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Daily Headlines for August 10, 2012

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Rhee Is Wrong And Misinformed
CNN Blog, August 9, 2012

A few days ago, CNN interviewed former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee about American education. Rhee, predictably, said that American education is terrible, that test scores are flat, and that we are way behind other nations on international tests.

FROM THE STATES

ALABAMA

Alabama Shows Improvement On AYP
Montgomery Advertiser, AL, August 10, 2012

Thursday’s Adequate Yearly Progress numbers, the last Alabama will receive if it is successful in opting out of No Child Left Behind requirements, show modest statewide improvements in student proficiency and challenges for Montgomery County Public Schools.

CALIFORNIA

LAUSD Negotiate Revisions to Teacher Evaluations
Bell Gardens Sun, CA, August 9, 2012

By Dec. 4, teachers and principals in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will face revised performance evaluation criteria to comply with the California Stull Act that requires student progress data be used as part of the evaluation process.

Assembly Democrats Too Cowardly To Vote
San Gabriel Valley Tribune, CA, August 9, 2012

But then it came before the Assembly Education Committee, which shamefully bowed to the state’s powerful teacher unions and rejected the bill. All this took place while teacher union lobbyists communicated to committee members that they “were watching.”

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Let Principals, Not Tests, Rate Teachers
Washington Post Blog, DC, August 9, 2012

The D.C. schools continue to be one of the worst places to learn and hardest places to teach in America , but its leaders are making sensible, if slow, changes in the right direction. The latest smart adjustments are in teacher evaluation.

FLORIDA

Polk Gets Approval For Six ‘Step Up Academy’ Charter Schools
The Ledger, FL, August 9, 2012

The Polk County School District got the go-ahead Thursday to open six charter schools for at-risk students.

Ormond Firm Elects To Redirect Taxes To Help Students
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL, August 10, 2012

Almost 700 Florida students from low-income families will get financial help to attend a private or out-of-district school thanks to S.R. Perrott Inc. deciding to send more than $3 million of its state tax burden into a scholarship fund.

Charters: Troy Sign-Up Policy Is Unfair
Albany Times Union, FL, August 9, 2012

A group of charter schools will sue the Troy school district over new registration requirements. The schools claim the Troy district is discriminating against their students by imposing a new requirement that parents must register in person at the district office on 2920 Fifth Ave. to enroll their children in one of the Capital Region’s 12 charter schools.

GEORGIA

Voters To Decide Charter School Issue
Marietta Daily Journal, GA, August 10, 2012

After most Georgia voters decided against a transportation tax, political attention is shifting to a new battle involving charter schools.

Charter Amendment Threat To Public Schools, Reformers Say
Athens Banner Herald, GA, August 9, 2012

Georgia’s elected leaders have drastically cut funding for public education over the past decade and are poised to take even more money away from public schools, said members of a new educational reform group at an Athens town hall meeting Thursday.

State Leaders Duck Duty To Fund Education
Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog, GA, August 10, 2012

The proposed constitutional amendment is intended to undermine the ability of local officials — and local voters — to make such decisions on their own. It is a power grab by those who seek to gain authority while shirking responsibility for that authority, and voters ought to reject it.

ILLINOIS

Amid Strike Threat, School To Start For Some CPS Students
Chicago Tribune, IL, August 10, 2012

Students in 243 Chicago public schools, roughly a third of the district, return to the classroom Monday at a time of transformation and uncertainty.

INDIANA

Charter Opens A New Chapter
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN, August 10, 2012

Timothy L. Johnson opened its doors in a new location Thursday, setting up shop in a former elementary school still owned by East Allen County Schools. The charter school is housing about 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade in the former Village Elementary at 4625 Werling Drive .

LOUISIANA

Advocate Ignoring School Efforts
The Advocate, LA, August 10, 2012

Your Aug. 8 editorial, “A challenge for reform,” states that not all students who attend a struggling public school will be able to choose an alternative option, such as a charter school or a private school. The piece asks “what happens to those left behind?” And it concludes that this question “hasn’t really been
discussed in the debate about public education reform in Louisiana .”

‘F’ School Students Learning Of School Options
The Advocate, LA, August 10, 2012

The East Baton Rouge Parish school system is in the process of notifying families with children enrolled in schools with F grades about schools with better letter grades to which they can transfer.

MARYLAND

Dance Recommends Two-Year Extension For Struggling Charter School
Baltimore Sun, MD, August 9, 2012

Baltimore County school Superintendent Dallas Dance is recommending the county’s only charter school be given two more years to improve its sagging performance.

MICHIGAN

Do Charter Schools Play By Same Rules?
WOOD-TV, MI, August 9, 2012

On every public school website in Michigan there is a clickable icon to show you how schools are spending your tax money.

West Michigan Academy of Arts & Academics Growing In Popularity And In Size
The Grand Rapids Press, MI, August 9, 2012

The West Michigan Academy of Arts & Academics is getting noticed and that means the charter school needs to expand.

The Once and Future Public Schools
Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2012

I read the article about the decline of the public schools in Highland Park , Mich. , with much sorrow (“Michigan City Outsources All of Its Schools,” U.S. News, Aug. 3).

MINNESOTA

State Examining Finances Of Charter Founder’s Schools
Star Tribune, MN, August 9, 2012

State officials are beginning to scrutinize the finances of an educational complex built by Eric Mahmoud on the North Side of Minneapolis, which has struggled financially despite its stellar record of schooling poor black children.

NEVADA

District Seeks Grant To Implement Pay-For-Performance Plan For Teachers
Las Vegas Sun, NV, August 9, 2012

The Clark County School District is applying for a federal grant to develop and implement a pay-for-performance system for teachers at 11 low-performing schools.

NEW JERSEY

Education Reform Not Done In N.J.: Next Up, ‘Last In, First Out’
Star-Ledger, NJ, August 10, 2012

New Jersey’s teacher tenure bill was signed into law this week, a resounding victory in the first round of the reform fight — but it’s not over yet.

Cerf to Camden Schools: Clean Up Your Act
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, August 10, 2012

Camden public schools got their latest marching orders from the state yesterday, this time with a bit of an “or else.”

Christie Does Tenure
Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2012

Chris Christie is calling the teacher tenure reform bill he signed Monday “historic,” “sweeping” and “revolutionary,” among other self-encomiums, and he still seems to be working through his Roget’s. The New Jersey Governor might be right about all that, though only by the denuded standards of modern public education.

NEW YORK

Seven Charter Schools Are Vying To Open In Queens In 2013
New York Daily News, NY, August 10, 2012

More than a half dozen charter schools are vying to open in the fall of 2013 in Queens, the borough with the most school overcrowding in the city.

OHIO

High School Goes To College
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, August 9, 2012

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College is partnering with the Ohio Department of Education to open the Cincinnati State STEM Academy, a state-sponsored charter school that will be housed in the engineering wing of the college’s main building.

PENNSYLVANIA

Laying Roadmap For New Philly Schools Chief
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, August 10, 2012

THE SELECTION has been made. The ink is dry on the contract, and the plans are set for a smooth transition into a new administration led by Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.

Being A Rescue School Pricey
The Daily Item, PA, August 10, 2012

The Lewisburg Area School District will not take part in the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program, as it would cost the district nearly $2,400 per extra student and nearly $5,000 per extra special-education student to make up what the scholarship wouldn’t cover.

Allentown School District Says Vitalistic Charter School Fails To Address Allegations
Lehigh Valley Express-Times, PA, August 9, 2012

When the Allentown School Board began the process in April of revoking Vitalistic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley’s charter, they asked the West Bethlehem school to provide any evidence that could prove the allegations against them were false.

Students In Two Scranton Elementary Schools Eligible To Transfer Buildings
Scranton Times-Tribune, PA, August 10, 2012

Students in two lower-performing Scranton elementary schools are now eligible to transfer to other district schools.

TENNESSEE

Educator Bradshaw takes job with charter school
The Tennessean, TN, August 10, 2012

Well-known Nashville educator Mary Catherine Bradshaw is joining LEAD Public Schools as a resident school director. Bradshaw will be the dean of instruction at LEAD Academy High School — a Nashville charter school — for two years as she prepares to open her own charter school. In her new position, Bradshaw will provide instructional support and guidance.

New Evaluation System Putting Teachers To The Test
WREG, TN, August 9, 2012

The need to turn average teachers into more effective ones came about after Tennessee was selected two years ago for federal grants from the Race to the Top program and that led to a new evaluation system.

TEXAS

No Child Left Behind Is Showing Its Age, and AYP Has Lost Its Meaning
Star-Telegram, TX, August 9, 2012

It’s important to keep that in mind with Wednesday’s news that almost half (47.8 percent) of the public schools, including charter schools, in Texas this year failed to meet the minimum requirements of that federal education accountability law. In terms of school districts, including charter schools, 71.4 percent failed.

A New Run at School Choice
Texas Tribune, TX, August 10, 2012

As he addressed a recent luncheon at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, state Rep.Phil King delivered a verdict on Texas public schools.

School Standards Should Enlighten, Not Confuse
Beaumont Enterprise , TX, August 10, 2012

The bad news for parents and educators in Southeast Texas is that only four local school districts met federal standards created by the No Child Left Behind Act. The good news, if you can call it that, is since most area districts “failed,” it’s difficult to get too concerned over this report.

UTAH

Utah Charter School Finds Home Days Before School’s Start
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, August 9, 2012

Comparing his quest to a soap opera, an administrator at Provo-based Freedom Preparatory Academy poured out his frustration Thursday over trying to secure a place to house 75 students who will make up the charter school’s new ninth-grade class this fall.

VIRGINIA

Richmond School Board Asking Mayor For Help
WTVR, VA, August 9, 2012

The Richmond School Board is reaching out to Mayor Dwight Jones and his school reform task force for help.

A Next Step In School Choice
Roanoke Times, VA, August 10, 2012

Now that Virginia has become the 18th state to give private school choice a public boost (via a limited tax credit), the time may be right to move forward with more robust measures that could extend the benefits of free choice more widely.

WISCONSIN

School Vouchers Lead To Strange Bedfellows: Why A Hard-Core Republican Group Is Backing Democratic Candidates
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Blog, WI, August 9, 2012

Two powerful school voucher groups that ordinarily work behind the scenes have made headlines and raised eyebrows in Milwaukee in recent weeks: The American Federation for Children and School Choice Wisconsin.