Half of Bellows Free Academy High School graduates are not proficient in reading, and more than half graduate without basic proficiency in math. Local Vermont Superintendent Robert Rosane wanted to change this, but was met with resistance by the union, who said it was unfair to call this high school failing because other surrounding schools…

The nation is grappling with tragedy this holiday season, just as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dealt with tragedies during Christmas seasons long ago that elicited his famous "Christmas Bells" poem. The poem concludes with a renewed hope for peace among mankind, a feeling that undoubtedly permeates the nation after the horrific events at Sandy Hook elementary…

December 14, 2012 Earlier this week, Edspresso shared how Brockton, MA’s school super is “Trashing Charters on Company Time.” Now Matt Malone is poised to become Massachusetts’ next Ed Chief. Will his opposition to charters continue in his new role, or will he come to see the light as the former Brockton superintendent, Basan “Buzz”…

December 11, 2012 This is what the Superintendent of Brockton Massachusetts has time to do, when the students in this district, a very heavily minority district barely passing the state's requirements for performance in any grade, and in most, are below 45% proficiency. SABIS, a proven leader in charter school management that has been praised…

December 7, 2012 Remember the board game Risk, where the goal was "world domination," or "to occupy every territory on the board and in so doing, eliminate all other players"? Well unfortunately this scenario is playing out in real life in the charter school world in the form of increasing regulations. The problem is autonomy…

December 6, 2012 "The teacher body are all inspiring. They make us well rounded. Notice the halls? At my old school, the halls are never quiet. You can't even walk. There are fights everywhere." That was from Michael, a 15 year old freshman at Howe HS in Indianapolis, one of the four worst schools in…

November 16, 2012 News of Hostess, the company that produces Twinkies, Wonderbread, and other food items close to the hearts of many Americans, has surely hit your ears or eyes by now. Although there's more to the story, the company essentially called it quits because its current cost structure was no longer profitable. A large…

October 30, 2012 So there’s another movie out there that pits a great teacher against the system, only this one is set in rural South Carolina and it’s based in the 1960s, not today. At the end, after imparting wisdom and knowledge, Mr. Conroy gains the support of parents but the scorn of the administration,…

I was recently asked by a famous Ed Blogger, Alexander Russo, what I thought of the "audit" by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), over how charter school funds are monitored. The experience of reviewing this report was a reminder of the disconnect between a new way of doing public schooling and the old fashioned way.…

Coverage of the conventions continues today in Charlotte, where veteran CER staffer Kara Kerwin has been hob-knobbing with Edreformers... and some not-so-edreformers! Here at a Dems for Ed Reform event the two major union bosses flank entrepreneur, Princeton Review Founder John Katzman. (Note they look a little peeved to have to listen to someone else!)…