The Chamber can't be wrong, can it?

I awoke at 5:00 a.m. this morning with a splitting sinus headache. Despite that pain I was seriously tempted to bang my head against the wall when I read the City Paper this morning. These are the folks that Nashville elected to run the school system. It's just unbelievable that they would say these things let alone believe them. I'm not surprised they're using them as an excuse. They need every one they can get their hands on to absolve them of responsibility. The context is last night's meeting between the Metro Council and Dr. Jesse Register, Director of MNPS in preparation for passing the Metro Nashville budget.

"Council member Ronnie Steine cited years of independent management reports from the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, which suggested the level of central office staffing was where it belonged.

Board of Education Chair David Fox said he had also relied on the Chamber reports as an independent check on staffing levels"

Ronnie Steine is on the Council's Education Committee. David Fox is Chairman of the MNPS Board of Education. Seriously? These men seriously believed that the Chamber Report Cards were unbiased and independent assessments of MNPS? Did they take ten minutes to review the membership of these committees over time? Did they take ten minutes to review the report cards over time? Did they completely forget the money and support the Chamber poured into getting some of them on the school board and council?

Councilman Eric Crafton's Save Our Students group was immediately marginalized and their work was suspect because of bias against the messenger but no one could legitimately question the quality of the data. Yet these folks are shocked ala Inspector Renault in "Casablanca" that the Chamber who clearly has an agenda in so many areas of Nashville's life would dare to present them a report that supports their plan for Nashville.

It's morning, folks. Wake up and smell the coffee.

The Chamber speaks and says nothing

For 16 years the Nashville Chamber of Commerce has been creating report cards for the Metro Nashville Public Schools. You'll have to take our word on that as they do not have 16 years worth of report cards on their website. That's probably because they do not want folks grading them on their report cards over that time and their lack of impact on the system. It's great PR to rent space, call a meeting, alert the press and pass out slick looking brochures (or promise their mailing at a later date) but it's another thing to actually have a cumulative record of how many of those 16 years they've said nearly the same thing about MNPS.

And not one of those report cards includes an apology for helping hire Pedro Garcia or elect BOE members that have enabled the system to be exactly where it is...on the cusp of being taken over by the State of Tennessee with an embarrassing graduation rate and a system that is losing its middle class base and no longer reflects our city on the whole.

Today's article in the Tennessean could have been written with just a few tweaks nearly every one of the past 16 years.

The article in the Tennessean ends with what is supposed to be the very good news of a miserly pilot program involving 40 out of 75,000 students that will teach them "about career tracks, resumes, fundraising, and job shadowing". According to the City Paper "The kids involved — 20 from each school — will meet two days each week to help kids internalize the reality of life after high school." Seriously, how hard is that to incorporate into every high school and how completely inadequate is this effort? The reality of life is that this is too small an effort to make any real difference to the students at MNPS and really only provides a photo op and line for his upcoming gubernatorial bio for the Superintendent of Schools Mayor Karl Dean.

Again, from the Tennessean article:

"Among other things, the report would like to see comparison data so Nashville could compare its school performance with other American cities;"

The Chamber doesn't have to wish for this, it already exists and if they'd been paying attention to more than their own agenda they'd have encouraged its use. Much of that data was provided by the Save Our Students folks the past several years or can be found at the excellent Education Consumers Foundation here: http://mosteffectiveschools.org/TN/nashville.htm

Friend$ of Metro $chools

The only thing this coalition will do well is pick the pockets of taxpayers.

Friends of Metro Schools — a coalition founded by Stand for Children Nashville, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Interdenominational Ministers’ Fellowship (IMF) — launches today, with a pledge to strive to organize Nashvillians into advocating for public schools to Metro leaders.

The new organization plans to reach out to interested individuals with information about the funding process, as it unfolds, for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Those who are contacted will also receive information about how to get in touch with officials making funding decisions. (No hyperlink thanks to the City Paper's new and improved e-paper. "Coalition has lesson plan to boost funds for Metro schools", City Paper, 3/13/08 page 3.)

I'm not looking for an organization that will advocate for the schools. How about actually advocating for the children? Looks like the only effort to hold MNPS accountable for the more than half a BILLION dollars they're already spending is the Save Our Students group who are actually pointing out that it's not the money. Other districts are doing better with less. Why can't we? Throwing money at the problem is easy...let me know when someone actually gets a copy of the MNPS check register and starts running those numbers. Then we'll have a better idea of just where it's really going. It's not making it to the classroom...that's for certain. What makes Friends of Metro Schools thinks what they'll raise will get there?

Focus on the message

I attended most of the Save Our Students State of Schools report to the Metro Council's Education Committee on Monday evening. Unfortunately, I had to leave about 45 minutes into that meeting to rescue my husband whose car had broken down in Greenbrier. I did really want to hear the rest of Councilman Eric Crafton's presentation.

Before the SOS presentation was a discussion of Crafton's Resolution 2008-137 . What I got out of the discussion was that the Governor has the authority to remove a superintendent of schools (and the entire school board) but there doesn't seem to be any specific 'line in the sand'. That's a problem. How bad do schools have to be before the Governor steps in? No one seems to know. It appears it's entirely subjective.

So here's what I saw and heard regarding the SOS presentation:

We were told that the BOE members and MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Pedro Garcia were unable to attend this meeting as they were attending Nashville Mayor Karl Dean's education meetings instead. Since the SOS presentation was made at the regular meeting of the Council Education Committee I expect it was an unavoidable conflict of schedules. There were several people from Garcia's Cabinet in attendance though to include Chris Henson, Business & Facilities; Ralph Thompson, Student Services; and Woody McMillan, Public Information. Sharing the second row pew with Thompson & McMillan was Ralph Smith MNEA staffer.

There were less than a dozen councilmen there, some left early, some spent a good bit of time talking to others during the presentation (and should have been more quiet) some were in the hall. Crafton began by saying:

"3 1/2 years ago...I started hearing that our schools were woefully underfunded, but that they were making tangible progress. But this just didn't ring true with what parents and other constituents were telling me... So I decided to do some unbiased, independent research to see if in fact we were underfunding our schools and see if real progress could be measured."

"I started by sending over 10 simple questions to Metro's school administrators. The only response I got was that they were too busy preparing their budget that was coming up later that spring to answer my question. So I founded the Save Our Students organization..."

"Why do I bring this information before you? Because I truly believe that both our education system and our children's futures are at an irreversible tipping point if we don't make dramatic, meaningful, measurable changes. Without change, our children will suffer. Irreparable harm will be done."

And he made the specific point that the:
"information is not being represented to usurp the School Board's authority, but rather offered in a spirit of cooperation and a shared interest in our children's success."

Regarding money:

"In my opinion however, it is fiscally irresponsible for the Metro Council to send 35% of Nashville's budget...around $600 million a year, to the School Board without expectations of measured achievement and without providing some oversight."

And so out came the slides. Unfortunately the larger screen was not working and so we had to peer at the much smaller TV screens instead.

I remember several years back Garcia stating very clearly that his goal was to have the best school district in the nation. Folks, we don't even have the best district in the state. These red and blue slides follow the same class from 3rd (blue) grade to 8th (red). They fall further and further behind as they advance in grade level. This is all on Garcia's watch, by the way.

Average Percentile	2002 3rd grade	2007 8th grade
Math	44	36
Rdg/Language	45	41
Science	37	33
Social Studies	40	36

Regarding that same class there was some growth but the growth didn't keep pace with the growth of the rest of the state so we fell behind the rest of the state. Read these slides. Is a 1.3% growth rate (while sliding back .5%) good enough? No. I remember Mebinin Awipi (formerly on the MNPS BOE) say that at these rates there is no way we're going to achieve NCLB benchmarks. He was assured the growth would greatly increase. It hasn't.




Blogger won't let me add the reading graphic. I'll do so when they've figured out the problem.
















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And do you think MNPS children are qualifying for lottery scholarship? Think again. There is a reason we have a huge excess of funds. Those two tall spikes above the red line are Hume Fogg Magnet and Martin Luther King Magnet. Hillsboro almost makes the qualifying red line. Take out Hume Fogg and MLK and the average SAT score was 17.94. I added a bright green line to the SOS slide to show that point on the chart. Removing the rest of the magnet high schools doesn't really impact the average much. It then becomes 17.86.


There are 35 slides altogether. They included demographic breakdowns, funding and even personnel ratios. Most of those won't render well in this small space. I'm asking if they're all online somewhere and will post a link as soon as I hear back.

SOS suggests we do several things to make improvements. They include what they call a Student Lifeline Program where student progress is tracked using computer software and more money is put into reading a math tutoring; increase magnet opportunities and provide academic magnets in every area of town as well as create a disciplinary magnet; and a revised No Pass No Play provision which would suspend students falling behind from non-academic extracurricular activities and provide a tutor so they can catch up.

It's heartbreaking to read through these statistics and know there are children and families behind these numbers. So many lives without what they need, educationally. Crafton was right when he said:

"I know that sometimes I may be considered a bit controversial. But in this case, whether you like me personally or not, I urge you to listen to the message, not the messenger. "

and

"As some children's only opportunity to rise above their current station, it (MNPS) must work."

The lives of these children and our community is too important to ignore the message because of the messenger.

Saturday 02/17/06

Bit and pieces:

Wrestling with the TSSAA round two:

WASHINGTON — Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court have been set for April 18 in the long legal fight over whether the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association can punish Brentwood Academy for allegedly recruiting athletes. Tennessean

If we don't know where they are, how do we know if they've been left behind? Metro Nashville Public School Board of Education is wrestling with line items on their budget. They've decided that keeping accurate records on the status and progress of students isn't a first tier budget item and have added it to the 'unfunded priorities list'. That means if they get more money than they're asking for--they'll put it toward this essential record keeping.

“What happens right now is we lose kids – we can’t find kids and it takes forever,” [Superintendent Pedro] Garcia said about bookkeeping woes. “Part of the problem is we have lots of hands in the pie – we got counselors and sometimes secretaries.”
(snip)
“I can tell you, if you have a person [at the school] that you know that’s in charge of records and someone that’s diligent, I think it’s a start,” said board member Gracie Porter. City Paper

We're paying twice for the same product:

More than half of all students who enter college in Tennessee are not academically prepared and require at least one remedial course, according to the Tennessee Board of Regents. The problem is growing.

Remedial education costs the state more than $25 million a year and the number of students enrolled in these courses is expected to grow by about 30 percent over the next decade, said Treva Berryman of the TBR, the governing board for 19 of the state's four- and two-year colleges. Commercial Appeal

America's third world education:

One of the state's top education officials said Wednesday that the United States is at risk of becoming a Third World economy if its public schools don't improve, and his Knoxville audience was glad to hear Tennessee wants to raise standards. KnoxNews

He may want to remember that some of those countries considered third world--are ahead of us in several subjects.

"In fourth grade, American kids do above average internationally. By eighth grade, they slip a bit, and by 12th-grade, they've slipped a lot," Marsh said. "We're the only country that slides down that much from fourth to 12th grade." USC Daily Trojan

This is something Save Our Students told us last year but people got bogged down in who the messenger was instead of the truth of the presentation. Maybe this year they'll listen.

Will someone step up?

BRISTOL, Tenn. - It's official: No one is officially running for the District 2 seat on the five-member Bristol Tennessee Board of Education.
(snip)
"Recent history has shown that parents are more reluctant to serve in positions that have less direct impact on children, such as PTA Council and the Board of Education," Bailey said. "This is especially true when there is a perception that anyone who does serve on the Board of Education will be unjustly criticized in the media."

Boy, don't I know that. There's still a fellow out there insisting he knows the truth about who I am and how I got on the school board. He's dead wrong--but that inconvenient truth isn't impeding him at all in the pursuit of his agenda. People are going to write and say ugly things--truthful and not. People are going to call you and expect you to solve things you have no authority to solve. People are going to unrealistically expect you to have all the answers. But, here's a real opportunity for someone to put their hand to the rudder that will set the course for thousands of children's future. I hope someone steps up via a write in candidacy. These schools need oversight outside of the administration and their professionals.

But are they learning?

In the middle of the fuss about dress codes and balanced calendars the measure of the real missions of public schools may get overlooked. Some are opining that's exactly the goal--distraction from the facts about whether these children are actually learning.

10 days late the state Department of Education will finally make this data available at 3:00 p.m. today (note this use of the late Friday news cycle tactic). Hopefully, reporters will take the weekend to go through this and lead with legitimate information Monday and not just MNPS press release quotes.

Metro Nashville Public Schools will hold their own Q & A just prior at 1:15 p.m. in the Board of Education room on Bransford Avenue.

"We expect to see information showing improved achievement in our district," said Paul Changas, district director of assessment and evaluation.

"A lot of data has been reported. What we have seen has been encouraging, but there are still a lot of areas that we need to address."Tennessean

Yes, indeed. I'm looking forward to the comparisons that the Save Our Students folks promised Nashvillians last spring. I'm convinced they will bring essential context to these numbers while providing accountability that the system has sorely needed. And we'll know better whether Superintendent of School Pedro Garcia actually earned his new three year contract.