Parent-activist warns parents, educators in Sumter

Forewarned is forearmed, and long-time parent-activist Ceresta Smith, now of Charleston, rang the alarm in Sumter on Tuesday -- and her remarks were covered by the Sumter Item.Is the "public" being taken out of public schools?

That was the topic of a public talk given Tuesday in Sumter, sponsored by the South Carolina Education Association and the Sumter Education Task Force.

Ceresta Smith, a

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Richland's Ford disapproves Zais's labels proposal

Superintendent Mick Zais's alternative to No Child Left Behind -- a waiver application that includes a proposal to label schools A through F for performance -- isn't collecting many supporters among veteran educators. In Richland County, school board member Vince Ford has become the latest to question the Zais model.Richland One School Board member Vince Ford explains: "It's really about taking

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Aiken Standard: Time to leave NCLB

Agreed!When the No Child Left Behind act was enacted 10 years ago it was heralded as a program to bring accountability to the country's education system. It set standards and measurement methods designed to reward achievement and punish failure.

But the program has flaws. For one, it ignores differences in favor of a one-size-fits-all method. And, success is all or nothing. If a school passes

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Turnout low for Zais's first public meeting on NCLB waivers

Here's one area where the state Superintendent of Education and the Obama administration apparently agree: Both want to be freed from the restrictions of the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind." While Congress dawdles over the law's reauthorization, the Obama administration last year rolled out NCLB waiver options for states that wished to apply for them. Coincidentally, Superintendent

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Schools to be used as cultural battlefields all over again

Silly season is definitely here now. Slate magazine has posted an item on the significance of Michele Bachmann's rise in political power, and it has a lot to do with public education. Naturally, this means that educators should pay attention, if they're not already. If you wade through the political stuff, you'll find in the Slate article a number of issues that raise important and scary

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Record scholarships defy state's NCLB ratings

I noticed an odd juxtaposition of facts earlier this month when news came that all but one of South Carolina's school districts failed to meet federal adequate yearly progress goals.

By one measure, South Carolina's public schools have failed, failed, failed their students. By another measure, South Carolina's schools have surpassed their students' wildest dreams, meeting and exceeding their

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