Daily Headlines for November 1, 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
Education secretary Duncan discusses plight of rural schools
Columbus Dispatch, OH, November 1, 2013
Rural students need more access to college and technology to make up for the educational challenges they face, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told small-town teachers and school officials gathered in Columbus yesterday.
How Best To Teach the Teachers to Teach Our Children??
Letter, Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2013
Barbara Nemko and Harold Kwalwasser’s “Why Teacher Colleges Get a Flunking Grade”(op-ed, Oct. 24) is an inaccurate depiction of today’s colleges of education.
Is “School Choice” an Anti-Public School Sentiment?
Huffington Post, October 31, 2013
Do so many options undermine the purpose of public schools though? Should all of the energy that is going into building, naming and analyzing these other schools really be channeled into strengthening the basic schools that the government gave us?
Justice Isn’t Colorblind in New Orleans
City Journal, October 31, 2013
Across the country, the school-choice movement’s future may depend on the outcome of a Justice Department lawsuit charging that the Louisiana Scholarship Program—which provides vouchers for poor children to leave failing public schools—increases racial segregation.
More U.S. states leaning on teachers
CBS News, October 31, 2013
With an increased focus on the performance of the nation’s public schools, a growing number of states are scrutinizing the effectiveness of their teachers.
States make big gains in adopting more rigorous standards for teacher evaluations, study finds
Star-Ledger, NJ, November 1, 2013
More than half of the county’s states, including New Jersey, have adopted teacher evaluations that include student achievement as a significant factor for rating teacher effectiveness, according to a new national study.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
North Vallejo charter school wins $150,000 for new classes
Times-Herald, CA, November 1, 2013
Funds to integrate Common Core with college readiness
Students at Vallejo’s oldest charter school could soon take college courses on their own campus, thanks to a new state grant
FLORIDA
Board weighs new charter school
Tampa Tribune, FL, November 1, 2013
A proposed charter school that would focus on special education students could be headed toward approval by the Pasco County School Board.
Charter school retracts letter that threatens to remove students if they fail FCAT
Tampa Bay Times, FL, October 31, 2013
The Orange County school system is investigating a charter school that wrongly threatened to dismiss students for failing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests, or FCAT.
IDAHO
Lawmakers on K-12 committee plan another dive into data
Idaho Press-Tribune, ID, November 1, 2013
In September, a legislative committee spent the better part of a day diving into a dry but crucial issue: computer systems designed to help track student growth and performance.
LOUISIANA
Algiers charter group looking outside the city
The Lens, LA, October 31, 2013
As many New Orleans charter operators begin to look to Baton Rouge as a site for future schools, the Algiers Charter Schools Association announced it is drafting a strategic plan to carry them forward, including the possibility of operating schools outside Orleans Parish.
MAINE
For first academic year, Maine’s two charter schools receive high marks
Bangor Daily News, ME, October 31, 2013
Maine’s first two charter schools sailed through their first-annual monitoring reviews by the Maine Charter School Commission with no major problems.
Maine lagging behind other New England states in education, reforms needed, new coalition study says
Bangor Daily News, ME, October 31, 2013
A coalition of business leaders and educators released a report Thursday morning showing Maine lags behind other New England states in terms of preschool enrollment, college graduation and reading and math proficiencies, among other things.
MARYLAND
Prince George’s holds Academic Fair, showcasing its school options
Washington Post, DC, October 31, 2013
Karen and Reynaldo Dudley of Glenn Dale were on the prowl Wednesday night, in search of a suitable educational program for their son, who will be a high school freshman next fall.
MASSACHUSETTS
A school’s awkward last bell
Editorial
Worcester Telegram, MA, November 1, 2013
The shutdown of the Spirit of Knowledge charter school this week was the obviously correct choice, however painful. With the academic year under way and time of the essence, the school had become too much about itself and too little about the students.
MICHIGAN
DPS enrollment surges after years of decline
Detroit News, MI, November 1, 2013
It’s a problem officials at Detroit Public Schools have wanted for the last five decades: schools bulging with students.
MISSISSIPPI
State proposes alternative high school graduation options
WTVA, MS, October 31, 2013
Before graduating, Mississippi high school students must pass a series of subject area tests, and over the years, those test have become more rigorous, preventing some students from graduating.
MISSOURI
Normandy school board reverses, will pay transportation costs for transfer students
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, October 31, 2013
One week after voting to not pay the transportation tab for students who have transferred under a state Supreme Court ruling, the Normandy School Board has reversed itself.
NEW JERSEY
State taps brakes on growth of ‘choice’ schools, including Hunterdon’s
Hunterdon County Democrat, NJ, October 31, 2013
Be careful what you wish for. New Jersey’s Interdistrict School Choice Program, which allows families in one school district to send their children to a school elsewhere, has been incredibly successful. So successful — and costly — that the Department of Education will limit its growth next year.
NEW YORK
Ed panel votes to open five new schools in Queens
Queens Time Ledger, NY, October 31, 2013
The city early Thursday morning approved a slate of new-school openings and co-locations, including several in Queens.
NYC school suspensions drop by 23 percent
Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2013
The number of New York City students suspended from school has dropped by 23 percent.
NORTH CAROLINA
Legislative cuts forcing teachers out of the classroom
WNCN, NC, October 31, 2013
North Carolina is beginning to see and feel the effects of the sweeping changes state lawmakers made to public education over the summer.
OHIO
For-profit charters wouldn’t share in levy money
Columbus Dispatch, OH, November 1, 2013
If the Columbus City Schools levy passes on Tuesday, $8.5 million a year will be available for high-performing charter schools.
PENNSYLVANIA
Charter school advocate to Philadelphia schools: Listen to parents
Pennsylvania Independent, PA, October 31, 2013
A charter school advocate argues the Philadelphia public school system can get rid of charter schools entirely if officials listen to the reasons parents pull their children out of schools.
Philadelphia Charter School students transform homes, lives
WPVI-TV, PA, October 31, 2013
Students from a North Philadelphia Charter school spent this Halloween beginning to transform a pair of dilapidated homes into affordable urban living.
Shrinking schools: Pittsburgh must study why enrollment is slipping
Editorial, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, October 31, 2013
The Pittsburgh Public Schools district didn’t need more disappointment, but that’s what it got in its 2013-14 enrollment figures.
TENNESSEE
Hopson’s Choice
Opinion, Memphis Flyer, TN, October 31, 2013
The SCS superintendent’s new plan may have broken the long-standing deadlock between the unified school system and the suburbs.
TEXAS
Dallas ISD Teacher Evaluation Plan Could End Pay Hikes Based On Seniority
KERA News, TX, October 31, 2013
Dallas Superintendent Mike Miles wants to end a long tradition of granting pay hikes based on seniority. Instead, he wants to base them on performance evaluations. This is just one proposed change in teacher evaluations creating ripples in the schools.
Longview ISD teachers to get incentive pay
Longview News-Journal, TX, October 31, 2013
Longview ISD trustees unanimously agreed Wednesday to dole out $64,343 in incentive pay to 16 middle school teachers whose students scored above their expected values in state reading or math tests this past school year.
VIRGINIA
Today’s top opinion: Wow
Editorial, Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, November 1, 2013
Stories regarding education “reform” often elicit shrugs. Officials vow to emphasize basics and to discourage truancy. They set unrealistic goals such as ensuring that every student entering high school will graduate, probably on time. Although The Times-Dispatch supports charter schools and other innovations, they, too, have become part of a mindless mantra. The saga has become a slog. An occasional item provokes a “Wow!”
WISCONSIN
Few new students using vouchers
Sheboygan Press, WI, October 31, 2013
Of the who received taxpayer-subsidized vouchers to attend three Sheboygan-area parochial schools this fall, only five were new to the schools, administrators said this week.