SLS Project is an info space for courses taught in the Anthropology Dept. at Washington U. in St Louis (Prof. Bret Gustafson). Confronting St. Louis and MO politics has made me a bit outspoken. Opinions are my own, not the university, not the students, not the department. On St. Louis: @slsproject On energy politics: @energy_politics
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
DC CHARTERS: QUICK TO EXPEL
In other words, not public and not a solution, since not committed to the education of all students.
From the Washington Post.
From the Washington Post.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
ST LOUIS' DILEMMA: THE HIGH SCHOOL QUESTION
A review of a book on the "Where'd you go to high school question," in the Post-Dispatch, and a humorous, insightful response, by the Riverfront Times
DIANE RAVITCH: SCHOOLS WE CAN ENVY
A review of:
Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?
by Pasi Sahlberg, with a foreword by Andy Hargreaves
Teachers College Press, 167 pp., $34.95 (paper)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/mar/08/schools-we-can-envy/
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Missouri NEA on New Charter Legislation
Missouri NEA Legislative Update
Week 6, No. 3, February 8, 2012
By Otto Fajen
MNEA Legislative Director
CHARTER SCHOOLS
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee approved a House Committee Subsititute (HCS) version of HB 1228 (Tishaura Jones) on February 8. The bill expands the authority for charter schools to cover the entire state, expands the list of entities allowed to sponsor charter schools, creates a statewide chartering commission and makes several changes designed to improve the accountability and transparency of charter sponsors and charter schools. The HCS version makes several technical changes in the language, but is substantially the same as the originally filed version of the bill in terms of both expansion of charter schools and sponsorship and accountability provisions.
The Association believes that charter schools need to meet the same standards of accountability, transparency and respect for the rights of students, parents and staff as apply to district-operated public schools. Currently, serious remedial action is needed to improve that accountability for sponsors and charter schools, and the state should adopt and implement those reforms and verify that they are working to ensure charter schools meet those standards before considering expansion of charter school territory or sponsorship. Accordingly, the Association opposes the bill and will seek to limit charter school legislation to correcting those deficiencies without concurrent expansion of either charter school geography or sponsorship.
Week 6, No. 3, February 8, 2012
By Otto Fajen
MNEA Legislative Director
CHARTER SCHOOLS
The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee approved a House Committee Subsititute (HCS) version of HB 1228 (Tishaura Jones) on February 8. The bill expands the authority for charter schools to cover the entire state, expands the list of entities allowed to sponsor charter schools, creates a statewide chartering commission and makes several changes designed to improve the accountability and transparency of charter sponsors and charter schools. The HCS version makes several technical changes in the language, but is substantially the same as the originally filed version of the bill in terms of both expansion of charter schools and sponsorship and accountability provisions.
The Association believes that charter schools need to meet the same standards of accountability, transparency and respect for the rights of students, parents and staff as apply to district-operated public schools. Currently, serious remedial action is needed to improve that accountability for sponsors and charter schools, and the state should adopt and implement those reforms and verify that they are working to ensure charter schools meet those standards before considering expansion of charter school territory or sponsorship. Accordingly, the Association opposes the bill and will seek to limit charter school legislation to correcting those deficiencies without concurrent expansion of either charter school geography or sponsorship.