In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) … Your mini news clippings
Fewer students are being expelled from New Orleans public schools. RSD schools saw a 39% decrease in the first half of 2014-15 compared to the same time last year, and the citywide average is down 21%. Educate Now! agrees with the Times-Picayune that this news is encouraging. To download expulsion rates by school, click here.
Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, wants voters to create a state-run district to take over struggling schools. The idea is modeled after Louisiana’s RSD and is a drastic departure from Georgia’s current, more passive approach to failing schools.
An overhaul of No Child Left Behind cleared the U.S. House Education Committee along party lines. The committee approved major revisions, including how title funds would be allocated.
This is why Common Core matters. At all levels, including the top 10% of students, the United States trails other industrialized nations in the skills needed to compete in the global labor market.
Governor Jindal proposed a series of education reforms at a D.C. breakfast as part of his 2016 presidential preparations. Many were an extension of the New Orleans experience, including expanding charters, removing caps on the number of charter schools allowed, and giving principals a more active role in their schools’ direction.
New Orleans’ Recovery School District topped national rankings for school choice. The Brookings Institution’s 2014 Education Choice and Competition Index gave the RSD high marks for how well it implements and maximizes school choice for families.
OPSB has received proposals from 11 groups for 12 new charter schools, including one from a group of McDonogh 35 alumni who want to charter their alma mater, one of the city’s last remaining conventional public schools.
One third of Louisiana voucher students are enrolled at sanctioned schools – schools doing such a poor job of educating students that they have been barred from taking new vouchers.
Erica McConduit-Diggs, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, says advances in school choice are promising, with the lowest-income families having greater access to higher quality schools post-Katrina. We need more high-quality schools, she says, and we must improve access by educating families and by incorporating all schools into the centralized enrollment system.
A free Emotional Literacy Curriculum is available for local teachers from KID smART. This hands-on, K-4 curriculum will allow teachers to explore various techniques for teaching and developing social/emotional skills through the arts. The curriculum is free, but registration is required to download the lesson plans.
Charter School Teacher Fair – Saturday, March 14: This annual teacher fair is an opportunity for certified teachers and teachers working on their certification to meet with charter schools from around the state.
In Educate Now!’s most recent release on high school performance, we used an incomplete TOPS report from August 2014. Below is updated information from November 2014. In 2014, 37% of the graduates from public schools in New Orleans qualified for TOPS, compared to 25% in 2005.
Tops Eligibility over Time
| Class of 2005 |
Class of 2014 |
Change | |
|
OPSB
|
57% | 48% | – 9 pts |
|
Schools transferred to RSD
|
6% | 24% | 18 pts |
|
New Orleans (OPSB + RSD)
|
25% | 37% | 12 pts |
|
Louisiana
|
37% | 45% | 8 pts |