Daily Headlines for June 25, 2012
Deborah Kenny: Why Charter Schools Work
Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2012
Accountability for results and freedom from union rules attract the best teachers into the profession
What’s Next For Charter Schools?
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN, June 24, 2012
Back in 1992, with a handful of students and teachers, City Academy High School in St. Paul became the nation’s first public charter school. Now, 20 years later, more than 5,600 charter programs have more than 2 million students in 40 states.
In Charter Schools, A Lesson In Compromise
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN, June 23, 2012
Wherever Ember Reichgott Junge appeared Wednesday at the big National Charter Schools Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center, a crowd gathered.
GOP Missing Chance On Education Reform
San Angelo Standard Times, TX, June 25, 2012
Education is one area where blacks realize they need freedom from government control. The chronic failure of public schools to notably improve dismal test scores and high dropout rates of black children has made it clear to many black citizens of good will that there has got to be a better way.
FROM THE STATES
ARKANSAS
Closing The Academic Gap
Log Cabin Democrat, AR, June 23, 2012
Conway public school programs targeting black students are helping decrease the divide in test scores between black and white children, school officials said.
CONNECTICUT
State Invites Four School Districts To Develop Turnaround Plans
Hartford Courant, CT, June 23, 2012
The state Department of Education has invited four school districts to develop turnaround plans for schools that will be considered for the $7.5 million Commissioner’s Network, including an innovative plan already underway in New Haven where a teachers union will manage a school.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. Students Tipped Off Investigators To Cheating Teachers
Washington Examiner, DC, June 23, 2012
The beginning of the end for a D.C. teacher was when a Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School student came home with test scores so high they made his parent suspicious.
Investigation Finds Cheating At D.C. Schools
Washington Times, DC, June 22, 2012
Standardized test scores from three D.C. classrooms were invalidated because teachers helped students choose the right answers or flouted security protocols in April 2011.
Finally, School Vouchers in the District of Columbia!
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, June 24, 2012
In a rare example of the Obama administration doing the right thing, it has agreed to fully implement a D.C. school voucher program it’s been trying to kill by funding only existing enrollees since 2009.
FLORIDA
School Too Crowded? Too Far? It’s Relative
Palm Beach Post, FL, June 25, 2012
Parents don’t want their child to attend a crowded school. Unless, that is, he or she could be squeezed into a bursting classroom at, say, Suncoast High School or another premier magnet program.
Education for Profit
Tallahassee Democrat, FL, June 24, 2012
Charter schools were intended to be a public school option for children stuck in bad schools, but dollar signs have transformed them into big business commodities.
Miami-Dade Teachers Anxious Over Principals’ Evaluations
Miami Herald, FL, June 22, 2012
Teachers are concerned about their evaluations, which for the first time will factor in student scores. The first part, based on principal observations, is already stirring angst.
GEORGIA
Charting A New Course Here
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, June 23, 2012
Two recent controversies highlight the need for the General Assembly to reconsider the fiscal checks and balances in place as it expands school choice options for Georgia families.
IOWA
Failure of Reform Means No NCLB Waiver for Iowa
Press Citizen, IA, June 24, 2012
It’s not often that Iowa’s Republican governor and Iowa ’s Democratic junior U.S. senator agree on … well … anything. But when it comes to affixing blame for why Iowa was denied a waiver from federal No Children Left Behind standards, both Gov. Terry Branstad and Sen. Tom Harkin point in the same direction: toward the Iowa Legislature.
All Iowa Children Are Left Behind
Quad City Times, IA, June 25, 2012
Students in Delaware will return to school later this summer focused on learning, achievement and good grades, without a care in the world the federal government will label their schools as “failures.”
LOUISIANA
New Conflicts Among Schools
The Advocate, LA, June 24, 2012
A new state law allows uncertified teachers to teach in charter schools, public schools that are independently run and boosted by Jindal as a way to improve school performance.
Private-School Voucher Deadline Approaches
Times Picayune, LA, June 24, 2012
Families have until Friday to apply for private school vouchers under the statewide expansion of the program signed into law this year. So far, more than 6,000 applications have been submitted for the program, which is available to students in schools rated C, D or F.
Outsider Shakes Things Up At Algiers Charter Schools
Times Picayune, LA, June 24, 2012
Give Aamir Raza this: He’s aware of what a fearful reputation he’s getting. Having taken the reins at one of the city’s biggest charter school operators — the Algiers Charter Schools Association, a group that runs eight schools on the West Bank with more than 5,000 students — Raza has gone about turning the organization inside out.
Charter Schools Not The Same
The Advocate, LA, June 24, 2012
Chas Roemer is paraphrased, in The Advocate, as saying, charter schools should be given flexibility, and then be held accountable. How are charter schools held accountable? There are no consequences to the failing schools. If public schools fail: Boards are not voted back in; superintendents are fired; voters don’t renew taxes; and the state takes over the school.
MASSACHUSETTS
New Evaluation Rules For Teachers
Metro West Daily News, MA, June 24, 2012
Local school districts are gearing up to implement a state-mandated new teacher evaluation system that gives teachers a greater role in the process.
New York To Release Teacher Evaluations, Without The Names Or The Shame
Christian Science Monitor, MA, June 22, 2012
New York teachers rally around the public release of teacher evaluations, but without a ranking that they (and Bill Gates) say won’t improve education for kids.
Area Teachers Unions Split Over Seniority Legislation
Eagle Tribune, MA, June 25, 2012
Merrimack Valley teachers unions are split over a state union’s decision to work on legislation curbing seniority rights in layoff and transfer decisions.
MARYLAND
Baltimore Increases Number Of Charter Schools
CBS Local, MD, June 24, 2012
Baltimore is boosting the number of charter schools. The city already has the most in Maryland and, as Gigi Barnett reports, school leaders are raising the standards to open a charter.
In A Baltimore School, A Model Of Excellence
Baltimore Sun, MD, June 24, 2012
An outside evaluation puts Mount Royal Elementary at the head of the class; its example should be replicated in schools throughout the system
MICHIGAN
Alternative Education A Way To Stem School-to-Prison Pipeline
Detroit News, MI, June 25, 2012
The apocalyptic state of public education is shoving our high school dropouts onto a pathway to the penitentiary. The latest proof comes in recent reports about how Highland Park may resort to a charter system to keep its doors open in September.
Readers, Diane Ravitch Offer Alternatives To The Highland Park , Muskegon Heights Charter School Decision
Michigan Live, MI, June 24, 2012
If turning over two financially disastrous school districts to charter school operators puts the state’s public schools on “death watch,” then what would be a viable alternative?
New System In St. Clair County Bases Teachers’ Pay On Merit
Detroit Free Press, MI, June 25, 2012
Teachers in St. Clair County’s intermediate school district may be paid based on merit — not length of tenure or number of advanced degrees — under the terms of a novel contract negotiated by the district and teachers union.
MISSOURI
Charter School Bill Would Boost Oversight
Southeast Missourian, MO, June 25, 2012
Adding more good charter schools and getting rid of bad ones is the goal of legislation under consideration by Gov. Jay Nixon.
Other States Tackling Public-Private School Sports Imbalance
Las Vegas Review-Journal, NV, June 24, 2012
The dispute over private school dominance in high school sports is not unique to the Silver State .
NEW JERSEY
Tenure Reform: ‘I’ For Incomplete
Daily Record, NJ, June 23, 2012
Teacher tenure reform has been among the more delicate and misunderstood issues roiling New Jersey under Gov. Chris Christie.
Christie’s Tenure Coup
New York Post, NY, June 23, 2012
Here’s a sign that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is fundamentally reshaping the Garden State : He’s got teacher-union leaders sounding like, well . . . Chris Christie.
NJ Assembly to Weigh Dramatic Teacher Tenure Reforms
WNYC, NY, June 25, 2012
The Assembly is expected to take up deliberations Monday on the most dramatic reforms of New Jersey’s teacher tenure law since the state became the first in the nation to put K-12 tenure on the books in 1909.
NEW YORK
Science Charter School Would Be LI’s First
Newsday, NY, June 23, 2012
A proposal is pending to create a science and technology charter school on the campus of SUNY Old Westbury that, if approved, would be the first of its kind on Long Island .
Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools Getting Disproportionate Share Of State Education Money
New York Daily News, NY, June 25, 2012
One of New York City’s wealthiest charter school operators is expected to be approved for a 50% increase in per-pupil management fees
Schools Hurry To Comply On Teacher Evaluations
Journal News, NY, June 25, 2012
Summer will hardly be a vacation for school officials who have to hastily develop new methods of measuring student progress next year so that teachers can be evaluated across all grades and subjects.
Teacher Evals To Grade On A Curve
Newsday, NY, June 24, 2012
Evaluations could have a strong impact on the careers of thousands of teachers statewide and hundreds on Long Island who potentially face “ineffective” ratings. Under the law, teachers categorized as “ineffective” two years running may be fired after due-process hearings.
Calling All Parents
New York Post, NY, June 23, 2012
Mayor Bloomberg went on the warpath yesterday over a watered-down teacher-evaluation plan enacted by Albany that he said is “of no real use” to parents trying to figure out schooling choices for their kids.
Bill Passed To Make Kindergarten Mandatory In NYC
Newsday, NY, June 23, 2012
Kindergarten would become mandatory for all 5-year-olds in New York City under a bill passed this week by state lawmakers.
OHIO
Former-Quarterback Appointee To Quit Charter-School Effort
Columbus Dispatch, OH, June 23, 2012
Stanley Jackson will resign from the charter school he founded before it ever opens so he can qualify for an appointment to the Ohio Board of Education, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich said yesterday.
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma Colleges, Universities Address Effectiveness Of Remediation Courses
The Oklahoman, OK, June 24, 2012
Concern about remediation or developmental courses has Oklahoma City Community College officials rethinking the way they handle these courses.
PENNSYLVANIA
Sizing Up Two Likely Schools Chief Candidates
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, June 25, 2012
Pedro Martinez is a rising star, an accountant turned reform-minded school administrator. William R. Hite Jr. is a career educator who has brought stability to a large, politically tough, predominantly poor district.
Corbett Stands To Win Some School-Reform Victories
Altoona Mirror, PA, June 25, 2012
After more than a year of being demonized for his administration’s deep cuts in state spending for education, Gov. Tom Corbett may soon be able to claim some victories in his school-reform agenda.
Bill Exposes Divide On Reforming Pa. Charter Schools
The Mercury, PA, June 25, 2012
A bill gaining traction in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is serving as a polarizing force for views on how Pennsylvania’s charter schools should be funded.
Protect Charter School Choice in Pennsylvania
York Daily Record, PA, June 22, 2012
Pennsylvania’s Charter School Act of 1997 must be updated to reflect the current, vital role charter schools offer parents and children. Two pieces of proposed legislation in the House Education Committee aim to reform charter school law, but each would have a very different outcome for parents and children seeking public school choice in the commonwealth.
TEXAS
Compass Academy Makes Room For More Students
Odessa American, TX, June 24, 2012
Despite the bumps that come with opening a new school, the first school year has been relatively smooth according to the head of the newest charter school in Odessa , Compass Academy .
WASHINGTON
Teacher at Seattle Last-Chance School Sees Himself Reflected In Students
Seattle Times, WA, June 24, 2012
At Seattle’s Interagency Academy , a part of the city’s public-school system for students who have been expelled or are otherwise not making it in regular schools, teacher Frank Whiten sees himself reflected in his students.
WISCONSIN
Open Enrollment Is A Game Changer, But Not For Everyone
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, June 23, 2012
Milwaukee has gotten a lot of attention since the early 1990s for its private school voucher program, arguably the most important and far-reaching such effort in the country, at least until now. But the Milwaukee area can also been seen as an important laboratory for open enrollment.
ONLINE SCHOOLS
Cyber Schools Face Tougher Standards
Pottstown Mercury , PA, June 25, 2012
Hannah Tuffy, a Pennsylvania Cyber School graduate from Scranton, was recently accepted to the prestigious U.S. Military Academy at West Point , where she will go on to serve her nation with excellence. This honorable fact doesn’t square with Mr. Bonekemper’s recent opinion letter which claims cyber charters offer substandard education.
Chesterfield to Offer Online GED Testing
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, June 25, 2012
Two Virginia school divisions will be the first in the state to offer online general educational development testing.
N.C. School Districts Fight Online Charter School
NPR, June 25, 2012
One of the fastest growing segments of the charter school movement is online charter schools. For-profit company, K-12 Inc., runs online charters in more than two dozen states and wants to expand to North Carolina. But it’s run into fierce opposition from public school districts there.
Charter Foes Are Greedy
Smithfield Herald, NC, June 24, 2012
Mounting opposition to the state’s first online charter school is all about money; at least the leaders of traditional public schools are admitting as much. But their arguments are selective with the facts and suggest animosity toward anything but the status quo in education.
Virtual Charter School in Cabarrus County Presents Concrete Challenge
News & Observer, NC, June 25, 2012
A virtual charter school with the potential to siphon millions of dollars from traditional public schools will pit school-choice advocates against the state’s education establishment at a Monday court hearing.
New Virtual Program Could Help Oshkosh Schools Compete For Students
The Northwestern, WI, June 23, 2012
Oshkosh school administrators unveiled a plan last week that they hope will slow the departure of students for other districts by tapping into the virtual learning market, a move that could also thrust the community into an intensifying, state-wide battle over open enrollment.