In this edition of In the News:
- Wyoming Studies New Orleans
- Evaluating Charter Schools
- KIPP Teachers Vote to Leave Union
- Twins Shine Light on Importance of Good Teachers
- In Other News
Wyoming Studies New Orleans
Experiment Pays Off
Wyoming Tribune Eagle – April 26, 2010
The Tribune Eagle came to New Orleans to interview our school officials, experts and community leaders and examine how charters are turning around the New Orleans educational system.
Evaluating Charter Schools
Despite Push, Success at Charter Schools Is Mixed
The New York Times – May 2, 2010
Raising student achievement for poor, urban children is enormously difficult and often expensive. Charter schools are not a panacea. While high- and low-performing charter schools often seem to take pages from the same playbook, the successful ones differentiate themselves in how their schools are run, the way classes are taught and how school culture is nourished.
Charter School Autonomy: A Half-Broken Promise
The Fordham Institute – April 28, 2010
This Fordham Institute study finds that the typical U.S. charter school lacks the autonomy it needs to succeed once state, authorizer, and other impositions are considered. In Louisiana, there are different levels of freedom accorded to Type 2 and Type 5 charters. Fordham gives Louisiana charter law a B- for Type 2 charter autonomy and a B for Type 5. When Fordham examined contracts imposed by the authorizer, the grade for Type 5 charters dropped from a B to a D.
Op Ed: Why Charter Schools Fail the Test
The New York Times – May 4, 2010
Supporters of charter schools and vouchers should stop obsessing about test scores and focus on the real reason that school choice is a good idea: schools differ in what they teach and how they teach it, and parents care deeply about both, regardless of whether test scores rise.
KIPP Teachers Vote to Leave Union
After Opting In, KIPP Staff Vote Themselves Out of Teachers Union
Gotham Schools – April 23, 2010
Teachers at a KIPP AMP charter middle school in Brooklyn have asked to split from the city’s teachers union more than a year after they voted to unionize.
Twins Shine Light on Importance of Good Teachers
Twin Study Bolsters Arguments for Good Teachers
Education Week – April 26, 2010
A new study focusing on pairs of identical and fraternal twins shows the importance of good teachers and suggests that value-added analysis of teacher performance may be on the right track.
In Other News
Paperwork Seen to Hit Struggling Schools Hardest
Education Week – May 4, 2010
Paperwork is a burdensome part of the job for many public school educators, but a new study of Louisiana schools suggests that the burden is heaviest for educators in low-performing schools.
Louisiana School Suspension, Expulsion Rates Criticized as Excessive
The Times-Picayune – April 20, 2010
Louisiana public schools expel students at five times the national rate and issue out-of-school suspensions at twice the rate of the rest of the country. Rates are highest in the Recovery School Districts’ direct-run schools.