Daily Headlines for August 24, 2011
How Does Obama Want To Reshape Preschools? Education Department Shows Its Hand.
Christian Science Monitor, MA, August 23, 2011
The Education Department announced the guidelines for its latest Race to the Top competition, which will target preschools. The rules show what President Obama wants to change.
FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
California Education Bill Gets an A
Los Angeles Times, CA, August 24, 2011
SB 547 improves on California’s current yardstick for measuring improvement in schools in important ways.
COLORADO
Jefferson County Among 6 Colorado School Districts with Financial Red Flags
The Denver Post, CO, August 23, 2011
Six Colorado school districts – including Jefferson County – are considered at high risk for financial crisis, down from 19 identified by the state auditor last year.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Time to Evaluate D.C. Charter Schools
Washington Examiner, DC, August 23, 2011
Some D.C. Public Schools officials and supporters have become increasingly concerned about the close proximity of charter schools to their institutions. They have argued the current situation promotes creaming, a process where some of the brightest students are stripped from a neighborhood.
FLORIDA
Schools Flooded With New Charter Applications
Sunshine State News, FL, August 24, 2011
Florida school districts are flooded with applications for new charter schools, motivated by several new laws that make it easier to start traditional and virtual charters.
ILLINOIS
CPS Budget To Be Considered Wednesday As Teachers Union And Mayor Fight Battles
Chicago Tribune, IL, August 23, 2011
As the Chicago Board of Education prepares to approve a 2011-12 budget Wednesday, school officials and the teachers union are battling publicly over related issues of withdrawn raises and the mayor’s push for a longer school day.
LOUISIANA
Drew Brees Donates to New Orleans Education Groups
August 23, 2011, The Times-Picayune, LA
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is handing off a pile of cash to two of the city’s most prominent education groups: Teach for America and the Knowledge is Power Program, or KIPP. The Brees Foundation said Tuesday that its fundraising arm, the Quarterback Club, is giving each organization $75,000.
Recovery School District Leader Selects Four Top Aides
Times-Picayune, LA, August 23, 2011
The head of the state-run Recovery School District, now 100 days into the job, named four new deputy superintendents and other top district officials on Tuesday, filling out a leadership team drawn mainly from the ranks of those already involved in local schools and education reform efforts.
MASSACHUSETTS
Tenure-Hearted Education System Dissected
Boston Herald, MA, August 24, 2011
As Casey Stengel used to say, you could look it up. Anybody who makes it through three consecutive years in a school district becomes a “professional teacher,” which means tenure under Massachusetts law.
NEW JERSEY
Facebook Gift Spurs a Lawsuit
Wall Street Journal, NY, August 24, 2011
A group of parents, with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, is suing the city of Newark for failing to turn over correspondence related to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million gift to the city’s struggling school system.
NEW YORK
777 School Employees Will Be Let Go, in the Largest Layoff Under Bloomberg
New York Times, NY, August 24, 2011
Nearly 780 employees of the New York City Education Department will lose their jobs by October, in the largest layoff at a single agency since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took office in 2002.
Gwinnett Co. Schools To Get Up To $12.5M Grant
Wall Street Journal, NY, August 23, 2011
The state’s largest school district is getting up to $12.5 million from a private foundation to develop quality school leaders and track whether they impact student achievement.
JPS Board Questions Teacher Grading
The Post-Journal, NY, August 24, 2011
Discussion on the state’s new principal and teacher evaluation system brought several questions to the table of the Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education on Tuesday.
OHIO
Charter Schools Gain, Still Lag
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, August 23, 2011
Ohio’s charter schools, including the 31 in Southwest Ohio, kept up with their public school counterparts in making overall gains on the 2011 Ohio Report Card.
OKLAHOMA
Errors In Testing Data Hold Up Results For Districts, Students
The Oklahoman, OK, August 24, 2011
State schools Superintendent Janet Barresi is calling for a review of the multimillion dollar contract with a nationwide testing company after serious errors were found in final standardized test results sent to school districts across the state this month.
Oklahoma’s Math, Science Scores Must Improve
The Oklahoman, OK, August 23, 2011
Oklahoma’s continued below average marks on ACT college readiness benchmarks indicate the state needs to shore up instruction in math and science.
PENNSYLVANIA
Education Chief Slams 101 Schools
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, August 24, 2011
State Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis announced $66 million in School Improvement Grants to 26 of the state’s lowest-performing schools on Tuesday, but he focused as much on money not given away as that awarded.
Now, the SRC has Questions to Answer
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, August 24, 2011
The departure
of city School Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman turns the focus to the board that hired her and paid her to leave – and particularly to its quiet, well-connected chairman.
Democrats Get Secret Donors To Ease Out School Chief
Washington Times, DC, August 23, 2011
Philadelphia’s Democratic machine is under fire after officials arranged for private, anonymous cash payments to buy out the contract of the unpopular school superintendent in the nation’s eighth-largest public school district.
TENNESSEE
Charter Schools Head for Suburbs
The Tennessean, TN, August 23, 2011
The Tennessee legislature seems to have an irrational enthusiasm for charters. As with some other education “reforms,” the legislative majority ignored the research and forged ahead with decisions that were politically motivated but not educationally sound.
Charters Held Accountable At Any Site
The Tennessean, TN, August 24, 2011
What do you think of an effort to give the principal, teachers and parents at a public school more autonomy to help their students reach the district’s academic achievement goals?
VIRTUAL LEARNING
Montgomery County School Board Cries Foul over Virtual School
The Leaf-Chronicle, TN, August 23, 2011
Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board members on Tuesday night reviewed a draft of the legislative agenda – submitted each year to local legislators for possible consideration in the Tennessee General Assembly.
Lawrence School District Reports Boost In Unofficial Enrollment Numbers
Lawrence Journal-World, KS, August 24, 2011
As of Tuesday, during the first full week of the 2011-12 school year, the district reported having 11,250 students in kindergarten through 12th grades. The totals include students from throughout Kansas attending the Lawrence Virtual School.
Oregon Online Charter Schools Fought Hard To Lose Enrollment Limits, But End Up With Fewer Students Than Limits Allowed
The Oregonian, OR, August 23, 2011
The 2011 Legislature’s bruising political battle to remove enrollment limits on statewide online charter schools has translated into almost no practical effect.
The state’s two large virtual public schools both reported Tuesday that they have enrolled fewer students than would have been allowed had the caps stayed.
eCademy Opens Doors to First Class of Students
Turlock Journal, CA, August 23, 2011
eCademy Charter School is the newest addition to Turlock Unified School district, but it isn’t your typical K-12 school. The school has a physical site at Crane – several classrooms and two mobile units under construction – but most of the high school level courses offered by the school take place online.