As an education professional involved in public education policy, I have recently taken a bit of criticism, and dare I say even harassment, from a few colleagues for, ironically, enrolling one of my kids at a private online school. In October of last year, one of my children became the ongoing target of bullying and after 5 months of back and forth with the school I concluded my daughter had had enough.
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Dazzling costumes and big curly wigs are the first things packed for Audrey, 13, and her sister Madeline Lewis, 10, as they head to Ireland to compete in the World Championships for Irish Dancing.
For Audrey, this isn't the first time she steps onto a stage to compete against thousands of Irish dancers. Last year she traveled to Scotland to showcase her talents.
"There were seven judges. Normally there is only three at a local competition. You get up on the stage and everybody is just watching you, and you're like 'I can't mess up,'" Audrey said.
Audrey and Madeline practice two hours a day, roughly six days a week, under the instruction of a certified Irish dance teacher and also attend McTeggart School of Irish Dance. Read more about these dancers here.
‘Tis the season for final exams! If ever there was a time to take advantage of all tools imaginable to help your students get the best grades possible, it is now. Fortunately, the app market has exploded with useful assistance, and here are some of the best apps I recommend to help your students study better and learn faster...click here to check them out.
There have been a number of conflict-based education stories on the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program (WPCP) recently. In that mold, a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looked at expansion of the WPCP in a piece titled “Tensions rise as vouchers pick up traction across Wisconsin.”
Pitting one school type against another creates the structure for this narrative. Unfortunately, to maximize impact, a great deal of context was omitted from the story and positive collaboration was overlooked.
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If you watched the president's first address to a joint session of Congress, you may remember seeing a young woman who was the beneficiary of school choice. Denisha Merriweather grew up in a struggling part of Jacksonville, Fl, but was able to escape generations of poverty, become the first person in her family to graduate from high school and is now completing a master's degree at the University of South Florida.
Denisha has recounted again and again how Florida's scholarship program for low-income children got her into a school that helped her beat the odds.
But not everyone is inspired by her story. Read more here.
Choices: Public Schools. Public Charter Schools. Private Schools. Home Schooling. In his first speech to Congress, President Trump called education “the civil rights issue of our time.” The future of education is about to change, but we shouldn’t fear this change. Public school isn’t going anywhere. While the debate about the best educational system grows louder, we’ve lost sight of the real question amidst the noise: What’s the best educational system for my child?The answer is inclusive—all four.
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Are we in the public schools really as good as we say we are?
I recently read a news article about the public school union uproar behind the visit of President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to a Florida private school and had to chuckle at the irony of it all.
On one hand protesters helped block DeVos from entering a public school.
And yet when a private school in Florida welcomed Trump and DeVos into their schools, the public school unions quickly criticized them for being "hostile" toward public schools.
Then while DeVos was being forced by protesters, who were most likely influenced by union opinion, in the "backdoor" of a public school, those same unions are accusing the Trump and DeVos of not being transparent by pushing a "backdoor" voucher program for parental school choice.
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There is now a wealth of evidence that public charter schools, private schools and other school choice policies tend to improve educational outcomes, but a new study shows that they can have economic and community revitalization benefits as well.
Check out this article here.
MILWAUKEE — State lawmakers should not allow the accident of a child’s zip code to determine if she has access to a better education.
The latest test score data shows that school choice is working in Wisconsin, and it is a clear call to action to expand the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program and number of independent charter schools.
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School choice is a term for K-12 public education options describing a wide array of programs offering students and their families alternatives to those publicly provided schools assigned based on the location of their family residence. Two popular school choices are charter schools and open enrollment.
Charter schools are public schools that are founded by parents, teachers or community members. They provide alternative educational programs that differ from traditional public schools. Colorado charter schools operate by way of a contract (charter) that has been authorized either by a school district or the Colorado Charter School Institute.
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