On Thursday, Senator Daniel Akaka [D-HI] convened an education sub-committee hearing on the state of reform in the D.C. public school system. D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee testified, and was met with both support and opposition. Over the past two years, she has brought sweeping reforms to the DCPS and has worked to reduce waste in the system. Despite her successes in a steep uphill battle, opponents of her reform efforts held signs reading “Oppose Rhee-form” outside of the committee hearing. While Rhee’s star-power garnered considerable attention during the …
Friday’s Wall Street Journal highlights the increasing bipartisan support towards charter schools around the country. Due to rapid growth, many states have limited their expansion by placing caps on the number of charter schools. But Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has suggested that lifting charter school caps and instituting merit pay are essential steps in receiving grants under the “Race to the Top Fund” created by the Obama Administration’s stimulus bill. Now even those who previously opposed charter schools are realizing the real hindrance to charter school expansion is special …
The York, Pennsylvania, school district has decided to eliminate the practice of honoring the top-achieving students as “valedictorian” or “salutatorian.” According to school board officials, this practice may promote unhealthy competition. Students, however, appear to have a different view of such honorifics. Caroline Klidonas, a 17-year-old rising senior asked in an interview on Tuesday with the York Daily Record, “How would anybody succeed at anything if there’s not competition? You get what you work for and that’s all there is to it … Why wouldn’t the school want us to …
