by Lisa Fingeroot, The Tennessean
One of the nation’s most influential education reform groups recommended this morning that Tennessee create a school voucher program and take charter school approval out of the hands of local school boards.
StudentsFirst
gave the state’s education policy an overall C- or 1.75 grade-point average for
2013, mainly because of its low marks on policies aimed at giving parents a
choice in their child’s education, a cornerstone idea of the reform movement.
StudentsFirst
is a group of about a million members across the nation that was founded by
Michelle Rhee, a national figure in the push for accountability reforms, a
former Washington, D.C., Public Schools chancellor, and ex-wife of Tennessee
Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman.
Tennessee
should provide more school performance information to parents and devote more
energy to the growth of high-performing charter schools, according to the
report card. The group also suggested that charter school approval should not
be decided by local school boards. The creation of a statewide charter school
authorizer is a proposal being discussed by several state officials and likely
to show up during the upcoming legislative session.
StudentsFirst
also said Tennessee should create a voucher program for low-income students
that would allow them to attend private schools.
Tennessee
received a C+ in the “elevate teaching” category and was praised for the
creation of a state teacher evaluation policy, which StudentsFirst said puts
the state ahead of others in the move toward making schools accountable.
However,
Tennessee received a D+ in the “spending wisely” category.
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