2013 - Page 38 of 65 - The Center for Education Reform

Passions High Around School Voucher Bill

May 23, 2013 By Ted Allen

by Mark Binker
WRAL
May 21, 2013

In a packed room, the House Education Committee heard Tuesday from supporters and opponents of a plan to give taxpayer-funded scholarships for low income students that attend private schools.

The crowd precluded any committee debate or a vote on the bill, as legislators used the limited time to hear from the public – those in favor and against the Opportunity Scholarship Act

The committee did roll out a new version of the bill and an accompanying summary that explains the bill.

“The bill before you, in reality, will not help the students it is intended to help,” Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson told the committee. She focused her comments on the fact that private schools do not have to report student test results and performance in the same way public schools do.

“If a grading scale of A-through-F is good for public schools, then it should be good for private schools,” she said. How else, she asked, would parents know if the private school they are choosing actually offers a better education than their current public school.

Proponents of the bill said that voucher programs in other states have helped improve student test scores.

“I’m struck by the amount of opposition to something some people have never seen working in progress,” said Jeanne Allen is the Founder and President of The Center for Education Reform.

The committee is expected to debate and vote on the bill next week.

Filed Under: CER in the News Tagged With: school choice, vouchers, opportunity scholarships

Raising Bar on Charter Law Shouldn’t Wait

May 22, 2013 By Ted Allen

A recent Bangor Daily News editorial incorrectly uses conclusions and data from CER’s State of Charter Schools report. The quote below is about judging an individual charter school, yet is used as ammo for an argument about why lifting the charter cap in Maine shouldn’t happen.

“It remains the case that the single most effective way to evaluate whether a charter school is succeeding is to measure value-added growth over time, including how that growth, retention, and, yes, parent satisfaction compare to the same factors in the schools those students would otherwise be attending,” Allen wrote in the Center for Education Reform’s 2011 analysis of what works and doesn’t work in the realm of charter school performance accountability.

There’s judging schools, and there’s judging school laws, and the editorial unfortunately mashes the two together in its argument against changing Maine’s charter school law. Yes, “performance based accountability is the hallmark of the charter school concept”, but giving charter schools a chance to thrive depends on the quality and implementation of charter school law. Having a limit on the number of schools allowed is not an indicator of a strong charter school law. Limits stifle the chances for innovation and growth, thus stifling the potential for great schools (that can be held accountable and judged based on all the factors mentioned in the quote above!).

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With: Charter Schools, charter school law

Daily Headlines for May 22, 2013

May 22, 2013 By The Center for Education Reform

NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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

The College ‘Preparation Gap’ In A Single Graphic
Washington Post Blog, DC, May 22, 2013
An annual national survey of school curriculum concludes that there is a “large gap” between how high school teachers perceive their graduating students’ readiness for college and what professors expect freshmen to know.

Common Core Clash: AFT President Fires Back At State Education Officials
Washington Post, DC, May 21, 2013
The head of a major teachers union fired back Tuesday at state education officials who had dismissed her call for a moratorium on stakes associated with new standardized state tests in public schools.

Education Reform Is Only Part Of Answer To Student Achievement
Seattle Times, WA, May 21, 2013
But don’t expect state money, or reforms, or anything politicians in Olympia do will make Johnny do his homework. He will do it when he knows he can’t get out of it, and it will take people more powerful than politicians to convince him of that.

STATE COVERAGE

ARIZONA

AZ Grading System Hurts 3 Edge Schools
Arizona Star, AZ, May 22, 2013
Edge High School in Tucson takes in students from difficult backgrounds – about one out of 10 is homeless, many are parents or pregnant, some are sixth- or seventh-year seniors – and helps them graduate.

Desegregation Plan, Competition From Charter Schools Add To Tucson School District’s Financial Woes
KJZZ, AZ, May 21, 2013
School is out for summer, but Arizona school districts are looking ahead to the fall when they will face another year of lean budgets.

CALIFORNIA

Ratliff Holding Slim Lead In LAUSD Race
Los Angeles Times, CA, May 22, 2013
The race for an open seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education was close in early returns with Monica Ratliff ahead despite financial support and union backing that made her opponent, Antonio Sanchez, a heavy favorite.

COLORADO

Overhauling School Funding
Daily Camera, CO, May 22, 2013
It wasn’t the most attention-grabbing bill coming out of the legislature this year, but the most sweeping change to school funding in Colorado may be near.

CONNECTICUT

Against Proposed New Charter School
CT Post, CT, May 21, 2013
I am a parent of two children currently enrolled at Waltersville School. I have witnessed firsthand how underfunded the Bridgeport Public School District is.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Council Must Stop Micromanaging Public Schools
Washington Post, DC, May 21, 2013
ONE OF THE FIRST things D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large) did after taking over the newly constituted education committee was host a dinner aimed at establishing a new tone of collaboration for those involved in D.C. public education.

Meridian Continues To Examine Allegations Of Test-Tampering
Washington Post, DC, May 21, 2013
Meridian Public Charter School officials have said that are continuing to examine allegations of test-tampering at the school and have not yet disciplined any staff members.

FLORIDA

Florida Teacher Evaluation System Still Needs Tweaks, Panel Decides
Florida Times Union, FL, May 22, 2013
If Florida continues to base its teacher evaluations solely on student academic growth and observations from a principal, that might lead educators to “teach to the test.”

ILLINOIS

Teachers, Perpetual War Doesn’t Help Students
Chicago Tribune, IL, May 22, 2013
We point this out on a day when the Chicago public school system will make a gut-wrenching decision. The school board is set to vote Wednesday on whether to close 53 elementary schools. Chicago teachers and parents have been protesting, trying to save those schools.

LOUISIANA

Benjamin Mays Prep Families Still Await Orleans Parish School Board Takeover Answer
Times-Picayune, LA, May 21, 2013
Families at the Recovery School District charter school Benjamin Mays Prep continue to hope that this school year isn’t the last for the Desire-area elementary — but they got no answers Tuesday from the Orleans Parish School Board, one month after a parents’ group came to the board asking to be taken over. The Recovery School District is shutting down the school for poor academic performance.

MAINE

Maine Educators Object To Evaluation Emphasis
Kennebec Journal, ME, May 22, 2013
Teachers and school administrators took issue Tuesday with the weight given to student assessments in proposed regulations for teachers’ and principals’ evaluations.

MARYLAND

Montgomery Schools React To New Innovation, Intervention Plan
Maryland Gazette, MD, May 22, 2013
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr said he believes there is no one-size-fits-all approach to school and student success.

Montgomery’s First Charter School Operates Under The School Board’s Radar
Maryland Gazette, MD, May 22, 2013
Community Montessori Charter School faced an initial rejection and then much scrutiny from Montgomery County school board members two years ago when applying to be the first public charter school in the county.

MASSACHUSETTS

Charter Schools In Boston Score Higher On Key Tests
Boston Globe, MA, May 22, 2013
Boston charter schools outperform other public schools on three popular barometers of achievement — the MCAS, the SAT, and the Advanced Placement exams — but tend to have lower four-year graduation rates, according to a study being released Wednesday.

Charter Idea Backed
Republican –American, MA, May 21, 2013
A string of political, business, philanthropic and educational heavyweights turned out Tuesday night to back a proposed new charter school.

MICHIGAN

Plan Makes Test Data Main Factor In Teacher Pay
Daily Press & Argus, MI, May 22, 2013
Teachers are responsible for producing well-rounded students but don’t control whether students come from stable homes or eat or exercise enough.

MISSOURI

Questions Of Accountability And Fairness Remain After Charter School’s Reprieve
Kansas City Star, MO, May 21, 2013
The lofty promise that is Gordon Parks Elementary School has won a reprieve, at least temporarily.

NEW JERSEY

Diegnan’s Charter School Bill
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, May 22, 2013
Assemblyman drops bill, which called for central review board and local approval for new and expanded charters

N.J. Charters Look At Teacher Evaluations
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 22, 2013
Following a parallel but very different path from their school-district brethren, New Jersey’s charter schools are finalizing plans for how they will evaluate teachers and principals.

OHIO

Bill Would Have Columbus Schools Share Levy Money With Charters
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 21, 2013
State lawmakers drew attention to academic failures of the Columbus school district and to its ongoing data scandal tonight in the first talks over a bill that, if passed, could share district tax money with charter schools.

OKLAHOMA

Evaluating Teacher Training Programs Complex
The Oklahoman, OK, May 22, 2013
Regarding “Study shows need to better prepare teachers” (Our Views, May 10): I take exception to your endorsement of the study by the National Council on Teacher Quality evaluating the effectiveness of teacher training programs, and your recommendation that lawmakers “carefully review its findings on Oklahoma programs.”

Oklahoma Lawmakers Should Resist Push To Repeal Common Core
The Oklahoman, OK, May 22, 2013
IN a triumph of irrationality over reason, House Speaker T.W. Shannon abruptly announced that lawmakers might try to repeal Common Core academic standards in the legislative session’s final days.

PENNSYLVANIA

Nonprofit’s Study Critical Of Phila. Teacher Policies
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 22, 2013
The Philadelphia School District shells out too much for the health care of its teachers, who tend to be absent too often. Teacher pay ought to be revamped to keep strong performers, and effectiveness, not start date, should guide layoff decisions.

SOUTH CAROLINA

SC House Bill Would End ‘School Choice’ For Student-Property Owners
The Herald, SC, May 21, 2013
A decades-old form of “school choice” is under fire from lawmakers who say it is not fair to all S.C. families.

TEXAS

Bill To Create District To Improve Unacceptable Schools Dies In The Texas House
Dallas Morning News Blog, TX, May 21, 2013
A bill to create a district of underperforming schools with the goal of improving their ratings was killed in the House on Tuesday by a technical maneuver.

WASHINGTON

Catholic Schools Update To Compete With Charter Schools
Seattle Times, WA, May 21, 2013
A number of Catholic schools in Western Washington are embracing educational innovations in an attempt to update their curriculum and to better compete with the charter schools that will open here in the next few years.

WEST VIRGINIA

No Child Left Behind Waiver Will Bring Major Changes To Schools
Charleston Daily Mail, WV, May 22, 2013
They might not be immediately noticeable to students, but major changes are coming to education in West Virginia.

ONLINE LEARNING

iCademy Is New Online K-12 Charter School From LSSU
Second Wave, MI, May 22, 2013
Charter schools are nothing new for Upper Peninsula universities; they are located all over the state. But the latest one chartered by Lake Superior State University is different.

Reynoldsburg Takes Over Charter E-School
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 22, 2013
The Reynoldsburg school board is taking over the charter e-school that it placed on probation last year.

Moratorium Bill In Springfield Could Halt Local Virtual Schools
Kane County Chronicle, IL, May 22, 2013
A proposed virtual school that could affect some Kane County schools would be delayed for a year if Gov. Pat Quinn signs into law a moratorium on charter schools like it.

Let’s Look At What Online Charter Schools Are Really Selling
Naperville Sun, IL, May 21, 2013
Sometimes it’s a hard sell. A K12-managed Illinois Virtual Charter School at Fox Valley — which was recently proposed by Virtual Learning Solutions, a non-profit company that as its name implies resists tangibility — was denied by all 18 of the school districts involved.

Filed Under: Daily Headlines

Being Suspended = Best Day?

May 22, 2013 By Ted Allen

“The day I got suspended was my best day because it helped me change. Now I stay away from trouble…It feels great to be a leader and not a follower.”

Photo credit: Center for School Change

Not many people would say getting suspended was their best day in school, but 2nd grader Vincent Smith Jr. of Urban Academy in Minnesota appreciated that day for the valuable life lesson it taught him:
“Getting suspended got me thinking. My Dad is in prison but he often calls me. He is good but he did something bad. I figured I was the same. I am good but I do bad things. Being bad is not cool.

This thoughtful reflection won the second grader first place in the 9th annual Minnesota Charter Public Schools Essay Contest, which garnered over 2,200 student entries. The contest winners get to take a trip to the state capitol and present their essays inside the Capitol Rotunda.

The contest is important because it not only awards outstanding student writers, but also helps legislators get a first-hand look at the accomplishments of charter school students. Check out pictures from the event and read more winning essays on the Center for School Change website.

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With: Charter Schools

Newswire: May 21, 2013

May 21, 2013 By Ted Allen

Vol. 15, No. 20

OPPORTUNITY AHEAD. North Carolina lawmakers deliberated on a proposal earlier today that would bring much needed change to the Tarheel State. Thanks to the bi-partisan work of NC House Members Rob Bryan (R-Mecklenburg), Marcus Brandon (D-Guilford), Brian Brown, (R-Pitt) and Ed Hanes (D-Forsyth), the Opportunity Scholarship Act (HB 944) is moving forward to provide scholarships up to $4,200 so low-income and middle class families can choose the best school to fit the needs of their children. While the opposition dusted off the same tired arguments that are proven myths, proponents came out in full force. In response to claims that vouchers would only help wealthy families, Rep. Brandon made it clear the proposal does just the opposite, giving low-income families opportunities. CER president Jeanne Allen said in her testimony before the NC House Education Committee today, “I am struck by the amount of opposition by people that have never actually seen vouchers working…The proof is in the pudding…Go talk to students and parents who have benefitted from school choice.” Clearly there’s much more work to be done, but with strong leadership and a continued bi-partisan commitment, there will surely be more opportunity ahead for NC’s children.

OPENING DOORS. A major victory occurred yesterday when DC Mayor Gray announced that 16 former DC Public Schools facilities will be made available for charter schools and other community organizations. With 43% of DC public school students attending charter schools, it’s about time! For years parents and charter leaders have been calling on DCPS to allow charters access to these public facilities. In fact, the lack of facilities support has been one of the biggest challenges for charters in the nation’s capital. While it’s too early to tell whether the process will actually open the doors of these empty buildings to charters, parents and leaders are optimistic.

Just hours later, the DC Public Charter School Board voted to approve only two of nine charter school applications. The actions of the DC Charter School Board to deny seven schools, including what would have been the first blended learning model of its kind in the city – Nexus Academy – came as a surprise to many leaders and parents. The two awarded approval, Lee Montessori and Academy of Hope, had previously been denied by the board but reapplied this year addressing questions and concerns the board cited in their initial denials. Many of those denied last night, vowed to do the same. Observers of the deliberations raised concerns that the applications weren’t debated very long, five to 10 minutes by board members, before votes were cast.

It came as no surprise that Community Academy Public Charter School and Friendship Public Charter Schools both received 15-year renewals last night. Both charter organizations have been pioneers changing educational delivery and outcomes for DC’s most at-risk and low-income students. In his remarks to the board, Donald Hense, founder and chair of Friendship and a CER board member, pointed out that Friendship is one of the only charter schools in DC that accepts any child at any age, in any grade, at any time of year. With a truly “open door policy,” Friendship still has a 90% on-time graduation rate, 100% college acceptance and an over 80% college attendance rate.

CLOSING DOORS. Last week, Buena Vista School District in Michigan let all of its teachers go and closed school in early May because they ran out of money. Problems started when enrollment started declining, as parents found better educational options in charter schools. Instead of trying to figure out what charters were doing better, the district schools stayed the course, gave teachers raises using money they didn’t have, and came up short. Unsurprisingly, this did not go over well with parents who have been frantically trying to figure out how to get their students in other schools with only a few weeks left. After some “political grandstanding” the state is giving extra money to the district so they can stay open throughout the school year. But to what benefit of the students? If the school district is so poorly managed, will they really learn anything in the next few weeks or remain pawns in the district’s game? More proof that new and independent entities are needed to create great schools. Michigan does not have to look beyond its borders.

CER at 20. Register NOW for CER’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on October 9, 2013 in Washington, DC! The Conference, Gala and EdReformies will salute the “Classics of Education Reform” Rat Pack style. Details about this not-to-be-missed event can be found here.

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly

NC House panel hosts public debate on voucher bill

May 21, 2013 By Ted Allen

by Chris Kardish, Associated Press
NCEN
May 21, 2013

A proposal to let North Carolina students use public money to attend private or religious schools drew fierce debate Tuesday from a state House panel.

The House Education Committee heard from both sides of the voucher debate but didn’t take a vote on a bill giving $4,200 annual grants to poorer students. The program is limited in its first year to students who qualify for the national school lunch program but would expand to families earning up to 133 percent of that income level in subsequent years.

A family of three couldn’t earn more than $36,131 to qualify in the 2013-14 school year. The program would start with $10 million, but the legislature would allocate $50 million annually by 2015.

The bill authorizes the State Education Assistance Authority, which currently administers only college financial aid, to develop a system to awarding grants. In later years, top priority would go to eligible students who received grants the previous year followed by those living at or below the national school lunch income level and students entering kindergarten or first grade.

Families with incomes greater than the federal school lunch level could only receive up to 90 percent of the annual grant. The original version of the bill would have allowed families of four making $70,000 a year to qualify.

Opponents of the bill argue it will siphon money from an already weakened public school system and fail to adequately meet the costs of private schools. They also say the proposal rests on shaky constitutional ground and its accountability measures need to be closer to the reporting requirements of public schools.

Supporters argue research shows that voucher programs benefit not only disadvantaged students but the public school system by creating greater competition. They also say the choice should rest with a parent whose child is stuck in a low-performing school.

Both sides cite different studies that strike different conclusions about the effectiveness of vouchers, which have divided policymakers. Of the 12 states that have voucher programs, eight of them offer vouchers to students with special needs and four offer them to low-income students, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The bill has primary sponsors from both parties, with two African-American Democrats signing onto the effort.

Rep. Marcus Brandon, D-Guilford, said telling parents with children in failing schools that they have no choice because of where they live is anything but “progressive.”

“If you’re prepared to call that progressive, if you’re prepared to call that Democratic ideals, if you’re prepared to call that equal opportunity and equal access, I will challenge you on that,” he said.

Minnie Forte-Brown, the vice chairwoman of Durham Public Schools, said vouchers aren’t offered in most states for a reason. She argued other states haven’t been happy with their programs and noted that the Louisiana Supreme Court recently struck down a voucher program because it diverted money from public schools.

“If you use best practices, you oppose vouchers,” she said. “If you want to lift North Carolina from 48th in the country in school funding, you oppose vouchers.”

Jeanne Allen, president of The Center for Education Reform, said Milwaukee has seen great improvements in graduation rates since becoming the first place in the U.S. to start a voucher program in 1990, but she urged lawmakers to look beyond numbers to the personal stories of disadvantaged students.

“Sure, we can all make numbers dance and sing, but the proof is in the pudding,” she said.

State Superintendent June Atkinson opposes the bill because it doesn’t require the kind of public reporting and accountability measures public schools face.

The bill will return to the Education Committee for amendments and a vote. It will then go to the Appropriations Committee, followed by the House floor.

Filed Under: CER in the News

Daily Headlines for May 21, 2013

May 21, 2013 By The Center for Education Reform

NATIONAL COVERAGE

State Education Chiefs Oppose Delay In High-Stakes Test Repercussions
Washington Post, DC, May 21, 2013
A small group of state education officials is pushing back against a call by teachers unions for a moratorium on using standardized tests for evaluating students or teachers until states have completely implemented Common Core standards, a new way of teaching math and reading in grades kindergarten through 12th.

Cul-de-Sac Poverty
New York Times, NY, May 21, 2013
In 2011, the suburban poor outnumbered the urban poor by three million; from 2000 to 2011, the number of poor people soared by 64 percent in the suburbs, compared with 29 percent in cities.

Should We Let Wunderkinds Drop Out Of High School?
Associated Press, May 21, 2013
Examples of tech geniuses who lack college degrees are well-known — Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg among them. But Karp left high school after his freshman year, with his mother’s blessing, at the tender age of 14.

GOP Fear of Common Core Education Standards Unfounded
Washington Post, DC, May 21, 2013
Modern conservatism comes in two distinct architectural styles. The first seeks to build from scratch, using accurate ideological levels and plumb lines, so every wall is straight and every corner squared.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Lawmakers Approve Tax Credits For Students In Failing Schools
WIAT, AL, May 21, 2013
State lawmakers finalized big changes in the way parents in Alabama can decide where their children go to school. In the final hours of the 2013 Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature, state lawmakers rejected an executive amendment to the Alabama Accountability Act which impacts students who are enrolled in failing schools.

CALIFORNIA

Ask The L.A. Mayor Candidates: Would You Try To Take Control Of L.A. Schools?
Los Angeles Times, CA, May 20, 2013
During separate video interviews with the Los Angeles Times last month, candidates for L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel responded to questions from individual voters.

Charter School Proposal Drawing Criticism
San Diego Union-Tribune, CA, May 20, 2013
The former site of Escondido’s East Valley library branch would become a charter school campus under a proposal the City Council is scheduled to consider Wednesday.

COLORADO

ABCs of the New School Finance Act
Colorado Statesman, CO, May 20, 2013
On Tuesday, May 21, Gov. John Hickenlooper is scheduled to sign Senate Bill 13-213, the new public school finance act passed by the General Assembly earlier this month. And then the real work begins: getting Colorado voters to approve a $1 billion income tax hike that will restore much of the funding cut over the last few years.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Gray Releases 16 D.C. Public School Buildings For Reuse By Charters
Washington Post, DC, May 20, 2013
The District plans to allow public charter schools to enter into long-term leases for a dozen old public school buildings, some of which are traditional public schools that are slated to close by next year, Mayor Vincent C. Gray said Monday.

ILLINOIS

Source: Fewer Than 5 Schools To Be Spared
Chicago Tribune, IL , May 21, 2013
Pressured for months by teachers, community leaders and aldermen, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s hand-picked school board is nonetheless expected on Wednesday to approve closing all but a few of the 53 elementary schools the administration wants to shut down.

IOWA

Branstad Wants Education Accountability
Quad City Times, IA, May 20, 2013
Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday he thinks lawmakers are “close, very close” on an education reform package but warned he needs to see changes in teacher accountability provisions to sign off on the bill.

LOUISIANA

State Monitoring Of Charter Schools Falls Short, Report Finds
Times-Picayune, LA, May 20, 2013
The promise to the public for New Orleans’ many independent charter schools is that although they have broad freedom to operate and educate as their leaders see fit, the state is keeping its eyes open for fraud and abuse.

MAINE

Innovative Schools Turning Lives Around In New England
Kennebec Journal, ME, May 21, 2013
Among them is a school in Deer Isle, Maine, which has developed a marine studies program.

MASSACHUSETTS

Expansion Rejection Is Unfair, Charter School Says
Boston Globe, MA, May 21, 2013
The highly ranked Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden is vigorously objecting to the denial of its request to expand by 400 students, contending that it has been singled out by the state for issues that are ignored at other charter schools.

MICHIGAN

Grand Rapids Schools Adopts Teacher Evaluation Policy
Grand Rapid Press, MI, May 20, 2013
Like public school districts across the state, Grand Rapids schools is improving its teacher evaluation system.

NEW JERSEY

Charter Schools Chart Course for Teacher Evaluations
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, May 21, 2013
Following a parallel but very different path from their district school brethren, New Jersey’s charter schools are finalizing plans for how they will evaluate their teachers and principals.

Charter School Critics Keep Coming Up Short
Star-Ledger, NJ, May 21, 2013
We were reminded of this cartoon when a new charter school study was released by Mathematica, showing that over a three-year period, KIPP charter students gained an average of 11 months’ learning in math and eight months in reading than district school peers.

NEW MEXICO

APS To Manage Charter’s Budget
Albuquerque Journal, NM, May 21, 2013
The Albuquerque Public Schools board is taking over the finances of 21st Century Public Academy charter school, after a unanimous vote Monday morning.

NEW YORK

Recognizing ‘Master Teachers’
Albany Times Union, NY, May 21, 2013
Top teachers in New York have long been eligible for their share of awards and plaudits, including Teacher of the Year honors and a national certification that brings higher pay.

Quinn’s School Folly
New York Post, NY, May 21, 2013
New York City is a regular Lake Wobegon, where all the kids are above average — at least according to Christine Quinn. The mayoral hopeful has announced that she wants to expand by 8,900 the number of seats in New York’s gifted and talented programs. Why stop there? Why not just put all the students into a gifted and talented program and pretend they’re all geniuses?

NORTH CAROLINA

Revamped Voucher Plan Debuts In House Committee Tuesday
News & Observer, NC, May 20, 2013
House lawmakers will consider a revamped plan to provide taxpayer dollars to help send public school students to private schools.

Proposed Board Splits Charter Advocates
WUNC, NC, May 21, 2013
Charter schools have been around in North Carolina for about a decade and a half, and for most of that time, the relationship between charters and traditional public schools has alternated between frosty and hostile.

OHIO

Legislature May Ditch Takeover Proposal For Columbus Schools
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 21, 2013
As hearings start this week on a Columbus school-district reform bill, an earlier proposal allowing for a state takeover of the state’s largest district is likely to vanish.

Added Scrutiny Of Charter Schools In City And State Is Overdue, But Finally Coming
Youngstown Vindicator, OH, May 21, 2013
State and local education leaders are committing themselves to beefed-up monitoring of Ohio’s ballooning network of charter schools.

PENNSYLVANIA

Wanting Public Money, But Not The Accountability
Observer-Reporter, PA, May 21, 2013
More and more, it appears that Pennsylvania’s charter schools want to have it both ways. They want generous servings of public dollars while, at the same time, avoiding the accountability that comes with being the recipients of taxpayer beneficence.

A New Kind Of College ‘Signing Day’
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 21, 2013
With cheerleaders, mascots, and thunderous applause, thousands of students from Mastery Charter Schools gathered for a giant pep rally Monday, but the event had nothing to do with sports.

Don’t Lay Off By Seniority: If We Want First-Rate Schools, We Must Keep The Best Teachers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, May 21, 2013
In the fall of 2010, Dominique, known by her students as “Ms. D,” voluntarily transferred to teach in one of Philadelphia’s most challenging high schools. She wasn’t alone. The principal had articulated a vision of building an excellent school by recruiting a dream team of passionate, hard-working teachers.

Corbett Asks For ‘Modifications’ To Pa.’S Proposed Regulations On School Standards
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, May 21, 2013
Gov. Tom Corbett is recommending changes to a set of education regulations that have been criticized by both Democrats and conservatives.

RHODE ISLAND

Teachers Blast Gist At Public Forum
WPRI, RI, May 20, 2013
Hundreds of teachers from all over Rhode Island on Monday packed the Cranston West High School auditorium to criticize the policies and initiatives of state Education Commissioner Deborah Gist.

TENNESSEE

Achievement School District Adds High School
Memphis Daily News, TN, May 21, 2013
The state-run Achievement School District ventures into high school territory in August with the start of its second school year.

WISCONSIN

School Board Members Tell Charter School To Show More Diversity
Leader Telegram, WI, May 21, 2013
The Eau Claire school board continued to mull a contract extension for the district’s only charter school, with some board members saying Chippewa Valley Montessori Charter School should do more to diversify its enrollment.

Legislators To Decide Reach Of School Voucher Programs
Wisconsin Public Radio, WI, May 20, 2013
Legislators may soon decide the fate of Governor Scott Walker’s controversial plan to expand taxpayer-funded school vouchers. The expansion has been a divisive issue, especially in the communities that would be directly impacted.

ONLINE LEARNING

Akron Schools Trim Staff, Set Digital Academy Loose Featured
AkronNewsNow, OH, May 21, 2013
Smaller enrollment means the Akron Public Schools will do without 32 staff positions. And ending a sometimes contentious relationship, the Akron district moved to do without sponsorship of the Akron Digital Academy charter school.

BHS Offers Students Broader Range Of Courses Via Online
The Union-Recorder, GA, May 20, 2013
Baldwin High School senior Taylor Martin has enjoyed taking online courses for the last two years to further her knowledge in content areas not offered in the regular high school curriculum. With Georgia Virtual School (GaVS), students are provided that option of online learning.

Filed Under: Daily Headlines

What Michigan’s Charter Schools Can Teach the Country

May 20, 2013 By Ted Allen

by Michael Van Beek
Wall Street Journal Op-Ed
May 18, 2013

Public charter schools now serve 2.3 million children nationwide and enjoy growing bipartisan support. But they are still loathed by teachers unions and traditional public-school officials more interested in protecting their piece of the school-funding pie than in providing students trapped in failing schools with a chance at a decent education.

Those familiar with the controversy over charters have probably heard of the 2009 study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes. The Credo study, routinely cited by groups opposed to school choice, analyzed charter schools in 16 states and found that, on average, only 17% were outperforming conventional public schools while 37% were doing worse.

However, Credo noted that the study’s results “vary strongly by state and are shown to be influenced in significant ways by several characteristics of state charter school policies.” These include laws determining how many charters can operate in a state, who can authorize them, and the level of autonomy these schools will have from certain state regulations.

Although largely ignored, this finding is especially relevant in light of a more recent Credo study focusing solely on the performance of Michigan’s charter schools. The findings, released in January, portray Michigan’s charter schools as a clear-cut success story and provide lessons for other states.

Credo found that 42% of Michigan’s charter schools are outperforming conventional public schools in math and 35% of charters are outperforming in reading. Only 6% of charters are underperforming in math and only 2% in reading. Further, 82% of charters produced growth in average reading test scores and 72% did so in math.

Of the 56 outcomes for different subgroups of students and schools the study dissected, 52 showed charter-school students outperforming their peers in conventional public schools.

Perhaps the most notable finding was that from 2007-11 the typical Michigan charter-school student made annual academic gains in both reading and math equivalent to about two additional months of learning, compared with his or her peers in conventional public schools. The longer a student stayed in a charter school the greater the annual gains. After five years the average charter-school student made cumulative learning gains equivalent to an entire additional year of schooling.

As Cindy Schumacher, executive director of the Center for Charter Schools at Central Michigan University, told the press after the Credo report was released, the report “shows that the Michigan Model is working, with it leading to significant improvements for children, especially at-risk children who are historically underserved.”

The results were even more pronounced in Detroit, welcome news in a city where an estimated 47% of the adult population is functionally illiterate, according to the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund. The typical Detroit charter-school student made annual gains worth about three additional months of learning in both reading and math compared with their peers in nearby conventional schools. Of the 100 or so charters in Detroit, 47% did significantly better than conventional schools in reading and 49% did significantly better in math. Only one charter school in Detroit did worse in reading compared with the city’s district-run schools.

The Michigan Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, and other defenders of the public-school status quo have tried to play down these results. Some point out that the Credo study didn’t include every charter school. In fact, the study included 86% of all charter-school students in the state and remains the most comprehensive and rigorous study of Michigan charter schools.

Credo’s researchers matched about 85,000 charter-school students to their “virtual twins” in local conventional public schools based on race, gender, socioeconomic status, prior test scores and other factors. Individual learning gains made by each set of students was then measured over time.

Sadly, the media have largely ignored Credo’s findings or grossly distorted them. For example, days after the report was released Huffington Post ran a story calling it a “cautionary tale” and emphasizing that a large portion of charter schools’ average reading and math scores were below the state average. This comparison turns a blind eye to the well-documented impact poverty has on average standardized test scores. Since Michigan charters—often found in the school districts struggling most—enroll a far higher percentage of poor students (70%) than do the state’s conventional schools (43%), the finding biases the results against charters.

Credo has analyzed charter-school performance in 19 states to date. Only Louisiana and New Jersey even come close to rivaling the results from Michigan. Why? Michigan allows a variety of public entities to authorize charter schools, the most common being universities and community colleges. This frees charter schools from needing school-district approval to operate, which is like requiring new businesses to ask existing competitors for permission to open. By allowing more charters than most states, Michigan has developed a functional charter-school market, so much so that lawmakers recently took the bold step of removing the charter-school cap altogether.

Michigan’s charters also aren’t subject to teacher tenure laws and have the flexibility to retain or release teachers based on performance. This helps keep the best teachers where they belong, in the classroom, and the worst where they belong—looking for another line of work.

Finally, Michigan has several strong networks of education-management companies, including National Heritage Academies and New Urban Learning. These companies are much maligned for operating as for-profits, but as the Credo study pointed out, the charter schools they run did better on average than those directly managed by a charter-school board.

It is no surprise then that the Center for Education Reform, a pro-charter nonprofit, recently gave Michigan one of only four “As” on its report card of state-charter school laws. If states want to create a healthy charter-school sector to boost outcomes for students, the Michigan experience offers valuable lessons.

Mr. Van Beek is director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute based in Midland, Mich.

Filed Under: CER in the News

Daily Headlines for May 20, 2013

May 20, 2013 By The Center for Education Reform

NATIONAL COVERAGE

Think Tank Takes: What You Don’t Know About Common Core
Washington Examiner, DC, May 19, 2013
Sol Stern is a nice man. It’s too bad he’s deceiving himself and others about Common Core, an enterprise that essentially nationalizes U.S. education. He and Joel Klein write in the Wall Street Journal, in the latest pro-Common Core PR piece:

Commentary: Common Core Needs More Debate
Detroit News, MI, May 20, 2013
Parents in Michigan, like those across the country, want their children to have the tools they need to excel in school and beyond. The Common Core national curriculum standards were sold as the way to give students those tools.

STATE COVERAGE

ARIZONA

Allsport Academy’s Charter Revoked By Arizona Education Department
Arizona Daily Star, AZ, May 19, 2013
The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools voted last week to revoke the charter of a Tucson school that mixes sports with academics.

COLORADO

Colorado’s Charter Schools: Their History And Their Future
Denver Post, CO, May 20, 2013
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Colorado Charter Schools Act, thanks to the hard work of Gov. Roy Romer, state Rep. Peggy Kerns, Gov. Bill Owens, former Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien, and many others.

CONNECTICUT

Things Looking Up For Connecticut’s Education Reform Program
New Haven Register, CT, May 20, 2013
The governor’s education reform program, which just completed its first school year, appears out of danger concerning loss of support in the upcoming two-year budget.

DELAWARE

Charter Schools Are My Family’s Best Education Choice
News Journal, DE, May 19, 2013
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of speaking at a rally for Delaware’s charter schools in Dover. I spoke because I feel very strongly about the merits of charter school education and how it can change the trajectory of a child’s life, as I’ve seen with my own family.

Christina Should Find Incentives For Teachers
Delaware News Journal, DE, May 20, 2013
Walking away from a fight is seldom a painless venture, and one the Christina School District might or might not realize with its decision to turn down $2.3 million in federal Race to the Top funds.

FLORIDA

Public Charter Conversions Could Become Popular Option
Bradenton Times, FL, May 19, 2013
If 51 percent of both teachers and households vote in favor of a proposal to convert popular elementary magnet school Rowlett into a public charter school, Manatee School District could see the beginning of a trend.

Florida Plans Increased Scrutiny For Education Schools
NPR StateImpact, FL, May 20, 2013
UCF is the largest producers of teachers in the state; the university’s education school enrolls more than 2,000 students.

INDIANA

Charter School Families In Limbo
The Journal Gazette, IN, May 20, 2013
Mary Staples has been a strong supporter of Imagine MASTer Academy, but she feels she’s in limbo now, pulled between her desire to send her kids to the school and her need to plan ahead. Ball State University decided not to renew the charters for Imagine MASTer Academy and two other Fort Wayne charter schools because of their poor academic performances.

IOWA

State Supports 52 Charter Schools, Giving Parents Options
Des Moines Register, IA, May 19, 2013
The charter school’s 470 students sign a contract pledging to do their best every day. Teachers promise to do the same. And the school gets results — making it a small yet promising part of Maryland’s education reform story.

LOUISIANA

New Nonprofit Helps To Recruit Charter Companies To BR
The Advocate, LA, May 20, 2013
Soon after Chris Meyer came on board in spring 2012 as the first CEO of the fledgling nonprofit New Schools for Baton Rouge, he compiled a list of more than 150 charter management organizations from around the country in hopes of finding some that would be worth recruiting to Baton Rouge.

Incentivize Actual Learning
National Review Online, May 20, 2013
The decision of the Louisiana supreme court to strike down as unconstitutional the funding mechanism of the state’s school-voucher program is a major blow to school-choice supporters, but the biggest problem they face is not the courts. It’s a funding system that pays schools for failure.

MAINE

Funding Isn’t Everything: Education Reform Takes Innovation, Cooperation
Bangor Daily News, ME, May 19, 2013
Education is a big deal. It prepares our children, fuels our economy and accounts for more than a third of our state budget — even more for local town budgets. We must take steps to allow our education system to adapt to changing times, and we must ensure that it serves our children above all else.

MARYLAND

Now’s The Time To Raise The Bar For Baltimore Schools
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 19, 2013
KIPP founder says change of leadership offers opportunity to focus on effective teachers and empowered principals

Baltimore Charter School Advocate Among New Crop Of Casey Foundation Fellows
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 19, 2013
City Neighbors schools founder chosen for leadership program that trains those working with children, families

MASSACHUSETTS

Targeted Districts Have Reason To Be Wary Of More Charter Schools
Boston Globe, MA, May 20, 2013
YOUR MAY 13 editorial “Where district schools falter, state should add more charters” names a number of school districts where it is believed that the current cap should be removed. According to the editorial, “the most telling testimony came from . . . Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes” study of Massachusetts charter schools.

MICHIGAN

Michigan Lawmaker, Board Of Education President Spar Over Charter Schools And Financial Oversight
The Grand Rapids Press, MI, May 18, 2013
Political tensions related to public charter schools continue at Michigan’s Capitol, evidenced this week by a squabble involving the Republican chairman of the Senate Education Committee and the Democratic president of the State Board of Education.

What Michigan’s Charter Schools Can Teach the Country
Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2013
Public charter schools now serve 2.3 million children nationwide and enjoy growing bipartisan support. But they are still loathed by teachers unions and traditional public-school officials more interested in protecting their piece of the school-funding pie than in providing students trapped in failing schools with a chance at a decent education.

MINNESOTA

Mpls. Schools To Revive Autonomy Plan Amid Mixed Results In US
Minnesota Public Radio, MN, May 20, 2013
In the latest effort to boost student performance, the Minneapolis school district wants to give more autonomy to individual schools.

MISSOURI

School Choice Advocates Come Up Empty In 2013 Legislature But Vow To Keep Fighting
Missoulian, MO, May 18, 2013
While advocates of school choice struck out again this year in Montana, failing to enact a bill providing tax credits or any public money for private or charter schools, they say they’re not giving up.

1 St. Louis Charter School Closing, 2nd Is At Risk
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, May 19, 2013
One St. Louis charter school is closing and another is at risk. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Shearwater High School announced Friday that it would close voluntarily in late June. The school sought to help at-risk students receive diplomas before they turned 22. But officials said many arrived so far behind that staff couldn’t get them caught up in time.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Attacks Against School Choice Network Misleading And Off-Base
Nashua Telegraph, NH, May 20, 2013
The Network for Educational Opportunity is busy launching a scholarship program that will make a positive contribution to educational excellence in New Hampshire. Soon, we’ll discover the merits of parental choice in the decision of where and how students are educated when an authentic choice is presented.

NEW YORK

Despite Opponents’ Criticism, The Demand For Charter Schools In New York Is Growing
New York Daily News, NY, May 19, 2013
There are 50,000 families on charter school waitlists citywide, 20,000 of those in the Bronx, where last year only one-third of students in public school grades 3-8 could read at grade level

School ‘Project’
New York Post, NY, May 19, 2013
A controversial $100 million charter school will open next month smack in the middle of a rundown, crime-plagued Harlem housing project — a first-of-its-kind arrangement in the nation.

Brooklyn Principal’s 92G Bonus
New York Post, NY, May 20, 2013
Good grades earned him more than just a spot on the fridge. PS 172 Principal Jack Spatola has raked in $92,000 in bonus pay from the city since 2008 for his Brooklyn school’s good performance, making him the top earner under a revamped merit-pay system, data show.

Education, Vision and the Mayor’s Race
New York Times, NY, May 20, 2013
The Democratic candidates for New York mayor, whirling around the boroughs on the debate-and-forum carousel, have been struggling for advantage and the attention of tuned-out voters. But they have had no trouble infuriating the Bloomberg administration, which seems to be getting touchier about criticism as it heads to the exits.

NORTH CAROLINA

Bid For Potential Funding Shift Benefiting Charter Schools Falls Short
Winston-Salem Journal, NC, May 18, 2013
Those who oversee public school district coffers are breathing a collective uneasy sigh of relief, at least for now, after a renewed attempt to funnel more money to charter schools is likely put to bed for this legislative session.

Not Sold On Single-Gender School Plan
Herald Sun, NC, May 19, 2013
Is it worth it? Is it wise? Can a district already so strapped for cash that it has to scrounge to keep teacher assistants on the payroll one more year afford to launch a multi-million dollar experiment to save the boys of Durham?

OHIO

Charter Tax Plan Raises Questions
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 18, 2013
A proposed state law singles out Columbus City Schools taxpayers to shoulder part of the tax burden for charter schools even though thousands of Franklin County’s charter-school students live in suburban school districts.

OKLAHOMA

Fallout Of Oklahoma School Testing Glitch Continues
The Oklahoman, OK, May 20, 2013
Oklahoma schools Superintendent Janet Barresi said she wasn’t part of the decision-making process to hire the state’s testing company, but she has stepped in to negotiate what happens from now on after the company experienced a technical glitch that affected more than 9,000 test-takers.

PENNSYLVANIA

Charters Ready To Work With District
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 20, 2013
A flurry of media activity has swept the city in the wake of the School District of Philadelphia’s fiscal crisis. This activity has produced some misinformation regarding charter schools. It’s time to set the record straight.

We Can’t Afford Not To Have True Education Reform
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, May 20, 2013
It is disturbing that so few Pittsburgh children attend their feeder schools (“4 of 10 Pupils Attend Assigned Schools,” May 13), and I applaud the district’s effort to improve school quality, but true reform must make a commitment to the quality education found in other places in the world.

Pennsylvania Education Standards Running Into Resistance
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, May 19, 2013
Pennsylvania education standards running into resistance
A new set of educational standards based on Common Core has run into late-in-the-game opposition along unusual political lines

Agency: Charters Ignore Most Records Requests
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, May 17, 2013
Charter schools, funded with about $1.1 billion a year in tax money, ignored citizens’ requests for records about 87 percent of the time and didn’t participate in nearly three of four appeals to the Office of Open Records, agency records show.

Criticism Flares Around New Pa. Graduation Tests
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 20, 2013
It seemed to hit the Capitol like a brick: a sudden groundswell of criticism over a move by Gov. Tom Corbett and the Pennsylvania State Board of Education to toughen academic achievement standards and tie them to graduation tests for the state’s roughly 1.7 million public and charter school students.

WASHINGTON

Port Townsend Board Delays Decision About Charter Schools
Peninsula Daily News, WA, May 20, 2013
The Port Townsend School Board said it will put off deciding on whether to become a charter school authorizer until next Monday in order to give the district superintendent time to research the issue.

WISCONSIN

Pro-Voucher Group Targets Madison School District
Capital Times, WI, May 20, 2013
Why is EAGnews, the website for a Michigan-based “education reform” group — proudly pro-voucher, pro-charter school, anti-union and basically anti-public schools — blasting local Madison media outlets with alarming press releases about spending in the Madison School District?

ONLINE LEARNING

D.C. Charter School Would Teach All But Math And English Online
Washington Examiner, DC, May 19, 2013
A controversial computer-based learning model is competing with eight other proposals to be one of the next charter schools approved for the District.

Bradley County Has 4 Graduates In Its First Virtual School Class
Cleveland Daily Herald, TN, May 19, 2013
The first class of graduates from Bradley County Virtual School walked across the stage to receive their high school diplomas on Friday.

K12 and Virtual Academy Put Students First
The Gazette, VA, May 19, 2013
An editorial in The Gazette about the online public school Virginia Virtual Academy makes a number of wrong claims. It is children, not online learning provider K12 Inc., who benefitted most from the academy.

Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy’s First Graduating Class Turns Their Tassels, Earns Their Diplomas
KJRH, OK, May 18, 2013
The first graduating class of the Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy accepted their diplomas in Tulsa Saturday.

Filed Under: Daily Headlines

Celebrating Volunteer State Charter Schools

May 17, 2013 By Ted Allen

This Saturday, Tennessee charter school leaders, teachers, and advocates will be honored at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville during the Tennessee Charter School Association’s 2nd annual gala.

Teacher of the year awards, among others, will be given out during the celebration. CER’s very own VP of External Affairs, Kara Kerwin, was honored to help select the Teacher of the Year finalists. Read all about the finalists on the TCSA blog, and be sure to check back to see who won!

Congratulations, and THANK YOU to all those teachers out there working hard to improve educational outcomes for kids!

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With: Charter Schools

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