Online Schools A Success!

More children are reaping the benefits from online schools. Online schools offer great alternatives for children looking for classes, needing to learn at their own pace, and open so many doors to the great world of education. When education reform is really needed, this is a step forward for the children!

In last week's St. Louis Post:
Online schools statewide and around the country are growing. One analysis suggests that by the year 2019, about 50 percent of all high school courses will be delivered online.

There are at least four other virtual schools in Missouri and at least five in Illinois. All but a handful of states have online programs, and more than half of public secondary schools offer online courses to students, according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning.

The schools attract a wide clientele, including students with social and learning disorders, home-school students, or those who simply want to take specialized or advanced classes not offered by their own schools.

Some cater to athletes needing the freedom to train and travel. One school in St. Louis even enrolls students busy with modeling careers.

The movement may be gaining momentum partly because initial skepticism has faded, particularly as online classes have become common at the college level.

Duncan to NEA: Reform Now

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, recently spoke to the National Education Association, NEA. Duncan expressed federal stimulus money will be handed out to states more open to reform; charter schools and merit pay are the main focuses. According to Education Week:

Speaking before 6,500 officials and local delegates of the NEA, who are meeting here for the union’s annual Representative Assembly, Mr. Duncan underscored compensation, evaluation, and tenure reform as crucial to improving the quality of the education workforce.

“I believe that teacher unions are at a crossroads. These policies were created over the past century to protect the rights of teachers, but they have produced an industrial, factory model of education that treats all teachers like interchangeable widgets,” Mr. Duncan said. “When inflexible seniority and rigid tenure rules that we designed put adults ahead of children, then we are not only putting kids at risk, we’re putting the entire education system at risk. We’re inviting the attack of parents and the public, and that is not good for any of us.”

Basically saying the status quo is only hurting our children and the entire education system. It is past time for change but it is never too late. Slowly but surely, states are open to reform. Lets get the ball rolling!

Indiana Passes Major School Choice Bill

Earlier this week, the state of Indiana passed a scholarship tax credit program that would grant children to use these funds to attend better suited schools, private or public. Individuals or corporations donate funds and then receive a tax credit on their donation.
Choice programs such as these allow thousands of children to gain access to better schools. Wealthy families can typically afford private schools, but lower income families cannot. Why should the children be forced to attend schools that are not providing them the education they deserve? If, as a society, we expect all children to be properly educated, why can't we give them all the same chance?
A good strong education is one of the most important tools for being successful later in life. Applauds to Indiana for passing this! Many states, including Missouri, have come close but the strong offensive groups have won. Slowly but surely, states are understanding that children and their families deserve this choice. Now...I wait until Missouri gets there.

MNEA to Meet with Charter Schools

According to the St. Louis Post, the Grade, one of the largest teachers union in Missouri is planning to meet with the Missouri Charter school leaders to see what they have to say.

The MNEA asked to meet with the state department’s director of charter schools, Jocelyn Strand, and with the director of the Missouri Charter Public School Association, Aaron North.

“We really felt it was important for us to hear what their beliefs are, and what exactly they’re advocating,” Guinther said.

Is this an extension of an olive branch? Guess we will wait and see. Charter schools offer parents with choices they may not otherwise have. With many failing schools and schools that are not the right fit, parents need choices within their means. Many families cannot afford the lavish private schools, but that should not mean their children will suffer through a sub par education.
I am interested to see how this story continues...

Missouri Has One Year to Get Act Together

Arne Duncan is a supporter of certain education reform ideas, such as charter schools and merit pay. The US Department of Education has now laid out very specific rules to get education stimulus dollars. There are two rounds in this process, trying to give states a second chance at applying for stimulus money if they didn't make the cut the first time. Missouri could have a chance if they would lighten up on some of the charter school laws!
According to Education Week:

Applications will be due in December and June. So states that have charter school caps, for instance, have a year (as Duncan might say) to get their act together and lift those caps!

It looks like these deadlines will apply only to the $4 billion in state grants, not to the $350 million that's been set aside for new assessments, nor for the $650 million in innovation grants available to school districts and nonprofit groups.

The deadlines are:

Late July: The Department will publish a notice of proposed rule making in the Federal Register, inviting public comment for 30 days on the proposed grant application and the criteria for evaluating the states' applications.

October: Notice inviting applications will be published in the Federal Register.

December: Phase 1 applications will be due.

March 2010: Phase 1 grants awarded, winners announced.

June 2010: Phase 2 applications will be due.

September 2010: Phase 2 grants awarded, winners announced.

Arne Duncan Shows Support for Good Education Reforms Ideas

Duncan comes out praising merit pay for teachers and the expansion of charter schools. Duncan believes teachers should embrace merit pay, and it "He says he wants it done with teachers, not to teachers."

Charter schools offer children options they may not have in their current public schools and Duncan is trying to promote charter schools: (From the Teacher Magazine)

Charter schools are publicly funded but operate independently of local school boards, often free from the constraints of union contracts in traditional public schools. As a result, they are hotly opposed by teachers and other critics who say they drain money and talent from other public schools.

Duncan has criticized states where lawmakers have resisted efforts to allow more charters to open, such as Illinois, or more children to enroll in them, such as Tennessee. He has said states will hurt their chance to compete for stimulus dollars if they fail to embrace innovations like charter schools.

Missouri Makes Some Steps Forward

Legislative session has ended...and with that comes reflection on the bills that passed and didn't pass. Unfortunately, this year, the special needs scholarship tax credit did not get as far as it did last year. However, I expect in the coming years for it to heat up again as it did last year.
They did, however, pass merit pay options for teachers and pass a bill that allowed the state to study open enrollment. Hopefully, the study they conduct will show how incredibly effective it would be for open enrollment to be allowed. Children in failing schools or even in schools that are not the right fit for them are suffering, and we need to help them.
These are big steps in the right direction for the children of Missouri!