Morning Bell: Using Timers At Turnaround Schools, Charter School Success

Emma Donnan Middle School teachers push accelerated lessons to bridge prior shortfalls – “Such devotion to time may sound extreme, even slavish. But at Emma Donnan, [teachers] have concluded that the small details of classroom life are the key to success at a school with a long history of failure.” Indianapolis Star

Bill forces school districts to create gang policy, staff training – “Some are concerned with a part of the bill that would require school employees to report activities that could not be a part of gang activity. The school could accidentally report students who are not active in gangs, but could end up in the juvenile system.” Gary Post-Tribune

Can traditional school systems be replaced by charters? – “Smarick advocates for closing low-performing traditional and charter schools, allowing only successful institutions to continue operating. If that means that struggling school systems are forced to shrink into minor education players in their respective cities — well, so be it.” (This is the same argument we’ve heard from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, the organizer working with Ball State to improve the performance of the schools it sponsors.) D.C. Schools Insider

New Study Finds Early Predictors of Charter School Success – “A charter school’s performance in its first three years of operation is a solid predictor of the program’s long-term chances of success, a new study by Stanford University researchers concludes.” The Educated Reporter