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
A civics lesson from AMerica’s education debate
Opinion, Summit Daily, August 18, 2013
Paradoxes come in all different forms, but here’s one that perfectly fits this Gilded Age: The most significant lesson from the ongoing debate about American education has little to do with schools and everything to do with money. This lesson comes from a series of recent scandals that expose the financial motives of the leaders of the so-called education “reform” movement — the one that is trying to privatize public schools.
AP-NORC Poll: demographics drive views of schools
Associated Press, August 19, 2013
Minority and low-income parents are more likely to see serious problems in their schools – from low expectations to bullying to out-of-date technology and textbooks – than those who are affluent or white, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Poll.
AP-NORC Poll: Parents back high-stakes testing
Associated Press, August 17, 2013
Often criticized as too prescriptive and all-consuming, standardized tests have support among parents, who view them as a useful way to measure both students’ and schools’ performances, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.
Five cheers for choice
Editorial, Washington Times, August 19, 2013
For many liberals, “choice” begins and ends with abortion. This inconsistency is where advocates of education reform should challenge the defenders of the status quo, which nearly everyone agrees has failed miserably.
War on the COre
Op-Ed, New York Times, August 19, 2013
I respect, really I do, the efforts by political scientists and pundits to make sense of the current Republican Party. There is intellectual virtue in the search for historical antecedents and philosophical underpinnings.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
School funding overhaul proposed
Arizona Daily Star, August 18, 2013
A state lawmaker wants to create a new funding structure that would eliminate school district override and bond elections.
ARKANSAS
Charter School Sector Growing In Northwest Arkansas
Northwest Arkansas Times, August 18, 2013
The number of students attending charter schools in Northwest Arkansas will increase by about 50 percent when two new schools open Monday.
State board rejects 5 school-choice appeals
Northwest Arkansas Times, August 17, 2013
The state Board of Education refused to overturn Friday the decisions of local school districts that had refused five families’ requests to transfer their children to other schools under the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2013.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco’s Metro High charter school merges with another campus.
San Francisco Examiner, August 19, 2013
A charter school located in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood quietly closed its doors this month and merged with another school 4 miles west to preserve money.
COLORADO
Eagle County Charter Academy opens new $12 million building
Vail Daily, August 18, 2013
She’s the Eagle County Charter Academy principal, and there are about 12 million things to do in the wild scramble to open their new building before school starts this week.
CONNECTICUT
Stamford schools struggle to close achievement gap
Stamford Advocate, August 17, 2013
In a city and state plagued by some of the nation’s widest disparities in educational achievement, Stamford schools made modest progress last year to close the significant gaps in reading and math scores between racial and ethnic groups, and between income and English language fluency levels.
FLORIDA
Florida teachers still waiting for first raise in a long time
Orlando Sentinel, August 18, 2013
Teachers welcomed the news earlier this year when Gov. Rick Scott called for $2,500 pay hikes and then kept up the raises-for-teachers drumbeat in the months that followed.
New wave of charter schools ‘reality of competition,’ Duval superintendent says
Florida Times Union, AUgust 18, 2013
Nicholas Tlulouse is trying something new this year. His grandparents home-schooled him for a while, and Nicholas also spent time in public schools. But on Monday, the 13-year-old will start classes in a charter school.
INDIANA
School accountability on the ropes
Journal and Courier, August 17, 2013
In the same week that the board of Fort Wayne Community Schools, the largest district in the state, rejected the notion of Indiana’s A-to-F grading system for schools, Tippecanoe County’s biggest district hedged its bets in a different way.
LOUISIANA
Teacher tenure law ruled unconstitutional, in part, by Louisiana judge
Times-Picayune, August 16, 2013
A north Louisiana judge on Friday declared part of a 2012 law overhauling teacher tenure in the state unconstitutional. State District Judge Benjamin Jones ruled in a lawsuit against the Monroe City School Board. He said the constitutional rights of a teacher facing dismissal were violated when the board followed an appeal process outlined in the law.
MARYLAND
Prince George’s starts academic year with initiative to transform struggling schools
Washington Post, August 18, 2013
For the first time in years, hundreds of Prince George’s County 4-year-olds will spend an entire day in a pre-kindergarten classroom when schools open Monday, part of coordinated county government and school system efforts to improve academic achievement.
MASSACHUSETTS
As charter caps are hit, House chair sees potential for ‘modest’ changes
Georgetown Record, August 17, 2013
As Boston opened its last allowable charter school on Monday and other communities bump up against limits, state lawmakers could be willing to lift the cap in some districts, a top lawmaker who steers education policy said Thursday.
Big changes in student rolls pose challenges
Boston Globe, August 17, 2013
It wasn’t dissatisfaction with Somerville schools that prompted Tony Pierantozzi’s next-door neighbor to move with his two children to a 2,000-square-foot condominium in neighboring Everett.
The next step in education reform
Editorial, Metro West Daily News, August 18, 2013
Massachusetts has learned a few things through 20 years of education reform: That failing schools can be turned around by empowering educators to do things differently and expect more of themselves and their student
MICHIGAN
Michigan to debut color-coded system for measuring school performance
Detroit Free Press, August 19, 2013
Parents, get ready for a brand new look at how well your child’s school is doing.
MISSOURI
Pupblic-provate debate
Letter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 19, 2013
Reading your front page headline “A public-private debate” (Aug. 11) developed an question about “charter” schools and how they fit into the public/private debate. How, you ask? It was the concept of critics “bristling” at having transfer students apply for public education funding so they could attend a private school of their choice.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Time to put school voucher program out of its misery
Opinion, Portsmouth Herald, August 18, 2013
How is it that New Hampshire’s voucher tax credit program can find only 15 public school students who want vouchers? And plans to give them almost $11,000 apiece to leave their public schools and go to private schools!
NEW JERSEY
School districts prepare to implement new AchieveNJ evaluation standards
South Jersey Times, August 18, 2013
Besides bulletin boards, lesson plans and class rosters, local teachers have another task to check off their to-do list this September — get prepared for the new, statewide performance evaluation policy, AchieveNJ, formerly known as Excellent Educators for New Jersey, or EE4NJ.
NEW MEXICO
Bring APS innovation to teacher evaluations
ABQ Journal, August 19, 2013
Albuquerque Public Schools has moved closer to the head of the class when it comes to school options, responding to competition and offering its high school students more choices. If only it was as responsive recognizing and rewarding excellent teachers and identifying and mentoring struggling ones.
NEW YORK
For New York’s Next Mayor, a Plan for City Schools
Letter, New York Times, August 19, 2013
“In Mayoral Race, Looking for Substance in Schools Conversation” (Political Memo, Aug. 9) points out that the mayoral candidates have yet to put forward comprehensive plans for New York schools. But parents, teachers, students and community leaders have created a blueprint for how the next mayor can improve public education.
Schools for scandal
Editorial, New York Daily News, August 18, 2013
The colleges and universities that funnel people into the teaching profession have long maintained that they send graduates into the classroom confident they have been well prepared for the work, even as educational achievement has fallen.
Some new teachers may forego traditional pay model
Journal News, August 18, 2013
One of teaching’s most hallowed traditions may be on the way out under a new contract that is on the table in a northern Westchester County district.
NORTH CAROLINA
N.C. teacher pay stranded by shifts in education laws
Charlotte Observer, August 17, 2013
It’s a sentiment that’s been widely echoed since lawmakers passed the budget in July. North Carolina’s educators find themselves stranded between two compensation systems.
OHIO
Strapped for money and staff, hundreds of Ohio districts unprepared for third-grade reading guarantee
Akron Beacon Journal, August 17, 2013
With only days until many open their doors, at least 342 public school districts and charter schools have notified the Ohio Department of Education that they are not prepared for Ohio’s new third-grade reading guarantee, which takes effect this year.
Student growth key to teacher’s ratings
Columbus Dispatch, August 18, 2013
Ohio teachers are about to learn a lot more about how effective they are in the classroom.
OREGON
Oregon can turn ‘high-risk’ status of teacher evaluations into an advantage: Agenda 2013
Editorial, Oregonian, August 18, 2013
Some states have rushed to make student test scores a big part of their teacher evaluations. Not Oregon. This state has flown with its own wings, you might say, hoping to alight upon an evaluation system that could be useful for schools, embraced by teachers and acceptable to the reform-minded feds.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Public Schools 6th grade mentoring success brings expansion
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 19, 2013
It’s a time of emotional, academic, physical, social and psychological changes. And adult mentors can help.
School crisis drives families from city
Philadelphia Inquirer, August 18, 2013
Brian Hackford is divorcing Philadelphia, citing irreconcilable differences over public education.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Zais, educators remain at odds
Greenville News, August 17, 2013
Nobody expected a conventional management style when they elected a retired brigadier general as state superintendent of education.
TENNESSEE
Teacher Face License Loss
Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2013
Many states have begun to link teachers’ pay to their effectiveness in the classroom. On Friday, Tennessee joined a handful that are taking the idea further: pull the license of teachers whose students consistently fail to improve.
Northside School for Detained Juveniles Opens
Memphis Daily NEws, August 19, 2013
The charter school that opened for class Thursday, Aug. 15, in North Memphis is unique for several reasons.
TEXAS
Most charter schools meet new Texas standards
Dallas Morning News, August 17, 2013
Four out of five Texas charter schools passed academic muster under the state’s new rating system. As for the one in five that didn’t? A new charter school law promises to weed them out if they don’t improve.
WASHINGTON
Strengthen state law on teacher evaluations
Bellingham Herald, August 19, 2013
Washington state should take the warning from the U.S. Department of Education seriously: Get the state’s teacher evaluation system in line with federal standards or face some fairly dire consequences.
WISCONSIN
College applicant told charter school diploma is worthless
FOX 6 Now, August 18, 2013
Students are the ones returning to the classroom this fall, but with so many schools to choose from, its parents who need to do their homework.
School choice a contradiction in terms
Editorial, The Northwestern, August 18, 2013
School choice? Hardly. The expansion of school vouchers in Wisconsin represents a false choice, a point punctuated by the fact that a majority of the applicants for an expanded voucher program already attend private schools.
ONLINE LEARNING
3 new e-schools OK’d after state ban is lifted
Columbus Dispatch, August 19, 2013
For the first time in eight years, the number of Internet charter schools in Ohio will expand after the state legislature lifted a moratorium on creating new e-schools.
Academy is a success
Column, Port Huron Times Herald, August 18, 2013
The St. Clair County Virtual Learning Academy opened as a high school chartered by the St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency in September 2009 after being a pilot program for six months. After four years, its success can be clearly measured.
Collaborative joins ‘virtual’ school bid for Valley
New Hampshire Gazette, August 19, 2013
Another virtual school may come to the Pioneer Valley. The Northampton-based Collaborative for Educational Services, which serves public schools in Hampshire and Franklin counties, is working with the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative on a joint application for a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Virtual School.
Online learning growing quick
Editorial, The Advocate, August 18, 2013
As another school year approaches, more students will be opting out of traditional classrooms in favor of online learning away from brick-and-mortar campuses. In that shifting environment, how will Louisiana’s colleges and universities compete?
Virtual Academy expands enrollment
Standard Speaker, August 18, 2013
The Hazleton Area Virtual Academy that accepted high school students the past four years will expand to grades seven and eight this year.