| Districts: Making Chicago The Next New Orleans - 2012-05-22 09:09:00 |
| Last week just before the NATO summit began Chicago Public Schools and Rahm Emanuel announced that the city was applying for as much of the $40 million Gates charter money as it could get, hoping to open 100 new schools in four years and raise its charter percentage from a measly 12 percent to a respectable 25 percent. Problem is, the proposal sounds a lot like the old Duncan / Daley / Cunningham initiative, Renaissance 2010, which wasn't a massive success, and most of the money is for facilities enhancements and other PRI junk that isn't very sexy. Plus which, Chicago authorizes its own schools in house, which many operators won't like, and there's not a ton of talent lying around that hasn't already been scarfed up by AUSL, Nobel Street, UNO, and the UofC. High quality operators would have to import talent or steal folks from other charter operators in order to ramp up quickly and well. Then there's the whole teachers contract dispute, which could lead to a strike. The upside is that there's lots of room for charter growth, in terms of parent interest, and a school board and City Hall eager to welcome new charters. There... |
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| Events: Education Speakers At This Summer's Aspen Ideas Festival - 2012-05-22 09:05:45 |
| The lineup for this year's Aspen Ideas Festival is out and you're probably not on it (2012 Aspen Ideas Speakers). But there are lots of education folks listed, and it looks like things are shaping up for a big focus on the character and resilience issues that were the focus of Paul Tough's NYT Sunday Magazine article last September. Tough and the folks from Riverdale and KIPP are on the list, and his book is slated to come out in September I'm told. Click below for my handpicked list of education folks on included in the speakers' agenda. Let me know if I've missed someone, or if your tea leaves are better or different than mine. Is anyone going to cover the thing this year, I wonder? I sure hope there are some education reporters out there. Ellen Alberding, President, Joyce Foundation Melody Barnes, Former Domestic Policy Advisor, The White House Michael Bennet, US Senator, State of Colorado Eli Broad, Founder, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Tim Brown, CEO, IDEO Lawrence J. Cohen, Psychologist; Author, Playful Parenting Richard Daley, Former Mayor, City of Chicago Mitch Daniels, Governor, State of Indiana Rehema Ellis, Education Correspondent, NBC News Howard Gardner, John... |
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| AM News: USDE Finally Unveils $400M "District" Race - 2012-05-22 08:59:08 |
| U.S. School Districts Can Enter ‘Race to Top’ Competition NYT: School districts will be able to compete for federal grants this year in the national “Race to the Top” competition, the Department of Education announced Tuesday. ALSO Rules on Way for District Race to Top Contest Politics K12, Race To The Top Adds School Districts To U.S. Education Competition HuffPost, Obama Offers School Districts $400 Million to Tailor Classrooms Bloomberg National conference in Ohio focuses on teachers AP via Boston.com: Educators including the U.S. secretary of education, teacher union leaders and school administrators will focus this week on ways to transform the teaching profession with such targets as better recruiting, preparation and career development, and evaluations based on effectiveness. Scholarship Funds, Meant for Needy, Benefit Private Schools NYT: A growing number of states are passing laws that allow taxpayer-supported scholarship funds, but they have been twisted to benefit private schools at the expense of the neediest children. Kline Asks GAO to Examine Race to Top States' Progress on Teachers Politics K12: Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee is asking the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, to look into state's progress in putting in... |
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