November 20: Top Story - L.A. Charter Schools Win $60 Million Grant for Merit Pay Programs

According to the Los Angeles Times and ABC 7, the College-Ready Promise, a coalition of five Los Angeles charter school organizations, has won a $60 million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop a new teacher evaluation system, based partly on student test scores.

In other headlines...
'Fix Schools and Budget - Legislature’s Recess Can Wait'
‘School Changes Could Net Millions for Iowa’
What's Needed To Make Sure Innovation Is Working?
Ill. Governor Candidate Wants More Charter Schools

L.A. Charter Schools Win $60 Million Grant for Merit Pay Programs

According to the Los Angeles Times and ABC 7 the College-Ready Promise, a coalition of five Los Angeles charter school organizations, has won a $60 million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop a new teacher evaluation system, based partly on student test scores. The schools are Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, ICEF Public Schools, PUC Schools and Aspire Public Schools; together, they operate 85 schools serving 28,000 students, more than the Pittsburgh school system, which won a similar grant, along with Memphis and Hillsborough County in Florida. “A teacher is the most important school-based factor in student achievement,” said Gates spokesman Christopher Williams. “We want research that helps the field better understand what makes a great teacher. What does great teaching look like and how do you measure it?”

Sources: Los Angeles Times, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/note-embargoed-until-1015.html ABC 7, http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7128965

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'Fix Schools and Budget - Legislature’s Recess Can Wait'

A Boston Globe editorial chastised the Massachusetts House of Representatives for adjourning for the holidays while leaving “important public business in limbo.” The Senate passed an education bill which would raise the state cap on charter schools and allow superintendents to reorganize failing schools; the House let it drop. “Against the needs of students, and in a time of economic crisis, the Legislature’s desire to adjourn for a six-week vacation hardly seems pressing.” The Globe calls on Speaker Robert DeLeo to call the House back into formal session, while “steeling members for a tough vote on an important piece of legislation.”

Source: Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/11/20/fix_schools_and_budget___legislatures_recess_can_wait/

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‘School Changes Could Net Millions for Iowa’
The Des Moines Register reports that yesterday Governor Chet Culver announced a reform effort which includes expanding charter schools and linking student test scores to teacher evaluations, in a bid for $175 million in federal grant money. Currently, Iowa law allows only 20 charter schools, which can only be opened by school districts. "In essence, charter schools in Iowa are not very different from the traditional public schools that you already have," said Jonathan Oglesby, a spokesman for the Center for Education Reform, which ranked Iowa second-to-last when rating charter school laws nationally. Iowa’s legislature does not meet again until January, the same month that the ‘Race to the Top’ application is due; in the application, state education officials plan to “outline reforms that are in store.” According to state schools chief Judy Jeffrey, a new charter school law has already been written.
Source: Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091120/NEWS02/911200362/-1/SPORTS09/School-changes-could-net-millions-for-Iowa

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What's Needed To Make Sure Innovation Is Working?
In an opinion piece in the National Journal, Jim Shelton and John Easton of the U.S. Department of Education write that billions of dollars spent by the government and private foundations on education are not effectively used because: “Innovations are often not scaled because of lack of evidence; research is frequently separated from the problems of practice; and evaluation findings provide little insight into why a particular program succeeded or not.” This situation demands “a new vision, one that binds the work of researchers, evaluators, developers, practitioners, and policymakers and builds a cohesive structure for school reform.” Shelton and Easton ask what components are necessary to an educational infrastructure, and wonder how we can harness the expertise of practitioners when designing new programs.
Source: National Journal, http://education.nationaljournal.com/2009/11/whats-needed-to-make-sure-inno.php

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Ill. Governor Candidate Wants More Charter Schools
The Chicago Tribunereports that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady wants to remove the cap on charter schools in Illinois. Currently, the state caps the number of charters at 120. More than half of Illinois’ current charter schools are in Chicago; Brady visited one charter school yesterday.
Source: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/wire/chi-ap-il-illinoisgovernor-,0,4035017.story

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