“Sometimes I think my mother should have named me Johnny…Johnny One Note. Reason: Every time I turn around I see more evidence of our general inability as a nation to make a genuine commitment to education–and to vital education-enablers such as school libraries. As I clamber up onto this soapbox one more time, let me make a small request.”
“When only one of the 22 students raised her hand, I was not surprised. It is the rare student who begins college having learned the history of Mexican Americans in schools. This time, the question was how many knew about Mendez v. Westminster—a 1947 case that resulted in the elimination of de jure segregation for Mexican students and was influential in the Brown v. Board of Education decision.” (10/08)
“Along with evaluating students, standardized tests are about comparing schools, so it is understandable that schools with the highest scores want to brag about it. Again this year, among those bragging loudest are the champions of charter schools. The Mass. Charter Public School Association notes with pride that the most recent results indicate that charter schools ranked first in the state on several MCAS tests.” (10/06/08)
“In a world increasingly focused on individual learning needs, ‘private’ doesn’t have to be the adversary of ‘public.’ A decade after vouchers were introduced to Florida as an alternative to public schools judged as failing, the political debate is beginning to mature. Some of us who believe that public education is a sacred trust can now see that not every private option is an attack.” (10/06/08)
“As has been noted in any number of previous Athens Banner-Herald editorials, the Clarke County School District’s continuing problematic performance in graduation rates and standardized test scores means that its officials don’t necessarily have the luxury of waiting for innovative approaches to education to be tried elsewhere before being implemented here. It’s a sad truth that school district officials need to be open to any and all new approaches that might be developed, simply because waiting for definitive proof of what works to boost student achievement could serve to consign Clarke students to a continuing lackluster education for more years than is necessary.” (10/06/08)
“Public education should be both mirror and model in the society it serves, and should strive toward both equal opportunity and freedom of choice. Both are integral to the pursuit of happiness. Logically, then, taxpaying parents should expect fair value from our public education system regardless of what kind of public school their child attends. In Hawaii, that seems to be missing.” (10/06/08)
“Tonight the Richmond School Board is slated to vote once again on the Patrick Henry charter-school proposal. The case for the school is clear and overwhelming. Community demand for the alternative is wide and intense. The initiative’s backers have jumped through every hoop and over every hurdle the school system has placed before them.” (10/06/08)
“Richmond County parents should be encouraged that the school board is considering merit pay for principals and teachers. Frank Dolan, chairman of the board’s finance committee, is pushing a plan modeled on the incentives in Superintendent Dana Bedden’s contract. Why not? What’s good enough for the super ought to be good enough for principals and teachers. Usually pay hikes are determined by seniority and/or advanced degrees — which is fine if teacher performance is improved by experience or higher education, but all too often it is not.” (10/06/08)
“In May 2009, 23 students will graduate from Fall Creek Academy, one of the city’s first charter schools that started in 2002. Many of these students came to our school as sixth-graders but few could pass the ISTEP. In May, nearly all will graduate with at least 15 college credits. Our valedictorian will graduate with a high school honors degree and 30 college credits. She will enroll in a four-year university as a sophomore.The past six years have not been easy.” (10/06/08)
“I have been studying successful urban public charter school networks, arguably the most encouraging story in education, and listening to their leaders. Many of them know D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and share her views, except for one important part of her reform plan: incentive bonuses for teachers. Rhee wants to offer teachers up to $20,000 extra a year, based at least in part on how much better their students read, write and do math under their tutelage.” (10/06/08)
edited by R. Lee Wrights
Freedom News Daily
