Daily Headlines: May 21, 2012
Making Schools Work
New York Times, NY, May 20, 2012
AMID the ceaseless and cacophonous debates about how to close the achievement gap, we’ve turned away from one tool that has been shown to work: school desegregation
Is Segregation Back in U.S. Public Schools?
New York Times, NY, May 20, 2012
How can we integrate public schools when neighborhoods have become more segregated? Is it time to bring back busing? What other options and solutions are out there for providing a quality education for all children?
Protect Our Most Effective Teachers
USA Today, May 20, 2012
As financial challenges force school districts across the country to make layoff decisions, many new, successful teachers are being driven out of the system. The problem is not just budget cuts but also a four-letter word: LIFO, “last in, first out.” The last teachers hired are the first ones fired.
FROM THE STATES
A Split Among Democrats
Los Angeles Times, CA, May 21, 2012
Especially in California, the party is deeply divided on the question of how best to improve schools.
L.A. Unified A Rare Haven For Health Teachers
Los Angeles Times, CA, May 20, 2012
The school district still has dedicated health classes while many others have ended theirs, largely for fiscal reasons.
Teachers Much Make The Grade In Charter Schools
Washington Post, DC, May 20, 2012
Most parents know who are the great teachers in their schools and who are the teachers to avoid. So on one level the resistance to evaluating teachers more systematically, rewarding good ones and encouraging bad ones to leave, is puzzling.
D.C. Charters And Neighborhoods
Washington Examiner, DC, May 20, 2012
Squirreled away in the 2013 budget the D.C. Council approved last week was a section mandating a study of admissions preference at charter schools for children who live in the neighborhoods where those facilities are located. Chairman Kwame R. Brown authored the measure, which has been embraced by Ward 6’s Tommy Wells and other legislators.
In D.C. Schools, Obama Chooses Unions Over Kids
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 20, 2012
Just when you thought the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program for poor, predominantly minority kids was fully protected from politics, here comes the Obama administration with another broadside.
Florida Test Scores Bring More Questions Than Answers
CNN Blog, FL, May 21, 2012
This year’s writing test results, however, revealed a far different story. Writing scores have plunged. Last year 81% of fourth-graders scored a 4 (at grade level) or higher on a 6-point scale. This year, only 27% did.
Charter School Vote: Lakeland High School Trips on Rule
The Ledger, FL, May 20, 2012
Monday is the last day for parents of Lakeland High School students to deliver their ballots to vote on whether to convert the institution into a charter school.
Fewer Transfers Likely This Fall
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, May 20, 2012
The No Child Left Behind Act identified “failing” schools and enabled parents like Folsom to choose better ones. Georgia, however, was recently granted a waiver from the act and its requirements.
Gary Legislators Urge State Board to Block Two New Charters
WIBC, IN, May 21, 2012
Gary’s legislative delegation and school board are trying to block the applications of two new charter schools for the city.
Lawmakers Get An Education
Journal Gazette, IN, May 21, 2012
A legislative panel examining the Indiana Department of Education gets another chance to ask about the department’s overreaching approach to school reform today.
Downsville Parents Formalize Charter Request
News Star, LA, May 21, 2012
Parents in Downsville say they want to preserve their community school and they are willing to charter the school to ensure they do.
School Board May Sue State
News Banner, LA, May 20, 2012
The St. Tammany School Board may enter a lawsuit against the state challenging the education reform package as being unconstitutional.
Graduating Teachers Not Fazed On Tenure
The Advocate, LA, May 20, 2012
But among all of the thousands of graduates who received their diplomas Friday, there is one group of graduates — Louisiana’s teachers — who are now entering a job market that has changed drastically in just the past several weeks.
Are Md. Schools Really No. 1?
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 20, 2012
Educators and politicians rave about Maryland’s public schools. And why shouldn’t they? After all, Education Week, the nation’s most widely circulated education newspaper, has ranked Maryland public schools in first place for the past four years.
Sabis Deserves Second School in Springfield
The Republican, MA, May 20, 2012
Everyone is probably familiar with the quote, “Success breeds success.” Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to apply to Sabis International Charter School , the charter school in Springfield , with respect to an important issue that impacts thousands of patient families and students.
It’s Time To Close The Real Achievement Gap
Enterprise News, MA, May 21, 2012
Perhaps the most important thing No Child Left Behind did was shine a spotlight on America’s achievement gap. Today we know children from low income and minority families are at a clear disadvantage when their academic performance is compared to their more affluent, non-minority peers.
State Education Officials Narrow Down Problem Schools Criteria
Pioneer Press, MN, May 20, 2012
Remember that highly publicized watch list of Minnesota public schools failing to make adequate progress toward math and reading goals? It’s gone.
Agent of Change Retiring From Maplewood-Richmond Heights Schools
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, May 21, 2012
Superintendent Linda Henke, 61, has driven much of the change. But it involved firing more than 30 teachers at the outset, overhauling curriculum and getting the community on board with facility upgrades by passing bond issues.
Charter School Movement in Nashua
Union Leader, NH, May 20, 2012
Now Bean, 36, and classmate Marc Sylvester, a few years her junior, have decided they want a microsociety charter school in the Granite State. According to them, it would be the first.
Noble Move Saves Paul Robeson Charter School in Trenton From Closure
Times of Trenton, NJ, May 21, 2012
Administrators at the Paul Robeson Charter School in Trenton were put on notice in March when the state Department of Education levied a 90-day probation for low student achievement and leadership problems.
Tensions Rise Over Paterson’s Plans for Schools
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, May 21, 2012
This time, it was in Paterson where deep divisions have surfaced over the administration’s mix of proposals, from changes in educational practices to the closing and reconfiguring of a half-dozen schools.
$200 Insta-Credit Case Hurts School Reforms
Albuquerque Journal, NM, May 21, 2012
There are plenty of questions surrounding the Albuquerque High School student who paid $200 to a charter school so he could retake senior English over a weekend and graduate on time.
Teachers Union Chief Michael Mulgrew Has His Priorities Upside-Down
New York Daily News, NY, May 20, 2012
Based on his track record as president of the United Federation of Teachers, if Michael Mulgrew were to be named schools chancellor, students who flunk — rather than straight-A kids — would graduate with honors.
Asheville’s Eliada Home Program Seeks Charter School Approval
Asheville Citizen-Times, NC, May 21, 2012
A day treatment program for children with behavioral issues operated by Eliada Homes is seeking state approval as a charter school.
Educators React Differently To Increase In Public Charter Schools
News Herald, OH, May 20, 2012
An increased interest in public charter schools has brought up different feelings among educators.
Dropout Rate: Ohio Slips As Nation Improves
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, May 19, 2012
Ohio reported the second-biggest increase in its dropout rate between 2002 and 2009 even as millions of state and federal dollars were being spent on dropout initiatives.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson Would Alter Education Reform Bill To Ease Concerns of Charter Schools
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, May 20, 2012
Looking to widen support in the Ohio General Assembly for his education reform legislation, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has suggested changes to ease the worries of charter-school operators who fear the mayor’s expanded power.
Cleveland School Reformers Must Guard Against a Hijacking
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, May 19, 2012
The battle to get school reform legislation critical to the future of Cleveland’s children through the General Assembly is entering its final stages. Supporters need to be absolutely resolute against attempts to weaken the reform package — or derail it through parliamentary shenanigans. They also need to keep an eye on the clock as legislators rush to decamp from Columbus for the summer.
Alternative-School Links Grow on Camden Board
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 20, 2012
The Camden City School Board — including two new members sworn in Wednesday and immediately confronted with the task of replacing departing Superintendent Bessie LaFra Young — will have to navigate this kind of divide among parents as it weighs how to improve the learning environment for children in a city beset by poverty, crime, and struggling public schools.
Archdiocese Pushes For School Vouchers
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 21, 2012
Hundreds of students, as well as parents and teachers, addressed Roman Catholic Masses throughout the Philadelphia Archdiocese over the weekend to urge parishioners to lobby their legislators to support tax-funded school vouchers.
Teachers Want A Say In Philadelphia School District Plans
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 20, 2012
With the nearly broke Philadelphia School District poised to essentially blow up its current structure, close 64 schools over the next five years, and shift thousands more students to charter schools, the time for subtlety is gone, said teachers who picked up picket signs and took to the streets Friday.
Don’t Let Failing Seniors Slip By
Commercial Appeal, TN, May 21, 2012
The push to better evaluate the competency of teachers has produced a predicament for high school seniors who expect to graduate this month.
Unified School System Sees Daunting Financial Task Requiring Creative Financing
Commercial Appeal, TN, May 21, 2012
An aggressive drive toward greater efficiency and some persuasive lobbying could help close a projected multimillion-dollar funding shortfall for the unified school district.
Students Can’t Learn If They Can’t Get To School
Knoxville News Sentinel, TN, May 21, 2012
Amid all that, they apparently forgot one of the basics: Students have to be able to get to school in order to learn. No public school system in Tennessee should have to ground its buses the last weeks of the term.
Review of Teacher Evaluation System Unlikely to Surprise: Huffman
WPLN, TN, May 21, 2012
A review of the Tennessee’s controversial new system for evaluating teachers is due out in the next couple of weeks. The state’s top education official doubts it will bring many surprises.
Several Austin Charters At Top of Nonprofit Group’s Annual School Rankings
Austin American Statesman, TX, May 20, 2012
After several years of just falling short of a top rating by the state, the staff at St. Elmo Elementary School in the Austin school district set a goal of reaching that exemplary status and refused to let anyone take their eyes off the prize, Principal Adriana Gonzales said.
VIRTUAL EDUCATION
Virtues of Online Education Win Praise From Memphis-Area Pupils’ Parents
Commercial Appeal, TN, May 19, 2012
The National School Board Association’s Center for Public Education this week found little evidence that virtual learning improves student achievement, including the thousands of courses local school districts offer.
Cyber Schooling Provides Flexibility, Accountability For Coweta Family
Newnan Times-Herald, GA, May 20, 2012
Five-year-old David Johnson’s school days begin like those of many other kindergartners: Get up and eat breakfast, check. Make bed, check. Get dressed, check.
School Leaders See Cyber Schools As Threat To State Funding
WPBN-WTOM TV, MI, May 21, 2012
State lawmakers are making it easier for Michigan students to enroll in cyber school. One of Michigan’s newest laws lifts the cap on how many kids attend school online.
Mcfarland-Based Online Charter School Growing Fast
Wisconsin State Journal, WI, May 20, 2012
Business is booming at Wisconsin Virtual Academy after two of the state’s biggest virtual schools split from the country’s largest online K-12 education service provider.