Tag: Charter Schools
Live Blogging The Delaware House Session – Focus HB 165
Here we go – well, it will probably be a while!
Here’s the link to listen to the live-stream of the Delaware House. They’re recessed now (3pm). Anyone know what time they’ll start up again?
Mike Matthews is live tweeting the session. Follow him @dwablog Use #hb165
Meanwhile… Mike O. of the Seventh Type, via commenter Citizen, brings us this: Michael D. Thomas, Ed. D. President, Delaware Chief School Officers Association opposes HB 165. Go read the letter!
Use this thread to keep us informed.
HB 165 – DL Readers, You Have Homework!
HB 165 is up for a vote in the House today. If you are not familiar with this bill please read this post – More importantly, click on EVERY link in that post. Those links will take you to blog posts from other bloggers fully explaining HB 165. Lord knows, you won’t find any of these concerns in the News Journal.
So here’s your homework, CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE! No excuses. Just do it. Also, contact your friends and family and have them do the same.
I’d like to return to an email Rep. Jaques sent to Elizabeth Scheinberg over at Children & Educators First blog. This part jumped out at me:
If you took the time to read House Bill 165 you would see loads of transparency and accountability throughout. I hope you are not listen to the nay Sayers who just like to yell at the top of their voice, but most of the time don’t know what they are talking about! HB 165 has been properly vetted and has loads of support throughout the education community.
First, I know Elizabeth read the bill, and it was insulting to imply otherwise. Second, naysayers? “Who just like to yell at the top of their voice, but most of the time don’t know what they are talking about?” Is that what Rep. Jaques considers citizens who have concerns about HB 165? What’s the opposite of naysayers? Yes men? (Yeah, that ticked me off.)
And about that “loads of support” for HB 165? Well, Charter School advocates love this bill. In fact, if this bill was full of compromises like Jaques implies, surely charter supporters would point out the areas they weren’t so pleased with. Haven’t heard one complaint or concern. In fact…
Steve Newton has the emails going out to charter parents, urging them to contact their Reps and to tell them to vote for Hb 165. Read them. There’s a lot of talk about money in these emails. So much, that one would be forgiven in thinking HB 165 was a funding for charter schools bill.
The Charter Working Group May Have Been A Public Body
Rep. Kim Williams had a few questions about the Charter Working Group: From: Williams, Kimberly (LegHall) Sent: Friday, June 07, 2013 11:23 AM To: McConnel, Ian R (DOJ) Cc: Williams, Kimberly (LegHall); Peterson, Karen (LegHall) Subject: 24 Member Working Group – Charter Good Morning Ian, I am requesting an opinion today from the AG’s […]
Delaware Blogosphere Education Round-Up
First, let me say how proud I am of our Delaware Bloggers and the work they’ve been doing covering education. It’s been a while since an issue has fired up so many. And if you want to understand what’s going on with education be sure to read every blogger I link to below. I’m going […]
The Deliberate Destruction Of Public Schools
First, Education Reform has very little to do with improving education. It does, however, have a lot to do with union busting and corporations tapping into all that delicious tax payer education money. It also thrives on propaganda.
When discussing education today there’s one theme that remains consistent: Public education is failing our kids! Our children aren’t learning! Just look at the test scores!
Okay, let’s look at the test scores:
- The chart below shows overall reading and math scores for 9-year-olds starting in the early ’70s. Since then, reading scores have gone up 12 points and math scores have gone up 24 points. Ten points on the NAEP roughly equals one grade level, which means that today’s 9-year-olds are performing more than a full grade level better in reading and two grade levels better in math compared to the ’70s.
- Scores for blacks and Latinos are up more than scores for whites. In reading, as the chart above shows, white kids’ scores are up 14 points, while Latinos’ have risen 24 points and blacks’ 34 points. In math, scores for white kids are up 25 points, while Latinos’ have jumped 32 points and blacks’ 34 points. There’s still a significant gap between whites and other groups, but we’ve been making steady—and largely unheralded—progress for the past 40 years.
- Private schools have done well, with reading scores up 10 points and math scores up 22 points, but public schools have also improved in reading (4 points) and math (25 points). Overall, the rise in test scores is due to improvements at both private and public schools.
Interesting, no? And yet you rarely, if ever, hear about these results. Don’t get me wrong. There are problems, especially when children reach high school, and that must be addressed, but the idea that public schools aren’t educating children is nothing more than the Ed Reformers’ Marketing Strategy.
Here We Go Again… Pencader Charter School
I detest hostage situations, especially when the hostages are children. Pencader Business and Finance Charter School is in financial trouble again. Shocking, I know. Seems they’ve run out of money and are threatening to close the school on April 30th.
The News Journal has the story:
In a letter addressed to parents, students and teachers last week, president Frank McIntosh said Pencader didn’t have enough money left to pay teachers’ salaries through the end of the year, putting it at risk of bankruptcy. He said the school needs $350,000 to pay its debts and enable its students graduate.
McIntosh said transferring students back to their feeders schools so late in the year would be a mess. Traditional public schools, especially those in the Christina and Colonial school districts, would have to accommodate hundreds of students on short notice with little additional resources, he said.
State Votes To Close Pencader Charter School
Pencader has struggled for quite a while. I’ve written about the school last July here, and last August here and here. I’ve watched all this come to a head, and held off calling for outright closure once the new Pencader Board came into being, but this passage from Nichole Dobo’s article had my eyebrows raising.
The new school leadership submitted plans for moving forward that contained errors and omissions, said John Carwell, director of the charter school office in the state Education Department.
For instance, Pencader’s leaders reported that the school outperformed the state average on student achievement tests, Carwell said. In reality, the school was below the state average on math and reading assessments, he said. This mistake, and others, showed the school’s leaders were “ill-prepared, at best,” he said. Subsequent reports did not convince state leaders otherwise, he said.
Ill-prepared, at best? At best?
If it’s true that the new school leadership reported false achievement test scores, as well as other errors and omissions then they should be investigated. Isn’t this sort of thing against the law?
A Look Inside The Mind Of A Charter Advocate
Over at Kilroy’s an interesting comment from Publius e decere was posted laying out his/her vision concerning charter schools and vouchers. It is quite enlightening. Come inside to see.
The Deliberate Destruction Of Public Education
In Michigan, Bloomfield Hills School District’s superintendent, Rob Glass, has written a letter and posted it on his District’s website. In all my years on the education front, I have never seen such a direct and urgent letter from a superintendent. Everyone needs to read this, because what he’s talking about has happened, and probably […]
UPDATED: Mandatory Pregnancy Testing In School
Delhi Charter School, in Delhi, Louisiana, has come under fire for its policy that campaigners say is ‘clearly illegal under federal laws’. Under the new rules, a teacher can ‘require’ a student to have a test if they suspect she could be pregnant. If the test comes back positive, the policy states: ‘The student will not be permitted to attend classes on the campus of Delhi Charter School.’ She will be required to pursue a course of home study. Delhi Charter School has established an environment whereby the conduct of its students must be in keeping with the school’s goals and objectives relative to character development.’
And what happens to the boys at Delhi Charter School who participated in pregnancy, or who have fathered a child?
The Hard Reality Of Charter Schools
Steve Newton doesn’t pull any punches with his latest post entitled: A thought on the Pencader mess that will get me into trouble.
It’s Past Time For The DOE And Elected Officials To Speak Out On The Pencader Charter School Saga – And The Fate Of That School
I was planning on waiting until I had more concrete information on what is going on at Pencader Charter High School before writing a post, but information on the school’s fate is slim on the ground. So, forgive me. This post will ask more questions than provide answers. Basically, it’s going to be a bit of a mess. Try and bear with me.
Are We Asking The Right Questions About Education?
For those of you sick of my education posts, feel free to move on! Truthfully, I had no intention of writing about education today, but then I stumbled across this Daily Kos diary, entitled: Charter Schools Not the Answer, Especially if We Fail to Identify the Question. Go read the whole thing!
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