Teaching Democracy
There was a good turnout of students and faculty Monday night at Lake Forest College, to hear Deborah Meierspeak on the topic of "Democracy is more complicated than rocket science: So why don't we teach about it?" Wow! That's a brainfull.
Here's my headline of the week. It says a lot.
The growth of charter schools
NYT reports that between 2010-11 and 2011-12, the number of students in charter schools increased close to 13 percent, to just over two million.
New Orleans, where the city’s schools were essentially destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, leads the nation in the proportion of students in charter schools, at 70 percent. But in six other districts, including Detroit, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, more than 30 percent of public school students
Numbers that leave me shocked-and-awed
50.8 -- The percent of votes cast by Washington state voters in support of Initiative 1240. The new law will permit up to 40 privately-run charter schools over the next five years in the state. Votes are still being counted a week after the election which marked the fourth time since 1996 that Washington voters have been asked to approve charters. Previous bills have been rejected by voters despite millions of dollars behind the charter campaigns. This time, a handful of billionaires, led by Bill Gates put in more cash than ever before, and had a 10:1 financial edge over opponents. Given all that money, opponents have said they are happy the vote was close. -- Maureen Downey, ajc
738 -- The number of minutes over a three-week period (12 hours and 18 minutes), preparing for and administering standardized tests by a Chicago teacher. -- Adam Heenan
53,000,000 -- The number of dollars former Dixon, IL comptroller Rita Crundwell, is charged with siphoning off