Technical Training Reaches High School Level Curriculum

‘Tis the season for standardized testing at public schools across the country, as school districts gear up for statewide testing that provides a glimpse into how and what students are learning. The season is not typically met with happy anticipation by most students and teachers; in fact, the mood may better be described as anxiety and even trepidation. In a few areas of the nation, students and teachers are taking matters into their own hands, organizing boycotts of tests that some say are a waste of valuable instruction hours and inaccurate gauge of how well schools are teaching and students are learning.

Portland Opts Out

With the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS) examinations looming in Portland, some students have decided that enough is enough when it comes to the statewide testing process. Members of the Portland Student Union have launched an opt-out campaign to protest the examinations with a district-wide boycott by students. According to U.S. News and World Report, members of the student union are encouraging other students to boycott the examinations, by opting out on test days.

This video reports the situation with Portland students protesting standardized tests.

The Washington Post reports that ideas of the boycott began to circulate when two different Portland Student Unions got together and realized they shared a common concern involving the state examinations. The students involved in

College preparation is one of the concerns facing secondary public schools across the country. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, one of the largest school districts in the country, one solution to ensuring college preparedness may be found at an innovative high school that combines high school and college for a rich academic experience. Cato Middle College High was created as a prototype for the rest of the state, allowing high school juniors and seniors a taste of the college experience while they are still finishing high school requirements.

About Cato Middle College High School

Cato was established by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in 2007, as North Carolina’s first Middle College program. The school is located on the Cato Campus of Central Piedmont Community College, where students take both high school courses and earn college credits simultaneously. Only 100 students are enrolled at Cato at any given time, which ensures students get plenty of personalized attention from instructors while they are getting a head start in their college endeavors.

In this video, students describe some of the happenings at Cato.

Students take the last two years of their high school classes while on this campus. This typically consists of Advanced Placement or honors coursework. At the same time, students may take college classes through Central Piedmont Community College, tuition-free. Students can choose from any of the Central Piedmont campuses, taking courses in classrooms that are up

Washington, D.C., has become a school district where charter schools enroll nearly as many students as neighborhood public schools. As the charter model becomes more and more prevalent in the District, school officials are forced to look at the future path of public schooling in D.C. While some believe the exponential growth of charter schools is a good thing for education quality overall, others fear the expansion of these schools will permanently put traditional public schools in a minority position, where they will lack clout and resources to educate D.C., children, effectively.

Charter School Growth: Numbers Don’t Lie

Charter schools first came to Washington D.C. in 1996. The movement has slowly expanded across the school district to the point where 43 percent of D.C.’s students attend one of these schools today. According to Education Week, that translates to nearly 35,000 students at 100 campuses across the city. Charter school enrollment appears to be on a path to continue this expansion by approximately 10 percent each year.

According to the Washington Post, enrollment in traditional public schools in the District was at just over 45,000 in 2012. The number indicated a one-percent growth in public school enrollment from 2011 to 2012. If that trend continues, it won’t be long before charter school enrollment outpaces enrollment at traditional public schools.

The competition with charter schools has taken its toll on D.C.’s public school system overall. This year, low enrollment numbers are forcing DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson

Like other school districts across the country, Chicago Public Schools is decrying a budget crisis that could lead to the closure of dozens of schools across the city. However, after a recent audit found a surplus in the district’s budget, some are accusing district officials and the mayor’s office of crying wolf. In fact, recent news about potential budget surpluses has fueled the fire over proposed school closures and sparked more protests by teachers, parents, community members, and the local teachers’ union.

This video reports on a CPS budget crisis.

Does Budget Surplus Suggest Fuzzy Math?

Officials of Chicago Public Schools continue to assert that a billion-dollar deficit in the district’s budget is fueling plans to close public schools across the city. However, Truthout reports that in the midst of discussions on school closures, a recent audit has discovered that instead of a deficit in the Chicago Public Schools budget, a surplus of $334 million was recorded! The district responded that the money came from early payments from the state and county. Other sources claim that the money is a combination of underestimating revenue for the year and underspending.

Truthout further claims that this is not the first time Chicago Public Schools has “played” with the budget numbers. The previous year, the district estimated it would suffer a budget deficit of $245 million. The district instead reported a surplus of $316