Daily postings
from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1500
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, members of the press and a broad array of education advocacy
organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.
These daily
emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us
on Twitter at @lfeinberg
NEPC report criticizes progress at cyber charter schools
K12 Inc.
programs are subject of study
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
The latest criticism of
cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania comes
from Colorado National Education
Policy Center
at the University of Colorado , focuses on seven full-time virtual schools
in Pennsylvania
…….On academic
performance, the report noted that 27.7 percent of K12 schools in the study met
standards for adequate yearly progress, known as AYP, under the federal No
Child Left Behind Act in 2010-11. It
said this was nearly identical to other full-time virtual schools operated by
private education management organizations but below the estimated 52 percent
of public schools as a whole making AYP that year.
Students in
K12 Inc.’s online classes lag academically, study finds
K12 Inc., the Herndon-based company that is the
country’s largest provider of full-time online education, lags behind charter
schools and traditional public schools on a broad array of academic measures,
according to a new study.
Students enrolled at K12, which provides public
virtual education in 29 states and the District of
Columbia , lag behind their counterparts on federal and state
measures of math and reading proficiency, according to a study released
Wednesday by the National
Education Policy
Center
Many of the so-called
"reformers" and many of their allies among Republican governors and
legislators seem to - after all, that is why they have been pushing this
particular approach for a number years.
If you have any interest
in this topic, I am going to strongly urge you to read a just-released policy
brief from the National Education Policy Center.
Titled Understanding and Improving Full-Time
Virtual Schools, and has a subtitle which reads "A
Study of Student Characteristics, School Finance, and School Performance in
Schools Operated by K12 Inc.: The authors are Gary Miron, a professor at
Western Michigan University, and Jessica L. Urschel, a doctoral student at the
University. K12 Inc. is the nation's largest operator of
online charter schools, and is controversial enough that New Jersey, whose
governor Chris Christie has been actively involved in undermining public
education in that state, just postponed acting on a request from K12 to open a
charter in that state.
Here’s the NEPC press
release with a link to the study cited above….
Understanding
and Improving Full-Time Virtual Schools
Press Release July 18, 2012
K12 Inc. enrolls more public school students than
any other private education management organization in the U.S.
Here are some prior
Keystone State Education Coalition postings on K12, Inc.:
New York Times: Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools, 12/12/11 by Stephanie Saul
It's all about the kids......K12 Inc. chief executive Ron Packard
paid $5 million compensation package in 2011
12/12/11
K12 Inc.: Churn, baby churn…….May 25, 2012
“There is no reliable evidence that for-profit (cyber) operators
provide education that is effective, but there is no question that they are
highly effective at turning public tax dollars into private gain." November 22, 2011
PA Cyber Charter School
By Rich Lord / Pittsburgh
The board of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter
School
The board hired Robert
E. Stewart of the Downtown firm Stewart & Zinski at a rate of $350 per
hour. Another lawyer for the board, Tim Barry, said that the move does not
reflect any change in the school's understanding that it is not a target of the
investigation.
The grand jury is
investigating current or former executives of the online charter school, which
serves more than 11,300 students statewide.
“If the state holds
school districts to one standard and charter and private schools to another,
then the state already has given the charters and private schools straight-A
report cards without a test. This is no
“competition.” It’s playing craps with loaded dice.”
Charter school
exemptions make for an uneven education
Wilkes-Barre July 18, 2012
GOV. TOM Corporate and the Republican majority
in the Legislature continue to prove that, for them, “education reform” is just
code for “privatization.”
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though
there’s no meaningful evidence supporting the underlying theory – that
competition from the private sector will improve education for all. The problem
in this case is that, in their rush to create a more “competitive” system, they
dropped the “competitive” part.
Take charter schools, a fine idea that has
worked well in some sites, including our sole Luzerne County
“When
Pennsylvania
EDITORIAL:
Tighten charter school law
Charter schools are important options for parents
unhappy with the education their children would otherwise receive in their home
districts. No argument there.
If their regular school isn't up to the task, parents
should be able to send their children to a better environment, using the money
the state would have provided the district for educating those students.
But something's wrong when charter schools turn a
large profit.
The York
City School
District
Certainly, the school system was struggling
academically, which is why the charters were able to attract so many students.
But the financial hit it's taking is only making the problem worse for those
students who remain. It's particularly
maddening knowing that not all of those tax dollars are making it to the
charter students.
For some charter schools, it's not simply about
providing an alternative, preferably better, educational option for parents and
students -- it's about making money.
Area schools face
new threat
Under
new rules, state subsidy can be cut when students who win scholarships opt out.
The list is an integral part of the state’s new
“Education Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit” program.
Businesses can donate money to a nonprofit entity which then awards
scholarships to students who live in the “attendance boundary” of a
low-achieving school. The student can use the money to attend another school,
either public or private, that is not on the low-achieving list.
Published: Thursday, July 19, 2012
Delco Times By JOHN KOPP jkopp@delcotimes.com
@DT_JohnKopp
CHESTER — Gov. Tom
Corbett recently signed a distressed school districts bill that is expected to
place the Chester Upland School District under greater state oversight.
The law, dubbed the Financial Recovery Legislation for Schools, allows the secretary of education to declare districts meeting certain criteria as distressed and to appoint a chief recovery officer, who will be charged with developing a financial recovery plan.
By implementing the plan, the districts are eligible for long-term, interest-free loans.
Chester Upland is among four districts across the state that currently meet the criteria to be declared distressed.
The law, dubbed the Financial Recovery Legislation for Schools, allows the secretary of education to declare districts meeting certain criteria as distressed and to appoint a chief recovery officer, who will be charged with developing a financial recovery plan.
By implementing the plan, the districts are eligible for long-term, interest-free loans.
Chester Upland is among four districts across the state that currently meet the criteria to be declared distressed.
Why Weren’t
These Students Taking Tests?
Diane Ravitch’s Blog July 18, 2012 //
Last night, I watched the
PBS Frontline program and saw “Fast Times at West Philly High.” It is
a wonderful documentary about the teachers and students at this inner-city high
school who entered an international competition to create a hybrid car. It
follows them as they build their models, then take them to the competition.
Theirs is the only team of high school students. All the others in the
competition are adults, and many are professionals.
This is real reform, unlike the phony schemes to
privatize public schools and hand them over to for-profit entrepreneurs. This
is real curriculum, instruction, teaching and learning, where students are
eagerly learning and applying what they learn. This is real teaching, where the
teachers are fully invested in what they are teaching and respect their
students as partners in the learning.
Libor ‘crime
of the century' bank rate-fixing case hits home
Admissions by a major London-based bank that it
manipulated a key lending rate amount to "the crime of the century."
Or an unwitting gift to mortgage-paying homeowners.
Whatever your position on many commonplace financial
transactions — taxpayer, investor, mortgage borrower, pensioner — you most
likely have been affected by the manipulation of a bank lending rate called
Libor. Determining how deeply you have been touched, however, may be next to
impossible.
To
my knowledge, Pennsylvania
Six More
States , District of Columbia
Six states—Arizona ,
Kansas , Michigan ,
Mississippi , Oregon ,
and South Carolina —and the District of Columbia
That brings the total of approved applications
to 33, including almost all of the 27 applications submitted in the second round of the waiver process, which had a
February deadline. Eleven states got waivers
in the first go-round, announced in February.
NSBA
Federal Relations Network seeking new members for 2013-14
School directors are invited to
advocate for public education at the federal level through the National School
Boards Association’s Federal Relations Network. The National School Boards Association is
seeking school directors interested in serving on the Federal Relations Network
(FRN), its grass roots advocacy program that brings local board members on the
front line of pending issues before Congress. If you are a school director and
willing to carry the public education message to Washington , D.C.
Click here for more information.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.