Schools and non-profits can get extra stimulus dollars, Libby Quaid of the AP reported this afternoon. The Department of Ed today issued rules for a $650 million competitive grant fund for school reform, according to the piece. It's part of the $5 billion in stimulus funds to help overhaul??schools -- most of that money goes to states but $650 million will go directly to non-profits and school districts. It's intended to??promote fresh ideas and help smaller programs grow, according to the report, and school districts, colleges/universities, charter schools and companies that help turn around failing schools are all eligible. The DOE plans to accept proposals in the spring, awarding the money by September 30, 2010, the AP reported.
- Good thoughts from the Hassels on how to manage the distribution of quality that results from charter start-ups. ??(And they continue our??Montague-Capulet turnaround battle here.)
- Very interesting conversion issue from TN where a district wanted to charter several of its schools
- Russo channelling James Downey for Duncan vs. Colbert
Nearly all the 380,000 primary school students in Uruguay have received a simple laptop in the past year, but will it actually help the students learn more? The first test comes later this month, when students take online exams in a variety of subjects. According to this article in The Economist:
Sceptics would rather the government concentrate on making teachers more accountable. But most admit the laptops are worth a try. They should prompt a shift away from rote learning towards critical analysis, says Edith Moraes, the official in charge of primary schools.
The program is popular but has had a few glitches. Some children break their laptops and would rather hold on to their status symbols than risk not having it returned if they send it off to be fixed. Some teachers can't use the technology well. The biggest problem: in 70% of schools only half the laptops can go online at the same time.
Our event "World-class academic standards for Ohio" just started and you can follow the action on Twitter. David Driscoll, the former Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, is currently talking about why we should set high education standards at all.
David Driscoll speaks at the "World-Class Academic Standards for Ohio" event
We commented on the new British Tory plan for education in last week's Gadfly. With Labor falling out of favor, it looks like the May 2010 election will swing in the conservative's favor and at the heart of the conservative education platform is a "radical" new plan to allow independently-operated publically-funded schools. (We, of course, call these charter schools.) But whether or not the idea will work is really dependent on the abilities of the Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families: Michael Gove. He's a wiry professorial MP with a non-Etonian pedigree (a rarity for Parliament conservatives) whose kids carpool with David Cameron's. This excellent Times UK piece has more.
Topics:
Notable:
388
Number of employees being laid off by Washington, DC public schools in the face of recent budget cuts, according to a statement released Friday. The number includes 229 teachers, or roughly 5% of all DCPS faculty.
"DC Schools to Cut Employees, Teachers"
Quotable:
"I think it's kind of pointless. I mean, why can't we have bake sales?"
-Eli Salamon-Abrams, New York City high school student
If you need evidence for national--or "common"--standards, look no further than the wide variation in the definition of "proficient" across the country today.?? These charts, from Fordham's 2007 The Proficiency Illusion illustrate the difference in the difficulty of state achievement tests based on their "cut scores."
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A student deemed proficient in reading or math by the state of Colorado wouldn't come close to making the cut in Massachusetts, California, or South Carolina. Unfortunately, proficient young Buckeyes wouldn't fare much better than their Centennial State peers.
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We will be exploring the issue of national standards and their impact on states at our conference, World-Class Academic Standards for Ohio, on Monday, October 5.?? Video of the event will be available on Flypaper next week.
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If you're like me, you spend most of your limited reading time on the latest reports and articles. My book project, however, has given me a reason to go back and read some of the classics of the field, and I'm much better for it.
If you have the time and inclination, I highly recommend David Tyack's exceptional 1974 book,??The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education.
In a relatively small number of pages, it explains why urban districts look and behave as they do and how immigration, race, elitism, and more influenced the mix.
If you've ever wondered how such seemingly irrational and preternaturally low-performing institutions came into being and held on, this book is for you.
It really is quite startling how our public schools, especially their central offices, have expanded personnel rolls over the last half century or so.
Just compare the growth in public education-related jobs to the growth in public education enrollment.
Maybe this is related to Rotherham's article in the WSJ today?
Ohio has been handed a bucket of lemons when it comes to the economy and its impact on the state's finances. But, state leaders have the opportunity to make lemonade if they work together around education in the coming weeks.
During the recent budget go-around the governor and House Democrats did all they could to strangle charter schools of funding. Senate Republicans rallied and managed to keep charter funding intact. As a result, the Buckeye State's 330 plus charter schools and their 85,000 students were set to receive the same basic level of funding as in past years.????
Then, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled against the governor's plan to generate revenue from slot machines, blowing an $850 million hole in the state's budget. Without new revenues, education funding is on the chopping block. The state has warned schools that they face a 10 percent reduction this year and 15 percent next year. To avoid these cuts, Governor Strickland has proposed suspending a 4.2 percent income-tax cut that took effect at the start of the year.
Funding cuts of 10 to 15 percent would be catastrophic for urban school districts that receive more than half of their revenue from the state. In contrast, suburban schools receive closer to 20 percent of their funding from the state and the rest from local taxpayers so the state cuts won't be as painful for them. But, in this context, pain is a relative term.
For charters, however, cuts at these levels would be terminal as they receive 100 percent of their funding from the state and are already operating at lower levels of per pupil funding than their district competitors. (In Fordham's hometown of Dayton, on average, charters receive about $8,500 per student while the district schools receive about $13,500 per student.)
Out of this mess comes space for compromise. Republicans care deeply about charter schools and have used serious political capital over the last decade to encourage, nurture, and support them. Democrats, especially the governor, have made increasing school funding for traditional district schools a pivotal piece of their political platform.
No politician likes to raise taxes, but this is one of those times when a tax increase may be the lesser of two evils. Setting back urban school districts big-time while also killing off the state's charters would be a political nightmare for Democrats and Republicans alike. More importantly, it isn't in the interest of the state's neediest children and their families.
But, Republicans shouldn't simply give the governor his tax increase. In return for helping bail him out of a fiscal mess that is largely his making, they should demand his support for recently introduced legislation that would allow operators of high-performing brick-and-mortar charter schools to open new schools. The proposed legislation would also make it easier for veterans of Teach for America to attain an Ohio teaching license. Both actions would strengthen Ohio's case for federal Race to the Top dollars.
Ohio's budget crisis demands tough choices of our elected officials. Fortunately, there is a chance to create some positives out of an overall bitter situation. It will only require some bipartisanship around the needs of the state's children and schools, especially the neediest among them.
Photo courtesy of Dante Alighieri at Wikimedia Commons.????