Tech school, private school, and those damn reformers
Peter MeyerToday's Times (unless you read it online yesterday or the day before), covers some fertile educational ground in three important arenas.
Democracy Prep, takeover artist
Chris TessoneDemocracy 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.
Charter school pensions: The sum of teacher unions' fears
Michael J. PetrilliAs if the teachers unions need another reason to hate charter s
Charting a new course to retirement
Today, Fordham released our latest, "Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions." Authors Amanda Olberg and Michael Podgursky explain the report's findings here.
Creating motivated parents
Peter MeyerLeave it to Rick Hess to find the current lightening rod issue.
PA lawmaker: Protect districts, not kids
Chris TessonePennsylvania is trying to fix a thorny problem with virtual schools. If two kids attend a virtual school, one from a high spending district that sends along $10,000 in their backpack to the virtual school, and another from low spending district that sends $6,000, the former child's district is subsidizing the latter's education. It's a tough issue.
Charter-school hullabaloo
Daniela FairchildFirst came the recruitment of State Superintendent Deborah Gist; next came winning $75 million in Race to the Top (RTTT) funds. Rhode Island has been on a whirlwind track toward education reform over the past couple years. And?as one with boatloads of Ocean State pride (who doesn't love coffee milk, water fire, and Dels lemonade?)?it's been fun to watch.
Charter start-ups are 4 times as likely to succeed as district turnarounds* (Note big asterisk)
Michael J. PetrilliAn analysis released in today's Education Gadfly finds that new charter schools in disadvantaged communities are almost four times as likely to reach above-average rates of student achievement as the closest district school.
Questions about a charter network in Texas
Peter MeyerThe Harmony Charter school opus in today's Times is a great read.? It's very long, over 4,000 words, starting on the front page and covering two full pages on the inside of the paper.
Forget Finland: What Ontario can teach us about good governance
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Though American education has taken few actual steps to pattern itself on other countries, in recent years we've displayed a near-obsessive interest in how we're doing in relation to them (e.g. on TIMSS and PISA results), and in what they're doing and how they do it.
ED grabs DC-based advocate for charter schools post
Chris TessoneThe US Department of Education has hired a new director of its Federal Charter Schools Program, which oversees a variety of grant programs for starting and replicating public charter schools, as well as credit enhancements to help them afford high-quality facilities.
Improving Maryland's charter-school law
Living near D.C.?a city with a 40 percent charter market share?charter schools are a constant topic of discussion, with reform-minded Marylanders envious of D.C.'s friendliness toward charters.
Re: Private school idolatry and the case of the missing solution
Kathleen Porter-MageeThis is a guest post from Diana Senechal, written in response to my post, Private School Idolatry and the Case of the Missing Solution.
The continued urban school debate: differentiated solutions
Kathleen Porter-MageeDiana Senechal wrote a thoughtful response to my post Private School Idolatry and the Case of the Missing Solution. In it, she argues tha
The first step is to admit you have a problem
Michael J. PetrilliMy name is Mike and I'm a Twitter-holic. It started innocently enough. My friends were doing it, so I decided to join them. I'd send a tweet here, a tweet there, maybe retweet something funny I read.
Private School Idolatry and the Case of the Missing Solution
Kathleen Porter-MageeI received a lot of responses to the ?Pedagogy of Practice? post I wrote the other day. Many were positive.
A pedagogy of practice
Kathleen Porter-MageeI've already weighed in on Alfie Kohn's ?pedagogy of poverty? article that appeared in Ed Week last week.
What are markets for?
Chris TessoneMarkets are a tool with many uses, and we employ them broadly in our society because on balance they create a lot of good. Kevin Welner doesn't see it that way, however, especially in education (PDF):
A lesson from KIPP
Andrew Rotherham turns in a nice column for Time magazine in which he reports on the findings of a study of the rates of college completion by graduates of the Knowledge is Power Program.
How Tonya and Kelley differ
Daniela FairchildKelley Williams-Bolar made national headlines back in January when she was caught sending her two daughters across district lines from the woeful Akron Public Schools to the plusher Copley-Fairlawn School District.
DC Opportunity Scholarship Program renewed in budget deal
Chris TessoneAs you probably know by now, the President and Congress came to a budget agreement late last night that will keep the government operating through the end of the fiscal year.
The Obama Administration's shameful opposition to the DC scholarship program
Michael J. PetrilliHere's the "Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 471 - Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act."
Steve Barr Goes Back to the Future
Peter MeyerWell, it's official.? According to Sam Dillon in the NYT, Steve Barr and the charter organization he founded, Green Dot, are going their separate ways.? In fact, the separation has been long in coming.?
Why the charter school idea has stood the test of time
Michael J. PetrilliEver since their creation two decades ago, charter schools have been defined by three fundamental?if somewhat contradictory?ideas: accountability for results, school-level autonomy, and meaningful parental choice. That the charter notion has stood the test of time is a testament to the power of these three ideas.
We Feel Your Pain -- and Other Good Stories from the Times
Peter MeyerThe New York Times is on a roll with its education coverage, today reporting on everything from Obama in Boston to Rick Scott in Florida and rich schools in Bronxville.?
Catholic ethos, public education
Peter MeyerThat's the title of my new story in Education Next, about an experiment to take a successful religious school education model to the public sector. The subtitle of the story sums it up nicely:? ?How the Christian Brothers came to start two charter schools in Chicago.? Let the walls come tumbling down!
Well done, Urban Prep
For the second year in a row, all the seniors at the all-male Urban Prep charter school in Chicago have been accepted?by a four-year college or university.?And to its credit, the school isn't just focused on getting its students accepted; it wants to ensure that every one of them earns a bachelor's degree.