Reddit Co-Founder Encourages Donations to Help Brooklyn STEM Teachers
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is asking fellow Internet users to help support Brooklyn educators who teach science, technology, engineering and math.
Ohanian’s goal is to raise $50,000 by the end of the month. As he told the New York Daily News:
“The work teachers do can span generations and changes lives,” [Ohanian] said. “The least I can do is hold a fundraiser so they can buy supplies and not have to pay for it out of their own pocket.
New York State Schools Chancellor Opposes Charging Rent for Charters
State Board of Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch is speaking up about the importance of charter schools in New York. Tisch is clearly concerned about NYC democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio’s call to charge charter schools rent. As reported by the New York Daily News, Tisch believes the unique approach of charter schools is helping New York students:
“The city’s best charter schools have been an important source of innovation and creativity,” Tisch said. “They’ve provided a quality education to thousands of students, many who were otherwise suffering in troubled schools.”
Study Finds Charter Schools Are Cheaper than Public Schools
A new study has found that charter schools in public school buildings cost $3,000 less per student than public schools.
As reported by the New York Post:
Pensions and health costs for teachers and other staff are substantially higher for the traditional, unionized public schools compared to charters, which offer their employees 401ks rather than more generous defined benefit plans.
The findings comes as Democrat Bill de Blasio vows to charge some charter schools housed in Department of Education buildings rent if he becomes mayor. Republican candidate Joe Lhota says he would continue to provide charters — publicly-funded, but privately managed schools — free space.
StudentsFirstNY Weekly Education News Roundup: September 30 to October 4, 2013.
In this week's education news: charter schools warn against Bill de Blasio, NYC schools begin to focus on science and math classes, and AP classes come to high-needs schools.
New York State Board of Regents President Critiques Bill de Blasio on Charter School Plan
New York Post // October 2, 2013
New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch is concerned about Bill de Blasio’s stance on charter schools. De Blasio has stated that he wants to charge rent for charter schools in public school buildings.
As reported by the New York Post, Tisch is a supporter of charter schools that expand choices for NYC families:
"Anything that you do that makes it prohibitive for charter schools to grow and thrive in New York City is not a great way to proceed," Tisch said. "I'm sure charter school operators are paying attention to campaign rhetoric."
She added: "I want New York to be a place where charter schools grow and thrive. Charter schools are public schools. Charter schools have been a valuable alternative to failing schools. They've been a valuable part of rebuilding public schools."
Mayor Bloomberg has provided free space to most of the 183 charters serving 70,000 students, allowing the schools to operate in city buildings alongside traditional public schools.
de Blasio's Charter School Rent Plan Would Likely Cause School Closures
WNYC // October 1, 2013
Bill de Blasio, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, wants to charge rent on charter schools who use space in public school buildings. With de Blasio leading in the polls, charter school operators are beginning to plan for life under a mayor that is hostile to their profession.
According to WNYC, many charter schools are worried about being able to stay open if de Blasio were to charge rent on their schools:
But charter operators, from the smallest to the largest, said paying rent would be devastating. The privately managed schools get state funds, per-pupil, for operations, not for facilities. And those that operate in New York City are required to be non-profit organizations.
Study Debunks Theory that Charter Schools Are Against Special Needs Students
SchoolBook // October 1, 2013
A new report found that NYC charter schools are less likely to have special needs students because these students are less likely to apply.
The report, prepared by the Manhattan Institute and the Center on Reinventing Public Education, found that 13.1 percent of charter school students receive special education services, compared with 16.5 percent of NYC public school students. According to SchoolBook, critics claim that charter schools are actively discouraging special needs students from applying to charter schools. The study found these claims to be inaccurate.
Marcus Winter, the author of the report, wrote the following about charter schools and special needs students:
"It may be, for example, that the students were enrolled in specialized pre-school programs that feed into district elementary schools," he wrote. "It is also possible that the parents didn't see the charter schools as an appropriate fit for their child, either because of their own assumptions or because they were discouraged from applying by counselors or by charter school staff."
Diane Ravitch's Dramatic U-Turn on Education Policy
City Journal // October 3, 2013
Diane Ravitch's new book blasts the school choice and charter school movement that is taking hold in various school districts across the country. For the majority of her career in education, Ravitch, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Education and a fellow at the Brookings Institute, primarily was an education scholar who published material that was fairly complementary to education reform.
According to a long article in City Journal, Ravitch's turn to embrace anti-reform advocates began in 2007, culminating in her book "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools." Explaining her complete reversal in viewing America's education system, City Journal writes:
A few years ago, Ravitch grew so troubled about the purported threat to the public schools that she went through an amazing life change for a 73-year-old historian, whose previous career had been spent writing scholarly books. She reinvented herself as a vehement political activist. Once one of the conservative school-reform movement's most visible faces, Ravitch became the inspirational leader of a radical countermovement that is rising from the grass roots to oppose the corporate villains. Evoking the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Ravitch proclaims that the only answer to the corporate school-reform agenda is to "build a political movement so united and clear in its purpose that it would be heard in every state Capitol and even in Washington, D.C." The problem is that Ravitch's civil rights analogy is misplaced; her new ideological allies have proved themselves utterly incapable of raising the educational achievement of poor minority kids.
NYC Schools Are Beginning to Emphasize STEM Classes
NY Daily News // September 30, 2013
While New York State high school students struggle to pass the Regents physics exams - or don't take it at all - a group of middle school students from two NYC public middle schools are taking the test. And an astonishing 90 percent of the students are passing.
STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering and math, are becoming increasingly important in schools since these fields are full of jobs. According to the New York Daily News, some schools in NYC are working to prepare students for careers in science and math fields:
Each summer for up to six weeks - depending on the budget available - the students report to school for academics in the morning and sports and other fun in the afternoon.
While it's not uncommon as a way to offer catch-up to kids who've fallen behind, a daily double period of tough academic subjects - including trigonometry and physics - helps these students accelerate.
NYC Brings AP Classes to High-Needs Schools
GothamSchools // September 30, 2013
New York City's Department of Education will be bringing Advanced Placement (AP) classes to 55 high-needs schools across NYC. According to GothamSchools, NYC will spend $7 million to bring 120 AP classes to these 55 schools, broadly focused on science, technology, engineering and math. The College Board, which administers AP tests across the country, is working with the City to help the iniatitive succeed:
But the exams are optional, and nationally, fewer black and Hispanic who take AP classes sit for the exams at the end, according to Trevor Packer, a vice president at College Board. Locally, while students of all races have taken and passed more AP exams in recent years, black and Hispanic students have continued to pass far less often than white and Asian students.
Teachers Union Super PAC May Have Violated Campaign Finance Rules
Is the United Federation of Teachers ignoring campaign finance laws to push candidates the organization supports?
GothamSchools reports that a union super PAC did not disclose spending on a robocall for one of its candidates to NYC’s Campaign Finance Board:
A Sept. 8 phone message touting Robert Jackson’s education credentials was paid for by the union’s independent expenditure group, called United for the Future, according to a recording of the call obtained by GothamSchools from a Manhattan voter who received the message. Jackson, who at the time was enmeshed in a tight primary for Manhattan Borough President, had received the United Federation of Teachers’ endorsement.
GothamSchools also notes that this is not the only UFT spending in question this week:
The UFT’s spending landed under scrutiny this week when Crain’s New York Business reported about the union’s relationship with an embattled political consulting firm. The firm, the Advance Group, kept both the UFT and candidates who were endorsed by the union on its client list at the same time.
The union paid the Advance Group at least $370,000 for work on the 2013 elections, but reported that spending under the guise of a fake firm called “Strategic Consultants, Inc.,” Crain’s revealed. The firm was listed for the Sept. 6 mailer for Jackson, as well as other candidates who received the union’s endorsement.
Diane Ravitch's Dramatic U-Turn on Education Policy
Diane Ravitch's new book blasts the school choice and charter school movement that is taking hold in various school districts across the country. For the majority of her career in education, Ravitch, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Education and a fellow at the Brookings Institute, primarily was an education scholar who published material that was fairly complementary to education reform.
According to a long article in City Journal, Ravitch's turn to embrace anti-reform advocates began in 2007, culminating in her book "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools." Explaining her complete reversal in viewing America's education system, City Journal writes:
A few years ago, Ravitch grew so troubled about the purported threat to the public schools that she went through an amazing life change for a 73-year-old historian, whose previous career had been spent writing scholarly books. She reinvented herself as a vehement political activist. Once one of the conservative school-reform movement's most visible faces, Ravitch became the inspirational leader of a radical countermovement that is rising from the grass roots to oppose the corporate villains. Evoking the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Ravitch proclaims that the only answer to the corporate school-reform agenda is to "build a political movement so united and clear in its purpose that it would be heard in every state Capitol and even in Washington, D.C." The problem is that Ravitch's civil rights analogy is misplaced; her new ideological allies have proved themselves utterly incapable of raising the educational achievement of poor minority kids.
New York State Board of Regents President Critiques Bill de Blasio on Charter School Plan
New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch is concerned about Bill de Blasio’s stance on charter schools.
De Blasio has stated that he wants to charge rent for charter schools in public school buildings.
As reported by the New York Post, Tisch is a supporter of charter schools that expand choices for NYC families:
“Anything that you do that makes it prohibitive for charter schools to grow and thrive in New York City is not a great way to proceed,” Tisch said. “I’m sure charter school operators are paying attention to campaign rhetoric.”
She added: “I want New York to be a place where charter schools grow and thrive. Charter schools are public schools. Charter schools have been a valuable alternative to failing schools. They’ve been a valuable part of rebuilding public schools.”
Mayor Bloomberg has provided free space to most of the 183 charters serving 70,000 students, allowing the schools to operate in city buildings alongside traditional public schools.
Study Debunks Theory that Charter Schools Are Against Special Needs Students
A new report found that NYC charter schools are less likely to have special needs students because these students are less likely to apply.
The report, prepared by the Manhattan Institute and the Center on Reinventing Public Education, found that 13.1 percent of charter school students receive special education services, compared with 16.5 percent of NYC public school students. According to SchoolBook, critics claim that charter schools are actively discouraging special needs students from applying to charter schools. The study found these claims to be inaccurate.
Marcus Winter, the author of the report, wrote the following about charter schools and special needs students:
"It may be, for example, that the students were enrolled in specialized pre-school programs that feed into district elementary schools," he wrote. "It is also possible that the parents didn't see the charter schools as an appropriate fit for their child, either because of their own assumptions or because they were discouraged from applying by counselors or by charter school staff."
de Blasio's Charter School Rent Plan Would Likely Cause School Closures
Bill de Blasio, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, wants to charge rent on charter schools who use space in public school buildings. With de Blasio leading in the polls, charter school operators are beginning to plan for life under a mayor that is hostile to their profession.
According to WNYC, many charter schools are worried about being able to stay open if de Blasio were to charge rent on their schools:
But charter operators, from the smallest to the largest, said paying rent would be devastating. The privately managed schools get state funds, per-pupil, for operations, not for facilities. And those that operate in New York City are required to be non-profit organizations.
NYC Launches Positive Body Image Campaign for Girls
New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg today launched a campaign aimed at young girls to promote positive self-esteem over their bodies. The campaign will tell young girls that all women are beautiful just the way they are. According to The New York Times, city officials said that this ad campaign was the first of its kind ever promoted by a major U.S. city:
Mainly through bus and subway ads, the campaign aims to reach girls from about 7 to 12 years old, who are at risk of negative body images that can lead to eating disorders, drinking, acting out sexually, suicide and bullying. But unlike Mr. Bloomberg's ads to combat teenage pregnancy, smoking and soda-drinking, which are often ugly, revolting or sad, these ads are uniformly upbeat and positive.
