1. A Chicago policy requiring 9th graders to double-up on algebra has resulted in a 17% improvement in graduation rates when combined with those who graduated in 4 or 5 years.
  2. Newark’s highly praised new contract includes a pay-for-performance component allowing teachers rated highly effective to earn annual bonuses of up to $12,5000 if they’ll work in low-performing schools and teach hard-to-staff subjects.
  3. Only 1,584 D.C. students receive vouchers–just 2% of all publicly funded students in the city–but attend schools with little oversight. Teachers don’t need credentials, and schools don’t have to publish their results or answer reporters’ questions. The D.C. program pays $8,000 a year for every elementary student and $12,000 for every high schooler.
  4. NYC middle schoolers take a 2.5 hour multiple choice Specialized High School Admissions Test which serves as a “gateway to public elite schools.” Now civil rights groups are challenging that premise saying it perpetuates inequality.
  5. Due to mistakes, the Philadelphia School District has suspended use of its complicated School Performance Index that converts more than 12 factors into a single score for all its schools and charters.