Reform News Roundup

From the October 2007 School Reform News whch hit my mailbox yesterday:

NEA Moves Even Further from Mainstream at Annual convention. This headline isn't even news anymore but there is some encouraging information in the article.

"Rank-and-file teachers are becoming increasingly fed up with the far-left policies the NEA adopted...so fed up that some of them are planning to become delegates themselves in order to change the union's makeup."

"Conservative teachers must not 'sit idly back and pay dues,' [Sissy] Jochmann said. "It's unconscionable,' she continued, for state members to do nothing while the NEA continues to 'adopt non-education policies regarding social issues...'

I've always thought Mike Antonnuci's NEA Pyramid was very illustrative of the disconnect between the NEA leadership and the rank-and-file. Good to read that people are trying to reform the old gal. Of course there are options: Professional Educators of Tennessee. (I see they've redone their website. Nice.)

Civic Group Finds Illinois Charter Schools Don't Drain Resources. The first argument out of the mouths of those who don't want this education choice available is that it will drain resources from public schools (actually educating children isn't the highest priority).

"The 112-page assessment focused on three Illinois charter schools outside the Chicago Pulbic School system that had weathered a time of financial hardship for their host districts. During the 2003-04 school year, on which the study focused, the three schools relieved their host district of 1.3 to 3 percent of the district's students while tapping only 0.9 to 2.4 percent of their host districts' operating budget.

and

"We're finding the same is generally true nationwide," [Don] Soifer [Exec. Director of the Lexington Institute] said. "Charter schools do not drain district funding."

Congress May Act to Define Graduation Rate: You had to know this was coming. Our own MNPS has modified its definition of graduation. I don't believe they're the only ones to think of it. Changing the definitions, the tests, the way we report the information are all tried and true tactics of those who want to hide the truth.

"Sadly, dishonest reporting about graduation rates turns out to be widespread," wrote Larry Ozzell in a 2005 Cato Institute policy brief."

Two bills are being introduced that would 'require accurate information regarding dropout and graduation rates.' They only mention one in this article HR2955. Here's a printer friendly version of the bill.

From the Bill:

"Approximately one-third of all high school students in the United States fail to graduate with their peers--about 1,230,000 every year." That's ONE MILLION, two hundred thirty thousand lives handicapped by not getting the education they need EVERY YEAR. I'll never understand the push for Pre-K when more than ONE MILLION of our citizens need help NOW. 4 year olds have some time. These one million students have run out of time.

"About 2,000 of the more than 20,000 high schools in the United States produce nearly half of the Nation's dropouts."

Let's Marshal Plan those 2,000.

"The average gap between State-reported and independently reported graduation rates is approximately 11 percent, and in some States that difference rises to over 25 percent."

For federal legislation it's a pretty easy read. I encourage you to go through it and let your representative know how you'd like them to vote.

And finally we have a Democratically controlled congress and so that means no more choice for those that could really use it.

DC Opportunity Scholarship Program's Future in Question.

"The DC Opportunity Scholarship program has been providing low-income students private school scholarship since 2004 when President George W. Bush signed into law the federal DC School Choice Incentive Act."

And this quote...really, this is what the DC delegate thinks is the ONLY responsible thing to do?

"I think there's very little chance that, when this runs out, it will be renewed," commented Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District in Congress. "I have said to [Washington Scholarship Fund] that I think the only responsible thing to do is to prepare the parents to understand that the program is unlikely to be funded, that it was experimental, it was never meant to be permanent."

and

"Del. Norton needs to talk to parents," Walden Ford [Exec. Director, DC Parents for School Choice] said. "Parents with children in the program are thrilled about the new opportunities in private school. They are so happy to have their children in safe and high-quality schools."

This is what she calls doing a good job advocating for her constituents? And she wants a vote in the House. I don't think so. It's not like they're asking for their children to attend Sidwell Friends or St. Albans.

Cat Comments

While I was out dealing with a broken tooth the folks at Tiny Cat Pants jumped on yesterday's post about high school and have gone on at great length about the renewal of a suggestion made almost 60 years ago regarding the value of high schools. If you're interested in education issues you will find some valuable (and not so valuable) comments there. I should probably have provided a bit more commentary instead of assuming that folks would find the idea intriguing and be willing to provide their own point of view and be willing to discuss it. If I had perhaps all those page views would be showing up in MY Adsense check. :-)

There are a couple of things in the comments section there that should probably be cleared up:

I NEVER suggested, or even thought, that ‘most kids shouldn’t have access to a high school education’ as Samantha Y wrote or that it’s just for the ‘best and brightest’ as Aunt B starts all this with. I’m all for them having a high school education–I just don’t think it has to be obtained via the current system.

For years I've said that if the public has a responsibility to provide an education we need to decide what that education is and where society's obligation ends. To date we've only half defined the obligation as 6 to 17 years old inclusive (or until you get into so much trouble we throw you out) and some end of course tests. However, they can't just leave after they're 18 and have passed the end of course tests. They still have to warm a seat. This only ensures employment for adults and frustration for many students. You can't even test for your GED in this state until you're 18, 17 with a waiver. What's the reason for that? Does that protect students or the system?

I believe that once a student obtains that education they ought to be cut free to go on with their life. If that means more academics, or trade school or working in the family business until you figure it out, fine. If they're still minors, btw, parents would still be responsible for their behavior. I don't see any upside to compelling a person who has obtained the education to continue to be compelled to attend school. I see a big upside to giving students a specific goal to meet and rewarding that effort with their freedom.

So it is clearer? Kay Brooks supports educating children. Maybe not in the way, shape or form others insist is proper. It's the results she's most interested in, not the method.

Public school choice

If you thought the MNPS Magnet school lottery rush was impressive--this could certainly cause a stampede.

At the [South Carolina] State House, legislators are testing out a new kind of school choice for parents. Rep. Bob Walker (R-Spartanburg) says, "All 85 school districts would have to participate in this."

Rep. Walker is behind a proposed bill that would allow open enrollment, meaning any student could go to any public school regardless of the district they live in.

By limiting the choice to just public schools, not private, Walker believes the bill has a good chance to pass, "We in government, should allow parents to make that choice as to where they feel best for their child to be educated." [emphasis added] WIS TV

They do have a few restrictions regarding financial impact and capacity--but I'm impressed that they're actually talking out loud about it.

Education 2.0

This week's must read comes from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce. While I'm wary of business interests helping shape education policy (Chambers of Commerce come to mind) I am certainly willing to at least give their POV a listen/read. I do frame their comments with the fact that their interest is in obtaining worker bees and consumers. Yes, that's a very narrow description but this study group's own site states something similar:

The final report proposes a restructuring that America’s economic preeminence hinges on the preeminence of our educational system. Skills Commission.org

There are certainly some things in this report that I can support and would encourage others to seriously consider. The first being to dump what I call 'time in seat'. Too often the educrats are appalled at the mere mention of the fact that it is possible for a child to obtain a normal K-12 education in less than 13 years. I've advocated for years that these children be allowed to take the appropriate tests to prove their skill level and then be released to go on and get the skills/education they and their parents determine is best for them. There are many children out there that consider K-12 a jail sentence. If they knew that it was possible to shorten the jail term I believe they'd be energized and encouraged to pass those tests in exchange for their freedom. This report echoes my thoughts this way:

One of the biggest proposed changes - the state board examinations that would allow qualified 10th graders to move on to college - would eventually add up to $67 billion in savings that could be reallocated elsewhere, the report estimates. Christian Science Monitor

Further they suggest:

Improve school salaries in exchange for reducing secure pension benefits, and pay teachers more to work with at-risk kids, for longer hours, or for high performance.

I've always advocated for paying great teachers great wages. And I'm all behind allowing people to handle their own pensions. I certainly think that some sort of 'combat' pay to reward teachers for successfully taking on the really hard jobs is right.

The article on this study goes on--

"We've squeezed everything we can out of a system that was designed a century ago," says Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, and vice chairman of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, which produced the report. "We've not only put in lots more money and not gotten significantly better results, we've also tried every program we can think of and not gotten significantly better results at scale. This is the sign of a system that has reached its limits."

He's right. It's been some 100 years since those industrial giants created our current education system for an economy that hardly exists anymore. The trick will be to persuade those whose livelihood or political power depend on the current system continuing as is to put the needs of the children at the forefront.

I do not agree with their recommendation to scrap local school funding for state-wide funding. I am a firm believer in local control of schools. See "Local Control is a Must" regarding our own Tennessee Comptroller's reach.

You can order the entire study here for about $20.

We've got some Nashville mayoral candidates who've already made the education of the children here part of their political platforms--let's hope they're willing to use that bully pulpit to encourage some legitimate reform.

Update: This was done before.

The commission is the second of the same name. In 1990 the first commission released a report similarly detailing the failings of American education, and its influence helped advance the standards movement that culminated in the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which became law in 2002. Stateline.org

MNPS BOE Agenda Packet for October 24,2006

I never did receive the agenda packet for the last meeting so I was plesantly surprised when this week's arrived in the mail. I've uploaded a .pdf of the 61 page document to my website.


There was, however, a bright purple page announcing:

This is the last Board Agenda that will be U.S. mailed. The agenda will be posted on the MNPS website at http://www.mnps.org/Page23.aspx when it is delivered to the Board of Education.

Full agenda packets will be available in the Board Administrator's office at 2601 Bransford Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee, 37204 if you prefer to pick one up.

I've written asking if the agenda uploaded to that website is merely just the agenda or if it's going to be the entire agenda packet. I'll let you know what they say. I think they should create an e-list subscription of folks who want to receive that entire agenda packet in .pdf format.

Highlights from this 10/24/06 agenda include:

Both the 9/26/06 and the 10/10/06 minutes are included for approval.

The 10/10/06 minutes include an overview of the Science & Math School at Vanderbilt for MNPS students to begin in the Fall of 2007. This would be a one day a week session according to the minutes.

"Big Picture School, geared toward students who are potential drop-outs, high-risk students, etc." was introduced at the 10/10/06 meeting and this upcoming meeting includes the awarding of a contract "to provide the necessary expertise and services to enable MNPS to open a Big Picture School in 2007." Cost is somewhere between $150,000 and $200,000. I'm not fond of $50K in monetary slop. The new Director of the Office of Reform and Innovations will evaluate this on a monthly basis to determine it's usefulness.

The 1Point Solutions (no surprise their website is down) scandal, political scandal, scandal touches our MNPS staff and so the BOE will consider moving that service to Fringe Benefits Management Company. Maybe someone should check their political contributions record before approving this contract. [UPDATE: maybe there won't be much consideration by the BOE as this item is on the consent agenda. That means unless one of the BOE members pulls it there will be no public discussion Tuesday evening.]

The school calendar is up for discussion and the balanced calendar isn't dead. Interestingly the SEIU and the Steelworkers have indicated their opposition to a balanced calendar but failed to appear at a meeting about it. According to Dr. Garcia's District Calendar EE-14 report:

Representatives from SEIU and the Steelworkers were invited but did not attend the meeting in which agreement was reached on the balanced calendar. In a previous meeting, SEIU and the Steelworkers indicated their opposition to a balanced calendar based on the time without pay being spread throughout the year rather than all in the summer. Their concern is about the loss of earnings during the summer for less than 12 month employees. the administration, MNEA and the parent [representative] unanimously recommended that the Board adopt the balanced calendar for 2008-2009 due to the many advantages in all aspects of the calendar.

Both a traditional and a balanced calendar are provided for review.

And it is a new day. Former BOE member George Blue's self-evaluation system is being replaced by a debriefing asking: What did we do well? What could we do better? What would you wish we do at our next meeting?

Again a .pdf version of the 61 page agenda packet can be found at KayBrooks.com here.

Innovation & reform (again) and (more) grant money

This press release from Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Pedro Garcia (you'll remember that his contract is up for renewal).

Today, I am creating an Office of Reform and Innovation.

This office will be charged with the development of strategies and new programs that will result in improved graduation rates, improved attendance and discipline, increased academic achievement, and reductions in the achievement gap between subgroups of students.

The initial focus will be on high school and middle school programmatic needs for reaching these results. This department will have broad authority to work across the existing organization to secure resources and to develop action plans for implementation in our schools across the district.

Specific duties during the first year include:

1. Overseeing the Small Learning Communities Grant recently awarded by the United States Department of Education
2. Planning and implementing a Big Picture School in Nashville for 2007-2008
3. Developing and implementing other optional schools that will serve to meet the needs of the community and improve graduation rates
4. Facilitating and participating in discussions in the Nashville community around strategic plan development
5. Developing and implementing plans for the creation of career academies and other small learning communities in our comprehensive high schools
6. Working with Alignment Nashville on these new programs and aligning our goals with the work of the non-profit agencies in Nashville
7. Developing relationships with businesses in Nashville in support of innovative new programs in our schools
8. Discussing with labor organizations any implications of innovative programs that are being explored and removing any barriers to progress early in the planning process
9. Working with community groups at-large and exploring new ways that the community and the district can work together in support of district programs in our schools
10. Working with identified resources to explore and apply for alternative funding sources for new and innovative programs in our schools
11. Advocating, in cooperation with the Board and other school officials, for changes in state education laws that will facilitate the implementation of new innovations in our schools
12. Developing specific change management strategies that proactively define steps the district needs to take for new programs to be successfully integrated in our schools

Mr. James Briggs will serve as the director of this office. As the Director of the Reform and Innovation Office, Mr. Briggs will be the primary contact with Alignment Nashville and work across all of the areas above in researching, planning, and implementing change initiatives. An additional staff member will concentrate on the career academies and SLCs with specific focus on the detailed strategies, policies, and plans for the creation of successful career academies and small learning communities in Nashville’s high schools.

The creation of the Office of Reform and Innovation will mark an important milestone for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, moving the district into the implementation mode of reform. To be successful, a small and elite group such as this is needed to drive results with the authority to move across the organization and challenge existing paradigms. Key to the success of this group will be the focus on action plans for programs to be implemented across the district and on the management of the significant change that these new programs represent. Due to the critical nature of this work, Mr. Briggs and the Office of Reform and Innovation will work under my supervision.

In addition, I am moving the Department of Assessment and Evaluation to an independent department reporting directly to me. As you know this department has been reporting to the Chief Instructional Officer. I believe with the increased focus on accountability nationwide, it is important to establish an independent department that has the authority to work throughout the district on accountability and reporting issues.

I believe both of these initiatives respond to the needs in our schools and reflect the desires of our community. They dedicate resources to the important task of school reform and position us for the needed changes and improvements we must make in our schools

How this is significantly different I don't know. We're already attempting much of this. Will putting it under its own office really going to bring better results? I guess we'll see.

Moving the Department of Assessments & Evaluation out from under Sandy Johnson (Chief Instructional Officer) will be welcome news to many people.

Also issued was this press release:

MNPS Receives $5.2 Million Grant For Innovative Small Learning Communities

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Oct. 12, 2006) – Metro Nashville Public Schools has been notified by the U.S. Department of Education it will receive a grant of $5,206,420 to create Small Learning Communities in eight of its comprehensive high schools. The innovative approach, which focuses on creating Freshmen Academies for ninth-grade students, Career/Thematic Academies for grades 10-12 students, and an advisory program that pairs each student with a member of the school faculty or staff, was made possible by efforts involving Congressman Jim Cooper, Mayor Bill Purcell and Alignment Nashville.

"We believe Small Learning Communities are a model for 21st Century schools,” said MNPS Director Pedro E. Garcia, Ed.D. "No two students are alike and Small Learning Communities provide a perfect setting for helping each student reach their full potential. We're very thankful for the work of Alignment Nashville, Congressman Cooper, Mayor Purcell and others who are supporting this important effort and for helping us obtain the federal grant to make it possible."

In awarding this grant, one of the largest awarded nationally, the U.S. Department of Education cited the existence of Alignment Nashville, a community-wide effort to help our schools become successful learning environments, as a major reason for their funding decision.

"Our nonprofit community, government agencies, colleges and universities and the business community must participate in a coordinated and collaborative effort with our schools, if our schools are to be successful, and Alignment Nashville is all about creating and managing that effort," said Sydney Rogers, Executive Director of Alignment Nashville.

Participating high schools in the five-year program include: Antioch, Glencliff, Hillwood, Hunters Lane, Maplewood, McGavock, Stratford, and Whites Creek. Approximately 14,000 students will be affected by the program each year. The primary objective is to develop small, safe and successful learning environments in Nashville's public high schools, with rigorous, relevant and relationship-driven programs. A portion of this grant will be allocated for professional development for teachers.

A high school reform planning grant from the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the Carnegie Corporation, awarded earlier this year, played a key role in developing Nashville's Small Learning Communities proposal. The USCM planning grant funded the strategic planning process and a site visit to study a model program.

"Improving our high schools is a top priority for our school district and our city," said Mayor Bill Purcell. “This new grant is an important piece of what will be a community-wide effort to make sure all of our students graduate with the skills they need.”

The purpose of Alignment Nashville is to create a system to bring community organizations and resources into alignment so their coordinated support for the priorities of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools has a positive impact on student achievement and public school success.

We had smaller neighborhood schools. They were replaced by large, efficient and sleeker modern facilities which broke up neighborhoods, distanced citizens from their neighborhood schools and required millions in transportation expenses (for taxpayers and parents). Now we're creating smaller schools within those behemouth facilities.

It's been discovered that the transition from middle school to high school is critical in that often it's in the 9th grade that students begin the slide toward dropping out. The theory is that if we create more intimate 9th grade 'academies' we'll have a better chance at keeping these children in school.

Oh, and this year's buzz words are "rigor, relevance & relationship".

And why post the entire press release? Have you ever noticed that the MNPS puts most of their stuff in .pdf format--press releases, agendas, minutes...? Search engines cannot read .pdfs. The MNPS search feature is fairly worthless. So if you want to find something--you've got to know what you're looking for. We can do better.