Daily Headlines for October 21, 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
After Misuse, a Push to Continue Tutoring Mandate
Texas Tribune, TX, October 20, 2013
A decade after it became law as a part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, a tutoring program heralded as an academic safety net for children from low-income families in struggling schools has earned few champions — and lost many supporters.
‘An Industry of Mediocrity’
Op-Ed, New York Times, NY, October 21, 2013
The heartening news is that the universities that have so long resisted pleas to raise their standards are now beginning to have change pushed on them from outside.
Do private schools suck even worse than public schools?
Daily Caller, October 19, 2013
It seems that private school students have higher scores because they come from more affluent backgrounds, not because the schools they attend are better educational institutions
Evidence confirms the positive effects of school choice learning
Opinion, Colorado Springs Gazette, CO, October 20, 2013
Perhaps not all families can benefit from vouchers, due to special circumstances. Yet, why limit access to, in many cases, a better education simply because some cannot take advantage of that possibility? The fact is that school voucher programs open up access to a private education, when many families wouldn’t otherwise have that opportunity.
School choice does work, is constitutional
Opinion, Daily News-Journal, TN, October 19, 2013
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris in 2002 was of one of the most important U.S. Supreme Court decisions since Brown vs. Board of Education. In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the court upheld the constitutionality of a school choice program in Cleveland for low-income children long ignored by the educational establishment.
Teach for America rises as political powerhouse
Politico, October 21, 2013
Teach for America is best known for sending bright young college graduates to teach for two years in poor communities. But it’s much more than a service organization. It’s a political powerhouse.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
College readiness of Arizona students questioned
The Republic, AZ, October 19, 2013
The majority of Arizona high-school graduates’ scores on two popular college-admissions tests — the ACT and the SAT — indicate that the students are ill-prepared for college and would likely need to take remedial classes once there, according to reports from the groups responsible for administering the tests.
School voucher challenge filed
Arizona Daily Sun, AZ, October 19, 2013
Education groups are making a last-ditch effort to halt what is now a limited school voucher program before it spreads.
CALIFORNIA
Rebooting L.A. Unified’s iPad plan
Editorial, Los Angeles Times, CA, October 20, 2013
Although we live in a technological age, it is more important for the district to move carefully than to move quickly on giving every student a tablet.
COLORADO
Charter school applications up for PSD school board approval
Coloradoan, CO, October 20, 2013
School board members are expected to vote this week to approve or deny applications from two charter schools with plans to open in Fort Collins.
Millions already spent backing, rebuking Colorado’s billion-dollar education tax
The Coloradoan, CO, October 20, 2013
Teachers unions and several wealthy Coloradans are spending millions to convince voters to agree to almost $1 billion annually in higher income taxes devoted to public schools.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
In speech, D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson offers optimistic view of city schools
Washington Post, DC, October 18, 2013
Chancellor Kaya Henderson used her “State of the D.C. Public Schools” address Thursday evening to celebrate a “turning tide” that she said is beginning to transform the city’s long-struggling school system.
GEORGIA
School leaders at Jenkins White hope innovation leads to academic growth
Augusta Chronicle, GA, October 20, 2013
On a given day at Jenkins White Elementary Charter School, pupils might be reading poetry in music class or dancing during math.
FLORIDA
Charter school needs to mend fences
Editorial, Tampa Bay Times, FL, October 18, 2013
Every time a charter school opens, there is an implicit trust that its leaders will deliver on their promises in exchange for public money. But two months after opening, University Preparatory Academy in south St. Petersburg has at least twice broken its word.
More Pinellas students heading to charter schools
St. Petersburg Tribune, FL, October 21, 2013
More students are enrolling in Pinellas County’s charter schools then ever before, but some School Board members worry it’s at the detriment of public schools.
Politics take center stage in Common Core controversy
Miami Herald, FL, October 20, 2013
The three public hearings on the Common Core State Standards, held last week at the request of Gov. Rick Scott, were intended to let parents, educators and taxpayers in Florida express their opinions on the new national benchmarks for students. But many of their voices were drowned out by emotional outbursts and political jabs aimed at the federal government.
INDIANA
Keep school reform’s focus on kids, not faculty
Editorial, Munster NW Times, IN, October 20, 2013
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz has hired outreach coordinators to help struggling school districts instead of taking over failing schools. That outreach must be forceful, however, to make sure improvements do happen.
LOUISIANA
Common Core could help remedy state’s education woes
Editorial, The Daily Advertiser, LA, October 19, 2013
Common Core State Standards have been at the center of a heated and emotional debate for months in Louisiana. The standards that allow creative and critical thinking to be taught in the public school system has been marked with misunderstandings and misinformation.
New Orleans high schools: then and now
Times-Picayune, LA, October 20, 2013
The trajectories of schools that the state Recovery School District seized after Katrina have differed. Some, such as Booker T. Washington and Fortier, never reopened. Others, like L.E. Rabouin, Marion Abramson and Douglass, reopened then closed, casualties of the district’s plan to “right size” and improve the low-performing campuses.
MARYLAND
Teacher’s union gives Brown his biggest endorsement for governor
Maryland Reporter, MD, October 20, 2013
The pandering cameras were on at the Maryland State Education Association in Ocean City Friday as four candidates for governor came seeking the endorsement of the largest union in the state with promises in hand.
MISSISSIPPI
After-school clubs try to close science, math gap
Detroit News, MI, October 20, 2013
The engineering club of 20 students, which meets at the charter academy once a week, illustrates a growing number of extracurricular programs in Metro Detroit aimed at boosting students’ skills and interest in science, technology, math and engineering — STEM. Studies have shown U.S. students lag their peers in many other industrialized countries in math and science.
MISSOURI
Lawsuit likely if state denies KC school district’s bid for accreditation
Kansas City Star, MO, October 21, 2013
The Kansas City school district is stripped of accreditation. A district official decries it as a “death knell.” The superintendent despairs over the timing for a school system trying to reset itself. The state school board and education commissioner hold their ground.
St. Louis schools taking aim at social promotion
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, October 20, 2013
Each year, around 2,000 children in the city’s public elementary and middle schools receive the worst score possible on state reading exams.
NEW YORK
De Blasio’s charter schools rent plan could devastate programs
New York Post, NY, October 21, 2 013
Bill de Blasio’s plan to charge charter schools rent would wreak havoc on their finances — forcing them to slash academic programs to absorb millions in new costs or even shut down, new analyses by the charter operators have found.
Districts weigh options for releasing teacher evaluations
Utica Observer-Dispatch, NY, October 20, 2013
When it comes to releasing principal and teacher evaluations, area school districts are walking a “tightrope” between privacy and state law.
The Charter School Fight
New York Times, NY, October 20, 2013
The mayor’s race, otherwise somnolently lacking in drama since the primaries retired the name Sydney Leathers to the history of grade-B scandal, received an infusion of heat recently over the dependably combustible issue of charter school education.
UFT again shows it doesn’t care about the kids
Editorial, New York Post, NY, October 20, 2013
The United Federation of Teachers has spent decades pleading for more money for public schools.
UFT nixes evaluations at its own charter school
New York Post, NY, October 20, 2013
The UFT’s own charter school, which barely won state accreditation this year, has decided to opt out of new teacher evaluations that all its members in public schools have to undergo.
NORTH CAROLINA
Proposed charter school to cater to special needs students
WRAL, NC, October 19, 2013
Two Raleigh mothers want to open a charter school that focuses on children with developmental and intellectual disabilities
OHIO
State shuts down twin charter schools on Near East Side
Columbus Dispatch, OH, October 20, 2013
In a rare move, the state school superintendent has ordered the immediate shutdown of two brand-new Columbus charter schools, saying conditions are deplorable.
Superheroes race through Ohio City for Breakthrough Schools
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, October 20, 2013
Superheroes bounded through the streets of Ohio City on Sunday, raising money for Breakthrough Schools; nine Cleveland non-profit charter schools ranked as the highest-performing in the state.
OKLAHOMA
Raising the male high school graduation rate
Opinion, Tulsa World, OK, October 20, 2013
Never count on a single silver bullet to stop real bullets, or some other secret weapon to combat overall crime in communities.
PENNSYLVANIA
A welcome change of heart
Editorial, Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, October 20, 2013
The city teachers’ union appears to be winning the game of stare-down it has been playing with state and city officials over the $103 million in contract concessions being sought to close the School District’s budget deficit.
Dues deduction exploits Pa. teachers, taxpayers
Column, The Mercury, PA, October 20, 20123
Teachers from across the commonwealth have joined together to protest being forced to finance a political organization that works against their own views and values. That organization is the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest and most influential teachers union.
Right call on New Hope charter school closure
Editorial, York Dispatch, PA, October 20, 2013
Ultimately, what the dispute amounted to was a failing school district denying renewal of a charter for a school that was also failing. And in a sense, you could argue the district’s own charter is in jeopardy as it works through the state-mandated school recovery process — a process that could, ironically, result in the district being taken over by charter schools.
TEXAS
Texas education chief wants Dallas charter school closed for good
Dallas Morning News, TX, October 18, 2013
The state’s education chief is seeking to permanently close a Dallas charter school, citing a repeated failure to protect students from teachers and staff with criminal backgrounds.
UTAH
Don’t suspend kids for behavior; it makes them drop out
Op-Ed, Salt Lake Tribune, UT, October 19, 2013
Hurrying down to class at a major Salt Lake high school years ago, one of us was in the company of two friends. When passing the vice principal, these two friends were stopped and questioned about why they were not in class, But our current law school peer, then just a naive high school student, was allowed to continue.
WISCONSIN
Rally against MPS legislation underscores deep divisions
Journal Sentinel, WI, October 19, 2013
A rally Friday against what protesters called “Jim Crow legislation” added another burning log to a week of heated discussion over state legislation aimed at moving more Milwaukee Public Schools real estate into the hands of non-district operators.
ONLINE LEARNING
End unjust payments to cyber charters
Pocono Record, PA, October 21, 2013
While our state legislators debate how to address the major problems plaguing public school funding in Pennsylvania, they should at least fix some obvious and easily remedied inequities, like the overfunding of cyber charter schools. School districts pay tuition for students who attend charter schools; what they pay is based on the average cost to educate students in their district.
Technology use on the rise at St. Johns H.S.
Lansing State Journal, MI, October 20, 2013
Use of technology is growing everywhere, including schools. Using computers of some form is the new norm in schools that are working to prepare their students for the future.