home in Fort Collins.
Rocky Mountain High Taxes
Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal, October 24, 2013
Colorado has veered to the political left in recent years, and on November 5 it may take another leap toward California. The Democrats and unions who now run state government are promoting a ballot initiative that would raise taxes and unleash a brave new era of liberal governance.
Star Academy likely to get second chance
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO, October 24, 2013
Colorado Springs School District 11’s Space, Technology and Arts (STAR) Academy is likely to be granted a reprieve.
FLORIDA
Pasco district changes procedures for reviewing charter schools
Tampa Bay Times Blog, FL, October 23, 2013
Pasco County school district officials found several deficiencies in the Pepin Academies application to open a charter school in the county. In the past, that would have been enough for a quick denial, no questions asked.
INDIANA
Education strife reaches new low
Editorial, Journal Sentinel, IN, October 24, 2013
In terms of education policy, the battle should have ended last November, when Democrat Glenda Ritz soundly defeated incumbent Republican Tony Bennett to become superintendent of public instruction
ILLINOIS
Mayor Rahm has successfully pitted charters against public schools
Chicago Reader, IL
October 23, 2013
As you might imagine, I’ve been getting my fair share of abuse from charter school lovers who feel that last week’s post was unfair to their beloved movement.
LOUISIANA
Jindal alleges Obama ‘trying to muzzle parents’ in school voucher suit
Times-Picayune, LA
October 23, 2013
Gov. Bobby Jindal blasted the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday for opposing the request of four families to join the state as defendants in a federal lawsuit over school vouchers and desegregation.
Public school letter grades undergoing changes
The Advocate, October 23, 2013
While public schools will get two letter grades Thursday, this year’s rating system is aimed at being simpler than in the past, state Superintendent of Education John White said Wednesday.
MASSACHUSETTS
Education Reform Group Launches TV Ad For Connolly
WBUR, MA, October 23, 2013
An education reform group has bought time for a television advertisement supporting City Councilor At-Large John Connolly in the Boston mayoral race.
Spirit of accountability
Worcester Telegram, October 24, 2013
Worcester’s youngest public charter school, Spirit of Knowledge, hasn’t yet called it quits, but all signs point toward a very clouded future for the school.
Technology bill holds help for education
Editorial, Sea Coast Today, MA, October 24, 2013
High tech is coming into schools, but not fast enough. The national Common Core will use Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, exams to measure student achievement and teacher success in Massachusetts schools beginning this spring.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Lawmakers plan to introduce legislation aimed at Common Core
Concord Monitor, NH, October 24, 2013
More than half a dozen Common Core-related bills will come before the Legislature next spring, nearly all of them coming from Republican lawmakers who are skeptical of the education standards and aim to limit their reach.
NEW JERSEY
In ‘very strange’ twist, Jersey City school board slate ‘Children First,’ endorses teachers union (not the other way around)
Jersey Journal, NJ, October 24, 2013
Political observers watching the Jersey City school board race have been wondering: Will the local teachers union, which is negotiating a new contract with the school district, endorse anyone before the Nov. 5 election?
Newark needs next mayor to back charter schools
Opinion, Star-Ledger, NJ, October 24, 2013
Last week, Newark Mayor Cory Booker won the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s passing in June. Booker’s replacement in City Hall faces significant challenges on a number of issues, but the people of Newark have made one thing clear: They overwhelmingly support expanding the public charter school sector.
NEW YORK
Charter schools should pay rent
Letter, Newsday, NY, October 23, 2013
Profit-making groups have always paid the city for use of public school space [“De Blasio chides Lhota’s ‘Republican playbook,’ ” News, Oct. 16]. Most charter schools are extremely lucrative operations.
School Choice Has Limits
WNYC, NY, October 24, 2013
A key element of education reform in New York City over the past decade has been the expansion of school choice at all grade levels – and it’s been successful at shifting many students to better-performing schools. But an education marketplace isn’t without consequences, as five education experts explore in the second EdForum online debate.
Smaller is ‘better’ for NYC high schools
New York Post, October 24, 2013
Smaller is better — at least when it comes to New York City high schools.
NORTH CAROLINA
How ‘choice’ and vouchers mean condemning NC public schools
Opinion, News & Observer, NC, October 23, 2013
Since the passage of the Opportunity Scholarship Act in May, conversations have focused on the separation of church and state, costs of education and parental choice without any mention of the not-so-far-off history of school vouchers in North Carolina. Without incorporating our history into the debate, we lose out on important lessons from the past.
New teacher tenure law poses ‘tough’ task for county school board
Richmond County Daily Journal, NC, October 24, 2013
Members of the Sampson County Board of Education learned more about the recent changes to teacher tenure and the decisions the new law requires members to make concerning local teachers’ contracts during a Tuesday morning work session.
OHIO
Public-school task force examines open enrollment
Columbus Dispatch, OH, October 24, 2013
Nearly 4 percent of public-school students in Ohio opt out of their neighborhood schools to enroll in other districts free of charge.
PENNSYLVANIA
Penn Hills charter school deals with administrative carousel
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, October 23, 2013
Students at the Imagine Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship soon will meet their fourth principal in less than a year.
RHODE ISLAND
Flynn should forget charter schools, fix town legal department spending
Letter, Valley Breeze, RI, October 23, 2013
Why in heaven’s name is the Democratic Minority Leader of the Lincoln Town Council, Mr. John Flynn, attacking the charter schools which by all accounts was and is a win-win situation for parents and students who have opted out of the public schools of our town?
SOUTH CAROLINA
Public opposition to S.C. private-school choice flares
The State, SC, October 24, 2013
Suspicion that private school choice would dismantle public education and revive a segregation-era expansion of private schools fueled criticism Wednesday of a state Senate bill that would expand the state’s first private school choice program.
TEXAS
False crisis designed to destroy public schools
Commentary, San Antonio Express News, TX, October 23, 2013
In the context of the Texas Legislature failing to treat public education as a priority when the majority of Texas students are Latinos and African-Americans, we need to be leery when people associate efforts to divert public education funding to charter and for-profit schools as “the civil rights issue of our time.”
WASHINGTON
BCS in favor of bond benefiting all schools
Letter, Los Altos Town Crier, October 23, 2012
In our discussions, the district has proposed a bond where more than half of its value would be dedicated to Bullis Charter School. Implicit in this proposal is the unfortunate position that charter school students would never be provided a fair share of public school resources unless and until such a bond measure is passed and new campuses are built.
WISCONSIN
Number of students choosing to leave OASD slows
Oshkosh Northwestern, WI, October 23, 2013
The drain of students from Oshkosh public schools through school choice programs has slowed for the first time in seven years, according to district records.
Reject move toward independent charter schools
Editorial, Appelton Post Crescent, WI, October 24, 2013
It’s legislation that might look fairly harmless, but it poses yet another threat to public education in Wisconsin.
ONLINE LEARNING
Are Virtual Schools Just Cyber Pie In The Sky?
Huffington Post, October 23, 2013
Sandy Hellebrand was concerned. She needed to find a school that could educate her son Gabriel, who has autism and was about to enter high school.
‘E-learning’ gives some students a lift
Daytona Beach News Journal, FL, October 24, 2013
Tristan Evans dreams of landing a college scholarship in the highly competitive world of women’s gymnastics almost as much as she works on landing back handsprings on the balance beam.
Grant could help Amherst take step toward blending learning
Lorain County Community Newspapers, OH, October 23, 2012
A revolutionary way of teaching may be in the works for Amherst school district if it receives a state grant, dubbed the Straight-A Fund.
IPS Board of Education approves virtual school agreement
Sun Sentinel, FL, October 23, 2013
Martha Guernsey was recognized as a community partner with Ionia Public Schools during the Ionia Public Schools Board of Education meeting on Monday.