Sign up for our newsletter
Contact

NEWSWIRE: November 3, 2015

November 3, 2015 By

Vol. 17, No. 43

VOICES OF EDREFORM. Can you hear them? Thousands are advocating for school choice and accountability daily and CER’s You Tube channel has access to many of the leaders who have made edreform happen nationwide. When you need a quick pick me up or want to convince another to come along, have this link at the ready!

VOTE FOR #EDREFORM. Voting today (or soon?) Your special analysis of gubernatorial candidates can be found by clicking on your state at Education50. For determining where all other candidates stand, use this handy guide.

ONLINE STUDY INCOMPLETE. A report that attempts to answer long-held questions about online charter schools and student outcomes unfortunately missed the mark. Don’t miss this must-read from our friends at Getting Smart, who did a stellar job pointing out why this CREDO study would get an “I” for incomplete on its report card. Learn more here and at WSJ Opinion Journal.

NAEP-TASTIC. While it was revealed last week that U.S. students’ scores on the Nation’s Report Card still are not good (66 percent of our nation’s 8th graders can’t read!), there was a shining light as Foundation for Excellence in Education Senior Advisor Matthew Ladner discovered when doing a deeper dive on the scores. Ladner found that Arizona charter schools absolutely rocked the NAEP.

GOOD NEWS IN WINDY CITY. After the charter school moratorium was thwarted in early October, the Chicago Board of Education has unanimously approved two new charter schools to open. Read more here.

KASICH SIGNS CHARTER BILL. While Ohio still has a ways to go in improving its C-rated law, the hard work of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools and their allies should be applauded, as Governor Kasich signed important charter school legislation this week that will uphold accountability and ensure greater transparency.

TEACHER-POWERED. On November 6th & 7th, groups of educators from around the country will gather in Minneapolis, Minnesota to share how they design and run their own schools at the Teacher-Powered Schools National Conference. Join them!

VOTE INNOVATION #NCSC16 PANEL. Do you worry about the fate of innovation in charter schools? If so, go to http://bit.ly/sessionselector and vote for Apples, Oranges? Reconciling Accountability and Innovation in Charter Schools, featuring CER Founder & Senior Fellow Jeanne Allen, AEI Resident Fellow Gerard Robinson, Democracy Prep CEO Katie Duffy, and K12 Inc. Senior Vice President Mary Gifford.

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly, Newswire

Chicago to get new charter schools

November 3, 2015 By

After the charter school moratorium was thwarted in early October, the Chicago Board of Education has unanimously approved two new charter schools to open.

Here’s part of the scoop from Sarah Schulte at ABC 7 Chicago:

The Chicago Board of Education unanimously approved plans Wednesday to open two more charter schools in the city.

Supporters say there is a need and demand for quality choices, while opponents say there is no proof that charters do better than a neighborhood schools.

Dueling protests in front of CPS headquarters occurred Wednesday, as high school students protested budget cuts while teachers voiced their usual objections to new charter schools.

“Why open new school when you can’t fund schools you already have?” said Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey.

Teachers and CPS students were matched with as many charter school supporters.

The charter school controversy came to a head with the school board considering a proposal to open two new schools. Earlier in the week, CPS announced it would reject several proposals and would only recommend a school by the Kipp operator and a new Southwest Side Noble Network High School.

“We need to give parents the ability to send their children to high quality public schools,” said Pam Whitman, a parent. “Noble and Kitt proposals make that reality.”

Dozens of Noble and Kitt charter parents told the board how charter schools have improved their children’s education, especially in low income areas.

“Parents in these communities are asking for these schools and parents show up for them, the rest of this is just politics,” said Jelani McEwen, a charter school supporter.

And politics is exactly what many charter opponents say is behind charter expansion.

Read the rest of the article here.

Nearly all Chicago aldermen (42 out of 50) had signed a resolution seeking a moratorium on new charter schools in the Windy City and across the state. The Illinois Network of Charter Schools said it best when speaking out against the moratorium, writing the proposed moratorium is misguided and fails to acknowledge the reality that “60,000 Chicago parents have chosen to send their children to charter schools, and thousands of students continue to languish on charter school waitlists.”

On October 28, 2015, hundreds of parents rallied in the rain outside of CPS headquarters to ensure their voices were heard of the need for more options for their children.

Filed Under: Breaking News

Evaluating Online Charter Schools

November 3, 2015 By

Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal
November 2, 2015

Jeanne Allen, founder and Senior Fellow of The Center for Education Reform (CER), sits down with Mary Kissel on Opinion Journal Live to discuss a controversial new study of online charter schools. Click here or below to watch.

For more about the online charter school study, see CER’s statement here.

Screen Shot 2015-11-03 at 11.41.28 AM

Filed Under: CER in the News

New scores add fuel to student-testing debate

November 2, 2015 By

by Pauline Liu
Times Herald-Record
November 1, 2015

The fallout is continuing over the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Scores for the tests nicknamed “the Nation’s Report Card” were released last week.

They showed a slight dip in performance since the tests in math and reading were last given to a sampling of fourth- and eighth-graders a couple of years ago.

Less than half of the students tested were able to read or solve math problems at acceptable performance levels.

Is this cause for alarm? Some groups think so.

“Not only are these troublesome statistics on their own, but what’s worse is that the U.S. continues to lag behind other countries, putting our nation’s well-being and economic security at risk,” said Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform.

Read the rest of the article here.

Filed Under: CER in the News

School choices essential

October 30, 2015 By

Letter to the Editor
The Tennessean
October 31, 2015

RE: “Charter school fiscal impact in Nashville: It’s real,” by Will Pinkston, Sept. 13.

It’s no surprise a Metro Board of Public Education member is writing that the district needs more money.

The big education bureaucracy has been arguing this for years. But over the years, districts across the nation have increased spending, yet have little to show when it comes to improved student outcomes, as less than 40 percent of our nation’s kids can read and do math at grade level, according to the Nation’s Report Card.

Charter schools are more efficient by nature because money follows the child to the education that best fits his needs.

The average cost return-on-investment advantage for charters is an almost 3 percent higher return per dollar invested if a student spends one year in a public charter school and a 19 percent higher return per dollar invested if a student spends half of his or her K-12 education (6.5 years) in a charter school.

It’s important parents have a variety of excellent options that include traditional public schools and public charter schools, in addition to a variety of others, including online and blended learning, private, home school, and innovative education options we have yet to discover.

Denying parents opportunities because it affects business as usual, which isn’t producing the best results for our kids, puts Tennessee and our nation’s future — our children — in danger.

Kara Kerwin, president, The Center for Education Reform, Washington, DC, 20036

Filed Under: CER in the News

Less Than Half of U.S. Students Proficient According to Nation’s Report Card

October 28, 2015 By

October 28, 2015

Thirty-four and 33 percent of U.S. eighth grade students are able to read and do math at grade level or better, an alarming statistic revealed today on the results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card. Eighth grade reading and math scores are both down two percentage points from the 2013 report.

Results on the 2015 report card for U.S. fourth graders are 36 proficient or better in reading and 40 percent proficient or better in math. Reading went up one percentage point from 2013 data, while math is down two percentage points.

Looking at state level data, a majority of states have seen no significant changes in scores for fourth and eighth grade reading and math since 2013.

“Not only are these troublesome statistics on their own, but what’s worse is that the U.S. continues to lag behind other countries, putting our nation’s well-being and economic security at risk,” said Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform.

“As our nation approaches a major presidential election and gubernatorial elections in 2016, we must keep education reform at the fore of the debate and challenge ourselves and our leaders to do what’s best for each and every single one of our nation’s students,” Kerwin continued.

“Out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, just six states earn scores above 80 percent when it comes to giving parents fundamental power, transparency and data regarding making the best decisions for their children’s educational outcomes according to the Parent Power Index. While NAEP gives us a snapshot sense of achievement, it is not the best barometer for knowing what works in helping each individual learn and achieve his or her own personal success. We need better data that allows us to know what gets results for the learner so that we can hold states and schools accountable,” Kerwin stated.

Filed Under: Press Releases

CER Responds to Online Charter School Report

October 27, 2015 By

October 27, 2015

An area of education generally, and school choice specifically, that has suffered from a lack of clarity in the K-12 policy space has been online learning. It seems that this can be traced to a common “we don’t really understand how that works” mentality. Unfortunately, this includes many vital stakeholders necessary to the creation of strong school choices for America’s students, including policymakers, authorizers, and school boards. When coupled with the politically contentious issue of charter schools — the school model through which a good number of full-time online learning programs have been established — one sees camps of education reformers dig in on one side or the other when it comes to supporting the ability of online schools to achieve student growth and success.

A new report released today by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) attempts to answer long-held questions and introduce a more substantial discussion of online charter schools into the great education debate. To some degree, they accomplish this through the sheer amount of information and data they present (with additional online learning statistics and survey results contributed by Mathematica and the Center for Reinventing Public Education). However, it should be noted that the report does attempt to make sweeping conclusions and generalities about online charter schools, even though the sample size is just 158 schools across 17 States and Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, their findings echo much of what is already known and identify obstacles to success that developers and providers of full-time online learning have shared publicly as they continue to innovate.

While we appreciate the desire to learn more about how online charter schools are impacting student outcomes, we have concerns with CREDO’s Online Charter School Study.

• Many parents choose online options for their children based on exceptional circumstances and situations, ranging from safety and bullying concerns, to academic issues, to social and emotional issues, medical reasons, and more. For some families, an online school is the only public option available aside from the assigned traditional public school that is not working for their child.

• Data indicates that a majority of students who enroll in online schools do so after the beginning of the school year. This is an important factor this study left out, as the length of time a student is enrolled in a school impacts performance and the ability of the school to improve a student’s academic outcomes.

• Another concern is the (continued) use of a contested methodology throughout the report. The “virtual twin” methodology used, over which CER and other researchers have voiced concerns before, fails to take into account factors such as reasons for enrolling or mobility, dangerously assuming online charter school students face similar circumstances to traditional public school students, when the reality is they are very different.

Online charter schools provide a much-needed option within a larger portfolio of public school programs that offer students the opportunity to identify a learning environment that is right for them. All schools should be held accountable for outcomes, regardless of how or where education is delivered and learning assessed. And in fact, all charter schools are by their very nature held accountable for results in exchange for some operational freedoms, while this is not true of traditional programs. Accountability is achieved through clear policy expectations, professional authorization and unbiased oversight, intentional and research-based practice, and an unrelenting focus on providing students with schools that fit their unique needs.

Policies must also be in place that allow parents choices so that when traditional schools aren’t meeting students’ needs, they can seek out an education option that will meet their child’s unique set of circumstances. Online charter schools are an important part of that equation, and fill a unique void in education in the United States. We must not forget that while all schools must be held accountable for student outcomes, students’ learning needs are unique and varied and require similarly varied modalities to support their success.

Filed Under: Choice & Charter Schools

NEWSWIRE: October 27, 2015

October 27, 2015 By

Vol. 17, No. 42

VICTORY IN TN. Last Friday, the Tennessee State Board of Education made its first-ever binding charter school appeal, approving two KIPP schools for Nashville. Thanks to an update to The Volunteer State’s charter school law in 2014 making the appeal process binding, districts like Nashville can no longer unfairly deny much-needed choices for students by refusing to comply with recommendations for approval. The Metro Nashville Public Schools district isn’t unlike many districts across the nation when it comes to undeservedly denying charter schools. In fact, in 2012, Great Hearts Academy decided to withdraw from helping students in the state due to the Music City district’s unwillingness to approve a school. While Tennessee could still benefit from multiple charter school authorizers, this is a solid win and victorious precedent for students and families in need of excellent education options.

ALL ABOARD THE UNION TRAIN. As the presidential election gets more heated, and Louisiana, Kentucky, and Mississippi hold elections for governor, it’s appropriate to point out how many state laws unfortunately prioritize agendas of teacher unions over the needs of students, taxpayers and even teachers themselves. Teacher unions have evolved into self-preserving bureaucracies, building protections and power for union leaders into state and local policies as they go, as evidenced by their marketing plan surrounding agency fees. Attendees at #EIE15 got to hear first-hand from CER senior fellow Jeanne Allen about what some states are doing to try to derail the union gravy train. Be sure you know which candidates are bound to keep the union train chugging along, and which ones will stand up for choice for parents and educators alike.

TOO MUCH TESTING? In response to a national backlash and concern against over-testing, President Obama is calling for educational testing to take up to only two percent of classroom time. However, Hoover Institution’s Terry Moe, when talking to The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal warns that we “need some sort of balance or happy medium here” when it comes to testing. Tests are needed because they’re an important accountability tool, and, as Moe reminds us, the reason we have the modern-day education reform movement is because states and local governments were doing a lousy job of providing quality education opportunities (cue the union gravy train echoing in the distance!). Performance-based accountability is critical, but we also have to remember the important nuances of how performance is defined. Providing more excellent choices for students can help increase bottom-up accountability, allowing parents the power to choose the schools they know work best for their kids.

ICYMI: #SAVEWACHARTERS UPDATE. Last Friday wasn’t just busy in Tennessee, but in Washington as well, with the state charter association, along with other intervenors, filing a motion for reconsideration in the State Supreme Court’s case against charter schools. Yesterday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, joined the call for the high court to reconsider the ruling.

DO YOU KNOW OUR NEXT INTERN? We’re so thankful for our fall interns’ hard work and dedication, and are excited to see what they will to do help advance education reform in the U.S. And we’re even more excited to see who will join our next cohort of interns for the Spring 2016 semester! As a CER intern, you won’t be getting coffee, but doing work that makes a real difference for kids – if you or someone you know fits the bill, be sure to apply today!

SURVEY SAYS…If you are a charter school, we want to hear from you! CER is encouraging all charter schools to take our 2015 National Charter Schools Survey. The survey results are analyzed and published as CER’s Survey of America’s Charter Schools, a vital publication that since 1996 has helped set the record straight in the media and in statehouses on charter schools. Click here to take the survey, or contact CER at 800-521-2118 or tlosey@edreform.com if you would prefer a hard copy.

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly, Newswire

NEA Agency Fee Toolkit

October 27, 2015 By

As the U.S. Supreme court is considering a case which could strike down laws forcing public employees to pay union dues, teacher unions are gearing up for combating the loss of dues that could result from Fair Share clauses being eliminated from contracts.

Check out this Agency Fee Toolkit from the National Education Association (NEA) about how to “organize” and “ensure opponents aren’t successful in their attempts to undermine our Association” because after all… “Fair share does not force individuals to join the Association. It simply makes sure that all educators contribute to the negotiated benefits and legally required representation that they all enjoy.”

And we bet the political endorsements too, right?  No wonder more educators are starting to become more vocal against unions and speaking out for having more control over their paycheck dollars.

 

Filed Under: Unions & Establishment

Tennessee State Board of Education Grants First-Ever Charter School Appeal

October 23, 2015 By

October 23, 2015

Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform, issued the following statement on the Tennessee State Board of Education’s unanimous vote to approve the two KIPP charter school applications today that were denied by the Metro Nashville Public School Board in August:

“The State Board of Education should be commended for taking its role seriously in ensuring more kids have more quality education options available. Thanks to Tennessee lawmakers amending the state’s charter school law in 2014 to make appeal decisions binding, school districts like Nashville can no longer unfairly deny much-needed choices for students. This is a great day for families and students in Music City.”

BACKGROUND: In 2012, Great Hearts Academies had to cease its efforts to open a school in Nashville after the city refused to comply with the state’s orders to allow the school to operate. In 2014, the Tennessee legislature passed legislation making the State Board of Education’s decisions on appeals binding. In August 2015, three charter school operators denied by the Nashville district filed appeals: two from KIPP, one from Rocketship Education, and one from The International Academy of Excellence. Both the International Academy of Excellence and Rocketship Education appeals were recommended to be denied. To learn more about charter school laws, see here.

Filed Under: Press Releases
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »