The Classroom Next Time (On My Last Day of School) | The Jose Vilson

The Classroom Next Time (On My Last Day of School) | The Jose Vilson:

The Classroom Next Time (On My Last Day of School)

Over the last week or two, I’ve had a hard time compressing the experience of teaching students over the last year. There’s something disconcerting about teaching 90 students in the beginning of the year to 150 in almost in the blink of an eye. Yet, that’s what happened in December.

But before I speak on that, you should know the intense preparation I undertake to begin the school year. I hop in more than a week early, scrubbing desks, emptying lockers, labeling baskets. I re-order books, wash whiteboards, and toss out scrap material from the prior year. I order multi-colored folders, boxes of pencils, and reams of copy paper. I go through routines and rituals as if they were seated right in front of me then and there. I skim over lesson plans and quotidian First Day of School posts. I test out my teacher voice and blast inappropriate rap music at high volume while doing all of this. I become one with this classroom, the space my students might occupy.

In short order, they are introduced to adults left and right, some who they’ve passed by in the hallway but never bothered to inquire about. Their schedules have rectangular grids with enough space in the text to color-code with fresh neon marker. They’re given a redundant set of behavioral norms. They read their teachers for initial signs of weakness and codes of engagement. Who gives the most homework? Who shouts the loudest? Who’s too strict for their own good? Who’s going to give me that 90?

Meanwhile, I had re-dedicated myself to aligning my inside and outside personas, because I already carried so many multitudes that having one more grew tiresome. My students deserved this new me. The political self. The soulful self. The ebullient self. The serious self. The quixotic (and at times The Classroom Next Time (On My Last Day of School) | The Jose Vilson:

Get a *Legal* College Degree in 24 Hours for $200 | deutsch29

Get a *Legal* College Degree in 24 Hours for $200 | deutsch29:

Get a *Legal* College Degree in 24 Hours for $200

Satisfied Instantdegrees.com customer

This “instant” college degree website is worth a read in its entirety.

It advertises,

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The site sells “legal” bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees. But, being an above-board short-cut, balanced-on-the-edge-of-technically-legal website, it does offer some cautions:

Note: This is a valuable free service directed at above averagely intelligent people who understand the value of being able to instantly convert their existing knowledge into a degree, quickly and legally. It is essential that you read and understand the FAQ because it outlines exactly what we deliver. If you have any doubts you should not proceed.

The site tells exactly what it’s doing–without stating exactly what its doing:

What can I expect from a Private Degree?

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We are often asked what this means and the best definition, that neatly encapsulates the concept, is that an institution is legally formed and operating in such a way that it makes the granting of a degree legal, whereas this would otherwise be illegal.

There is only so much that can be done, when you consider that your overall investment is only $200.

 If you do not understand the concept of legal loopholes explained above, do not understand the limitations explained in the main FAQ or you have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved for $200, then you shouldNOT proceed.

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Basically, we promise a LEGAL and lower cost alternative to using fake, counterfeit or phony degrees and diplomas.

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And (surely) to cover itself from those who actually believe that $200 and 24 hours should be able to convert a lie into truth, the site continues by telling those who are entertaining being taken in by its unrealistic, sleight-of-legitimacy that its “degrees” Get a *Legal* College Degree in 24 Hours for $200 | deutsch29:

Jersey Jazzman: How The Charter Cheerleading Industry Is Abetting The Destruction Of Public Schools

Jersey Jazzman: How The Charter Cheerleading Industry Is Abetting The Destruction Of Public Schools:
How The Charter Cheerleading Industry Is Abetting The Destruction Of Public Schools

I know I swore off wasting my time (and yours) criticizing reformy edu-bloggers. But I've been watching a back-and-forth on social media for the past few days that is such a good example of how destructive the charter cheerleading industry has become (fueled with an insane amount of money from ideological foundations) that I have no choice but to comment.

This all started on Tuesday, July 5, when NJ Spotlight (full disclosure -- I write regularly for them) ran an excerpt of an address a graduating senior at North Star Academy Charter School gave to his classmates. Which is fine: all kids should be proud of their accomplishments and their schools (although it's a shame Spotlight has not, to my knowledge, published the excerpts of any other graduating senior's speeches -- especially students graduating in Newark).

So why does that matter? Well, this past month Governor Chris Christie proposed a radical shift in the allocation of state aid for schools -- one that would slash funding and jack up taxes in urban school districts while giving the state's wealthiest districts, already payingrelatively low effective tax rates, a huge infusion of state aid (I wrote about it forSpotlight here).

How did Christie justify such a radical plan? Simple: if urban charter schools, like North Star, had higher graduation rates than their hosting public district schools, that then "proves" the extra funding New Jersey sends to urban districts is going to waste. Here's Christie's very first press conference where he justified his scheme:

Do not let anyone tell you that failure is inevitable for children in those 31 districts or that money is the answer.  The Academy Charter High School in Asbury Park had an 89% graduation rate compared to 66% in Asbury Park; Academy spends $17,000 per pupil while the traditional public schools spend $33,000 per pupil.  The LEAP Academy Charter School has a 98% graduation rate in Camden, while the district has a 63% rate; LEAP spends 16,000 per pupil while the school district spends $25,000 per pupil.  In Newark, the North Star Academy Charter has an 87% graduation compared to the citywide rate of 69%; North Star spends $13,000 per pupil compared to $22,000 per pupil district wide. [emphasis mine]

I'll get to Academy Charter High and LEAP in due time; for now, let's concentrate on North Star. First of all, let's ask the obvious question: is an 18 percentage point difference really Jersey Jazzman: How The Charter Cheerleading Industry Is Abetting The Destruction Of Public Schools:

Schools That Integrate Technology: Silicon Valley | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Schools That Integrate Technology: Silicon Valley | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Schools That Integrate Technology: Silicon Valley

As complex as it is for an individual teacher to integrate daily use of high-tech devices into routine classroom practices, technology integration at a school level is even more complex. A classroom teacher with 25-35 students can alter the structures of her classroom and create a culture of learning, achievement and mutual respect. Hard as that is, it is do-able. I and many others have profiled teachers who have created such classrooms.

Imagine, however, schools with 30 to 100 classrooms and getting all of those teachers to work together to create school-wide infrastructure and a learning, achieving, and respectful culture–across scores of classrooms that seamlessly integrates computers to achieve the school-site’s goals. A complex task with many moving parts that is fragile yet strong. It does happen but remains uncommon.

I have observed a few schools in Silicon Valley that have integrated new technologies across the entire school requiring teachers to teach lessons using particular hardware and software. These schools vary from one another but tout that they “personalize learning,” blend instruction, and differentiate their lessons to meet differences among students. Invariably, they say they use project-based instruction.  They have created both an infrastructure and culture that subordinates technology to the larger tasks of preparing children and youth to do well academically and socially, graduate, and enter college (and complete it) or enter a career directly.

Considering what I have observed in Silicon Valley, documented nationally in my studies, and retrieved from the research literature on such schools elsewhere in the U.S., what are the common features of such schools?

Here are eight different yet interacting moving parts that I believe has to go into any reform aimed at creating a high-achieving school using technology to prepare children and youth to enter a career or complete college (or both). Note, please, that what I have garnered from direct observation, interviews, and the literature is not a recipe that can be easily cooked and served. Listing these features I have isolated is not an invitation to insert some or all of these into a formula for producing such schools near and far. These schools are rooted in their contexts and context matters.

These features are:

*Recruit and train teachers who have the subject matter knowledge and skills to work with students  before, during, and after the school day.

*Recruit and train school site leaders who have the expertise and skills to lead a school and be a pillow and sandpaper simultaneously with teachers, students, and parents.

*Students have access to non-academic subjects that cultivate the mind, heart, and sensibilities.

*Equip all students with the knowledge and skills not only to enter college,  persist through four years and get a bachelor’s degree but also have the wherewithal to enter a career immediately.

*Organize the school day, week, and month that provides students with sufficient time in and out of class to learn the prescribed material and core cognitive skills to master a subject, acquire the essential skills of planning and assessing their Schools That Integrate Technology: Silicon Valley | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Ohio’s ECOT Charter School Files Lawsuit to Block Attendance Audit and Protect Profits | janresseger

Ohio’s ECOT Charter School Files Lawsuit to Block Attendance Audit and Protect Profits | janresseger:

Ohio’s ECOT Charter School Files Lawsuit to Block Attendance Audit and Protect Profits

Lawyers for the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, Ohio’s largest charter school and one of the nation’s largest e-schools, has employed a new tactic to protect the school’s collection of tax dollars for phantom students. Jim Siegel and Catherine Candisky of The Columbus Dispatchreport that ECOT has filed a lawsuit to block an attendance audit to be conducted this week by the Ohio Department of Education:

“Facing the potential loss of tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, Ohio’s largest online charter school sued the state Friday in an attempt to block an upcoming attendance audit. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow filed the lawsuit in an attempt to stop the Ohio Department of Education from requiring that the school provide records of daily student log-in times, which the lawsuit calls ‘a bait and switch.’  The state’s preliminary attendance review of ECOT in May raised questions, noting that ‘most log-in times from these files did not substantiate 5 hours per day of log-in time for the students reviewed. The accuracy of attendance figures is crucial because they are the key factor in determining how much state money a school receives. ECOT gets about $107 million per year for more than 15,000 students.” The Ohio Department of Education had scheduled a final ECOT attendance review this week.

Neil Clark, ECOT’s “consultant” and one of Columbus’ best known and most powerful Republican lobbyists, explained on Friday that ECOT signed a funding agreement with the Ohio Department of Education back in 2003.  Clark says the 2003 contract requires only that that ECOT offer each of its students 920 hours of “learning opportunities” in every school year but does not require students actually to participate for five hours every day—all 920 hours.

The Plain Dealer reprinted and expanded the Dispatch story on page A14 in its Saturday, print edition, but a hotlink is unavailable because cleveland.com, the newspaper’s website, did not pick up the story.  The Plain Dealer‘s story provides additional information from the lawsuit itself, in which ECOT alleges: “The General Assembly elected to make this FTE (full time equivalency) calculation dependent upon the number of hours of learning opportunities offered, as opposed to actual time spent logged in by a particular student… Simply put, had the legislature intended to make FTE funding dependent on student log-in time/duration or some other measure of ‘participation,’ it knew exactly how to do so.  Instead it specifically chose to make the (attendance) funding calculation based on learning opportunities ‘offered’ by Ohio’s community schools.” (In Ohio law, charters are termed “community schools,” unlike the rest of the country where “Community Schools” are defined as traditional public schools with added wraparound health and social services located right in the school building.)

Describing the lawsuit’s contention that a 2003 contract agreement with the Ohio Department of Education merely requires ECOT to provide 920 hours of curriculum but does not require that students actually participate, the Plain Dealer report adds: “The agreement was signed by an associate superintendent at the Education Department but his or her signature is illegible.”

Ohio Senate Minority leader Joe Schiavoni proposed a bill earlier this spring that would have very specifically prevented Ohio’s online charters from charging the state for phantom Ohio’s ECOT Charter School Files Lawsuit to Block Attendance Audit and Protect Profits | janresseger:

Big Education Ape: Cyber Charter school tuition criticized as unfair | sharonherald - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/cyber-charter-school-tuition-criticized.html

Big Education Ape: California Reaches Settlement With K12 Over False Claims Allegations - WSJ -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/california-reaches-settlement-with-k12.html

Big Education Ape: Facing tough questions from Calif. officials, virtual charter school operator settles with attorney general | 89.3 KPCC - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/facing-tough-questions-from-calif.html

Another victory for government secrecy in Connecticut? - Wait What?

Another victory for government secrecy in Connecticut? - Wait What?:
Another victory for government secrecy in Connecticut?

The CT Mirror headline reads; Fate of legislature’s investigative arm hangs on budget battle.

As background, in 1992 I served as the House Chairman of the Connecticut General Assembly Program Review and Investigation Committee.  In many respects it is one of the most important committees in the legislative branch of government.  The bi-partisan committee and its professional staff are tasked with providing the legislature with the ability to review and investigate administrative agencies, programs and policies and the committee serves as a unique mechanism to counter the power of the Governor and his control over all state activities.

But as a result of their disastrous budget agreement, Malloy and Democratic leaders took a major step toward undermining, even destroying, this important vehicle of transparency.

As the CT Mirror explains;

The fate of the legislature’s chief investigative arm probably will be determined in the next few weeks as top leaders decide whether to impose a cut that would chop the nonpartisan agency in half.

Meanwhile, the House’s longest-serving current member, Rep. Mary Mushinsky, D-Wallingford, insists House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey’s office assured her the planned reduction to the Program Review and Investigation Committee staff would be significantly muted — in exchange for her support for the new state budget.

But the speaker, who is retiring after this year, said last week his office never made that pledge. And while he said he would try, nonetheless, to ease the fiscal pain, it is doubtful that several of the 12 positions in the investigative office won’t be eliminated.

In the short term, undermining the Program Review and Investigation Committee would derail important legislative reviews including studies into the State’s school desegregation programs; long-term care services; substance abuse prevention services and the state’s Another victory for government secrecy in Connecticut? - Wait What?:

Detroit Public Schools: The Case for Remembering (And the Road Not Taken) | educarenow

The Case for Remembering (And the Road Not Taken) | educarenow:

The Case for Remembering (And the Road Not Taken)

We live in a time that encourages us to erase our history. Our focus is on moving forward, making progress, all the while we congratulate ourselves for how far we’ve come.

We live in times where we look to “disrupt” as a means of “innovating.” Of creating space for newness.

All the while we do so without fully understanding the forces at work that created the need for change in the first place.

We do so without understanding the choices that our history gives us clues to.

In a recent article in the Detroit Free Press, the current Emergency Manager for Detroit Public Schools, Judge Stephen Rhodes (who calls himself a “Transition Manager” as means of avoiding the historical failure of “Emergency Manager”- see how that works?), along with interim Superintendent Alycia Meriweather, wrote an op-ed, “Focus on Fresh Start for Public Education in Detroit, Not Blame for the Past,” asking us to wipe the slate clean, forget the past, and move forward in order to do what’s best for kids.

“As a community, we can choose to focus our time and energy on questions such as who bears the responsibility for the problems of the old Detroit Public Schools, whether it was necessary for the Michigan Legislature to launch a new school district to solve those problems, or whether the Legislature should have done more.

As leaders of the new school system, however, we choose to focus on the task of creating the best school system that we can for the city of Detroit. We make that choice because it is in the best interests of the students. All other questions are merely distractions from the goal of excellence in academics to which we aspire. We ask the community to join us in that choice.” (Emphasis added)

As a superficial gesture, I get it. We all want what’s best for kids. Let’s move forward as way of doing that.

However, it raises so many questions that need to be asked. And to call them distractions displays a scary level of callousness for those who have been deeply The Case for Remembering (And the Road Not Taken) | educarenow:

Clever Video Illustrates How Apps Track Data: It’s Like Stalking. – Missouri Education Watchdog

Clever Video Illustrates How Apps Track Data: It’s Like Stalking. – Missouri Education Watchdog:

Clever Video Illustrates How Apps Track Data: It’s Like Stalking.

If a picture is worth a thousand words then the video below is worth several thousand words and multiple articles on what occurs in the app tracking of your student in public school.  Data information captured from your student’s key strokes are then inserted in a personally identifiable permanent data set which follows them cradle to grave.   In place of a shopkeeper role portraying an app, pretend she’s a teacher asking your child these questions as he/she has them using classroom apps on their hand held devices or computers.   From The Danish Consumer Council:

Some of the comments on the youtube video state that you can turn off information to apps.  You can choose to use a phone app or not.

Do you have the ability to turn off the information on the apps that your student is required to use in the classroom?  Do you even know what apps students are using, what information is being gathered and who has access to this personally identifiable information?  Guest editor Cheri Kiesecker weighs in on just some of the information gathered on your student:

Classroom apps collect data. By logging in, they already have the student’s ID and/ or name. Then some apps ( like LEARN ZILLION) for example, collect names of your siblings, parents, pet names, etc. NAVIANCE is worse– it does actual personality surveys, and has access to financial info because it also handles student grants and loan applications.

If you haven’t asked your school district and state legislators on what data is being gathered, who it is disseminated to and for what purpose, it’s Clever Video Illustrates How Apps Track Data: It’s Like Stalking. – Missouri Education Watchdog:

The testing of MaryEllen Elia continues, a year into her tenure

The testing of MaryEllen Elia continues, a year into her tenure:

The testing of MaryEllen Elia continues, a year into her tenure
Bridges have been built, but a gulf of mistrust remains

ALBANY — In her first year on the job, state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has traveled more than 35,000 miles back and forth across the state. She’s helped implement changes to state tests, took action on Rockland County’s troubled East Ramapo school district and is overseeing reviews of learning standards and teacher evaluations.

Though her efforts appear to have gone some way toward addressing highly politicized and caustic education environment in New York State, winning the trust of parents and other stakeholders may require more time.

Story Continued Below

“Our folks, the parents and the educators, are not in a place where they’re very trusting, that’s a huge hill for her to climb,” New York State United Teachers President Karen Magee told POLITICO New York.

Magee reserved comment when asked if Elia has fully gained that trust. She's waiting until after the state’s reviews of the standards, tests and evaluations are complete and whether or not she believes stakeholder input was taken into consideration.

“At the end of the day what’s delivered will have to translate to the classroom to the rank and file members because otherwise it’s another scheme,” said Magee, who represents the state’s largest teachers union.

And others still question where her agenda fits into the mix.

“Who is MaryEllen Elia as an educational leader? We still don’t know the answer,” said David Bloomfield, an education leadership professor at Brooklyn College and at the City University of New York Graduate Center. “I think she’s trying not to make waves and unfortunately, perhaps learning the lesson that any step could be a step backwards, [that] results in paralysis.”

Bloomfield said that Elia's task has not been easy.

“She came into a firestorm in a highly polarized situation," he said, crediting Elia with a "more collaborative approach in the Legislature, as well as with parents and teachers who have felt pressured by the accountability advocates,” he said. “It’s been quite the change.”

Elia, 67, a longtime educator who started her career in New York State, took over the role of state education commissioner on July 6 of last year, coming from Florida, where she had served as superintendent of Hillsborough County schools.

Her predecessor, John King Jr., left to take a role with the federal education department, and now serves as U.S. secretary of education.

King was a polarizing figure, having championed the 2012 implementation of the Common Core learning standards, as well as the state tests aligned to the standards and teacher evaluations based partially on students’ results on those tests. The changes were made as the state, struggling to recover from the 2008 recession, competed for federal grant dollars and put in place initiatives under the No Child

Read more: http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2016/07/elias-year-of-healing-103676#ixzz4E7DNEvXe 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

The Global Search for Education: A Focus on U.S. Education

The Global Search for Education: A Focus on U.S. Education:

The Global Search for Education: A Focus on U.S. Education

“American schools are not failing; they are getting the best results in our history.”

—  Richard Dufour

Educator and best-selling author Dr. Richard DuFour investigates the state of education today in his new book, In Praise of American Educators - And How They Can Become Even Better. Richard was a public school educator for 34 years, serving as a teacher, principal, and superintendent. He wrote his latest book because of what he calls the “continuing unfair characterization of American schools as failing.” He believes US schools are currently showing their best results ever and he also believes the harsh policies being directed at US public schools have failed because they were based on “faulty assumptions.” Dufour was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last year. He hopes his book will persuade policy makers, educators and parents that the best way forward for sustainable school improvement is to build “the capacity of educators to work as members of a professional learning community.” Richard is recognized as one of the leading authorities on helping school practitioners implement the Professional Learning Communities at Work process in their schools and districts. He joins us today inThe Global Search for Education.

“If the PISA tests were used to highlight and address the detrimental effects of poverty and how those effects can be overcome, they could be very beneficial. If they are used to disparage American schools with the blanket condemnation that they are failing, they are of no use.”  —  Richard Dufour

Welcome Richard. What do you hope will be the main takeaways from your book?

The main takeaways are first, American schools are not failing; they are getting the best results in our history in areas such as graduation rates, pursuit of more rigorous curriculum, performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMMS), achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), parent satisfaction with their local schools, and student perceptions of their teachers compared with students around the world.

Secondly, because the consequences of a student’s failure to succeed in the K-12 setting have never been more dire, educators must become much more effective in helping all students to learn at high levels.

Finally, we know the key to helping more students to achieve at higher levels - The Global Search for Education: A Focus on U.S. Education:

Julian charters paved way for others | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com

Julian charters paved way for others | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com:

Julian charter schools at center of storm

Tiny district that paved way for charter boom faces lawsuit from other districts

Big Education Ape: California: The Charter Game is Rigged | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/05/california-charter-game-is-rigged-diane.html

Back in 1870, Julian opened a one-room school house for the children of miners and farmers who settled in the Cuyamaca Mountains. Today, the two-campus district has reinvented itself with money-generating charter schools that enroll thousands of students living far beyond its rural boundaries.

The Julian Union School District educates little more than 300 local students from the community widely known as apple country. Nearly 4,000 additional students from throughout the region attend classes and work with teachers in dozens of storefront schools operated by three independent charters it authorized.

The arrangement has brought millions of dollars in charter revenue to the tiny district since 1999. Since then, the district has held only one school board election. With so few children enrolled in schools, it’s tough to motivate anyone to run for office, leaving incumbents to serve for decades and successors named by appointment.

Julian’s independent-study programs have grown with the help of technology advancements, and as more families seek an alternative to their neighborhood school.

Kimberly Famolaro of Allied Gardens started enrolling her children in Julian Charter after first trying traditional schools, a Catholic school and home-schooling.

“I wanted to be very involved in my kids’ education. The program has evolved over the years, but my teacher has always been my teammate and gotten to know all of my kids,” said Famolaro, who has nine children, including a recent graduate of University of Redlands and a student at UC San Diego. “We are held accountable. I have to keep learning logs, record what they do everyday.”

Julian is now under fire for its charter schools. Two districts — San Diego Unified and Grossmont Union — that have lost students and state attendance revenue to the charters are suing Julian and two of its charters that they say violate the law by operating centers in their boundaries.

Among the issues raised in the lawsuit is whether Julian’s charters can legally populate the county with satellite campuses, or “resource centers,” in other districts without first notifying them and providing an address and information about the facilities they plan on using.

Following Julian’s lead, dozens of far-flung charters and resource centers have been authorized by other small East County districts, including some that candidly acknowledged the arrangements were forged mostly for the money. The practice has pitted districts against one another and spurred costly litigation.

Districts can receive up to 3 percent of a charter’s revenue to offset the cost of providing oversight and other services. In the 2014-15 school year, Julian took in $787,887 in revenue from charter schools. The district’s total revenue that year was $6.2 million.

Sarah Sutherland, an attorney representing Grossmont and San Diego Unified, said some of the earliest Julian charters paved way for others | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com:

How Goldilocks Opened a Charter School That Nobody Wanted

Big Education Ape: Charter School Approval Flea Flicker: Three charter schools closed by CPS file appeals with stat... http://bit.ly/1QGhKNd

Big Education Ape: Glendale Unified board denies charter school plans; petitioners say they will appeal to county -... http://bit.ly/1P9tvbD

Big Education Ape: Flea Flicker: Rocketship appeals to state board to build school in Concord - ContraCostaTimes http://bit.ly/1RVCrnq

Big Education Ape: Flea Flicker: Should state be able to approve charter schools in Virginia? - Daily Press http://bit.ly/1QPtgEg

Big Education Ape: Washington Charter Schools Find Another Source Of Public Money | KUOW News and Information http://bit.ly/1QPtknC

Cyber Charter school tuition criticized as unfair | sharonherald

Cyber school tuition criticized as unfair | Local News | sharonherald.com:
Cyber school tuition criticized as unfair

HARRISBURG – A festering dispute over the state’s 13 cyber schools, their funding and students’ sagging test scores is reigniting in Harrisburg.

A proposal tacked onto an annual education budget bill alters the formula for how much local school districts pay to the virtual campuses, and how online schools are managed.

Rep. Mike Reese, R-Westmoreland County, said he is calling for “sensible changes” to the funding of cyber schools. That includes allowing local schools to deduct the costs of collecting taxes and providing library services when they make payments to the cyber charters.

They are part of a broader update he proposes to the law governing charter schools.

The bill also creates a panel to determine if there’s a better way to calculate how much school districts pay in cyber charter tuition. The plan includes a host of other rules for bookkeeping, ethics, and oversight of charters, as well.

Pennsylvania’s 13 cyber charters enroll 36,000 students. Collectively they represent the second-largest school district in the state, behind Philadelphia’s.

The online schools are far more popular in Pennsylvania than elsewhere.

While cyber schools are legal in 35 states, those in Pennsylvania, Ohio and California account for more than half of the enrollment of virtual schools in the United States.

Supporters and critics of the online schools agree that too many students slip off the radar while moving Cyber school tuition criticized as unfair | Local News | sharonherald.com:

Big Education Ape: California Reaches Settlement With K12 Over False Claims Allegations - WSJ - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/california-reaches-settlement-with-k12.html

Big Education Ape: Facing tough questions from Calif. officials, virtual charter school operator settles with attorney general | 89.3 KPCC - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/facing-tough-questions-from-calif.html

CURMUDGUCATION: The Dem Platform, Randi, and Charters

CURMUDGUCATION: The Dem Platform, Randi, and Charters:

The Dem Platform, Randi, and Charters



The Democratic platform committee has been working away all weekend, reportedly till well past midnight. We've been fortunate to have some public education advocates there as part of the education committee, including Chuck Pascal and Troy LaRiviere.

Twitter had a little bit of a eruption today over what was finally submitted to the main platform committee regarding charter schools. The whole business is pretty brief and can be found on this gigantic slice of C-Span at about the 31:00 mark. But I've watched it, and if you don't want to, you don't have to.

Chuck Pascal (from Pittsburgh, just up the road from me, so woo-hoo) went to committee armed with many amendments, and this was one of them. He's listed as the sponsor.

First-- here's the original draft language, with additions in blue:

Democrats are also committed to providing parents with high-quality public school options and expanding these options for low-income youth. We support democratically-governed great neighborhood public schools and high-quality public charter schools, and we will help them disseminate best practices to other school leaders and educators. Democrats oppose for-profit charter schools focused on making a profit off of public resources. We believe that high-quality public charter schools should provide options for parents, but should not replace or destabilize traditional public schools. Charter schools must reflect their communities, and thus must accept and retain proportionate numbers of students of color, students with disabilities and English Language Learners in relation to their neighborhood public schools. We instead support increased transparency and accountability for all charter schools.

(Let's just set aside for a moment the issue of the omitted Oxford comma in the amendment.)

Next, Randi Weingarten steps up to speak in CURMUDGUCATION: The Dem Platform, Randi, and Charters: