Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Diane Ravitch: Atl. cheating scandal renews school reform debate - CBS News

Atl. cheating scandal renews school reform debate - CBS News

Atl. cheating scandal renews school reform debate

By
Mark Strassmann

(CBS News)
The Atlanta public schools are embroiled in a massive cheating scandal. It's a situation that's rippling far beyond the city's borders, because the alleged cheating involved the same sort of standardized tests used all over the country.
Most surprising is that it's not students who are accused, but 178 principals and teachers. Fifty-six schools were investigated, and cheating was found in 44, or nearly 80 percent, as CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports.
It's a scathing report: A decade of systemic cheating in Atlanta's school system by the adults.





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Diane RavitchAtl. cheating scandal renews school reform debate - CBS News

Atl. cheating scandal renews school reform debate - CBS News

Atl. cheating scandal renews school reform debate

By
Mark Strassmann
(CBS News)

The Atlanta public schools are embroiled in a massive cheating scandal. It's a situation that's rippling far beyond the city's borders, because the alleged cheating involved the same sort of standardized tests used all over the country.

Most surprising is that it's not students who are accused, but 178 principals and teachers. Fifty-six schools were investigated, and cheating was found in 44, or nearly 80 percent, as CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports.

It's a scathing report: A decade of systemic cheating in Atlanta's school system by the adults.

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first widespread school voucher system in Colorado, District to create faux charter school | 9news.com

Douglas County School District to create faux charter school | 9news.com

Douglas County School District to create faux charter school

CASTLE ROCK - There will be no classrooms full of students. There will be no staff of teachers. The sign outside indicates that the location is the school district headquarters. Yet, this will be the location of Douglas County's newest charter school. "We had to find a way to do this," Randy Barber, media and events director for the Douglas County School District, said.

The district is trying to establish the first widespread school voucher system in Colorado history. Dubbed the Choice Scholarship Pilot Program, 500 students have been selected to receive 75 percent of their per-pupil funding to pay for private school tuition. The remaining 25 percent will be kept by the district.

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and Taxpayers for Public Education have sued Douglas County. Out of the
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Schools Chiefs Say Without Education Overhaul, They Could Make Rules - NYTimes.com

Schools Chiefs Say Without Education Overhaul, They Could Make Rules - NYTimes.com

Schools Chiefs Say Without Education Overhaul, They Could Make Rules

By
Published: July 12, 2011

Some state education chiefs say that if Congress does not overhaul No Child Left Behind, the main federal law governing public education, by the fall, they may be allowed to propose their own accountability systems as an alternative.

Related

These education chiefs said this week that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his aides have signaled that they may grant a waiver on a crucial provision in the law, a requirement that all children be proficient in English and math by 2014, a goal widely seen as unrealistic.

Other provisions that the administration might be willing to relax include a requirement that districts identify and address schools that do not make “adequate yearly progress”

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California Department of Education demands more from grant applications for failing schools - San Jose Mercury News

California Department of Education demands more from grant applications for failing schools - San Jose Mercury News

California Department of Education demands more from grant applications for failing schools

By Theresa Harrington
Contra Costa Times
© Copyright 2011, Bay Area News Group

Posted: 07/12/2011 03:29:25 PM PDT
Updated: 07/12/2011 04:34:45 PM PDT

State officials last year dangled an enticing carrot before administrators at California's worst schools: Millions of dollars in federal funding to help turn around failing campuses -- including nearly $45 million slated for the East Bay.

This year, the state is moving the carrot. The California Department of Education is making school districts work harder to get the second and third installments of the three-year grants awarded in 2010-11 unless they can ensure they will fully implement such reforms as increased instructional time for all students.

Education officials also want to withhold as much as $69 million in new federal grants that districts were counting on to pay for reforms at additional failing schools starting in the fall. The state has rejected every application -- 25 in

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