Cynthia Howell

State to vie for school-innovation funds

Arkansas will go after a share of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top federal grant that will be awarded for innovative efforts to raise student achievement.
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3 charter schools won’t fly

State’s rejection tally now at six

The Arkansas Board of Education on Tuesday denied three applications for new charter schools, bringing to six the total number of charter plans rejected this week.
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Charter school’s Blytheville add-on wins OK

State board rejects three other plans, defers vote on LR

The Arkansas Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved plans for expanding the existing KIPP charter school system into Blytheville.
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School Board offers its aid exit

Desegregation funds at issue

The Little Rock School Board on Thursday voted 6-0 to seek a $430 million phaseout of state desegregation funding over seven years, a counterproposal to the state attorney general’s $396 million proposal last August.
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States with exit tests see steady rise in 1st-time passers

The percentage of students who pass required high school exit exams on the first try tends to increase over time, according to a study being released today by the Center on Education Policy.
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3 districts seek charter schools

Forrest City, Little Rock, Pulaski County ask to start programs

The Little Rock, Pulaski County Special and Forrest City school districts have applied to the state Board of Education to establish charter schools that would be exempt from some public school rules and laws.
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$100 million plan OK’d by county district board

Tab will cover building 2 new schools

The Pulaski County Special School District will combine $20 million from its building fund with the $81 million from the issue of second-lien bonds to pay for a new high school in Maumelle and a middle school in Sherwood, putting the combined cost at over $100 million.
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Districts’ enrollment hits highs, lows

Loss, gain of pupils in LR, NLR, Pulaski County to affect funds from state

Enrollments in the three Pulaski County school districts have gone up, down and stayed about the same in a year in which the numbers of charter schools and private schools ticked upward.
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Study says education bar too low

State’s ‘proficient’ is below nation’s

Arkansas’ Benchmark Exams in fourth- and eighth-grade math and literacy rank in the top half of the nation in difficulty compared with other states’ tests, a new federal study shows.
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Education agency shake-up set

State’s new chief says job assignments will change

Arkansas’ new education commissioner said Tuesday that he will change some job assignments within the Arkansas Department of Education as part of an overall effort to improve the agency’s support of schools.
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