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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
National
Strengthening the Roots of the Charter-School Movement
Over the past quarter century, charter schools have taken firm root in the American education landscape. What started with a few Minnesota schools in the early 1990s has burgeoned into a nationwide phenomenon, with nearly 7,000 charter schools serving more than three million students in 43 states and the nation’s capital. Twenty-five years isn’t a long time relative to the history of public and private schooling in the United States, but it is long enough to merit a close look at the charter-school movement today and how it compares to the one initially envisaged by many of its pioneers: an enterprise that aspired toward diversity in the populations of children served, the kinds of schools offered, the size and scale of those schools, and the background, culture, and race of the folks who ran them. (Education Next)
Education Secretaries Past and Present Give Failing Grades to U.S. School System
It was a rare moment in the education world: The last seven secretaries of education convened to assess the country’s K-12 and higher education systems and how they need to evolve to better prepare today’s students for a rapidly changing economy. The event, held Thursday in Washington by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute to note the 35th anniversary of the seminal 1983 report “A Nation at Risk,” which took the U.S. school system to task for failing to prepare students for an increasingly global economy, drew the well-heeled education policy establishment as well as current and former members of Congress. (U.S. News & World Report)
After Parkland, Schools Grapple With Threats — And The Best Ways To Respond
Two months ago today, a shooter killed 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. After the tragedy, threats to schools across the country rose. In the month following, there were about 70 threats to schools per day. In the 59 days since the shooting, there have been almost 1,500 threats to schools across the country. And those numbers are likely under-reported, according to the group that tracks them, the Educator’s School Safety Network. (NPR)
States
Delaware
DelawareCAN launches online tool to explore teacher salaries
Want to have an informed conversation about educator compensation in Delaware? DelawareCAN recently launched a tool that takes all the public, vo-tech and charter-school teacher salary data in the state and allows you to make your own charts comparing salaries by district, schools and position (teacher, administrator, etc.), in any combination you can dream up. Want to know which school in Red Clay Consolidated School District has the highest paid teachers and administrators? (Technically Delaware)
Hawaii
Hawaii Teacher: How Jobs At Public And Private Schools Compare
I ran into an old friend recently as we both arrived for a teaching workshop at Iolani School. The early morning sun reflected brightly off his sunglasses as we greeted each other behind the dented bumper of my old Subaru Forester. Formerly a public elementary school teacher, he had just transitioned to a private school. During the workshop we delved deeply into how to transform mental models to create systemic sustainable change in our schools and our world. By mid-morning our heads were swirling and it was time for a coffee break. After a little small talk, I asked my old friend what was really on my mind. (Honolulu Civil Beat)
New Mexico
Schools need turnaround plans
Whatever you do, please don’t let our schools keep failing our students.
That’s my urgent message to the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) on this April 11 deadline for Albuquerque and Dulce to submit their second-chance school turnaround proposals for Dulce, Hawthorne, Los Padillas and Whittier elementaries. For the sake of our students, I encourage community members to stand with me in sending this message. We can’t afford anything less than real transformation in our public schools. (Albuquerque Journal)
North Carolina
Teen has missed 77 days of school. Will threatening his parents with jail help CMS?
The father of a 15-year-old Harding High student stood in front of a judge, a Vietnamese interpreter at his side. It was 131 days into the school year, and his son had missed 77 of them. A school social worker had visited the home three times, leaving notes in Vietnamese, but the parents hadn’t responded. Now Mecklenburg District Judge Paige McThenia was laying down the law: North Carolina requires parents to get their children to school. If children pile up more than 10 unexcused absences, parents can go to jail for 120 days. (The Charlotte Observer)
Washington D.C.
D.C. is misspending millions of dollars intended to help the city’s poorest students
The District’s public school system has misspent millions of dollars designated to help the city’s most vulnerable students, directing the money instead to cover day-to-day costs, according to government data, D.C. Council members and education activists. The money is intended to provide extra academic attention and social services to boost the academic performance of children who lag behind their wealthier peers. But D.C. Public Schools uses a big chunk of the money to plug holes in the budget, covering routine costs such as paying the salaries of art teachers and aides. (The Washington Post)