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Proceed with caution when closing schools

Submitted by thenotebook on Thu, 04/18/2013 - 13:56 Posted in Commentary | Permalink

This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared at Education Week.

by Kate Shaw and Adam Schott

Philadelphia's state-appointed School Reform Commission last month approved the closure of 23 schools -- an unprecedented action for our region that is expected to affect roughly 14,000 students and hundreds of staff members. In New York City, which has already closed nearly 140 schools over the past decade, 22 more closures are on the horizon. The District of Columbia is bracing for as many as 15 closures after shuttering two dozen sites in 2008. The Chicago public school system -- the nation's third-largest district -- recently announced plans to close 54 schools and consolidate 11 more before the 2013-14 school year begins.

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Philadelphia district to launch online school

Submitted by thenotebook on Wed, 04/17/2013 - 18:32 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner

The Philadelphia School District plans to launch its own online school this summer, part of an effort to reclaim thousands of students and millions of dollars now going to independently operated cyber charters.

The proposed Philadelphia Virtual Academy would offer students a combination of "anytime learning" in their homes and in-person support from teachers and other staff at "learning centers" around the city. District officials hope to immediately enroll as many as 1,000 students in grades 6 through 12.

Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite described the plan, a first for the District, as both a financial necessity and an educational opportunity.

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Academic gains in NYC, D.C., and Chicago overstated, report contends

Submitted by thenotebook on Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:56 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared at Education Week.

by Lesli A. Maxwell

The school improvement strategies highly touted by leaders such as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee have produced overwhelmingly disappointing results for the poor and minority children in Chicago, New York, and the District of Columbia, contends a forthcoming report written by a national group that favors a more holistic approach to improving public schooling.

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Schoolhouse Watch: New forum to discuss old, vacant school buildings

Submitted by Paul Socolar on Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:16 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

As Germantown High School and 21 other schools across the city face closure this summer, the central Germantown business district is one of many facing a major new threat of neighborhood blight. Philadelphia has had more than a dozen school buildings sitting vacant, and the health and safety issues and economic impact from closed schools are topics of growing concern.

A new website launched this week, Schoolhouse Watch, promises to help generate neighborhood-friendly solutions for reusing these vacated properties. The site is designed to include a page with resources and discussion for each of the closing buildings.

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Nutter, coalition plead with Harrisburg for $120 million for city schools

Submitted by thenotebook on Wed, 04/17/2013 - 08:50 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner

Saying it’s time for Gov. Corbett to relieve the pain caused by massive cuts in state aid to public education over the last two years, Mayor Nutter and a coalition of District, charter and Catholic schools are making a push in support of the School Reform Commission’s request for $120 million in additional state aid for city schools.

“What’s happening at the school level doesn’t lie,” said Lori Shorr, the mayor’s chief education officer. “Talk to parents in a charter school or a District-managed school. They understand what the cuts have meant.”

Nutter, along with the Great Schools Compact, is calling on Corbett and the state legislature to increase the state’s basic education subsidy, restore state reimbursements to districts for money they spend on charter schools and adopt a “student-based funding formula” as a long-term solution to the District’s chronic budget woes.  

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Beeber taken off closing list; District to study alternative proposal

Submitted by thenotebook on Tue, 04/16/2013 - 14:57 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

by Bill Hangley Jr.

[Updated 7:25 p.m.] District officials have confirmed that Dimner Beeber Middle School is no longer a candidate for closure, citing community concerns and the presence of a potentially viable alternative plan for expanding the school.

That leaves M.H. Stanton Elementary in North Philadelphia as the only remaining candidate for closure. Officials said that recommendation would move forward. The School Reform Commission plans to vote on Stanton’s fate on Thursday.

A District statement says that rather than close Beeber, the District will instead propose reconfiguring the school for 7th and 8th grades only (eliminating the current 6th grade) and will explore the possibility of “co-locating” other school programs in the Beeber building.

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PCAPS plans its next steps

Submitted by Ron Whitehorne on Tue, 04/16/2013 - 14:00 Posted in Commentary | Permalink

The Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools will hold a general assembly on Wednesday, April 17, to launch new campaigns around school funding, charter school accountability, and community schools. 

The coalition, formed a year ago, has grown to include 15 labor and community-based organizations, embracing school staff, parents, students, and neighborhood activists.  

Over the last year, PCAPS developed an alternative to the School Reform Commission's blueprint inspired by the Boston Consulting Group. Called “Excellent Schools for All Children,” the 40-page document drew on surveys of community stakeholders as well as research-based best practices. The plan rejected the SRC’s austerity-focused argument and called for a fight to base funding on a reordering of priorities, closing tax loopholes for corporations and using an equitable formula for allocating state revenue.

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Rally urges expansion of Philadelphia charter schools

Submitted by thenotebook on Tue, 04/16/2013 - 09:14 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner

Saying that thousands of children are being denied quality educational opportunities, about 200 students, parents, and charter proponents rallied outside School District headquarters Monday demanding that the School Reform Commission grant the expansion requests of at least 20 charter schools.

"Our children are begging for opportunities. Let them get in!" said Naomi Booker, the CEO of Global Leadership Academy Charter in West Philadelphia and the president of Philadelphia Charters for Excellence.

But District officials said a vote on the charters’ requests, which had been tentatively scheduled for this Thursday, has been postponed indefinitely.

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SRC to vote this week on $15 million for new cyber school

Submitted by Dale Mezzacappa on Mon, 04/15/2013 - 18:20 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

On the agenda for Thursday's School Reform Commission meeting is a resolution to approve $15 million to establish a District-run virtual school.

The District plans to release more details later this week, but Superintendent William Hite has spoken in the past of starting a cyber school in an effort to retain some of the nearly $50 million that the District now pays for more than 6,000 city students who have headed to cybers. Some of that growth has happened among students who struggled in traditional high schools.

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Watch: SRC meeting on vo-tech

Submitted by thenotebook on Mon, 04/15/2013 - 17:07 Posted in Latest news | Permalink


 

Career and technical education is the topic of tonight's School Reform Commission meeting.  

Earlier this year, the SRC approved the District's plan to revamp and scale up its vocational and technical programs. The plan calls for adding 30 new programs and doubling the current number of CTE students to 12,000 by 2017.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m.

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Memo suggests Rhee knew of widespread cheating in D.C.

Submitted by David Limm on Fri, 04/12/2013 - 14:50 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

A confidential memo suggests that high-profile education reformer Michelle Rhee knew of, and then ignored, evidence of widespread cheating as early as her first year as chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools.

The secret memo, written in January 2009 and obtained by PBS education reporter John Merrow, could refute Rhee's longstanding claims that she was unaware that rampant adult cheating on standardized tests was likely, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. That is, if she in fact saw the memo.

Two earlier probes into a possible cheating scandal, prompted by investigations by USA Today, found no evidence of wrongdoing, though those investigations were limited in scope.

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