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
COTTO: ‘School choice’ is child abuse
Opinion, Washington Times, August 8, 2013
It is impossible for mainly troubled youths in dangerous, let alone underperforming, schools to magically become star pupils once they are placed in a better environment.
Implementation could doom new standards
Opinion, Tulsa World, August 9, 2013
Even if you believe that the Common Core standards are high-quality, internationally benchmarked and would provide a solid foundation for the American education system, you should be worried about how they are being implemented.
Study: Louisiana among top states for charter school gains
The Advertiser, August 8, 2013
Gov. Bobby Jindal and state Superintendent John White announced Thursday that a recent 26-state study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that Louisiana is a national leader in student achievement at charter schools, ranking near the top in both reading and math gains.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
Higley weighs value of chartering two new middle schools
Arizona Republic, August 8, 2013
Higley Unified School District’s governing board will decide Monday whether chartering the district’s two new middle schools will bring in the most state aid or if it should rescind the schools’ charter designation.
CALIFORNIA
Column missed real story on charters
Sacramento Bee, August 9, 2013
In his column on Oakland’s American Indian Model (Public Charter) Schools, Ben Boychuk shows his myopic bias in favor of charter schools regardless of the facts (“Education board can save these great schools,” July 27).
Private School Offer Alternate Path For Students
Gazette Newspapers, August 9, 2013
While Long Beach has award-winning public schools, it also is home to a variety of charter, private and parochial schools.
Trigger Tremors
City Journal, August 8, 2013
Last week, parents in the Southern California desert city of Adelanto celebrated the opening of the first school transformed under the state’s 2010 parent-empowerment law, also known as the parent trigger.
COLORADO
State, Re-1 forge agreement for future charter plans
Glenwood Springs Post Independent, August 8, 2013
The Roaring Fork School District Re-1 is finalizing an agreement with the Colorado Charter School Institute that will establish a formal working relationship whenever a new charter school is proposed within the district.
IDAHO
Idaho Charter School Network gets new president
KTVB, August 8, 2013
The Idaho Charter School Network announced Thursday that Terry Ryan will take over as president.
INDIANA
Indiana’s performance-based pay system for teachers needs review
Opinion, Indianapolis Star, August 8, 2013
The demands on teachers today have never been greater as they strive to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population, including English Language Learners, students with disabilities and a growing number of students disadvantaged by poverty.
KENTUCKY
Senate must finish House’s good start on education law
Opinion, Lexington Herald Leader, August 9, 2013
The Kentucky School Boards Association extends its gratitude for supporting this landmark legislation to Reps. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, Ed Whitfield. R-Hopkinsville, Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, and Thomas Massie, R-Vanceburg.
LOUISIANA
Youngsville council endorses ‘Turnaround Plan’
The Advocate, August 8, 2013
The City Council on Thursday approved a resolution supporting School Superintendent Pat Cooper’s “Turnaround Plan,” which includes a potential charter school to improve the overcrowded population in Youngsville schools.
MASSACHUSETTS
Charter school future unclear
Barnstable Patriot, August 8, 2013
Members of the Barnstable Community Horace Mann Charter Public School community made an impassioned presentation regarding the renewal of the school’s charter, but questions pertaining to the true uniqueness of the school remain.
MICHIGAN
Detroit Public Schools tries to retain, gain students by marketing each school
Detroit News, August 9, 2013
Thousands of families have left the city in the last decade. Many still live in this borough in the shadow of the Marathon refinery but send their children to school elsewhere.
When schools close, look around the corner
Opinion, Detroit News, August 9, 2013
A year and a half ago, I toured the halls and classrooms of Baylor-Woodson Elementary School in Inkster. I came away impressed with the well-behaved young students and dedicated teachers and administrators who worked there.
MINNESOTA
St. Paul teachers union wants district to drop mandated tests
Minnesota Public Radio, August 9, 2013
When the St. Paul teachers union continues contract talks later this month, the usual items are expected to be on the negotiating table: salary, benefits and class sizes. But the union is adding something new, something no other teachers group in the state has done before. It is demanding that, by next spring, the district stop giving students an assessment test required by the state and federal government.
MISSISSIPPI
New charter schools goals outlined
Natchez Democrat, August 9, 2013
Failure may not be an option for the new Delta Charter School.
MISSOURI
Missouri’s promise to its children is empty an unfulfilled
Editorial, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 9, 2013
Missouri’s method of financing public schools was inadequate and inequitable. It was true in 2004 and it’s still true today, and it’s one big reason for the student-transfer uproar today.
Mo. State Lawmakers Doubtful About School Reform
KMOX, August 8, 2013
As Normandy transfer students were attending their first day of classes in the Francis Howell School District on Thursday, local lawmakers were talking about changing the law that put them there.
NEW JERSEY
At first anniversary, NJs teacher-tenure law faces biggest tests
New Jersey Spotlight, August 9, 2013
The state senator who wrote and shepherded through New Jersey’s new teacher tenure law remembers well the day a year ago when it was signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie — including that it was an August scorcher.
NEW YORK
High School Regents Tests to Get Harder
Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2013
Now that New York state’s elementary- and middle-school students have received sobering new test scores showing few students are considered proficient, state officials are turning their attention to high schoolers.
In Mayoral Race, Looking for Substance in Schools Conversation
New York Times, August 9, 2013
Even before Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg walked into the Education Department’s headquarters to announce the results of state tests in reading and math this week, criticism was flying.
New York test scores hint at hard road ahead for Common Core
Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2013
New York is among the first of 45 states to test students as it implements new standards for college- and career-readiness. The poor results mean the Common Core reforms will require patience.
NYC’s real schools power
New York Post, August 8, 2013
Who drives the education agenda in this town? Ask most New Yorkers, and the answer will probably be: either the mayor or the schools chancellor.
NORTH CAROLINA
Chapel Hill charter school loses request to delay opening
Chapel Hill News, August 8, 2013
An obstacle-plagued Chapel Hill-area charter school will have to start from scratch after the state Board of Education rejected Thursday its request to delay opening for another year.
NC may approve up to 32 new charter schools
News & Observer, August 8, 2013
The State Board of Education agreed Thursday to consider opening up to 32 new charter schools in 2014.
Reform or blunder? Education effects up for debate
Star News, August 8, 2013
The legislative session that recently ended made sweeping changes to education policy, but some local education leaders say they didn’t get a chance to chime in.
OHIO
Cleveland Transformation Alliance’s school choice campaign off to slow start
Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 8, 2013
The first big push by the new Cleveland Transformation Alliance to nudge parents into actively choosing schools for their children isn’t reaching as many families as organizers hoped.
Hundreds of sports remain in Cleveland’s top-rated public schools this fall
Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 8, 2013
Students have yet to fill Cleveland’s top- rated public schools less than two weeks before the start of the school year.
PENNSYLVANIA
Money woes could delay opening of city schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, August 9, 2013
Facing a still-massive deficit, the Philadelphia School District will not open on time unless it has assurance by Aug. 16 that it will receive $50 million from the city, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Thursday.
Moves to unionize at Philly charter school blocked, teachers say
Newsworks, August 8, 2013
Claims that the company running the Olney Charter High School tried to intimidate teachers who sought to unionize may be heading for a hearing.
SOUTH CAROLINA
New charter school option needs board support
Editorial, Post and Courier, August 9, 2013
While we all learn in unique ways, children advance at different rates. Some children embrace reading but need more help with math. Some children are visual learners while others require hands-on activities. Some can type fast yet their handwriting is illegible.
TENNESSEE
MNPS’ new grading policy hits rift with teachers, parents
Nashville City Paper, August 9, 2013
As Metro schools adjust to an assortment of changes in how they teach, measure and evaluate education, the school district is taking on another controversial reform: how it grades students.
TEXAS
Rule on private school transfer raises concerns
Houston Chronicle, August 8, 2013
The only proposed rule for Alabama’s new private school tax credits that’s raising any concern is one saying the credits don’t apply for children already in private school.
ONLINE LEARNING
Allentown School District seeks vast expansion of cyber learning programs
Lehigh Express Times, August 9, 2013
Nearly 2,000 students left the Allentown School District in favor of charter and cyber schools last year, bringing millions of the district’s tuition dollars with them.
East TN’s newest cyber academy denied approval by state, for now
WBIR, August 8, 2013
Several hundred students hoped to start class on their home computer from East Tennessee’s newest virtual school in the next few days.
Locked out
Mountain View Voice, August 8, 2013
A group of Bullis Charter School parents, upset over what they are calling a Los Altos School District-imposed “lockout” of BCS teachers, protested earlier this morning, Aug. 8, in front of the LASD main office.
Online courses become more effective for students
Simi Valley Acorn, August 9, 2013
Due to advances in technology, online education has become an effective alternative for students who wish to earn a degree from the comfort of their own home.