Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Elsewhere in the education world …
While I’ve been busy here with Ohio’s report card release and now a possible teacher strike in Huber Heights just as school begins, a lot has been happening elsewhere in the world of education.
Here’s some of what else is going on out there:
A big survey
An annual poll by Phi Delta Kappa, an education professional group, had interesting results that sent the edusphere buzzing. Keep in mind that PDK is an organization of educators, so they come from a particular point of view, but among their survey’s conclusions were:
—Those surveyed preferred to fix public schools rather than create alternatives, with voucher support dropping.
—Respondents’ ratings of their own public schools are near an all-time high and support public education strongly
—The respondents largely believe school problems are caused by societial problems
Over at Edspresso, they present an opposing view.
Discussing the PDK results on charter schools are Joe Williams from the New York Charter School Association and John at the American Federation of Teachers. They talk the somewhat amusing fact that a majority of the survey respondents say they favor charter schools while also making it clear by their responses that they have no idea what charter schools are.
The long awaited federal charter school study
This study is similar to the recent report that found no advantage for private schools on tests when other factors are controlled. This one found public schools outscoring charters nationally. Both studies were done by the National Center for Education Statistics and both are controversial.
The charter results have supporters of traditional public education feeling good about how they compare. You can read the executive summary here to see why. And charter critics were quick to say the study supports their view.
On the other side, Nelson Smith, who heads a national charter school group, makes the primary counter argument, that the study is limited by its data and methodology. Joanne Jacobs summarizes some other criticism from the pro-charter crowd.
A couple of carnivals
At this week’s Carnival of Education, you can read my post about the university president who might get prison for life. Also highlighted by the carnival is my mini-debate with Thespis Journal about whether my reporting about Ohio report cards is sane or insane.
Finally, I also was included in this week’s Carnival of Ohio Politics, which just keeps getting more interesting as the election season heats up. They picked up my my post about charter school as hot potatoes.
(Image credit: www.solarviews.com)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice, The Carnival of Education
Comments
By Ed Meier
September 1, 2006 11:08 AM | Link to this
Charter schools need to be performance tested. I personally think this charter school program is just a state run union-busting program. When the big idea a few years ago was for the “master teacher” program, the government realized that the teacher’s union was a monopoly. It had to go. For example, I have always wondered why public schools don’t prepare students for the realities of being an American citizen. What are the things every American has to deal with? Cars, home repair, feeding ourselves and the temptation of fast food restaurants, home finances, taxes, getting loans, credit cards, etc. Every high school graduate, or ideally every 8th grade graduate, should be able to be a competent citizen. Here’s my list of courses that should be offered: Basic nutrition Basic car care How to complete the individual and family tax forms Basic home repair and maintenance How to start a business (elective) All the federal services that are available and how to reach them (Small Business Administration, Legal Services, Food Stamps, Medicaire, Social Security, etc.) Which level of government is responsible for which service (street repair, dead animal on the road, reckless drivers, highway repair, easement clutter or digging, stray pets, noise pollution, street signs) and how to contact them Basic negotiating for a car (what is an MSRP, what is a trade-in, how to get the right value for a trade-in, how demand affects the deal you can get) The home buying process (what are points, what are the fees associated with home buying, what are the different types of loans and their pros and cons) How to track home finances (how credit cards work, how home loans work, saving monthly for annual fees, putting money aside for emergencies, where to get help if you can’t pay the bills, how to live within your means) How to save for retirement and basic investing (what is the stock market, what is a bond, what is a future, as in crop futures for example, what is an annuity, you don’t have to pay taxes on profits from selling your home). But if you tried to push this on the existing teacher union, you would not be able to make these changes. They are not trained to teach these subjects. They won’t allow the curricula to be changed to something which will cause them to be replaced.