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The city of Philadelphia has appeared to have a type of love-hate relationship with education in recent decades. Burdened by financial woes and hounded by parents, educators, and lawmakers who want to see a higher quality education offered to Philadelphia youth, public schools have seen more than their share of ups and downs. However, problems seem to be coming to a head in the City of Brotherly Love, with a proposal to close nearly 40 schools on the negotiating table. While parents and students protest this proposed move, school officials assert that a budget crisis leaves them with little choice but to downsize.

School Closing Decision Raises Controversy

reports that the School District of Philadelphia has announced plans to close 36 schools throughout the city. According to the district, the closures and subsequent moves will put schools “on the road to a higher-performing school system that improves academic outcomes for all students and is financially sustainable.” The recommendations for school closures took a number of factors into consideration, including the academic performance of all students, reducing excess capacity, and limiting capital expenses to a more practical level. However, some opponents of the proposal have suggested the decision to close so many schools is all about the bottom line for the district.

“In its bottom line-focused rush to close neighborhood schools, the SRC [School Reform Commission] is turning its back on the parents, students, and communities that will be affected by these closures,” Jerry

The Wake County Public School system is the largest school district in North Carolina and the 16^th largest in the U.S. It serves nearly 150,000 students at its 165 schools throughout Wake County. The district has a relatively short but colorful history, formed amid desegregation in the South that changed the face of public education for the entire country.

The History of Wake County Public Schools

Wake County Public Schools is one of the country's more recently formed school districts, dating back to 1976. The district was formed due to a merger between the Wake County school system and Raleigh Public Schools. During that time, North Carolina schools were in flux, thanks to a Supreme Court decision in 1971 involving the desegregation of North Carolina schools. According to the Carolina Journal, in Swann v. the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, the Supreme Court determined that Charlotte-Mecklenburg must desegregate its schools through forced bussing.

While schools resisted the idea of forced bussing, it became apparent over the next two decades that desegregation improved academic performance and test scores in the affected schools. However, the program was not sustainable over the long term, and increased diversity in the suburbs of North Carolina deemed the act of forced bussing no longer necessary. During the 1990s, the segregation debate was revisited, and in 1999, a federal court struck down the idea of race-conscious student assignment. School zones were restructured, and parental choice became an option in many districts nationwide.

Despite the changes

is the second-largest school district in the state of Maryland and the 18^th largest district in the United States. The diverse student population consists of primarily African-American and Hispanic students, with less than five percent of Caucasian students included in the demographics. The diversity of the student body poses some challenges to the school district, but the adoption of a unique management model has made a positive impact.

What is the Comer School Development Program?

The Comer School Development Program was first created in 1968, in an effort to bring up the quality of education at two failing Connecticut elementary schools. The program was introduced through a partnership between the Yale University Child Study Center and New Haven Public Schools. The two New Haven schools in question were suffering from a variety of serious obstacles at the time, from test scores near rock bottom to staff morale that was just about as low.

The management model introduced a focus on child and adolescent growth, as well as interpersonal relationships. Through a careful integration of collaboration, problem solving and decision-making by consensus, the Comer School Development Program was proven to be effective in improving education quality through improvement of leadership within the public school system.

Three teams are assigned to oversee the Comer School Development Program at each school. Those teams include:

• School Planning and Management Team (SPMT)
• Student Staff and Support Team (SSST)
• Parent Team (PTO , PTSA)

These teams work together through

School districts across the country are grappling with less funding to go around, but one of the largest districts in Florida and the country may have found a solution to its financial woes. The Orange County Public Schools district has launched an aggressive and comprehensive fundraising effort to pump more money into its cash-strapped schools. From Fuel My School to 5K runs, this school district is finding ways to pay for the type of learning experience it wants for its students.

In Search of Money

Orange County Public Schools recently announced ambitious fundraising efforts with a goal of $26 million in sight. According to the Orlando Sentinel, in addition to the fundraising plan, the district has an idea of how they want to spend the money they raise, citing a number of priorities where they would focus funding. Those areas included:

• Addition of a staff nurse to every Orange County school
• Affordable computers for low-income students with their sights set on college
• Tutors for every child who had the lowest scores on standardized state tests
• All-day pre-kindergarten programs for more effective early childhood education
• Literacy programs, including reading clubs for students
• Addition of more STEM opportunities at every grade level
• Additional centers for students requiring a daily location during suspensions
• Expansion of the City Year “Near Peer” mentoring program

While $26 million is the estimate to fully fund all of these programs, district officials are expecting to introduce the funding – and the new and expanded programs –

Chicago schools are in for some major changes, thanks to the introduction of Common Core Standards coming to many of the schools in the city. Drafted by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core Standards are an effort to make education standards more consistent from state to state. However, the rigors of the standards are also forcing school districts across the country devise to instructional strategies to bring students to the next level of learning. Chicago schools will be no exception in this endeavor, but the success of Common Core Standards in at least one of the city’s schools fuels efforts to improve education throughout Chicago Public Schools.

What are Common Core Standards?

The Common Core Standards were developed in response to the need for consistent educational standards that could effectively span state lines to impact schools throughout the country. The standards offer benchmarks that help ensure students are gaining the knowledge, experience, and education they need to succeed in college and the workplace. Common Core Standards are also designed to allow schools, districts, and states to share information and success stories to help other schools and districts find similar success for their students.

The Common Core Standards were not created to tell teachers how to teach, but those who have begun working with the standards explain that their curriculum and teaching style has been modified according to the new standards. Leslie Roach, a fifth-grade teacher in Chicago,