Daily Headlines for October 14, 2013
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
Master’s Degrees May Not Help Teachers Teach Better
Letter, Wall Street Journal, October 11, 2013
I wasn’t surprised to learn that master’s degrees do little to enhance the skills of teachers in our public schools.
Truancy is just a symptom
Opinion, Los Angeles Times, CA, October 13, 2013
I’ve been thinking of that boy lately as state and national officials are vowing to get tough on truancy. It would be hard to find an educator who doesn’t agree that truancy is a problem.
Schools and children caught in D.C.’s political crossfire
Opinion, Washington Times, DC, October 13, 2013
The shutdown threatens to close the schoolhouse on nearly 35,000 students in charter schools if the city fails to pay the charters their allotment, Donald Hense, founder and chairman of Friendship Public Charter Schools, told me.The looming deadline is particularly risky for new startups and small charters that do not have substantial cash reserves, he said.
STATE COVERAGE
ALABAMA
The fleecing of Alabama education
Opinion, Anniston Star, AL, October 13, 2013
Michelle Rhee, president of StudentsFirst, came recently to Birmingham for what Rhee said was an event “that brought together 150 teachers and parents for an open, frank discussion about solutions to raise student achievement in this city and around the nation.”
CALIFORNIA
Students in foster care face ‘invisible achievement gap,’ study says
Los Angeles Times, CA, October 14, 2013
California students in foster care do worse academically and have a higher dropout rate than their statewide peers, study says.
COLORADO
Retain innovation in Douglas County schools
Editorial, Denver Post, CO, October 14, 2013
Despite their importance, school board elections in most districts are often contests between candidates with very similar views. The stakes are not large. But every now and then an exception like Douglas County appears.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. schools to use lottery
Washington Post, DC, October 13, 2013
The majority of D.C. charter schools and all schools in the city’s traditional school system plan to participate in a unified lottery to determine enrollment for the 2014-15 school year, according to Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s office.
FLORIDA
Embattled charter chain fights to add schools in Orange County
Orlando Sentinel, FL, October 13, 2013
Under the large apple logo of the Charter Schools USA chain, uniformed children walk single-file down the tidy halls at Renaissance Charter School at Chickasaw Trail.
Flagler County may gain charter school
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL, October 13, 2013
Flagler County parents could have another school option for their preschool-age children next year.
Nearly 70 students withdraw from new charter school
Tampa Bay Times, FL, October 13, 2013
A Pinellas County Schools administrator interviewed parents last month, when 23 children had left, to determine whether University Prep was telling families to leave. But parents said they were pulling their children voluntarily. They were concerned about bullying, missing textbooks and other issues.
ILLINOIS
Fixing schools to fix Chicago
Opinion, Chicago Tribune, IL, October 13, 2013
But there is another army, half as large, that risks defeat. In the Class of 2013, what Chicagoans didn’t see onstage were 9,310 empty chairs — one for every CPS student who had entered ninth grade but dropped out along the way.
Only 60 percent of students from Chicago’s closed schools turn up at “welcoming schools”
WBEZ, IL, October 14, 2013
Far fewer students from Chicago’s closed elementary schools are enrolled where the district thought they would be this fall.
State A Voucher Program
Letter, Chicago Tribune, IL, October 11, 2013
My idea for rewriting the Plan of Chicago is to give each Chicago Public Schools student an annual voucher for the value of their state-provided aid that could be used to attend any licensed school in Illinois, Wisconsin or Indiana.
INDIANA
IDOE develops outreach division offers help to struggling schools
Munster Times, IN, October 13, 2013
Indiana’s education leader is not planning a state takeover of failing schools like her predecessor, and has said she doesn’t support that approach.
Indiana ranks 2nd in vouchers
Journal Gazette, IN, October 13, 2013
Growth in Indiana’s voucher programs continues to explode at an unprecedented rate, and advocates argue that the recent ISTEP scores for Marion County show that they offer a route to better schools for poor and middle-income families that use the program.
IOWA
Iowa education reform group brings praise, concern
Sioux City Journal, IA, October 12, 2013
A controversial education reform group that pressed flesh and spent the most money on Iowa lawmakers in the run up to 2013’s education reform law is building its Iowa presence with an eye toward being a major player in education policy.
MASSACHUSETTS
In mayor’s race, hope for school reform
Boston Globe, MA, October 12, 2013
JOHN CONNOLLY has staked out his turf as the “education mayor.” But his opponent, Marty Walsh, is no slouch on the topic either. Indeed, some of his ideas go further and are more compelling.
Massachusetts education bill would narrow achievement gap
Editorial, The Republican, MA, October 13, 2013
Look no further than Springfield’s Alfred G. Zanetti Montessori School for evidence that state legislation aimed to eliminate the achievement gap is working.
Patrick’s dismantling of education reform has consequences
Opinion, Taunton Gazette, MA, October 13, 2013
For more than six years, Gov. Deval Patrick has systematically dismantled the commonwealth’s 1993 Education Reform Act, which made Massachusetts students the highest performers in the country and among the best in the world. The damage is starting to show in recent MCAS and SAT performance.
MINNESOTA
Minnesota’s loose rules boost enrollment in special ed
Star Tribune, MN, October 13, 2013
Loose rules enable students who wouldn’t qualify in other states to get services, straining budgets.
Report: In racially-diverse suburbs, charter schools getting whiter
Minnesota Public Radio, MN, October 13, 2013
A growing number of charter schools with mostly white students are opening in racially diverse Twin Cities suburbs, according to a new University of Minnesota report.
MISSOURI
Most transfer students staying in new schools
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, October 14, 2013
A large majority of students who transferred out of the Normandy and Riverview Gardens districts this year have stayed in their new schools, a follow-up attendance count has shown.
NEW JERSEY
Some N.J. private schools for disabled students cashing in on taxpayers
Star-Ledger, NJ, October 13, 2013
A two-month Star-Ledger investigation found Somerset Hills and schools like it operate in a twilight zone of the state education system, under a unique set of rules that allows them to spend taxpayer money in ways few would tolerate of public schools.
Weighing all the options
Hudson Reporter, NJ, October 12, 2013
Hundreds of parents and soon-to-be parents turned out for the Hoboken Family Alliance’s ninth Annual All Schools Open House on Thursday night, meeting with representatives from public, charter, private, and parochial schools from around Hudson and Bergen Counties.
NEW MEXICO
Campbell district orders charter school students to repeat a year
Mercury News, NM, October 13, 2013
An African proverb says when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. In the war among school officials over charter schools, students who enrolled in a fledgling charter school that closed after a year are now being punished by the Campbell Union High School District.
Rally set to protest teacher evaluation changes
Albuquerque Journal, NM, October 12, 2013
An Albuquerque Public Schools board member is organizing a political offensive against reforms by the state Public Education Department and sending a message to state legislators: Rein in the PED and put the brakes on school reforms, or you will be targeted next.
NEW YORK
Alex White on charter schools and school funding
Column, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, NY, October 13, 2013
Last week we learned that Lovely Warren has chosen not to debate Green Party Mayoral candidate Alex White. For voters seeking meaningful discussion of the issues and an exchange of ideas, her decision was highly disappointing. Given that education is the cornerstone of her campaign (and the topic of our blog), I felt especially shortchanged.
Charter school chain can ignore new state rules on teacher evaluations
New York Daily News, NY, October 14, 2013
The high-performing Uncommon Schools have opted out of receiving federal Race to the Top funds, meaning they are exempt from New York’s new method of evaluating teachers.
Charter schools get green light — for now
New York Post, NY, October 14, 2013
The city’s Department of Education is giving the green light to open or expand 23 charter schools before Mayor Bloomberg leaves office and provide them with free space in city buildings.
Teacher evaluations restricted to parents, guardians
Glen-Falls Post Star, NY, October 13, 2013
Teacher evaluation scores aren’t subject to the Freedom of Information Law and won’t be released to the general public — only to parents and guardians of students because of a provision in the state law.
NORTH CAROLINA
Supreme Court to decide future of NC Pre-K
News & Observer, NC, October 13, 2013
The future of statewide public preschool may be decided in a case the state Supreme Court will consider this week.
OKLAHOMA
State school spending now last in seven-state region
Tulsa World, OK, October 14, 2013
State aid to public schools in Oklahoma has fallen by more than $200 million since the 2008-09 school year, according to a report prepared by the chief financial officers of Jenks, Tulsa and Union school districts.
PENNSYLVANIA
Council schools plan: Good for kids – and for pols?
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, October 14, 2013
CITY COUNCIL’S plan to buy $50 million worth of empty school buildings and resell them through city agencies is being touted as the best way to ensure the cash-strapped School District of Philadelphia has enough money to finish the year.
‘Leveling’ at city schools is raising anxiety
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, October 14, 2013
“It’s called “leveling” – the process the Philadelphia School District uses in mid-October to shift teachers based on enrollment fluxes.
Rutgers-Camden partners with KIPP Charter Schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, October 14, 2013
Today, the national network of KIPP charters will announce Rutgers-Camden as the 12th partner on a growing list of universities committed to increasing college graduation rates among low-income students.
TENNESSEE
Three local charter schools aim to avert closure
The Tennessean, TN, October 14, 2013
Smithson-Craighead Academy faculty, administrators and supporters spent the past week giving the North Nashville charter school a facelift, complete with freshly painted classrooms and new spaces for a library and a computer lab.
TEXAS
Despite expansion efforts, only 4 charter schools in line for approval
American-Statesman, TX, October 13, 2013
The political demand for new charter schools in Texas appears to have outpaced the actual supply, at least for now.
Texas merit pay plan for teachers quietly disappears
Dallas Morning News, TX, October 13, 2013
It was the largest program of its type in the nation just a few years ago, hailed by Republican leaders as the wave of the future in education. But Texas’ once-vaunted teacher merit pay plan is no more.
WISCONSIN
Charter school bill draws little interest
Leader-Telegram, WI, October 12, 2013
A proposed law that would give UW universities and technical colleges the authority to establish K-12 charter schools has been received coolly by local college officials.
Sheboygan officials oppose loosening charter rules
Sheboygan Press, WI, October 12, 2013
Sheboygan Area School District officials are speaking out against recently introduced legislation that would permit entities from outside Sheboygan to authorize new charter schools, circumventing the district’s two-year moratorium on establishing new schools.
WYOMING
Do teacher evaluations help out students?
Wyoming Tribune, WY, October 13, 2013
Laramie County School District 1 is involved in a national study on teacher and leader evaluations. It examines the link between teacher and principal evaluations and student learning and growth, assistant superintendent of human resources John Lyttle said.
ONLINE LEARNING
Can a blend of computer lessons, classroom instruction and few teachers lead to student success?
Indianapolis Star, IN, October 12, 2013
When visitors to the Carpe Diem charter school see 175 students wearing headphones and staring into computer screens from small cubicles, Principal Mark Forner is ready for a skeptical reaction.
Embattled Solomon cyber charter to close
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, October 12, 2013
Faced with concerns about student safety, finances, and other issues, an embattled Philadelphia cyber charter school will fold at the end of the month.
House Bill Would Expand Online Education in PA
WESA NPR, PA, October 14, 2013
A plan to make online courses available to middle school and high school students in Pennsylvania is before the state House.
Virtual High School offering full-time program
Metro West Daily News, MA, October 14, 2013
Posing it as an alternative for districts wary of the coming public virtual schools in the state, Virtual High School is now offering a fully online course-load for students at its member schools.