T.C. Williams hustles to get off urgent-reform list
After landing on the government's in-need-of urgent-reform list, T.C. Williams High struggles to find the prescription for smaller achievement gaps and higher graduation rates.
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Detroit school board head quits after complaint alleging inappropriate behavior
In the category of you can't make up this stuff, the Detroit Board of Education president quits after the schools superintendent accuses him of inappropriate behavior.
New regs for private special ed schools
District officials proposed new rules Friday to more tightly regulate the quality and cost of private schools where special education students are sent at public expense.
A 2006 law passed by the D.C. Council authorized more rigorous oversight, but only now is the District getting around to establishing specific regulations to put the measure on its feet. The rules, published Friday in the D.C. Register, will require the schools to obtain a "Certificate of Approval" (COA) from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education confirming that they comply with health and safety standards and are following each student's Individual Education Plan (IEP) -- the official document setting out the help that a child needs. It will also, for the first time, place limits on what the District will pay to private educators.
About 2,700 disabled District students attend private schools, at a projected cost this year of $283 million in tuition and transportation. Parents pursue private schools as an option for their children under federal law when it is determined that the District system can't meet their needs. There are about 90 day schools in the Washington area and an additional 119 residential facilities as far away as Colorado where District children have been placed.
The schools were issued COAs after the law was passed. But until recently, there has been little to no District monitoring. Teams from OSSE have now visited most of the schools and will begin to issue updated COAs after the regs go into effect. Tameria Lewis, assistant state superintendent for special education, said that while deficiencies have been identified in some schools, so far only one -- SunRise Academy in Northwest D.C. -- has had its certificate pulled.
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Alexandria educators try to reform (TWP)
