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December 12, 2011

The District unveiled its first rankings of public charter schools Tuesday, part of a new rating system that offers parents a broader assessment of school progress than annual standardized test results.

The new performance evaluation shows how test scores of students have grown over the last year, relative to their academic peers across the city. Schools also are assessed against a series of leading indicators and “gateway” measurements that researchers regard as predictors of future educational success. They include third-grade DC CAS reading scores, eighth-grade math scores and 11th-grade PSAT results. Read more.

Latest Efforts

December 12, 2011

Our community is blessed with many fine educators in our public school system. They deserve our respect, appreciation and support.

That is why I believe our present educational system has to change. The model currently in place, like so many other aspects of our government, is unsustainable. Failing to face hard realities diminishes the sacrificial work of our public educators and places the entire system in jeopardy.

There are several reasons that our state’s voucher program can strengthen both our public schools and our community’s overall approach to educating our children. Read more.

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Des Moines Register: Leaders hope 7th time’s a charm for education reform plan

October 1, 2011

For decades, recommendations have been made, but most failed to gain traction.

Written by SHEENA DOOLEY
Des Moines Register
October 1, 2011

Six times in the past three decades, education reform proposals aimed at ratcheting up teachers’ classroom performance and students’ academic skills have been rolled out in Iowa.

And six times, reports filled with ideas on how to create a world-class education system were shelved because of a lack of money and political bickering.

Monday morning, the newest round of education reforms will be unveiled. And, like previous ideas, these proposals are expected to focus on setting clear and rigorous academic standards for the state’s 468,000 students; improving the effectiveness of 35,000 teachers; and increasing innovation in classrooms.

While the broad ideas are not new, the urgency to implement them is. And this time around, education leaders are counting on the reforms to stick.

“A lot of what has occurred has just been tinkering around the edges,” said Kittie Weston-Knauer, a retired Des Moines principal hired to open the district’s first charter school. “We have these initiatives that come to the forefront and then things just fall to the wayside.”

That’s not to say reform measures haven’t taken hold in Iowa. A few have, including teacher licensure procedures.

Most other reforms, though, failed largely because education leaders and lawmakers adopted initiatives piecemeal.

Some initiatives fell to the wayside after lawmakers cut funding or grant money ran out, said Jason Glass, director of the Iowa Department of Education.

“I understand there is skepticism,” he said. “What has to be different now is we have to build a reform agenda that transcends ideology and traditional party politics. We need this to sustain beyond the next election. We have to pitch it right down the middle.”

Other states and countries have recognized the need to strengthen their education systems in order to compete in the global economy, Iowa education leaders said. Better schools serve as magnets for new-to-Iowa companies, they contend.

As reform has taken hold elsewhere, Iowans have become more aware that the state’s students have fallen behind, leaders say.

Iowans also know the stakes for success are higher than ever before.

The future of Iowa’s economy rests on its ability to produce highly qualified and skilled workers, which will help attract and retain businesses, they say.

“It has become clearer and clearer that it isn’t just about getting better teachers and getting them to work harder or making the old system work better,” said Ted Stilwill, the state’s education chief from 1995 to 2004. “We have done a lot of that. We have to find ways to move more radical change much more quickly.”

As work begins on Iowa’s newest education reform efforts, education leaders say their success hinges on creating a blueprint for change that will draw bipartisan support. Education and political leaders also say they need buy-in from education groups, districts, teachers, parents and others in order to sustain reforms.

“It’s clearer now than ever before that we have to raise the bar academically and continue to look at how we improve if our students are going to be top performers,” said Linda Fandel, Gov. Terry Branstad’s special assistant for education.

Even when Iowa led the nation in education, state leaders were pushing for reform.

A task force produced a list of recommendations in 1991 meant to help the state maintain its No. 1 position while adapting to a changing world in which technology was rapidly evolving.

The task force focused on creating strong statewide standards that could be adopted at the national level, where leaders were trying to address the national “education crisis,” said Bill Lepley, state education director from 1988 to 1993.

Iowa’s plan was to put in place common standards and then develop an exam to measure student progress, Lepley said.

But that never happened.

A study group developed standards that extended beyond the core curriculum areas of math, reading, science and social studies. In its recommendation, the group spoke of students being able to compete in a global economy.

State leaders took the plan to the public and held hearings that at times became contentious. The push-back resulted in an unsuccessful effort to oust Lepley.

“Even back when we were pushing for change in the ’80s and ’90s there was general complacency that we were doing OK,” Lepley said. “Most parents thought their school was fine and it was the other schools that weren’t.”

Iowa education leaders are considering resurrecting a 1980s teacher pay measure that increased salaries, provided raises to teachers who got advanced degrees, and mentored and trained other teachers.

The measure basically did away with a decades-old system that paid teachers based on their years of experience and credit hours. It also provided funding for professional development, Lepley said.

The legislation was never fully implemented and fell by the wayside because the state couldn’t fund it.

Lawmakers revived it in 2001, passing a similar measure. Again, the economy soured and money dried up.

“All of that groundwork that we laid we had to back off of because of funding,” Stilwill said. “We had the type of collaboration that is difficult to get. It didn’t go as far as I would have wanted, but lots of times it takes several tries to move these things ahead.”

Under Stilwill, the state also reformed teacher licensure requirements and strengthened teacher and principal preparation programs.

As a result, teachers now receive temporary licenses during their first two years on the job. They must demonstrate competency to obtain a permanent license.

Also, preparation programs in the state became performance-based, meaning students show they have mastered the skills needed to be an effective teacher or principal.

Those measures are still in place, but need to be more consistently applied across the state and updated, Glass said.

“It’s not like nothing has happened in Iowa,” Glass said. “My critique of Iowa was they were taking steps in the right direction but they didn’t go far enough.”

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Kentucky

November 1, 2011

Kentucky is one of the nine states left without a charter school law. Even if the legislation could get out of the initial introduction phase, incumbent governor Steven Beshear wouldn’t support it. Beshear has been called the greatest education governor by the NEA, and based on his record of sticking with the status quo, it’s not hard to see why. Republican candidate David Williams has vocalized support for charter schools and performance pay, but it’s hard to get a read on Independent Gatewood Galbraith’s views on education.

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Louisiana

November 1, 2011

Louisiana voters continue to support Governor Bobby Jindal, who won last week’s re-election with 65.8% of the vote against an assortment of little-known candidates. Under Jindal, Louisiana has focused on creating a strong charter school system in New Orleans, introducing voucher programs for low-income and special education families, and improving teacher quality.

Latest Efforts

Rules May Slow Charter Schools

November 28, 2011

by Susan McMillan
Kennebec Journal
November 27, 2011

AUGUSTA — Maine’s new law authorizing charter schools says they can start operating July 1, but potential founders say the proposed enrollment rules would force them to delay opening until 2013.

The rule says that a student’s parent must submit a declaration of intention to enroll by the third Tuesday in January before school begins. They must commit to enroll by Feb. 15.

However, it is highly unlikely that any charter school will be approved by then. Four of the seven members of the State Charter School Commission will not be appointed until the Legislature reconvenes in January.

“It will be difficult to get written declaration of intent two months before we even know if our charter is approved,” said Justin Belanger, chairman of the Friends of Cornville Regional Charter School Board. “It is your quintessential cart-before-the-horse problem.”

A charter school is a public school, attended voluntarily, that uses an innovative curriculum or creates educational settings for students who don’t thrive in traditional public schools.

Several people who spoke at a hearing held Tuesday at the Burton M. Cross State Office Building on the proposed regulations, which also dealt with funding and transportation, said the proposed enrollment window is too narrow and too early.

Momentum slowed

The town of Cornville is paying to heat and maintain the old Cornville Elementary building, which Skowhegan-based Regional School Unit 54 closed last year, with the idea that it could house a charter school.

“The momentum is currently on our side,” Belanger said. “We are concerned that it may be difficult to keep the momentum and the building if the school’s opening were delayed another year.”

Belanger requested a waiver of the enrollment window for the first year, at least.

Other people hoping to start charter schools said the rule would be a problem for students as well as for schools.

The law authorizing charter schools makes special mention of “at-risk pupils” who struggle in school, but the enrollment window would hurt those students most, said Glenn Cummings, president of Good Will-Hinckley in Fairfield.

“The kind of students who are often very vulnerable, who are trying to hold on in school and figure out where they’re going, their personal lives are often very unstable,” Cummings said. “They could move two or three times between January and September. This would really greatly diminish the kinds of students who can access these alternative forms of education.”

John Jacques, who leads a group planning to start the Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in Portland, said he hopes the state will eliminate the enrollment window altogether.

Often, a family will not realize that a traditional public school is not working for them until well into the school year, Jacques said.

Jacques said his group has been working for about nine months and is well positioned to open in September. They are putting together a curriculum and looking to lease up to 20,000 square feet in downtown Portland.

They had hoped to have their charter authorized in April or May, then hire teachers and spend the summer preparing for school.

Other charter schools would operate on similar timelines, Jacques said.

“There’s no doubt that if these rules stand, no one would be able to open in September 2012,” he said.

Forty other states allow charter schools, and most do not set an enrollment period, said Jeanne Allen, president of the national Center for Education Reform.

“The schools do it individually, as should be the case,” she said.

Charter school proponents also requested more protections in the funding process for the schools.

Under the law, a school district will transfer money to a charter school for each student living in the district and attending the school. The regulations set up a process for resolving funding disputes that may arise between a charter school and a school district, but they do not set a time limit for resolution.

The charter school proponents voiced concerns that disputes could drag on while schools need to pay their bills.

Maine Association for Charter Schools board chairwoman Judith Jones cited a cautionary example of New Hampshire, where the first charter school shut down temporarily because of a funding dispute with city government. It has since closed for good.

Traditional schools object

Organizations representing traditional public schools also raised objections to the proposed regulations.

Maine School Management Association Deputy Executive Director Sandra MacArthur, who spoke on behalf of a number of administrative groups, said sections of the rules were “written by the national charter school industry.”

“These rules seem to be written to promote charter schools rather than regulate them and provide critical oversight of their operations,” she said.

Maine’s charter school law says the schools cannot discriminate against students with disabilities, but MacArthur said the rules give schools room to counsel those students not to apply.

Other sections provide a loophole for the State Charter School Commission to exceed the 10-school limit, MacArthur said.

“If these rules are allowed to stand, we will be using taxpayer dollars to create schools that are not truly public,” she said.

Jones said that, despite working with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, charter proponents in Maine based their work on needs here.

“We are the 41st state, so it would be foolish not to learn the lessons, not to work with other states,” she said.

The state should minimize regulation of charter schools because it “kills innovation,” Jones said.

According to the law, charter schools may be authorized by the State Charter School Commission, a local school board or a regional collaborative of authorizers.

Only the commission can authorize a virtual charter school, and it is limited to 10 schools in the first decade.

An authorizer must issue a request for proposals that sets forth “the authorizer’s vision and the performance framework” for the school. The authorizer has 90 days to decide on an application after it is submitted.

The Department of Education will accept comment on the proposed rules until Dec. 2. After reviewing all comments, the department will forward a final proposed rule to the Secretary of State’s office. The Legislature also will review the rules before they are adopted.

Latest Efforts

December 3, 2011

As state lawmakers take the correct course toward lifting the cap on charter schools, some Democrats are trying to block the move by raising the boogeyman of “profits.” Their proposal to ban for-profit charters should be taken for what it is — a backdoor tactic to limit charters and preserve the teacher union’s monopoly on school children.

Democratic Sens. Rebekah Warren of Ann Arbor and Hoon-Yung Hopgood of Taylor claim Michigan has one of the highest rates of for-profit charter companies in the country. They say about 80 percent of charter schools are run by these organizations.

So what? Many charter school boards (charters are public schools just as are traditional schools) choose to contract with education management organizations to oversee various school functions, from basic operations to instructional services. Some of these companies are nonprofit; some are for-profit. Read more.

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Mississippi

November 1, 2011

With current Governor Haley Barbour unable to run, the race is between Republican Phil Bryant and Democrat Johnny DuPree. Polls show that Bryant should win the election pretty handedly, and while he has vocalized some support for charters, it’s unclear where he stands on vouchers or teacher quality. Mississippi has the worst charter law in the country, and doesn’t even have any charter schools, so we hope that the new governor wants to bring actual charter schools to the state and not continue to support the in-name only law.

Latest Efforts

Portsmouth School Board: Change Rules On School Choice

October 12, 2011

By Joey Cresta
October 12, 2011
Portsmouth Herald

PORTSMOUTH — The School Board has drafted a letter to N.H. Commissioner of Education Virginia Barry urging her to change the state’s policy on school choice, a controversial provision of the No Child Left Behind law that disrupted city elementary schools this year.

The law allows parents of students at Title 1 schools designated as “in need of improvement” to transfer to a non-Title 1 school in the same district. In Portsmouth, Dondero and New Franklin elementary schools are Title 1 and Little Harbour is not; over the summer, 35 students transferred to Little Harbour, including some children of parents affiliated with the Dondero Parent-Teacher Association, Dondero Principal Kate Callahan revealed at Tuesday night’s School Board meeting.

The letter to Barry, signed on behalf of the board by Chairman Mitch Schuldman, states that school choice “has had a profoundly negative impact on our school community,” particularly at Little Harbour.

According to the letter, Little Harbour recently lost its Title 1 status and has been a “school in need of improvement” each of the past two years. It has also long been considered overcrowded and its class sizes now average 23 to 24 pupils in all grades but kindergarten, well above the district’s stated ideal class size.

School choice altered how district funds are spent in multiple ways, the letter said. The district diverted Title 1 funds set aside for tutoring to provide transportation for the 35 transfer students, hired six paraprofessionals and delayed capital improvements, like replacing a boiler at New Franklin.

With school choice expected to continue to affect Little Harbour in future years — enrollment is projected to still be above 500 students in 2012-13 — the board is requesting the state change its policy starting next school year.

Superintendent Ed McDonough has explained in the past that the U.S. Department of Education guidance on school choice makes clear that states may decide whether non-Title 1 schools that miss Adequate Yearly Progress for two or more years may be offered as transfer options. If the state changes its stance, then Little Harbour would not be a viable school choice option in future years.
“To permit choice to a school where there is already overcrowding, no Title 1 supports, ever-increasing class sizes and significant fiscal impacts makes little sense,” the letter states.

If school choice has negatively impacted the city’s schools, that was not evident in presentations made by the three elementary principals Tuesday night. All three reported strong starts to the year thanks to community support.

Little Harbour Principal Charlie Grossman said he had a “nervous August,” but things were “nailed down” for the most part from day one, thanks to his staff and nearly 200 parent volunteers.

“We have our challenges,” he said, but cited long lunchroom lines as the only explicit example.

At Dondero, school choice was a blessing in disguise, Callahan said, adding, “We have really come together as a team.”

Board members noted that both principals have answered some tough challenges and thanked them for their efforts.

Latest Efforts

January 3, 2012

For more than a year, the Legislature has been prodding and poking at a bill that would provide a lifeline to poor students in failing districts by giving them a voucher to attend private schools.

Enough. This is a small pilot program that will affect about 5,000 students in a public school system of nearly 1.4 million. It will be restricted to the worst districts in the state, where most of the opponents of this bill would never send their own children.

To block this experiment in light of the persistent failure of these schools, and the demonstrated desire of so many parents to find better alternatives, is to deny the basic civil rights of these kids. Read more.

Latest Efforts

January 24, 2012

North Carolina will offer a new look Friday at how teachers are rated in all public schools.

The state will post school-by-school numbers on teacher evaluation results in five categories, which range from subject knowledge to ability to deal with diversity. The report does not spell out how individual teachers rated.

The new numbers don’t offer a simple judgment on which schools have the best teachers, says N.C. Chief Academic Officer Rebecca Garland. Instead, she says, they’ll help parents understand how the state is trying to improve schools by helping teachers get better. The numbers are based on a new statewide evaluation system. Read more.

Latest Efforts

January 24, 2012

Tennis great Andre Agassi and officials of a California real estate company created an unusual joint venture last year to help successful charter schools find affordable and sustainable buildings.

On Tuesday, they will celebrate their first charter-school investment: KIPP Philadelphia Elementary Academy at 2409 W. Westmoreland St. in North Philadelphia’s Tioga section.

“KIPP is the gold standard when it comes to operating charter schools and educating these kids,” Agassi said in an interview Monday. “And Philly is a place that blends well with what we are trying to accomplish.” Read more

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American Statesman: Federal grant spurs charter school expansion in Austin area

October 1, 2011

By Kate Alexander
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Oct. 1, 2011

Some of Texas’ most in-demand charter schools will open new Austin campuses in coming years with the help of a federal grant aimed at extending the reach of high-performing charter schools.

Harmony Public Schools and KIPP-Austin last week each received a sizable chunk of a $25 million expansion grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

To win the competitive grant, the charter school operators had to have a proven record of improving the academic performance of low-income students.

“This is a validation of our model that we’ve built carefully over the past 10 years,” said Soner Tarim , Harmony’s superintendent.

Harmony has 36 campuses across the state, five of which are in the Austin area.

The $5 million grant will allow Harmony to open seven more schools in Texas — including one in Austin — and beef up its science, math and engineering curricula, particularly its robotics program, Tarim said.

Harmony’s new Austin school would open in the fall of 2013 at the earliest. Its location has not been determined.

With its $1 million grant, KIPP-Austin plans to open two new middle schools in East Austin next fall to complement its five existing schools, spokeswoman Evelyn Nazro said. The additional schools will expand to locations away from KIPP’s sprawling facility on FM 969 .

KIPP schools in San Antonio and Houston also received the grant money.

Texas has made it easier for proven, high-performing charter schools to expand operations by streamlining the administrative process.

But the state doesn’t provide the startup money for those new campuses that it gives to nascent charter operations, Nazro said.

“That policy is a barrier to growth for charter schools,” Nazro said. “The federal government is helping resolve that problem by giving us what the state isn’t. It has a transformative ability for high-performing charter schools to grow and replicate.”

Charter schools are privately managed public schools that receive state dollars but are not subject to many of the constraints of traditional public schools. They are intended to function as laboratories of innovation for improving the academic performance of students at risk of failure.

For instance, more than 90 percent of the students at KIPP-Austin are from low-income families, and almost all are minorities.

Nazro said KIPP’s fifth-graders come in far behind their peers across the state. By eighth grade, they are performing on par with wealthy, suburban school districts.

“We have consistently proven that ZIP code does not define destiny,” Nazro said. “The population that we serve is just as capable of learning and going on to higher education as any other population.”

Latest Efforts

West Virginia

November 1, 2011

West Virginia held their gubernatorial election earlier this fall, and voters chose Earl Ray Tomblin, a Democrat intent to stick with what doesn’t work in education – no charter school law, no choice, and being supported by the unions. CER hopes that voters will take a look at the education policies and ideologies of these candidates and vote for who will do the most for their children.