- Virginia lawmakers are shaking angry fists at Five Ponds Publishing—a textbook company that refuses to submit its products for state review before marketing to districts. Who is right? We at Fordham have long criticized state textbook adoption practices, yet we also remember, not so long ago, when a slew of Virginia textbooks were found to include completely erroneous passages about black battalions in the Confederate army. Maybe publishers need this kind of scrutiny.
- First came Carnegie Mellon’s open courseware initiative, through which Joe American could access course content online from this elite (and expensive) school. Next we had Stanford’s free online classes. Now MIT is going one step further. The school will begin issuing certificates for subject mastery of the free online courses that it offers. Big changes are afoot in higher education—here’s looking to K-12 to follow suit.
- Speculation can now shift to commentary: Los Angeles teachers have officially approved their new labor contract, with provisions that district schools can exercise charter-like autonomy, effectively working around the contract. Fantastic idea. But it comes with a price tag: a three-year moratorium on LAUSD’s Public School Choice program, which allowed outside charters and nonprofits to take over failing LAUSD schools.
- Since 1992, 15 percent of the nation’s charter schools have closed their doors, according to the latest from the Center for Education Reform. But of those, only 18 percent (or 2 percent of all charters) closed due to academic reasons. Starker results even than our own findings from low-performing charters. Expect a full review of the CER analysis in January.
- Big ups to Florida, which announced this week that it would raise the bar for passing its state assessments. Ohio, will you follow suit?
- Indiana’s far-reaching voucher program is under attack in the courts. The first judicial ruling is expected in about a month.
- Over at The Atlantic, John Bailey asks a telling question: At a time when we just need more and better teachers in the classroom, why spurn any effort to bring them in, including from the for-profit sector?
- Connecticut is on an education-reform role. The latest? Its largest city, Bridgeport, snagged former NOLA supe Paul Vallas as its interim leader.
- Enrolling your child in a quality pre-K program (whether public or private) in New York City is a cutthroat endeavor—and there’s no guarantee that the hard work will land a decent placement. What’s a middle-class Manhattanite to do? If they’ve got the will, banding with other parents to create a pre-K co-op program seems to be the next best option.
