Daily Headlines for August 29, 2012
Parent Trigger Laws
KERA News, TX, August 28, 2012
One of the newest ideas for how to reform failing schools is called “parent trigger laws.” Commentator Anne Foster has long pushed for more parental involvement, but she questions this approach.
FROM THE STATES
ARIZONA
Arizona Student Test Scores Becoming Part Of Teacher Evaluations
Arizona Republic, AZ, August 29, 2012
Students in the Scottsdale Unified School District have been taking a lot of tests since school started as part of the state’s new push for teacher accountability.
CALIFORNIA
Mojave Desert Parents Go Back To Court Over Charter School Issue
Los Angeles Times Blog, CA, August 28, 2012
In a continuing legal battle over the state’s parent-trigger law, Mojave Desert parents asked the courts Tuesday to order the Adelanto school board to stop blocking their efforts to select a charter school to take over their failing campus.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
New Study Affirms Benefits of School Vouchers
Washington Examiner, DC, August 28, 2012
Shortly after 299 new recipients of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, or OSP, were announced for the new school year, a groundbreaking study was released showing that school vouchers raised college enrollment rates for disadvantaged African-American students in New York City by 24 percent. They also were twice as likely to attend a selective college as their peers in public school.
GOP Platform’s Contempt For Public Education
Washington Post Blog, DC, August 29, 2012
What’s more, the education section is used to promote the party’s cultural values, going on at some length about support for abstinence education and its opposition to using federal funds in “mandatory or universal mental health, psychiatric, or socio-emotional screening program.” The message appears to be that schools should teach kids not to have sex but shouldn’t use federal funds to screen students who may be so mentally ill that they are dangerous in a classroom.
FLORIDA
Charter School Applications Up In Volusia, Flagler
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL, August 29, 2012
With the support of charter-friendly lawmakers and the belief that “they can do a better job than the public school systems,” 13 charter school operators applied to open schools in Volusia and Flagler counties in 2013.
Charter Schools Get Chilly Reception
St. Augustine Record, FL, August 28, 2012
Officials behind three proposed charter schools faced sharp comments from the public and tough questioning from St. Johns County District School Board members Tuesday morning including why the schools wanted to come to one of the top performing districts in the state.
GEORGIA
Gwinnett Chamber Drops Opposition To Charter School Amendment
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, August 28, 2012
The Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce has dropped its opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee the state’s power to approve and fund charter schools. A Sept. 5 fundraiser that was to benefit opposition efforts has been canceled.
Local Superintendents Support Barge’s Statements
Douglas County Sentinel, GA, August 29, 2012
Recently, Georgia ’s Superintendent of Education Dr. John Barge went against his party’s stance when he denounced the proposed state constitutional amendment to allow a separate committee to approve charters for independent public schools.
ILLINOIS
Guidelines Make Oswego Schools Face ‘Choice’ Status
Aurora Beacon News, IL, August 28, 2012
Six schools in the Oswego School District are required to provide a choice of attendance this year because federal guidelines have deemed the schools “failing.”
Chicago Teachers Union to File 10-Day Strike Notice
Chicago Tribune, IL, August 28, 2012
The Chicago Teachers Union plans to file a 10-day strike notice Wednesday, meaning a teacher walkout could begin after the majority of the city’s students finish their first week of school, sources said.
LOUISIANA
School Vouchers Are Only Beginning
Shreveport Times, LA, August 29, 2012
Of Louisiana’s 700,000 public school students back in class, 7,000, 1 percent, are attending private or church schools on state-funded vouchers. The proportion suggests that for all the commotion, from the Legislature to the courts, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s scholarship program will do neither much good nor much harm to the great mass of schoolchildren.
MARYLAND
Carroll Creek Is Frederick County’s Second Charter School
Frederick News Post, MD, August 29, 2012
Mai Henderson had never enrolled one of her children in a Montessori school before this year, but beginning Monday, her daughter started third grade at Carroll Creek Montessori Public Charter School.
MASSACHUSETTS
Teachers Union Vows To Fight Imposed Evaluation System
Boston Globe, MA, August 29, 2012
The Boston Teachers Union threatened legal action against the School Department on Tuesday if it unilaterally implements a new teacher evaluation system that could quicken the dismissal of unsatisfactory teachers.
MICHIGAN
2,500 Detroit Public Schools Teachers Called Back
Detroit News, MI, August 29, 2012
With the start of school just a week away, 2,500 teachers have been called back to work at Detroit Public Schools, months after the district’s entire faculty was laid off.
MONTANA
Common Core: Our New National Curriculum
Independent Record, MT, August 29, 2012
According to the Montana Common Core Standards Document, issued by the Office of Public Instruction, the standards were written to “fulfill the charge issued by the states.” Where did this “charge” come from?
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Charter School Movement Growing In State, Gate City
Nashua Telegraph, NH, August 29, 2012
As New Hampshire ’s students head back to school this week, more than ever will be going to public charter schools.
For Family, Attending Academy for Science and Design Charter School Is Tradition
Nashua Telegraph, NH, August 29, 2012
When the family decided to embark on home schooling several years ago, the change allowed for more rigorous studies but was hard on the family. Putnam said she was looking for an algebra class for her son when she stumbled upon a website discussing the development of ASD.
NEW JERSEY
New Jersey’s New Tenure Rules Bring Teachers Closer To Excellence
Times of Trenton, NJ, August 29, 2012
To understand why Gov. Chris Christie’s support for the new teacher tenure legislation is so meaningful, one must first consider how big a difference-maker one teacher can be for a student from a poor background.
NEW MEXICO
Who Rules the Schools?
Santa Fe Reporter, NM, August 29, 2012
An elected commission wants more authority over NM’s public education system
NEW YORK
Concerns Remain Over Teacher Evaluations
Newsday, NY, August 28, 2012
A full 83 percent of students statewide in grades four through eight were correctly matched with their teachers as school officials calculated job ratings that were sent to local districts earlier in the month.
Staten Island Catholic School Students Outperforming Their Public School Peers
Staten Island Advance, NY, August 29, 2012
Catholic school students on Staten Island — and across the Archdiocese of New York — are outperforming their public school peers on state exams, especially in English Language Arts.
NORTH DAKOTA
BPS and MPS Say Formal Evaluations Already In Use
Bismarck Tribune, ND, August 28, 2012
Teacher and principal evaluations were the most controversial topic in deciding whether to apply for a waiver to No Child Left Behind.
OKLAHOMA
Educational Foundation Oklahoma Students Need To Succeed Is In Need Of Repair
The Oklahoman, OK, August 29, 2012
FOR more than a decade, the annual release of scores on the ACT exam has been promptly followed by calls for a more rigorous curriculum. Specifically, this newspaper and many policymakers have called for a four-year math requirement for all Oklahoma high school students.
PENNSYLVANIA
Many Applicants But No Money For State’s Scholarship Program
Scranton Times-Tribune, PA, August 29, 2012
State scholarships not available yet. Would let kids attend better school. A new state program promised students from low-performing schools the chance of scholarships – for this fall.
Charter School for Business Entrepreneurs Proposed in West Easton
Lehigh Valley Express-Times, PA, August 28, 2012
Developer Abraham Atiyeh said he’s partnering with a former Bethlehem Area School District superintendent to open a charter school focusing on business entrepreneurship in West Easton .
TENNESSEE
Charter Hopes to Cement Case Amid School Board Turnover
Nashville Public Radio, TN, August 28, 2012
An out-of-state charter operator at odds with the Metro school board is hoping it can soon win approval to expand into Nashville . Tonight the board swears in several newly elected members, who might sign off on Great Hearts Academies after a summer of legal maneuvering.
TEXAS
Mission Ignition
Brownsville Herald, TX, August 28, 2012
The Rio Grande Valley’s oldest charter school is now also its newest after changing its name to Ignite Public Schools and partnering with the Imaging Skills Institute of Pharr to offer programs that lead tojobs in the medical field right out of high school.
Dewhurst Declares Support for School Choice Legislation
Texas Tribune, TX, August 28, 2012
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, throwing some red meat to conservatives after his bruising defeat at the hands of Tea Party darling Ted Cruz, has put private school vouchers and expanded “parental choice” back on the legislative agenda.
VIRGINIA
Virginia’s Plan Rejects the Goal of No Child Left Behind
Washington Post, DC , August 28, 2012
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB) may have had some flaws, but there was nothing wrong with its noble goal that every child be proficient in reading and math.
WASHINGTON
Charter-School Debate’s 4th Round No Less Intense
Seattle Times, WA, August 28, 2012
Initiative 1240, which would allow charter schools in Washington state, is similar in many ways to a pair of ballot measures that voters previously rejected. But the political realities around the contentious issue have shifted.
Labor Group Gives $50K to Defeat Charter-Schools Initiative
Seattle Times, WA, August 28, 2012
Opponents of an initiative to allow charter schools in Washington state reported their first cash donation this week — $50,000 from the SEIU Washington State Council, a labor organization.
ONLINE SCHOOLS
Harrisburg School District Starts Cyberschool To Save Money, Lure Students Back
Patriot News, PA, August 28, 2012
In an effort to save money and be competitive, the Harrisburg School District has opened its own online school in an effort to lure former students away from other cyber charter schools and back to the district.
Virtual Schools Need Screening, Accountability
Wausau Daily Herald, WI, August 28, 2012
Virtual schools offer the promise of technological innovation and a flexible learning model. There is a role for virtual schools in our education system. But the data on the schools, which was gathered and analyzed for the first time this week by the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team, show worrying trends.