by Elizabeth Green
State law previously restricted charter schools from admitting pre-kindergarten students; they could go only from kindergarten through 12th grade.
But now Eva Moskowitz, founder of the Harlem Success Academy chain of four charter schools, has found a way to open the schools up to pre-kindergarteners. Success Academy recently petitioned the SUNY Board of Trustees to allow “developmental kindergarten,” which is for 4-year-olds — and won.
The change could pave the way for other charter schools to work with children from an earlier age. Charter schools in other cities enroll 4-year-0lds, mixing traditional aspects of early childhood like play time with the rigorous math and reading focus of many charter schools.
Success Academy spokeswoman Jenny Sedlis told me that Harlem Success Academy 2 plans to enroll 4-year-olds next year. They will take “developmental” kindergarten their first year, and then move onto traditional kindergarten. “We are huge supporters of pre-K and early childhood education and we’re interested in looking at innovative ways to bring excellent programs to more at-risk children,” Sedlis wrote in an e-mail.
Click here to see entire story.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Bill Gates on Education Reform
by Bill Gates - Jan. 28, 2009
Warren Buffett (says) every American, including him, is lucky to have been born here. He calls us winners of the "ovarian lottery."
But even within the United States, there is a big gap between people who get the chance to make the most of their talents and those who don't. Melinda and I believe that providing everyone with a great education is the key to closing this gap. ...
The private high school I attended, Lakeside in Seattle, made a huge difference in my life. The teachers fueled my interests and encouraged me to read and learn as much as I could. Without those teachers I never would have gotten on the path of getting deeply engaged in math and software. ...
How many kids don't get the same chance to achieve their full potential? The number is very large. Every year, 1 million kids drop out of high school. Only 71 percent of kids graduate from high school within four years, and for minorities, the numbers are even worse - 58 percent for Hispanics and 55 percent for African Americans. The federal No Child Left Behind Act isn't perfect, but it has forced us to look at each school's results and realize how poorly we are doing overall. It surprises me that more parents are not upset about the education their own kids are receiving.
Nine years ago, the foundation decided to invest in helping to create better high schools, and we have made over $2 billion in grants.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Warren Buffett (says) every American, including him, is lucky to have been born here. He calls us winners of the "ovarian lottery."
But even within the United States, there is a big gap between people who get the chance to make the most of their talents and those who don't. Melinda and I believe that providing everyone with a great education is the key to closing this gap. ...
The private high school I attended, Lakeside in Seattle, made a huge difference in my life. The teachers fueled my interests and encouraged me to read and learn as much as I could. Without those teachers I never would have gotten on the path of getting deeply engaged in math and software. ...
How many kids don't get the same chance to achieve their full potential? The number is very large. Every year, 1 million kids drop out of high school. Only 71 percent of kids graduate from high school within four years, and for minorities, the numbers are even worse - 58 percent for Hispanics and 55 percent for African Americans. The federal No Child Left Behind Act isn't perfect, but it has forced us to look at each school's results and realize how poorly we are doing overall. It surprises me that more parents are not upset about the education their own kids are receiving.
Nine years ago, the foundation decided to invest in helping to create better high schools, and we have made over $2 billion in grants.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The new face of education reform?
The chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools puts teacher performance at the center of a controversial bid to remake one of the nation’s most troubled urban school districts.
By Sean J. Miller
On a recent afternoon, Michelle Rhee, the chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, came out of a meeting to find an e-mail on her BlackBerry describing a problem at Anacostia High School. Two students had gotten into a fight while being dismissed from the cafeteria. A short time later, another student, who was smoking in a stairwell, started a small fire with his cigarette. It set off the fire alarm.
While the school evacuated to the football field, a third student ran down the hall jabbing his penknife into three kids, randomly.
“You know high school kids: When something happens it sort of causes a [chain reaction],” Ms. Rhee tells me, sounding casual, as we sit in her office. With the fire out and students milling around the 50-yard line, Rodney McBride, the Anacostia principal, calls Rhee to ask whether he should send the students home early.
Get them back in class, is her resolute response. Don’t waste the rest of the day.
The incident illustrates Rhee’s no-nonsense approach to turning around one of the nation’s most troubled urban school districts.
Since she was appointed chancellor in June 2007, the young Korean-American has brought sweeping changes and a stern hand to the Washington public school system. She has fired hundreds of teachers, principals, and administrators, as well as shuttered 23 under-attended schools.
At the core of her strategy is a conceptually simple but politically complex maxim: improve learning in the classroom by improving the people who hold the chalk. To do that, she advocates recruiting and retaining good teachers by paying them higher salaries – but cleaning out those who don’t perform.
Her tough approach and willingness to take on “untouchable” issues in education have earned her a reputation as a non-ideological crusader who might be carving out a new model for school reform. But critics, including many teachers, see her tactics as heavy handed and capricious. Is she education’s new White Knight or just a Michelle the Knife?
Click here to read the rest of the story.
By Sean J. Miller
On a recent afternoon, Michelle Rhee, the chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, came out of a meeting to find an e-mail on her BlackBerry describing a problem at Anacostia High School. Two students had gotten into a fight while being dismissed from the cafeteria. A short time later, another student, who was smoking in a stairwell, started a small fire with his cigarette. It set off the fire alarm.
While the school evacuated to the football field, a third student ran down the hall jabbing his penknife into three kids, randomly.
“You know high school kids: When something happens it sort of causes a [chain reaction],” Ms. Rhee tells me, sounding casual, as we sit in her office. With the fire out and students milling around the 50-yard line, Rodney McBride, the Anacostia principal, calls Rhee to ask whether he should send the students home early.
Get them back in class, is her resolute response. Don’t waste the rest of the day.
The incident illustrates Rhee’s no-nonsense approach to turning around one of the nation’s most troubled urban school districts.
Since she was appointed chancellor in June 2007, the young Korean-American has brought sweeping changes and a stern hand to the Washington public school system. She has fired hundreds of teachers, principals, and administrators, as well as shuttered 23 under-attended schools.
At the core of her strategy is a conceptually simple but politically complex maxim: improve learning in the classroom by improving the people who hold the chalk. To do that, she advocates recruiting and retaining good teachers by paying them higher salaries – but cleaning out those who don’t perform.
Her tough approach and willingness to take on “untouchable” issues in education have earned her a reputation as a non-ideological crusader who might be carving out a new model for school reform. But critics, including many teachers, see her tactics as heavy handed and capricious. Is she education’s new White Knight or just a Michelle the Knife?
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Has School Reform Gone Bipartisan?
D.C. event offers bipartisan solutions to aid minority students
Monday, January 26th 2009
One of the most important yet least noticed rallies in Washington during Barack Obama's inauguration took place at Cardozo High School, a struggling inner-city school located not far from the steps of the U.S. Capitol where the chief justice swore in the nation's first African-American President.
The Martin Luther King Day rally at the run-down auditorium at Cardozo High drew a coalition of strange but influential bedfellows that spanned the political spectrum, from the civil rights firebrand Rev. Al Sharpton to GOP presidential candidate John McCain. All of the speakers, however, were united by a single cause: A determination to tackle the nation's last, great civil rights battle - the shameful achievement gap between minority and white students.
Despite its humble setting, the Cardozo rally helped mark a sea change in the battle to fix our ailing urban schools. It provided a remarkable and riveting piece of political theater that would have been all but unthinkable just a few years ago.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Monday, January 26th 2009
One of the most important yet least noticed rallies in Washington during Barack Obama's inauguration took place at Cardozo High School, a struggling inner-city school located not far from the steps of the U.S. Capitol where the chief justice swore in the nation's first African-American President.
The Martin Luther King Day rally at the run-down auditorium at Cardozo High drew a coalition of strange but influential bedfellows that spanned the political spectrum, from the civil rights firebrand Rev. Al Sharpton to GOP presidential candidate John McCain. All of the speakers, however, were united by a single cause: A determination to tackle the nation's last, great civil rights battle - the shameful achievement gap between minority and white students.
Despite its humble setting, the Cardozo rally helped mark a sea change in the battle to fix our ailing urban schools. It provided a remarkable and riveting piece of political theater that would have been all but unthinkable just a few years ago.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Mariachi Music Coming To Your School Soon
More schools getting in tune with mariachi music
Jan. 5, 2009 -Associated PressDALLAS - Jose Perez often butted heads with his grandfather, who emigrated from Mexico years ago and feared his American-born grandson didn't appreciate the sacrifices his family made. Then the teenager started playing the music of the elder's homeland.
Perez, 14, took a mariachi music class at his Fort Worth high school, and gained a cultural connection to his grandfather as he learned how to strum the five-stringed vihuela (pronounced vee-way-la).
"He used to always yell at me because I didn't want to do my chores," Jose said. "But as soon as I got into mariachi, I guess we developed a better relationship." Mariachi not only gave Perez closer ties with his family, it gave the North Side High School freshman one more reason to stay in school.
With soaring dropout rates among Hispanic students, mariachi education programs, long popular in parts of South Texas and California, are springing up in schools across the country to help keep the nation's largest and fastest-growing ethnic group academically engaged.
"You don't have to worry about your kids joining gangs, we provide the gang," said William Gradante, a master mariachi teacher and chairman of the National Association for Music Education's Mariachi Advisory Committee. Click here to read the rest of the article.Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Charter Schools in Cyberspace!
McFarland Might Offer Online Charter School
School Board To Decide In One Month
By Angela Bettis, Staff Writer
January 6, 2009
McFARLAND, Wis. -- The McFarland School District is considering a school without walls -- an online charter school.
During a public hearing on Monday night, the McFarland School Board floated the idea of allowing a company called Wisconsin Virtual Academy to establish an online charter school in the district. The charter school, which would be kindergarten through 12th grade is supported by several local parents and the district superintendent, WISC-TV reported.
Charter schools aren't the same as home-schooling. Students enrolled in charter schools are accountable to licensed Wisconsin teachers and follow a strict curriculum that comes to them on the computer.
The learning process for charter school students is more flexible, which is why McFarland parent Jean Stube said that she chose it for her children.
"This is their second year, so they were going to a private school prior to that," said Stube.
Stube felt the curriculum in the private school was moving too quickly for her children."
I brought them home to virtual school because I just felt with the one-on-one teaching with them, I can teach directly to their learning style," she said.
Because McFarland doesn't have an online school, Stube's boys are enrolled in the Northern Ozaukee School District.
"They have normal textbooks and worksheets like all kids," said Stube.
"I think it's a different type of education model, but I don't think every education model meets the needs of every student," said McFarland Superintendent Scott Brown. Click here to read the rest of the article.
School Board To Decide In One Month
By Angela Bettis, Staff Writer
January 6, 2009
McFARLAND, Wis. -- The McFarland School District is considering a school without walls -- an online charter school.
During a public hearing on Monday night, the McFarland School Board floated the idea of allowing a company called Wisconsin Virtual Academy to establish an online charter school in the district. The charter school, which would be kindergarten through 12th grade is supported by several local parents and the district superintendent, WISC-TV reported.
Charter schools aren't the same as home-schooling. Students enrolled in charter schools are accountable to licensed Wisconsin teachers and follow a strict curriculum that comes to them on the computer.
The learning process for charter school students is more flexible, which is why McFarland parent Jean Stube said that she chose it for her children.
"This is their second year, so they were going to a private school prior to that," said Stube.
Stube felt the curriculum in the private school was moving too quickly for her children."
I brought them home to virtual school because I just felt with the one-on-one teaching with them, I can teach directly to their learning style," she said.
Because McFarland doesn't have an online school, Stube's boys are enrolled in the Northern Ozaukee School District.
"They have normal textbooks and worksheets like all kids," said Stube.
"I think it's a different type of education model, but I don't think every education model meets the needs of every student," said McFarland Superintendent Scott Brown. Click here to read the rest of the article.
Charter Schools Performing Higher?
Charter schools grade highest
Hub's traditional, pilot systems lag; Findings surprise state's specialists
By James Vaznis - Globe Staff / January 6, 2009
A new study indicates that Boston charter schools significantly outperform the city's traditional schools, but raises new questions about the city's experimental pilot schools, which in many cases posted "ambiguous" or "disconcerting" results.The study, being released today at a Boston Foundation forum, examined state standardized test scores for students of similar backgrounds at the three kinds of schools over a four-year period. In the most stark example, charters - independent public schools dedicated to innovative teaching - excelled significantly in middle school math. However, pilots, which have similar goals but are run by the School Department, performed at slightly lower rates than traditional schools, according to the study. Click here to read the rest of the article...
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