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Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
National
Could Schools Be Doing More With Title I Money?
Over the last two decades, federal grants for educating low-income students have shifted from overwhelmingly being targeted to only the individual low-income students in a building to mostly being used to support schoolwide programs on high-poverty campuses. A new nationwide study of the $15.8 billion Title I program suggests that, while the more holistic approach has allowed school and district leaders to support a broader array of staff and interventions for students in poverty, school leaders often do not receive the training and information needed to make the most of the grant’s flexibility. (Education Week)
Union Report: How Much Control Do Unions Have Over Teacher Walkouts in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arizona? Not as Much as You’d Think
As I write this, the Oklahoma teachers strike has entered its second week. Large-scale protests have also taken place in Kentucky and Arizona. Coupled with the strike in West Virginia, we have now had more than seven weeks of almost entirely positive media coverage, local school district support, and an extraordinarily quick legislative response for teacher job actions. So the question in Oklahoma and elsewhere is, “What will it take to end the teacher walkout?” The answer, unfortunately, is no one knows — not even the teachers unions. (The 74)
Do high school dual enrollment courses mean college credit? Read the fine print.
Last week, a link on the website of Loudoun County public schools led to a school page with this explanation of dual enrollment — that’s college courses taken in high school: “When a student enrolls in a dual enrollment course they are taking a college course and beginning their official college transcript. The grade they receive in class will be the grade on their college transcript.” (The Washington Post)
Report: Career and Technical Education Programs in Public School Districts: 2016–17
This report is based on the 2016–17 survey Career and Technical Education Programs in Public School Districts and provides nationally representative data on career and technical education (CTE) programs. The survey defines a CTE program as a sequence of courses at the high school level that provides students with the academic and technical knowledge and skills needed to prepare for further education and careers in current or emerging professions. (NCES)
States
Louisiana
A third of New Orleans students don’t get into one of their top 3 schools of choice
About a third of all students who applied to public schools in New Orleans couldn’t get one of their top choices for the coming school year, officials said Monday. It is the lowest match rate since officials launched a centralized school enrollment process in the city seven years ago. The drop resulted at least in part from an increase in the number of applications for slots in the city’s public schools, and it has prompted renewed frustration among parents shut out of the most desirable campuses. (The Advocate)
South Carolina
State takes over another SC school district
The state of South Carolina has taken over another poor, failing school district — its second takeover within the past year. State schools Superintendent Molly Spearman on Wednesday declared a “state of emergency” for Williamsburg County schools, saying the state Education Department will take over the district’s daily operations indefinitely, including its financial decisions and hiring. (The State)
Tennessee
House Dems call for resignation of education commissioner
Tennessee Department of Education officials said that the online platform for Tennessee’s public school testing may have experienced a ‘deliberate attack’ on Tuesday. Department officials say there is no evidence that student data or information was compromised in the in the attack, adding that the software is designed to mask and protect student information. (WATE 6)
Washington D.C.
Stop enrollment fraud? D.C. school officials are often the ones committing it.
Alarming news reached the upper ranks of D.C. Public Schools in spring 2013. In a city where families from Maryland have been known to illegally send their children to the public schools at the expense of District taxpayers, a new perpetrator had been found. She sat in the chancellor’s office. Angela Williams-Skelton, executive assistant to then-schools chancellor Kaya Henderson, was driving her grandchildren from the home they shared in Frederick, Md., to attend Miner Elementary School in Northeast Washington, an internal investigation found. The children’s mother, who also lived with Williams-Skelton, had allegedly evaded more than $130,000 in tuition payments required for students who live outside the District, according to current and former city officials. (The Washington Post)