Another View: School choice for children who have none

For most Americans, school choice is an undisputed right. Millions of parents choose to send their children to parochial or other private schools. Millions more decide where to rent or buy a home based on the quality of the local public schools.

The only people who do not enjoy this right are those who are too poor to move out of neighborhoods where public schools are failing. A disproportionate number of these are people of color.

This is the distinction to keep in mind as the incoming Trump administration prepares to make “school choice” its rallying cry. Education secretary-designate Betsy DeVos is a passionate advocate of vouchers and charter schools. Teachers unions are passionate opponents of both, and they will accuse DeVos of wanting to destroy public education.

More here. 

Why online learning works for these Indiana kids

Online schools offer opportunities that can be life-changing for children who need flexible learning, even though the schools have broadly demonstrated a poor track record in Indiana so far. Indiana Connections Academy, along with every online school in the state that tested students in 2016, received an F grade from the state last month.

But the Neiers and Taylors, who have been with Indiana Connections Academy since it opened in 2010, are happy with their choice. They said the self-paced nature of virtual learning, the lack of social distractions and the ability to learn anytime, anywhere, have given their kids the environment they need to be successful.

Continue reading here. 

Another K12 Success Story

Two online school students who have beaten the odds will be headed on the path to success a little earlier than most, thanks to Insight School of Washington (ISWA).

Lexi Breda and Brianna Carlile, both 18, will both have completed all of their required courses a semester early and will be able to graduate this month, despite complicated circumstances that led them to ISWA.

Lexi’s brother competes in motocross, and with the immense amount of travel needed to accommodate his career, along with a less-than-ideal learning environment, Lexi’s education suffered before she joined him at ISWA.

Read more about their experience here. 

Opinion: School Choice Matters

In our country, we love to customize, whether it’s a new addition to the house or the colors and fonts surrounding our text messages. We choose everything, from our line of work to our preferred place to grab lunch (where we probably customize our lunch order). So it’s easy to understand why parents want more choices in their children’s education.

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THE BENEFITS OF MARKET-BASED EDUCATION REFORM …

From its inception a decade ago (yes, it’s been that long), this website has argued strenuously on behalf of expanded parental choice in the Palmetto State – and across the nation, for that  matter.

Unfortunately, these arguments have been categorically dismissed by South Carolina’s elected officials.  Rather than empowering parents and engaging the power of the marketplace, these “leaders” have chosen to pump billions of dollars into a demonstrably failed government-run school system – with predictable results (and predictable consequences).

The refrain of these politicians is that school choice programs “siphon taxpayer money from traditional public schools” (to borrow the language of a recent editorial published by The Wall Street Journal).

“That’s rarely true because choice schools typically spend less per child,” the editorial pointed out. That’s true.  But there’s another benefit – one addressed in a landmark new study out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Keep reading here. 

School Choice Saves Money: A study from Wisconsin adds up some of the economic evidence.

Democrats opposed to school choice often claim that charter schools and vouchers siphon taxpayer money from traditional public schools. That’s rarely true because choice schools typically spend less per child. And now a study shows that Milwaukee’s landmark voucher program will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Readers may recall the story of St. Marcus Lutheran, one of Milwaukee’s top schools, which graduates about 90% of its students, more than 90% of whom come from low-income families. St. Marcus participates in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and is in high demand. So when an empty public-school building came on the market in 2014 for an appraised value of $880,000, St. Marcus saw it as a chance to add a second campus for as many as 600 more students.

Read more here. 

Economists like school choice, but education professor twists survey to say the opposite

Someone needs to give Susan Dynarski a primer in how to read survey results.

The University of Michigan professor of education, public policy and economics managed to twist a survey to say the exact opposite of its results in her New York Times“Upshot” column Friday, titled “Free Market for Education? Economists Generally Don’t Buy It.”

Dynarski doesn’t like school vouchers, and it leads her to con readers into thinking economists don’t, either. She cited a 2011 survey of elite university economists by the University of Chicago school of business...

Keep reading when you click here. 

What's on the horizon for K-12 ed tech in 2017?

To say the least, 2017 promises to be an interesting year for K-12 education. The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump and impending implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act alone promise to keep educators' hands full, to say nothing of ongoing tech challenges.

As educators and students gear up to finish out the latter half of the 2016-17 school year, we reached out to four district tech chiefs and thought leaders for their thoughts on ed tech predictions, concerns and trends facing administrators in the new year.

Keep reading here. 

Provide school choice for children who have none (Commentary)

For most Americans, school choice is an undisputed right.

Millions of parents choose to send their children to parochial or other private schools. Millions more decide where to rent or buy a home based on the quality of the local public schools.

The only people who do not enjoy this right are those who are too poor to move out of neighborhoods where public schools are failing. A disproportionate number of these are people of color.

Read more here. 

A Florida school district's graduation rates soar--with help from virtual schools

PANAMA CITY - The release of the federal graduation rates last week brought good news for Bay District Schools, which saw a 10-point increase over last year to put them ahead of the state's average.

The district's graduation rate climbed from 70.6 percent in the 2014-15 school year to a projected 81 percent for 2015-16 year, while the state's rate is 80.7 percent. Superintendent Bill Husfelt attributed the "significant" jump to a number of factors, including more accurate data recording and a renewed emphasis on credit recovery with a bolstered Bay Virtual School program.

Keep reading here.