Morning Shots

Half of Bellows Free Academy High School graduates are not proficient in reading, and more than half graduate without basic proficiency in math. Local Vermont Superintendent Robert Rosane wanted to change this, but was met with resistance by the union, who said it was unfair to call this high school failing because other surrounding schools boasted the same dismal statistics.

Unfortunately, this type of reasoning is scattered throughout the country and is not uncommon wherever status-quo backers are trying to fight education reforms. The reaction from the local Vermont teachers unions is also typical.

Four Vermont teachers unions have entered a vote of “no confidence” in the Superintendent Rosane and are calling for his termination after he criticized the BLOB’s plan for improving achievement. Rosane’s remarks expressed his frustration with how long the plan took to improve outcomes (five years) and called it an “excuse” not to get started on real changes needed immediately.

This Superintendent gets a thumbs up for recognizing that real reform, not a compromise masked as “change” that takes five years, is needed because kids’ educations are at stake and that simply cannot wait.

The nation is grappling with tragedy this holiday season, just as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dealt with tragedies during Christmas seasons long ago that elicited his famous “Christmas Bells” poem. The poem concludes with a renewed hope for peace among mankind, a feeling that undoubtedly permeates the nation after the horrific events at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. We continue to keep the families and community of Newtown in our thoughts and prayers, and have put together a list of resources to help parents, schools, and children cope with this tragedy.

I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound

Read More …

December 14, 2012

Earlier this week, Edspresso shared how Brockton, MA’s school super is “Trashing Charters on Company Time.” Now Matt Malone is poised to become Massachusetts’ next Ed Chief. Will his opposition to charters continue in his new role, or will he come to see the light as the former Brockton superintendent, Basan “Buzz” Nembirkow did – the man who led the charge against a strong charter application back in 2008? Check out Buzz’s change of heart on SABIS and for-profit EMOs from a recent Pioneer Institute panel:

“I think it’s an excellent model for all instruction. We use the word differentiated instruction today, but how can you differentiate instruction if you don’t know where the kids are?”

“Class size is a myth; an absolute myth.”

“When I looked at the SABIS model, the instructional model is sound.”

“It’s a whole lot easier to what has always been done and blame somebody else.”

“SABIS has done a good job of taking what works best and putting it together, dealing with training teachers and administrators so there is a unified system.”

“From my perspective on schools, SABIS is a good model.”

Question from Jim Peyser, former Massachusetts Commissioner of Education: “Given the SABIS school in Springfield was a strong school, why wasn’t that good enough for you ”?

Answer from Buzz: “My title was Superintendent of Brockton Public Schools, so right off the bat there’s an enlightened self-interest involved in that…. Basically, the issue was finance and politics. It had nothing to do, or very little to do with the quality of the program.”

“When SABIS came we saw it as a financial threat. Simply as a financial threat. It took money away from us, which was about $4-5 million.

Read More …