Saint Louis Beacon

Education

KIPP St. Louis selects principal for its first middle school

By News sources
Last Updated ( Monday, 30 June 2008 )
Rosalind Davis (right), who has worked recently in a program to train public school principals, has been chosen to head St. Louis' first KIPP middle school. She has 17 years of teaching and administrative experience, including work at the New Leaders for New Schools, a national program that seeks to transform urban schools by recruiting, training and supporting high-performing principals to run them. Early next year she will come to St. Louis to begin work opening KIPP St. Louis next summer.

Are Missouri's charter schools making the grade? Without a study, no one can say for sure

By Robert Joiner, Beacon staff
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 11 June 2008 )
Are charter schools better for students than public schools? Charter school advocates like to claim so, but so far Missouri hasn't funded any comprehensive study to answer that fundamental question.

Indianapolis charter schools don't have all the answers

By Robert Joiner, Beacon staff
Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 June 2008 )
Local supporters of charter schools, including St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, have looked to Indianapolis, where a former wrested power from the city's school system to set up charter schools. But school is still out on whether Indianapolis' kids are faring better in charter schools than traditional public schools.

Will work for job: For college grads, finding work is tricky, but not impossible

By Kristen Hare, Special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )
In the midst of an economic downturn, when unemployment rates hover at 5 percent nationally, it is taking some college students in St. Louis longer to find jobs than usual.

Schlafly draws silent protest at Washington U.

By Beacon staff
Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )
Some Washington University graduates, their families and faculty silently turned their backs when the school awarded conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly an honorary degree Friday. They gave a resounding ovation to another award recipient, Dr. Jessie Ternberg, a pioneering female surgeon and longtime faculty member. .

In Memoriam: Fr. Hagan knew my name

By Andy Struckhoff, Special to the Beacon
Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )
Andy Struckhoff was a freshman at St. Louis University High School in 1991. He came from a small south city high school and could have been a little overwhelmed. But Fr. Hagan knew his name. Read Andy's memories and then add your own.

KIPP charter schools: a 4-part series on school reform

By Robert Joiner, Platform Staff

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 28 May 2008 )

The Knowledge Is Power Program is coming to St. Louis.

Read about: The woman who pushed for the schools to come here.

KIPP in Kansas City: A day in the life

KIPP in Kansas City: Dedicated teachers are key

KIPP in Kansas City: Partnerships with parents make it work

Grading St. Louis' deseg program

By Robert Joiner, Platform Staff

Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )

On Aug. 25, 1983, about 300 St. Louis children boarded buses for trips lasting as long as 45 minutes to schools in the Ritenour District. In some cities, desegregation was accompanied by anti-busing rallies and even violence. But the 300 kids who rode to Ritenour schools that morning enjoyed a quiet and peaceful trip, setting the tone for the start of one of the largest and longest-running school desegregation initiatives in the nation. Now after 25 years, the program, which ends in 2014, is slowing down. What did it achieve?

Editors' Picks

College
- Business boot camp gives non-business students effective survival skills: Carolina Business Institute at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill gives new biologists, psychologists and arts majors tools to run their own businesses or better manage their personal finances. | Hartford Courant
- SIU-Carbondale marks 30 years of service to Groton, Conn., Naval Submarine Base: Sailors pursue popular bachelor's degree in workforce education and development programs similar to ones offered first at Scott Air Force Base. | The Day
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission offers $750,000 in grants to recruit students as poll workers: Students from 27 colleges and civic groups, including University of Missouri, will serve in November. | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Missouri State University scholarship aids veterans injured since Sept. 11, 2001: Operation Promise will give up to $3,000 a year to those hurt in combat since Sept. 11, 2001. | New-Leader
K-12
- San Diego elementary schools trim class sizes, change how they group youngest students: Following Tennessee model, 30 schools in California district will limit classes to about 15 students per teacher in kindergarten, first and second grades. | San Diego Union-Tribune
- Department of Education changes how schools assess progress under No Child Left Behind law: Under "growth model," students who miss proficiency targets but show growth will now count toward school meeting federal standards. | Southeast Missourian
- Minnesota middle schools prepare for big changes: Twin Cities suburb Woodbury dumps mini-high school method, opts for plan that lets teachers "understand the whole student." | Woodbury Bulletin
- Illinois makes big gains in teacher quality for schools with large numbers of low-income and minority students: But gaps remain between regions, demographic groups | Illinois Education Research Council
Profiles
- Student's illegal status forces tough choice for college: In North Carolina, community colleges deny admission to undocumented applicants; state universities charge undocumented students higher out-of-state tuition, but no financial aid. | The Dispatch
- 3 St. Louis-area students receive Dillenkoffer scholarships: Chesterfield, Lake St. Louis, Washington youth win award given to gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender high school students. | Dillenkoffer Endowment
- "Virtual school" has to improve learning curve: Missouri's Virtual Instruction Program plans big changes after nearly half of program's 3,200 enrollees dropped out in inaugural year.| Southeast Missourian
- New alternative schools chief has soft spot for tough kids: Tracy Cherry-Hoskins wants to work with Danville, Ill., community college for program to help potential dropouts finish high school, continue education. | The News-Gazette

Facing Foreclosure: Granite City

From KETC, Living St. Louis Producer Patrick Murphy visits Granite City, Illinois, a community hard hit by the mortgage crisis—with as many as 120 foreclosure cases each month. Illinois has a judicial foreclosure system that gives you more time before losing your home. The foreclosure begins with a lawsuit and has to be approved by a judge which can take as long as a year. If you're facing a mortgage crisis, the most important thing to do is to ask your lender questions and seek help.

See more coverage: Facing the Mortgage Crisis

Voices in the news

Universities should step up to lead the region

Civic Progress served the region well, but changes in the corporate and banking world created a need for a new leaders. The obvious place to look is to the higher education system, writes lawyer John Roach.

Columnists

For whom the exit polls

Columnist M.W. Guzy looks at an overview of the 2004 election and wonders how John Kerry lost. Exit polls, which are usually much more precise than pre-election polling, showed Kerry with a decent margin of victory in several states. But that margin evaporated when the vote totals were released.

Blogs

Christmas at White House; chaos at myobama
Law Scoop
The U.S. Senate is on the verge of passing a new foreign intelligence surveillance law that U.S. Sen. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., has described as "a better deal than they even (the White House) had hoped to get." The ACLU calls it "Christmas" at the White House and Barack Obama's social networkers are up in arms.

The Lens

You broke it, you pay for it
Lens
Ellen Page's new film, "The Tracey Fragments," falls to pieces.

The Beacon and KETC/Channel 9 are covering mortgage forclosures – how they're affecting St. Louis area residents and where you can find help.

Visit our special section to read coverage of this issue, watch Channel 9's stories and access resources to find help.

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To see the latest winner, read "Does it matter if your brew is American-made?".

Our next topic: How should flood plain development be handled? For details, visit Helium.

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To see a list on our World news page, click here . The Pulitzer Center's founder is Jon Sawyer, former Washington Bureau chief of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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