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Charter Schools
Democracy Prep, takeover artist
Democracy Prep is expanding in a novel way next school year ? by taking over a failing charter school at its authorizer's behest. SUNY was set to deny Harlem Day Charter School's charter but instead asked for proposals to turn the school around. Democracy Prep stepped up.
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Quotable & notable
?They say, 'You look better,' Every day is fun, and I'm working as hard if not harder than I've ever worked in my life. People see that and go, 'I want to play on that team.? * ?Paul Castro, New KIPP administrator
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Curriculum & Instruction
History lesson: Where's the Declaration?
It is hard to read the Declaration of Independence without being moved by the document's plainspoken audacity, especially recalling that it wasn't then a "document," but a rather blunt call to arms.?
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The "Poverty Matters" Trap
About two weeks ago, a new Twitter hashtag was born: #povertymatters. For a little over a week, hundreds of people came up with 140-character tweets that were essentially one-line zingers aimed at the policymakers?they believe are ?blaming? teachers for ?low achievement in urban schools, while ignoring the impact poverty has on students' lives and learning. Two examples:
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Brooks is brilliant: An op-ed to savor
There are no knock-out punches in this fight, but David Brooks comes close with a perspective-setting essay about school reformers and their adversaries.
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Quotable & notable
"There are not many of you who know much about high-quality standardized tests. I know many of you can agree with me that most of our standardized tests right now are crap." * ?Becky Pringle, NEA Secretary-Treasurer
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PARCC eliminates through-course assessments
In a quarterly meeting that took place late last week, the PARCC Assessment Consortium Governing Board has decided to eliminate the previously required "through-course" assessments.
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Education news nuggets
Some school districts have reached a funding cliff, while others use their extra cash (or
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Quotable & notable
?I think the message for OEA might be, ?You've got to change the way you lobby?you can't just be against things'''* ?Brian Clem, Oregon State Representative (D-Salem)
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The RttT honeymoon is over in New York
After the sweetness-and-nice between New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the New York State United Teachers ?(NYSUT) to win $700 million from the federal Race to the Top fund last year (see my Education Next story), NYSUT yesterday sued the state's Board of Regents and NYSED's acting commissioner J
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What are states doing on retirement benefits?
Only halfway through 2011, a number of states have reformed their laws governing public sector workers' benefits, a few of them in dramatic fashion. The need to close the yawning gap between promises made to workers and the dollars saved for them on states' balances sheets is evident.
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ED.gov Readability
The following is a guest post from David Hoff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communication Development at the Department of Education.
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Quotable & notable
?I think our Legislature could have done it better. It was messy and it really doesn't make Wisconsin look all that great. But in the end, this is what we were given from the state of Wisconsin and we will do everything we can to follow the state's guidance.''*
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Are you smart enough to read ed.gov?*
Probably not. A tweet from Cool Cat Teacher alerted me to the fact that the advanced Google search can provide results annotated by reading level (basic, intermediary, and advanced). That got me curious, so I plugged in a few websites and noticed that the U.S.
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Quotable & notable
?You have money for lawyers, you have money for hats, but you can't buy my daughter's education''* ?Kathleen Kernivan, New York charter school parent
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Pop quiz on Common Core
Here's a quick test; true or false? 1. Arne Duncan coerced many states into adopting the Common Core via his Race to the Top application. 2. The Obama Administration carelessly hinted that adoption of Common Core might become a requirement in a new ESEA or for states wanting a waiver from the current law.
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Curriculum & Instruction
College for all! Please!
I stewed most of the week about how to respond to Deborah Meier's recent Bridging Differences post on ?college for all.??
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College for all, part 2: It's not about corporations
One of the noteworthy things about Deborah Meier's post about ?college for all?
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UK to see "biggest public sector strikes in a generation"
Great Britain's largest teacher unions have declared a strike for Thursday over proposed changes to their pensions, and they'll be joined by another 700,000 other workers from the public sector.
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Quotable & notable
?It's been that way since elementary school. We behave better when the teacher looks like us.''* ?New York City public school student
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Education news nuggets
Being an adult is hard: as the economy continues to struggle, many of the unemployed have had to change careers, taking jobs as teachers, princi
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Don't waive NCLB??non-enforce? parts of it instead
This guest post is by Christine Wolfe, a former hill staffer and George W. Bush Administration appointee at the U.S. Department of Education who helped to craft NCLB and many of its regulations. She consulted on Fordham's recent ESEA Briefing Book.
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Tax Cap Monte: Keep Your Eyes on the Union
While everyone is following New Jersey's public union bombshell vote, my friend E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center in Albany reports on a new maneuver by the New York State United Teachers to end run?
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Education news nuggets
Harry Potter fans, C+ students and smokers alike have reason to rejoice today.