Grants Back District-Charter Collaboration

According to the New York Times, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $25 million in grants to seven cities in order to encourage collaboration between public charter and district schools. The Gates Foundation plans to announce the grants Wednesday. They will go to Boston, Denver, Hartford, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia and Spring Branch, Texas, which are among the 16 cities that have signed district-charter collaboration compacts with the Gates Foundation over the last two years. In New York, four district and four charter schools will use a grant to develop a literacy program based on the Common Core standards. In Denver, high-performing schools can apply for grants to serve as demonstration sites, with staff mentoring their counterparts at struggling schools. Nina Rees, the president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said “having mediators or foundations who can take a step back and bring the two sectors together is definitely welcomed.”

Source: New York Times

Boston Wins Gates Foundation Grant for District-Charter Collaboration

According to the Boston Globe, Boston will receive a $3.25 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to foster collaboration among the city’s traditional public school, public charter and parochial schools. “This grant will help deepen a relationship that is going to help all our city’s children,” said Boston schools superintendent Carol R. Johnson. The grant will be used for projects including training teachers and administrators on educating English-language learners; raising the performance of black and Latino boys; and simplifying the school enrollment process for parents. Last year, Boston’s 128 district schools and 16 public charter school operators signed the compact; 22 Catholic schools joined the compact in the spring. Together, the schools in the compact educate about 88 percent of the city’s school-age children.“This is a wonderful opportunity for charter schools and [the Boston public schools] and now parochial schools,” said Kevin Andrews, chairman of the Boston Charter School Alliance.

Source: Boston Globe

Texas Charters Look to Legislative Agenda

According to the San Angelo Standard-Times, Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams encouraged charter school officials at the Texas Charter Schools Association conference Tuesday to explain their work to state lawmakers. "They need to understand what you do," he said. "Join together and tell your story." The association, which represents about 460 charter schools serving more than 110,000 students, wants the Legislature to lift the cap on new charters and allow for 20 new charters to be awarded annually; streamline the renewal process for charter schools rated academically acceptable and higher; allow charter schools to receive funding for students equal to what traditional public schools receive; and allow charters to receive a per-pupil facilities funding allotment. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools head Nina Rees said that with around 610,000 students on waiting lists to attend charter schools across the country, the charter school movement should expand the number of charter schools while closing poor-performing schools.

Source: San Angelo Standard-Times

Op-ed: In Massachusetts, ‘Raise the Charter School Cap Again’

In his Boston Globe column, Scot Lehigh writes: “We now know that more learning time is often important to boosting the educational performance of urban kids from low-income families. The looming question for policymakers, then, is this: When it comes to bang for the buck, what’s the best way to expand the benefits of more learning time to the maximum number of those students?...If a longer urban school day is the priority it should be, the best course is obvious: Raise the charter cap again.” Lehigh expects a push to lift the charter cap in the upcoming legislative session. “If parents and students judge the education [district] teachers offer in shorter-day traditional schools equal or superior to that of the charters, the traditional schools will do just fine. If not, those schools will have to change. Either way, students and families would benefit from the expanded options and competition. And it’s their interests that policymakers must put first.”

Source: Boston Globe

Op-ed: Don’t Restrict Philadelphia Charter School Enrollment

In a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed, University of Arkansas education reform professor Robert Maranto protests the Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC)’s recent decision to restrict charter enrollment, as the city’s charters outperform district schools in both graduation rates and student leaning. “If we want city students to learn more, we should be expanding the charter sector, not shrinking it. We should also do more to learn from the best charters,” Maranto writes. The SRC claims the city can’t afford more charter schools, but Maranto points out that charters receive $4,705 less per student than district schools. “Finally, we can't ignore the views of kids and parents…In short, student performance, school finances, and parent and student sentiment all show that Philadelphia's charter sector should grow.” Maranto calls for the SRC to “overturn its reckless decision…The more than 47,000 Philadelphia children served by charter schools - and the more than 34,000 who would like to join them - are counting on it.”

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Op-ed: In Nashville, ‘Reform Can Make a Difference’

A Tennessean op-ed by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean praises his city’s public charter schools “where student gains have been occurring at a stunning rate.” Dean shines a spotlight on Nashville Prep, Liberty Collegiate and STEM Prep, three public charter schools beating city averages on state tests with mostly low-income and minority students, many of whom begin several grade levels behind. “At a time when emotions are high on the issue of education reform, it is critical to note that the combination of talent, autonomy and accountability — core ideals of the charter school movement — can make the difference for even the most at-risk students. It is happening right here in Nashville. Students at these schools are learning that their futures are not dictated by ZIP codes or family circumstances. They are being given the tools to write their own destinies. That is one of the city’s most important responsibilities to its young citizens.”

Source: Tennessean

The Urban School System of the Future?

In his Washington Post column, Jay Matthews considers Andy Smarick’s new book, “The Urban School System of the Future: Applying the Principles and Lessons of Chartering,” which suggests urban school systems can improve if they embrace change by closing bad schools and opening good ones. D.C. is planning to close one of every six schools in its system, raising the possibility that lower-income neighborhoods will be served mainly by public charter schools. To some reformers, Matthews writes, such a scenario “is a great opportunity, a way to let parent choice energize the schools and give urban children more chances for success.” In his book, Smarick writes: “we have the potential to drastically improve the educational opportunities of our nation’s most disadvantaged students.” Matthews suggests that New Orleans became “fertile ground for radical reform” after Hurricane Katrina. “A few other cities that have run out of practical options, such as Detroit, might follow suit.”

Source: Washington Post