AM News: Finance-Related Roles For Consultants & Charter Operators

Struggling Michigan City Privatizes Public Schools NPR:  The emergency manager in Muskegon Heights, Mich., announced on Monday that he's turning over the entire school district to a for-profit charter operator. 

Boston Consulting Group Has Been Driving Force On Labor Talks, School Closings And Charters In Philadelphia TheNotebook: BCG has identified up to 60 Philadelphia school buildings as potential candidates for closure and helped line up private vendors willing to replace the School District’s unionized blue-collar workforce at a $50 million discount.

Turnaround Schools Struggle With Staffing, Time, and Climate PoliticsK-12: The Center on Education Policy at George Washington University, which has already done some must-read studies of SIG, took a deeper look at the these three tricky issues in a trio of reports out today.

Alarms Sounded As Federal Ed. Cuts Loom PoliticsK-12: A pair of new reports out today raise dire warnings about the impact on school districts and federal education programs from the sweeping, across-the-board spending cuts set to hit all federal agencies in early January if Congress doesn't act to head them off.

Even as Obesity Concerns Rise, Physical Education Is Sidelined NYT:  Many American students are being offered little or no physical education as schools blame budget cuts.

Obama Policy on Immigrants Is Challenged by Chicago NYT: "If you have no criminal record, being part of a community is not a problem for you,” Mr. Emanuel said, speaking at a high school library in Little Village, a Latino neighborhood. 

Comments

[Bruce]

The physical education story in New York clearly evinces an instance where the test score incentive system has damaged children's health. That's an example of why, in the teacher appraisal system being promoted via my proposed school, the language we use in our listing of teacher expectations reads, under "Quality learning", that teachers should "prepare students thoroughly for examinations (where applicable)". The parenthetical phrase is key. Inexperienced, ham-handed school leaders in New York have ignored that, and so have forced themselves into committing to spreading examination fever through all kinds of subjects (e.g. music) and grade levels where it has never been before and doesn't belong: the consequence amounts to "either test in your subject or watch your job get eliminated", and the effect on children can be deadly.

[Sarah]

Contrary to what the report about phys ed suggests, I’ve seen several local schools increase funding for that department, and decrease others. The problem is that now, academically, the schools are being called into question.

[Sarah]

And, as much as I’m against the idea of making for-profit schools a reality anywhere, I suppose if it saves a school district, it has to be done. I just wish these kinds of things were regulated a little bit more.