Schools Matter: Just How Private are Charter Schools?

Schools Matter: Just How Private are Charter Schools?:

"There's been a concerted effort by the pro-charter crowd to 'educate' the public about the so-called publicness of charter schools. You'll regularly see 'charters' referred to as 'public charter schools' these days, and don't think this slight change in label was accidental. The variety, quality, and types of charter schools - from your blatantly for-profit EMOs like the Edison Schools, the assortment of no excuses charter chaingangs like KIPP, rather progressive versions like the Big Picture schools, 'mom and pop' charters started and run by legitimate teachers, and a number of other different types - makes this field more complicated than it first appears."

Another city agency keeps watch at S. Phila. High | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/07/2010

Another city agency keeps watch at S. Phila. High | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/07/2010:

"The racial violence at South Philadelphia High School last month has drawn the official attention of yet another government agency.

The Mayor's Commission on Asian American Affairs yesterday expressed 'deep concern' over the Dec. 3 beatings of 30 Asian students by large groups of primarily African American pupils, and announced that it would monitor the situation at the school.

The advisory commission, which has no enforcement power, is at least the sixth authority to open an investigation, hold hearings, or focus an official eye on the school. They include the Philadelphia Police Department, the city and state Commissions on Human Relations, and Vietnam's deputy ambassador to the United States."

EducationNews.org - A Leading Global News Source - Memorization wrong path to proficiency in spelling

EducationNews.org - A Leading Global News Source - Memorization wrong path to proficiency in spelling:

"The recent article by Chronicle reporter Ericka Mellon about how schools are dropping weekly spelling tests in favor of teaching methods that focus less on memorization and more on understanding why and how words are constructed has created quite a stir. The article prompted letters to the editor and an editorial supporting the more traditional approach.

Noah Webster, noted lexicographer, once wrote, “Spelling is the foundation of reading and the greatest ornament of writing.” Webster's quote so succinctly captures the importance of spelling instruction. Students' spellings provide insight as to how well students are connecting sounds to reliable patterns in the language. Students who have a sense of how the language works spell more accurately and use more sophisticated words. The trick is how to provide students with instruction that will lead to improved spelling."

Class Struggle: More freedom, fewer rules for gifted students? - washingtonpost.com

Class Struggle: More freedom, fewer rules for gifted students? - washingtonpost.com:

"My Dec. 10 column about that Washington area troublesome but gifted child, future billionaire Warren Buffett, said our schools are never going to help such kids much. I said the gifted designation was often arbitrary and should be disposed of. Instead, we ought to find ways to let all kids explore their talents.

This produced a flood of comments on my blog. Many readers thought I was callous and daft. 'Unfortunately, eliminating the label generally means that the schools give up doing anything for advanced learners,' wrote a reader signing in as EduCrazy. Another commenter, CrimsonWife, said, 'if educators are fine with giving special attention and services to kids who are far out of the mainstream on the low end of the spectrum, why is it so controversial to provide specialized services to kids who are far out of the mainstream on the high end?"

Obama announces teacher training initiative - USATODAY.com

Obama announces teacher training initiative - USATODAY.com:

"WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama announced a $250 million initiative Wednesday to train math and science teachers and help meet his goal of pushing America's students from the middle to the top of the pack in those subjects in the next decade.

Obama also gave awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring to more than 100 educators — and joked about putting them to work.

"So you're going to have assignments after this," he said. The audience laughed. "These awards were not free," he added.

Obama said teacher quality is the most important single factor that influences whether students succeed or fail in the "STEM" fields of science, technology, engineering and math. But, he said, U.S. students trail their peers around the world.

He said a substantial shortage of teachers in these subject areas will deepen unless steps are taken to reverse the trend, and that doing so requires outside help because the federal government cannot do it alone.

'I believe so strongly in the work that you do,' Obama said at a ceremony in the White House East Room. 'And as I mentioned to some of you, because I've got two girls upstairs with math tests coming up, I figure that a little extra help from the best of the best couldn't hurt."

Delaware education: Early Head Start to reach further | delawareonline.com | The News Journal

Delaware education: Early Head Start to reach further | delawareonline.com | The News Journal:

"An unusual day for Carolyn Graves is one when she doesn't arrive at work to find phone messages on her desk.

Graves is family service advocate for New Directions Early Head Start at the Neighborhood House in Wilmington's Southbridge section. Parents call nearly every day seeking a space in the program, the only one of its kind in the neighborhood. With admission comes child care and resources to help moms and dads achieve family goals, such as employment, job training and paying the bills on time.

'Most of our parents are low-income, and we look at getting them employment if they are not employed and what we can do to empower them to be self-sufficient,' Graves said. 'The teachers take care of the child, and I take care of the family.'"

K-12 cuts proposal could help — or hinder — Gibbons - Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun

K-12 cuts proposal could help — or hinder — Gibbons - Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun:

"Democrats and Republicans agreed that the chances of success for many of the ambitious education proposals floated Wednesday by Gov. Jim Gibbons range from slim all the way to none. But that wasn’t necessarily the point.

Gibbons’ plan — which reads like the wish list of a conservative education reformer — appears aimed at exciting the conservative Republican base, while offering a way to cut the state budget.

It certainly has put his political opponents on the defensive."

Recession fuels shift from private to public schools - USATODAY.com

Recession fuels shift from private to public schools - USATODAY.com:

"When the family budget started feeling the recession's pinch last year, Angela Allyn and her photographer husband, Matt Dinnerstein, pulled their three kids out of Chicago-area private schools and enrolled them in Evanston, Ill., public schools.

It has been a challenging transition: Maya, 16, now a high school sophomore, 'doesn't like crowds — and her high school is as big as a small college,' her mother says. Though Maya is learning a lot in the 'amazing' science program, she's also hoping to leave the crowds behind by doubling up on coursework, graduating by the end of junior year 'and then going and doing interesting things,' Allyn says. Her younger children face their own challenges, from bullying to sheer boredom.

The transition also has been an education for Maya's parents, who say they had 'no choice' in the struggling economy but to switch to public schools."

Unions v. Race to the Top - WSJ.com

Unions v. Race to the Top - WSJ.com:

"Is the Obama Administration going to side with school reformers, or will it reward state and local teachers union affiliates that defend the status quo? This is a question states are asking as they prepare their applications for $4.35 billion in Race to the Top competitive grants. Some guidance from Education Secretary Arne Duncan would be helpful.

Teachers unions in Minnesota and Florida are currently threatening to withhold support for their state Race to the Top applications, which are due later this month. So is the school boards association in Louisiana. This matters because the Administration has placed a premium on states garnering 'local school district support' in order to win a grant. Not having union buy-in isn't fatal, but it definitely hurts a state's chances of getting federal funds."

Schoolchildren told to avoid Wikipedia - Telegraph

Schoolchildren told to avoid Wikipedia - Telegraph:

"Children should use Google and Yahoo to improve their essays, according to the official exams watchdog."

Ofqual said putting keywords into internet search engines was a “good starting point” when researching pieces of coursework and dissertations.

But guidance sent out to schoolchildren in England warns pupils to be extremely wary when using other websites such as Wikipedia.

The on-line encyclopaedia – created using contributions from readers – was not “authoritative or accurate” and in some cases “may be completely untrue”, said Ofqual.

Children can also be easily tripped up by copying passages from websites containing American phrases and spellings – a clear sign of plagiarism.

The comments were made in a series of documentssent to pupils, parents and teachers warning against cheating at school.

Ministers have already outlined plans to scrap GCSE coursework in most subjects – replacing it with controlled projects in the classroom under teacher supervision. It followed the publication of a report that warned coursework had become "less valid" as children were increasingly tempted by websites offering to help them script essays.

Milestones on Minorities and Poverty in Southern Schools - NYTimes.com

Milestones on Minorities and Poverty in Southern Schools - NYTimes.com:

"ATLANTA — The South has become the first region in the country where more than half of public school students are poor and more than half are members of minorities, according to a new report."


The shift was fueled not by white flight from public schools, which spiked during desegregation but has not had much effect on school demographics since the early 1980s. Rather, an influx of Latinos and other ethnic groups, the return of blacks to the South and higher birth rates among black and Latino families have contributed to the change.

The new numbers, from the 2008-9 school year, are a milestone for the South, “the only section of the United States where racial slavery, white supremacy and racial segregation of schools were enforced through law and social custom,” said the report, to be released on Thursday by the Southern Education Foundation, a nonprofit group based here that supports education improvement in the region. But the numbers also herald the future of the country as a whole, as minority students are expected to exceed 50 percent of public school enrollment by 2020 and the share of students poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunches is on the rise in every state.

A rescue mission for education - The Boston Globe

A rescue mission for education - The Boston Globe:

"FORTY YEARS ago, I changed schools. On the South Side of Chicago, my school had few books, 40 children in a classroom (most of us poor), teachers whose role was mainly to keep order, and police at every intersection of the halls. The school I changed to was a private New England prep school with small classes, longer school days, teachers with the latitude to innovate and experiment, and high expectations of each child."

I still want to change schools. But private schools are not the answer. Public schools are where most children get their education, and they should be consistently excellent.

The Legislature is now in final deliberations on a new education bill I filed last July that will close, once and for all, the pernicious achievement gaps that damage the lives of low-income, special needs and minority children. I applaud the House and the Senate for bringing us to the precipice of real and lasting reform.

The bill promotes the creation of “Innovation Schools’’ - a new type of public school featuring more autonomy and flexibility. It authorizes a targeted lift of charter school caps in the Commonwealth’s lowest-performing school districts, allowing only those charter operators with a proven record of successfully serving high needs students. Most important, it expands the ability of local superintendents or the commissioner of education to intervene in low-performing schools by providing new tools to attract the best and brightest educators, and new supports to help teachers, students and families overcome the disadvantages of poverty.

House swiftly OKs sweeping education measure, 119 to 35 - The Boston Globe

House swiftly OKs sweeping education measure, 119 to 35 - The Boston Globe:

"The state House of Representatives passed a sweeping education bill just after midnight that aims to overhaul the state’s worst schools and expand charter schools, capping off a marathon session that began early yesterday afternoon."

The approval came swiftly in a roll call vote, after members plowed through about 150 amendments to the bill. The vote was 119 to 35.

The decisive action surprised a handful of lobbyists who watched the proceedings unfold over the course of nearly 12 hours. Movement appeared so slow at points that many predicted a second day of debate.

But many House members, responding to a push by Speaker Robert DeLeo to pass the bill in a day, remained confident the session would end with a bill ready for a conference committee today. The Senate approved a similar measure in November.

“It’s a great day for the children of Massachusetts,’’ Representative Marty Walz, the Boston Democrat who cochairs the Joint Committee on Education, said in an interview after the vote.
“This bill will lead to significant improvement in our public schools and will make great strides in closing our state’s achievement gap.’’

Op-Ed Columnist - The Happiest People - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - The Happiest People - NYTimes.com:

"Hmmm. You think it’s a coincidence? Costa Rica is one of the very few countries to have abolished its army, and it’s also arguably the happiest nation on earth.

There are several ways of measuring happiness in countries, all inexact, but this pearl of Central America does stunningly well by whatever system is used. For example, the World Database of Happiness, compiled by a Dutch sociologist on the basis of answers to surveys by Gallup and others, lists Costa Rica in the top spot out of 148 nations."

Governor's call for giving colleges priority over prisons faces hard political tests - latimes.com

Governor's call for giving colleges priority over prisons faces hard political tests - latimes.com:

"Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to save money by privatizing prisons and the wisdom of linking the funding of universities and corrections facilities present formidable obstacles in Sacramento."

Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento - At the center of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's State of the State speech Wednesday was a proposal that outside of Sacramento might seem like common sense: Mandate that the state invest more dollars each year in its public universities than in locking people up in prison.

But to many inside the Capitol, that idea appears all but unattainable.

The plan -- and the reaction to it -- highlights the disconnect between the priorities of voters and the reality of the state's shattered finances and a policymaking process that often seems byzantine.

"In concept, it absolutely makes sense to everyone," said Thad Kousser, visiting professor of political science at Stanford University. But "when you look at the trade-offs that the state might face to get there, it gets a lot harder."

The proposal for a constitutional change that would require more spending on higher education than prisons was the key headline as Schwarzenegger delivered his final State of the State speech, in which he also asked legislators to approve a jobs creation program and urged them to join him in pushing for increased funding from Washington.

Fresh proof: charters work - NYPOST.com

Fresh proof: charters work - NYPOST.com:

"For the second time in six months, a promi nent researcher has put New York City's public charter schools under a microscope and found that, overall, they're outperforming the city's traditional public schools.

This confirmation couldn't come at a more appropriate time. Last month, the state Board of Regents proposed a package of education reforms aimed at winning New York $700 million in desperately needed funding from the federal Race to the Top. A key recommendation was lifting the artificial cap on charters."

Bass, Steinberg React to Gov's State of State

Bass, Steinberg React to Gov's State of State:

"Shile she heralded much of Governor Schwarzenegger's vision in his last State of the State address Wednesday morning -- Assembly Speaker Karen Bass had some concerns about his proposals to stimulate California's economy.

Rather than extend another tax credit for home buyers, Bass would like to see a measure that would help struggling homeowners, something '...that will help more families avoid foreclosure, that helps stabilize our housing market and I believe that's a win for the economy and for the budget.'"

Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Appointments : Wed, 06 Jan 2010 : California Newswire™

Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Appointments : Wed, 06 Jan 2010 : California Newswire™:

"Valerie Purnell, 51, of Sacramento, has been appointed assistant vice chancellor of federal relations for the California Community Colleges. Since 2008, she has served as owner of Purnell Partnerships, a consulting and advocacy firm. Previously, Purnell served the University of California’s Office of the President as associate director of state governmental affairs for from 2000 to 2007 and assistant director from 1994 to 2000. She worked for Children Now as director of external affairs 1993 to 1994 and director of political and legislative affairs from 1989 to 1992. Purnell was a law associate and health care advocate for Public Advocates, Inc. in 1989. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $103,608. Purnell is a Democrat."

Charters, LAUSD in special ed tug of war - ContraCostaTimes.com

Charters, LAUSD in special ed tug of war - ContraCostaTimes.com:

"A battle between Los Angeles Unified and charter groups could be decided today when the State Board of Education is expected to rule whether charters statewide can take complete control of educating their special needs students.

Publicly funded and independently run charters have argued that they should control special education funding, as they do for their general education student population. They accuse large school districts like LAUSD of controlling federal special education dollars and obstructing charters from getting their fair share.

But L.A. Unified officials say charters traditionally cherry pick special education students with less severe disabilities and leave LAUSD with severely disabled students who are more expensive to teach."

Raising dropout age sends mixed message | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Raising dropout age sends mixed message | detnews.com | The Detroit News:

"The message that the Legislature and governor are trying to send by raising the dropout age to 18 from 16 is on target: Students need to get a full education to have a chance at meeting the demands of the 21st-century work force. Unfortunately, the educational cart has been put before the horse.

When students want to drop out, they usually are indicating that traditional schools aren't engaging them. To make an increase in the dropout age work, the state and local school districts need to help at-risk students by developing a solid network of alternative education in the middle and high schools.

Without enough alternative schools, early dropouts will continue to be a problem. After all, raising the dropout age gets short-circuited by the lame-brained legislative loophole of allowing a parent to write an excuse note that lets a child drop out of school before 18.

Historically, a significant portion of the dropout population comes from problem-ridden homes, yet"