Monthly Archives: August 2016

National Conference of State Legislators Supports “Build and Support”

8/17/2016 A new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures supports a “build and support” approach. No Time to Lose: How to Build a World-Class Education System State by State http://www.ncsl.org/documents/educ/Edu_International_FinaI_V2.pdf  The document suggests that we model our strategies after high performing other countries and the best districts and states in the US. They especially recommend instructionally driven  improvement strategies,  enlightened teacher and leadership development efforts, early childhood education,  revitalized career and technical education paths to supplement the 4 yr college pathways, and comprehensive, not single shot strategies–all points made in this buildingbetterschools website. A quote from the report:

We are discovering what seems to work. Common elements are present in nearly every world-class education system, including a strong early education system, a reimagined and professionalized teacher workforce, robust career and technical education programs, and a comprehensive, aligned system of education.

Charter School Tipping Points: When about 15-25% of a District’s Students Attend Charters, the District Suffers Significantly

8/9/16 Another study, this time from Michigan, showing that proliferation of charter schools has harmed the remaining public schools. http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2016/07/18/study-the-proliferation-of-charter-schools-in-michigan-hurt-traditional-districts; http://www.education.msu.edu/epc/library/papers/documents/WP51-Which-Districts-Get-Into-Financial-Trouble-Arsen.pdf and an interview Jeff Bryant with an author: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/07/15/how-charter-schools-in-michigan-have-hurt-traditional-public-schools-new-research-finds/

Bryant’s quote from the interview: “We saw very significant and large impacts of charter penetration on district fund balances for different thresholds, whether there were 15, 20 or 25 percent of the students going to charter schools. That was really striking. At every one of those thresholds, the higher the charter penetration, the higher the adverse impact on district finances. They’re big jumps, and they’re all very significant statistically. What’s clear is that when the percentage gets up to the neighborhood of 20 percent or so, these are sizeable adverse impacts on district finances.”

Teacher Pay Falls Significantly Below Other Comparable Professionals

8/9/16 According to a new report by EPI: The teacher pay penalty is bigger than ever. In 2015, public school teachers’ weekly wages were 17.0 percent lower than those of comparable workers—compared with just 1.8 percent lower in 1994http://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-pay-gap-is-wider-than-ever-teachers-pay-continues-to-fall-further-behind-pay-of-comparable-workers/

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