It is serendipitous that the Missouri Legislature has gone back to work this month, just in time for the kick-off of national School Choice Week (Jan. 22). One of the many challenges our lawmakers face is what to do regarding the St. Louis and Kansas City public school districts. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in the Turner decision that students in unaccredited school districts have a right to enroll in a nearby accredited district. Unfortunately, the suburban districts have made it clear that they will not accept these students in any significant numbers. Thus, thousands of city students and their parents are in limbo while lawsuits are litigated.
Posted tagged ‘education reform’
Private school choice and the Turner decision
January 27, 2012StudentsFirst in Missouri
January 5, 2012StudentsFirst members across the state and bipartisan leaders in the General Assembly have asked us to join their effort to enact essential education reforms in Missouri.
Everything You Know About Education Is Wrong
December 16, 2011Think of the ingredients that make for a good school. Small classes. Well-educated teachers. Plenty of funding. Combine, mix well, then bake. Turns out, your recipe would be horribly wrong, at least according to a new working paper out of Harvard. Its take away: Schools shouldn’t focus on resources. They should focus on culture, says Jordan Weissmann, an associate editor at The Atlantic.
The Future of Educational Accountability, As Envisioned by 11 Leading States
November 29, 2011Last week, 11 states applied for waivers from many of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s most onerous provisions. Their applications are now online, ready to be sliced and diced by any willing wonk. (Anne Hyslop of Education Sector has already taken a cut.) We at Fordham have tried to make the task a little bit easier by posting two compilations: First, the Common Core implementation plans for all 11 states, and second, all of their accountability proposals. Both are huge files but if your plans this weekend include a lot of downtime, have at ‘em.
City students pack Camden Yards for school choice fair
November 22, 2011Oriole Park at Camden Yards was the site Saturday of a contest waged not with bats, balls and gloves but test scores, curriculum overviews and student testimonials. It was the annual school choice fair for Baltimore City public schools. Students and staff from 64 middle schools and high schools set up shop to woo fifth- and eighth-graders who will soon choose where to attend next year.
‘Value-Added’ Formulas Strain Collaboration
November 22, 2011The rapidly changing debate on how to account for student achievement in teacher evaluations is putting teacher-district relationships to the test across the country.
Race to Top Consolation Prize: $200M for STEM
November 18, 2011The U.S. Department of Education has now spelled out what the nine runner-up finalists from last year’s Race to the Top competition must do to get a piece of the $200 million consolation prize.
Editorial: Chamber gets details wrong, but focus on education welcomed
November 18, 2011We rise today not, as we often do, to bury the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, but to praise it. The chamber has been ambitious in its anti-worker fervor in recent legislative sessions, like Julius Caesar seeking to conquer new lands. What the chamber called a “business-friendly” agenda was, in fact, punitive to workers and unlikely to result in long-term economic benefits to the state.
A Different Role for Teachers Unions
November 11, 2011American teachers unions are increasingly the target of measures, authored by friends and foes alike, intended to limit their power, or even eviscerate them. Looking at this scene, one would never guess that the countries that are among the top 10 in student performance have some of the strongest teachers unions in the world. Are those unions in some way different from American teachers unions? Do unions elsewhere behave differently from American teachers unions when challenged to do what is necessary to improve student performance? To explore these questions, I compare teachers and their unions in Ontario, Canada and Finland with their U.S. counterparts.
