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Thursday, November 15, 2012

Hard to Flunk? SOLs Scores & More ...

A Must-read:  My friend, John R. Butcher, a/k/a "The Cranky Taxpayer" explains how RPS and VDOE conjure those SOL scores.  
VDOE admits that the accreditation scores are "adjusted."  In fact, the scores are so tortured as to be meaningless.

Note: These data embrace a spectrum of tests but VDOE boils the scores down, generally, to a single number for each subject at each school.  See 8VAC20-131-300.C.1.d.  Thus, the elementary English score is produced by averaging scores of the reading tests in grades 3 to 5.  So please be aware that the terms "test" and "score" below probably refer to results of several tests, generally at several grade levels.  The score distributions tell part of the story.  The math distribution is the less complicated so we'll start there.


The passing score is 70.  Recall that the State both designs the tests and sets the passing score so the location of the line hardly comes as a surprise.

For English, there are two passing scores: 75 for the elementary schools, 70 for all the rest.  So we have two distributions.


Interestingly, the elementary English test is harder and has a higher passing threshold.  In any event, it's hard to flunk on any of these tests. 

Richmond was up to the challenge, though.  Statewide, only 6.5% of the schools failed to be fully accredited.  30.4% of the Richmond schools failed.



How Big the Boost?

In contrast to the past, the VDOE Web site gives a fairly honest description of the accreditation calculations:
Ratings are based on the achievement of students on tests taken during the previous academic year and may also reflect a three-year average of achievement. Adjustments also may be made for students with limited English proficiency and for students who have recently transferred into a Virginia public school. Accreditation ratings also may reflect the success of a school in preparing students for retakes of SOL tests.
What it doesn't tell us is the size of these "adjustments."
At my request, the always helpful Chuck Pyle of VDOE sent along a spreadsheet showing the one-year and three-year adjusted scores of the Richmond public schools (send me an email if you'd like a copy).  With those data in hand, it's straightforward (albeit tedious) to pull the actual scores (with the high school scores already boosted by stealing the Maggie Walker scores) and compute the boosts from the accreditation adjustments.  I'll stick to the English and math tests but the data are there for anyone who is interested in the other tests.

Let's start with the high schools.  The boosted scores in English averaged 2.6 points higher than the Maggie Walker enhanced scores in English; 2.5 points higher in math.  The three year boost (obtained by using the three year average of the adjusted scores) was 1.5 points in English but 22.4 points in math.  You read that right: The average 3-year boost available to the math scores was 22.4 points.  Said otherwise, the math accreditation scores could be only distantly related to the actual 2012 SOL scores.   Here are those numbers in a table:

Boost 1Boost 3
English2.61.5
Mathematics2.522.4
Here "Boost1" is the accreditation score minus the score on the Report Card.  "Boost3" is the three year average of (boosted) accreditation scores, again minus the actual 2012 score.

The table by school shows the details.  There are two entries for each test: The "Current" accreditation score and the "3-yr" average accreditation score.  The "Pass Rate" column (named by VDOE, not by me) holds the current or 3-yr accreditation score.  Note: This terminology implies that they are reporting the actual pass rate.  But this is NOT the pass rate reported on the online School Report Card; it's the "adjusted" pass rate, i.e., the (boosted) accreditation score.  That is, they are trying to sell the fiction that they are reporting an actual pass rate, not a manipulated number.  This is the same kind of rank misrepresentation that in 2004 converted a 73.7 math score into a "perfect score" and embarrassed the Governor.
The last three columns are mine.  "Report Card" contains the actual score from the online School Report Card.  "Boost1" and "Boost3" again are the boosted 1-year and 3-year accreditation scores ("Pass Rates") minus the Report Card score, i.e., the scoring boosts available from the "adjustments."
Here is the table for the Richmond high schools. 
Sch NameSubjectAverage TypePass RateReport CardBoost1Boost3
Armstrong High EnglishCurrent817476
Armstrong High English3-yr80
Armstrong High MathematicsCurrent4134731
Armstrong High Mathematics3-yr65
Franklin Military AcademyEnglishCurrent908732
Franklin Military AcademyEnglish3-yr89
Franklin Military AcademyMathematicsCurrent595727
Franklin Military AcademyMathematics3-yr64
George Wythe HighEnglishCurrent95932-2
George Wythe HighEnglish3-yr91
George Wythe HighMathematicsCurrent5247530
George Wythe HighMathematics3-yr77
Huguenot HighEnglishCurrent908820
Huguenot HighEnglish3-yr88
Huguenot HighMathematicsCurrent4237534
Huguenot HighMathematics3-yr71
John Marshall HighEnglishCurrent918654
John Marshall HighEnglish3-yr90
John Marshall HighMathematicsCurrent4544131
John Marshall HighMathematics3-yr75
Open HighEnglishCurrent10010000
Open HighEnglish3-yr100
Open HighMathematicsCurrent919106
Open HighMathematics3-yr97
Richmond Community HighEnglishCurrent10010000
Richmond Community HighEnglish3-yr100
Richmond Community HighMathematicsCurrent7272020
Richmond Community HighMathematics3-yr92
Thomas Jefferson HighEnglishCurrent949222
Thomas Jefferson HighEnglish3-yr94
Thomas Jefferson HighMathematicsCurrent5656020
Thomas Jefferson HighMathematics3-yr76

 Notice the Huguenot scores.  That school flunked the math test with a score of 37.  The VDOE spreadsheet reports an accreditation score ("Pass Rate") of 42, a 5 point boost.  That still didn't make the required 70.  The three year average, however, was 75, a 34 point boost over the actual 37 score.  So Huguenot is fully accredited in math, despite a miserable test score this year.
Here we see the two schools that failed in math: Armstrong and Franklin.  To the point of "adjustments," we also see that 3-year boosts ranging from 20 to 34 points saved Wythe, Huguenot, Marshall, and TJ.  So, in fact the passing score was not 70; it was as low as 37.

Got that?  Huguenot's dismal 37 gets boosted to a passing 71, which looks to be about the same as Community's actual, unboosted 72.  Thus this profoundly dishonest process makes a grossly failing math program look as if it's within one point of a school that earned a passing score.  Perhaps more to the point, the manipulated score at Huguenot tells the school its math program is "fully accredited," implying that a math program that has failed miserably does not need to be improved.

The middle schools enjoyed smaller one-year average boosts but a 24.3 point 3-year math boost:
Boost 1Boost 3
English1.85.9
Mathematics1.724.3
The middle school table is slightly more complicated than the high school table.  For example, AP Hill scored 57 on the math test and three points of "adjustments" left it at 60, ten points shy of accreditation.  The three year average, however, raised the actual 57 point score to 82, comfortably above the required 70.  Binford, in contrast, got a five point boost from the English adjustments, which raised it to a passing 71.  Binford did not need the 13 point boost that was available from the 3-year average so VDOE reported Binford at 71.

Get that: Binford's 66 is reported at 71; Hill's 57 is reported as 82!  Can you spell "ludicrous"?
Sch NameSubjectAverage TypePass RateReport CardBoost1Boost3
Albert Hill MiddleEnglishCurrent918924
Albert Hill MiddleEnglish3-yr93
Albert Hill MiddleMathematicsCurrent6057325
Albert Hill MiddleMathematics3-yr82
Binford MiddleEnglishCurrent7166513
Binford MiddleEnglish3-yr79
Binford MiddleMathematicsCurrent4036428
Binford MiddleMathematics3-yr64
Elkhardt MiddleEnglishCurrent767247
Elkhardt MiddleEnglish3-yr79
Elkhardt MiddleMathematicsCurrent4037322
Elkhardt MiddleMathematics3-yr59
Fred D. Thompson MiddleEnglishCurrent747313
Fred D. Thompson MiddleEnglish3-yr76
Fred D. Thompson MiddleMathematicsCurrent4440422
Fred D. Thompson MiddleMathematics3-yr62
Henderson MiddleEnglishCurrent737126
Henderson MiddleEnglish3-yr77
Henderson MiddleMathematicsCurrent2724335
Henderson MiddleMathematics3-yr59
Lucille M. Brown MiddleEnglishCurrent787628
Lucille M. Brown MiddleEnglish3-yr84
Lucille M. Brown MiddleMathematicsCurrent5150119
Lucille M. Brown MiddleMathematics3-yr69
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle EnglishCurrent6156516
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle English3-yr72
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle MathematicsCurrent1713440
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle Mathematics3-yr53
Richmond Alternative EnglishCurrent5053-31
Richmond Alternative English3-yr54
Richmond Alternative MathematicsCurrent2531-610
Richmond Alternative Mathematics3-yr41
Thomas C. Boushall MiddleEnglishCurrent8385-2-5
Thomas C. Boushall MiddleEnglish3-yr80
Thomas C. Boushall MiddleMathematicsCurrent5051-118
Thomas C. Boushall MiddleMathematics3-yr69

 I don't know what to make of the negative boosts at Alternative and Boushall.
The average boosts for the elementary schools were yet smaller.

Boost 1Boost 3
Grade 3 - 5 English1.20.9
Mathematics1.619.5
But the effects were dramatic.
Sch NameSubjectAverage TypePass RateReport CardBoost1Boost3
Bellevue ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent949400
Bellevue ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr94
Bellevue ElementaryMathematicsCurrent7373016
Bellevue ElementaryMathematics3-yr89
Blackwell ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent7476-21
Blackwell ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr77
Blackwell ElementaryMathematicsCurrent4447-327
Blackwell ElementaryMathematics3-yr74
Broad Rock ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent949221
Broad Rock ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr93
Broad Rock ElementaryMathematicsCurrent909005
Broad Rock ElementaryMathematics3-yr95
Chimborazo ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent868333
Chimborazo ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr86
Chimborazo ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5251127
Chimborazo ElementaryMathematics3-yr78
Clark Springs ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent878610
Clark Springs ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr86
Clark Springs ElementaryMathematicsCurrent908826
Clark Springs ElementaryMathematics3-yr94
E.S.H. Greene ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent928932
E.S.H. Greene ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr91
E.S.H. Greene ElementaryMathematicsCurrent78671120
E.S.H. Greene ElementaryMathematics3-yr87
Elizabeth D. Redd ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent888710
Elizabeth D. Redd ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr87
Elizabeth D. Redd ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5755224
Elizabeth D. Redd ElementaryMathematics3-yr79
Fairfield Court ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent939031
Fairfield Court ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr91
Fairfield Court ElementaryMathematicsCurrent7573212
Fairfield Court ElementaryMathematics3-yr85
G.H. Reid ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent878343
G.H. Reid ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr86
G.H. Reid ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5951829
G.H. Reid ElementaryMathematics3-yr80
George Mason ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent858234
George Mason ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr86
George Mason ElementaryMathematicsCurrent6261115
George Mason ElementaryMathematics3-yr76
George W. Carver ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent85850-2
George W. Carver ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr83
George W. Carver ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5350322
George W. Carver ElementaryMathematics3-yr72
Ginter Park ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent777528
Ginter Park ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr83
Ginter Park ElementaryMathematicsCurrent3736134
Ginter Park ElementaryMathematics3-yr70
J.B. Fisher ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent898720
J.B. Fisher ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr87
J.B. Fisher ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5857123
J.B. Fisher ElementaryMathematics3-yr80
J.E.B. Stuart ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent939210
J.E.B. Stuart ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr92
J.E.B. Stuart ElementaryMathematicsCurrent7169216
J.E.B. Stuart ElementaryMathematics3-yr85
J.L. Francis ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent88880-4
J.L. Francis ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr84
J.L. Francis ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5249323
J.L. Francis ElementaryMathematics3-yr72
John B. Cary ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent939212
John B. Cary ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr94
John B. Cary ElementaryMathematicsCurrent6969016
John B. Cary ElementaryMathematics3-yr85
Linwood Holton ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent9293-1-4
Linwood Holton ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr89
Linwood Holton ElementaryMathematicsCurrent7170111
Linwood Holton ElementaryMathematics3-yr81
Mary Munford ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent949224
Mary Munford ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr96
Mary Munford ElementaryMathematicsCurrent8280212
Mary Munford ElementaryMathematics3-yr92
Miles Jones ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent87870-3
Miles Jones ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr84
Miles Jones ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5047325
Miles Jones ElementaryMathematics3-yr72
Oak Grove/Bellemeade ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent787445
Oak Grove/Bellemeade ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr79
Oak Grove/Bellemeade ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5046426
Oak Grove/Bellemeade ElementaryMathematics3-yr72
Overby-Sheppard ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent9091-1-2
Overby-Sheppard ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr89
Overby-Sheppard ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5357-423
Overby-Sheppard ElementaryMathematics3-yr80
Patrick Henry School Of Science And ArtsGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent858413
Patrick Henry School Of Science And ArtsGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr87
Patrick Henry School Of Science And ArtsMathematicsCurrent4848018
Patrick Henry School Of Science And ArtsMathematics3-yr66
Southampton ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent898722
Southampton ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr89
Southampton ElementaryMathematicsCurrent6768-116
Southampton ElementaryMathematics3-yr84
Summer Hill/Ruffin Road ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent787355
Summer Hill/Ruffin Road ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr78
Summer Hill/Ruffin Road ElementaryMathematicsCurrent6257521
Summer Hill/Ruffin Road ElementaryMathematics3-yr78
Swansboro ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent8587-2-3
Swansboro ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr84
Swansboro ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5962-318
Swansboro ElementaryMathematics3-yr80
Westover Hills ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent818014
Westover Hills ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr84
Westover Hills ElementaryMathematicsCurrent4645129
Westover Hills ElementaryMathematics3-yr74
William Fox ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent9596-1-4
William Fox ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr92
William Fox ElementaryMathematicsCurrent868425
William Fox ElementaryMathematics3-yr89
Woodville ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 EnglishCurrent868600
Woodville ElementaryGrade 3 - 5 English3-yr86
Woodville ElementaryMathematicsCurrent5755226
Woodville ElementaryMathematics3-yr81

 In all, five elementary schools (Greene, Fairfield, Stuart, Oak Grove, and Summer Hill) were saved by the one-year boosts while eighteen(!!) (Blackwell, Chimborazo, Redd, Reid, Mason, Carver, Ginter Park, Fisher, Francis, Cary, Jones, Oak Grove, Overby-Sheppard, Southampton, Summer Hill, Swansboro, Westover Hills, and Woodville) were spared by the 3-year boosts.  Oak Grove and Summer Hill are twofers, both accredited by way of one-year boosts (4 and 5 points) in English and 3-year boosts (26 and 21 points) in math.

The one-year and 3-year dichotomy again produced strange results.  Thus Holton scored 70 on the math test and was boosted to 71 (passing by one point).  Just down the street and around the corner, Ginter Park got a 36 on the math test but a 34 point 3-year boost transformed that to a passing score of 70.  Looking at the accreditation numbers, one might think that Holton and Ginter Park both did OK; in fact, Holton passed a tough test while Ginter Park failed miserably.
In terms of a graph, the English scores are seen to be boosted in most cases:
English Accreditation v. Report Card Scores
Oak Grove and Summer Hill (the rightmost red points) missed the 75 required of elementary schools but got "adjusted" into accreditation.  As we saw above, King and Binford (the leftmost red pair) also got "adjusted" above 70 and into accreditation.
The graph for the math test is more dramatic:
Math Accreditation vs. Report Card Scores
The 25 schools left of the red line and above the green line bombed the test but were accredited in math.  That's twenty-five of forty-six schools that scored below 70 but were accredited in math.
After the other subjects and the graduation requirement, nineteen Richmond schools were fully accredited despite bombing the math test and two (Oak Grove and Summer Hill) were fully accredited in spite of flunking scores on both the English and math tests.  Ginter Park leads the Parade of Horribles with a 36 math score "adjusted" to 70.

The "Adjustments"
8VAC20-131-300, in the Accreditation portion of the Standards of Quality regulation, provides, in relevant part:
C. Accreditation ratings defined. Accreditation ratings awarded in an academic year are based upon Virginia assessment program scores from the academic year immediately prior to the year to which the accreditation rating applies. Accreditation ratings are defined as follows:

1. Fully accredited.

* * *
c. With tests administered beginning in the academic year 2012-2013 for the accreditation ratings awarded for school year 2013-2014 and beyond, a school will be rated Fully Accredited when its eligible students meet the pass rate of 75% in English and the pass rate of 70% in mathematics, science, and history and social science. Additionally, each school with a graduating class shall achieve a minimum of 85 percentage points on the Board of Education's graduation and completion index, as described in 8VAC20-131-280 B 2, to be rated Fully Accredited.
A search of the Virginia Administrative Code for "pass rate" produces the following result:
8VAC20-131-300 (show hits) ..Application of the standards.. (5)
8VAC20-630-40 (show hits) ..Program evaluation.. (1)
9VAC5-91-180 (show hits) ..Exhaust emissions standards for on-road testing thr.. (1)
The first two are regulations of the Board of Education.  8VAC20-131-300, which launched this inquiry, is quoted in relevant part above.  8VAC20-630-40 provides
Each local school division shall annually evaluate and modify, as appropriate, their remediation plan based on an analysis of the percentage of students meeting their remediation goals. The pass rate on the Standards of Learning assessments shall also be a measure of the effectiveness of the remedial program.
Hmm.  That's not much help.
8VAC20-131-5 defines "Eligible Student":
“Eligible students” means the total number of students of school age enrolled in the school at a grade or course for which a Standards of Learning test is required unless excluded under the provisions of 8VAC20-131-30 F  and 8VAC20-131-280 D relative to limited English proficient (LEP) students.
The two exceptions there relate to students with disabilities, whose participation in the SOL testing is prescribed by the applicable IEP or 504 plan, and LEP students enrolled in Virginia schools for fewer than 11 semesters. 
The regulation at 8VAC20-131-280 creates the three-year average score option and allows the accreditation to be based (in unspecified part) on the "number of students who successfully complete a remediation recovery plan."
The regulation does not otherwise define the term "pass rate."  Standing alone, the regulation would seem to use the term in its usual sense of number passing divided by number taking.  Yet the VDOE Web page (quoted above) explicitly provides for "adjustments" to the pass rate that go considerable beyond the exceptions set out in the regulation.  The VDOE procedures for calculating the accreditation "pass rate" exclude the following test records from the calculation:
• Test records marked as cheating;
• Test records marked as Grade code “TT”;
• Test records of students attending non-public schools;
• Non-passing Retest;
• Non-passing 8th grade and EOC Recovery;
• Non-passing SOA LEP; and,
• Non-passing SOA Transfer students.
Under "Accreditation Benchmarks," the procedures further provide:
• Either the current year or the three-year average must meet the current year Board-approved
benchmark to be accredited in a given subject.
Rule:
• Passing Math and English Recovery tests scores for 4th through 8th grade and EOC will count twice.
• Failing recover tests scores for 4th through 7th grade count once.
When no scores are received for a given test, it will be indicated on the report as, “NS” (No score received for this subject area) and accreditation will be based on the other subject areas.
Exception
• Exclude failing 8th grade Recovery test scores, if the student has previously taken the same test in any school year (past or present).
Can you see VDOE's thumb on the scale here? 
  • Schools are encouraged to get their weaker students to cheat so those scores won't count.  Yet nothing in the regulation suggests that a cheating student is not an "eligible student."
  • Code TT is a "test taker" not in a grade and not post graduate.  Chuck Pyle tells me this could be a student who has completed the 12th grade but has to sit for the test to get the verified credits necessary to graduate.  In any case, a "TT" student can take the SOL until the computer wears out without effect on the school's accreditation.
  • Non-passing retests, apparently without any colorable authority in the regulation, can likewise be repeated without affecting the school's accreditation until the student gets a pass, whereupon the pass counts!
  • Eighth grade flunking "Recovery" and LEP failing scores don't count against the school while the 8th grade passing Recovery retests count twice!  And, to a lesser degree, in grades 4-7, flunking Recovery scores count once but passing scores count twice.  See this.
  • And, the Big One for this year's math test (albeit expressly allowed by the regulation), if the school doesn't make the "adjusted" grade on this year's test, VDOE will use a three year average (and, as we have seen above, boost a school's score by as much as 34 points).
All these "adjustments" go in one direction: Up.  All these adjustments are totally unnecessary: VDOE writes the test and can make it as easy or hard as they want.  The adjustments only contribute opacity to the process . . . and, as we see above, create opportunities for accreditation scores that are divorced from a school's actual performance.
Your tax dollars at work.
at November 15, 2012
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  • 22.1-79 Powers and duties
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VGLA VICTORY LAP

Beware Their Cheating Hearts
Click here to read how John Butcher and I, with the help of Art Burton and John Lloyd, exposed the cynical way officials at the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) were allowing Richmond Public School officials and school divisions across Virginia to label thousands of children as having disabilities -- who didn't really -- just so those students could take an easier test and boost SOL scores.

Blog Archive

How to Grow Readers

This Ted Talk by Alvin Irby is inspiring! Check it out and find out how to encourage children to become better readers.

HELL TO THE REDSKINS and Mayor Dwight C. Jones

Click on the various links below (many thanks to Silver Persinger) to see what Richmond City Council members had to say about the Redskins/Westhampton/Bon Secours/Richmond Public Schools BOONDOGGLE ...

  • ▼ November (7)
    • Hell to the Redskins - No Cost Training Facility i...
    • "Enhanced" Redskins/Bon Secours Deal Explained at ...
    • Another Turn at Bat - Administration Continues to ...
    • Special Council Meeting on the Redskin/Bon Secours...
    • Alternatives to Incarceration? Get to Work or Go ...
    • Details of Redskins/Bon Secours Deal Discussed at ...
    • Redskins/Bon Secours Giveaways & Riverfront Plan D...

    • Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones, "2014 State of the City Address," Jan. 31, 2014.

      Richmond Virginia, "Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ prepared remarks for the 2014 State of the City Address," Jan. 31, 2014.

      Resolutions and cooperation agreements on the training camp deal, resolutions 2012-236-220 and 2012-235-219, from Nov. 26 and Dec. 17, 2012.

      Richmond Times-Dispatch, "West End school site to get new life," Dec. 2013.

      Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Skins camp support split," October 2013.

      Richmond Times-Dispatch, "SMG likely to take over Washington Redskins training camp," July 29, 2013.

      Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Redskins deal passes after last-minute negotiations," Nov. 27, 2012.

      Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Richmond council takes final steps toward Redskins training camp," Dec. 27, 2012.

      Richmond Times-Dispatch, "City, hospital work to sell ‘Skins deal," Nov. 21, 2012.

      Interviews with James Hester, city assessor, Feb. 5 and Feb. 19, 2014.

      Legislative Information System, State Code: 58.1-3203. Taxation of certain leasehold interests; concessions, accessed Feb. 5, 2014.

      Interview with Charlotte Perkins, performance management officer for Bon Secours, Feb. 14,

      Deed of Lease, Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center, July 8, 2013.

      Performance Agreement, Richmond Economic Development Authority and Bon Secours, July 8, 2013.

      Naming Rights Agreement, July 8, 2013.

      Leigh Street Development Cooperation Agreement, July 3, 2013.


A brief History of the Redskin Debacle

  • A list of "enhancements" to the deal, the fruit of hours of talks with council members who opposed the deal in its original form, were compiled into a...


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  • Richmond mayor’s task force discusses initiating contact with new School Board
  • Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: November 14, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond’s newly elected School Board should have a gentler introduction to Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ school-reform style than the current board, but it shouldn’t expect the pleasantries to lead to a windfall of cash.
    The mayor’s volunteer school finance reform task force spent nearly an hour Tuesday debating the best way to initiate contact with the School Board, which will feature seven newcomers among its nine members in January.
    But City Council President Kathy Graziano, an...


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  • Council passes resolution on Redskins deal
  • Author: ROBERT ZULLO | Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: November 12, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Over vocal opposition from West End residents, Richmond’s City Council tonight approved a broad resolution endorsing Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ proposed deal with Bon Secours Richmond Health System to build a nearly $9 million training camp for the Washington Redskins.
    The proposed agreement with Bon Secours, announced last month, provides $6.4 million in sponsorship for the camp in exchange for a long-term, low-cost lease on the former Westhampton School property at Libbie and Patterson...


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  • Jones: Progress, but also missteps
  • Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: October 14, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)

  • No one could accuse Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones of a lack of vision.
    In the last year of his first term, the Baptist minister and former state delegate has laid out ambitious plans to dramatically transform the city's public-housing complexes, bring the Washington Redskins' summer training camp down Interstate 95 to a new home in the city and make the James River more accessible to residents, among other programs.
    Those initiatives join the ongoing construction of a $134 million...


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  • View the full text of this story »»» Go to top of this page »»» Begin New Search


  • Residents ask Richmond City Council to give schools more funds
  • Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: April 11, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)

  • Residents beseeched the Richmond City Council to meet the school system's request for an additional $23.8 million during a public hearing Tuesday night on the city budget.
    A small but passionate procession of school employees, parents and other residents lined up to ask council members to "fully fund" Richmond Public Schools in the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.
    The hearing came less than eight hours after a consulting group recommended steps, including staffing cuts and ...

  • UPDATE: Mayor to finance new baseball stadium with debt savings

  • Author: Times-Dispatch Staff Times-Dispatch
    Date: March 2, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    RICHMOND, Va.
    Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said today he will use interest rate savings from paying off old debts as debt service for the city's share of a new $50 million baseball stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
    Jones said the city is using money repaid from an old loan to the Richmond Metropolitan Authority to pay off $26.1 million in debt at an average interest rate of 5 percent and allow the issuance of $36 million in debt at a lower rate, around 3 percent. The...


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  • Richmond picks builder for two schools
  • Author: Will Jones
    Date: September 15, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond's plans for two new elementary schools on South Side are back on track with a company that initially did not vie for the work.
    Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced this week the selection of MB Contractors of Roanoke to build a new Broad Rock Elementary School and a new Oak Grove Elementary School for a combined $39.2 million. The 650-student schools are scheduled to open in January 2013 - four months later than planned - and they will be the city's first new public school buildings...


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  • Mayor Jones: Mistakes made in Richmond jail-planning process Author: Will Jones
    Date: September 12, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    RICHMOND
    Acknowledging mistakes in its jail-planning process, Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones' administration revealed Monday that it will seek relief from state design requirements for the facility.
    "There have been some mistakes but, in a project of this size, it's not unnecessarily unnatural," Jones said in an interview, in which he insisted that the city's procurement process had not been compromised.
    Citing new and ongoing concerns about the process, the City Council...


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  • Hurricane briefs for Wednesday, Aug. 31 Author: Times-Dispatch Staff
    Date: August 31, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond
    Mayor Dwight C. Jones on Tuesday announced a free shuttle service to transport residents who are without power to operating grocery stores. The GRTC City Supermarket Shuttle will be free to the riders today.
    "We want residents to have some ability to get the goods and products that they need that will keep in this environment while power is being restored," the mayor said in a statement.
    Buses will board passengers at specific locations and transport them to nearby...


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  • Search result 384 of 1006

    Michael Paul Williams: With redistricting, Richmond drawing new race issue Author: Michael Paul Williams
    Date: July 29, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    An African-American member of the Richmond School Board would be redistricted into oblivion as part of an effort to preserve the black voting strength in a neighboring ward.
    Under a draft redistricting plan, the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Kimberly Gray, the 2nd District representative on the School Board, would be absorbed into the majority-black 3rd District.
    That's the same 3rd District that since 2004 has been represented by a white councilman and white School Board members. In...

  • Redistricting plan moves School Board member
  • Author: Will Jones
    Date: July 20, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The Richmond City Council is ready to seek public comment on a redistricting plan that would move School Board member Kimberly B. Gray out of her 2nd District and would not spread the city's large public-housing communities across more districts.
    Protecting incumbents wasn't among the council's adopted criteria for redistricting, but the prospect of moving the western part of Jackson Ward and subsequently Gray into the 3rd District is expected to generate controversy.
    "Everyone is...

  • Jones gets final report on Richmond redistricting Author: Will Jones
    Date: July 7, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is welcoming but not yet endorsing three options for redistricting, including one that would overhaul the city's electoral map and reduce the number of voter districts from nine to as few as five.
    On Wednesday, Jones accepted a final report from a committee appointed to make recommendations for redistricting in light of the city's 22 percent poverty rate and the concentrations of poor residents in the East End and South Side.
    The City Council, which is...


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  • Search result 387 of 1006

    RMA payout comes with a catch Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 29, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond will have to wait another decade or longer to take ownership of the expressway system if it collects $60.3 million to settle a long-standing debt with the Richmond Metropolitan Authority.
    Because the city provided early financial support, portions of the toll-road system within the city limits are scheduled to revert to city ownership when the RMA's primary public debt of about $122 million is paid off.
    That's now scheduled to occur in 2022, but the date would be pushed...


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  • Two School Board members would shift districts under redistricting plans Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 25, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Two members of the Richmond School Board would be drawn out of their districts under a pair of redistricting options that are being finalized by a committee appointed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
    School Board member Kimberly B. Gray would be shifted in both scenarios from the 2nd District to the 3rd, while Maurice Henderson would be moved in one of the plans from the 5th to the 2nd.
    Committee members emphasized in a meeting Friday that they had not considered the residency of City...


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  • Ideas for $60.3 million windfall abound Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 24, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Three members of the Richmond City Council credited Mayor Dwight C. Jones for negotiating a $60.3 million windfall for the city but made it clear that the council would have to sign off on any use of the money.
    "The mayor deserves a lot of credit and congratulations for pulling this coup," Councilman E. Martin Jewell said Thursday. "But we are the governing body ... and it seems to me that we should have some ideas as well as the mayor for how those dollars should be spent."
    Or used...


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  • Panel ponders reducing districts in Richmond
  • Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 19, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond should consider reducing its number of voter districts from the current nine to seven or five as a way to help tackle the poverty that plagues the city, according to an unfinished report of a commission appointed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
    One longer-term option being suggested would involve changing the city charter and redrawing from scratch the voter districts, which grew out of a 1970 annexation fight that created Richmond's ward system.
    The draft report says the purpose...


    View the full text of this story »»» Go to top of this page »»» Begin New Search

    • Needed Now More than Ever ...

    Needed Now More than Ever ...

    Labels

    • Bigger Dogs
    • Community Help Needed....
    • Constitution
    • Dissent
    • Maggie Walker
    • Money
    • RPS SOL Scam

    SOL SCORES AND MORE ...

    Possible Consequences

    § 22.1-19.1. Action for violations related to secure mandatory tests.

    A. The Office of the Attorney General, on behalf of the Board of Education, may bring a cause of action in the circuit court having jurisdiction where the person resides or where the act occurred for injunctive relief, civil penalty, or both, against any person who knowingly and willfully commits any of the following acts related to secure mandatory tests required by the Board to be administered to students:
    1. Permitting unauthorized access to secure test questions prior to testing;
    2. Copying or reproducing all or any portion of any secure test booklet;
    3. Divulging the contents of any portion of a secure test;
    4. Altering test materials or examinees' responses in any way;
    5. Creating or making available answer keys to secure tests;
    6. Making a false certification on the test security form established by the Department of Education;
    7. Excluding students from testing who are required to be assessed; or
    8. Participating in, directing, aiding or abetting, or assisting in any of the acts prohibited in this section.
    For the purpose of this subsection, "secure" means an item, question, or test that has not been made publicly available by the Department of Education.
    B. Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit or restrict the reasonable and necessary actions of the Board of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction or the Department of Education or their agents or employees engaged in test development or selection, test form construction, standard setting, test scoring, reporting test scores, or any other related activities which, in the judgment of the Superintendent of Public Instruction or Board of Education, are necessary and appropriate.
    C. Any person who violates any provisions of this section may be assessed a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each violation. Furthermore, any person whose administrative or teaching license has been suspended or revoked pursuant to § 22.1-292.1 may be assessed a civil penalty for the same violation under this section and the reasonable costs of any review or investigation of a violation of test security.
    All civil penalties paid to the Commonwealth pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the Literary Fund.
    D. For the purpose of this section, "person" shall not mean a student enrolled in a public school.
    2000, cc. 634, 659; 2004, cc. 939, 955; 2006, cc. 25, 95; 2011, c. 248.

    Stoney Deal

    Stoney Deal

    Bravo, RPS!

    Jason Kamras‏ @JasonKamras

    We did it! 3,000 Obama Elementary t-shirts sold! Enormous gratitude to RVA: We ❤️ you! Changing a school name is just a symbol. But symbols matter. We’re proud @RPS_Schools to symbolize hope, inclusivity, and the great promise of EVERY child in Richmond.


    DISCIPLINE & DISABILITIES & RACE & GENDER

    Dive Brief:

    • Black students with disabilities miss significantly more instructional time due to suspension than their white peers, according to a new report released Thursday by Harvard University law professors and The Civil Rights Project at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
    • "Disabling Punishment" provides state-by-state data on the number of days that students with disabilities missed due to suspension and identifies the five states with the biggest racial gaps. For example, in Nevada, for every 100 students with disabilities, black students were out of the classroom for 209 days, compared to 56 days for white students. The other four are Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee and Nebraska, where the number of days of suspension for black students with disabilities is quadruple that of white students, according to the report.
    • The researchers also argue that some of the student behaviors leading to suspension could be a result of their disability, such as emotional disturbance — calling this the “equivalent of denying that student access to education.” They recommend that state leaders identify districts where these gaps are the largest and have state-level administrators analyze the reasons why the consequences for certain infractions are different for black students with disabilities than they are their white peers.

    Dive Insight:

    Removing students from the classroom should be “a measure of last resort,” the researchers write, and they call for the use of climate surveys, behavior incident reports and other monitoring strategies to determine if schools are improving “conditions of learning.”

    The analysis was conducted in response to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ efforts to revisit and possibly rescind Obama-era guidance aimed at reducing racial disparities in school discipline. The guidance is related to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act — which states that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) will investigate complaints of discipline policies and practices that discriminate based on students’ “personal characteristics”

    Earlier this month, DeVos held back-to-back “listening sessions” with supporters of the guidance — who say it improves school safety and helps them be mindful of using alternative strategies — and opponents who argue that the guidance has increased disruptive behavior in school and that the federal government shouldn’t be dictating local school district policy.

    In addition, DeVos opened a public comment period in order to decide whether to push back until 2020 an Obama administration rule that asks states to identify whether students of color are overrepresented in special education programs. The comment period closes on May 14.

    In a piece on growing efforts to reduce out-of-school suspension — and implement alternatives that change students’ behavior — Barbara Higgins Perez, a former Oceanside Unified School District administrator who founded a consulting group, said that in her 20 years as an educator, she never once had a student return to school following a suspension with any completed assignments. The chances of a student with a disability doing any schoolwork at home are probably even lower, especially if they need the accommodations or support from a special education teacher that is available at school.

    Recommended Reading:

    • Charles Hamilton Houston Institute For Race And Justice, Center For Civil Rights RemediesDisabling Punishment: The Need for Remedies to the Disparate Loss of Instruction Experience by Black Students with Disabilitiesoffsite link

    TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED and BLACK

    Using her family’s experiences in Chicago, Hansberry started work on A Raisin In The Sun. A line from one of Langston Hughes’ poems inspired the play’s title. The work was completed in 1957 in the midst of Hansberry’s growing activism and involvement with feminism and gay rights. It has been theorized that Hansberry was a closeted lesbian, which was supported by secret letters and journal entries discovered after her death.

    The play debuted on Broadway March 11, 1959, earning praise from critics and audiences alike. Set in the Chicago neighborhood of her youth, A Raisin In The Sun examined the impact racial segregation had on Black lives in the Fifties. At age 29, Hansberry was the youngest playwright and only the fifth woman to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. So immediately popular was A Raisin In The Sun that for the next two years, it was translated into 35 languages and performed around the globe. Hansberry continued to work as a writer and playwright, but only one other play made it to Broadway.

    In 1963, Hansberry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and two surgeries failed to arrest its spread. Hansberry died in 1965 at age 34. Paul Robeson and SNCC leader James Forman eulogized Hansberry at her funeral. Messages from James Baldwin and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were also shared. Nina Simone’s “To Be Young, Gifted, And Black” was inspired by Hansberry.

    Like BlackAmericaWeb.com on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

    What Works?

    Dropout Risk Factors and Exemplary Programs

    By: Cynthia Hammond , D. Linton , J. Smink and S. Drew

    Dropout decisions may involve up to 25 significant factors, ranging from parenthood to learning disabilities. The most effective interventions address the various factors and employ multiple strategies, including personal asset building, academic support, and family outreach. A list of 50 exemplary programs is included.

    Demography as Destiny: How America Can Build a Better Future

    By: Alliance for Excellent Education

    Barely 50% of minority students graduate from high school on time. If this trend continues and the minority student populations increase as projected, the economic strength of the U.S. will be undermined. But if 78% of all student populations graduate on time by 2020, the U.S. can realize stunning potential benefits: conservatively, more than $310 billion would be added to the national economy.

    Dropping Out is Hard to Do

    By: Craig D. Jerald

    Recent research shows that some high schools have much lower dropout rates than would be predicted based on the composition of their student bodies. Moreover, requiring students to work harder and complete a tougher academic curriculum might actually improve graduation rates rather than making them plummet, as so many educators fear.

    Wikipedia

    Search results

    Alphabet Soup

    Acronyms / Glossary:

    FAPE — Free Appropriate Public Education
    IDEA — Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
    IEP — Individualized Educational Program
    LRE — Least Restrictive Environment
    PTI — Parent Training and Information Centers
    Child Find — Child Find requires public school districts to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities. This obligation to identify all children who may need special education services exists even if the school is not providing special education services to the child.
    Prior Written Notice — IDEA requires that the school/district provide written notice whenever the district (1) Proposes to begin or changes the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of your child or the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to your child; or (2) Refuses to begin or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of your child or the provision of FAPE to your child. [34 CFR §300.503(b)]. The school district must provide the notice in understandable language [34 CFR §300.503(c)].

    Related Links:

    Learn about Self-Advocacy: Speaking Up
    Short, step-by-step video clips of young people sharing their experiences with self-advocacy. Includes a map to help youth find self-advocacy groups in their state.

    Youth Organizing! Disabled & Proud
    A program of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC). YO! Disabled & Proud connects, organizes, and educates youth with disabilities

    Youth in Action! Becoming a Stronger Self-Advocate.
    Speaks directly to young adults with disabilities with a focus on self-advocacy

    KASA (Kids As Self Advocates).
    KASA empowers youth to learn how to advocate for themselves and others through better knowledge of school, health care, technology, and other current issues important to young people

    Youthhood.org
    This engaging site reminds students with disabilities they are not alone as they explore community and build a better collective future.

    Speak Up! Using What You’ve Got to Get What You Want
    Engaging multimedia tool that trains young people with disabilities how to speak up and advocate for themselves.

    Sample Letters

    DREDF Special Education Training Materials

    Find Your Parent Training and Information Center


    DREDF eNews and Special EDitions:

    Special EDitions

    Archived eNews & Special EDitions

    Recent Articles that quote JASON KAMRAS


    Undocumented suspensions persisted in D.C. schools despite repeated alerts

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    Emma Brown · Education · Jan 25, 2016

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    The four-year contract calls for 3 percent annual raises.
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    SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

    Best Comment of the Day:

    Having been a "truant officer" involved in court under CHINS etc this is dear to my heart. You have raised some great points. I would like to add another.

    The Code of Virginia is clear regarding truancy and to some degree dropouts. I looked at Richmond web page and found two interesting reports. Under "Drop Out Rates submitted to VDOE for the 2014-15 school term there were 295 dropouts for grades 9-12. Ok. Then I found that for grades 7-8 there were 55 dropouts.

    This raises several questions? What happened to the 55 middle school kids? How many involved court action ? CHINS? Same is true for high school school students. What were these kids attendance rates at elementary (I think we know)? There are more questions than answers. But somewhere there are records of nothing being done or something being done. Too many dropouts and rate of absences [too] high.

    Thank you for these posts !
    ~ Bob Whytal

    If CHICAGO CAN, WHY CAN'T WE?

    Chicago Schools Lead Country in Academic Growth, Study Finds

    By Sarah D. Sparks
    Exactly 30 years after then-Secretary of Education William J. Bennett labeled Chicago Public Schools the worst in the nation, new research shows that Windy City schools now lead the country in academic growth.

    A new study by Stanford University researchers Sean Reardon and Rebecca Hinze-Pifer tracked reading and math test score growth among public school students from 2009 to 2014. Across racial groups, the researchers found that Chicago students learned significantly faster from grades 3 to 8 than did students in nearly all other U.S. districts—gaining about six years' worth of learning in five years.

    Moreover, there was evidence that incoming student cohorts were improving rapidly. At each of grades 3 through 8, Chicago students' test scores rose two-thirds of a grade level from 2009 to 2014, compared to the average national improvement of one-sixth of a grade level in those grades during that time. Black, Hispanic, and white students all showed that improvement.

    Altogether, only 4 percent of districts in the country—and none of the other 100 largest districts— have growth rates that high, Reardon noted. "Chicago is not just an outlier among large districts; it's an outlier among all 11,000 districts we can measure this for. It's a striking case," Reardon said.

    Reardon and Hinze-Pifer analyzed Illinois state test scores in reading and math for Chicago and compared them to scores nationwide using a database of nationally comparable, district-level test data. They found Chicago students perform below the national average in reading and math, and white students in the city outperform black and Hispanic students by a full grade level on average. But they also found that the city has narrowed its national academic gap as well as some racial gaps.

    In 2008-09, Chicago 3rd graders scored about 1.4 grades below the national average in math and reading. By the time those 3rd graders got to 8th grade, they performed only .4 of a grade level—about half a school year— below the national average. That was 19 percent faster than the average national academic growth during that time. Hispanic students, who made up 45 percent of the school district during that time, grew 1.2 grade levels faster than the national average for all students, helping them close the achievement gap with white students by .4 of a grade level from grade 3 to 8.

    Chicago's Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson said the results mirror the districts' own analysis over the last five years, and "we're really excited to see these data reaffirmed on the national level."

    Chi-Town Challenges

    In the last decade, the 370,000-student Chicago district has been roiled by rising poverty, shrinking enrollment, and shifting racial demographics, but the researchers found the growth rate has been too fast for a changing student body to account for the improvement. The district does hold back about 5 percentage points more struggling students in grades 3 to 8 than other districts, but this could account for only about 1/20th of the difference in academic growth, according to the researchers. And while Chicago was under pressure to improve for federal and state accountability purposes, the researchers found that the improvements they noted on state tests mirrored the district's gains on the Trial Urban District Assessment, part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress that is not used for accountability.

    "This is not driven by cheating or teaching to the test or gaming the system in some way," Reardon said. "I'm persuaded there really are impressive rates of learning in Chicago."

    The researchers suggested the learning gains are likely coming from changes in the preschool and early elementary grades. "But the interesting question is, what is it that is happening in Chicago in the schools, in the city, in kids' early childhood that is leading to both the rapid growth rate from 3rd to 8th grade and the improvement from one cohort to the next. And what can we learn from that, ... for other school districts?" Reardon said.

    CPS' Jackson suggested that the district's focus on expanding preschool attendance, improving professional development for elementary school principals, and aligning the district's curriculum have all played a role in the district's growth. Yet she also said competition from private and charter schools and clearer accountability standards have also helped boost achievement.

    "I believe the level of transparency we have provided around what a quality school is has been transformational in this district," Jackson said.

    Jackson said the district is looking to partner with more researchers interested in digging into district data to identify the cause of elementary and middle-school growth and how it might be replicated in other districts, as well as how academic growth is progressing in high schools, which were not part of the Stanford study.

    Photo Source: Getty

    Related:

    • Study: Most School Districts Have Achievement Gaps
    • Chicago School System Enrollment Declines by Nearly 10,000 Students
    • Can Requiring a Post-Graduation Plan Motivate Students? Chicago Thinks So.

    QUOTE OF THE DAY

    “That was some weird shit.”

    —George W. Bush, immediately following the inauguration ceremony of President Donald Trump, according to New York Magazine. New York reported on Tuesday that three anonymous sources all said they heard W say it. A Bush spokesperson declined to comment.


    Notable Quote from FaceBook About RVA Public Schools ...

    I think people have to open their eyes and their mouths. The obvious answer is that RPS needs additional funds. It is crystal clear to an outsider that the City says one thing and does another. The entire school board needs to go out there on the front steps of City Hall along side the teachers and students and demand that City Council and the Mayor explain how they can find funding for baseball, football and beer manufacturers, but cannot, or will not, adequately fund the schools.

    How many people have to come to Richmond and tell them that if they want to attract middle class residents and decent jobs, while reducing poverty and increasing real estate values, they have to invest in their schools. Baseball stadium jobs, football training center jobs, food vendor jobs, beer company jobs, are all good jobs for high school or college students, but they will not pay big people bills, and they damn sure will not get anyone out of the projects. ~ Glen Allen

    GREAT NEWS!


    The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
    July 6 at 1:57pm ·

    Agency records can be subject to the Freedom of Information Act even if they are kept in an employee’s nongovernmental email account, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

    The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Competitive Enterprise Institute v. Office of Science and Technology Policy reversed a decision by a district court, which dismissed the case last year. The D.C. Circuit’s decision could set an important precedent for journalists and other FOIA requesters by clarifying that agency records are subject to FOIA regardless of their location.

    Court rules FOIA can apply to private email accounts | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
    Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all…
    RCFP.ORG

    Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You ..

    Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You ..
    But What You Can Do for your Country

    Notable Quote from FaceBook About RVA Public Schools ...

    HOW TO CONTACT RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

    HOW TO CONTACT RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
    Make it clear that by not providing the necessary funds to fix the school buildings, the Mayor and City Council members are akin to slumlords who refuse to improve their run-down properties -- despite repeated efforts by the tenants -- to get them to do so. Click on the graphic to read "Landlord Blues" by Langston Hughes.

    GRANTS ...

    Education Hub

    GrantSpaceHave you visited GrantSpace, Foundation Center's learning community for the social sector? In the Education area of the site, you'll find education-themed videos and podcasts, sample grant proposals, the latest education-related reports from IssueLab, funding facts and figures, an FAQ, a Twitter feed featuring the tweets of education funders, and more. Stop by and join the conversation!

    Girls Who Code

    Girls Who CodeFounded in 2012, Girls Who Code aims to close the gender gap in technology by providing young girls with women role models in the tech industry and high-quality instruction in computer science. With the goal of reaching a million young women by 2020, the organization's model pairs intensive instruction with high-touch mentorship led by top female engineers and entrepreneurs. Learn more.

    Women in the South

    The Status of Women in the SouthFor women of color, the gap in earnings between those with a high school degree and those with at least a bachelor's degree is wider in the South than in other regions, a report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research finds. The report, The Status of Women in the South (259 pages, PDF), examined data from fourteen Southern states related to women's employment and earnings, health and well-being, poverty and opportunity, political participation, and safety and found that millennial women between the ages of 25 and 34 were more likely to have a bachelor's degree than males the same age but less likely have one than millennial women in other states. Download the report.


    Recent Postings on John Butcher's "Cranky" Blog ....Click anywhere on the text below ...

    VCU: Expanding Upon Incompetence/Reversible “Progress” “Educator” = “Criminal”?? /A Modest Proposal/Lynchburg SGP/ Important SGP Data Suppressed by VDOE/Bang per Buck SGP Analysis /Why Publish Teacher Evaluations?/VDOE Is Spending Your Money to Avoid Disclosing the Data You Paid For /Excuses, Excuses.

    Improved Reading Scores Will Improve Writing Scores

    Improved Reading Scores Will Improve Writing Scores
    w/h/t Rayhan Daudani

    Single Gender Education Articles

    http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-singlesexvscoed.htm

    Search Results

    1. NASSPE: Policy > The Virginia Military Institute Case

      www.singlesexschools.org/policy-vmicase.htm
      The Justice Department asserted that VMI, as a state school, could not legally ... with the Justice Department: the state of Virginia could not fund a single-sex ...

    2. Court Approves Settlement Reached in Challenge to West ...

      https://www.aclu.org/.../court-approves-se...
      American Civil Liberties Union
      Jul 8, 2013 - ... to West Virginia Single-Sex School Program Rooted in Stereotypes ... Board of Education has agreed to abandon single-sex education for ...

    3. United States v. Virginia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Virginia
      Wikipedia
      Commonwealth of Virginia's exclusion of women from the Virginia Military Institute ... but equal facilities separated on the basis of sex: "it is not the ' exclusion of women' that ... any ROTC program at one of the six senior military colleges, including VMI. ... Virginia". Duke Law Journal (Duke University School of Law) 48 (2): ...

    4. United States v. Virginia | The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago ...

      www.oyez.org/cases/1990-1999/1995/1995_94_1941
      Oyez Project
      Virginia failed to support its claim that single-sex education contributes to educationaldiversity because it did not show that VMI's male-only admissions policy ...

    5. United States v. Virginia et al., 518 U.S. 515 (1996). - Legal ...

      www.law.cornell.edu/supct/.../94-1941.ZS.ht...

      Legal Information Institute
      by Supreme Court - ‎1996 - ‎Cited by 4876 - ‎Related articles
      Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is the sole single sex school among Virginia's public institutions of higher learning. VMI's distinctive mission is to produce " citizen ...

    6. United States v. Virginia et al., 518 U.S. 515 (1996). - Legal ...

      www.law.cornell.edu/supct/.../94-1941.ZO.ht...

      Legal Information Institute
      by Supreme Court - ‎1996 - ‎Cited by 4871 - ‎Related articles
      Founded in 1839, VMI is today the sole single sex school among Virginia's 15 public institutions of higher learning. VMI's distinctive mission is to produce " citizen ...

    7. [PDF]The Future of Single-Sex Education After United States v ...

      www.stetson.edu/.../note-dead-yet-the-future-of-single...

      Stetson University
      by J Land - ‎Cited by 13 - ‎Related articles
      Virginia,1 the Court effectively ended the long tradition of male-only admissions ... forms of single-sex education, public and private.3 However, Justice. Scalia's ...

    8. Once plenty, now single-sex colleges in Va. down to 3

      www.newsleader.com/.../same-sex...a.../24373843/

      The News Leader
      Mar 4, 2015 - Virginia at one time boasted many single-sex colleges. ... College student waves to a crowd member during the school's graduation ceremony ...

    9. Judge stops W. Va. single-sex classes: Were they a success ...

      www.csmonitor.com/.../Education/.../Judg...

      The Christian Science Monitor
      Aug 31, 2012 - A federal judge prevented a West Virginia public school from proceeding with its single-sex classes, saying parents didn't get a fair chance to ...

    10. State-sponsored single-gender education does not violate ...

      https://csl.sog.unc.edu/node/831
      Facts: The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a four-year military college for men supported by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The United States Department of ...

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    VGLA Math Participation Rates/Richmond Public Schools 2009-2010

    Attendance Matters

    INCUBATING A DEFECTIVE REGULATORY FETUS

    DECEMBER 3, 2014 CRANKY

    In 2013 (latest data on the VDOE site), Richmond had a 93.4% attendance rate. That is equivalent to a 6.6% absence rate, i.e., the average student was absent for 11.4 of the 173 teaching days in 2012-13.

    Too many of those absences were unexcused. For example, that year and in 2014, over 2,000 Richmond students had ten or more unexcused absences.

    image

    Your State Board of Education is required by law to enforce the compulsory attendance statutes. At present, it does not even collect enough data to know whether the school divisions are in compliance with Va. Code § 22.1-258, which requires a set of escalating responses, culminating in court action upon the seventh unexcused absence.

    The Board finally got around to publishing a proposed regulation on January 30, 2012, 1038 days ago. The proposal was grossly inadequate (pdf at 11). They re-proposed the regulation on January 10, 2013, 692 days ago. As of today, the (defective) re-proposed regulation awaits review by the Governor.

    To provide some context, here are a few selected gestation periods:

    image

    All the while, Richmond’s students cut class with impunity.

    Your tax dollars at “work.”

    Post navigation

    By John R. Butcher ...

    CREDULOUS REPORTERS, MENDACIOUS BUREAUCRATS

    OLD NEWS; SAME OLD DISTORTIONS

    OCTOBER 18, 2014

    The Free Press reported on Oct. 14: “Richmond graduation rate up, but dropout rate still among Va.’s highest.” The story relies on “a new state report on on-time graduation.”

    In fact, the story relies on the VDOE cohort report that has been available since at least Sept. 25 (the date on the pdf version is Sept. 19). So it seems that, for the Free Press, it’s “new” if it’s not at least three weeks old.

    More seriously, the Free Press story uncritically spouts the “on-time” statistics that VDOE uses to baldly misrepresent the actual graduation rates Thus, the “almost 81% rate” reported by the paper is VDOE’s 80.5% “on-time” rate that is exaggerated by 9.0%.

    The story lists a “bright spot” at Armstrong. In fact, the 80% “on-time” rate there includes 7.3% modified standard diplomas and 4.6% special diplomas, so the federal graduation indicator of advanced+standard diplomas, i.e., the real graduation rate, is only 68.1%. Hardly a “bright spot.”

    To it’s credit, the story also points out that even the funky “on-time” rate is some ten points below the state rate and that we have one of the worst dropout rates in the state.

    There is good news here: It’s not that Richmond’s 71.5% real graduation rate is good but that it is much better than last year’s 65.1% rate.

    image

    LOUSY SCHOOLS, MENDACIOUS BUREAUCRATS

    THE ACCREDITATION DIRGE

    SEPTEMBER 17, 2014 CRANKY

    Despite VDOE’s inflation of the accreditation numbers, Richmond has been in free fall since 2012.

    accred3

    image

    There also is a graduation requirement: Full accreditation requires an 85 on the “graduate completer index.” All of the mainstream high schools except TJ bombed this requirement again this year:

    accred4

    This is a distinctly awful performance compared to the statewide data:

    accred7

    Your tax dollars at “work.”

    Meet New RPS "Team Bedden"

    New RPS team taking on big challenges - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Education

    View all 13 images in galleryBy ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch

    Finding people to help turn around a school system widely regarded as one of the state’s most challenging hasn’t been easy for Richmond Superintendent Dana T. Bedden, but after nine months of searching, he finally has in place the team he wants.

    Of seven top newcomers, none has a connection to city schools or Bedden. Several are young leaders on their way up, but the group also includes a former state bureaucrat eager to again take on a district-level challenge and a well-traveled expert on facilities issues.

    There also are three holdovers from the staff of the previous superintendent, giving the team a measure of institutional knowledge as it begins working to improve a system in which only 11 of 45 schools earned full state accreditation this year and where most buildings are in a state of disrepair.

    “It’s a big mission, but every one of them is professional, and I think they came here because they wanted to be part of something special,” said Bedden, himself a newcomer to Richmond.

    ***

    When Bedden was hired in January after working as superintendent in Augusta, Ga., and Irving, Texas, he walked into a school system in disarray.

    Academic achievement was plummeting, the city’s aging collection of school buildings was falling apart and the school system’s staff was fleeing for other jobs as fast as possible.

    Bedden’s immediate challenge was preparing the new budget and putting out the system’s seemingly endless fires, but he also found time to rework the organizational chart and begin the search for people to help him succeed.

    He expanded the number of people who report directly to the superintendent from two to 11.

    And to fill the positions, he changed the way the city hires. For each position, he recruited a panel of experts from surrounding school systems and private industry to review applications and recommend finalists.

    Of the 11 jobs, 10 are now filled (Bedden is still looking for a chief of staff.)

    The assistant and associate superintendents are new, as are the directors of elementary and secondary education and the school turnaround specialist.

    The school system also has new people in several other key positions, notably in transportation and as principals in four of the city’s eight middle schools.

    “With that many outsiders who don’t feel like they have to defend the ways of the past, it gives us the freedom to be creative, to try new things,” said School Board member Glen H. Sturtevant Jr., 1st District, one of seven people who joined the nine-person board after the November 2012 election.

    That group, plus the two holdovers, have pushed for sweeping changes for a school system that quickly plummeted from full accreditation in 2010 to the ranks of the state’s worst performers in less than three years.

    Sturtevant said the new leaders have a big challenge.

    “I think we’ve already seen some progress,’ he said. “Now they need to present us with some reasonable, achievable goals that can demonstrate we’re going in the right direction.”

    ***

    Sturtevant and other board members said a big difference has been the customer service focus on Bedden’s staff.

    “You see that focus not just to the public, but also to principals and other school leaders,” he said.

    Vice Chairwoman Kristen N. Larson, 4th District, said the new staff is having an immediate impact on the middle school level, a transition point in which the city traditionally loses students to private schools and surrounding counties.

    “I think the fact that they were able to bring in four new principals already is a good sign,” she said.

    School Board member Kimberly Gray, 2nd District, called the change “refreshing.”

    In their sixth year on the board, she and Chairman Donald L. Coleman, 7th District, are the only members, of nine, who survived the 2012 election.

    “What we have before us is a great opportunity,” she said.

    Bedden’s team sees it that way, too.

    While he never worked with any of them before coming to Richmond, he has quickly created deep loyalty.

    “He’s extremely sharp. He knows a lot about everything,” said Ralph Westbay, the assistant superintendent for financial services. “But he doesn’t want to do your job. I’ve worked with superintendents who do.

    “He wants you to do your job, and he gives you the freedom to do it.”

    Tommy Kranz, the assistant superintendent for operations, has been the most visible so far because he has taken the lead on facility issue.

    He likes to downplay his role – “It’s my job to make sure our students have a safe place to go to school,” he likes to say – but what he has done hasn’t been overlooked.

    “He’s done a great job of keeping those issues off my desk,” Bedden said. “When he does that, I can focus on academic issues.”

    Larson said Kranz has also had a meaningful impact on transportation.

    “Early in the year, a parent called me to complain about her child’s bus not being there on time,” she said. “The next morning, he was at the bus stop with her. When you get that kind of commitment, good things happen.”

    D. Timothy Billups

    Title: Executive Director of Human Resources

    Previous Job: chief of staff, Richmond Public Schools

    Career Highlights: worked for Quaker Oats and Deluxe Check Printers Inc.

    Education: Virginia Commonwealth University, bachelor’s; Virginia Tech, master’s

    Why you came to Richmond: Having grown up in the area, for me, the capital city is home; thus, I have a vested interest in seeing it flourish. If each of us, working together, contributes the best of who we are each day, personally and professionally, then the impact that we can make on the children and families of our city will be boundless.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: An even greater expansion of our recruitment initiatives. We will begin using different technology that will allow interaction between HR, stakeholders and applicants.

    Michelle Boyd

    Title: Executive Director, Exceptional Education and Student Services

    Previous job: director, Exceptional Education and Student Services

    Career highlights: Worked collaboratively with the Virginia Department of Education and Virginia Commonwealth University in the development of Virginia’s first public charter school that focuses on enhancing post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities (Richmond Career Education and Employment Academy, located in George Wythe High School).

    Education: Clarion University of Pennsylvania, bachelor’s; University of Maryland, master’s; College of William and Mary, doctorate

    Why you came to Richmond: I was drawn to Richmond Public Schools by the school division’s and community’s commitment to enhance opportunities for all students, which aligned with my professional beliefs.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: a) increased programming and supports to enhance school climate, b) increased percent of students with disabilities who are educated in general education settings, c) development of transition programs to support students who are over age for their respective grade levels, and d) expansion of professional development opportunities for professional and support staff.

    Janice E. Garland

    Title: Executive Director of School Improvement and Innovation

    Previous job: lead school improvement coordinator in the Office of School Improvement at the Virginia Department of Education

    Career highlights: National Institute of School Leadership (NISL) certification (2014); USED School Improvement Grant Conference, presenter (2013); Program Director for Four Rivers Technology in Education Consortium (2007-09); Fulbright Scholarship Award (study abroad in Japan, 2002); Oxford University Roundtable At-Risk Conference: Oxford, England, Presenter (2003); Virginia Association of Federal Program Administrators Leadership and Service Award (2004).

    Education: University of Richmond, bachelor’s; Virginia Commonwealth University, master’s; Seton Hall University, Ed.D. in Leadership and Policy, anticipated May 2015

    Why you came to Richmond: I was impressed with Dana Bedden’s visionary leadership and focus on improving outcomes for all students. The position allows me to work with a diverse team whose focus is improving conditions that will increase student learning. … The school-level improvement team focuses on a few goals that have the potential to make the most significant impact on student achievement.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: The team’s goal is to deliver on-site building-level support, ensure strategic deployment of resources (human, capital, material) and enhance leadership and instructional capacity in order to have the greatest impact on student learning.

    Anthony W. Leonard

    Title: Executive Director of Elementary Schools

    Previous job: elementary principal from 2004-2014 (Prince William County)

    Career highlights: I advanced Kerrydale Elementary School from the second-lowest performing, non-accredited elementary school (ranking 67 out of 69) to one of the top performing, fully accredited Title I elementary schools. … won Virginia Board of Education Rising Star Award in Prince William County in 2010, the 2012 Virginia Board of Education VIP Competence to Excellence Award, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 School of Excellence Award.

    Education: West Virginia Institute of Technology, bachelor’s; George Mason, master’s; Virginia Tech, doctorate

    Why you came to Richmond: My education experiences include serving all socio-economic groups. I have been a product of the lower socio-economic groups we serve in RPS and have discovered a way to level the playing field for all students by enhancing their success.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: Support all elementary schools in achieving accreditation and meeting all Annual Measurable Objectives.

    Timothy L. Mallory Sr.

    Title: Chief of Safety and Security

    Previous job: security manager, Chesterfield County Schools, 2007-14

    Career highlights: Served as the Southeast Regional Director of the National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officials Association, Project Director for the Emergency Response and Crisis Management and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grants, Norfolk Public Schools and the Project Director for the Readiness and Emergency Management and COPS Grants for Chesterfield County Public Schools.

    Education: University of Maine, associate’s degree; Saint Leo University, bachelor’s; Regent University, master’s

    Why you came to Richmond: I am a native of Richmond and a product of Richmond Public Schools. What a great opportunity to give back to a community and school district of which I am a product. To bring my talents and experiences to support the students and staff in providing a safer school environment and to also be a part of a great school security department.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: To complete security assessments of all schools and provide recommendations to the superintendent. Identify staff development opportunities for security specialists. The School Security Department will continue to build relationships with community stakeholders and work closely with Family and Community Engagement/Truancy Officers.

    Abe E. Jeffers

    Title: Executive Director of Secondary Schools

    Previous job: High school principal, Fairfax County Public Schools

    Career highlights: Trained as a science teacher, I have taught physics, earth science, physical science and chemistry to students in Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio and Maryland. I taught seven years and worked nine as a high school administrator in Fairfax County, two years as an administrator in Southwestern City Schools (Ohio), and four years as an administrator in Oneida Special School District (Tennessee). I have completed the National Institute for School Leaders (NISL) Executive Development Program and am a certified facilitator. I have served on many local division and school task forces, and completed a three-year term on the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals Board of Directors.

    Education: University of Tennessee, bachelor’s; University of Virginia, master’s; Ohio State, doctoral course work

    Why you came to Richmond: To help build a better district.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: Develop procedural and organizational practices in teacher evaluation and feedback; shift the registration/master schedule work so it is complete prior to students and teachers leaving for the summer; focus our work on instruction and student learning; facilitate principal collaboration.

    Andrea M. Kane

    Title: Associate Superintendent of Academic Services

    Previous job: associate superintendent for school performance, Anne Arundel, Md.

    Career highlights: Prior to joining RPS, Ms. Kane dedicated 23 years of service to Anne Arundel County Public Schools. She held a multitude of instructional roles including computer technologist, classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, senior manager for elementary school improvement, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and associate superintendent for school performance.

    Education: Sweet Briar College, bachelor’s; Loyola College, Maryland, master’s; North Central University, pursuing doctorate

    Why you came to Richmond: I wanted to serve an urban population. I also wanted to build my own professional capacity by shadowing and learning from a results-focused, systems-oriented leader, Dana T. Bedden.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: Building teacher and administrator capacity centered on teaching and learning. I am leading a team that will create the district’s Academic Improvement Plan. The plan will address four domains: early childhood education, capacity building for RPS instructional staff, review of RPS resources and programs, and development and implementation of instructional monitoring plans. Research and experience support the notion that quality instructional programs for our youngest and most fragile learners must be a priority. Over time, we will significantly decrease academic challenges that are often observed later in the middle and high school years. Included in the plan is a proposal to increase the amount of time for professional development for teachers.

    Kavansa Gardner

    Title: Executive Director of Information Communication and Technology Services

    Previous job: senior applications developer and project manager at several companies, including Alfa Laval Industries, AMF Reece and ECK Supply Corp.

    Career highlights: Executive director of Information Communication and Technology Services at Richmond Public Schools. In this role, I’m responsible for the day-to-day operations of technology including, but not limited to, networking, user services telecommunications and other information technology functions of RPS. I’ve been with Richmond Public Schools for 12 years, beginning as an applications developer and project manager. I was promoted to director of Information Technology in 2007.

    Education: Virginia State, bachelor’s; Virginia Commonwealth University, master’s

    Why you came to Richmond: I want to make a difference in the lives of inner-city school children by reducing the digital divide.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: This year we hope to complete the deployment of our new student information systems, upgrade our virtual environment, increase the capabilities of our network filtering system and increase wireless reach in our schools. Also, we want to improve the overall technology infrastructure throughout the district.

    Ralph Westbay

    Title: Assistant Superintendent for Financial Services

    Previous job: executive director of Finance & Technology, New Kent County Public Schools

    Career highlights: director of finance for Petersburg Public Schools, assistant superintendent for finance for Chesterfield County, executive director of Finance & Technology for New Kent County Public Schools.

    Education: University of Northern Colorado, bachelor’s; Virginia Commonwealth University, master’s

    Why you came to Richmond: I was inspired by Bedden’s strong leadership skills and I wanted to be part of the team to help make a difference by improving the quality of education outcomes for the youth of the city.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: The goal for this year is to develop a strong financial services team that supports the mission of educating every child of this city by maximizing the value of the dollar in a transparent, accountable manner that engenders the trust and support of the citizens through our stewardship.

    Thomas Kranz

    Title: Assistant Superintendent for Support Services

    Previous job: private industry

    Career highlights: Served 10 years with Okaloosa County School District in Florida as assistant superintendent and chief operation officer and in the Hamilton County School District in Tennessee as assistant superintendent and chief financial officer

    Education: University of New Orleans, bachelor’s

    Why you came to Richmond: I was interested in the opportunity to return to public sector where I felt I could do the most good.

    What you hope to accomplish this year: For the entire operations team to improve the delivery of our services with an emphasis on customer service.

    zreid@timesdispatch.com

    (804) 775-8179

    GOOD NEWS TODAY: Teach for America NOT Coming to Richmond

    My phone messages and e-mail have exploded with messages from Richmond teachers and professors charged with educating our next generation of teachers, all of whom who are thrilled to learn that the controversial "Teach for America" program will NOT be coming to Richmond Public Schools. Style Weekly has the scoop, click here to READ MORE.

    As one professor aptly put it: "Our kids need stability, not some do-gooder wannabe teachers offering little more than 'face-time' before they return to college to get their MBAs or whatever ... "

    What Works? Some expert advice from educational leaders

    • What Does Virginia Law Say About School Attendance...
    • Innovation and Improvement: Truancy, Drop-Outs and Graduation Rates
    • Poor Teaching for Poor Children(Originally publish...
    • HIPPA Violations and Enforcement
    • Fact Sheet: Comparison of FERPA and HIPAA Privacy Rule for Accessing Student Health Data
    • Education Research Links & Blogs

    Can't Help But Wonder What Was on the Menu ...


    Check out Chelsea Rarrick's (WTVR-6) recent delicious and disturbing story detailing how some Richmond School Board members spend A LOT of money on food for public meetings in their respective communities. Seems that, Tichi Pinkney-Epps (9th-District) and Mamie Taylor (5th-District) -- the two Richmond School Board members who travelled to Miami and stayed at the posh Four Seasons Hotel on the public's dime -- are now going overboard on the food they offer at district meetings.

    Why Teach Children to Read?

    Why Teach Children to Read?

    Digital Journalist's Legal Guide

    http://i.imgur.com/f1p3isu.png

    Welcome to the Reporters Committee's Digital Journalist's Legal Guide.

    If you are gathering and disseminating news and information in any medium, this guide is for you. It will be as useful to bloggers as to a staff reporter at a national newspaper.

    Please note: This site is meant to help educate you about your rights, and is not meant to be taken as legal advice from an attorney or a substitute for direct consultation with an attorney. The Reporters Committee can usually help journalists, traditional or digital, find an attorney in your jurisdiction when you are sued or arrested. In such cases, contact our hotline for help.

    This guide is arranged by the legal topics below, which will also always be on the menu to the left. Please pick a topic to start:

    Gathering news and getting information:

    Open records & meetings (FOIA)

    Are you having trouble getting access to information from federal, state or local governments? Do you need to follow the latest on how privacy and national security issues are affecting access?

    Access to courts

    Are you being kept out of a judicial proceeding, or denied access to court documents? Do you need to contest a sealing order that has placed newsworthy information off-limits?

    Newsgathering (Access to places)

    Have you been stopped by police while covering a news story? Have you been kept out of a news scene because you've been denied credentials? Do you have other issues and concerns related to official interference with your right to gather news and information?

    Protecting and defending your work:

    Sources and Subpoenas (Reporter's Privilege)

    Have you been served with a subpoena? Is someone demanding that you reveal a source, or provide what you feel is protected newsgathering information? Do you have a question about the reporter's privilege -- the right not to be compelled to testify or reveal sources in court?

    Libel

    Is someone threatening to sue you over what you've written, or claiming that what you printed is not true? Do you have a question about libel cases or related issues, like anti-SLAPP laws and the fair report privilege?

    Invasion of Privacy

    Are you worried about how to present what may be personal yet newsworthy details in a news story? Do you have a question about other privacy claims, like intrusion upon seclusion and publication of private facts?

    Knowing the legal restrictions:

    Government Censorship (Prior restraints)

    Has a court ordered you not to print information that you lawfully obtained, ornot to report what you heard in open court?

    Content Regulation

    Are you being threatened with revocation of a domain name? Do you need to know what the FCC and FTC are doing to regulate the Internet? Need to know how the "fair use" exception to copyright law works? Have you been told to take down something from your site for copyright reasons? Or, has someone else taken your work without permission?


    TRUANCY: A LIFE AND DEATH ISSUE

    Consider:

    • The 2004 case of Justin Creech. Justin was a 15-year-old student at Thomas Jefferson High School who was stabbed to death by another TJ student in the middle of the day at Broad Street and Malvern Avenue. Both boys were truant.
    • The 2012 case of Antonio I. Shands Jr. Antonio was days from graduation at Huguenot High School when City of Richmond truancy officers engaged in a high speed chase of a carload of students they suspected of being truant. That chase resulted in Antonio's death. (One of the other consequences of that tragic scene was that members of Mayor Dwight Jones' staff and City Truancy officials realized that they had not received proper training nor were they legally designated truancy officers).
    • A Richmond Times-Dispatch story noted: "In an email June 1 to School Board members, a copy of which was obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond school officials said Shands and other Huguenot students in the car had been caught skipping school by truancy officers.
    • Initial reports indicate that these individuals were observed by city truancy officers at Pony Pasture during a truancy sweep this morning. Once these individuals sighted truancy officers, they fled in a vehicle, subsequently being involved in a car accident. "

    Harrell & Chambliss Lawyers -- RPS Legal Eagles Habit Soars

    Harrell & Chambliss Lawyers -- RPS Legal Eagles Habit Soars
    Click on the chart to read the contract that shows come July 1, 2011 RPS lawyers will be paid $32,500 per month, that's $390,000 per year or, for a 365.25 day year, $1,067.76 per day(!) or $1,494.87 per work day...(with a hat-tip and a high five to John R. Butcher for his chart and excellent assistance on this).

    Their (Still) Cheating Hearts

    Save Our Schools: School Report Cards: Beware Their Cheating ...
    Dec 06, 2012
    The School Report Cards on the VDOE Web site provide a lot of data but no way to compare schools or divisions except to copy the data out of the individual reports (Can you spell "pain"?). Recently, however, they put up a ...
    http://saveourschools-getrealrichmond.blogspot.com/
    Save Our Schools: Beware Their Cheating Hearts
    Mar 29, 2010
    Beware Their Cheating Hearts. (Originally posted 6/21/2009, Revised 3/28/2010). Time was when teachers and school administrators had to concern themselves with the possibility of children cheating on tests. Nowadays, it is the other way ...
    http://saveourschools-getrealrichmond.blogspot.com/

    Everything You Need to Know About Common Core ….

    Read Diane Ravitch's "Everything You Need to Know" analysis of what is wrong with the "Common Core" ….

    ADVOCATES/SCHOOL REFORM
    • A 21st Century Union
    • Democrats for Education Reform
    • Educated Guess
    • Edustrategery
    • Excellent Education for Everyone
    • NoDropouts.org
    • RedefineEd
    • Society for Quality Education
    • Why Boys Fail

    BLOGROLL
    Podcast Alley
    EDUCATION POLICY
    • The Education Gadfly
    • The Education Trust
    • The Edurati Review
    • The Quick and the Ed
    • This Week in Education
    • Whitney Tilson's School Reform Blog

    NATIONAL EDUCATION NEWS
    • Education Week
    • EducationNews
    • EducationViews
    • Politics K-12

    THE DROPOUT NATION NETWORK
    • Free Trade Nation
    • RiShawn Biddle: Insight Through Reporting
    THE WORK
    • Left Behind
    • Truancy
    • Education News
    • Education Next
    • Education Podcast Network
    • HechingerEd
    • Jay Mathews' Class Struggle
    • Opinionjournal.com
    • Podcast Links: Education
    • Public Education: Start Again
    • Reason Magazine
    • The Ed Fly
    • The Educated Report
    • Wired

    A remembrance of things past ...

    Bradley v. School Board of City of Richmond involved two different decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States. In Bradley I (1973), more properly known as School Board, City of Richmond v. State Board of Education, the Court summarily affirmed a decision by the Fourth Circuit, which reversed an early order calling for an interdistrict remedy to eliminate school segregation.

    In the second case, Bradley v. School Board of City of Richmond (1972, 1974), which became known as Bradley II when it reached the Supreme Court, the Court upheld an award of attorney fees to the plaintiff parents.

    Bradley I was the result of extensive litigation to bring about the desegregation of the schools in Richmond, Virginia. The Fourth Circuit affirmed that an interdistrict remedy was inappropriate.

    Chesterfield and Henrico counties, which were adjacent to the city of Richmond, challenged a federal trial court’s joining them to the suit in order to effectuate a unitary school system.

    The Fourth Circuit began by noting that in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1972), the Supreme Court limited the remedies that the judiciary could use to achieve unitary systems.

    The court pointed out that previously, the board agreed that its freedom of choice plan to desegregate the schools was insufficient to achieve its goal.

    In addition, a federal trial court ruled that the third plan, an interdistrict remedy developed by the city, would eliminate racially identifiable schools to the extent possible in the city. Subsequently, the adjoining counties were added to the suit.

    As part of its judgment, the Fourth Circuit reviewed research on the percentages of Black and White students in each school that would have indicated the achievement of a unitary system.

    The court thus observed that joining the neighboring counties to the Richmond district would have been tantamount to imposing a quota by limiting the number of spots at some schools available to minority children.

    At the same time, the court could not uncover any evidence that the establishment of the school district lines 100 years earlier was racially motivated.

    Also, the court found no evidence of an interaction among the districts to keep the adjoining school systems White by confining Black students to Richmond.

    The Fourth Circuit ruled that requiring the consolidation of the three school systems would have ignored Virginia’s history and traditions with regard to the establishment and operation of schools.

    The court thought that such action would also have invalidated legislative acts that created the public school structure currently in place in Virginia.

    If the court were to ignore the history and tradition that created the public school system in Virginia,
    then the court feared that it would create budgeting and financing nightmares.

    Further, the court examined the Tenth Amendment, which reserves to the states the authority to structure their internal governance, including schools. Absent evidence of a constitutional violation in the establishment of the school districts, the Fourth Circuit maintained that remedy was beyond the authority of the trial court.

    The vestiges of segregation, in the opinion of the circuit court, had been eliminated in the City of Richmond. An equally divided Supreme Court affirmed in a one sentence per curiam order.

    Bradley II came about as the result of an award of attorneys’ fees. The trial court had awarded the plaintiffs attorney fees for the costs they incurred in the litigation. However, the Fourth Circuit reversed in favor of the school board. While Bradley II was pending, Congress enacted Section 718 of the Emergency School Aid Act as part of the Education Amendments of 1972.

    This amendment allowed the award of attorneys’ fees when appropriate in desegregation cases.

    Under this law, courts can apply the law as it exists at the time that they render judgments, even if infractions occur before relevant statutes come into effect, as long as doing so would not result in injustice or violate the laws involved.

    When Bradley II reached the Supreme Court, the justices noted that a reading of the act’s legislative history seemed to allow an award of attorney fees in this situation. In fact, the Court noted that since 1968, the board had been remiss in its duty to create a unitary school system.

    To this end, the Court decided that it was pertinent that the board was aware that it could have been liable for attorney fees. Therefore, the Court reasoned that Section 718 allowed the award of attorney fees when it is appropriate to do so pursuant to the entry of a final order in a school desegregation case.

    The Court explained that fees could be awarded for the services that attorneys provided before the law was enacted where the propriety of a fee award was pending resolution on appeal. The Court added that the award was appropriate, because it was not necessary for a fee award to be made simultaneously with entry of a desegregation order.

    Bradley I and II illustrate that because it took a long time for school boards to realize that they had a duty to effectuate unitary school systems in an expeditious manner, those that failed to do so were liable to pay the costs of litigation.

    Aside from the historical interest, it is worth noting that deliberate acts by school boards to delay remedying segregation when complying with known legal requirements can result in the unnecessary expenditure of funds for legal fees and awards of attorney fees.

    ~ J. Patrick Mahon

    News You Need ...

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    This was Oliver W. Hill's Favorite Frederick Douglass Speech

    Danny Glover performing Frederick Douglass' "What Does the Fourth of July Mean to the Slave?"

    (Click on the text above to hear the speech performed).

    Ten years before the Civil War, the city of Rochester, N.Y., asked Frederick Douglass to speak for its July 4, 1852, celebration. He accepted, but rather than join in the "celebration," Douglass took it in an unexpected direction. Here, Danny Glover performs a brilliant retelling of that speech.

    If you recall, Douglass was a freed slave who educated himself and became a noted writer, orator, and social reformer. At 1:09, he suggests why the idea of a freed slave speaking at such an event was...well...weird. At 2:22, there's a great bit about the "blessings" that all free people had but slaves did not. At 3:43, he really nails the rising sentiment of abolitionists at the time.

    Fearless

    §


    Let Your General Assembly Members Know that You Support HB 1054.

    2014 SESSION

    HB 1054 High school diploma course and credit requirements; computer science.


    Just click on the individual legislator's name and you will be taken to a page that has their e-mail and telephone number. Send them a copy of this blogpost and tell them you support HB1054.

    HOUSE PATRONS

    • G. Manoli Loupassi (chief patron)
    • Thomas A. "Tag" Greason (chief co-patron)
    • Jackson H. Miller (chief co-patron)
    • Terry L. Austin
    • Mamye E. BaCote
    • Richard P. Bell
    • Jeffrey L. Campbell
    • Mark L. Cole
    • Bill R. DeSteph, Jr.
    • Peter F. Farrell
    • Christopher T. Head
    • William J. Howell
    • Mark L. Keam
    • Terry G. Kilgore
    • Barry D. Knight
    • Dave A. LaRock
    • James A. "Jay" Leftwich
    • Daniel W. Marshall, III
    • Delores L. McQuinn
    • John M. O'Bannon, III
    • Christopher K. Peace
    • Charles D. Poindexter
    • David I. Ramadan
    • Roxann L. Robinson
    • Christopher P. Stolle
    • Ronald A. Villanueva
    • Jeion A. Ward

    If We Build It ...

    From the Virginia Code: § 22.1-140.

    Plans for buildings to be approved by division superintendent. No public school building or addition or alteration thereto, for either permanent or temporary use, shall be advertised for bid, contracted for, erected, or otherwise acquired until the plans and specifications therefore have been approved in writing by the division superintendent and are accompanied by a statement by an architect or professional engineer licensed by the Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects that such plans and specifications are, in his professional opinion and belief, in compliance with the regulations of the Board of Education and the Uniform Statewide Building Code. The division superintendent's approval, architect's or engineer's statement, and a copy of the final plans and specifications shall be submitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

    (Code 1950, §§ 22-97, 22-152, 22-153; 1954, cc. 257, 291; 1959, Ex. Sess., c. 79, § 1; 1968, c. 501; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 161; 1975, cc. 308, 328; 1978, c. 430; 1980, c. 559; 1991, c. 550; 1993, c. 227; 1998, c. 27.)

    HOW TO CONTACT RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

    HOW TO CONTACT RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

    Do the Math ....

    RPS CHECK REGISTRY
    RPS HOTEL SPENDING
    $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    2011 Graduation Rate

    2011 Graduation Rate
    Compare 2011 with most recent grad rates

    2011 Students with Disabilities Graduation Rate

    2011 Students with Disabilities Graduation Rate

    2011 ALL STUDENTS Graduation Rate

    2011 ALL STUDENTS Graduation Rate

    Dull Hatchet Job

    By John R. Butcher

    The RT-D on Dec. 21 published a hit job on Richmond School Board member Kimberly Gray. The piece is based on a really sloppy hatchet job by Ron Broadbent, who appears to be on the staff of the Darden Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education at UVa.

    Broadbent’s report is a three-page cover memo to LeAnn Buntrock, Executive Director of the Partnersip, with eleven short memos, each two pages or so, summarizing Richmond School Board meetings during 2010 and one longer memo gushing over the school board’s retreat at Darden on May 21-22.

    The RT-D story focuses on Broadbent’s criticism of Gray “who was cited for speaking out and not following protocol during meetings.” The story overlooks the much juicier content in Broadbent’s report.

    Who is this Broadbent?

    Broadbent’s reports all are directed to the Darden Curry Partnership but neither the     Darden faculty directory nor the University’s People Search lists Broadbent.

    Broadbent’s     cover memo tells us that he is a “former public school educator with over thirty years of experience, twenty-four of which were in administration.” Whatever that experience may have been, it did not leave Broadbent a friend of the Mother Tongue. For example he says:

    Warning: Do not read this if you already have a headache:

    · James Pughsley in January of 2007 [et al] are examples of where they (sic) board had training on how to be a more effective board . . .

    · One of the most positive aspects of the Richmond Public School Board meetings is when . . .

    · The board spent 25% of the meeting hearing a final presentation on the proposed budget for 2010-2011, discussing and voting on.

    · Ms. Gray voted against the measure sighting (sic) the need for public comment and input.

    ·     Further more, it would appear to be a violation of school board policy and protocol in my opinion.

    · By a 5-4 vote, the school board voted to approve an alternative sight (sic) for the Patrick Henry Charter School . . . .

    · The board spent 91% of its time . . . on matters related to the Balanced Scorecard. This is the highest percentage in quite     sometime.

    Perhaps it is a good thing Broadbent got out of teaching and went into administration, where his illiteracy wouldn’t directly harm the kids.

    What did he actually say?

    As reported in the RT-D, Broadbent criticized Gray repeatedly for speaking out. For example, regarding the August 16, 2010 meeting, Broadbent reports:

    Ms. Gray continues to attempt to dominate with her numerous comments and personal opinions on practically every agenda item. Towards the end of the meeting so as to keep the board on task and be able to vote on the “consent agenda”, (comma sic) [Chairman] Bridges had to request of Ms. Gray that she end her comments and questions.

    Read that carefully, please: Gray is being assertive (bad!) while the Chairman is not doing her job (no comment!).

    Again, regarding the 8/2/10 meeting, Broadbent criticizes Gray for speaking “five different times regarding the audit and four times during the discussion of the A.D.A. report.” He neglects to mention that the Chairman allowed this.

    In a related vein, Broadbent chastises Gray & Murdoch-Kitt for voting against the budget on Feb. 16: “By its 7-2 vote, the board did not present itself as a unified/cohesive board with respect to the proposed 2010-2011 budget.”

    Then Broadbent praises the board for its deportment on May 3 in the 5-4 vote on the temporary Patrick Henry relocation (Bridges, Gray, Murdoch-Kitt, Scott, & Coleman voting aye; Page, Smith, Wilson, & Henderson, nay). As to the latter meeting he reports: “Concerns: None.” Apparently “no” votes by Page, Smith, Wilson, & Henderson are fine but those by Gray and Murdoch-Kitt demonstrate a lack of cohesion.

    Conclusions

    1. Broadbent’s reports broadcast both his biases and his inability to tell a straight story, not to mention his distant acquaintance with the English language.

    2. Kudos to the Times-Dispatch for posting the Broadbent reports that it so badly misreported.

    3. Great Praise to Kim Gray for standing up to the school board that is     wasting tens of millions of dollars every year.























































    VGLA Math Participation Rates/Richmond Public Schools 2009-2010


    Bellevue Elementary 76%

    Overby-Sheppard Elementary 70%

    Oak Grove/Bellemeade Elementary 67%

    Woodville Elementary 65%

    George W. Carver Elementary 61%

    George Mason Elementary 56%

    Lucille M. Brown Middle 55%

    Ginter Park Elementary 52%

    Blackwell Elementary 50%

    Henderson Middle 50%

    Albert Hill Middle 48%

    Binford Middle 46%

    Martin Luther King Jr. Middle 45%

    Chimborazo Elementary 45%

    Thomas C. Boushall Middle 41%

    Fred D. Thompson Middle 40%

    Westover Hills Elementary 40%

    Fairfield Court Elementary 40%

    Miles Jones Elementary 39%

    Clark Springs Elementary 38%

    G.H. Reid Elementary 36%

    Summer Hill/Ruffin Road Elementary 35%

    Amelia Street Special Education 34%

    J.L. Francis Elementary 33%

    John B. Cary Elementary 32%

    Broad Rock Elementary 30%

    Elkhardt Middle 30%

    E.S.H. Greene Elementary 26%

    Southampton Elementary 25%

    Maymont Elementary 24%



    J.E.B. Stuart Elementary 23%

    Swansboro Elementary 22%

    Linwood Holton Elementary 20%

    J.B. Fisher Elementary 15%



    Elizabeth D. Redd Elementary 14%

    Mary Munford Elementary 11%

    Source: Virginia Department of Education

    VGLA Reading Participation Rates 2009-2010


    Overby-Sheppard Elementary 75%

    Woodville Elementary 75%

    Bellevue Elementary 68%

    Blackwell Elementary 68%

    George Mason Elementary 68%

    Oak Grove/Bellemeade Elementary 67%

    George W. Carver Elementary 67%

    Clark Springs Elementary 59%

    Lucille M. Brown Middle 55%

    Miles Jones Elementary 52%

    Fairfield Court Elementary 52%

    G.H. Reid Elementary 52%

    Chimborazo Elementary 51%

    Thomas C. Boushall Middle 50%

    Albert Hill Middle 49%

    Martin Luther King Jr. Middle 48%

    Ginter Park Elementary 47%

    Henderson Middle 47%

    Westover Hills Elementary 44%

    Binford Middle 43%

    John B. Cary Elementary 42%

    Swansboro Elementary 41%

    Summer Hill/Ruffin Road Elementary 41%

    J.L. Francis Elementary 39%

    J.E.B. Stuart Elementary 39%

    Linwood Holton Elementary 38%

    Fred D. Thompson Middle 37%

    Amelia Street Special Education 37%

    Broad Rock Elementary 36%

    E.S.H. Greene Elementary 35%

    Elkhardt Middle 31%

    Southampton Elementary 31%

    Elizabeth D. Redd Elementary 24%

    Maymont Elementary 24%

    Mary Munford Elementary 17%

    J.B. Fisher Elementary 6%

    William Fox Elementary 0%

    Source: Virginia Department of Education





    What Works? Education Experts Say ...

    Could You Pass This Test?

    1. Curious about what skills and knowledge are needed to pass Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOLs) tests? Click on the link below:

      IXL alignment to Virginia math standard

    Girl Scouts ...

    Virginians with Disabilities Act (VDA)

    VDA commemerative seal in circular shape, with yellow outline of Viginia map and words 20th Anniversary in center, and words Virginians with Disabilities Act 1985-2005 in gold letters within outer blue band.In the 1980's, sixty-four disability organizations formed a coalition known as INVEST (INsure Virginians Equal Status Today) to accomplish passage of the Virginians with Disabilities Act (VDA). This landmark civil rights legislation declared the state's commitment to support and encourage persons with disabilities to participate fully in the social and economic life of the Commonwealth. It preceded the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by five years, and is considered by many to be the model for the federal legislation that created the ADA.

    Signed in 1985 by former Gov. Charles S. Robb, the law was a landmark in the protection against discrimination in employment, housing, education, voting transportation and access to public accommodations.

    Today, the Virginians With Disabilities Act protects nearly one million state residents.

    The act declared "it is the policy of this Commonwealth to encourage and enable persons with disabilities to participate fully and equally in the social and economic life of the Commonwealth and to engage in remunerative employment". The Act protected Virginians with disabilities from discrimination under any state program or activity, by employers in hiring and promotion, by educational institutions receiving state funds, in the use of public places and in places of public accommodation, in housing, and in the exercise of the right to vote.

    Price of Public Education in Richmond




















    General Education Student in RPS: $13,155

    CCP:
    based on a 330 enrollment:     $14,202
    based on a 380 enrollment:     $12,333

    TOTAL per year: $4,686,617.00

    Maggie Walker Governor's School:
    based on 195 slots: $7,920
    TOTAL per year:     $1,544,400.00

    Appomattox Governor's School:
    based on 59 slots: $7,115
    TOTAL per year:     $419,785

    * Data supplied by Lynn Bragga,
    RPS Director of Budget

    Dare to Ask Why the Richmond School Board Refuses to Let This Happen Here


    We live in a nation in which one out of every four African-American males will either be incarcerated, institutionalized or dead before they are 21 years old. Our city school system continues to suspend and expel far more students than it graduates. Yet, our elected leaders refuse all efforts to open their minds to the possibility that we can -- and must -- do better for the sake of all our children and our city.

    As you read the Chicago Tribune story, please know that the members of the Richmond School Board, Supt. Yvonne Brandon, Mayor Dwight Jones, the Legislative Black Caucus and the Crusade for Voters are all absolutely opposed to charter schools -- which means that as long as this mindset prevails, Richmonders cannot ever hope to share in the success that these students in Chicago recently experienced.

    I hope you will dare to ask them to re-think their positions. How many more generations must be sacrificed because adults cannot act in the best interests of our children?

    And, remember the immortal words of Robert F. Kennedy:

    "If we fail to dare, if we do not try, the next generation will harvest the fruit of our indifference; a world we did not want - a world we did not choose - but a world we could have made better ...."

    Courage Under Fire & Suspensions of Disbelief ...

    Two members of the Richmond School Board struck a blow to help dismantle the "School-to-Prison Pipeline" when they voted June 15th against the pro forma acceptance of the RPS Code of Conduct.

    By their votes, Adria Graham-Scott (4th District) and vice-chair, Kimberly B. Gray (2nd District), each demonstrated "Courage Under Fire" to stand up to -- and apart from their colleagues -- on behalf of RPS children.

    The good news is that the RPS School Board, thanks to a change in state law effective July 1, will no longer be able to suspend students for tardiness or truancy.

    High fives to Richmond Free Press reporter, Danny C. Yates, who kept the group honest when some members postured that the action originated with the RPS Board.

    "The new suspension policy is the only major change from last year's Standards of Conduct. Some members hoped for additional revisions," reported Yates in the most recent edition of the Richmond Free Press.

    Indeed. Change is needed.

    RPS' excessive use of school suspensions and abusive zero-tolerance policies are well-documented -- thanks to the hard work of Style Weekly reporter Chris Dovi and Style's editor, Scott Bass.

    Click here to read about how RPS suspends far more students -- by 10,000 -- than the Washington, D.C. public schools do. Although the D.C. public schools have 46,000 students — nearly twice Richmond’s enrollment -- only 2,245 children were suspended last year, here to read Jason Roop's excellent article detailing the "how and why" CCP (Community Education Partners) came to be in Richmond and why RPS needs to re-think its zero-tolerance disciplinary policy.

    Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

    If






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  • Search result 148 of 1006

    City Hall renovations: $54 million in 15 years
    Date: August 29, 2014
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    On several occasions, Richmond officials have considered building a new City Hall to avoid costly renovations. By choosing to stay in the towering structure on East Broad Street, the city has had to budget about $54 million for the building to cover repairs and renovations during the past 15 years.
    Many of the decisions to spend heavily on City Hall upkeep were made by officials long gone from office. But the current crop of political leaders is now faced with the question of how much...



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  • Search result 149 of 1006

    After Richmond spends millions on City Hall, renovation focus turns to schools
    Date: August 28, 2014
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    On several occasions, Richmond officials have considered building a new City Hall to avoid costly renovations. By choosing to stay in the towering structure on East Broad Street, the city has had to budget about $54 million for the building to cover repairs and renovations during the past 15 years.
    Many of the decisions to spend heavily on City Hall upkeep were made by officials long gone from office. But the current crop of political leaders is now faced with the question of how much...



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  • Search result 150 of 1006

    Mayor's diversion won't help city schools Author: Staff Writer
    Date: August 22, 2014
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    OPINION
    "I don'twant the distraction of poor building maintenance to keep us from focusing on teaching our children and maximizing the potential of every last child in the city of Richmond," Mayor Dwight C. Jones said Monday.
    The late-summer jab at the school district - in response to its report listing $35 million in immediate maintenance needs - could hardly have been more off the mark.
    With all due respect, poor building maintenance is more than a "distraction" to the...



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  • Search result 263 of 1006

    Richmond City Council vote could close loophole that aided Skins deal Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: March 23, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The loophole in city law that Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration used to help secure a major sponsor for the Washington Redskins training camp last fall would be closed under a proposed ordinance that cleared a City Council committee Tuesday.
    The ordinance would amend city code “for the purpose of providing that revenues from the sale, lease or other use of former school properties be set aside for the construction of new public school facilities or for the operations of the...



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  • Search result 264 of 1006

    Williams: RMA deal falls apart amid dysfunction
    Date: March 15, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    “At the first of a series of neighborhood rallies, it was proposed that the county residents boycott all city-owned facilities and city-sponsored events, such as concerts, lectures and sporting events.” — reaction to a 1972 plan to consolidate the Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico school districts, from Robert Pratt’s “The Color of Their Skin“
    “The city can have it.” — RMA board member Charles Richard White of Chesterfield, regarding The Diamond in Wednesday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch...



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  • Search result 265 of 1006

    City’s elected, appointed school boards find common ground in balanced budget Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: March 5, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The Richmond School Board got a vote of approval Monday that would have seemed highly unlikely a year ago.
    On a unanimous vote near the end of a morning meeting in City Hall, Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ Schools Accountability and Efficiency Review Task Force offered its support of the balanced budget the city School Board passed last week.
    The group also pledged to ask Jones to look for additional money for at least two school needs: financially rewarding staff members, who are finishing...



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  • Search result 266 of 1006

    Upcoming Public Meetings Author: Staff Writer
    Date: March 4, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Monday
    Richmond City Council will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 900 E. Broad St. On the agenda is a measure to set March 12 as the date for Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ submission of the proposed budget to council. A resolution that would reverse the decision of the city’s Commission of Architectural Review on the appropriateness of vinyl windows for a house at 2916 Monument Ave. is also on the agenda.
    Richmond Mayor Dwight C....



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  • Search result 267 of 1006

    Chesterfield board receives update on Hull Street revitalization Author: JEREMY SLAYTON Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: February 7, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Could the joint Richmond-Chesterfield County project to revitalize a nearly 5-mile stretch of Hull Street Road be a sign of similar partnerships on the horizon?
    One member of the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors believes so.
    “It is frankly too rare to see the jurisdictions coordinating a planning effort like this,” Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker said Wednesday. “We are better than some people think in the broader regional issues, and not as good at some of this...



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  • Search result 268 of 1006

    Local News for Sunday, Author: Staff Writer
    Date: January 27, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    State of the City, budget sessions set in Richmond
    RICHMOND — Mayor Dwight C. Jones will deliver his State of the City address at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Richmond CenterStage’s Carpenter Theatre, 600 E. Grace St.
    Jones, sworn in for a second term Jan. 12, has made overhauling the city’s public housing, combating poverty and spurring economic development major priorities.
    Jones’ administration also has scheduled a series of public budget planning meetings over the next two weeks:...



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  • Search result 269 of 1006

    Richmond expecting $11.5M schools deficit Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: January 22, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    It’s going to be another tough year for educators and students in the city of Richmond, with teachers and programs likely to be in the middle of an effort to close a budget gap of about $11.5 million.
    Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon is due to present her budget for the next fiscal year to the School Board during its meeting today.
    Before the budget had even been released, School Board Chairman Jeff M. Bourne offered a friendly but firm challenge, saying the board wasn’t likely to...



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  • Search result 270 of 1006

    School Board requests help from city auditor Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: January 12, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The Richmond School Board has asked city auditor Umesh Dalal to complete a “base line” audit of the school system’s $320 million in annual spending, but the effort won’t likely be a duplication of a private review last year.
    School Board Chairman Jeff M. Bourne delivered the request in a two-page letter sent to Dalal and several others Friday.
    “This is a look fully and completely at how we do everything,” he said by telephone after the letter was delivered. “We’re not under any...



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    • [ View the previous 10 items ][ View the next 10 items ]


    New Search





  • Redskins deal passes after last-minute negotiations Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: November 27, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    After lengthy negotiations over the weekend and Monday secured concessions on schools funding in exchange for key votes, Richmond's City Council approved Mayor Dwight C. Jones' economic development package that will build a nearly $9 million training camp facility for the Washington Redskins and allow two major hospital expansions.
    A list of "enhancements" to the deal, the fruit of hours of talks with council members who opposed the deal in its original form, were compiled into a...



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  • Search result 288 of 1006

    Richmond mayor’s task force discusses initiating contact with new School Board Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: November 14, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond’s newly elected School Board should have a gentler introduction to Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ school-reform style than the current board, but it shouldn’t expect the pleasantries to lead to a windfall of cash.
    The mayor’s volunteer school finance reform task force spent nearly an hour Tuesday debating the best way to initiate contact with the School Board, which will feature seven newcomers among its nine members in January.
    But City Council President Kathy Graziano, an...



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  • Search result 289 of 1006

    Council passes resolution on Redskins deal Author: ROBERT ZULLO | Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: November 12, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Over vocal opposition from West End residents, Richmond’s City Council tonight approved a broad resolution endorsing Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ proposed deal with Bon Secours Richmond Health System to build a nearly $9 million training camp for the Washington Redskins.
    The proposed agreement with Bon Secours, announced last month, provides $6.4 million in sponsorship for the camp in exchange for a long-term, low-cost lease on the former Westhampton School property at Libbie and Patterson...



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  • Search result 290 of 1006


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  • Search result 306 of 1006

    Jones: Progress, but also missteps Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: October 14, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    No one could accuse Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones of a lack of vision.
    In the last year of his first term, the Baptist minister and former state delegate has laid out ambitious plans to dramatically transform the city's public-housing complexes, bring the Washington Redskins' summer training camp down Interstate 95 to a new home in the city and make the James River more accessible to residents, among other programs.
    Those initiatives join the ongoing construction of a $134 million...



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  • Search result 307 of 1006

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  • Search result 365 of 1006

    Residents ask Richmond City Council to give schools more funds Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: April 11, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Residents beseeched the Richmond City Council to meet the school system's request for an additional $23.8 million during a public hearing Tuesday night on the city budget.
    A small but passionate procession of school employees, parents and other residents lined up to ask council members to "fully fund" Richmond Public Schools in the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.
    The hearing came less than eight hours after a consulting group recommended steps, including staffing cuts and...



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  • Search result 366 of 1006

    UPDATE: Mayor to finance new baseball stadium with debt savings Author: Times-Dispatch Staff Times-Dispatch
    Date: March 2, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    RICHMOND, Va.
    Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said today he will use interest rate savings from paying off old debts as debt service for the city's share of a new $50 million baseball stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
    Jones said the city is using money repaid from an old loan to the Richmond Metropolitan Authority to pay off $26.1 million in debt at an average interest rate of 5 percent and allow the issuance of $36 million in debt at a lower rate, around 3 percent. The...



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  • Search result 367 of 1006

  • Richmond picks builder for two schools Author: Will Jones
    Date: September 15, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond's plans for two new elementary schools on South Side are back on track with a company that initially did not vie for the work.
    Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced this week the selection of MB Contractors of Roanoke to build a new Broad Rock Elementary School and a new Oak Grove Elementary School for a combined $39.2 million. The 650-student schools are scheduled to open in January 2013 - four months later than planned - and they will be the city's first new public school buildings...


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  • Search result 382 of 1006

    Mayor Jones: Mistakes made in Richmond jail-planning process Author: Will Jones
    Date: September 12, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    RICHMOND
    Acknowledging mistakes in its jail-planning process, Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones' administration revealed Monday that it will seek relief from state design requirements for the facility.
    "There have been some mistakes but, in a project of this size, it's not unnecessarily unnatural," Jones said in an interview, in which he insisted that the city's procurement process had not been compromised.
    Citing new and ongoing concerns about the process, the City Council...


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  • Search result 383 of 1006

    Hurricane briefs for Wednesday, Aug. 31 Author: Times-Dispatch Staff
    Date: August 31, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond
    Mayor Dwight C. Jones on Tuesday announced a free shuttle service to transport residents who are without power to operating grocery stores. The GRTC City Supermarket Shuttle will be free to the riders today.
    "We want residents to have some ability to get the goods and products that they need that will keep in this environment while power is being restored," the mayor said in a statement.
    Buses will board passengers at specific locations and transport them to nearby...


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  • Search result 384 of 1006

    Michael Paul Williams: With redistricting, Richmond drawing new race issue Author: Michael Paul Williams
    Date: July 29, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    An African-American member of the Richmond School Board would be redistricted into oblivion as part of an effort to preserve the black voting strength in a neighboring ward.
    Under a draft redistricting plan, the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Kimberly Gray, the 2nd District representative on the School Board, would be absorbed into the majority-black 3rd District.
    That's the same 3rd District that since 2004 has been represented by a white councilman and white School Board members. In...


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  • Search result 385 of 1006

    Redistricting plan moves School Board member Author: Will Jones
    Date: July 20, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The Richmond City Council is ready to seek public comment on a redistricting plan that would move School Board member Kimberly B. Gray out of her 2nd District and would not spread the city's large public-housing communities across more districts.
    Protecting incumbents wasn't among the council's adopted criteria for redistricting, but the prospect of moving the western part of Jackson Ward and subsequently Gray into the 3rd District is expected to generate controversy.
    "Everyone is...


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  • Search result 386 of 1006

    Jones gets final report on Richmond redistricting Author: Will Jones
    Date: July 7, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is welcoming but not yet endorsing three options for redistricting, including one that would overhaul the city's electoral map and reduce the number of voter districts from nine to as few as five.
    On Wednesday, Jones accepted a final report from a committee appointed to make recommendations for redistricting in light of the city's 22 percent poverty rate and the concentrations of poor residents in the East End and South Side.
    The City Council, which is...


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  • Search result 387 of 1006

    RMA payout comes with a catch Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 29, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond will have to wait another decade or longer to take ownership of the expressway system if it collects $60.3 million to settle a long-standing debt with the Richmond Metropolitan Authority.
    Because the city provided early financial support, portions of the toll-road system within the city limits are scheduled to revert to city ownership when the RMA's primary public debt of about $122 million is paid off.
    That's now scheduled to occur in 2022, but the date would be pushed...


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  • Search result 388 of 1006

    Two School Board members would shift districts under redistricting plans Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 25, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Two members of the Richmond School Board would be drawn out of their districts under a pair of redistricting options that are being finalized by a committee appointed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
    School Board member Kimberly B. Gray would be shifted in both scenarios from the 2nd District to the 3rd, while Maurice Henderson would be moved in one of the plans from the 5th to the 2nd.
    Committee members emphasized in a meeting Friday that they had not considered the residency of City...


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  • Search result 389 of 1006

    Ideas for $60.3 million windfall abound Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 24, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Three members of the Richmond City Council credited Mayor Dwight C. Jones for negotiating a $60.3 million windfall for the city but made it clear that the council would have to sign off on any use of the money.
    "The mayor deserves a lot of credit and congratulations for pulling this coup," Councilman E. Martin Jewell said Thursday. "But we are the governing body ... and it seems to me that we should have some ideas as well as the mayor for how those dollars should be spent."
    Or used...


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  • Search result 390 of 1006

    Panel ponders reducing districts in Richmond Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 19, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond should consider reducing its number of voter districts from the current nine to seven or five as a way to help tackle the poverty that plagues the city, according to an unfinished report of a commission appointed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
    One longer-term option being suggested would involve changing the city charter and redrawing from scratch the voter districts, which grew out of a 1970 annexation fight that created Richmond's ward system.
    The draft report says the purpose...


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    • you have a child with a disability, your child is entitled to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). This page has articles, law, cases, books, and other resources about FAPE.


    You should also review information about these topics: IEPs, Least Restrictive Environment (LRE),Extended School Year (ESY), Evaluations, Tests, and Retention & Social Promotion.


    Who is Responsible for Providing FAPE?


    In this article, you will learn about the "free, appropriate public education " (FAPE) your child is entitled to under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, who is responsible for providing a free, appropriate public education and how it is delivered. You will also learn strategies you can use if you have a disagreement with your child's IEP team.

    How Can I Get the School to Provide an Appropriate Program? Read one parent's journey from emotion to advocacy as she lobbies for the services her son needs.

    High-Stakes! Can the School Use a Single Test to Retain My Child?

    Should I Allow the School Retain My Child?


    Advice to a parent's frequently asked questions about retention - generally, it is not a good idea.

    To Promote or Retain? Summary of research on retention which shows that retention is not an appropriate intervention for children who have academic delays.


    Homebound Services: Two Hours a Week = FAPE? The IEP controls the services, regardless of where they are delivered - at home or in the public school.


    When a School Refuses to Protect a Child with Life-Threatening Allergies. A complaint filed alleging that the child on the basis of her disabilities, was denied a free and appropriate public education that addressed her needs, and failed to ensure a safe educational environment.

    Individualized Instruction is Not One-Size-Fits All. You are right. A program the school considers “good”may not be adequate for every child, depending on the child’s needs.The bottom line is the child has a right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

    What Does "swine flu" Have to do with FAPE? Guidance from US Dept of Education addresses the obligations of, and best practices for, state agencies and local schools with regard to the requirements for providing FAPE for children with disabilities when planning for an H1N1 outbreak.

    To Top
    Articles about FAPE

    Accommodations and Modifications. Some children with disabilities need accommodations and modifications in their special education programs. This 4 page printer-friendly article defines accommodations and modifications and gives examples for books, curriculum, instruction, assignments, and behavior.

    Free Appropriate Public Education for Students with Disabilities: Requirements Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. (Rev. September 2007). This pamphlet answers the following questions about FAPE: Who is entitled to a free appropriate public education? How is an appropriate education defined? How is a free education defined?Evans v. Rhinebeck: Your Roadmap to FAPE. How do judges determine if a child is receiving FAPE? Learn about procedural and substantive issues, educational benefit, and how to use test scores to show educational benefit.

    FAPE? Ohio Child Entitled to an Education That is Appropriate -- and Free. What is FAPE? Court of Appeals says child entitled to appropriate education that is also free; orders district to reimburse parents for child's tuition at private school.

    Garret F: Congress Intended to Open Door to All Qualified Children. U. S. Supreme Court decision clarifies that schools must provide related services when necessary for children to attend school.


    IDEA Requirements: Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) & FAPE. The IDEA includes two fundamental requirements: that the child receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). What does least restrictive environment mean? What is mainstreaming?

    Loving Parents Want What's Best for Child - But Schools Only Need to Provide FAPE. Learn why you cannot use words like "best" or "maximizing potential" in discussions with school staff; article includes Four Rules About FAPE.

    Reexamining Rowley: A New Focus in Special Education Law. Attorney Scott Johnson argues that the "some educational benefit" standard in Rowley no longer reflects the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. State standards and educational adequacy requirements provide requirements of FAPE; these standards exceed the "some educational benefit" benchmark. This requires a fundamental change in how courts, school districts, and parents view special education services.


    Unilateral Graduation & Compensatory Education: Kevin T. v. Elmhurst. Court finds that school district did not provide a FAPE, attempted to unilaterally graduate child, orders compensatory education.


    Tests and Measurements for the Parent, Teacher, Advocate & Attorney. Because FAPE describes a program that is designed to meet the child's unique needs and from which the child receiveseducational benefit, you need to understand test scores and what your child's test scores mean.

    The Untold Story - Florence County School District IV v. Shannon Carter. The inside story of the Shannon Carter case from due process, appeals, to oral argument before the U. S. Supreme Court.

    To Top

    From Emotions to Advocacy - The Special Education Survival Guide

    Our advocacy book, Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy - The Special Education Survival Guide, 2nd Edition , is published by Harbor House Law Press. Use the links below to preview the book. To order


    Introduction

    Getting Started - Chapter 1

    Reviews

    SMART IEPs - Chapter 12

    Skim Book

    Complete Table of Contents

    Legal Definition of FAPE

    The legal concept of “FAPE” is shorthand for “free, appropriate public education.” You will find FAPE defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) at 20 U. S. C. § 1401(3)(A)(9) (Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition, page 51) and in the Code of Federal Regulations at 34 C.F.R. § 300.17 (Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition, page 196).

    In a nutshell, FAPE is an individualized educational program that is designed to meet the child'sunique needs and from which the child receives educational benefit, and prepares them for further education, employment, and independent living.

    How can you tell if your child is receiving educational benefit? If you compare the child's educational achievement test scores over time, you will know if your child is receiving educational benefit.

    For more information about educational benefit and test results, download, print and study Tests and Measurements for the Parent, Teacher, Advocate and Attorney.
    To Top
    Caselaw About FAPE     (more caselaw about FAPE & IEPs)

    Bd. Ed. Hendrick Hudson Sch. Dist. v. Amy Rowley The first special education decision from the U. S. Supreme Court in 1982 defines FAPE.

    Cleveland Heights-University Heights v. Sommer Boss (6th Cir. 1998). School ignores red flags, does not offer an IEP, child placed in private school, parents entitled to reimbursement.    Evans v. Rhinebeck (S.D. NY 1996). Learn about FAPE for child with dyslexia; substantive and procedural issues, educational benefit. Includes excellent discussion of IEP goals and objectives.

    Kevin T. v. Elmhurst Comm. School Dist. (N.D. IL 2002) Witness credibility, failure to review and revise IEP goals and objectives, regression of skills, assistive technology, statewide assessments, transition plans, unilateral graduation, and compensatory education as a remedy when a school district fails to provide a FAPE.

    T. R. v. Kingwood Township (NJ) (3rd Cir. 2000) Clarifies requirement to provide a "free appropriate education (FAPE)" in the "least restrictive environment, meaningful benefit, continuum of placements.
    Walczak v. Florida Union Free School Dist. (2nd Cir. 1998). Loving parents want what's best for child but school need only provide an appropriate education
    .

    Books about Special Education Law, NCLB & Advocacy

    Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition (ISBN 978-1-892320-16-2) by Peter W. D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright is published by Harbor House Law Press, Inc.
    Available as a print book/e-book combo.
    Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy - The Special Education Survival Guide (ISBN 978-1-892320-09-4) by Pam and Pete Wright is published by Harbor House Law Press. The book is supplemented by theFrom Emotions to Advocacy website.
    Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind (ISBN: 978-1-892320-12-4) by Peter W. D. Wright, Pamela Darr Wright and Suzanne Whitney Heath is published by Harbor House Law Press; includes the No Child Left Behind CD-ROM.

    • Demand Counselors, Not Cops ...
      Posted October 19, 2018 by Tafari Melisizwe New York, NY – Parents, students, teachers and other members of the nationwide Dignity in...
    • Urban Myth or Unsolved Mystery 2.0?
      Originally posted April 15, 2009 Revised Jan. 6, 2010 When my son, a junior at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and Int...
    • Beware Their Cheating Hearts
      (Originally posted 6/21/2009, Revised 3/28/2010) Time was when teachers and school administrators had to concern themselves with the p...

    Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

    If






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  • Search result 148 of 1006

    City Hall renovations: $54 million in 15 years
    Date: August 29, 2014
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    On several occasions, Richmond officials have considered building a new City Hall to avoid costly renovations. By choosing to stay in the towering structure on East Broad Street, the city has had to budget about $54 million for the building to cover repairs and renovations during the past 15 years.
    Many of the decisions to spend heavily on City Hall upkeep were made by officials long gone from office. But the current crop of political leaders is now faced with the question of how much...



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  • Search result 149 of 1006

    After Richmond spends millions on City Hall, renovation focus turns to schools
    Date: August 28, 2014
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    On several occasions, Richmond officials have considered building a new City Hall to avoid costly renovations. By choosing to stay in the towering structure on East Broad Street, the city has had to budget about $54 million for the building to cover repairs and renovations during the past 15 years.
    Many of the decisions to spend heavily on City Hall upkeep were made by officials long gone from office. But the current crop of political leaders is now faced with the question of how much...



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  • Search result 150 of 1006

    Mayor's diversion won't help city schools Author: Staff Writer
    Date: August 22, 2014
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    OPINION
    "I don'twant the distraction of poor building maintenance to keep us from focusing on teaching our children and maximizing the potential of every last child in the city of Richmond," Mayor Dwight C. Jones said Monday.
    The late-summer jab at the school district - in response to its report listing $35 million in immediate maintenance needs - could hardly have been more off the mark.
    With all due respect, poor building maintenance is more than a "distraction" to the...



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  • Search result 263 of 1006

    Richmond City Council vote could close loophole that aided Skins deal Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: March 23, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The loophole in city law that Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration used to help secure a major sponsor for the Washington Redskins training camp last fall would be closed under a proposed ordinance that cleared a City Council committee Tuesday.
    The ordinance would amend city code “for the purpose of providing that revenues from the sale, lease or other use of former school properties be set aside for the construction of new public school facilities or for the operations of the...



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  • Search result 264 of 1006

    Williams: RMA deal falls apart amid dysfunction
    Date: March 15, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    “At the first of a series of neighborhood rallies, it was proposed that the county residents boycott all city-owned facilities and city-sponsored events, such as concerts, lectures and sporting events.” — reaction to a 1972 plan to consolidate the Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico school districts, from Robert Pratt’s “The Color of Their Skin“
    “The city can have it.” — RMA board member Charles Richard White of Chesterfield, regarding The Diamond in Wednesday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch...



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  • Search result 265 of 1006

    City’s elected, appointed school boards find common ground in balanced budget Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: March 5, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The Richmond School Board got a vote of approval Monday that would have seemed highly unlikely a year ago.
    On a unanimous vote near the end of a morning meeting in City Hall, Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ Schools Accountability and Efficiency Review Task Force offered its support of the balanced budget the city School Board passed last week.
    The group also pledged to ask Jones to look for additional money for at least two school needs: financially rewarding staff members, who are finishing...



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  • Search result 266 of 1006

    Upcoming Public Meetings Author: Staff Writer
    Date: March 4, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Monday
    Richmond City Council will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 900 E. Broad St. On the agenda is a measure to set March 12 as the date for Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ submission of the proposed budget to council. A resolution that would reverse the decision of the city’s Commission of Architectural Review on the appropriateness of vinyl windows for a house at 2916 Monument Ave. is also on the agenda.
    Richmond Mayor Dwight C....



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  • Search result 267 of 1006

    Chesterfield board receives update on Hull Street revitalization Author: JEREMY SLAYTON Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: February 7, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Could the joint Richmond-Chesterfield County project to revitalize a nearly 5-mile stretch of Hull Street Road be a sign of similar partnerships on the horizon?
    One member of the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors believes so.
    “It is frankly too rare to see the jurisdictions coordinating a planning effort like this,” Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker said Wednesday. “We are better than some people think in the broader regional issues, and not as good at some of this...



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  • Search result 268 of 1006

    Local News for Sunday, Author: Staff Writer
    Date: January 27, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    State of the City, budget sessions set in Richmond
    RICHMOND — Mayor Dwight C. Jones will deliver his State of the City address at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Richmond CenterStage’s Carpenter Theatre, 600 E. Grace St.
    Jones, sworn in for a second term Jan. 12, has made overhauling the city’s public housing, combating poverty and spurring economic development major priorities.
    Jones’ administration also has scheduled a series of public budget planning meetings over the next two weeks:...



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  • Search result 269 of 1006

    Richmond expecting $11.5M schools deficit Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: January 22, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    It’s going to be another tough year for educators and students in the city of Richmond, with teachers and programs likely to be in the middle of an effort to close a budget gap of about $11.5 million.
    Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon is due to present her budget for the next fiscal year to the School Board during its meeting today.
    Before the budget had even been released, School Board Chairman Jeff M. Bourne offered a friendly but firm challenge, saying the board wasn’t likely to...



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  • Search result 270 of 1006

    School Board requests help from city auditor Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: January 12, 2013
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The Richmond School Board has asked city auditor Umesh Dalal to complete a “base line” audit of the school system’s $320 million in annual spending, but the effort won’t likely be a duplication of a private review last year.
    School Board Chairman Jeff M. Bourne delivered the request in a two-page letter sent to Dalal and several others Friday.
    “This is a look fully and completely at how we do everything,” he said by telephone after the letter was delivered. “We’re not under any...



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    • [ View the previous 10 items ][ View the next 10 items ]


    New Search





  • Redskins deal passes after last-minute negotiations Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: November 27, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    After lengthy negotiations over the weekend and Monday secured concessions on schools funding in exchange for key votes, Richmond's City Council approved Mayor Dwight C. Jones' economic development package that will build a nearly $9 million training camp facility for the Washington Redskins and allow two major hospital expansions.
    A list of "enhancements" to the deal, the fruit of hours of talks with council members who opposed the deal in its original form, were compiled into a...



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  • Search result 288 of 1006

    Richmond mayor’s task force discusses initiating contact with new School Board Author: ZACHARY REID Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: November 14, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond’s newly elected School Board should have a gentler introduction to Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ school-reform style than the current board, but it shouldn’t expect the pleasantries to lead to a windfall of cash.
    The mayor’s volunteer school finance reform task force spent nearly an hour Tuesday debating the best way to initiate contact with the School Board, which will feature seven newcomers among its nine members in January.
    But City Council President Kathy Graziano, an...



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  • Search result 289 of 1006

    Council passes resolution on Redskins deal Author: ROBERT ZULLO | Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: November 12, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Over vocal opposition from West End residents, Richmond’s City Council tonight approved a broad resolution endorsing Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ proposed deal with Bon Secours Richmond Health System to build a nearly $9 million training camp for the Washington Redskins.
    The proposed agreement with Bon Secours, announced last month, provides $6.4 million in sponsorship for the camp in exchange for a long-term, low-cost lease on the former Westhampton School property at Libbie and Patterson...



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  • Search result 290 of 1006


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  • Search result 306 of 1006

    Jones: Progress, but also missteps Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: October 14, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    No one could accuse Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones of a lack of vision.
    In the last year of his first term, the Baptist minister and former state delegate has laid out ambitious plans to dramatically transform the city's public-housing complexes, bring the Washington Redskins' summer training camp down Interstate 95 to a new home in the city and make the James River more accessible to residents, among other programs.
    Those initiatives join the ongoing construction of a $134 million...



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  • Search result 307 of 1006

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  • Search result 365 of 1006

    Residents ask Richmond City Council to give schools more funds Author: ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Date: April 11, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Residents beseeched the Richmond City Council to meet the school system's request for an additional $23.8 million during a public hearing Tuesday night on the city budget.
    A small but passionate procession of school employees, parents and other residents lined up to ask council members to "fully fund" Richmond Public Schools in the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.
    The hearing came less than eight hours after a consulting group recommended steps, including staffing cuts and...



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  • Search result 366 of 1006

    UPDATE: Mayor to finance new baseball stadium with debt savings Author: Times-Dispatch Staff Times-Dispatch
    Date: March 2, 2012
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    RICHMOND, Va.
    Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said today he will use interest rate savings from paying off old debts as debt service for the city's share of a new $50 million baseball stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
    Jones said the city is using money repaid from an old loan to the Richmond Metropolitan Authority to pay off $26.1 million in debt at an average interest rate of 5 percent and allow the issuance of $36 million in debt at a lower rate, around 3 percent. The...



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  • Search result 367 of 1006

  • Richmond picks builder for two schools Author: Will Jones
    Date: September 15, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond's plans for two new elementary schools on South Side are back on track with a company that initially did not vie for the work.
    Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced this week the selection of MB Contractors of Roanoke to build a new Broad Rock Elementary School and a new Oak Grove Elementary School for a combined $39.2 million. The 650-student schools are scheduled to open in January 2013 - four months later than planned - and they will be the city's first new public school buildings...


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  • Search result 382 of 1006

    Mayor Jones: Mistakes made in Richmond jail-planning process Author: Will Jones
    Date: September 12, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    RICHMOND
    Acknowledging mistakes in its jail-planning process, Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones' administration revealed Monday that it will seek relief from state design requirements for the facility.
    "There have been some mistakes but, in a project of this size, it's not unnecessarily unnatural," Jones said in an interview, in which he insisted that the city's procurement process had not been compromised.
    Citing new and ongoing concerns about the process, the City Council...


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  • Search result 383 of 1006

    Hurricane briefs for Wednesday, Aug. 31 Author: Times-Dispatch Staff
    Date: August 31, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond
    Mayor Dwight C. Jones on Tuesday announced a free shuttle service to transport residents who are without power to operating grocery stores. The GRTC City Supermarket Shuttle will be free to the riders today.
    "We want residents to have some ability to get the goods and products that they need that will keep in this environment while power is being restored," the mayor said in a statement.
    Buses will board passengers at specific locations and transport them to nearby...


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  • Search result 384 of 1006

    Michael Paul Williams: With redistricting, Richmond drawing new race issue Author: Michael Paul Williams
    Date: July 29, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    An African-American member of the Richmond School Board would be redistricted into oblivion as part of an effort to preserve the black voting strength in a neighboring ward.
    Under a draft redistricting plan, the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Kimberly Gray, the 2nd District representative on the School Board, would be absorbed into the majority-black 3rd District.
    That's the same 3rd District that since 2004 has been represented by a white councilman and white School Board members. In...


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  • Search result 385 of 1006

    Redistricting plan moves School Board member Author: Will Jones
    Date: July 20, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    The Richmond City Council is ready to seek public comment on a redistricting plan that would move School Board member Kimberly B. Gray out of her 2nd District and would not spread the city's large public-housing communities across more districts.
    Protecting incumbents wasn't among the council's adopted criteria for redistricting, but the prospect of moving the western part of Jackson Ward and subsequently Gray into the 3rd District is expected to generate controversy.
    "Everyone is...


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  • Search result 386 of 1006

    Jones gets final report on Richmond redistricting Author: Will Jones
    Date: July 7, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is welcoming but not yet endorsing three options for redistricting, including one that would overhaul the city's electoral map and reduce the number of voter districts from nine to as few as five.
    On Wednesday, Jones accepted a final report from a committee appointed to make recommendations for redistricting in light of the city's 22 percent poverty rate and the concentrations of poor residents in the East End and South Side.
    The City Council, which is...


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  • Search result 387 of 1006

    RMA payout comes with a catch Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 29, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond will have to wait another decade or longer to take ownership of the expressway system if it collects $60.3 million to settle a long-standing debt with the Richmond Metropolitan Authority.
    Because the city provided early financial support, portions of the toll-road system within the city limits are scheduled to revert to city ownership when the RMA's primary public debt of about $122 million is paid off.
    That's now scheduled to occur in 2022, but the date would be pushed...


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  • Search result 388 of 1006

    Two School Board members would shift districts under redistricting plans Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 25, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Two members of the Richmond School Board would be drawn out of their districts under a pair of redistricting options that are being finalized by a committee appointed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
    School Board member Kimberly B. Gray would be shifted in both scenarios from the 2nd District to the 3rd, while Maurice Henderson would be moved in one of the plans from the 5th to the 2nd.
    Committee members emphasized in a meeting Friday that they had not considered the residency of City...


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  • Search result 389 of 1006

    Ideas for $60.3 million windfall abound Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 24, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Three members of the Richmond City Council credited Mayor Dwight C. Jones for negotiating a $60.3 million windfall for the city but made it clear that the council would have to sign off on any use of the money.
    "The mayor deserves a lot of credit and congratulations for pulling this coup," Councilman E. Martin Jewell said Thursday. "But we are the governing body ... and it seems to me that we should have some ideas as well as the mayor for how those dollars should be spent."
    Or used...


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  • Search result 390 of 1006

    Panel ponders reducing districts in Richmond Author: Will Jones
    Date: June 19, 2011
    Publication: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
    Richmond should consider reducing its number of voter districts from the current nine to seven or five as a way to help tackle the poverty that plagues the city, according to an unfinished report of a commission appointed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
    One longer-term option being suggested would involve changing the city charter and redrawing from scratch the voter districts, which grew out of a 1970 annexation fight that created Richmond's ward system.
    The draft report says the purpose...


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    • you have a child with a disability, your child is entitled to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). This page has articles, law, cases, books, and other resources about FAPE.


    You should also review information about these topics: IEPs, Least Restrictive Environment (LRE),Extended School Year (ESY), Evaluations, Tests, and Retention & Social Promotion.


    Who is Responsible for Providing FAPE?


    In this article, you will learn about the "free, appropriate public education " (FAPE) your child is entitled to under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, who is responsible for providing a free, appropriate public education and how it is delivered. You will also learn strategies you can use if you have a disagreement with your child's IEP team.

    How Can I Get the School to Provide an Appropriate Program? Read one parent's journey from emotion to advocacy as she lobbies for the services her son needs.

    High-Stakes! Can the School Use a Single Test to Retain My Child?

    Should I Allow the School Retain My Child?


    Advice to a parent's frequently asked questions about retention - generally, it is not a good idea.

    To Promote or Retain? Summary of research on retention which shows that retention is not an appropriate intervention for children who have academic delays.


    Homebound Services: Two Hours a Week = FAPE? The IEP controls the services, regardless of where they are delivered - at home or in the public school.


    When a School Refuses to Protect a Child with Life-Threatening Allergies. A complaint filed alleging that the child on the basis of her disabilities, was denied a free and appropriate public education that addressed her needs, and failed to ensure a safe educational environment.

    Individualized Instruction is Not One-Size-Fits All. You are right. A program the school considers “good”may not be adequate for every child, depending on the child’s needs.The bottom line is the child has a right to a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

    What Does "swine flu" Have to do with FAPE? Guidance from US Dept of Education addresses the obligations of, and best practices for, state agencies and local schools with regard to the requirements for providing FAPE for children with disabilities when planning for an H1N1 outbreak.

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    Articles about FAPE

    Accommodations and Modifications. Some children with disabilities need accommodations and modifications in their special education programs. This 4 page printer-friendly article defines accommodations and modifications and gives examples for books, curriculum, instruction, assignments, and behavior.

    Free Appropriate Public Education for Students with Disabilities: Requirements Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. (Rev. September 2007). This pamphlet answers the following questions about FAPE: Who is entitled to a free appropriate public education? How is an appropriate education defined? How is a free education defined?Evans v. Rhinebeck: Your Roadmap to FAPE. How do judges determine if a child is receiving FAPE? Learn about procedural and substantive issues, educational benefit, and how to use test scores to show educational benefit.

    FAPE? Ohio Child Entitled to an Education That is Appropriate -- and Free. What is FAPE? Court of Appeals says child entitled to appropriate education that is also free; orders district to reimburse parents for child's tuition at private school.

    Garret F: Congress Intended to Open Door to All Qualified Children. U. S. Supreme Court decision clarifies that schools must provide related services when necessary for children to attend school.


    IDEA Requirements: Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) & FAPE. The IDEA includes two fundamental requirements: that the child receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). What does least restrictive environment mean? What is mainstreaming?

    Loving Parents Want What's Best for Child - But Schools Only Need to Provide FAPE. Learn why you cannot use words like "best" or "maximizing potential" in discussions with school staff; article includes Four Rules About FAPE.

    Reexamining Rowley: A New Focus in Special Education Law. Attorney Scott Johnson argues that the "some educational benefit" standard in Rowley no longer reflects the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. State standards and educational adequacy requirements provide requirements of FAPE; these standards exceed the "some educational benefit" benchmark. This requires a fundamental change in how courts, school districts, and parents view special education services.


    Unilateral Graduation & Compensatory Education: Kevin T. v. Elmhurst. Court finds that school district did not provide a FAPE, attempted to unilaterally graduate child, orders compensatory education.


    Tests and Measurements for the Parent, Teacher, Advocate & Attorney. Because FAPE describes a program that is designed to meet the child's unique needs and from which the child receiveseducational benefit, you need to understand test scores and what your child's test scores mean.

    The Untold Story - Florence County School District IV v. Shannon Carter. The inside story of the Shannon Carter case from due process, appeals, to oral argument before the U. S. Supreme Court.

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    From Emotions to Advocacy - The Special Education Survival Guide

    Our advocacy book, Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy - The Special Education Survival Guide, 2nd Edition , is published by Harbor House Law Press. Use the links below to preview the book. To order


    Introduction

    Getting Started - Chapter 1

    Reviews

    SMART IEPs - Chapter 12

    Skim Book

    Complete Table of Contents

    Legal Definition of FAPE

    The legal concept of “FAPE” is shorthand for “free, appropriate public education.” You will find FAPE defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) at 20 U. S. C. § 1401(3)(A)(9) (Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition, page 51) and in the Code of Federal Regulations at 34 C.F.R. § 300.17 (Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition, page 196).

    In a nutshell, FAPE is an individualized educational program that is designed to meet the child'sunique needs and from which the child receives educational benefit, and prepares them for further education, employment, and independent living.

    How can you tell if your child is receiving educational benefit? If you compare the child's educational achievement test scores over time, you will know if your child is receiving educational benefit.

    For more information about educational benefit and test results, download, print and study Tests and Measurements for the Parent, Teacher, Advocate and Attorney.
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    Caselaw About FAPE     (more caselaw about FAPE & IEPs)

    Bd. Ed. Hendrick Hudson Sch. Dist. v. Amy Rowley The first special education decision from the U. S. Supreme Court in 1982 defines FAPE.

    Cleveland Heights-University Heights v. Sommer Boss (6th Cir. 1998). School ignores red flags, does not offer an IEP, child placed in private school, parents entitled to reimbursement.    Evans v. Rhinebeck (S.D. NY 1996). Learn about FAPE for child with dyslexia; substantive and procedural issues, educational benefit. Includes excellent discussion of IEP goals and objectives.

    Kevin T. v. Elmhurst Comm. School Dist. (N.D. IL 2002) Witness credibility, failure to review and revise IEP goals and objectives, regression of skills, assistive technology, statewide assessments, transition plans, unilateral graduation, and compensatory education as a remedy when a school district fails to provide a FAPE.

    T. R. v. Kingwood Township (NJ) (3rd Cir. 2000) Clarifies requirement to provide a "free appropriate education (FAPE)" in the "least restrictive environment, meaningful benefit, continuum of placements.
    Walczak v. Florida Union Free School Dist. (2nd Cir. 1998). Loving parents want what's best for child but school need only provide an appropriate education
    .

    Books about Special Education Law, NCLB & Advocacy

    Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition (ISBN 978-1-892320-16-2) by Peter W. D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright is published by Harbor House Law Press, Inc.
    Available as a print book/e-book combo.
    Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy - The Special Education Survival Guide (ISBN 978-1-892320-09-4) by Pam and Pete Wright is published by Harbor House Law Press. The book is supplemented by theFrom Emotions to Advocacy website.
    Wrightslaw: No Child Left Behind (ISBN: 978-1-892320-12-4) by Peter W. D. Wright, Pamela Darr Wright and Suzanne Whitney Heath is published by Harbor House Law Press; includes the No Child Left Behind CD-ROM.

    Look Away, Look Away ...

    The bureaucrats at the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) knew this train wreck was on the way. And they knew they had children sitting on the tracks. Yet, they did precious little to save the children.
    The Richmond scores are a disaster. Here are the pass rates of the bottom ten divisions in each subject area as well as the five-subject average:

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    You may recall that we were second from the bottom in reading last year and sixth from the bottom in math.

    Adventures in VDOE's SOL-Wonderland

    "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less. "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things. "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - - that's all." ~ Through the Looking Glass, By Lewis Carroll, Chapter 6)

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