In this edition of In the News:
- The Drop Out Problem
- Evaluating Charter Schools
- Reason TV Posts 3 Videos on New Orleans Education
- Teach For America Pulls Talent from Wall Street
The Drop Out Problem
Report: More Blacks than Whites Dropping Out of High School
Louisiana Weekly – July 6, 2010
A national study shows that 81% of white students graduate from high school in four years compared to only 61.5% of African American students. Louisiana had the highest reported drop out rate for all students in 2008.
New Orleans Drop Out Rate Improves
Educate Now! – July 9, 2010
New Orleans’ drop out rate is lower than it was before Katrina but is still higher than the state average. This post provides information on citywide and school level performance.
Evaluating Charter Schools
Study Finds No Clear Edge for Charter Schools
Education Week – June 29, 2010
A national study of 36 charter schools in 15 states shows that on average students who won lotteries to attend charter middle schools performed no better in math and reading than their peers who lost the lottery and enrolled in regular public schools.
Lessons from Ohio’s Front Lines
Fordham Institute – July 8, 2010
A new book recounts the charter experience from the viewpoint of Fordham Institute’s efforts to reform public schools in its home state of Ohio. Their successes and sometimes spectacular failures provide lessons for New Orleans, including: placing a charter sign over a schoolhouse doesn’t guarantee success, the education marketplace (or competition model) won’t work without checks and balances, and really good schools matter.
Evaluating Charter Schools
Educate Now! – July 7, 2010
Recently, there have been a number of national reports evaluating charter school performance. Educate Now! highlights their conclusions and asks, “What do these reports mean for New Orleans?”
Reason TV Posts 3 Videos on New Orleans Education
The Reason Foundation recently hosted a conference in New Orleans and focused part of their agenda on school reforms in New Orleans. This week it released three videos from this conference on www.Reason.tv.
Katrina’s Silver Lining – The School Choice Revolution in New Orleans
Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek on the New Orleans School Choice Revolution
Talking School Choice with Reformers Lisa Snell, Leslie Jacobs & Arwynn Mattix
Teach For America Pulls Talent from Wall Street
What They’re Doing After Harvard?
The Wall Street Journal – July 10, 2010
This year, Teach For America’s 46,000 applicants included 12% of all Ivy League seniors, 7% of the graduating class of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and 6% of the graduating class of U.C. Berkeley. TFA founder Wendy Kopp explains why the country’s best and brightest are choosing teaching over Wall Street.
Local News
Nine New Orleans Charter Schools Are Granted Extensions
The Times-Picayune – July 1, 2010
Of the nine charter schools up for their interim three year review in June, one, Esperanza, was not granted an extension of its charter, seven were granted one year extensions and one was granted the maximum two year extension. Next year, 20% of charters in the RSD will be up for their pivotal five year review.
State Needs to Stick to Charter School Renewal Process, Group Says
The Times-Picayune – June 28, 2010
As more charters come up for review, the state needs to work harder to ensure that decisions about which schools close and which stay open are timely and transparent.
Meaning of LEAP Scores a Mystery to Most Louisiana Parents
The Times-Picayune – July 6, 2010
What do the performance levels on the state tests mean? Most parents know what scores their child has to get on the LEAP test to advance to the next grade or on the GEE in order to graduate, but few understand what the results mean in terms of skills their child has mastered or whether their child is on track to handle college-level work.