May 29: Duncan: "Anti-Charter States Will Lose Stimulus Dollars"

Today's Headlines
• Duncan: Anti-Charter States Will Lose Stimulus Dollars (full story)

• New Mass. Study: Expand Charters and Hold Them Accountable
• Op-Ed: Mass. Leaders Should Raise the Charter Cap
• New Bill in North Carolina Would Discourage Charters for At-Risk Students
• Children’s Zone Charters Close Achievement Gap with ‘Seamless Web’ of Services
• More TFA Teachers Will Go to Charter Schools in New York City

Duncan: Anti-Charter States Will Lose Stimulus Dollars
According to the Associated Press, Education Secretary Duncan said yesterday states that do not embrace charter schools will hurt their chances to compete for millions of federal stimulus dollars. Responding to a question about Tennessee, whose Democratic lawmakers have blocked an effort to make more kids eligible to attend charters, Duncan said: "There are a number of states that are leading this effort, and we want to invest a huge amount of money into them, a minimum of $100 million, probably north of that. And the states that don't have the stomach or the political will, unfortunately, they're going to lose out." Tennessee has one of the most restrictive charter school laws in the country, with the number of charters capped at 50, and only failing students or students at failing schools eligible to attend. Gotham Schools reported that last week Duncan told Congress that he will give preference to states without caps on the number of charter schools. This could put the next round of stimulus funding out of reach for New York, which caps charters at 200 schools statewide.
Sources: Associated Press, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iQ72cmvb2846meWCIAJArK1w2HmAD98FJOV00, Gotham Schools, http://gothamschools.org/2009/05/28/new-york-could-be-boxed-out-of-duncans-race-to-the-top-funds/

New Mass. Study: Expand Charters and Hold Them Accountable
According to Massachusetts’s Metro West Daily News, a new MassINC study recommends that charter schools be expanded in order to help close the achievement gap between poor and wealthy students. The report also recommends holding charters accountable by closing those that are not successful. Other suggested reforms include longer school days, merit pay for teachers, and incentives to encourage teachers to work in high-poverty schools. The report comes on the 15th anniversary of the state’s Education Reform Act, which changed the way local schools were funded and established state exams, leading to an overall increase in student achievement. "We’ve been complacent about this achievement gap issue and ought to be focusing on strategies targeting specifically urban schools," said one of the study’s leaders, especially as the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch grows, and as poor students and those with limited English proficiency become more concentrated.
Source: Metro West Daily News, http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/education/x702315315/Study-Do-more-to-help-poor-students

Op-Ed: Mass. Leaders Should Raise the Charter Cap
A Boston Globe opinion piece praises Mass-INC’s new study, calling the group “a thoughtful, careful, credible voice” on public policy in Massachusetts. The study found that while the reforms of the last decade have raised overall student achievement, “doing more of the same will not close the achievement gap.” Instead, the report recommends expanding the number of charter schools in the state. "It's time to lift the cap and it's time for the education establishment and the political leadership to be more aggressive about focusing on inner cities," said Mass-INC’s president. "We go where the data goes. If it works, we'll get behind it." The op-ed calls on the state’s governor, House speaker, Senate president and Boston’s mayor to “get forcefully behind raising the charter cap - and without cumbersome qualifications.”
Source: Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/05/29/a_brave_call_for_raising_charter_cap/

New Bill in North Carolina Would Discourage Charters for At-Risk Students
An opinion piece in Raleigh’s News & Observer worries that proposed legislation could mean “one step forward and one step back” for the state’s charter school movement. The bill would require schools to demonstrate one year’s growth in individual student performance per school year, or face revocation of the charter by the end of the second year. One charter school founder called it a “massive setback,” because the rules will discourage new charters serving minority, low-income students and provide an incentive to focus high-income students who can “easily can surpass the state average." Fewer than half of the state’s traditional schools made one year’s growth in 2007-8; the new law would allow the state to shut down charter school that actually outperform local schools. "No one is suggesting that standards be lowered," said the executive director of the N.C. Alliance for Charter Schools. "But charter schools should be judged relative to other schools in their communities.”
Source: News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/1546344.html

Children’s Zone Charters Close Achievement Gap with ‘Seamless Web’ of Services
In an interview with MinnPost, Geoffrey Canada, the founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone, explained how the fourth-graders in the program’s charter schools, who have been in Zone programs since birth, have “erased the black-white achievement gap.” "If you intervene early, you can fix this problem," he said. "If you start later — middle school, high school — you can do it but it is very, very hard.” Canada’s organization invests $5,000 per child beyond what is already spent on public schools and programs for poor families in Harlem. Students are in school 10 hours a day, 11 months a year. The schools boast small classes, strict student behavioral standards and teachers who are accountable for student performance. Medical and dental care, and social workers are available to children. “This is the floor — not the ceiling — of what American kids should get," Canada said.
Source: MinnPost, http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2009/05/28/9118/geoffrey_canada_heres_how_minnesota_can_close_its_achievement_gap_in_schools

More TFA Teachers Will Go to Charter Schools in New York City
According to Gotham Schools, Teach for America will send about a third of its New York City teachers to charter schools in the fall, up from just 3% in 2005. The move will protect TFA teachers from the new-teacher hiring freeze which was announced for city teachers earlier this month. A TFA spokeswoman called the shift “a natural progression” as the number of charter schools has grown. TFA will place 230 teachers in city-run schools, fewer than half as many as in 2008. A comparable program, Teaching Fellows, does not place teachers in charter schools. “Teaching Fellows is designed to send teachers to DOE schools, and that’s a pattern that will continue even in this new environment,” said a Department of Education spokeswoman.
Source: Gotham Schools, http://gothamschools.org/2009/05/28/a-surge-of-teach-for-america-teachers-to-charter-schools/