Got an interesting call related to the online learning advocacy group I wrote about earlier this week.

Maryland Senator James C. Rosapepe filed a bill today titled "Funding Formula to Expand K-12 Online Education," which he says aims to build on the state’s already existing Maryland Virtual School. MVS provides online classes at the high school level.

"Basically, Maryland is way behind" when it comes to promoting online courses in public schools – especially when compared to states like Florida and other countries, Rosapepe said in a phone interview.

Part of the reason for that, Rosepepe said, is that the funding structure hasn’t kept up with the kids. So he’s drafted a bill to start catching up, and provide the money for virtual schooling to grow swiftly as the demand increases. For the students taking online classes, he proposes, 90 percent of the per-pupil spending that would normally go to the traditional schools would be directed to the virtual one. In other words, he said, the money would follow the student.

The proposal also calls for some money for an initial expansion of course offerings, ideally coming from the federal education stimulus funds, he said.

Besides providing access to more courses – including the ones that usually don’t get enough students enrolled for a traditional classroom – the virtual school also has the potential to save taxpayers money in the long run, Rosapepe said, citing the hundreds of millions state and local government pay annually for school construction.

When I get an official number for the proposed legislation, I’ll post a link.

Posted by Arin Gencer at 4:03 PM in Around the Region, Baltimore County, School Choice | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)
                       

A handful of Baltimore County parents are in the process of incorporating a group to advocate for access to alternative education - particularly online instruction - for all Maryland students.

The idea for Emerging Minds of Maryland was born sometime last fall, said Kia Drake-Cummings, the organization's president and a mother of seven.  Drake-Cummings and several others regularly spoke at county school board meetings for months, asking board members to reconsider funding the Baltimore County Virtual Instruction Program - a one-year pilot done in conjunction with the Baltimore-based, online Connections Academy. 

When it became evident that they were getting nowhere, Drake-Cummings said she began thinking about forming a cooperative program, as home-schooling parents do to help socialize their children, or to exchange services and academic skills.  But then she realized this was "more than just a co-op," she said.  "We need to be working toward some other things."

She and a few others decided they needed strength in numbers - and a more official platform - to fight for their cause.

One of the key goals of Emerging Minds is to get access to online instruction for public school students - an appealing element of the county pilot.

Living up to their online emphasis, the founders have launched pages on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted by Arin Gencer at 10:35 AM in Around the Region, Baltimore County, Parents, School Choice | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
                       

The Civil Rights Project at UCLA released a study today recommending that, with all the buzz about charter schools, the nation's public school systems shouldn't forget about magnet schools, which tend to be more diverse than charters.

The country's 2,683 magnet schools have improved both the quality and the equity in public schools over the past 40 years, the report says, but they have been left out of the discussion on how to reform schools. Magnet schools enroll 2 million students, twice as many as charter schools.

Posted by Liz Bowie at 6:02 PM in Around the Nation, Charter Schools, School Choice, Study, study! | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
                       

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 9:05 AM in Around the Region, Baltimore City, School Choice | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)
                       

After abruptly booting out the principal of Anne Arundel's lone charter school (see my story today), school officials held a meeting last night to allay concerns of parents who were rattled by the sudden decision. The officials told Chesapeake Science Point Charter School parents the move was temporary, pending an investigation into a complaint filed Dec. 21. But they said no more than that. What was the complaint about? Did it involve students? Teachers? How long will the investigation take?

"They told us hopefully it won't be long, but we can't hang on hopes, we need fact," said Al Aksakalli, one of the founders of Chesapeake Science Point.

The lack of detail, Aksakalli said, is dividing the parents in two camps. One group is staunchly supportive and feels suspicious that the reassignment of Principal Fatih Kandil is just another way the district is trying to derail the school's progress. Without Kandil as their spokesman, the school will have a tough time lobbying for itself before the school board Jan. 23, when the board is expected to consider the findings of its latest audit of the school and decide whether to keep the school on probation. The school has wrestled with two years of critical audits and shaky finances but has begun to make marked progress in the last six months.  

The other camp of parents that's emerging in the light of this latest controversy, Aksakalli said, is a group so worried about the implications of this scandal that they're wondering whether it's safe to keep their children in the school. With few details of Kandil's behavior available, they're imagining the worst, Aksakalli said.

"It's like if your doctor tells you the results of a test are abnormal, you start thinking the worst, 'oh my God, do I have cancer?'" Aksakalli said. "If no one gives you information, then, your mind kind of takes off."

I'm keeping close tabs on the story as it develops -- including the progress of the investigation. But I'd love to get your thoughts on what's happening here. Do you have children in charter schools? Do you think this latest controversy illustrates the pitfalls of running a charter school -- or does it reveal the hostility of a public school district trying to make it hard for a charter school to survive?     

Posted by Ruma Kumar at 1:30 PM in Anne Arundel County, School Choice | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
                       

The Baltimore-Towson area comes in at No. 4 on a recent Forbes.com list that ranks the Top 20 Places to Educate Your Children.

School support, private school options, library popularity, "college town," and college options were the five key factors used in drawing up the list. (Read the full article here). The Washington, D.C.-Arlington, Va., area topped the list. Durham, N.C. was No. 20.

The top 10 include:

1. Washington, D.C.-Arlington, Va.
2. Madison, Wis.
3. Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, Mass.
4. Baltimore-Towson
5. Akron, Ohio
6. Columbus, Ohio
7. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.
8. Syracuse, N.Y.
9. St. Louis, Mo.
10. Ann Arbor, Mich.

Posted by Gina Davis at 12:28 PM in Around the Nation, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Parents, School Choice, School Rankings (aka, Real Estate Prices) | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
                       

This recent front-page article from the Wall Street Journal raises some intriguing points in the debate over "mainstreaming" special-education children. It's an understandably emotional, complicated and thorny issue. What are your thoughts? I'd especially love to hear from teachers and parents on this one.

Here's an excerpt (click on the link below for the full article).

Parents of Disabled Students
Push for Separate Classes
By ROBERT TOMSHO
November 27, 2007; Page A1

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Last fall, groups who favor placing disabled students in regular classrooms faced opposition from an unlikely quarter: parents like Norette Travis, whose daughter Valerie has autism.

Valerie had already tried the mainstreaming approach that the disability-advocacy groups were supporting. After attending a preschool program for special-needs students, she was assigned to a regular kindergarten class. But there, her mother says, she disrupted class, ran through the hallways and lashed out at others -- at one point giving a teacher a black eye.

"She did not learn anything that year," Ms. Travis recalls. "She regressed."

As policy makers push to include more special-education students into general classrooms, factions are increasingly divided. Advocates for the disabled say special-education students benefit both academically and socially by being taught alongside typical students. Legislators often side with them, arguing that mainstreaming is productive for students and cost-effective for taxpayers.

Some teachers and administrators have been less supportive of the practice, saying that they lack the training and resources to handle significantly disabled children. And more parents are joining the dissenters. People like Ms. Travis believe that mainstreaming can actually hinder the students it is intended to help. Waging a battle to preserve older policies, these parents are demanding segregated teaching environments -- including separate schools.

Continue reading "The special-education debate --- is mainstreaming good or bad for kids?" »

Posted by Gina Davis at 1:00 PM in Around the Nation, Parents, School Choice, SpecialEd, Teaching, Trends | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)
                       

Utah voters yesterday shot down what would have been the nation’s first statewide school voucher program. Read more in this AP story.

The program would have provided tax dollars for private tuition, no matter family income or whether kids were in bad schools.

In 2000, voters in Michigan and California also defeated efforts to subsidize private schools.

Since 1972, there have been 10 state referendums on various voucher programs, according to
the National School Boards Association. All of the referendums – by the way – have been unsuccessful.

Edward J. McElroy, President, American Federation of Teachers, issued the following statement: “Utah voters have underscored America’s unwavering support for public education. Vouchers
weaken the public schools, which serve the vast majority of our nation’s children. Clearly, Utah’s voters took a look at the facts and chose to support the success of their students over the misleading claims of vouchers proponents.”

What are your thoughts on universal vouchers? Doesn’t it defeat the purpose if vouchers are given to the rich? How is that evening the playing field? And isn’t it a slap in the face for schools that are not failing to have students leave and go to the “greener pastures” of private schools?

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 12:51 PM in Around the Nation, School Choice | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
                       

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 3:32 PM in Anne Arundel County, Charter Schools, School Choice | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)