Good day, CharterFolk.
Quite the load of material to keep on top of mid-summer.
Last week, Checker Finn issued a response much like my own to Robert Enlow and Michael McShane’s recent piece in Education Next.
Meanwhile, Ben Austin keeps pushing Democrats with another great op-ed at The Hill.
Favorable reviews of Andy’s and my discussion with Steven Wilson keep coming in. Check it out.
In Los Angeles, we’ve seen a judge recognize common sense: Los Angeles Unified can’t systematically deny charter schools access to district facilities as state law clearly requires.
Kudos to CCSA for leading the charge.
It’s emblematic of the progress that California’s charter schools keep making statewide, despite ongoing efforts by status quo interests to knock us off stride.
Yesterday, The 74 published an interview with the superintendent who has been engineering the state’s takeover of Houston ISD.
Mike Miles is taking on the challenge using the same old school playbook that aggressive reform superintendents used in the 1990s, and appears to be having success.
The question is how progress can be sustained, because state takeovers end, and as we have seen repeatedly, school districts sag back to their prior poor performance as soon as reform efforts wane.
In Florida, they’re trying a more structural approach, encouraging high performing charter schools to come where they are most needed.
Last week, we saw the Post publish an op-ed about higher ed that was essentially a thumbnail of what I wrote from the passenger’s seat last month.
Now comes more interesting data.
Return on investment for young men in college is essentially zero, while young women still see benefit.
A big part of the equation?
Women are entering high paying health fields, while men are not.
This spring, we saw new research that grade inflation is so bad in American high schools that GPAs are essentially worthless in predicting student success in college.
Now comes a new aggressive effort meant to address the problem.
Too bad it’s happening in United Arab Emirates.