Word: beacons
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...Beacon...
Like Edison, Chancellor Beacon has less flexibility in the five schools it operates in Philadelphia than it had in previous projects: it must work with unions, a district bureaucracy and students who weren't specially recruited for its schools. But unlike the other two for-profit companies, Chancellor Beacon has been slow to roll out changes, instead beginning the year by studying the problem through teacher surveys, classroom visits and student test scores. In coming weeks the company plans to convene a parent round table, introduce new math and reading curricula and step up training for teachers. "There are things...
...seven independent operators. The outside contractors include Edison, based in New York City and the largest of the companies that manage public schools as a business; Victory Schools, a much smaller New York City firm with schools in that city aswell as in Baltimore, Md.; and the Chancellor Beacon Academies of Coconut Grove, Fla., which operates charter schools and private day schools around the country. Two nonprofit organizations were also given schools to run, and both Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania will provide extensive services atothers. In addition, the panel hired Paul Vallas,who oversaw major reforms...
...sending her third child through Shoemaker Middle School in West Philadelphia, regularly attends parent meetings, often checks in with teachers and enforces strict rules at home about homework and uniforms. With her daughter Shaliah, 12, about to enter seventh grade, Denmark closely followed news reports on Chancellor Beacon Academies, the private company designated to take over her neighborhood school. Shaliah had been attending a charter school that Denmark says turned her off with its use of uncertified teachers and its "arrogant leadership." But Denmark, who works for a mortgage firm, was impressed by what she heard about Chancellor Beacon...
...hope, of course, is that Chancellor Beacon's efforts will translate into academic gains for Shaliah, a bubbly Bs-and-Cs student, as well as for the Shoemaker pupils performing below grade level, whom Chancellor Beacon plans to target aggressively with personalized assignments and weekly monitoring of classwork and homework. The Denmarks like this cautious approach but also have some immediate concerns. Mom Tanya wants new textbooks; the ones Shaliah has are torn and marked up, and she's stillwaiting for a science book. Denmark would also like to see the discipline code strictly enforced in the sprawling, sometimes rowdy...