(Chicago Tribune) — Like the menu at a potluck supper, Chicago Public Schoolshas a dizzying array of offerings, from classical, magnet, selective enrollment and gifted schools to charters and contract schools and career and military academies. The smorgasbord is a testament to Chicago’s myriad attempts to fix broken schools and keep middle-class parents from fleeing to the […]
(AJC) — Subpoenas issued by a federal grand jury suggest a sweeping criminal investigation into a cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public Schools. The grand jury appears to be looking not only at cheating on federally mandated tests, but also at how the school district handled allegations of widespread irregularities, court records obtained by The […]
(AJC) — Four Atlanta school principals, including those from campuses under the most suspicion in an ongoing test cheating probe, have retired from the city school system. Two of the four principals — Gideons Elementary School’s Armstead Salters and Venetian Hills Elementary School’s Clarietta Davis — were reassigned to other jobs in August after a […]
The city has the dollars, the challenge now is to make sense of what reform actually means.
(Washington Post) — Two civil rights organizations are seeking a federal review of public school education in Texas, accusing state school administrators of violating federal civil rights laws after curriculum changes approved earlier this year by the Texas Board of Education. The request to the U.S. Department of Education made by the Texas NAACP and […]
(Chicago Tribune) — After hearing from a roomful of critics Wednesday,Chicago Public Schools decided to withdraw proposals for four new charter schools and plans to expand existing ones, including three new campuses each operated by Chicago Charter International School and the United Neighborhood Organization. Interim CEO Terry Mazany said CPS officials decided to table the proposals […]
(AJC) — Fulton County’s district attorney said Wednesday his office’s investigation of the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating scandal is months away from completion. DA Paul Howard appeared at a news conference with members of the Concerned Black Clergy, who praised the prosecutor for meeting with them last Friday and hearing their concerns. Clergy members, such […]
(Chicago Tribune) — A nonprofit group representing Chicago Public Schoolsparents alleges that the district’s policy of flunking third-, sixth- and eighth-grade students who fail to meet cutoff scores on state standardized tests disproportionately harms black and Latino students. Parents United for Responsible Education, or PURE, filed a complaint against the CPS policy Wednesday with the U.S. Department […]
(Chicago Tribune) — From the moment Mayor Richard Daley took office, he made it clear that Chicago couldn’t survive without vibrant public schools, yet he sent his children to private Catholic schools. Now, in the first wide-open race in more than two decades, the question has re-emerged for mayoral candidates — are Chicago’s public schools good […]
(AJC) — The state’s investigation into test tampering at Atlanta Public Schools took an ominous turn last week for the teachers and administrators implicated in the scandal. Many had faced disciplinary action by the state commission that licenses educators. Now, some of them may be charged with crimes. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard on Tuesday […]
What is it with Oprah’s love affair with Michelle Rhee? After anointing Rhee as the second coming of Educational Christ during the episode featuring the “Waiting for Superman” documentary, Oprah invited her back to her holy grail of platforms once again, this time, to announce the launching of an organization called Students First, an interest […]
(Smart Money) — For all the hype about a few standout schools, charter schools in general aren’t producing better results than traditional public schools. A national study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford found that while 17% of charter schools produced better results than neighborhood public schools, 37% were significantly worse, […]