Suezan Turknett, principal of Imagine School at Evening Rose in Tallahassee, speaks to parents.
Charter schools tend to be less diverse than traditional public schools, according to a new report, and federal and state officials should consider rules that give charter schools more flexibility in choosing students.
As schools of choice, charters could use diversity to improve student education, according to a report from the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) and The Century Foundation. But federal law requires charter schools give every applicant the same chance at enrolling — typically through a lottery.
That’s a problem, the authors write, because charter schools traditionally are started to provide an alternative to failing schools in low-income and minority communities. Studies show a lack of diversity can be detrimental to kids, they argue.
This week we told you about former Gov. Jeb Bush’s national education role, and how many of the policies he’s taking to other states got their start in Florida thanks to a well-maintained political network.
We also told you that Bush’s ideas are seeing some resistance from Floridians.
Readers took to the debate.
Standardized tests are the backbone for holding schools and teachers accountable, and a guest commenter said they are a necessary tool despite their shortcomings:
The UCP Bailes campus is an Orlando charter school with a mix of students with disabilities and without. Schools such as UCP could be hit by new state school grade rules..
But one Orlando charter school is pretty happy with their results.
We told you about the UCP Bailes campus in East Orlando back in December. The school began its life specializing in students with cerebral palsy and other severe disabilities. Since then the school has adopted an inclusion model.
About half the students have disabilities and half do not.
UCP students scored an average of 199 on the reading test, just under the state’s average score of 201. The percentage of UCP students scoring 3 or higher on the test, 63 percent, bested the state average of 56 percent.
After an onslaught of applications, the deadline has been extended for anyone hoping to be on FPU’s Board of Trustees.
39 applications were received by yesterday’s deadline. Continue Reading →
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