Daily Headlines for July 25, 2011
Was the $5 Billion Worth It?
Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2011
A decade into his record-breaking education philanthropy, Bill Gates talks teachers, charters-and regrets.
School Dropout Rates Adds To Fiscal Burden
National Public Radio, July 24, 2011
Of all the problems this country faces in education, one of the most complicated, heart-wrenching and urgent is the dropout crisis. Nearly 1 million teenagers stop going to school every year.
States Need Flexibility In Using Federal School Funds
Detroit News, MI, July 25, 2011
Local officials are best able to decide which programs meet the needs of their students
Changes To School Tests Must Reflect Reality
The Republican, MA, July 25, 2011
No Child Left Behind, the landmark education law meant to ensure that all the nation’s pupils were at least proficient in the basic subjects, is turning into an upside-down Lake Woebegone, the fictional village where all the children are above average.
FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
High Turnover Reported Among Charter School Teachers
Los Angeles Times, CA, July 25, 2011
With so many charter school teachers moving on each year, concerns arise about retaining quality educators and how stability affects student performance
Clayton Valley High Charter School Supporters Are Preparing For A Showdown
Contra Costa Times, CA, July 24, 2011
Charter school proponents are gearing up for an Aug. 9 Mt. Diablo school board public hearing, where they will advocate for permission to convert the campus to a teacher-led charter. If approved, the school would convert in 2012-13.
COLORADO
Appointment To The Denver Education Compact Tests Mayor Hancock
Denver Post, CO, July 25, 2011
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is pushing a major change in the way City Hall looks at education, and at the same time walking a delicate line between traditional education and education reform interests.
A Tipping Point For Democrats On Education
Denver Post, CO, July 25, 2011
In multiple elections over the past year, at the state, district and city level, Colorado Democrats are winning elected office despite positions on public education that previously would have been political suicide. This evolution is profound, for it offers Democrats an issue where they can recapture their core values and align with an electorate that increasingly supports the basic principals of education reform. Consider the following elections
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Farewell and Keep Fighting for D.C. School Choice
Washington Examiner, DC, July 25, 2011
Over the past month, more than 2,000 parents applied for their children to receive a private school scholarship through the highly successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. After fighting to restore this essential program for more than three years, the sight of families applying is inspiring.
FLORIDA
Education Needs New Approaches
Florida Today, FL, July 22, 2011
Over 5,000 charter schools have been created since state legislatures began adopting this radical and innovative approach to education in the 1990s.
As Merit Pay Raises Stakes on FCAT, Florida Must Avert and Punish Cheating
Orlando Sentinel, FL, July 24, 2011
A national school reform movement that’s increasingly built upon high-stakes testing was rocked by revelations that educators at nearly half of Atlanta’s public schools cheated on Georgia’s standardized tests.
Bradenton Charter School Sets Its Sights On Success
Bradenton Herald Tribune, FL, July 24, 2011
When teachers at Team Success charter school saw two students squinting to read a whiteboard last year, they began to wonder how many other students at the F-rated school might have poor eyesight.
GEORGIA
School Board’s Jobs On The Line
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, July 24, 2011
On Tuesday, state education officials will begin the process of deciding whether the eight remaining school board members can continue to oversee educating the nearly 50,000 students in Atlanta Public Schools.
State Supreme Court Decision Was Not Fatal To Charter Schools
Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog, GA, July 25, 2011
Thomas A. Cox is an education lawyer and litigator with the Atlanta office of Carlock, Copeland & Stair, LLP. He has represented the Atlanta and DeKalb school systems in the lawsuit successfully challenging the constitutionality of the state Charter Commission Act.
IOWA
Iowa’s Task: Bet On Right School Reforms
Des Moines Register, IA, July 23, 2011
As Iowa political and education leaders prepare to make sweeping changes in the state’s schools, experts monitoring similar efforts across the country caution that much of what is being tried is still controversial and uncharted territory.
MARYLAND
Montgomery’s Chance To Get Its First Charter School
Washington Post, DC, July 24, 2011
MONTGOMERY COUNTY school officials deny they have a bias against charter schools. They say that the only reason none exist in the county – even as they have become a popular staple of school choice nationwide – is because there have been no qualified applicants or worthwhile programs.
MASSACHUSETTS
School Board Right To Revisit Policy On Extra-Curriculars
Gloucester Times, MA, July 24, 2011
No one is quite saying the Gloucester School Committee is looking to back off its wrongheaded and newly affirmed policy of blocking any students from outside the Gloucester Public School District from
participating in any of the city schools’ extracurricular or after-school programs.
MICHIGAN
Tenure Questions Just Beginning
Midland Daily News, MI, July 24, 2011
With the recently enacted and signed package of four bills reforming the teacher tenure process in Michigan, it would seem that the debates are over. But the debates and questions about tenure are only beginning.
MISSOURI
Taxpayers Join Legal Fight Over School Transfers
Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, July 23, 2011
A new twist emerged Friday in the lawsuit involving parents in failing school districts who want to transfer their kids to better schools, energizing those who say it would be impossible for districts to comply.
NEW YORK
Money for Charter Schools
New York Times, NY, July 25, 2011
“Battle Over Charter Schools Shifting to Affluent Suburbs” (front page, July 17) reveals the attitude of many traditional public school administrators who believe that education funds are theirs and do not belong to the people at large.
As Best Schools Compete for Best Performers, Students May Be Left Behind
New York Times, NY, July 25, 2011
Parents are supposed to rank their choices for the district lottery, but the guidebook is vague about what each school is looking for. Every school listing, under “Selection criteria,” says the same thing: “Review of grades and test scores.”
A Victory For All Of Our Children: Charter Schools Win In Court, and the UFT And NAACP Lose
New York Daily News, NY, July 25, 2011
The naive among us would believe anything said by the United Federation of Teachers or the NAACP. Yet theirs was the wrong side in the suit they brought against the City of New York – and the race talk thrown in by the NAACP made the whole thing even muddier.
OHIO
Charter Schools Now Priority Tenants
Columbus Dispatch, OH, July 24, 2011
Columbus City Schools can no longer cherry-pick who may lease its vacant buildings, tossing aside a longstanding policy that allowed the district to choose renters it thought would best carry out its mission.
Undue Process
The Columbus Dispatch, OH, July 25, 2011
As do other professionals, teachers deserve a fair chance to make a case for themselves before they are fired for misconduct. But the process Ohio law provides for teachers is unreasonably protracted and expensive for school districts.
Making the Grade
Columbus Dispatch, OH, July 24, 2011
KIPP Central Ohio’s announcement that it is planning to open a second charter school is a great encouragement to those who want better school choices for Columbus children.
Change Ohio’s Teacher Seniority Rules
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, July 24, 2011
Kudos to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson for not letting what he sees as a GOP bait-and-switch on teacher seniority reforms stop him from pushing to loosen the stranglehold such state-mandated seniority requirements place on school innovation and the ability to hire and keep the best teachers.
OKLAHOMA
Schools Should Benefit From New Teacher Evaluation System
The Oklahoman, OK, July 24, 2011
Oklahoma failed to pull in any federal money in the Race to the Top competition, but the resulting teacher and principal evaluation system should be good for public education. Our hope is the new system will provide educators guidance for improvement and flunk out incompetent professionals.
OREGON
Teachers: Education’s Scapegoats
Register Guard, OR, July 24, 2011
Increasingly, and wrongly, the conventional wisdom places the blame for failure of our schools on educators and their unions
PENNSYLVANIA
Summer School: The Essential Bridge
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, July 25, 2011
For thousands of students across the region, summer school is no way to make up work or squeak through to the next grade – it’s an essential part of their school year.
Charter Schools Provide Alternative
Centre Daily Times, PA, July 24, 2011
The more than 90,000 students enrolled in Pennsylvania’s 140 charter schools forgo traditional public schools to find smaller classrooms, alternative teaching and learning strategies and niche programs that parallel personal education philosophies.
RHODE ISLAND
Charter-School Opponents Raise Concerns About Official Summary Of Public Hearing
Providence Journal, RI, July 22, 2011
Opponents of a charter school application sponsored by Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung accused the state Department of Education of colluding with charter supporters and tampering with the record to play down community opposition.
TENNESSEE
Rules Skew Charter Schools’ Reality
Commercial Appeal, TN, July 23, 2011
In truth, the Promise Academy in North Memphis, the Memphis Business Academy in Frayser and the Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering in the city’s Medical Center are getting higher achievement out of their students than dozens of other public schools in Memphis. Three examples.
WISCONSIN
The Upside And Downside Of Walker’s Education Vision
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, July 23, 2011
A heat dome has settled over much of American education. Is Gov. Scott Walker just going to add to the stifling atmosphere? Or is Walker right that there are cool breezes in his ideas for how to increase school quality overall?
VIRTUAL EDUCATION
More Schools Connecting W
ith Students Through Online Classes
Lansing State Journal, MI, July 25, 2011
Lansing and Waverly offer online options for kids who have dropped out or gotten behind. Holt will start an online learning program this fall. Eaton Rapids is making an effort to target home-schoolers with a laptop-based high school curriculum.
‘Virtual School’ In Tennessee May Drain Taxpayer Funds
Commercial Appeal, TN, July 24, 2011
State officials are anxious to see how many students across Tennessee enroll in a public “virtual school” run by a for-profit Virginia company — and how much state taxpayer money automatically follows them.
Virtual Schools Increase In Kansas
Topeka Capital Journal, KS, July 24, 2011
Some western Kansas schools are adjusting to the region’s shifting population and cuts in state school funding by offering virtual classes.