Ms. Katie Asks: What If Charters Served the Neediest Students?
Katie Osgood has a terrific blog. She works with children with high needs. I learn a lot from Ms. Katie whenever I read her writings:
Saturday, April 21, 2012
What If Charter Schools Did What They Were Intended to Do?
As I continue to meet dozens and dozens of charter school students from across Chicago, I am continually reminded how different the charter schools are from their nearby public neighborhood schools. Working in a psychiatric facility means all the students I meet have some sort of mental health problem. And yet, a vast
Texas Parents Plan Rally for Chicago Teachers
Just in:
| Here in Austin, Texas on Saturday, August 25th 7:00-9:00 pm we’ll be having a rally to support the Chicago teachers. Parents supporting teachers. Solidarity! |
| TexasParentsOptOutStateTests@yahoo.com |
Where Is the Grass Greener? Texas or NJ?
Sara Stevenson explained how NCLB is still ruining public schools in Texas.
This reader in New Jersey says that getting the waiver has given unprecedented power to the state, which is now intervening in districts across the state to impose Governor Christie’s will on everyone. Bear in mind that on national tests, New Jersey is typically #2 in the nation (behind Massachusetts) and the governor is acting as if the entire system were a disaster.
Wouldn’t it be great if the politicians stuck to what they know?
This reader in New Jersey says that getting the waiver has given unprecedented power to the state, which is now intervening in districts across the state to impose Governor Christie’s will on everyone. Bear in mind that on national tests, New Jersey is typically #2 in the nation (behind Massachusetts) and the governor is acting as if the entire system were a disaster.
Wouldn’t it be great if the politicians stuck to what they know?
I still cannot figure out which is worse. I hear nightmares of the impact of NCLB in states that did not apply forNCLB Still Ruining Schools in TexasTexas did not apply for a waiver because it did not want to accept federal intervention into its schools. So Texas is still subject the the punitive sanctions of the idiotic law that got its start in Texas, a gift to America’s schools thanks to Sandy Kress, Margaret Spellings, Rod Paige and George W. Bush (with a bow to Senator Ted Kennedy, Rep George Miller, and Rep. John Boehner, among its lead sponsors). I got this note from Sara Stevenson, the dauntless librarian at the O. Henry Middle School in Austin, Texas: Last week AYP was announced. Our middle school is one of A Word to Fellow TeachersFrom a teacher, who read this advice and added more: Dear teacher sister/brother, as I read and absorb your advice, and wish you well for all of it, may I respectfully add one more idea for your consideration? It’s a big part of my school year: “I will be mindful that next door, down the street, and across the country thousands and thousands of teachers like me are trying to do the same thing, for the same reason. Because children are our focus. Because we love and care about them and their families and our communities. Because we have to protect them from the suits, What Happens to Charters That Recruit Needy Children?When the charter idea was first proposed, in 1988, the idea was that charters would enroll the students who were failing, for whatever reason, in regular public schools. The charters would enroll the dropouts, the about to dropout, the students who were unable to function in a regular environment. The charter would come up with workable ideas and share them with the public school, to make the public schools better. Things haven’t worked out that way. Now charters compete for higher test scores, and it is risky to enroll high-needs students because they will drag down the school’s average. The charters run by hedge fund managers |