Tagged: education

Two under-performing St. Louis charter schools will close at the end of the school year.

James French, chairman of Missouri Baptist University's Education Division, which sponsors the schools, announced Monday that Imagine Academy of Academic Success and Imagine Academy of Cultural Arts, will close.

The university, which began sponsoring the schools in 2006, said neither school was living up to academic performance standards, was financially sound, or was showing signs of improvement.

Illinois lawmakers are trying to close a loophole that let two lobbyists qualify for retirement benefits as teachers after spending a single day in the classroom.

The measure passed the House on Wednesday and now goes to the state Senate.

It targets two lobbyists for the Illinois Federation of Teachers. They spent one day as substitutes, which allowed them to qualify for the teachers' pension system.

Democratic Rep. Jack franks of Marengo calls it "depressing" that he needed to sponsor legislation to remove them from the pension system.

His bill passed 112-0.

While students in most states showed improvement on a national test, Missouri students lost ground.

The 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress was announced Tuesday.

Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro says the report confirms what she calls an "urgent need to raise the bar academically and to focus on results."

On a scale of zero to 500, the average math score for Missouri eighth-graders was 282. That's down four points from 2009. And the average math score for fourth-graders was 240, down one point from 2009.