Monthly Archive - June 2008

Test results from the School District of Philadelphia Pennsylvania System of School Assessment reveal charter schools to be among the highest performing schools in the city.

An analysis of the results divided schools into three groups, and charters as a group did the best posting 52 percent of students proficient in math and 52 percent proficient in reading. District-run schools showed 51 percent proficient in math and 47 percent proficient in reading. Schools run by private managers had 31 percent of students proficient in reading and 35 percent proficient in math.

It’s not every day you get kissed by a supermodel, but five kids from Andrew Wilson Charter School got hugs, kisses, and a whole bunch of computers from Petra Nemcova, the international supermodel and founder of the Happy Hearts Fund on Monday at the National Charter Schools Conference.  The Fund’s first gift to an American school.  Why Wilson?  The smiles, she said.  She visited the school and could clearly see that the kids loved learning and the teachers loved teaching.  Pretty important message – if you work hard and are ardent in your efforts, people will want to help you

Geoffrey Canada, founder of Harlem Children’s Zone – what the New York Times Magazine called “one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time – rocked attendees of the National Charter Schools Conference this morning with his enthusiastic and inspiring speech on how charter schools can achieve academic excellence at scale. 

Check out Nelson Smith, President of the Alliance, on New Orleans news this morning, talking about the National Charter Schools Conference and New Orleans charters.

The National Charter Schools Conference kicked off Sunday night, and if the first few hours are any indication, it should be the best one ever! Some 3,000 charter schools educators, advocates, supporters, and students gathered at the Welcome Reception at the New Orleans Convention Center to mingle, feast, and listen to the truly talented Performance Band from the Edna Karr Charter School.

When a charter authorizer doesn't do its job, this is the kind of press our movement gets. This school should have been shut down three years ago but the Texas Education Agency claims to be hamstrung by the threat of lawsuits.

The Texas legislature needs to clarify TEA’s authority to get rid of disgraces like this. But TEA should step up to its responsibilities instead of pussyfooting around tough cases.

Congress is debating their yearly appropriations bills, and the charter programs are having their funding set.

Voice your support for adequate public charter school funding, click here and take action.

David Brooks has the can’t miss column of the week, contrasting this weeks dueling education manifestoes - -and asking some tough questions about the depth of Obama’s commitment to stand with the real change agents. (No secret here – we’re in the Klein/Rhee/Rotherham camp who say, yep, schools DO make a difference.)

One could not help but be moved at this morning's commencement for the 2008 class of the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School at THEARC on Mississippi Ave. in Washington DC.

Shortly after 10.am. striding to the stage to the sound  of Pomp and Circumstance came the faculty and 45 proud seniors.

They had a lot for which to be proud.

The Washington Post Editorial Board weighed in on the recent anti-charter legislation introduced in the D.C. Council.

Make your voice heard too! Take Action and tell the D.C. Council and the Mayor this legislation is not acceptable as is.

EdWeek recently hosted an online chat about the New Orleans education system.

With the largest charter marketshare in the country, NO is a place many folks in the charter world are watching. And these two leaders (Paul Vallas and Paul Pastorek) are instrumental in the city's education system. For the full chat, click here.