LWVeducation
by Lucia Baez
The Miami-Dade League of Women Voters charter school study provides an in-depth examination of the population of students in below median income neighborhoods.
Are charters representing their own communities?
Do charters show significant academic improvement?
Are charters equitably admitting their students and increasing participation of needy students?
THE ANSWER TO EACH OF THESE QUESTIONS IS: NO!
After 15 years of school choice, have we learned how to help disadvantaged children? The achievement gap remains. A year of school produces a year’s worth of learning. Children who lack kindergarten readiness skills must somehow learn faster just to catch up. Yes, access to high quality preschool programs is needed, but for children already in school, is more school better? Continue reading
In June, 2014 the U.S.DOE increased reporting requirements for students with disabilities programs. Both program procedures, such as meeting evaluation timelines as well as student outcome data are now required for federal funding. The U.S.DOE estimates that only 18 states and territories will meet the new standards; 41 states and territories met previous standards. California, Texas and Delaware are in the lowest compliance level.
There is more to this to this story. Read on.
by Sue Legg
One of the most intriguing articles that I have read lately is Iris Rotberg’s article on The Endless Search for Silver Bullets. Dr. Rotberg, a Research Professor of Education Policy at George Washington University reported the results of the 2012 New York state assessments and the 2013 New York version of the Common Core test. The results were no doubt disappointing to charter school advocates. Charter schools in New York City, the hallmark of high achieving charter schools, continued to outperform comparable traditional public schools. Charters, however, had higher drops in levels of proficiency. Continue reading
The Five Tenets of Highly Effective NYC Charters
This approach to improve student achievement in low income urban areas shows promise. There are also serious questions about assumptions behind the implementation of these “turnaround” schools. Continue reading
Fraud and Mismanagement in Pennsylvania’s Public Schools. The Center for Popular Democracy. October 2014. Two major findings: general auditing techniques are not designed to uncover fraud and staffing is inadequate to monitor charters.