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SchoolReformers.com insiderUpdate
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Items in this update:
o FROM THE EDITOR: Last gasp of federal vouchers
o Parents rebel against standardized testing
o School voucher backers take fight to House floor
o The final, final nail in federal voucher coffin?
o Education plan continues federal control
o Fight erupts over how Milwaukee pays for vouchers
o Public is warming to vouchers, book argues
o Parents browse so they can teach 3 Rs at home
o Advantage charter schools narrow learning gap
o Limited school choice in Seattle means more parental control
o Texas legislature divided over charter schools
o For-profit schools bring hope to the desperate
o Black alliance girds for school choice battle
o For-profit school plan suffers setback
o Accountability in education
o Logic, facts, and educational controversy
o Teachers deserve merit pay, not special interest pay
o Without parental choice, accountability is sham
o Homeschooling under siege
o Congress's virtual school reform
o Government targets homeschoolers
o Educational choice: the continuing struggle
o Homeschooled and free
o Does Tennessee need national teacher certification?
o Voucher pioneers: an interview with Peter Flanigan
o Not the usual suspects
o Benefits of charter school districts
o Fiscal impact of tuition tax credits for New Jersey
o Education tax credit to help millions, save billions
o PBS video: 'Charter Schools That Work'
o Like a free private academy
Dear Fellow School Reformer:
We keep reporting the demise of the federal voucher effort ... but this is
the last time we are going to mention it because it is really, really
dead now ...
There was a last-ditch effort to push the matter on the floor of the House
by members angry at the short shrift the proposal had been given. But it
was no good. Only if Bush were now to decline to sign an education bill
because of the absence of federal vouchers would there be any further
chance for them. But Bush's team signaled early on that there
would be no digging in of heels over this issue. What's left of the
education bill is only a general ratcheting up of federal control of
education.
The debate over federal vouchers may not have been at the level of
Douglas-Lincoln, but is that true of the debate over school choice
generally? In his latest weekly column, Myron Lieberman seems to think so
-- calling the general level of discussion about school choice
"abysmal." And he indicts both pro-school-choice and
anti-school-choice partisans.
Our own view is that the educratic champions of the status quo are much
more prone to distort the facts and argue badly, simply because the truth
is, after all, not on their side. But it is true that advocates of
educational freedom are not utterly immune to fallacy. Check out his
column and let us know what you think.
Yours for school choice,
David M. Brown
Editor
SchoolReformers.com
http://www.schoolreformers.com
==> NEWS REPORTS <==
Parents rebel against standardized testing
----------
Across the country, parents are refusing to make their
children take a new generation of standardized tests and
protesting curricula geared to those tests, striking a
blow at Bush administration plans to centralize control over
education at the federal level. (05/18/01)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar
ticles/A42373-2001May17.html
School voucher backers take fight to House floor
----------
Congressional supporters of vouchers as an important
component of school choice returned to the House floor to promote their
proposals, forcing leaders to schedule a series of votes for next week.
(05/18/01)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics
/A42074-2001May17.html
The final, final nail in federal voucher coffin?
----------
The House dealt a final blow to President Bush's vouchers plan today,
voting to prohibit poor students in failing schools from using public
funds to pay for private-school tuition. The 273 to 155 vote came as
lawmakers neared completion on the president's education
bill. (05/23/01)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles
/A66879-2001May23.html
Education plan continues federal control
----------
As the Congress continues its deliberations of President Bush's education
proposal this week, at least one
activist group decries the measure as the continuation of a controversial
Clinton era maneuver to federalize public school curricula. (05/22/01)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.
asp?ARTICLE_ID=22918
Fight erupts over how Milwaukee pays for vouchers
----------
The Milwaukee voucher program has drawn fire for many reasons
since its inception, and now debate has erupted over charges that the
system used to pay for it is unfair. (05/23/01)
http://edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=3
7wisconsin.h20
Public is warming to vouchers, book argues
----------
The last book Terry M. Moe wrote about school choice almost
single-handedly propelled vouchers from a dusty policy idea to a sustained
movement. Now Moe is back with a book arguing that despite recent defeats
at the polls, Americans, when surveyed in a sophisticated way, strongly
favor the concept. (05/23/01)
http://edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=3
7recol.h20
Parents browse so they can teach 3 Rs at home
----------
Marketers have begun to pay attention, now that a movement
once limited mostly to fundamentalist Christians has expanded to include
people of all faiths, secular home schoolers and "unschoolers,"
those philosophically opposed to institutionalized education.
(05/19/01)
http://www.latimes.com/news/state/2001
0519/t000041965.html
Advantage charter schools narrow learning gap
----------
In a demonstration of how choice based school reform can
result in the creation of an effective, replicable learning environment,
Advantage Schools on March 28 reported that students in its 14 charter
schools across the country had achieved a striking 9.1 percentile point
gain in National Percentile Rank (NPR) during the 1999-2000 school year.
(05/01/01)
http://www.heartland.org/education/may0
1/advantage.htm
Limited school choice in Seattle means more parental control
----------
In Seattle, parents call the shots on where their children
will go to school. All the city's schools, including 15 magnet
programs, are open to the 46,900 students across the system. Almost all
students get transportation to their schools of choice. And it's obvious
which schools are popular by the size of their waiting lists.
(05/16/01)
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archiv
es/01/04/04999015.shtml
Texas legislature divided over charter schools
----------
The state Senate gave final approval to a bill that would
allow universities to start charter schools. The House version of the
bill, written by state Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, calls for a two year
moratorium on new charter schools. (05/18/01)
http://web.star-telegram.com/content/fort
worth/2001/05/18/fwnews/fw010408-05
18-XB001-schools.htm
For-profit schools bring hope to the desperate
----------
In the past few years, more than a dozen new school
management companies have sprung up from nowhere. They offer widely
differing approaches, but all promise to make a buck while doing something
that 15 years of school reform has largely failed to achieve -- namely,
better educate America's children. (02/07/01)
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_
06/b3667001.htm
Black alliance girds for school choice battle
----------
Marie Gladney and over 600 other enthusiastic parents,
advocates, and educators from 35 states converged on Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
in early March for the first annual meeting of the Black Alliance for
Educational Options (BAEO). (05/01/01)
http://www.heartland.org/education/may0
1/baeo.htm
For-profit school plan suffers setback
----------
Edison Schools has suffered a setback in its planned opening
of several schools in Miami, which were to be created in an unusual
arrangement with a local teachers' union. Some of the schools had been
expected to open in fall 2001, but the opening has been delayed until at
least fall 2002. (05/15/01)
http://www.educationnews.org/parents_a
dvocating_school_accoun1.htm
For more News Reports see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resou
rces/bycategory/news/
==> COMMENTARY, OPINION, AND BOOK REVIEWS <==
Logic, facts, and educational controversy
----------
by Myron Lieberman
One of the most depressing aspects of educational controversy
in the United States is the abysmal intellectual level of the arguments
for and against school choice. (05/21/01)
http://www.educationpolicy.org/MLcolum
n/MLcolumn-052101.htm
Accountability in education
----------
Congress resumes deliberations this week on President Bush´s
education initiative, and it seems lawmakers again must be reminded why
parents are insisting on vouchers. (05/22/01)
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010
522-71393428.htm
Teachers deserve merit pay, not special interest pay
----------
by Darcy Olsen
"[S]imply raising teacher pay without fundamental reform
won't give us better teachers -- it'll just give us higher pay for good
and bad teachers alike." (05/22/01)
http://www.cato.org/dailys/05-22-01.html
Without parental choice, accountability is sham
----------
by Michael S. Greve
Unfortunately, before Congress had even begun to debate
education reform, the White House surrendered the choice provisions
-- as if they were just some bauble to curry favor with the religious
right and a handful of libertarians, rather than the only means of
introducing a measure of accountability to public education.
(05/21/01)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/magazin
e/mag_6_34_01/greve_art_6_34_01.asp
Homeschooling under siege
----------
by Michelle Malkin
Homeschoolers' defiant success -- in academic competition,
on national tests and in college -- poses a mounting
threat to the public education monopoly. So what do the fad-prone,
money-hungry, social engineering "experts" in the public schools
do to compete? ... threaten to put dissenting parents behind bars to mask
the government's massive failure. Some lesson.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/mic
hellemalkin/mm20010518.shtml
Congress's virtual school reform
----------
by William J. Bennett and Chester E. Finn Jr.
"Let would-be realists note how the president and his
allies fought attempts to weaken his tax proposals. The administration
should show similar resolve on education. Making common cause with the
truly educationally disenfranchised -- the more than 60 percent of
minority parents who support school choice -- is good policy and good
politics." (Site requires registration.) (05/18/01)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/18/opin
ion/18BENN.html
Government targets homeschoolers
----------
by Brad Edmonds
"[W]hile we have state legislators making it
increasingly difficult to home school your children without being
prosecuted, we have school districts knocking on doors and lying to
parents about the law to intimidate them into giving up the whole
idea." (05/21/01)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/edmonds/e
dmonds37.html
Educational choice: the continuing struggle
----------
by Howard L. Fuller
Text of Fuller's speech to a Black Alliance for Educational
Options symposium. "When they say, 'School choice is opposed by many
black church leaders,' I say: Our enemy is not the church. Our enemies are
the people who would maintain control of our kids and not educate
them."
http://www.heartland.org/education/ma
y01/fuller.htm
Homeschooled and free
----------
by Michael Gilson De Lemos
"Schools are an antique and obsolescent institution and
should go. They are based on the mind-deadening presumption of the
authoritarian mindset that people benefit only by what they are taught --
and not by their ability to teach themselves. But self-learning is the
real goal of education. " (05/16/01)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/delemos/d
elemos16.html
Does Tennessee need national teacher certification?
----------
by J. C. Bowman
Tennessee Institute for Public Policy's Director of Education
analyzes the proposed expenditure of $32,000 per teacher to secure
national certification for each one, and concludes that "we are again
being urged to follow the policy recommendations of the very parties whose
bad advice cost us billions over the last 15 or so years...."
(05/16/01)
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/a
rticle_9295.asp
For more Commentary, Opinion, and Book Reviews see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/reso
urces/bycategory/commentary/
==> INTRODUCTIONS AND FAQS <==
Voucher pioneers: an interview with Peter Flanigan
----------
An interview with the chairman of Children First America
discusses a new movement in philanthropy that is making waves in the
world of education. Individuals, foundations and corporations are pooling
their resources to help underprivileged children escape failing schools
and attend private and parochial schools. (05/01)
http://www.capitalresearch.org/fw/fw-05
01.htm
Not the usual suspects
----------
An assortment of "the most wanted quotes on vouchers and
school choice." Among the those quoted are Arthur Levine, Steve Jobs,
Laurence Tribe, David Selden (former president of American Federation of
Teachers), Albert Shanker (another former president of American
Federation of Teachers), John Kerry and Michael Ovitz.
http://www.heritage.org/policyreview/jan
99/quotes.html
Benefits of charter school districts
----------
by Paul T. Hill
For families, an all-charter district provides many options,
so that every parent can choose the school whose climate and method of
instruction works best for her child. (05/16/01)
http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=
110&subid=134&contentid=3365
For more Introductions and FAQs see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/res
ources/bycategory/brief/
==> SCHOLARLY AND IN-DEPTH STUDIES <==
Fiscal impact of tuition tax credits for New Jersey
----------
by Joseph L. Bast
The plans would reduce the after-tax price of tuition by
between 32 percent and 95 percent, depending on family income, grade
level, and choice of school, argues the author. (Study is available in
both HTML and PDF formats.) (04/19/01)
http://www.heartland.org/studies/NJtaxc
redit-sum.htm
Education tax credit to help millions, save billions
----------
by Darcy Ann Olsen, Carrie Lips, and Dan Lips
By reducing the cost of private schooling, a federal education tax credit
would encourage some parents to transfer their children from public to
private schools. As students transfer, state governments have fewer pupils
to educate and can reduce expenditures accordingly. (05/01/01)
http://cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-398es.html
For more Scholarly and In-Depth Studies see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/reso
urces/bycategory/in-depth/
==> AUDIO AND VIDEO <==
PBS video: 'Charter Schools That Work'
----------
Hosted by Clarence Page, this program examines six charter
schools through the eyes of parents, teachers, students, and activists.
(05/01)
http://www.heartland.org/education/may0
1/work.htm
For more Audio and Video see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/reso
urces/bycategory/multi/
==> INSTITUTES, ORGANIZATIONS, AND CLUBS <==
Like a free private academy
----------
You don't find many inner-city schools with the academic
results produced at Accelerated, which serves Grades K through 8 --
and, as a charter school, is free of much of the red tape that often
chokes other institutions. Featured in Time's "Schools of the
Year." (05/21/01)
http://www.time.com/time/covers/11010
10521/elem_accelerated.html
For more Institutes, Organizations, and Clubs see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resou
rces/bycategory/organizations/
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