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
8 states lament consequences of ‘No Child Left Behind’ law
Politico, October 15, 2013
The bill for No Child Left Behind is due this school year, but some states don’t want to pay. This is the school year by which the nearly 12-year-old federal education law requires 100 percent of their students must be reading and doing math on grade level. Most states — 42 to be exact, plus the District of Columbia, and a group of eight districts in California — have escaped that rigid target in exchange for others with waivers from the law.
Don’t Leave Responsible Parents Behind
National Review Online, October 15, 2013
One of the remarkable things about contemporary education reform may be its lack of interest in responsible parenting. In recent years, an intense focus on closing racial and economic achievement gaps has resulted in policies and practices that can sometimes come at the expense of families that work hard and play by the rules.
Minority families and leaders are critical to school reforms
Column, Dallas Morning News, TX, October 14, 2013
Until the mid-1980s, the national conversation about education largely revolved around what goes into schools: money, teachers, facilities and principals being among the “inputs” that drew our attention. But the school reform movement took off three decades ago to broaden the conversation.
Vouchers validated by most studies
Editorial, Orange County Register, CA, October 11, 2013
Though U.S. taxpayers spend billions of dollars to help families pay tuition to private colleges, hardly anyone questions whether the “investment” yields academic gains.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
The Education Debit Card
National Review Online, October 15, 2013
So how exactly does the option work, and how are ESAs different from vouchers? In Arizona (the only state currently offering ESAs), parents who are not satisfied with their child’s assigned public school can withdraw the child from the public system and have 90 percent of what the state would have spent on their child deposited into an education savings account.
CALIFORNIA
Charter school, new boundaries considered at Panama-Buena Vista
Bakersfield Californian, CA, October 14, 2013
A new elementary charter school is one of the options the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District is considering to ease overcrowding on some campuses.
COLORADO
Denver Public Schools election offers voters two paths
Denver Post, CO, October 15, 2013
Denver Public Schools is at a crossroads. The district can double-down on Superintendent Tom Boasberg’s reform efforts, which include shuttering low-performing campuses, fostering the growth of charter schools and encouraging the development of campuses that have the ability to waive certain teachers’ union rights.
Making the grade
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO, October 14, 2013
Colorado is a microcosm of what is happening nationally. The state and some districts and charters embraced change early, but the Legislature has not funded reforms properly, critics say. They point out that Colorado ranks toward the bottom in education spending. Amendment 66, which is on the November ballot, would infuse almost $950 million into Colorado’s education system.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Catania to Convene Education Roundtable
Washington Informer, DC, October 14, 2013
D.C. Council member David A. Catania will hold a public meeting this week to hear from city education officials regarding the status of Options Public Charter School, which faces revocation amid recent revelations of financial mismanagement.
FLORIDA
The Stewart education plan
Editorial, Ocala Star Banner, FL, October 15, 2013
If we could give Florida’s new commissioner of education, Pam Stewart, a piece of advice as she undertakes a litany of complex, high-profile policy and procedural changes that will affect every school, every teacher and maybe every student in the state, it is this: Keep it as simple as possible and keep the focus on the students and their futures.
ILLINOIS
Ideas from a retired Chicago teacher
Letter, Chicago Tribune, IL, October 14, 2013
I grew up in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s west side. By 1967, the year I started high school, Austin High School was already rampant with gang violence — both black and white. My parents opted instead to send me on the “L” to St. Ignatius High School at Roosevelt Road and Racine Avenue.
Many shun CPS’ plan for ‘welcoming’ schools
Chicago Tribune, IL, October 15, 2013
Almost half the youngsters most affected by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s school shutdowns did not enroll this fall in the new schools where officials planned for them to go, records from Chicago Public Schools show.
LOUISIANA
BESE faces heavy agenda Tuesday
The Advocate, LA, October 14, 2013
Louisiana’s top school board faces one of its most controversial agendas in months on Tuesday, including renewed arguments on the merits of more rigor in public school classrooms.
MARYLAND
City school board seeks evaluation of Teach for America recruits
Baltimore Sun, MD, October 14, 2013
The Baltimore City school board has requested the district follow through on a plan to assess the effectiveness of teachers who are alternatively certified through programs like Teach for America, which for years have funneled teachers into the city’s most needy schools.
MICHIGAN
Poor students are more likely to get Michigan’s least experienced teachers
Bridge Magazine, MI, October 14, 2013
A Bridge analysis of state data found that inexperienced teachers appear to be clustered in Michigan’s poorest schools. The students in those classrooms will, on average, learn less than their suburban peers taught by more experienced teachers, widening the already yawning achievement gap between Michigan’s academic haves and have-nots.
MINNESOTA
‘We have an opportunity’: District aims to narrow achievement gaps
Bemidji Pioneer, MN, October 15, 2013
Beyl, the director of American Indian Education for the Bemidji School District, was one of about a dozen school leaders who met last week to brainstorm ideas on how best to narrow existing achievement gaps, the disparities in student performance for specific subgroups.
MISSOURI
Catholics backing school-choice initiative in Mo.
KBIA NPR, MO, October 14, 2013
Entities affiliated with the Roman Catholic church have contributed more than $300,000 toward a Missouri ballot initiative that would authorize state tax credits benefiting private schools.
Revival of DeLaSalle charter school extends beyond its walls
Kansas City Star, MO, October 14, 2013
In fact, a lot of the people — students, faculty and staff — are smiling a lot more since the school’s $8 million renovation and expansion was completed this fall.
NEVADA
At 1,663 and counting, portable classrooms a fact of life at CCSD schools
Los Vegas Sun, NV, October 15, 2013
Billie Ann Watanabe barely has any space to walk around in her portable classroom. The Ronzone Elementary School fifth-grade teacher has 33 students crammed into a windowless trailer sitting on the school’s blacktop.
NEW YORK
Charter schools need scrutiny
Letter, Albany Times Union, NY, October 14, 2013
Albany teachers are not surprised that, despite weeding out students with special needs and those with behavioral problems, achievement and graduation rates at the city’s two charter high schools are disappointing. (“Failed promises at 2 schools,” Sept. 26).
De Blasio must detail plans for city schools
Editorial, AM New York, NY, October 14, 2013
In a move sure to annoy his adversaries, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is scrambling to firm up plans for 23 more charter schools in the city before the final bell rings on his mayoralty, reports say.
De Blasio vows to ‘immediately’ review Bloomberg’s decisions
New York Post, NY, October 15, 2013
His comments followed word that the city Department of Education is giving the green light to open or expand 23 charter schools and provide them with free space in city buildings.
Eva Moskowitz for New York City schools chancellor
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, October 15, 2013
Diane Ravitch made the suggestion mockingly — but all city public schools could learn from what Success Academies have accomplished
NORTH CAROLINA
DPS sees surprise enrollment increase
Durham News, NC, October 15, 2013
For this school year, the department projected only 42 more students would attend traditional public schools in Durham County than last year. More charter schools were putting in applications, and parents expressed interest in sending their children to them. However, when DPS reported its enrollment Sept. 23, it showed 850 new students, a 2.6 percent increase in students attending traditional public schools from the same time last year.
SOUTH CAROLINA
State moves forward with new teacher evaluation program
Greenville News, SC, October 15, 2013
The new teacher evaluation system the state is piloting is like the computer models weather forecasters use, in the opinion of Greenville County Schools’ testing expert: There are so many factors involved that accuracy is relative.
UTAH
Religious freedom in school could be hot topic in Utah Legislature
Salt Lake City Tribune, UT, October 15, 2013
Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, is working on a bill patterned after a new law in Mississippi that he says will better protect the religious rights of students in public schools.
WASHINGTON
Young Educator Targets Seattle For Charter School; Dreams of Pioneer Square Warehouse
Seattle Weekly, WA, October 14, 2013
As we wrote a couple of weeks ago, the Seattle School Board may have decided against seeking the status that would enable it to authorize charter schools, but that doesn’t mean that charters won’t be coming to Seattle.
WISCONSIN
Do we want out-of-state firms running Wisconsin schools with public dollars?
Opinion, Capital Times, WI, October 14, 2013
Do we want to encourage out-of-state companies to run local schools with tax dollars? This is the objective of a bill before the Wisconsin Senate Education Committee.
Falling enrollment at high performing charter school puzzles district leaders
Oshkosh Northwestern, WI, October 15, 2013
School officials are trying to figure out why an Oshkosh charter school for accelerated learners has one of the highest achievement ratings in the state yet can’t seem to hold onto students.
ONLINE LEARNING
Cyber school Taxpayers stuck with legal fees?
Opinion, Wilkes Barre Times-Leader, PA, October 14, 2013
Due to an ongoing investigation and criminal charges filed against its founder, the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School spent nearly half a million dollars on legal fees in the past year. That’s bad news for the taxpayers, all across Pennsylvania, who fund the public school.
Dallas School Board updated on cyber school services
The Sunday Dispatch, TX, October 14. 2013
The Dallas School Board on Monday night received an update on cyber school services available to the district’s students.
High school memo: Vicksburg virtual school offers alternative to alternative education
Kalamazoo Gazette, MI, October 14, 2013
Last year, WAY enrolled 76 students. This fall, it has 98. Students are provided a computer, if needed, and internet service. They take the Michigan Merit Curriculum — including English, math, science and social studies — but take those classes online.
Idaho’s Largest Charter School Confirms It Outsourced Student Papers To India
Boise State Public Radio, ID, October 14, 2013
Idaho Virtual Academy is the state’s largest public charter school with more than 3,000 students. IDVA contracts with for profit company K12 Inc. for its curriculum and management. In 2007, K12 sent student essays from several schools to India to be edited. We now know that Idaho Virtual Academy was one of those schools.
Schools Learn Tablets’ Limits
Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2013
As schools rush to embrace computer tablets as teaching tools, glitches have officials in a few districts rethinking the usefulness and even security of the latest technology trend.