by Allison Hertog Last spring the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a study concluding that charter schools enroll a lower percentage of special education students than traditional public schools. Some commentators have questioned this study’s methodology and conclusions, while others believe it confirms what they have seen in practice. Regardless of where you stand on that debate,… Read more »
Search Results for: miss ana
Florida home-schoolers dive into STEM
In the factory’s tiny lobby, a dozen middle-school-aged boys and a handful of parents stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the company president, a soft-spoken man with a pen in his shirt pocket. He held up one precision-crafted, metallic piece after another and explained how angles and radiuses, aluminum and titanium, came together through… Read more »
redefinED roundup: charter school flap in Florida, charter school records in California & more
Florida: A failing charter school cuts its principal a $500,000 check as it was closing its doors (Orlando Sentinel). Charter school supporters are also angered (redefinED). Louisiana: State Superintendent John White is accused of lying to lawmakers about the state’s new voucher program (theadvertiser.com). White is also summoned to court in a lawsuit filed by a… Read more »
Don’t fail schools named for heroes
by Gloria Romero Between fundraisers, President Obama touched down in La Paz, Calif., recently to dedicate the home of Cesar Chavez, the late founder and leader of the United Farmworkers of America, as a historic monument. Even I – an Obama supporter – recognized the obvious political timing of this event and the reaching out… Read more »
Families should be free to choose schools they trust
Every school, whether intentionally or not, teaches more than academic subjects. Simply participating in the daily life of a school, its routines and how it justifies and enforces them, its norms for relationships among pupils (of the same age and of different ages) and between youth and adults, the ways in which adults relate to… Read more »
Sal Khan: The education establishment is “in violent agreement with us”
In a recent interview with Slate, Khan Academy founder Salman Khan is asked how he gets the education establishment to go along with his vision (and the vision of many others) of using technology to better customize learning. His answer doesn’t include the term “seat time,” but he suggests most of “the establishment” (he uses air quotes,… Read more »
redefinED roundup: voucher talk in Texas, parent trigger in Michigan and more
Texas: Recent political appointments show more stars lining up for vouchers in the next legislative session. (Houston Chronicle) Michigan: Parent Revolution leader Ben Austin criticizes a parent trigger proposal in Michigan because for-profit charter schools would be among the options parents could select for a school turnaround. (Education Week) Florida: School boards pass resolution after resolution against… Read more »
Agonizing over Amendment 8
Our preoccupation these days with a Florida amendment removing the state’s no-aid-to-religion clause may strike some redefinED readers as a touch obsessive, and we won’t argue the point. But the truth is that we agonize over whether to write at all, and we want to explain why. At the end of the day, we are… Read more »
‘The train has left the station on school choice’ – Florida BOE Chair Gary Chartrand, podcastED
Florida is a national leader in expanding school choice. And the state’s new top education official doesn’t see the momentum slowing, especially with low-income children. “The train has left the station on school choice,” Gary Chartrand, 58, told redefinED by phone this week – his first media interview since being elected chair of the Florida… Read more »
redefinED roundup: Ed reform tension at the DNC, charter school expansion in North Carolina & more
DNC: President Obama suggests Mitt Romney would gut education spending, but avoids mention of Race to the Top (redefinEd). (Image from Minnesota.publicradio.org) Panel discussions sponsored by Democrats for Education Reform highlight the battle within the party over education policy (redefinED). Teachers union leaders promise to campaign hard for Obama, despite difference over teacher evaluations, charter… Read more »
