inBloom to Depart CO, National Test Results, and More: Friday’s Ed News Roundup

Published November 8, 2013

Friday’s ed news

COLORADO: An inBloom-promoting superintendent resigns as her board votes to jettison the student data collection system. 

ACHIEVEMENT: National test scores on the Nation’s Report Card have inched upward, a statistically insignificant increase. Approximately one-third of the nation’s children are proficient in reading and math. 

DELAWARE: On the state’s new teacher rating system, only 1 percent of teachers were rated ineffective

RTT: Three states that won federal grants will take longer to fulfill their promises made to get the grants. 

WISCONSIN: A bipartisan bill would require childcare providers to check on parents

COLORADO: Could a court overturn the voters’ decision to reject a massive education tax hike?

EDTECH: Why Common Core pilot tests are not innovative

NEW MEXICO: The governor and state superintendent face criticism for suggesting tying teacher evaluations to student test scores

LOUISIANA: Despite a federal agreement otherwise, officials will not create a state Common Core curriculum

OHIO: Voters approve 61 percent of school tax hikes on this year’s ballot. 

 

Thursday’s ed news

SOUTH CAROLINA: A tiny special-needs private school would benefit from a temporary school choice program

MICHIGAN: How a charter school could have kept kids tossed out of their debt-ridden public schools in neighborhood schools while saving money. 

MONTANA: Schools will skip state tests next year in favor of experimental Common Core tests that won’t produce accountability data. 

ARKANSAS: Only 12 percent of the state’s schools made performance targets this year. 

IDAHO: A new, $21 million student data system frustrates teachers and school districts. 

CALIFORNIA: A $1 billion education tax hike is on its way to becoming a ‘boondoggle.’

FLORIDA: A lawmaker proposes banning charter schools from expelling students for failing state tests. 

ARKANSAS: A state education official who cost the state $166,000 by hiring an employee based on race is still employed at taxpayer expense. 

 

Wednesday’s ed news

COLORADO: With high turnout, Douglas County voters re-elect a market-oriented school board pinpointed as one of the nation’s leaders. State voters also turn down a huge education tax hike, by 66 to 34 percent.

TEXAS: What the state gave the feds to get a No Child Left Behind waiver.

PARENT TRIGGER: What motivated the empowerment law’s creator.

LOUISIANA: A legislative Common Core hearing will exclude public comment.

FREE FOOD: The Obama administration is seeking to give free school lunch and breakfast to thousands of families who can afford to pay. 

HIGHER ED: The worst 25 percent of colleges and universities will disappear over the next 10 to 15 years, predict Clayton Christiansen and Michael Horn.

TEXTBOOKS: Houghton Mifflin, struggling under debt and education spending cutbacks, files for an IPO.

 

Tuesday’s ed news

COLORADO: Why voters shouldn’t approve the education tax hike.

OKLAHOMA: Opponents sue to stop tax-credit scholarships, alleging these violate separation of church and state, while themselves receiving public funds through religious organizations.

WISCONSIN: A child psychologist verbally lashes two Democrat lawmakers for focusing on who paid his expenses to testify on Common Core rather than the substance of his testimony.

NATION: A bill in Congress would require background checks on all school employees to reduce child abuse. Unions object.   

PENNSYLVANIA: Lawmakers are trying to rethink how taxpayers pay for charter schools

INDIANA: A court will decide if the state superintendent can sue her fellow board of education members, and whether both can be represented by the state attorney general.

CENTRAL PLANNING: Common Core’s rollout is worse than Obamacare’s, says union president Randi Weingarten.

MISSOURI: Local superintendents propose letting high-performing districts run low-performing districts rather than letting kids transfer out. 

MICHIGAN: State university trustees spend hundreds of thousands living it up on the taxpayer’s dime.

OKLAHOMA: What teachers will say about Common Core on an anonymous survey. 

 

Monday’s ed news

NEW YORK: The likely next mayor of New York City spells trouble for charter schools and small high schools. 

COLORADO: Voters are uncertain about tomorrow’s vote to raise taxes and restructure education spending

FLORIDA: Funding changes to the state online school are also hitting private schools. 

COLORADO: School choice supporters fan out across Colorado with targeted grants and politicking. Here’s a look at bellwether district Douglas County, which started the first district vouchers program in the nation and faces a school board upheaval tomorrow. 

WISCONSIN: Why were so many new voucher students already enrolled in private schools? Partly because the state gave a very narrow window for signing up. 

COMMON CORE: One hundred and twenty-three Catholic scholars write to the U.S.’s Catholic bishops, asking them to stop Common Core. 

BULLYING: Rates haven’t changed, but state laws have gotten much more harsh and numerous. 

UTAH: This week, a panel of parents will scrutinize Common Core test questions

WISCONSIN: Many taxpayers will see none of a vaunted statewide school tax cut

 

For last week’s School Reform News roundup, click here.
For other top-notch school reform news selections, visit: 

Image by Mo Riza.