Chalkbeat

Education news. In context.

Chalkbeat

Edison Learning

'we are wyatt'

Colorado
September 6, 2016

For a longtime Denver charter school, one more chance at rebirth

But turning around a school with such low test scores is notoriously hard -- and the bar Wyatt Academy must meet is high.

Indiana
September 15, 2015

Top scoring township and small city schools tend to serve wealthier children

Only three of the top 10 Marion County public schools when it came to passing ISTEP in 2014, excluding IPS and charter schools, served a large share of high-poverty kids.

Indiana
July 19, 2014

Arlington High School will stay open, but takeover questions remain

For the now, it seems Arlington High School will be able open its doors this year. But the ongoing troubles raise a critical question: can state takeover of low performing schools successfully be undertaken in Indiana? Or should the practice be abandoned?

Indiana
April 7, 2014

Teacher ratings vary widely across districts

The distribution of ratings ranged widely across the state, even within districts. Some districts gave nearly all educators the state’s top rating, while others awarded that honor to no one at all.

Indiana
January 31, 2014

Lawmakers will consider exit strategy for state takeover

A bill in the Indiana legislature could allow schools being run by outside groups under state takeover to return to the school districts they came from. But a provision that already has raised concerns would also allow the Indiana State Board of Education to turn those schools into charter schools, forever severing them from the districts.

Indiana
November 21, 2013

The basics of state takeover in Indiana: Getting tough with failing schools

Big questions remain about the school improvement strategy.
New York
July 21, 2009

In a new futuristic Klein initiative, school happens via "playlist"

In one city classroom this summer, a computer algorithm is telling students what to do. The classroom is actually a library at a Chinatown middle school with just 80 students, but school officials are hoping that it offers a glimpse into the future of the school system, one in which every student's individual strengths and weaknesses are calculated before each day is planned. Students in the new pilot program, a $1 million effort that officials are calling the School of One, take a quiz every afternoon, and then receive a computer-generated schedule each morning, called a "playlist." A student's playlist might tell him to begin the day by meeting with a tutor, then to complete a set of online tasks, and then to work on a project with his classmates. The program, which focuses only on math instruction, will expand to three sites in January. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein will roll out the program today, along with its mastermind, Joel Rose, who previously worked for Edison Schools, the for-profit education management company now known as EdisonLearning. The announcement will mark one of the first initiatives of Klein's administration that focuses on what happens inside classrooms since he unveiled citywide math and reading programs six years ago. That effort scripted moves down to how teachers should arrange their classrooms and the size of rugs.