August 3: Top Story - 'Pay Your Teachers Well'
A Wall Street Journal editorial details two recent cases which illustrate “the conflicting interests of teachers unions and students.” In Baltimore, a top-performing KIPP school has had to cut hours, cancel Saturday classes and lay off some staffers in response to union demands that it pay teachers 33% more, rather than the 18% boost it was already giving teachers to compensate them for longer hours.
In other headlines...
Race to the Top Includes More Charter Schools
'The New Education Divide'
'A.D.C. Schools Awakening'
Hebrew-Language Charter to Expand in Florida
'Charter schools are Labs for Education Solutions'
A Wall Street Journal editorial details two recent cases which illustrate “the conflicting interests of teachers unions and students.” In Baltimore, a top-performing KIPP school has had to cut hours, cancel Saturday classes and lay off some staffers in response to union demands that it pay teachers 33% more, rather than the 18% boost it was already giving teachers to compensate them for longer hours. In New York City, a union grievance has disallowed the hiring of non-union aides, even though they were typically better qualified and earned less per hour. “The problem is that unions present themselves as student advocates while pushing education policies that work for their members even if they leave kids worse off. Until school choice puts more money and power in the hands of parents, public education will continue to put teachers ahead of students.”
Source: Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574318393190278188.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Race to the Top Includes More Charter Schools
The Detroit News published an opinion piece by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan which details his plans for reform through the Race to the Top Fund, “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the federal government to create incentives for far-reaching improvement in our nation's schools.” States seeking funds will be required to adopt common standards; monitor data on student and teacher achievement; identify, reward and retain effective teachers and principals; and turn around the lowest-performing schools. Already, “numerous states have adopted reforms that would have been almost unthinkable a year ago,” including 46 states signing on to develop common standards in English and math. In addition, “Tennessee, Rhode Island, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado and Illinois have lifted restrictions on charter school growth.”
Source: Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/article/20090803/OPINION01/908030348/1008/OPINION01/Michigan-should-cash-in-on-education-aid
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A Boston Globe op-ed by David Segal, a Rhode Island state representative, proposes that his state replace opt-in charter school lotteries with an opt-out system. Charters would offer enrollment to “a randomized sample of the general public school population,” who would in turn accept or reject it. Segal is concerned that if public schools are “to serve their idealized role as society’s great equalizers,” then charters must bridge the divide between students who are advantaged by having involved parents and those who lack parental involvement, and therefore do not perform as well academically. He worries that the effect of such “advantaged” children leaving traditional schools will be “devastating” in cities like New Orleans and Washington, D.C., where charters have proliferated.
Source: Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/03/the_new_educational_divide/
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The Washington Post explored the challenge that outside school management organizations face when they take control of failing urban high schools. Ten of D.C.’s 15 high schools face restructuring under the No Child Left Behind Act. Friends of Bedford, which runs New York City’s most successful public high school, will run Dunbar and Coolidge High Schools, while Friendship Public Charter Schools, which educates 4,000 D.C. students on six campuses, will take over Anacostia High School. Chancellor Michelle Rhee is reportedly also talking with Green Dot Schools about coming to the District. "This is a major challenge," said Friends of Bedford’s leader George Leonard. "The buildings are filthy, people are frustrated. There's no real encouragement. I feel a lot has been lost here."
Source: Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/01/AR2009080100861.html?hpid=moreheadlines&sid=ST2009071002520
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Hebrew-Language Charter to Expand in Florida
The Miami Herald reports that the founder of a Hebrew-language charter elementary school, controversial when it opened two years ago, plans to open six similar schools in the surrounding area. The original school, located in Hollywood, Florida, has 600 students, and waiting lists for every grade. A new campus in Plantation opens this month, and founder Peter Deutsch, a former congressman, already has a charter from Miami-Dade for another location. In addition, Deutsch plans to apply for four more charters in two other counties. When the original school opened, the school district hired an expert to scrutinize lesson plans monthly for a year, who judged them "entirely appropriate for a publicly funded charter school." The principal would not say how many students were Jewish, calling the question “inappropriate and illegal” for a public school, but did say that many students were Israeli immigrants.
Source: Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1167824.html
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'Charter schools are Labs for Education Solutions'
An opinion piece in the Tennessean notes the reverse correlation between what school systems spend per student and their average ACT scores. In Tennessee, the average per pupil expenditure is $8,200; the average ACT score is 20.7. Three school systems spent more than average; all had lower than average ACT scores. Two counties spent less than average, yet scored higher on average on the ACT. “It's time for Tennesseans to wake up to the fact that the translation from money to value isn't working in the public education system.” The writer recommends charter schools as laboratories to find out “what works and what doesn’t.”
Source: Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090803/OPINION03/908030326/1008/OPINION01/Charter+schools+are+labs+for+education+solutions
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