Daily Headlines for August 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
ACT: Only quarter of grads ready for all subjects
Associated Press, August 21, 2013
Just a quarter of this year’s high school graduates who took the ACT tests have the reading, math, English and science skills they need to succeed in college or a career, according to data the testing company released Wednesday.
Poll: Most Americans unfamiliar with new Common Core teaching standards
Washington Post, August 21, 2013
Most Americans have never heard of the Common Core State Standards, the educational approach that is overhauling classroom instruction across most of the country and has triggered intensifying political and policy debate about the nation’s academic benchmarks, according to a national poll scheduled to be released Wednesday.
The Debate Over School Standards
Letters, New York Times, August 21, 2013
Re “Debut of School Standards Is Rocky, and the Critics Are Pouncing Left and Right” (news article, Aug. 16).
U.S. schools compete for smaller pots of state aid-S&P
Reuters, August 20, 2013
Most U.S. states, faced with a sluggish economic recovery and population growth, are still spending less on each public school student than they did before the recession, according to a Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services report on Tuesday. The rapid growth of charter schools is compounding the problem, pulling students away and putting some public school districts – urban ones in particular – open to credit risk.
STATE COVERAGE
ALABAMA
Plan 2020 to improve education ‘looks like a winner’
Montgomery Advertiser, August 21, 2013
For those who need to hit the refresh key, Plan 2020 is state Superintendent Tommy Bice’s strategic plan for K-12 public education in Alabama, designed to replace the federal No Child Left Behind Act in assessing academic progress.
School ‘choice’ in Alabama is a cruel illusion
Opinion, August 21, 2013
What are your options if your child is in a failing school in Alabama? There are 78 public schools in the state that are classified as “failing,” so the question is certainly not just hypothetical.
ARKANSAS
New Ark. panel on charter schools to meet
KTBS, August 21, 2013
A committee created by Arkansas lawmakers earlier this year to review charter school applications is convening for its first meeting.
CALIFORNIA
Former Villaraigosa associate to challenge state Supt. Torlakson
Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2013
Marshall Tuck, who headed Mayor Villaraigosa’s education nonprofit, is also taking on the state teachers union, a powerful backer of Torlakson.
Use agreement remains sticking point: Charter school, district haggling continues via email
Los Altos Town Crier, August 20, 2013
After a week of email communications between the Los Altos School District and Bullis Charter School, face-to-face contact may finally be on the horizon.
COLORADO
Governor touts school-finance reform tax hike
Our Colorado News, August 20, 2013
Gov. John Hickenlooper gave a full-throated endorsement of a school-finance reform tax hike at a Lakewood rally on Aug. 15, marking the beginning of a campaign behind what’s expected to be the most significant ballot question voters will decide this fall.
CONNECTICUT
Widening achievement gap is the most troubling test result
Greenwich Times, August 21, 2013
The numbers have been in for a week now. They’ve been written about, and written about. They’ve been analyzed, discussed and explained.
FLORIDA
Majority of new students optin in from charter schools
Tallahassee Democrat, August 21, 2013
Leon County Schools Superintendent Jackie Pons confirmed Tuesday the district has 400 additional secondary school students, the majority of whom opted back into the district through the new School Choice for Charters program.
School district reconsiders how charter schools are funded
Herald Tribune, August 21, 2013
Following the Imagine School at North Port saga, Sarasota County School Board members said they have been too generous and want stricter rules over how some charter schools are funded.
INDIANA
Vouchers as constitutional as the Bill of Rights – as long as they are open to all people
Opinion, News-Sentinel, August 21, 2013
K-12 education is the largest component of Indiana’s state budget. Most Hoosier students go to public schools and probably always will.
LOUISIANA
Charter Schools Could be the NEwest Addistion in Lafayette Parish
KATC, August 20, 2013
Wednesday night, the Lafayette Parish School Board will vote on a proposal to bring five charter schools to the parish. The school board will consider partnering with two companies, . Like other charter schools, those with these companies would run on private donations and some public funds.
Teachers union urges action from Jindal on tenure law
Times-Picayune, August 20, 2013
Gov. Bobby Jindal should act to remove unlawful portions of a teacher tenure law passed in 2012, a Louisiana teachers union said Tuesday. The governor’s office said it will appeal a Friday district court ruling that said portions of the law violated teachers’ rights to property and due process.
MICHIGAN
Consensus for Change Think Tank talks Michigan school reform
Battle Creek Enquirer, August 20, 2013
If you could dismantle our state’s public education system — from the brick-and-mortar schoolhouses to the 37-year-old statute that funds them to the piles of administrative rules that govern them — how would you rebuild it?
NEVADA
A head start on higher ed: High school students earning college credit
Reno Gazette Journal, August 21, 2013
For Washoe County School District schools, letting high school students take college courses and earn both high school and college credits is a way to open higher education to more students, said Pedro Martinez, district superintendent. The district’s Signature Academy program, still in its early stages, is being built so that by the time a student is a senior, he or she can take college courses.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Charter school pitched for Seacoast to open in Derry
Portsmouth Herald, August 21, 2013
The state Board of Education approved the application for a group that originally planned to open an arts-focused charter school in August 2014 on the Seacoast, but must locate in the Derry area.
NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe confident in teacher evaluation changes
Opinion, Albuquerque Journal, August 21, 2013
According to a recent national study, two-thirds of teachers across this country feel that their schools’ evaluation systems do not adequately assess their work in the classroom. This observation appears to be consistent with what has historically occurred in New Mexico.
NEW YORK
P.S. I Love You: Why Downtown Parents Are Choosing Public School
New York Observer, August 20, 2013
With a looming budget crisis and massive public contracts overdue, it’s fair to expect that public school class sizes will continue to inflate even as classroom budgets will continue to be reduced. Still, it seems that an increasing number of parents who can afford private school are sending their kids to public school.
OHIO
Student growth aspect of new evaluations concerns educators
Newark Advocate, August 21, 2013
The portion of a teacher’s evaluation involving student growth measures, including value-added data, is one concern many administrators and teachers have with the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation System.
OREGON
Board approves charter cap increase
Lebanon Express, August 20, 2013
The Lebanon Community School District board approved an enrollment cap increase of 40 students for Sand Ridge Charter School at its Aug. 15 meeting, and renewed the school’s contract with the district.
PENNSYLVANIA
A Renaissance school provision raises concerns
Philadelphia Inquirer, August 21, 2013
A year and a half after signing the Urban Hope Act, designed to stimulate alternatives in urban education, Gov. Christie on Monday signed amendments to the law that potentially would put new financial burdens on urban districts that host “Renaissance school” projects.
State education associations applaud Pa.’s No Child Left Behind waiver
Patriot-News, August 20, 2013
Adequate Yearly Progress is a thing of the past in Pennsylvania schools after the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday approved the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver request.
State Rep. Sims to Pa.: Put your money where your kids are
Philadelphia Inquirer, August 20, 2013
The lack of proper funding for education is not an issue of “poor finances,” as Governor Corbett has claimed. It is an issue of poor priorities.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Calhoun Falls Charter school aims for another ‘A’ rating
Greenwood Index Journal, AUgust 20, 2013
With Calhoun Falls Charter School maintaining an “A” rating among federal accountability standards, principal Deirdre McCullough said expectations are high for the 2013-14 school year.
TENNESSEE
Metro approves new charter school in East Nashville
The Tennessean, August 21, 2013
After hearing a passionate plea against sacrificing Nashville’s poorest children to budget woes, the Metro school board Tuesday approved a charter school for the east side of town.
TEXAS
Nacogdoches parents explain reasons 500 students have transferred
KTER-TV, August 20, 2013
During the 2011 and 2012 school year 500 students transferred out of the Nacogdoches Independent School District. With less than a week left before the upcoming school year superintendent Dr. Fred Hayes is giving parents the option to voice their concerns.
State report finds Houston charter school misspent $5.3 million in federal funds
Dallas Morning News, August 20, 2013
A Houston charter school misspent $5.3 million in federal funds on items ranging from first-class airline tickets to spa services, according to a state report released Tuesday.
WISCONSIN
Charter operator Rocketship opens in Milwaukee, hits enrollment target
Journal Sentinel, August 20, 2013
While the majority of the state’s students have at least two more weeks of summer vacation, a new elementary charter school on the south side opened its doors for the first time this week, bringing a new song and dance to the Milwaukee education scene.
ONLINE LEARNING
Clay County fears losing millions to out-of-county virtual schools
ActionNewsJax, August 20, 2013
A new way of counting virtual students is affecting how much Clay County Schools receives in funding from the state.
Cyber charter school to open on Octorara’s campus
Octorara News, August 20, 2013
The Exton-based 21st Century Cyber Charter School will open its first satellite location on the Octorara Area School District campus on Aug. 26.
Local families stand behind online school
Johnson City Press, August 20, 2013
For the second year in a row, Tennessee’s only online public school scored at the bottom level on standardized tests, but school administrators and local parents insist the alternative curriculum provides quality education opportunities.
Online learning, career prep gain popularity for high school students
Sentinel Source, August 20, 2013
Two popular trends in American education are converging to support the academic and career interests of high school students nationwide: online learning and Career Technical Education (CTE) courses.
Valle Catholic High School Will Go ‘Virtual’ With Online Learning
Ste. Genevieve Herald, August 20, 2013
Dr. Mark Gilligan, the principal of Valle Catholic High School, plans to steer his institution in a new direction in the spring of 2014 with a virtual learning environment.