"Big news out of Los Angeles on school management: The district's school board will give control to nonprofits made up mainly of teachers and administrators already in the district to open new schools and turn around old ones, rather than to the charter school operators who hoped to expand in the district.
It's all something of a repudiation of Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who supported some of the charter proposals.
The charter organizers are pretty upset about this, while United Teachers Los Angeles chief A.J. Duffy—who's famous for denouncing charters, saying principals are vindictive, and claiming L.A.'s bureaucracy prevents innovation—seems happy overall with the news. The union backed the nonprofit bids and, of course, those schools will be unionized. That probably wouldn't have happened if the charters had won those bids.
Still, it's unclear whether Duffy is cognizant of how much this really seems to call UTLA's bluff. The teachers and administrators will be freed up from some rules, but will they manage to improve instruction? What happens if these schools don't turn out to be successful? If they aren't, don't expect the school board to be so generous the next time around."
It's all something of a repudiation of Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who supported some of the charter proposals.
The charter organizers are pretty upset about this, while United Teachers Los Angeles chief A.J. Duffy—who's famous for denouncing charters, saying principals are vindictive, and claiming L.A.'s bureaucracy prevents innovation—seems happy overall with the news. The union backed the nonprofit bids and, of course, those schools will be unionized. That probably wouldn't have happened if the charters had won those bids.
Still, it's unclear whether Duffy is cognizant of how much this really seems to call UTLA's bluff. The teachers and administrators will be freed up from some rules, but will they manage to improve instruction? What happens if these schools don't turn out to be successful? If they aren't, don't expect the school board to be so generous the next time around."
'Turnaround' Not Only Policy Issue in R.I. Teacher Firings
The decision of Central Falls, R.I., Superintendent Frances Gallo to fire every teacher in a high school building is making big headlines in Rhode Island, attracting outrage from teachers' unions and from AFT President Randi Weingarten, and becoming a big education reform story now that The New York Times has picked it up.
Under No Child Left Behind's1003(g) school improvement grants, which are doled out by formula to states and districts, the Obama administration outlined four possible models for dealing with the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools. Gallo initially wanted to use a "transformation" model with extended learning time and other changes to instruction but couldn't reach agreement with the union about how to compensate teachers for putting in extra hours. So now she's going with the "turnaround" model, which requires teacher firing.
A couple things to keep in mind: This is not, repeat NOT the first time that teachers have been fired in the name of federal law. NCLB allows for teacher firing in schools reaching the "restructuring" phase of sanctions.
So the reasons this is especially newsy are twofold. First, the Obama administration's requirements for the grants are stricter than the NCLB law is—and much more prescriptive than the Bush administration sought to be when Congress first gave the 1003(g) program money back in 2007. It's clear from this example that the beefed-up program is going to come as political cover for districts that want to take aggressive action.
Under No Child Left Behind's1003(g) school improvement grants, which are doled out by formula to states and districts, the Obama administration outlined four possible models for dealing with the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools. Gallo initially wanted to use a "transformation" model with extended learning time and other changes to instruction but couldn't reach agreement with the union about how to compensate teachers for putting in extra hours. So now she's going with the "turnaround" model, which requires teacher firing.
A couple things to keep in mind: This is not, repeat NOT the first time that teachers have been fired in the name of federal law. NCLB allows for teacher firing in schools reaching the "restructuring" phase of sanctions.
So the reasons this is especially newsy are twofold. First, the Obama administration's requirements for the grants are stricter than the NCLB law is—and much more prescriptive than the Bush administration sought to be when Congress first gave the 1003(g) program money back in 2007. It's clear from this example that the beefed-up program is going to come as political cover for districts that want to take aggressive action.
