Daily Headlines for August 8, 2013
NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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
Gates pours millions in new grants to change teaching profession
Washington Post Blog, August 8, 2013
The Gates Foundation is spending millions of dollars in new grants that will further its already vast and controversial influence on public education.
Jeb Bush blasts Matt Damon as hypocrite on public education
Washington Times, August 7, 2013
Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, on Tuesday sent a blistering critique of Hollywood actor Matt Damon’s decision to school his three children at a private facility, not public: You’re such a hypocrite.
Success for the dumbest kid
Opinion
Washington Times, August 7, 2013
Currently in the United States, approximately 30 percent of the people who enter high school do not graduate
Charter public school progress encouraging, but view limited
Opinion
La Crosse Tribune, August 8, 2013
Families and educators may be interested in a new national report about charter and district public schools. Whether they have one or several of more than 39,000 Minnesota students attending a charter, or a district, private or parochial school, the report contains encouraging information. However, the study also has important limitations.
FROM THE STATES
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Can a Hebrew charter school teach the language but not the faith?
Opinion
Washington Post, August 7, 2013
What’s one way to ensure that a new Hebrew-immersion public charter school isn’t a Jewish school? Hire a priest to run it.
FLORIDA
3 F’s for elementary school force Sweetwater Academy to close
Gainesville Times, August 8, 2013
Sweetwater Branch Academy, a charter elementary and middle school in northeast Gainesville, has closed due to poor school grades and financial trouble.
ILLINOIS
Setting facts straight on charter schools
Opinion
Chicago Sun Times, August 7, 2013
Unfortunately, the opinion piece that ran in the Sun-Times on July 30, “CPS starving its schools to justify privatization,” continues to pit charters versus traditional schools, and seeks to push adult interests over student success.
Two D203 schools must offer option to transfer
Chicago Tribune, August 7, 2013
Students at two Naperville Unit District 203 elementary schools will have the option of transferring to another school this fall.
INDIANA
School Formula Adjustment to Lift One School Dragged Down Another
WIBC, August 8, 2013
The Indianapolis charter school jumped from a C to an A after the Department of Education changed the formula to exclude high school students from grade calculations for schools which didn’t run all the way through 12th grade. But a WIBC review of state accountability data shows the change cost at least one more school a passing grade. Wiping out the Hammond Academy of Science and Technology’s ninth and 10th-grade scores pushed it from a D to an F.
LOUISIANA
Jefferson Parish’s failing schools show improvement
Times-Picayune, August 7, 2013
The latest list of failing public schools in Louisiana includes the fewest in Jefferson Parish since the state Department of Education began grading them more than a decade ago, a result that some educators are pointing to as a sign of progress.
Choice available to parents of kids at failing schools
Alexandria Town Talk, August 8, 2013
Parents of students of failing schools will have more freedom in choosing where their students attend this year after the Rapides Parish School Board Tuesday approved a school choice plan, which state law requires to give those students the option to attend a higher performing school.
Lafayette board discusses charter schools
The Advocate, August 8, 2013
After two hours of discussion and questions about per pupil funding, the Lafayette Parish School Board on Wednesday left in limbo two charter school operators wanting to build two schools in time for the 2014-2015 school year.
Charter parents frustrated with MCSB politics
Monroe News Star, August 7, 2013
Parents of prospective Excellence Academy students say they’re tired of the politics of the Monroe City School Board preventing their students from attending the charter school.
MARYLAND
New school year brings new schools, programs
Maryland Gazette, August 8, 2013
Two schools moving into newly built buildings, a just-starting public charter school and new career academies in schools are samples of what’s to come in the 2013-2014 academic year for the Prince George’s County school system.
MASSACHUSETTS
Groups seek OK to open 3 charter schools in Andover, Lynn
Boston Globe, August 8, 2013
Two groups whose plans were previously rejected by the state are making renewed bids to open charter schools in Lynn, while another group is making its first attempt at opening a technology-oriented school in Andover.
Charter school proposal raises plenty of questions
Editorial
The Andover Townsman, August 8, 2013
A proposal for a charter high school in Andover caught many in town off guard this week — as much for who is proposing it as the fact that it’s being
Proposed charter school aims to innovate
Metro West Daily News, August 8, 2013
With many strong schools already in the region, MetroWest has not been fertile ground for new charter schools in recent years.
NORTH CAROLINA
Waiting for Wake County’s new graduation rate and new charter schools
News & Observer Blog, August 8, 2013
There are a couple of items at today’s State Board of Education meeting that could impact the Wake County school system and families in this area. The 2013 high school graduation figures will be released at the meeting. In addition to seeing whether the state has continued to increase its graduation rate, another thing to see is whether Wake is still above the state average. The gap between the two has shrunk sharply since 2006. Another question is how many charter schools in Wake County could still be in line to open in the 2014-15 school year.
Vouchers seen as winning ticket for NC private schools
WRAL, August 7, 2013
Although they won’t be issued until next March, vouchers that will allow hundreds of students from low-income families to attend private schools across North Carolina already have officials at many schools eagerly anticipating an influx of students.
NEW JERSEY
Latest push for teacher quality: better mentoring of classroom rookies
New Jersey Spotlight, August 8, 2013
Novice teachers need to be coached by colleagues judged to be ‘effective’ or ‘highly effective’ educators.
NEW YORK
Accepting ‘Hard Truth’
Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2013
The results posted by New York state students on tough new exams shined a spotlight Wednesday on what educators have been saying for years: Most students aren’t ready for college-level work by the time they graduate.
Charter schools and public schools equally showed poor testing performance
New York Daily News, August 8, 2013
Traditional public schools did not differ much from charter schools, as all reflected precipitous drop in performance after new standards introduced.
Mulgrew: Poor test results show Common Core curriculum was rushed
Opinion
New York Daily News, August 8, 2013
Michael Mulgrew, head of the city’s teachers union, claims Mayor Bloomberg’s rush to improve city education backfired after teachers and students were left unprepared when faced with tougher tests.
Punishing kids for adult failures
Opinion
New York Daily News, August 8, 2013
The massive score drop on tough new New York tests gives us an opportunity — and obligation — to change course
OHIO
High school sports: Public-school sports teams open to home-schoolers
Columbus Dispatch, August 8, 2013
As practices for fall sports get into full swing this week, public schools across Ohio are working out how to implement a new state law allowing home-schooled and some private-school students to join their teams.
PENNSYLVANIA
Agreement continues alternative high school in Monroeville
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 8, 2013
The alternative program was created nearly two decades ago after officials in Woodland Hills, Penn Hills, Gateway and Plum school districts became concerned about dropout rates, but it has been on the chopping block for the past four years as each of the districts dealt with budget cutbacks and increased payments to charter schools.
RHODE ISLAND
Only Half of Race to Top Funds Went to School Districts
Go Local Prov, August 8, 2013
Half of the $19.1 million of funds spent so far for the Race to the Top—the competitive federal grant program meant to spur innovative education reform and boost student achievement—has gone to local school districts in Rhode Island, according to U.S. Department of Education data.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Proponents Hope Middleton Can Right CCSMS Ship
Charleston Chronicle, August 8, 2013
The Charleston Charter School for Math & Science has struggled with adversity since its inception. Student racial demographics and facilities issues have dominated concerns in the past, but with last year’s departure of Principal Michael Stagliano, who was the school’s fifth, leadership is surfacing as another challenge.
School choice option to aid students with special needs
Morning News, August 7, 2013
School choice legislation has been pushed, but never passed, in the South Carolina Statehouse for more than a decade. But this summer, a very limited version passed in the form of a budget provison.
VERMONT
Schools improving, but slowly
Bennington Banner, August 8, 2013
The headline results of this week’s release from the Vermont Agency of Education regarding targets set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act were the same as last year — three-quarters of public schools in the state failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress, including most in the local Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union.
WISCONSIN
School voucher applications raise concerns
Leader Telegram, August 8, 2013
Catholic schools in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls and elsewhere in Wisconsin report that some of the many voucher requests they have received are from families who already have children attending those schools, prompting concerns about the program.
ONLINE LEARNING
Virtual academy set to expand despite low test scores
WBIR-TV, August 8, 2013
Another Tennessee school district is jumping on the virtual school bandwagon, despite student test scores that ranked the state’s first publicly funded virtual school amongst the lowest in the state.
S.C. online charter high school holds information session in Conway
Myrtle Beach Sun News, August 7, 2013
Teachers and resource officers will be on hand to discuss Provost’s academic structure and provide potential students and their families with information about success in a state-authorized virtual charter school.
Virtual School Programs Popping Up Across the Midstate
41NBC/WMGT, August 7, 2013
Virtual schools are expanding their reach into Middle Georgia, teaming up with school systems to offer families additional online options.
Pasco school board reluctantly OK’s online charter school
Sun Coast News, August 7, 2013
A year ago, Pasco County School Board members had so many concerns about a proposed online charter school that they rejected the school’s application, citing a state investigation into the management firm that would run the school and academic troubles at other charters the company oversees.
Florida Virtual School lays off hundreds as enrollment plummets
Tampa Bay Times, August 7, 2013
It sounded as though she was reading from a script, Christopher Metzger thought, as the woman on the other end of the line told him he was losing his job.
New cyber-academy set to open in Grand Rapids
WWMT, August 7, 2013
Children across West Michigan will be back in school in a matter of weeks. But some won’t be learning in a typical classroom.