The Wilmington News-Journal has a really stupid editorial about the vouchers issue.

No private religious school [accepting vouchers] should be allowed to require students to attend specific denominational services or to make specific denominational instruction to students using vouchers mandatory.

Of course the schools should have the freedom to dictate what types of instruction the students receive; these are private schools, after all. The government should have no say in the curriculum. This sentiment exemplifies my fears of vouchers becoming the proverbial camel with his nose in the private school's tents.

This one surprised me.

Within hours of last week's court decision striking "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, an angry U.S. Senate voted 99-0 to condemn the ruling. President Bush said the California court was "out of step" with the country. A day later, the U.S. House joined the chorus of complaint with a 416-3 vote.

Still, there were Iowans willing to speak up for the unpopular side of the argument - among them a former Cub Scout den mother, a political activist and a Davenport native who came to feel like a stranger in his own land.

I agree with the idea but this seems a bit hyperbolic:

THE U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a huge victory for the right of all parents to direct their children's education as they see fit.

With government money come government strings. This Iowa HS program sounds like a way for the local school district to make money off of HSers.

"Some people seem to think we make money on home school," said Chris Van Meter, the district's chief financial officer, who pointed out that connected administration expenses are difficult to measure.

Each home-schooled student comes with the standard $4,580 in per-pupil state money. Records show 380 were in the program last year. The Des Moines teachers visit home-school families twice a month and organize such activities as frog dissections, eagle watching and play production. [T]he Home Instruction Program, cost district taxpayers $558,000 last year.

Let's see- 380 students x $4580 = $1.74M. Yeah, I'd say the school district is making some money.

If this story is accurate, this teacher is one sick dude.

Godwin Collins Onunwah was a seventh-grade teacher at Gage Middle School in Huntington Park when he placed the rabbit in a plastic bag and tied the bag shut in front of his students in September 2000.

When the animal didn't die of asphyxiation, authorities said, Onunwah placed the bag in a cabinet and left it there over the weekend.

Still more on "under God" (last one, I promise) James Farah at World Net Daily is not happy with the ruling. His solution? Homeschool.

We can yell and scream about this all we want. But it won't change the direction of this country. I say it's time to call their bluff – and make their whole unconstitutional system fall of its own dead weight.

What do I mean? Every American outraged by this ruling should not even raise a whimper of protest. They should not argue. They should not complain. Instead, they should remove their children from these ungodly, hostile government schools. They should do it now. They shouldn't wait until the situation gets any worse. Home school is the best option. For those who can't do that, choose a worthy private institution. It will be the best choice you ever made for your children.

Stumbled across another good edu-blog: Highered Intelligence. Definitely worth a click.

More on "under God" Reader Traci E pointed me toward this WorldNet story about the 9th Circuit Court's decision excising "under God" from the Pledge.

The court concluded that "the statement that the United States is a nation 'under God' is an endorsement of religion." I agree wholeheartedly, yet the court says this as if it's somehow a problem. In fact, the court's second mistake was to conclude that "the text of the official Pledge, codified in federal law, impermissibly takes a position with respect to the purely religious question of the existence and identity of God." So long as the government does not force anyone to express that belief, there's nothing impermissible about such an endorsement whatsoever.

I'm not sure I agree with this position. The coercive nature of the recitation of the pledge, even in a "voluntary" school setting, may be enough to convince the Supreme Court to uphold this ruling.

What if Congress decided to include "under Allah" or "under Buddha" in the Pledge? Would that qualify as "establishing" Islam or Buddhism? I grew up in SC where every (public) school assembly included a prayer ending with "in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen". Was anyone required to participate in the prayer? No, but you can bet that there was a lot of pressure to bow your head and not walk out of the auditorium. For some more analysis on this issue, click here. The author is a conservative ConLaw professor.

This one gets my libertarian hackles up. The Supreme Court ruled that random drug tests are permissible for students participating in extracurricular activities. Whatever happened to the 4th Amendment? In what is possibly a sign of the Apocalypse, I find myself on the same side as the NEA:

The National Education Association opposes testing when there is no suspicion.
"When we have situations where [tests] are done in a suspicionless situation, we believe that is an invasion of privacy," said NEA President Bob Chase. "If there is suspicion of drug use, that is quite another story, but in this case it was not."

Does Jesse Jackson, Jr. know how to read?

Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., today said, "the Supreme Court has ruled that it is constitutional to force public taxpayers, who already fund public education, to also have to pay for private, parochial, and religious schools.

Slightly OT but I know a lot of HSers are involved in the 4-H. The WSJ is reporting that, in a case of political-correctness run amok, the Agriculture Department is investigating the 4-H for "its use of Indian themes and activities at summer camp." The kicker, the lawsuit spurring the investigation was initiated by a non-Indian who "says he was offended by the way the club has been allowing its kids to play in culturally inaccurate teepees". Give me a break!

This is not a "school choice" blog (Lisa Snell does a great job covering that issue) but I've just got to throw a couple of links out there. It didn't take long for the NEA and their lapdog, the PTA to come out in opposition to the vouchers ruling. And in case anyone is interested, here is the actual ruling.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Clark County schools will continue to say pledge OTOH- this is just plain wrong. As it stands right now, the law in the 9th Circuit (which includes Nevada) is that this is unconstitutional. What does this teach the kids in this school district? That you can ignore laws that you disagree with? What's the difference between this and cheating on a test?

UPDATE: The decision has been stayed pending a re-hearing by the full 9th Circuit Court or an appeal to the SC. Regardless, the sentiment expressed by the school district was still shameful.

Pledge Declared Unconstitutional By now everyone in the US has likely seen this story and I have hesitated to post anything. I'm not sure what I think of the whole issue. I don't think there is any question that the 1954 insertion of "under God" was done to "promote" religion but I don't know if this qualifies as an "establishment" of religion. Regardless, the case will certainly be appealed, to the full 9th Circuit Court or even the SC. Don't touch that dial. BTW, we say the pledge every morning prior to starting "school". We intend to keep "under God". Thank God for free speech and the right to HS.

The Mercury News has a really good editorial about parents abetting cheating by their kids. Again, this is posted in the "Arts & Entertainment" section. Why do the newspapers seem to think these stories are entertaining?

Don't Just Say No The NYT editorializes today on sex-ed classes. The premise is that these classes should not teach abstinence exclusively but also provide information on contraception.

For the last five years, the federal program has provided $50 million a year in matching funds to states to promote abstinence from sex outside of marriage. The catch is that states accepting the money may not "endorse or promote" contraceptives, but may only talk about their drawbacks.

This is a recipe for disaster in a nation that has the highest teenage pregnancy rate of any developed country. It is fine to urge teenagers to "just say no" to sex before marriage, but surely it makes sense to provide them as well with information that could avert pregnancies or protect them from a fatal AIDS infection should they become sexually active.

I personally don't have a problem with this position as long as the parents are notified before the fact and have the opportunity to opt-out their kids.

Another teacher beats up his students! Here's one for "Our Horrible Children":

"This teacher was an absolute danger to children. He shouldn't work with the public - period," said parent Glenda Robinson, who says her sixth-grade son and eighth-grade daughter were beaten by teacher Mike Miller at the Crotona Park West School (CS 4) on May 16.

Board of Education spokeswoman Catie Marshall said Miller was pulled from the school and reassigned to the District 9 superintendent's office pending the results of a probe by the chancellor's office.

Robinson claimed the altercation started when Miller tried to control some rowdy students and believed her 12-year-old son was mocking him.

"Mr. Miller grabbed my son, punched him in the face and body and slammed him to the floor," she said.

She charged that the teacher then punched her 14-year-old daughter in the face when she tried to help. Three other students also were roughed up, the plaintiffs said.

More on the game of "tag". Dodgeball is also in the hot seat.

As for dodgeball, some experts said the rough character of the game makes it beyond rehabilitation. But with adequate supervision and an emphasis on fun and not competition, others said, even that occasionally violent playground standby should be allowed.

Who are these "experts" in playground games? Can you get a Ph.D. in Recess?

Now here's a man after my own heart: pro-school choice and anti-testing!

I just found these education cartoons over at "Slate". Make sure you scroll through all 8 pages; there are some excellent ones on the later pages.

Lisa Snell links to an excellent series on the increase in the prescription of psychoactive drugs (like Ritalin) for young children. This is another of my pet-peeves; my lovely wife has actually done some research in this area. These drugs are being heavily marketed directly to parents.

I guess it's that time of the year. Here are a couple of stories today about young PS teachers leaving the "profession" [NOTE: I don't consider teachers "professionals"]:

DesMoinesRegister.com and the NYT (Registration required).

This Summer Camp Grows Young Entrepreneurs I bet this one attracts a lot of HSers (registration required).

The Washington Times editorializes in favor of HSing. Nothing particularly earth-shattering. I do have one minor quibble, however:

Currently, homeschools, along with charter, magnet and specialty schools, are just another manifestation of school choice.

I don't think that HS belong in the "school choice" universe. In my mind, school choice is only applicable to public schools. HSing is completely separate. We are exercising our fundamental rights as Americans to raise our children as we see fit. The government, especially the PS system, has no say whatsoever in this area. We are just not a part of the "choice" debate.

< sarcasm >Freedom of the Press is alive and well at UCSD.< /sarcasm >

UPDATE: Instapundit also picked up on this story.

UPDATE II: More on UCSD from Craig Schamp (link via the inimitable InstaPundit).

I know that teen pregnancies are a fact of modern life but it's still sad.

Anderson Co. (TN) is attempting to charge late fees if HSers don't register by 8/1/2002. Anyone know if this is legal under TN law?

Maybe I need to re-think my opinion of the No Child Left Untested Act:

The No Child Left Behind Act is a trap. Its purpose is to ensnare public schools and kill them. Then the vultures who want to privatize the schools will swoop in and pick the bones.

Here's an aggravating article about hearings into PA's proposed HS law. Their current law is the worst in the country.

Currently, parents must notify their local district superintendent each year that they intend to conduct a homeschooling program. Parents must also provide a plan for the year and produce certain legal and health documents.

During the year, the family maintains a portfolio of their child's work which is reviewed at the end of the year by an educational evaluator hired by the family. The evaluator writes a report which is then sent to the district superintendent with the portfolio. Homeschooled children must also take standardized tests in grades 3, 5 and 8.

Predictably, the PS edu-crats are opposed to removing any of these onerous requirements:

Increasing the distance between homeschooling families and their districts is not a good idea, according to Dr. Carol Saylor, superintendent of Manheim Central School District, who testified against HB 2560 on behalf of the state association of school superintendents.

She admitted that the majority of homeschooling families are conscientious and committed people, but that does not relieve the district of its responsibility to know what all children in the district are doing educationally.

"This bill eliminates the documentation necessary to keep track of all our children [emphasis added]," she said.

< rant >Just who the hell do these people think they are??? These children are NOT yours; they are OURS! You PS people have NO right to supervise them unless we voluntarily (and temporarily) place them in you care. As we HSers have decided NOT to do that, keep your noses out of our business! < /rant > I live a stone's throw away from PA; you could not pay me enough money to move there. (Hear that, PA legislators? My wife (M.S., Psychology) and I (Ph.D., Chemistry) will not consider moving to your state because of your lousy HS laws. Just think about all those potential income tax dollars down the drain!)

Bullying in a D.C. school by the teacher. The 1st-year female teacher punched an 8-year-old girl in the nose, bloodying it. The little girl's crime? Talking in class!

More bad news(?) for Edison.

The Dallas school district is rethinking its experiment with privatization at a time when Edison Schools Inc. can least afford to lose a partner. Edison runs seven local schools, and trustees are assessing whether to continue the district's contract with the for-profit education company.

PrepMatters, a test-tutoring company (almost?) cheats on SAT II but gets turned in by one of their "customers".

Some potential good news for CA HSers. Under proposed legislation, there would be no minimum age to take the state's high school proficiency examination which allows entrance into community colleges. The current minimum is 16 years of age.

Parents outraged over school sex survey of 10-year-olds A day after Isabel Lyman referred to a story about stupid educators in NJ invading our kids' privacy, an LA school district does it again!
UPDATE: I just learned that Isabel Lyman scooped me on this one. Icky 1 Yankees 0

Here's a follow-up to the story about the PS vice principal who checked girls' underwear to make sure they weren't wearing thongs.

HOME WORK More and more parents are choosing to educate their children outside the traditional school setting. Williams [College] takes a look at the changing face of home schooling.

A nice, relatively balanced look at HSing although the author falls into the "regulation is good" trap.

You! Yeah, you PS parent! Up against the Wall! Submit your fingerprints to the FBI for a background check before you can volunteer at your local PS.

Cheating invalidates high school final exams These high-stakes tests virtually invite this kind of behavior.

This story about "passing the trash" sounds hauntingly familiar.

When teachers are accused of sexual abuse, educators and law enforcement authorities say, districts often rid themselves of the problem by agreeing to keep quiet if the teacher moves on, sometimes even offering them a financial settlement.

Lisa Snell @ Education Weak links to a sadly funny satire on "Homefeeding". I wish the PA legislators would read this before they vote to keep their (current) awful HSing laws.

OT story on the invention of the telephone. According to this story, Bell stole the idea. Time to re-write those elementary school history books.

No more tests! Not quite but just as we are increasing the amount of standardized testing our kids have to endure, the UK may be going the other way. Good for them.

Here's a great summer project for HSers.

Here's how it works:

1. You read the U.S. Declaration of Independence this summer. (Easy, since it's only 6 pages long).

2. We'll send you a personalized Certificate of Achievement with your name on it.

A thoughtful article on why increasing numbers of charter schools are dumping their for-profit management systems.

Americans don't know much about science, and that's cause for concern This is not exactly an educational story but it is related and the issue is near and dear to my heart (in real life I'm a research chemist.) Americans think science is SO hard that they don't even try to understand. It's not. I firmly believe that anyone with a grasp of algebra could succeed in chemistry (and probably most other sciences). The article points out that the US is not producing enough scientists and engineers and must import them. If the schools did a better job at instilling the wonder of it all; if they could get the kids to ask "What if?"; if they'd just make it fun, we'd be a long way down the road to solving the shortage.

Over at "Our Horrible Children" there's an interesting story on a couple of kids being suspended for publishing an underground newspaper. Bizarrely, the original story appears in the ENTERTAINMENT section of the L.A. Times.

'GANGSTA MATH' EXAM FLUNKS OUT Hey, at least the Canadian authorities were smart enough to suspend this idiot.

Fellow blogger Lisa Snell's article on school choice is linked today from EducationNews.org. She makes some good points but we diverge when it comes to Edison Schools.

I applaud Chris Whittle and find it fascinating that Edison has lasted this long. They have, partly because they have a superior product, and when the product is well implemented and the contract goes their way, student achievement goes up.

I don't have any data on student achievment at Edison-run schools, but IMO, this company is little more than a scam. Here's a link to an article on TheStreet.com that dates back to Edison's IPO. AFAIK, not much has changed since then. The company has yet to turn a profit and was on the brink of bankruptcy a few weeks ago (before securing additional venture funding).

In fact, the overall financial situation at Edison is even worse than the operating numbers suggest. That's because, buried deep in the registration statement, can be found the astonishing news that this allegedly for-profit operation is actually taking handouts from various unnamed philanthropies to run the business.

We'll just pass over the tax-related issues raised by such transactions and suggest that the acceptance of philanthropic aid to run a profit-making enterprise in fact amounts to nothing more than gussied-up begging, and that to get a true picture of the company's revenue-generating abilities as an actual business you've got to get the panhandling out of the numbers.

UPDATE: The Boston Globe is all over Edison in this editorial published yesterday.

More cheating on accountability tests. This time in CA.

A really bad idea for any HSer who values freedom. Just who is this certificate of completion aimed at? Will CA HSers have to "prove" they are capable of HSing? What IS the CHEA thinking?

Wielding Broom, Teacher Attacks Class The teacher sent 20 1st-graders to the hospital!

Homeschool.com has a nice interview with 2002 physics Nobel Laureate, Carl Weiman

EDITOR: Please give us an example of one thing your parents did to encourage your interest and passion for learning that you feel contributed the most to your success.

WEIMAN: Probably the most important thing my parents did to encourage me was to NOT get a television.

If you can't pass, CHEAT! Unfortunately, we're talking about the principal and dean of instruction at Bush HS in Fort Bend, TX. Evidently the (former) principal and (former) dean manipulated the TX accountability tests in order to achieve the highest rating for their school. The principal

"intentionally manipulated the grade level status of at least 45 students at mid-year as a means to improve Bush High School’s chances for obtaining an exemplary accountability rating."

Sex education, including abstinence programs, did not cut teenage pregnancies, according to this BBC story.

In five of the trials examined - four abstinence programmes and one school-based sex education programme - an increase in pregnancies among the partners of young men involved was observed.

In the positive spin department, Ananova (a UK site) has this to say about the same report:

A study in Canada showed they did not make teenagers delay having intercourse or improve their use of birth control. But a study in Scotland showed better teaching had a positive effect on young people's sexual relationships.

I feel much better now.

Now this is one school that sounds fun. I'd be more than willing to "assist" with any homework. Yum!

You're it! Well, not in this CA school which has banned the game "tag" because, at least in part, of political correctness.

"The running part of this activity is healthy and encouraged; however, in this game, there is a 'victim' or 'It,' which creates a self-esteem issue. The oldest or biggest child usually dominates."

The Jewish World Review posted some pretty good pro-HS Mallard Fillmore comic strips. Look quick- I'm not sure this is a static link.

Blogging will likely be light to non-existent until this evening. I'm in an all day meeting. See you tonight!

Hope y'all like the new layout. The previous one was taking way too long to load on my dial-up connection. If you had the same problem, I hope this "all text" version loads faster.

Another "why we HS" story. Note the ages of the kids involved. Sigh.

Read this and then you tell me: is PE important or not?

I give the NEA about an hour to denounce this report.

States across the country should revamp their teacher certification requirements by deemphasizing traditional education courses and requiring prospective teachers to pass rigorous exams in the subjects they plan to teach, according to a new federal report.

The inaugural report to Congress on teacher quality, scheduled to be released today by the Education Department, also says that states should do more to deepen the pool of potential teachers by clearing alternative routes to the classroom for mid-career professionals who have strong content knowledge but lack "education theory" classes.

Home-Schooling's Popularity Is Rising in UT as a result of 9/11, according to the UHEA.

Newsday.com (Long Island, NY) has a nice editorial about private schools abandoning the NY state accountability tests. A couple of great quotes in here that are equally applicable to HSing:

Given that parents, not the state, have the primary responsibility for educating their children, you would think a certain diversity of standards and educational philosophies would develop anyway.

Yet, many parents, attracted to an allegedly "free" public education, have surrendered their power of choice to a large government bureaucracy, which imposes its own view of knowledge.

Experience in both the public and private schools recently has shown that the Regents exams require too much time to drill, simply to raise scores on these tests. The underlying message: The tests detract from real education, according to differing standards of value.

These schools seem to be handling "zero tolerance" with some intelligence.

For instance, several weeks ago at the J.D. Parker School of Science, Math and Technology in Stuart, a fifth-grade student accidentally left a knife in his backpack after a weekend camping trip.
Althoug the knife is a weapon, and possession of a weapon is supposed to mean expulsion from school for at least a year, school district officials decided not to expel the student.

In Boston it's apparently ok for teachers to provide alcohol to their underage students.

Business Week Online laments that female teachers' pay lags other college-educated females by 10%. But they forget that teachers get 3 months off per year! I'd consider taking a 10% pay cut for 2 weeks at Christmas and 2 1/2 months during the summer.

OT Google can come up with some good ones. This just popped to the top of a Google News search for "teachers"

US Arrests Alleged Terrorist - Miami Herald - 1 hour ago...
Now a ninth-grader at Coral Reef High in southwest Miami-Dade, she is catching up
-- finally -- with the help of tutoring and extra attention from teachers.

How would you like to beg for permission to go to the restroom? When you have an upset stomach? This teacher is being sued and should probably be fired. Another one to file.

God (and I write that with all reverence), what are we doing? File this one under why we HS. Warning! Graphic sexual references throughout.

Original DHEA Yankee, Joey A pointed out this: The Wilminton News-Journal today recycled an August, 1999 Pat Oliphant cartoon that was very anti-HS. Here's Ann Zeiss' transcription (the original cartoon is NLA). "My mom thinks schools are dangerous so we school at home. At recess I go outside (shows a boy standing) then I go back in. Other recesses I just stand at the window. My mother says I can have a childhood later."

Why would someone recycle this now? It's not some of Oliphant's best work nor is it particularly timely.

Phyllis Schlafly thinks HSing has come a long way. She has a long list of what courses HSers won't have to take. My favorite:

"Homeschoolers don't have to study fuzzy math, whole math, new math, new new math, or rainforest math."

The middle class is abandoning PS in England, claims the leader of the UK's version of the NEA. The move to non-public schools there is really tiny, only 500k kids. The union leader stated "What both David Miliband and I want to see is that the state sector – which is infinitely capable of providing for the most able children in this country – is given the resources and the opportunity to do so.

"We want the movement to be all the other way – from the private to the state sector."

What a shock- the teacher's union wants more money and is opposed to private education. Whodathunkit?

This article about teaching homosexuality in the PS is sure to stir up a bit of controversy. The author is a 13-year-old HSer. I wish I could write as well at my current age (don't ask) as this youngster does. Amazing!

I now have comments. Thanks to Kath @ "Live Out Loud!" for pointing me in the direction of YACCS who provide the comment support.

Isabel Lyman has a link to a newbie teacher's blog (look for Apple A Day). Meanwhile, here's a different first-year teacher's rules for survival. Most of them would be useful for HSers (especially the "chocolate" rule)

This article out of San Francisco paints a really poor (and misleading) picture of "unschooling".

A NOTE TO OTHER BLOGGERS: I've got perma-links up & running (I think). If you want to link to a post here, click on the post time (right next to the "dpc"). It should pull up the archive URL like this one from the other day.

OTOH the NRO has a piece that lumps HSing in with school choice. James Edwards misses the mark in a couple of places, particularly when he laments that the PS don't provide uniform outcomes:

"They can't guarantee similar product outcomes. They place too much emphasis on teacher 'creativity.' If Chrysler put as much emphasis on 'assembly line employee creativity,' they couldn't sell any cars because you wouldn't know what you were getting in any given model. McDonald's couldn't sell hamburgers because consumers would never know if one Big Mac were going to be the same as another.

I think one of the major problems with the PS is that they do try to treat/teach all students the same. They're not- they have different abilities, interests, and learning styles. Why should we expect them to accept a Big Mac education?

I was half-way through this article before I realized the author is pro-HS. Cathy Henderson makes an excellent point here: HSing is all about personal freedom- in this particular case, the freedom to raise our children as we best see fit. UPDATE: Cathy Henderson has a pretty funny bio posted here I just wish she had included a photo of her home. :-)

Just so y'all don't get the idea that I'm some extreme right-wing fanatic, I think this is a good thing.

OK, so everyone who homeschools isn't necessarily sane. This OT story out of Canada is all about a short-film festival in Toronto. The HS angle?

"Jason Wishnow, founder of the Internet film site New Venue, will be showing his 1999 short documentary Star Wars or Bust, about fans waiting in line for The Phantom Menace.

From L.A., he recalls, 'We met a girl whose mother had named her Leah and pulled her into home-schooling. Her entire education was reading Star Wars-inspired novels. It was really disturbing.' "

Giving credit where credit is due. I've been meaning to point out that I find many (most?) of these articles through EducationNews.org The site is updated daily with relevant articles. It is much more focused than Google News (beta) for education issues.

Uh-oh! NC officials are apparently trying to blame homeschooling as a contributing factor in a murder-suicide last July. An HSLDA lawyer and the president of North Carolinians for Home Education attempt to counter the state's argument here.

The power of the web. Two days after bloggers and other netizens excoriated the New York Board of Regents for this political correctness, the state has backed down.

Last one of the night I promise. A good blog here that monitors one of my pet peeves- zero tolerance.

Here's a new edublog. The author is Lisa Snell, Education Director for the Reason Foundation. I love the name of this blog- "Education Weak". UPDATE: I've been reading through more of Lisa Snell's blog. If you haven't yet visited, you should; she's an excellent writer.

They're after the babies. This report is being used by the Wash., D.C. City Council in their quest for compulsory pre-school for all children 2-years-9-months and up. The report is long so I've only started to skim it. At least they recognize that some parents might not "want them to enroll".

“Children age 3 and up whose parents want them to enroll should have access to center-based preschool programs that meet recognized standards for fostering education and school readiness along with social and physical development in a safe environment. We believe a minimum goal should be free part-day (4-6 hours), schoolyear long prekindergarten programs for all such children…”

I'm surprised. Actually, almost shocked. Edison managed to obtain an additional $40M in venture capital so it appears that they will not go bankrupt anytime soon. This means that they will be managing 20 Philly schools come September.

Nestle' is running a contest to determine the "Very Best Teacher" in the USA. I wonder- are HSers eligible? If so, I'm nominating my wife who just finished her first year HSing!

A really good article on the lessons of homeschooling. The author, Michael Geer, is a PA HS dad.

Kimberly Swygert, a fellow(?) former South Carolinian, has another education blog here. Her emphasis is on high stakes testing. Good stuff!

This article is mostly OT but a hot-button issue for me as the father of two girls (ages 8 and 5). The "fashions" that are aimed at young girls are just horrible. My girls (especially the 8 yo) know that anything they wear outside the house MUST get the Dad seal of approval.

Edison loses another school Some good spin here. Two quotes:

"But ACES Executive Director Peter Young said Edison's highly publicized financial woes were not the reason behind the decision to end the contract. He said Edison's services and training has diminished over the past four years, leaving ACES to pick up the slack."

"Edison spokesman Adam Tucker said the company fulfilled the terms of the contract and does not consider the non-renewal a failure. 'We're proud of Wintergreen. It's a very successful school academically,' he said. 'They just want to manage the school themselves, and that's their right to do.' "

And here the CA teacher's union responds to the defeat of its bill. The union is considering going directly to CA voters in their effort to expand collective bargaining to all education matters. The union claims 70% of polled voters support their position. Hmm, I wonder if the voters were those who visited the union website.