Daily Headlines for November 21, 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
Campaign Seeks to Recruit Top Students to Become Teachers
New York Times, NY, November 21, 2013
Seeking to combat such sentiments, the Department of Education — in partnership with the Advertising Council, Microsoft, State Farm Insurance, Teach for America, the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions and several other educational groups — is unveiling a public service campaign this week aimed at recruiting a new generation of classroom educators.
Is President Obama against black kids getting a decent education?
Daily Caller, DC, November 20, 2013
After the Obama Administration filed suit against the state of Louisiana over a school voucher program allowing low-income kids in low-performing schools to attend other institutions, it appears the Wall Street Journal’s Jason L. Riley can make that assertion.
Jindal criticizes feds’ new school voucher review plan
The Advocate, LA, November 20, 2013
The U.S. Department of Justice proposed a new plan to review Louisiana’s private-school voucher program, setting off a wave of claims and counterclaims Tuesday over what the shift in approach means.
No Choice for You!
National Review Online, November 21, 2013
The Obama’s administration impairs opportunity for students by opposing parental choice.
STATE COVERAGE
ALABAMA
Evaluating Alabama’s teachers
Times Daily, AL, November 21, 2013
Alabama education officials are divided over whether the teacher evaluation process places enough importance on student achievement.
CALIFORNIA
L.A. Unified committee votes to curtail expansion of iPad program
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 21, 2013
A bond oversight committee authorizes $45 million instead of the $135 million sought by district officials. The vote is advisory, but Supt. John Deasy has been unwilling to oppose the panel.
Vacaville Unified School District trustees to consider charter
The Reporter, CA, November 21, 2013
Will Vacaville Unified leaders embrace another charter school in the 12,500-student district?
COLORADO
Rankin: What’s next for education reform?
Opinion, Aspen Times, CO, November 21, 2013
The $ 1 billion tax increase to enable Colorado Senate Bill 213, a major change to school financing, was defeated by a 65 percent to 35 percent vote.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. attorney general seeks repayment of Options school funds
Washington Post, DC, November 20, 2013
D.C. prosecutors have asked a judge to force Exceptional Education Management Corp., a for-profit company founded by the former managers of Options Public Charter School, to begin repaying $753,569 allegedly owed to the school, according to court documents filed Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court.
FLORIDA
Black leaders encouraged, but not convinced by plan to close achievement gap
Tampa Bay Tribune, FL, November 21, 2013
To improve the academic fortunes of black students, Pinellas County needs a high-level administrator to focus on the achievement gap and an outsider to take a hard look at the entire school system, two leaders in the black community said Wednesday.
ILLINOIS
Chicago parents press for solution to overcrowded schools
Chicago Tribune, IL
November 21, 2013
Parents whose children attend overcrowded Chicago schools complained to the Board of Education on Wednesday that their buildings deserve improvements just as much as an elementary school in the affluent Lincoln Park neighborhood that is in line for a $20 million annex.
MASSACHUSETTS
BPS teacher reviews biased, union charges
Boston Herald, MA, November 21, 2013
The Boston Teachers Union cried foul last night over the unprecedented release of teacher performance evaluations, calling them discriminatory and demanding a probe into race and age bias.
Charter schools split crowd
Daily Item of Lynn, MA, November 21, 2013
Superintendent Catherine Latham called charter schools “insidious and destructive” to the public school system but many parents called them blessing during Wednesday’s public hearing in City Hall.
Residents to push charter school for Windham
Eagle Tribune, MA, November 20, 2013
Some residents are pitching a charter school to alleviate classroom crowding, as officials await engineering reports and analyze tax impacts from a potential middle school expansion.
Parents learn who makes the grade at New Bedford charter school
South Coast Today, MA, November 20, 2013
Berta and Mario Herrera won the lottery Tuesday night. Their daughter, Melissa, was picked in a random drawing out of 150 applicants for one of 27 open slots for next year’s kindergarten class at the Alma del Mar Charter School.
MICHIGAN
Some Michigan teachers protest union’s actions
Detroit News, MI, November 20, 2013
On the eve of the Legislature’s Thanksgiving break, three teachers went before a Senate committee to accuse their union of deception and intimidation.
Strong leaders make charter school thrive
Column, Livingston Daily, MI, November 21, 2013
What happens to great ideas a few years after they’re hatched? That question was on my mind when I drove to Detroit last week to visit University Preparatory Academy, the public charter school launched in 2000 by my old friend, Doug Ross.
MISSOURI
Missouri education chief advised ballot group
Springfield News-Leader, MO, November 21, 2013
Missouri’s education commissioner provided advice to a group crafting a ballot proposal that would end tenure protections for public school teachers and instead make their employment contingent on student achievement.
NEW MEXICO
Teachers aim to shift reform focus to joy of learning
The New Mexican, NM, November 21, 2013
It’s all about the demise of creativity and joy in the classroom, Jennifer St. Clair said. In her 21 years of teaching in New Mexico public schools, she’s never seen teacher morale so low. Teachers fear for their jobs, she said.
Teachers protest reforms
Albuquerque Journal, NM, November 21, 2013
Chanting slogans like “A child is more than a test score” and carrying signs that read such things as “Take back the joy of learning” and “Stop blaming teachers,” more than 100 people demonstrated in front of the Public Education Department in Santa Fe on Wednesday.
NEW YORK
The teachers union’s cynical gambit
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, November 21, 2013
Lately, student testing has become everyone’s favorite political punching bag. Just this week, New York State United Teachers, the state’s powerful teachers union, issued a statement decrying the proliferation of new tests and insisting on a moratorium for their use in teacher evaluations.
NORTH CAROLINA
Charter school celebrates its growth
Winston-Salem Chronicle, NC, November 20, 2013
Quality Education Academy celebrated the opening of its new high school building last Thursday with a slate of special events, including a spirited parade.
OHIO
Ohio’s Common Core opponents vent their concerns with the new education standards
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, November 21, 2013
Passion over the changes the Common Core standards are bringing to Ohio classrooms poured out at the Statehouse for six hours Wednesday night, as a hearing on a bill to halt the multi-state standards stretched past 1 a.m.
Two more Columbus charter schools in trouble
Columbus Dispatch, OH, November 20, 2013
Two more new Columbus charter schools are in peril, one for failing to open as planned and the other for money problems, unsanitary conditions and teacher-licensing issues.
OKLAHOMA
Barresi promises no double-testing as state prepares for Common Core
Tulsa World, OK, November 21, 2013
Some Oklahoma third- to eighth-graders will be given separate “tryout” questions on English and math tests in the spring as the state transitions to Common Core standards next year, the state Board of Education was told Wednesday.
PENNSYLVANIA
Debate rages over formula for city school funding
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, November 21, 2013
ADMINISTRATORS from the Philadelphia School District implored City Council yesterday to lobby Harrisburg for a permanent funding solution to bear the cost of the city’s public-school system and avoid “year-to-year begging.”
New Hope parents file lawsuit, allege conspiracy by York City school officials
York Dispatch, PA, November 21, 2013
A group of New Hope Academy parents have filed a federal lawsuit alleging conspiratorial actions among York City School District officials that, they allege, “shock the conscience.”
Rutgers scholars program extended to all LEAP grades
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, November 21, 2013
CAMDEN The schoolchildren, most younger than 10, waited with little feet dangling off the folding chairs in a bright auditorium as they listened for their names. Then, one by one, they came forward and reached out tiny hands to accept their ticket to college.
TENNESSEE
Charter schools group blasts Metro proposal to limit future growth
The Tennessean, TN, November 21, 2013
As Metro school officials defend their move to limit charter school growth, the other side of a raging debate — not surprisingly — says the district should do more to embrace the model.
Study: 1 Out Of 7 MNPS Students Has Access To High Quality Education
WTVF-TV, TN, November 20, 2013
A vast majority students in Metro Schools don’t have access to a high quality education. That’s according to a new report commissioned by the Tennessee Charter School Center.
TEXAS
Cheers to charters
Editorial, Houston Chronicle, TX, November 20, 2013
The list of Texas “brags” is long enough to stretch from Orange on the east to El Paso on the west – or so most of us shameless Texas partisans would like to believe.
WASHINGTON
2 Seattle middle schools focus on attendance, see scores climb
Seattle Times, WA, November 20, 2013
EDUCATION LAB: Missing just a few days of class in sixth grade can predict whether you’ll graduate from high school. That research powers a national anti-dropout effort that’s making a difference at Seattle’s Aki Kurose and Denny International middle schools.
Seattle School Board OKs boundary plan
Seattle Times, WA, November 20, 2013
The Seattle School Board took up the final proposal for a complex school-assignment plan to ease overcrowding Wednesday night.
ONLINE LEARNING
ETextbooks: The future of classroom learning
WVEC, VA
November 20, 2013
From the playroom to the classroom, digital devices and downloadable textbooks are revolutionizing the classroom experience.
FOX6 investigates whether virtual schools are working
WITI-TV, WI, November 20, 2013
More than 7,000 students in Wisconsin attend “virtual” charter schools, which means they “attend” school online. Enrollment in these virtual schools is skyrocketing — and taxpayers are footing the bill.
UW Oshkosh student becomes first virtual student-teacher
Advance-Titan, WI, November 21, 2013
Education majors were offered an opportunity to be a virtual student teacher this fall for the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, and UW Oshkosh student Michael Wilbert took on the challenge.