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
School Choice Week puts spotlight on options
Opinion, Orange County Register, CA, January 7, 2014
America’s education system long has lacked robust choices for parents. Consequently, we face an unprecedented crisis in educational quality. Consider these statistics:
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
School-voucher proponents to push program statewide
East Valley Tribune, AZ, January 6, 2014
Proponents of a voucher-like program are preparing to make them available to every student statewide — more than a million youngsters — now that court challenges to the initial program have been rebuffed.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Bowser noncommittal on Kaya Henderson
Washington Post, DC, January 6, 2014
Would a Mayor Muriel Bowser keep Chancellor Kaya Henderson at the helm of D.C. Public Schools? Bowser, one of four D.C. Council members challenging incumbent Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) in April’s Democratic primary, faced that question twice on Friday during WAMU-FM’s Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi and Tom Sherwood.
GEORGIA
New performance rules for charter schools raise risks of revocation
Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog, GA, January 6, 2014
Some of you may have missed the AJC analysis of how charter schools could fare under new state performance index. It ran in the middle of the holiday.
Test Scandal in Atlanta Brings More Guilty Pleas
New York Times, NY, January 7, 2014
The cast of characters was mostly former teachers and principals, six of whom pleaded guilty on Monday in a Fulton County courtroom for their part in what has been described as the largest cheating scandal in the nation’s history.
IDAHO
Otter eyes education
Coeur d’Alene Press, ID, January 7, 2014
Gov. Butch Otter billed his State of the State speech on Monday and its proposed 2.9 percent, $37.4 million boost for public education as the start of a five-year journey to lift the quality of Idaho’s schools.
KANSAS
Catholic school, KC charter join effort to bridge digital gap
The Kansas City Star, KS, January 6, 2014
People brought together by a rare partnership between a Kansas City public charter school and its Catholic school neighbor were thinking big.
LOUISIANA
Louisiana’s BESE to consider school funding changes
Alexandria Town Talk, LA, January 7, 2014
The state’s top education board is being asked to consider changes to Louisiana’s complex formula for divvying up money to public schools and to steer new money to technical training courses and special education.
MASSACHUSETTS
No time to rest
Worcester Telegram, MA, January 7, 2014
The latest report from The Research Bureau, “Worcester by the Numbers: Public and Charter Schools,” contains some eye-opening facts about the city’s public schools, including enrollment, achievement, teacher pay, and the relative performance of its only charter high school.
MICHIGAN
At Cesar Chavez Academy, accountability is hard to find
Column, Detroit News, MI, January 7, 2014
I decided to attend the Cesar Chavez Academy (CCA) board meeting in Southwest Detroit on Dec. 12.
MISSOURI
Focus on our kids
Opinion, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, January 6, 2014
I believe that the educators, parents and community leaders throughout our state are united in their desire to ensure that every child has access to quality schools.
NEVADA
Report raises questions about Nevada’s school accountability under No Child Left Behind waiver
Las Vegas Sun, NV, January 7, 2014
Two years ago, the federal government considered Von Tobel Middle School a failing school. Only a third of Von Tobel students were proficient in math, and just a quarter of its pupils passed Nevada’s reading assessment.
NEW YORK
Brooklyn school administrator seeks to form new charter for E. Harlem
New York Daily News, NY, January 6, 2014
Educrat Tameka Jackson wants ‘proactive’ school which, if approved by state, would serve 720 students in grades 6-12. Of the 11 charter schools in East Harlem, only three serve high school students.
District corrects charter school transfer figures
Buffalo News Blog, NY, January 6, 2014
Last month The Buffalo News reported on the number of students who transferred out of charter schools and enrolled in the Buffalo Public School system.
NORTH CAROLINA
Board votes to join voucher suit
The Daily Reflector, NC, January 6, 2014
The Pitt County Board of Education on Monday night voted 9-1 to join a lawsuit against the state regarding a school voucher bill.
Savvy companies can use NC charter school laws to pocket millions
Opinion, News & Observer, NC, January 7, 2014
North Carolina is ripe for an infiltration of nefarious profit-seeking characters in public education. The cap on charter schools has been lifted and the longstanding requirement for “innovation” gone.
OHIO
Teacher education programs at Ohio’s colleges perform well, according to new report
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, January 6, 2014
Teacher education programs at all but one of Ohio’s public and private colleges have been rated effective in the second annual comprehensive performance report by the Ohio Board of Regents.
PENNSYLVANIA
Deficit, time limit subdue educational expectations in Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, January 6, 2014
Charter school reform and a new special education funding formula top the educational wish list of Pennsylvania’s legislative committee leaders, despite a projected budget deficit of up to $1.4 billion.
Success story
Opinion, The Intelligencer, PA, January 7, 2014
Charter schools are a hit. In the 10 years since the state authorized publicly financed charter schools, 162 bricks-and-mortar charter schools have opened in Pennsylvania; an additional 15 cyber charter schools likewise are online.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Promoting education a fresh step for Haley
Editorial, Aiken Standard, SC, January 7, 2014
The eight-year education reform gap left by former S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford may soon be filled. Sanford’s successor – Nikki Haley – will likely introduce a new K-12 public education reform initiative this week aimed at changing the way our state’s education system works.
TEXAS
Ten fired, two resign at charter school co-founded by Deion Sanders
Dallas Morning News, TX, January 6, 2014
The retooling of Prime Prep Academy accelerated Monday with the firings of 10 employees and resignations of two others at the charter school co-founded by former NFL star Deion Sanders.
VIRGINIA
City leaders call for big change as new MLK school opens
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, January 7, 2014
But before the school’s 700 or so students had settled into the cafeteria, Jones and a number of other city leaders were calling for big change in a school that has produced some of the worst standardized test scores in the state for the past three years.
WASHINGTON
Some schools seen as charters in name only
Seattle Times, WA, January 6, 2014
In California — a state besieged by budget cuts, where per-pupil spending is among the lowest in the nation — dozens of schools converted to charters in the 1990s and 2000s in search of a funding boost.
ONLINE LEARNING
Florida Virtual School adds adult classes
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL, January 6, 2014
Florida Virtual School, a state-funded online education program that serves thousands of Volusia and Flagler students every year, is reaching out to a new audience of adults.
Personalized digital learning takes off as Myrtle Beach middle school students receive iPads
Sun News, SC, January 6, 2014
Eighth-graders in Rebecca Shibley’s math class at Myrtle Beach Middle School sat patiently Monday morning as boxes were opened to reveal the new iPads they all had been waiting for.
Temple prof: Pa. cyber charters are turning huge profits, sending tax dollars out of state
Philadelphia Public School Notebook, PA, January 6, 2014
Fewer teachers. No school building. No heating bill. Same cost.
You’d think Pennsylvania’s 16 cyber charter schools, which teach home-based students via the Web, would spend a lot less per student than brick-and-mortar schools.