The state House narrowly approved legislation long sought by Michigan charter school advocates this evening - removal of the cap on their number.
Concurrence by the state Senate, which could come as soon as Thursday, would send the bill to Gov. Rick Snyder and open the door to the creation of a wave of new charters in 2012.
The measure was approved on a vote of 58-49, almost entirely along party lines with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. In addition to lifting the cap on the number of charter schools, backers
Sent to the San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 14
Gov. Brown plans to cut funding for public libraries, but has no plans to eliminate the High School Exit Exam ("Jerry Brown announces $1 billion in spending cuts,” Dec. 14). This is despite the fact that libraries contribute strongly to literacy development, despite the fact that use of public libraries has increased since the economic hard times began, and despite data showing that California’s public libraries are among the least well-funded in the nation.
Research also consistently shows that High School Exit Exams are a waste of money: Performance on exit exams does not relate to
As public educators committed to democratic principles, we are charged to:
The current political climate is marked by powerful attacks on public institutions, including schools, colleges, universities and public employee unions. These attacks are dangerous because public education is an essential component of an effective democracy: for citizens to self-govern, they must be able to engage in the process of recreating society in meaningful, intentional ways.
Today, neoliberal policies threaten the ability of public institutions to foster critical, thoughtful, active citizens. Education is being viewed as a commodity and the labor of teachers and students – at all levels – is being exploited as a means to generate data for private entities which then, more often than not, use those data to confirm the perceived ineffectiveness of the public institutions themselves.
As a public institution that prepares future educators, we must model the critical stance that we want our
The first part of a three-year report examining innovation schools in Denver was released today presenting new questions and giving preliminary — but promising — answers to others.
"As with any good study, this study raises as many questions as it answers," said Van Schoales, executive director of the independent advocacy group, A-Plus Denver. "The power of this study is that it will be much easier to tease out how this tool has been helpful."
Innovation status, a designation under state statue, allows schools to have more autonomy with hiring, budgets, and curriculum, and freedom from some union rules.
Of 21 innovation schools in Colorado, 19 are Denver Public Schools.
The research is being conducted by the University of Colorado, but is being led and paid for by a partnership between DPS, Colorado Education Association, the Denver Classroom Teachers
