Education Week - December 10, 2014 - 1

Education WEEk
AMERICAN EDUCATION'S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD * © 2014 Editorial Projects in Education * $4
By Andrew Ujifusa
After a strong showing by Republicans in
state-level elections last month, lawmakers
and governors-new and re-elected-are
turning their attention to the 2015 legislative
sessions, where such issues as common
standards, testing, and school choice
are likely to dominate the education policy
debate.
Added to the political mix is a generally
Kimora Gantt, 8, right, does homework while Jason Gantt, 5, gets his head shaved by his father, Bobby Gantt. After struggling
with homelessness, the family has found stability in a home they rent through the housing authority in Tacoma, Wash.
Housing Partnership Aids Homeless Students
By Evie Blad
His four stepchildren didn't put it into
words, but Bobby Gantt saw the insecurity
that gripped them as they spent much of their
young lives moving between temporary living
situations.
First, they spent several years in California
shelters with their mother, then they crashed
with family in Washington state after she
married Mr. Gantt. Next, they squeezed into
a one-bedroom apartment with their parents
and a new baby the couple had together.
"We were always just on the go," said Mr.
Gantt, who has had one more child with his
wife, Tameka, in the time since. "These kids
were used to waking up like, 'What's next?' "
But, over the last few years, the family has
been stabilized by an unusual partnership between
their children's school and the Tacoma,
Wash., housing authority. Known as the McCarver
Elementary School Special Housing
Program, the pilot program, started in 2011,
is one of a small but growing number of "place
based" solutions that aim to tackle the problem
of family mobility-a major risk factor
for low student achievement-head-on. They
do so both by slowing families from relocating
and by easing the effects of such changes
through supportive services.
The programs often involve collaboration
between public and private entities
that don't typically work together, such as
schools, health-care providers, and social
service groups.
In the Tacoma pilot, 50 families with children
who attend the 28,000-student district's
McCarver Elementary School agreed to keep
their children enrolled in the high-poverty
school for as long as they participate in the
program, to become more involved in their
PAGE 12 >
DIGITAL DIRECTIONS
Bankruptcy Case
Shines Spotlight
On Data Privacy
By Michele Molnar
When the education technology company ConCollege
Policies Mixed
On AP, IB, Dual Classes
By Caralee J. Adams
At Minnetonka High School, students take
advanced courses to bolster their chances of
getting into a selective college or because they
hope to get credit for a college class. Others
sign up because of a must-have teacher or to be
with high-achieving students.
These may be the reasons that students are
increasingly taking Advanced Placement or International
Baccalaureate classes, according to
Phil Trout, a school counselor at the suburban
Minneapolis school, but parents increasingly
hope the practice will save them money, too.
"There is an antsiness to get going, and the undercurrent
is largely financial," he said.
But colleges don't always see the trend the
PAGE 10 >
Charters' Enrollment Practices
Put to Test by 'Mystery' Callers
By Arianna Prothero
Fielding phone calls from parents asking
about enrollment is part of everyday
business for schools, but for some charter
schools, the person on the other end of the
line may only be posing as a parent.
Modeled after "mystery" or "secret" shopper
services used in retail, authorizers in
the District of Columbia and Massachusetts
are using a similar tactic to make
sure the charter schools they oversee are
not turning away students with more specialized
needs, such as children with disabilities
or who are still learning English.
This issue has long dogged the charter
sector, which nationally, some studies
show, enrolls a lower percentage of
students with disabilities compared to
regular public schools. The discrepancy,
some charter critics say, comes from the
publicly funded but independently run
schools turning away such students in
order to improve test scores.
"We started this because there was a
huge perception among the public that
charters counseled out students with disabilities,"
said Naomi Rubin DeVeaux,
the deputy director for the District of Columbia's
public charter school board. "We
wanted to know if this was true."
The board started its mystery-caller
program as a pilot in 2012 and then
made it official board policy a year later.
Staff members call every charter school
PAGE 8 >
nectEdu Inc. sought protection under Chapter
11 bankruptcy law earlier this year, 20 million
student records hung in the balance, raising
many questions for educators and parents alike.
What would happen to the data the company
had amassed in its college- and career-ready
technology platform for students from middle
school through college? Who would own the records?
How would they be secured?
Because of the bankruptcy court proceedings,
the action played out on a public stage, revealing
a transfer that usually goes on in a more
private way when one company purchases another
and data change hands. Ultimately, the
sale of ConnectEdu occurred without the company
abiding strictly to its privacy policy, creating
a cautionary tale for school districts, and a
complex challenge for the ed-tech industry.
Founded in 2002, ConnectEdu had amassed
millions of records from school districts, as
well as individual students and their parents.
Depending on what a district or individual
specified, a record could include a student's
test scores, grade point average, learning
PAGE 13 >
improving economic climate that could turn
up the heat on lawmakers in many states to
raise K-12 spending at a time when some are
already re-examining how they allocate money
for public schools.
In broad terms, the political momentum
going into next year's sessions has a clear direction:
The gop will control 30 legislatures,
up from 27 before the midterm elections,
compared with just 11 for Democrats, according
to the Denver-based National Conference
of State Legislatures, or ncsl. (Eight legislatures
are split.)
The Nov. 4 elections gave the Republicans
new, undivided power over legislative chambers
in New Hampshire and West Virginia, while
they took control of one chamber each in ColoPAGE
19 >
VOL. 34, NO. 14 * DECEMBER 10, 2014
edweek.org: BREAKING NEWS DAILY
Legislatures
Set to Tackle
Hot K-12 Issues
Curtain to Rise on 2015 Sessions
Ian C. Bates for Education Week
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - December 10, 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - December 10, 2014
