Bluum is a nonprofit organization helping Idaho become a national model for how to maximize learning outcomes for children and families.
Bluum is a nonprofit organization helping Idaho become a national model for how to maximize learning outcomes for children and families.
The design has been approved, the site is being prepared and Idaho Arts Charter’s new school is still on track to be completed and open by September. The project quickly began falling into place in December.
Interview with Matthew Murphy, 9th Grader at Compass Public Charter School, Meridian. In conjunction with National School Choice Week we interviewed our student rally speakers about what choice means to them and the effect it has had on their education.
One size does not fit all. Not clothes, not cars, not diets, not housing and, importantly, not schooling. Traditional, or what I will call “legacy” schools and school districts have focused on standardization, uniformity and predictability. Parents and state governments demanded it. It served our nation well for over 100 years. Times have changed, and so must we.
While urban charter schools are achieving impressive gains, can charter schools improve outcomes for rural America? This topic is an important one with more than 11 million students attending rural schools and facing lower college enrollment than their urban peers.
Idaho’s State Board of Education President Don Soltman shared some data on graduation rates that triggered angst among educators and policy leaders. Recent figures from the 2013-14 school year showed Idaho ranked 41st in the nation with a graduation rate of just 77.3 percent. Stoltman presented this information along with especially troubling details that virtual charter schools and alternative schools graduated a drastically lower percentage, 20 percent and 36 percent respectively.
The last 15 years or so has been a busy time for public education in Idaho on at least seven fronts. But what do ordinary Idahoans think about all this?