GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• Inside a Chicago high school that has lost multiple students to gun violence. (This American Life, 1/2)
• Part two explores the looming end of the school’s federal “turnaround” status. (This American Life, 2/2)
• What happens if no action happens on “sequestration”: major, major school cuts. (Politics K12)
• Expanding school choice is taking an emotional toll on overwhelmed parents in DC. (Washington Post)
• Instead of a test moratorium while Common Core rolls out, a call for a cool down. (Eduwonk)
• A national charter advocate wonders why authorizers don’t close struggling charters. (EdNews Colorado)
• Students across the country will join a Google hangout to discuss the State of the Union. (Innovative Edu)
• Seeing schools as ecosystems and the case for not closing “bad” neighborhood schools. (Mark Anderson)
• Nearly 60% of New Jersey schools are choosing Charlotte Danielson as their eval tool. (NJ Spotlight)
• An alternate take on the study that showed VAM matters; is 1% difference enough? (Mother Jones)
• And a hint at why we now direct donations to Colorado. More tomorrow! (EdNews Colorado)

When members of SUNY’s Board of Trustees consider whether the nation’s first union-run charter school deserves to stay open, they won’t have much guidance.

That’s because in what could be an unprecedented move, reviewers from the SUNY Charter Schools Institute have declined to recommend a fate for the struggling UFT Charter School in East NewYork.

The reviewers did not recommend that the school stay open, or that it be closed — despite saying that academic performance was not up to par, discipline bordered on corporal punishment, high-need students were underserved, and basic mechanisms to keep students safe were not in place.

Without the advice, the decision will be left up to a three-member SUNY Charter Schools Committee, which will meet Tuesday morning to consider renewals for 10 charter schools. The UFT Charter School was the lone school not given an endorsement for renewal. (more…)

The Department of Education’s new awards program will recognize ten top teachers this spring.

New York City might not have a new teacher evaluation system yet, but new efforts are underway nonetheless to reward the city’s best teachers.

The Department of Education announced today the creation of the “Big Apple Awards” program to identify and honor teachers who make an “exceptional impact” on student performance. Ten teachers will win cash prizes and classroom grants when the winners are announced in June.

In a statement today, Chancellor Dennis Walcott encouraged parents, administrators, students, educators, and community members to nominate teachers. Teachers can also nominate themselves. Top nominees will be invited to submit formal applications, and department officials will visit the finalists’ classrooms before selecting the winners.

The new model of rewarding a small number of teachers based on community nominations is a far cry from the merit pay system the Bloomberg administration had hoped to be implementing by now. (more…)

• Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wants Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lift his city school aid penalties. (Times)
• Visiting a city school, U.S. Ed Sec Arne Duncan urged an end to the teacher evaluation fight. (Post)
• Parents defended the Manhattan teacher whose math questions referred to hurting slaves. (NY1)
• Raising children in New York City means getting in line to sign up for schools and other activities. (Times)
• The Times says a new study shows some city charter schools should be replicated and others closed.
• The Post says the unpleasant end of the bus strike for matrons proves that unions hurt their members.
• A Brooklyn teacher found to have behaved inappropriately was fined and transferred, but not fired. (Post)
• Bronx high school students are actors in a new film by “Eternal Sunshine” director Michael Gondry. (WSJ)