Success Academy, the high-performing charter network run by tough-as-nails Eva Moskowitz, is looking to expand—and has put Mayor Bill de Blasio in a tough spot. He has long opposed the policy of allowing charter schools to share space with traditional public schools, enacted by his predecessor. However, a state law passed in April requires that he do just that—or give the schools money to find their own space. And as the New York Times notes, “The last time he denied space to Success Academy schools, it led to the law that now handcuffs him.”
Governor Bobby Jindal has issued executive orders that, he says, will remove Louisiana from the Common Core and PARCC. “Not so fast,” say State Education Superintendent John White and others who point out that Jindal doesn’t have that power, especially on the standards. “This is all political theater,” said Mike to Politico. “Gov. Jindal will score points with the tea party, but his actions seem likely to be stymied in court.” Or so we hope.
This week, a New York Times piece, featuring both an article and an accompanying short video, highlighted New York’s transition to the Common Core. Kids are struggling to adjust to thinking critically and writing evidence-based rather than personal essays, and teachers are struggling to teach the new standards with new materials—while the low test scores in the first Common Core–aligned tests dinged their confidence. However, as the teacher featured in the Times’s video points out, this is just the second year of implementation and “we cannot expect [the Common Core to be] this magic pill.”
