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I recently met a guy from another country who found himself a little surprised by what he’d seen in America. People here, he said, spent almost all their time working. In their few free hours Americans watched TV and seemed to believe everything they saw.  In his country, he said, we would go to a cafe and talk about what was on. We would question whether or not we could believe the commentators — then we’d make up our own minds.

Our conversation started because I’d mentioned the frenzy to create more charter schools. President Barack Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, created a program called Race to the Top, in which states compete for cash. What states needed to do, apparently, was subscribe to as many unproven educational programs as possible, and the more shots in the dark they took, the more chance they had to win the money.

The jewel on the crown of New York’s monumental struggle to kowtow to the feds was the raising of the charter cap. This was very important to Duncan, even though charters, with fewer English as a Second Language and special education students than those attending neighborhood schools, have still not managed to outperform public schools.

This amazes me because I strongly believe proactive parents to be the number one predictor of academic success, or lack thereof. When I call parents, which I do with great frequency, the ones who react the most vehemently tend to be the ones who effect the quickest changes. That parents could take the time and trouble to research and enroll their kids in any alternate setting is a sure sign they care about their kids. With 100 percent proactive parents, any school ought instantly to rack up better stats than its counterparts.

In any case, the new law says charter schools will have to serve the same population as public schools. After reading false accounts in the New York Times claiming they already do, I’ll believe that when I see it. (more…)

Less than an hour after the state’s second-round Race to the Top application was due in Washington, state officials have posted its new plan to the public.

Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said today that the newest version of the application is “round one plus the legislation.” She was referring to the two major pieces of legislation Albany passed in recent weeks designed to boost the state’s application: a new teacher evaluation system that includes measures of student achievement and Friday’s move to raise the state’s cap on charter schools.

Tisch added that the state education department also boosted the application’s section on its data systems, an area where the state lost points in the first round.

“Everything is good,” Tisch said. “And here we move on.”

But there are likely to be some changes in the 450-page application released today that go beyond the addition of a new teacher evaluation system and the possibility of 260 more charter schools. State officials have already said they intended to scrutinize the budget’s every line to weed out expenses such as the now-infamous executive chairs that helped doom the first application. And there are likely to be other substantive changes as well.

We’ll have a run-down of the highlights of this round’s application later; in the meantime, help us find the most interesting parts by posting in the comments below. You can read more about the Race to the Top competition here, and read New York’s first-round application here. And the full second-round application is below the jump: (more…)

• Students at Manhattan’s New Design HS earn gym credits by selling movie snacks. (Daily News)
• Local parents and politicians say New Design’s gym credit policy is a problem. (Daily News)
• In a school system that’s 51 percent male, 56 percent of students in gifted classes are girls. (Times)
• The city hired convicted criminals, including a rapist, to referee school sporting events. (Post)
• Race to the Top’s second round inspired a nationwide wave of fast-tracked education legislation. (Times)
• City teachers will perform at the Apollo Theater this week for an educators-only Amateur Night. (Times)
• A new charter high school in Harlem will open with 30 percent special education students. (WSJ)
• Researchers hope to stem low-income students’ “summer slide” by handing out free books. (USA Today)
• The state officially raised the charter cap to 460. (GothamSchools, Times, WSJ, Daily News)
• Of the 260 new charter schools, as many as 114 can be in New York City. (NY1)
• State Sen. Bill Perkins, an outspoken critic of charter schools, voted in favor of the bill. (Post)
• Perkins’ vote isn’t stopping schools from being a central issue in his reelection challenge. (WSJ)
• The charter cap deal almost fell apart in its final hours over the chancellor’s authority. (Daily News)
• Chancellor Klein: Parents made the change between Race to the Top’s first and second rounds. (Post)
• The Daily News and Post say the charter cap deal is great for the state and its Race to the Top chances.
• The number of special education students in the city is continuing to rise, somewhat inexplicably. (NY1)
• Costly clauses in the teachers contract are just one example of benefits city unions have won. (Post)
• Six top city students won scholarships from the New York Times, down from 20 in the past. (Times)
• A Hebrew language charter school hopes to open in Philadelphia this fall. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• D.C. teachers are expected to ratify their controversial new contract this week. (Washington Post)
• Some private schools are running ads that emphasize that they’re not slashing budgets. (Times)