But what if there was no status quo? What kind of system might you create? What kind of technology would you use? How would you hire new teachers? Whose advice would you seek? Where would you put your schools? How would you organize them?

Because of Katrina’s terrible devastation, New Orleans public schools had to essentially start from scratch. But they didn’t rebuild the same schools that they had. No, they drastically altered the makeup if their public schools, making Charter schools a part of their public school plan.

From Edweek:

[...]There are the many new faces of educators who have come from all over the country to a city where an unprecedented, state-led effort has been under way to reinvent public education after the devastating storm and the mass exodus of students it caused.

[...]Charter schools, only a small presence before the storm hit on Aug. 29, 2005, now are ascendant, representing about 70 percent of the city’s 88 public schools. With more of the independently operated and autonomous public schools still opening, and others expanding, charters are estimated to serve at least two-thirds of the public school population this academic year, a far higher rate than in any other city.

[...]School choice has become a central and defining characteristic of public schooling in the city; previously, choice was largely a matter of families opting out of the public system to give their children a private or parochial education.

“Parents are now given a choice and not just told to go here,” said Sharon L. Clark, a New Orleans native and the principal of Sophie B. Wright Charter School, in the Uptown section of the city. “We have 20 percent [of students] from nearby, and the other 80 percent are citywide, from New Orleans East to the Lower Ninth Ward to across the river.”

Early state test returns suggest that, on average, the city’s public school students are doing substantially better than before Katrina.

“We’re experiencing a dramatic increase in academic achievement,” said Paul G. Pastorek, the state superintendent of public instruction. “But perhaps more importantly, we have a revival of public schools in New Orleans. And it’s a revival that has a lot of legs.”

Mr. Pastorek and others acknowledge, though, that the city has a long way to go. For example, as of last fall, 42 percent of public schools were still rated by the state as “academically unacceptable.”

[...]A poll, conducted last November for the Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives at Tulane University, suggests fairly robust public support for some of the key changes, including chartering.

Yet, only 32 percent of voters said they think the public schools have improved since the storm, while 17 percent said they were better beforehand, and 30 percent said they were about the same.

Rene Lewis-Carter, who was a principal in a regular New Orleans public school before Katrina, sees the changes as positive.

“I know that what we were doing pre-Katrina did not work,” she said. “It was just years and years of institutional neglect.”

The main change she sees in her job now, as the principal of Martin Behrman Charter School, a K-8 campus in the Algiers section of New Orleans, is the autonomy.

“For the first time in my career, I’ve had the opportunity to make decisions and implement those that were best for the population that I serve, and if they did not work, … to just throw them out,” the principal said. “I’ve had the opportunity to choose and place the best teachers.”

Mr. Pastorek said another significant change is the influx of talented people from outside New Orleans who are now leading or teaching in the city’s schools.

“We’ve been successful in creating a pipeline of talent to New Orleans that we’ve never been able to attract before,” he said, citing as examples the work of nonprofit organizations such as Teach For America, the New Teacher Project, and New Leaders for New Schools. “We have an environment where innovation and creativity is paramount. It’s welcomed, it’s nurtured. People see what’s happening, and they want to be here.”

One new school that appears to be thriving is the New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy. Although its students on average enter as freshman four to five grade levels behind, it’s now one of the city’s highest-performing public high schools.

Dubbed Sci Academy, the charter has an intense culture focused on preparing students for college.

“We have a mission of college success for every kid who walks in our door,” said the school’s founder and principal, Benjamin Marcovitz.

Its faculty includes people like Kaycee L. Eckhardt, who grew up in Louisiana and is now starting her third year at the school. She had been teaching and living in Japan for several years when Katrina struck, and recalls asking herself: “What can I do for New Orleans? I don’t know how to build a house. … One thing I can do is teach. I’ll try it for a year.”

Ms. Eckhardt said she spent her first year working in several schools run by the RSD. “I was transferred twice before October,” she said.

Her teaching experience that year was frustrating, she said, but she found a kindred educational spirit in Mr. Marcovitz, and joined Sci Academy for its launch in 2008.

“I was drawn to the vision of the school,” Ms. Eckhardt said. “We all start with the belief that if you give students consistency and have high expectations for them, and treat them with respect, that they can do anything they want.”

[...]For New Orleans families, one of the biggest changes after Katrina is dealing with so many school choices in a city where neighborhood attendance zones have been eliminated.

All RSD-run schools, as well the charters it oversees, are open-enrollment. (The charters conduct lotteries if they have more applicants than spaces.) In the Orleans Parish system, which after the storm retained control of the city’s highest-performing schools, some charters use academic criteria to help determine admissions, according to Aesha Rasheed, the executive director of the New Orleans Parent Organizing Network, which publishes an annual parents’ guide to the city’s public schools.

Now, there are still flaws. There are still enrollment problems, still many schools that need to improve significantly. But this epic turnaround, even in the midst of a weary, disaster-torn city, shows that the status quo was holding back a lot of potential for student achievement, opportunity and overall district improvement.

Consider this: The education establishment is pushing for a new $10 billion federal appropriation for teacher salaries. Simultaneously, President Obama is being criticized for Race to the Top, a program that has opened up unprecedented funding for states, with the caveat that the dollars awarded will go to innovative, data-driven programs that actually improve student performance.

In a nutshell, it’s a desire for funding, but a rejection of funding that would require states to show that their programs improved student performance. If the teacher bill passes, those billions will not not be tied to supporting teachers who are effective, or programs that can be measured to show students are improving.

In Missouri, the Show-Me Institute recently found that Superintendent salaries were not linked to student performance. From the Missourinet article:

[Spokeswoman Audrey] Spalding says the study shows urban areas pay their superintendents an average of 12 percent more than rural districts.

The highest paid superintendent salary is in St. Louis City at 225 thousand dollars. The lowest paid is in Gasconade County at 55 thousand. Spalding says some pay much less than that simply because it’s not a full time position.

She says Missourians spend nearly $50 million on school superintendents each year, not counting costs other than salary, such as health benefits, annuities, and car allowances.

She says in the survey of superintendent contracts, out of more than 500 districts throughout the state, more than 450 responded. They got the salary information from the Department of Elementary and Secondary education.

“Though the paper digs into the specifics of certain superintendents’ compensation, the findings are general, and apply to all Missouri public school districts,” Spalding said. “School superintendents act as the CEOs of their districts, and are extremely influential. In fact, according to a national survey, nearly 90 percent of superintendents reported that their school boards accepted their recommendations 90 percent to 100 percent of the time. Meanwhile, one of the main tasks for school board members is to hire and manage the school superintendent. One of the documents that indicates how a school board is managing its superintendent is the superintendent’s employment contract. There, the school board lays out the responsibilities, compensation, and future expectations of the superintendent.”

The study shows 12 percent of school boards appear to award future salary amounts to superintendents automatically.

“That is, superintendent contracts can include not only the salary for the current year, but also often stipulate future substantial salary increases,” she said. “Another 10 percent receive salary increases based on the district’s teacher salary schedule. It is telling that school boards are awarding pay increases to superintendents with no knowledge of their district’s future budget situation or their superintendent’s future performance.”

Additionally, Spalding added, superintendents oversee school district budgets, which together total more than $8 billion (the total of public school expenditures in Missouri in 2009, not including charter schools).

“We should take an interest in how these managers are paid, and how school boards manage them,” she said. “For example, many superintendents were awarded the exact same percentage raise as that awarded to teachers. Thinking about the incentives, we would expect higher salary expenditures in a school district managed by a leader who knew his raise was tied to whatever raise was awarded to the employees he managed. Is this really the best way for a school board to reward its superintendent?”

As you look at the very difficult funding issues that face many schools this year, be careful to look beyond the surface of the request: whether it’s for salary, new facilities, it will be important to ask: how does this improve student performance? How much of our education dollars are being spent on things we want because we’ve always had them, and how much is being spent on activities, programs, people who move a child to a higher reading level, or help a child grasp fractions?

On March 29, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) took the bold step of naming only two states — Delaware and Tennessee — as Race to the Top (RTTT) Round 1 winners. The process was highly selective, as these two states were chosen from a group of 16 finalists from an initial pool of 41 applicants.

To assist policymakers in the Round 2 planning process, we — Democrats for Education Reform, the Education Equality Project, and Education Reform Now — are publishing a series of “Race Smarter” briefs, based on analysis of Round 1 applications, with the goal of informing states’ efforts to compete successfully for the remaining $3.4 billion in Race to the Top funds.

We hope that these issue briefs will help state and local policymakers make the changes needed to enact education reforms that meet the very high standards set by President Obama and the aspirations and hopes we have for all of our nation’s teachers and students.

They are, in no particular order, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee (plus Washington, D.C.).

The Final 16 beat out 25 other states and earned the highest scores from the peer reviewers, who awarded points based on a 500-point grading scale that judged states’ commitments to improve teacher effectiveness, data systems, academic standards, and low-performing schools.

The list of finalists is supposed to reflect U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s promise that he would set a very high bar for this education-reform competition, which has become one of the Obama administration’s most high-profile policy levers. At stake is $4 billion from the economic-stimulus package approved by Congress last year, not to mention bragging rights.

We’ll have more analysis on the winners—and losers—later, but our first take on the list of finalists is that many of them are Southern, right-to-work states. New York is a surprise because many argue its student-teacher data law is weak, and its attempt to loosen restrictions on charters failed. Kentucky made the list, but has no charter law. Also, Colorado is the only Western state to make the cut.

Now, these finalists will each assemble a five-person team that will come to Washington the week of March 15 to make a presentation to the peer reviewers, who can then adjust their grades before coming up with a final score. Duncan will have the final say—especially when it comes to how many awards are given out in this first round—but the general idea is that the scores will be ranked in order, with the highest-scoring states winning.

Winners will be announced in April. Losers can reapply by June 1 for Round Two; the final awards will be given out in September.

Well before that second deadline, we should examine what our weaknesses are, what advantages other states had, and seriously look at rectifying those flawed areas: because this entire push is to encourage improvement for the sake of the country’s students.

ST. LOUIS, MO – The Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation will host the 2010 Fab 25 All American Football Team and the Irons Kids award luncheon this Sunday, February 28th at the Marriot at Union Station.

The Irons Kids award recognizes students from Missouri public schools who have excelled in academics. Rodney Hubbard will present the Irons Kids award on behalf of Democrats For Education Reform.

“Democrats for Education Reform is proud to sponsor this award recognizing students for their hard work, dedication and citizenship,” said Hubbard. “Thanks to the Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation for this great opportunity to rally in support of students.”

Democrats for Education Reform – Missouri is a state chapter of the national political action committee whose mission is to encourage a more productive dialogue within the Democratic Party on the need to fundamentally reform American public education. For more information, please visit www.dfermo.org.

The Children’s Education Council of Missouri has the full story HERE.

The Race to the Top application included an increased accountability component for Charter schools, but misses this opportunity to put in a strong push for the expansion of Charter schools. That is partially because Missouri has a geographic cap on Charters specifying that they can only operate in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Charter schools are an important tool in our state’s goal of educating all students, because they can offer alternative models, focused curriculum and different environments for students who are not achieving their potential in a traditional school. This can be as simple as getting a child involved in hands-on projects to accommodate a different learning style, or as complex as language immersion or helping drop-outs re-enter their education and get a degree. Charters have a unique ability to target specific problems in education, and they can often help traditional public schools learn from that targeted approach and adopt best practices.

Giving every district in Missouri access to that opportunity for innovation and community involvement is one of the principle ways that we can compete against other states: many with strong charter school laws that they are hoping to build upon. Without that key component, we not only set ourselves up to be less competitive for this narrow grant objective, but we set our children up to have fewer opportunities and advantages.

January 20, 2010

State Submits Ambitious, Multifaceted Proposal for “Race to the Top”

Nicastro: “No time for half measures.”

In a dramatic bid to grab an inside lane in the national competition for education-reform funding, Missouri officials have submitted an ambitious, multifaceted proposal that could bring almost $750 million to the state’s public schools over the next four years.

The Department of Education yesterday completed and submitted its application for “Race to the Top” funding to the U.S. Department of Education. Race to the Top is a $4.3 billion competitive grant program designed to reward – and challenge – states that develop significant school-improvement initiatives. Applications were due in Washington, D.C., at 4 p.m. yesterday.

Missouri’s plan lays out a total budget of $743 million, most of which would go directly to public schools across the state.

“If Race to the Top is going to be this decade’s ‘moon shot’ for public education, we want to be among the first to fly,” said Commissioner of Education Chris L. Nicastro.

“We intend to establish Missouri’s position as a leader in improving America’s public schools over the next decade. This is no time for half measures. I think we have a game plan that is bold, smart and comprehensive – and we can execute it,” she said.

Missouri’s proposal calls for action on several fronts: curriculum and testing; expanding the role of technology in schools; expanding educational services and options before kindergarten; improving the way teachers are evaluated, rewarded and supported; focusing resources on low-performing schools; and revamping the structure of the state education agency, among others.

“There is no question that this is an ambitious agenda. It will require collaboration and cooperation with all stakeholders. Whether or not we get funding under this program, we now have a plan we can use to propel Missouri’s public education system into the Top 10, nationally and internationally,” Nicastro said.

Harrison Blackmond, DFER’s new state director for Michigan, will share his vision and MDFER’s mission toward systematic education reform while positioning Michigan for Obama’s ‘Race to the Top’ federal funding.

Also joining as honored guests and leaders of Michigan’s education reform movement – State Senator Buzz Thomas (Senate District 04), State Representative Tim Melton (House District 29), State Representative Shanelle Jackson (House District 09) and State Representative Bert Johnson (House District 05).

Welcome, Michigan, to Democrats for Education Reform and we wish you success!

This signals a lot of things: first, parents are making a choice for Charter schools in Missouri. Right now, Charter schools are only authorized in Kansas City and St. Louis, so it may also be time to authorize them for the entire state. It also shows that families in St. Louis and Kansas City are in need of another option and that they will use options that are available to them.

The Wall Street Journal also published a review of several Charter studies that illustrate that Charter schools are in fact spurring achievement.

Stanford economist Caroline Hoxby recently found that poor urban children who attend a charter school from kindergarten through 8th grade can close the learning gap with affluent suburban kids by 86% in reading and 66% in math. And now Marcus Winters, who follows education for the Manhattan Institute, has released a paper showing that even students who don’t attend a charter school benefit academically when their public school is exposed to charter competition.

Mr. Winters focuses on New York City public school students in grades 3 through 8. “For every one percent of a public school’s students who leave for a charter,” concludes Mr. Winters, “reading proficiency among those who remain increases by about 0.02 standard deviations, a small but not insignificant number, in view of the widely held suspicion that the impact on local public schools . . . would be negative.” It tuns out that traditional public schools respond to competition in a way that benefits their students.

Imagine that. Competition works.

School choice opponents insist that charters diminish the overall public school system by luring away the best students, the most motivated parents and scarce per-pupil dollars. However, Ms. Hoxby’s research has shown that “creaming” can’t explain the academic success of charter schools given that the typical urban charter student is a poor black or Hispanic kid living in a home with adults who possess below-average education credentials.

It’s true that the growth of charters has reduced enrollment at some traditional public schools in places like Detroit and Washington, D.C. But charters are themselves public schools, albeit without the burden of work rules and other constraints imposed by unions and the bureaucracy. They are hugely popular with parents, and more than 1.4 million kids now attend 4,578 charters in 41 states.

The result has been, on balance, a superior education for the charter-bound kids and pressure on local public schools to improve or lose students. Public schools that must compete with charters are no longer insulated from the consequences for failing to educate their charges. How is that a bad outcome?

One of the most encouraging findings by Mr. Winters is how charter competition reduces the black-white achievement gap. He found that the worst-performing public school students, who tend to be low-income minorities, have the most to gain from the nearby presence of a charter school. Overall, charter competition improved reading performance but did not affect math skills. By contrast, low-performing students had gains in both areas, and their reading improvement was above average relative to the higher-performing students.

President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are using the leverage of federal dollars to promote an increase in charter schools, which are still limited in many states by caps on their number and on funding. State and local policy makers who cave to union demands and block the growth of charters aren’t doing traditional public school students any favors.

It seems like the real benefits of Charter schools are seeing the light

Writer Greg Toppo gleans a consistent message from Education Secretary Arne Duncan and President Obama on the reforms they want to see pursued by states, and in support of a solid reform plan the administration plans of handing out upwards of $4 billion in grants to ease the financial burden of making some drastic changes. Very simply, the administration wants:

•Tying teacher and principal pay – and school assignments – to student test scores.

•Adopting internationally benchmarked academic standards.

•Turning around their lowest-performing schools.

•Building long-term student tracking systems.

•Loosening legal caps on the number of charter schools that states allow each year.

The article quoted Rick Hess, an education policy analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, as agreeing that charter school expansion and merit pay programs are laudable. But he is concerned that in such a scramble to get dollars, states will patch together poor plans.

“We’re institutionalizing impatience,” he says. “There’s not much room for thoughtful conversation.”

I disagree. First, many states have tested, argued about, researched, studied these types of reform. They’ve been a part of the education conversation for a long time, and they are mature. But states needed, among other things, a way to overcome inertia and status-quo-itis, which is the opportunity offered by Race to the Top.

Second, the reforms outlined are goals. States can, and perhaps should, begin by assessing what they can reasonably accomplish, and then set goals and guidelines that, like Duncan and Obama’s guidelines, offer a goal and a timeline, but leave flexibility about how to reach that.

Even a pilot reform program that was poorly constructed would be better than none at all: it would provide a place to start from, and a list of pitfalls to avoid in the future. But if we wait until we can produce the most elegant education reforms with absolute consensus, wrapped with a bow, we will have failed another year, or two, or three classes of children. We have had a chronic problem of inaction. Missouri, if we act, will probably not do everything perfectly. But we will practice, and improve and reach our goals faster if we begin today.

Rhee will be at the DFER gathering on Wed. in DC: The Critical Need for School Reform and How to Achieve It. In this presentation, noted education reformer Whitney Tilson will discuss the history of school reform in the United States and why, as a nation and as a city, we must urgently support best practices that work in closing the achievement gap. In addition to national data, DC School Reform Now will be presenting and releasing a report on the achievement gap in DC.

You can find out more about the event at www.dcschoolreform.org.

The Beacon exposes the education reform landscape that we’ve been talking about for the past couple of weeks. They frame the conversation rightly with Arne Duncan’s crystal clear message:

When Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited St. Louis last summer, he said the program offered a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to create far-reaching improvement in the nation’s schools. Funding would favor states committed to innovation, such as:

* making decisions based on data,
* weeding out incompetent teachers and administrators,
* linking teacher pay to student performance, and
* turning around low-performing schools.

During his visit, Duncan urged Missouri to apply for a Race to the Top grant.

Next, they set up the attitudes in Missouri from key players who are making the decisions about how to react to this opportunity:

Missouri apparently will sit out the first lap of the Race to the Top program, a $4.3 billion school reform initiative enacted as part of the federal economic stimulus legislation….

Missouri Education Commissioner Chris L. Nicastro (right) has also praised the program, as an “outstanding opportunity” for Missouri — but last week said that time constraints and the hefty resources needed to write a strong application meant that Missouri wouldn’t be ready to apply until the second round of funding.

Drafting the grant itself poses some challenges, she added. The application would take more than 680 hours to complete. “Missouri will work with a writing group with a proven track record of successful grant-writing and reform leadership,” she said.

Last month, Nicastro told the Missouri Joint Committee on Education that a successful application would “require the best thinking of a diverse, representative group” from across the state, adding “I anticipate Missouri competing in the second round of grants due next spring.”

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said Nicastro, was working to convene a group to develop a proposal to recommend to Gov. Jay Nixon. DESE said Friday it would convene a town hall on Race to the Top for Nov. 23 or 24; the location hasn’t been announced.

I am glad to see that DESE will be holding a town hall (several would be better). But given the indicators we have, there is no reason that Missouri shouldn’t be going all out as a reasonably competitive state. It is certainly demanding – that’s why they called it “Race to the Top”, not “Meander to the Top”. Every month we wait, those funds will shrink as they’re distributed to other states.

Fortunately, some leaders are standing up to this attitude.

The Children’s Education Council of Missouri has Scott Rupp’s questions on Missouri’s lackadaisical approach to pursuing funding, and the Beacon picks up on this thought:

State Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville and a member of the Joint Education Committee, argues that it’s “irresponsible” not to apply this year.

Others who have taken issue with Missouri’s decision include Earl Simms, state director of the Children’s Education Council of Missouri, a pro-charter school organization.

Everybody complains about the state lacking money for schools, Rupp said, so this program might have been an opportunity to draw down more money. Some states, including California, have called special legislative sessions to bring their school laws in line with what’s required under Race to the Top. Rupp speculated that Missouri might have received up to $100 million, based on its percentage of the nation’s population.

Last summer, though, Duncan made it clear that the money would not be evenly distributed among states. The process will be extremely competitive, he stresssed, and some states may get nothing.

If Missouri waits and submits a stronger application with well-thought-out reforms full of public input and input from the education community, it’s possible this lost time may not be in vain. But the reasons given so far are not along those lines, and time lost is brain lost. Making a smart reform policy IS important, but we should also have as a close second moving quickly not just to secure needed funding, but to quickly get resources and policies that improve achievement into the classroom, into the lives of students, families and teachers.

Race to the Top grants have no downside. They are grants to make the wildest dreams of teachers, administrators and reformers come true. If a case can be made that kids learn more after eating cherry strudel and you want to get cherry strudel into schools and measure its effects, there’s funding for that. Of course, part of Duncan’s call to action was dropping some mad obvious hints about what variety of reforms would be most likely to get grant money, based on their measured success. Ideas like getting more money to teachers and expanding the ability of Charter schools to take root where they are needed are things DFER wants to see Missouri competing for funds to, at the very least, try out.

Here are some ideas of what other states have responded with, and while inspiring they serve also as reasons to get in the game now to compete for funds:

CALIFORNIA is a key state to watch…

Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation on October 11th that would tear down the state firewall between student achievement and teacher evaluations. But all this did was allow the state to meet one of the two RttT eligibility criteria. Moreover, by no means does it represent a proactive effort to undertake rigorous teacher evaluations at the state level.

Senator Gloria Romero, the Democratic Chair of the Senate Education Committee from East L.A., would like to take it a lot further. Any state leader looking for a Race to the Top game plan could do no better than to start with the opening statement she gave in August, where she struck all the right rhetorical themes and drilled down to state law provisions around teacher evaluation that the state has simply been pretending aren’t there (you really have to wonder why other elected leaders, and policy experts at the state’s prestigious universities, have been so unwilling to be similarly candid).

The Sac Bee editorial board spoke glowingly about a recent State Senate hearing, and urged the state to aim high on a litany of issues. On Sunday, the Sac Bee published an interview with Arne Duncan in which he outlines areas where he thinks state policy changes are most needed; in an earlier interview with Politics K-12 reporter Michele McNeil, Duncan suggested that even with lifting the firewall, California still had a long way to go.

COLORADO arguably has the biggest head start and the most momentum [website devoted to R2T]. Lt. Governor Barbara O’Brien, who is leading the RttT effort, has been convening meetings for months. CO sessions are scheduled through the end of October on each of the four RttT criteria.

DELEWARE stakeholders are holding a daylong session at the University of Delaware on October 27th. From the agenda, it looks like they are serious.

Delaware has huge assets compared to other states because of the existing “Vision 2015″ project, comprised of a broad range of players. Given that comprehensiveness is one of two eligibility criteria under the draft regs, Delaware would seem to have exactly what the Department of Education says it’s looking for.

KENTUCKY, like 10 other states, has no charter schools now because it has no state authorizing law. But that could be changing.

Two bills to create charter schools or “public school academies” have been filed at least in part as a result of the state’s RttT aspirations.

LOUISIANA is one of the states that lifted its charter school caps in response to RttT in June. And it was one of only two states (the other being Florida) to receive the top rating of “highly competitive” under TNTP’s analysis.

A “unified group” of education and community-based organizations launched a statewide effort in August.

One potential glitch: Louisiana’s superintendent of education Paul G. Pastorek warned at the end of September that the state’s “career diploma” may not pass muster due to questions about its rigor, an issue heightened in the context of the common core standards initiative.

MAINE is one of 11 states without a charter school law. Attempts to pass a state charter school law failed earlier this year, though many observers think the climate for charters in Maine is getting better with each passing day.

At a conference in Augusta last week, Associate Assistant Deputy Secretary Scott Pearson of U.S. DOE said the lack of a state charter school law would put Maine at a disadvantage in competing for RttT funds, adding that while “’by no means do we believe charters are the silver bullet’ to excellence, their ability to innovate added an important tool to the educational package.”

MASSACHUSETTS Governor Deval Patrick appeared with Secretary Arne Duncan to announce a big expansion (27,000 new seats) of charter schools. It was seen as particularly significant because key state leaders previously had not been charter school supporters.

Here’s one quote: “Formerly a charter-school critic, [Boston Mayor Thomas] Menino said he is fed up with opposition from the Boston Teachers Union. ‘I’m just tired of it. We’re losing kids.’”

This was just a proposal, and since then there has been some back and forth about the specifics, but the push does seem to be gaining some grass roots traction. The Boston Foundation and Stand for Children are spearheading a coalition effort to develop a comprehensive proposal. Keep an eye on it.

MICHIGAN: Legislation to create a “smart cap” for charter schools was introduced yesterday in Michigan by Democratic State Senator Buzz Thomas of Detroit. According to Senator Thomas’ website:

“[The] proposal would remove caps for “schools of excellence” that have demonstrated success in Michigan or other states. A limited number of original charters could still be awarded each year to aspiring charter school founders that have a sound plan to meet the needs of students, but have not operated charter schools to date.”

Smart caps were among the proposals recommended by Democrats for Education Reform in its RttT memo to Secretary Duncan back in February.

NEVADA Politics K-12 reported last week that Nevada does not seem inclined to tear down its firewall between student data and teacher evaluation. If the criteria for RttT qualification stand in the final regs that are released in November, Nevada is out.

NEW YORK Conservative education activist Thomas Carroll accused Governor Paterson of having no education reform plan in a recent Huff Po piece. It’s hard to argue with him.

On the most visible issue to date, the state firewall between student data and teacher evaluation, the state seems to think it can slip under the wire based on discussions with the U.S. Department of Education. This is in part because such data can be used in “some” evaluations (“just” not tenure; I argued against this reasoning here). But the fact that state legislators and UFT President Randi Weingarten have signaled their willingness to let the firewall expire next year and that a new teacher evaluation system is in the works for New York City seem to be providing mitigation.

On Monday, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt introduced a bill to raise the state’s charter school caps.
Look for a role by David Steiner, who was voted in as State Education Commissioner in July, and was involved at Hunter with, among other things, creating what looks to be a high-quality alternative teacher preparation program – Teacher U – in collaboration with Uncommon Schools, KIPP, Achievement First, TFA, and others.

OHIO is one of the states rated “competitive” by TNTP but they have several apparent problems.

One key problem is the state’s charter school caps, the result of a longstanding political impasse between “charters by all means necessary” proponents, and Democratic charter school opponents, for whom Republican support for even low-performing charters has provided easy political fodder.

A second is that Democrats in the state are not known for bold education reforms. Governor Strickland signaled earlier in the year his desire to compete, perhaps as part of a consortium, but there has been little in the way of public hearings or coalition building.

RHODE ISLAND just announced yesterday that it would be receiving assistance from three foundations, totaling $245,000, to prepare a reform strategy.

Rhode Island was one of the states that responded early to the Race to the Top challenge. At the end of June, the state approved funding for “mayoral academy” charter schools. The first such school, Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley, opened this Fall with 76 kindergarten students from surrounding districts. The school has a longer school day (8-4) and year (190 days rather than 180) and innovative staffing and salary policies.

Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, who has stressed the importance of teacher quality and data systems, has assembled a Race to the Top steering committee which met for the first time in September and plans to convene subsequent meetings in November.

UTAH unveiled a budget proposal last week that would disproportionately cut funding for charter schools and cause 18 charter schools to close (no non-charters would be closed, natch). State leaders say they didn’t intend for this to happen and want to try and fix it. Oversight or not, Utah does not seem to be on top of the things it needs to do to compete, at least in phase one.

WISCONSIN Governor Jim Doyle, who does not have a record of pushing big education reforms, has been rolling out his plans issue by issue. Wisconsin got some notoriety earlier this year, both because of its student-teacher data “firewall” which would automatically disqualify it under the draft regs; and, when the National Center for Education Statistics reported that Wisconsin earned the distinction of being one of the states with the biggest Black-White achievement gap in the nation.

Yesterday, Doyle made a big announcement on the need for more learning time. Previously, he had pitched plans for “overhauling student testing, making student test scores a factor in teacher evaluations, creating new data systems.”

So, Missouri, how are we coming along? There is nothing on the Missouri DESE website addressing Race to the Top grants. Missouri Commissioner on Education Chris Nicastro has indicated DESE is working with the Governor’s Office to develop a plan, but that they will not pursue the first round of funding.

According to the New Teacher Project that assessed states’ eligibility, Missouri is one of three states that do not qualify for grantsbased on the standards and assessments criteria because they are not participating in the common standards consortium.

As far as competitiveness, Missouri has been ranked moderately competitive. Two legislative moves that would contribute to Missouri’s eligibility are an expansion of charter school eligibility to the entire state and a strong performance-pay program for Missouri’s teachers.

Also, public hearings or input of some form would go a long way toward helping Missourians a) understand Race to the Top opportunities, b) bring their ideas to the table – who knows? There may be some very creative solutions in someone’s mind that has yet to be tapped in to.

A panorama of parents, community leaders and education leaders have lambasted Congress for failing to renew a successful and popular program that gives D.C. students in failing public schools access through a pilot voucher program.

One of the messages the Obama administration is sending is that education reforms that show measurable success should be pursued – no matter which political party supports them.

Congress seems to be taking this more seriously, with Congressman Dick Durbin’s statement that he would be open to a continuation of the program if certain changes were made. This kind of work is critical. A perfect education reform is impossible – we can, however, take the methods that show student improvement and expound to make them better. Letting the D.C. vouchers program fade away is wrongheaded: it ignores and discards the progress students have made and the lessons we have learned.

From the article:

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, has introduced a bill that would reauthorize the voucher plan. His co-sponsors include Democratic Sens. Diane Feinstein of California and Robert Byrd of West Virginia. But issues such as testing still must be negotiated with Mr. Durbin. Any bill would also have to pass the House, where there has been far less discussion. Some congressional staffers say they doubt there will be final action on the program until next year.

The Opportunity Scholarship Program provides about 1,700 students from low-income families with annual scholarships of as much as $7,500 to attend private schools. It isn’t the largest voucher program in the country. But unlike similar efforts controlled at the state or local level, it was created and has been funded by Congress, which has broad authority over the District. That has kept the debate over vouchers percolating on Capitol Hill even though they have made relatively little political headway elsewhere.

It also may force the Obama administration to weigh in. The administration supports charter schools but opposes vouchers.

Amid congressional debate over the District voucher plan’s future, the U.S. Department of Education instructed program administrators to stop accepting new students. Although the Department of Education has proposed continuing to fund vouchers for students already in the program — a move Congress would have to approve — in April it withdrew 216 new scholarship offers pending for the 2009-10 school year.

“Total injustice,” said Latasha Bennett, whose daughter Nia, age 5, was among the 216. “They can pay for wars but they can’t pay for our kids getting an education.”

Peter Cunningham, an Education Department spokesman, noted that research into the impact of vouchers is mixed and said the administration doesn’t think paying for children to attend private schools will spawn the sort of competition that could help improve public schools. “We still don’t think they are the solution to America’s education challenges,” he said.

Many parents whose children receive vouchers say they are satisfied with the private schools they attend. During the 2008-2009 school year, about 61,700 students nationwide received vouchers, up 9% from the previous school year, according to the Alliance for School Choice, a pro-voucher advocacy group. Even so, vouchers aren’t available in most states, and they have gained far less support than charter schools, which are attended by an estimated 1.4 million students.

Teachers unions say vouchers are a waste of tax money that could be better spent improving public schools. Civil-liberties groups oppose their use to pay for tuition at parochial schools. In the past decade, voters in California, Michigan and Utah have defeated statewide voucher initiatives.

Created as a five-year pilot project by a Republican-controlled Congress in early 2004, the Opportunity Scholarship Program is the nation’s only federally funded voucher program. It is open to students who live in the long-struggling Washington school district and whose families have incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty level — about $40,000 for a family of four. Recipients are chosen by lottery, although preference is given to those attending traditional schools deemed to be in need of improvement under federal law.

Joe Kelley entered his oldest son, Rashawn, in the first Opportunity Scholarship Program lottery in 2004, fearful about violence at the public middle school. Rashawn, now 17, received a voucher, and so have his three sisters. All attend a small, private Christian academy where they have been earning A’s and B’s. “It’s a lot of worry off of me,” said Mr. Kelley, a retired cook and youth counselor.

In an evaluation released in March, researchers found that in reading skills, voucher recipients overall were approximately 3.1 months ahead of eligible students who didn’t receive scholarships. But there was no difference in math skills, and voucher recipients from the worst-performing public schools got no boost in either subject.

A 2007 Government Accountability Office report said the Washington Scholarship Fund, the nonprofit that administers the Opportunity Scholarship Program, lacked adequate accounting controls and sometimes didn’t provide parents with complete information about student achievement, teacher qualifications and tuition levels at the private schools involved.

“It was a snapshot of the start-up phase of the program,” said Greg Cork, the scholarship fund’s president, who added that the fund has followed up with the Government Accountability Office and the Department of Education and addressed “the vast majority” of the issues raised.

Backers of the Opportunity Scholarship Program are optimistic about the long-term outlook for it. “I think people are looking at it differently,” said Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice, an advocacy group. “I feel more optimistic than I have in a long time.”

From the Education Week article:

Scores among 8th graders on the exam, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, continued to rise, meanwhile—a fairly consistent trend since the early 1990s.

Yet the scores on the 4th grade NAEP, a federally administered test touted as “the nation’s report card,” are bound to receive close scrutiny. Federal officials released the results at both grade levels today.

Since 1990, students’ NAEP performance in 4th and 8th grade math has been a story of steady, if slow, progress. Policymakers have been more puzzled and concerned by the leveling-off that occurs among older students, whose scores on a separate NAEP, designed to measure long-term trends, have been nearly unchanged at the high school level since the late 1970s.

Today’s NAEP results, however, show that 4th graders’ scores were the same, 240, in 2009 as they were in 2007, on a 500-point scale. By comparison, those scores jumped from 226 to 235 from 2000 to 2003, and rose by at least 2 points in the two testing cycles prior to the current one.

These are causes for serious concern. We’ve been increasing spending in education, yet the progress we’re trying to achieve – global competitiveness, literacy and 100% graduation rates – isn’t any closer.

How much more clear does it have to be before we look seriously at reforms? We have grant opportunities to try and test reform ideas that can keep kids in school, get them access to an environment that helps them succeed. Whether a reform does or does not show student improvement, we’ll gain data and insight.

We see that we’re not hitting our mark. Not just that, we’re dead in the water. A company getting these kind of results would make, and be willing to make drastic changes.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/naep-math-scores-for-4th-graders-stagnate/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/featured/stl-magnet-schools-open-house-oct-10 http://www.dfermo.org/featured/stl-magnet-schools-open-house-oct-10#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:17:44 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=418 From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The St. Louis Public Schools will host open houses at each magnet and “choice” school from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, October 10.

Students and families will be able to meet teachers and staff, tour facilities and pick up applications.

Applications are due either November 13 or December 31. See below for a full list.

Choice schools — Carnahan High School of the Future, Clyde C. Miller Career Academy, Northwest Academy of Law — also require a student essay and interview with the school’s selection committee.

For more information, go to www.slps.org or call the district office of recruitment and counseling at (314) 633-5200.

Magnet Elementary Schools Include:

· Lyon at Blow Academy of Basic Instruction Community Education Full Service School (K-8), 516 Loughborough Ave.

· Mallinckrodt Academy of Basic Instruction (P-5), 6020 Penrod Ave.

· Washington Montessori (P-5), 1130 N. Euclid

· Stix Early Childhood Center (P-2), 647 Tower Grove Ave.

· Wilkinson Early Childhood Center @ Roe (P-2), 1921 Prather

· Gateway Math and Science Elementary (P-5), #4 Gateway Dr.

· Mullanphy Investigative Learning Center (P-5), 4421 Shaw Blvd.

· Dewey International Studies (P-5), 6746 Clayton Ave.

· Shaw Visual and Performing Arts (P-5), 5329 Columbia Ave.

· Ames Visual and Performing Arts (P-5), 2900 Hadley Ave.

· Kennard Classical Junior Academy (P-5), 5031 Potomac St.

Magnet Middle Schools Include:

· Lyon at Blow Academy of Basic Instruction Community Education Full Service School (K-8), 516 Loughborough Ave.

· Busch Academic and Athletic Academy (6-8), 5910 Clifton Ave.

· McKinley Classical Junior Academy (6-8), 2156 Russell Blvd.

· Gateway Math and Science Preparatory School (6-8), 1200 N. Jefferson Ave.

· Compton-Drew Investigative Learning Center (6-8), 5130 Oakland Ave.

· Bunche International Studies @ Madison (6-8), 1118 S. 7th St.

· Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts (6-8), 1004 N. Jefferson Ave.

Magnet High Schools Include:

· McKinley Classical Leadership Academy (9-12), 2156 Russell Blvd.

· Metro Academic and Classical High School (9-12), 4015 McPherson Ave.

· Gateway Institute of Technology (9-12), 5101 McRee Ave.

· Soldan International Studies (9-12), 918 N. Union Blvd.

· Cleveland Naval Junior ROTC @ Pruitt (9-12), 1212 N. 22nd St.

· Central Visual and Performing Arts (9-12), 3125 S. Kingshighway Blvd.

Also hosting an Open House on October 10th, from 11:00am until 3:00pm, will be the district’s Choice High Schools:

· Carnahan High School of the Future (9-12), 4041 S. Broadway

· Clyde C. Miller Career Academy (9-12), 1000 N. Grand Blvd.

· Northwest Academy of Law (9-12), 5140 Riverview Blvd.

Students wishing to attend a magnet school must submit an application. Students wishing to attend a choice school must submit an application, an essay, and participate in an interview with the school’s selection committee.

City residents can visit the St. Louis Public Schools’ website www.slps.org or call the Office of Recruitment and Counseling Center (314) 633-5200.

Additional copies are available for county residents at the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corp. (VICC) website www.choicecorp.org or call (314) 721-8422, ext. 3012.

Applications for the following magnet and choice schools must be received by Friday, November 13th:

· Carnahan High School of the Future

· Central Visual and Performing Arts

· Cleveland Navy Junior ROTC

· Clyde C. Miller Career Academy

· Gateway Institute of Technology High School

· Kennard Classical Junior Academy

· McKinley Classical Junior Academy

· McKinley Classical Leadership Academy

· Metro Academic and Classical High School

· Northwest Academy of Law

· Soldan International Studies

Applications for all other St. Louis Magnet Schools must be received by Thursday, December 31st.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/featured/stl-magnet-schools-open-house-oct-10/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/featured/tribute-education-giant-don-fisher http://www.dfermo.org/featured/tribute-education-giant-don-fisher#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:05:44 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=404 For most people, Don Fisher is most recognizable as the co-founder of GAP, a staple of the American wardrobe. What you may not know is that Mr. Fisher was a stalwart supporter of education, in particular Charter schools.

He and his wife, Doris, gave 15 million in grant money to create the KIPP foundation. KIPP charter schools are operating all across the country to prepare under-served youths for college. They also generously supported Teach for America, preparing teachers to succeed in low-income communities.

With his passing last Sunday education reform lost a huge champion, but without a doubt his legend will live on in the efforts of over 80 KIPP charter schools serving 20,000 children, and 7300 teachers working in concert to reach hundreds of thousands, changing the state of education by generation. The dividends his legacy will realize are truly revolutionary.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/featured/tribute-education-giant-don-fisher/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/featured/duncan-promotes-child-centered-future-1 http://www.dfermo.org/featured/duncan-promotes-child-centered-future-1#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:12:49 +0000 Rodney Hubbard http://www.dfermo.org/?p=339 In Arne Duncan’s speech last Tuesday, I was inspired to begin to have a more open and candid dialogue with the presidents of the teachers unions. I talked to Randi Weingarten after the Secretary’s speech, and told her that I look forward to working with her and her organization in the near future whether it was locally or nationally. It was good to hear that AFT once played a major role in establishing Charter schools throughout our country. Secretary Duncan brought out a valid issue that while most parents feel comfortable sending their kids to charter school not public school, a lot of this has to deal with parents feeling that their kids are safe while teachers educate them. He said “…our children can’t learn if they’re not safe, if they’re not fed, if they don’t have clothes on, if they can’t see the blackboard.”

It’s in that spirit that we can begin to forge a working relationship that speaks to putting our kids’ educations first, and not focus on retaining teachers jobs. I believe that competition makes us stronger and competent teachers and administrators should be retained and inefficient public or charter schools should be dismantled for there is no room for mediocrity when we are dealing with the salvation of our most precious resources which are our children, for they are truly the future who will begin to put our educational system and country back on track.

If we don’t educate them now, we will incarcerate them later.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/featured/duncan-promotes-child-centered-future-1/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/fight-to-save-dc-scholarships http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/fight-to-save-dc-scholarships#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:26:20 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=334 Yesterday, leaders in D.C. stood together in an act of civil protest in front of the Board of Education Building to oppose the loss of scholarships for 216 disadvantaged children in the D.C. area.

Congress has refused to fund new scholarships (though it is paying out scholarships already in use) pending a reauthorization of the program by the House, which many consider a long shot.

Unfortunately, this flies in the face of the lesson D.C. is trying to impress upon states engaged in education reform, that is, to innovate new programs, test their success and stick with things that work. These scholarships are one tool, along with Charter schools and magnet schools, that parents can utilize to help their child realize his or her potential. And it works on many levels. It gets the parents engaged. It shows educational progress over time. And it costs about one-fourth of what taxpayers pay to send a child to public school.

Parents are staring down failing public schools in D.C., just like we are here in St. Louis. To see that Congress isn’t taking this reform seriously makes all reformers across the country uneasy. We’ve got some great leaders out of D.C. like former Mayor Anthony Williams who helped secure the scholarships, Superintendent of DC Public Schools Michelle Rhee, who’s said that her job is to make sure children get the best education possible, even if that’s outside the public schools, and has stepped up as a hardcore reformer who is tirelessly looking for the next right thing.

We can learn a lot from those leaders: they made unpopular choices that went against the grain, but won many of their detractors over as they showed improvement. We’ve got great potential in St. Louis to replicate these conditions and create reforms that aggressively roots out disparity, waste, complacency and put in its place rewards for achievement, options that reflect the heterogeneous nature of urban communities, and footholds that make knowledge easier to grasp.

In St. Louis, we need an at-the-gut exposure of the problems, and a reaction that hits the core of those problems. We know they’re bigger than the classroom, and that’s why it has to be a community-wide effort with seamless partnerships that can’t be about partisan inheritance, only measurable solutions.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/fight-to-save-dc-scholarships/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/featured/huffington-post-gets-on-board-school-choice http://www.dfermo.org/featured/huffington-post-gets-on-board-school-choice#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:12:18 +0000 Rodney Hubbard http://www.dfermo.org/?p=322 Yesterday’s Huffington Post has a fantastic, spot-on op-ed by Arianna Huffington that embraces the Obama-Duncan reasoning in education reform. 

She calls for a single-payer education plan, where while education would be publicly funded, the money would follow the student to the school of their choice, not be tied to the district that child lives in.  Citing the growing disparity between poor and rich kids and the educations they have access to (and what that means for us as a society, with generations lost to crime and incarceration), she breaks a huge partisan barrier by saying that choice in education is good, just like it’s good in health care and other systems we would never limit as we limit public education.  I pulled a few of the most powerful sections:

Time after time, when the choice has come down to books versus bars, our political leaders have chosen to build bigger prisons rather than figuring out how to have fewer kids in them.

How is it that we are willing to spend so much on kids once they are found guilty of crimes but so little when they are still innocent? What kind of society spends more than 10 times as much to incarcerate a child as it does to educate him?

It’s time we start looking at education reform in bold and different ways, to stop protecting little parcels of partisan turf and start thinking outside the box. To consider the possibilities. To look past our own political backyards at what might lie on the other side of the mountain.

In a single-payer education plan, the federal government, in conjunction with the states, would provide an education allotment for every parent of a K-12 child. Parents would then be free to enroll their child in the school of their choice.

In a single-payer health care plan, all citizens would be free to select the physician and hospital of their choice. And, unlike in our education system, no one backing single-payer health care ever suggested that patients can only see a doctor in their own district or can only be operated on at the hospital down the street. If we don’t hold people’s health hostage to the health of their property values, why do we do this with their children’s education?

It’s simple, sensible and, above all, just. And maybe instead of calling for an exorcist any time the words “competition,” “choice” or “freedom” are used in connection to education, we can start singing hosannas for an idea that preserves what is truly public in public education — the government, i.e. the public, paying for it — while allowing creativity, innovation and parental empowerment to flourish.

What Abraham Lincoln said in his second annual address to Congress in 1862 applies powerfully to today’s education crisis: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present…. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”

And when it comes to saving out children, there is not a moment to waste.

These are words Democrats need to take to heart, because they speak to the values and ideas we hold dear. If there are things we’ve done, positions we’ve taken in the past that are detrimental to the idea of educating every child – if there’s a better way of thinking about it and a better way of reforming, then we’ve got to change if we see there’s a way for all children to receive a better education.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/featured/huffington-post-gets-on-board-school-choice/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/featured/gingrich-sharpton-obama-education http://www.dfermo.org/featured/gingrich-sharpton-obama-education#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:22:15 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=297 A recent alliance between Newt Gingrich, Rev. Al Sharpton and President Obama has turned a lot of heads. It is significant – historically so – that leaders with vastly disparate views on, well, everything have been able to come to a consensus on education reform.

President Obama’s message for educators and administrators, and the establishment, is becoming very clear: open the way for Charter school expansion. Pay teachers as if they’re producing a precious commodity, based on performance not years on the job. Foster innovation and measure success. The time to rest comfortably in the sacrosanct field of education is over. Changes will be made.

He’s not only pushing against the status quo, he’s also pushing against the Democratic party’s longtime stance. The message that’s even bigger than the specific reforms that Gingrich will join him in advancing is that the education of our children is too important to stall out over party differences. It’s a rallying cry to both parties to make these reforms a reality and an ever-present aspect of US education: there is literally nothing standing in the way of members of both parties crafting and enacting these vital reforms.

“I strongly believe that when you can find common ground, we should be able to put other differences aside to achieve a common goal,” Gingrich said.

The next question we have is what we can do in Missouri to show that we heard the call and we’re acting on it.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/featured/gingrich-sharpton-obama-education/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/obamas-education-plan-supported-across-party-lines http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/obamas-education-plan-supported-across-party-lines#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:16:25 +0000 Michelle http://www.dfermo.org/?p=294 The Obama administration and the Republican party have seemingly come together on education reform. 

Even hardcore republicans can not help but recognize and support the president’s genuine concern for the children–who he understands are our future and the country’s future.  Therefore, the current administration and other dedicated democrats across the nation have been working hard to push past any political agendas when it comes to our schools.

While it is encouraging to see this non-partisan cooperation, it is hard to believe that anyone would be against such blatantly positive efforts, such as allowing parents to choose the best school for their kids, rewarding good teachers and getting rid of poor teachers.  But teachers unions continue to come down hard against these constructive efforts.

That is why Democrats in all 50 states have been working even harder to support these much-needed improvements in education.  And Missouri in particular needs to sustain our bold legislators and community leaders that stand up to teachers unions and their status-quo itinerary and fight for the children in our communities that are stuck in failing schools.

Obama’s Education Reform Efforts:
Expansion of public charter schools: “I call on states to reform their charter rules, and lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools, wherever such caps are in place.

Merit pay for teachers: “Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement, and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools.”

And removing ineffective teachers: “Let me be clear: If a teacher is given a chance . . . but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences.”  (How does the public feel?  Firing ineffective teachers is arguably the most controversial of the three issues, yet a recent survey conducted by NBC-Wall Street Journal showed an approval rating of 78 percent for President Obama’s proposal to make “it easier for schools to dismiss teachers who are shown to be poor performers.”  This high number shows support across party lines for the president’s education reform efforts.)

As democrats, we need to continue to support the president and support education.

This post was in Response to: “A Chance to Say Yes” a Republican opinion piece in The Washington Post

For more information on education reform keep checking out our website or visit the national DFER website.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/obamas-education-plan-supported-across-party-lines/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/stimulus-funding-for-education http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/stimulus-funding-for-education#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:01:21 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=292 The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported today on the money soon to flow into Missouri as a part of the economic stimulus.

$114 million will be available in Missouri. That funding will only be available for 2 years, so districts are limited to non recurring expenditures. They are also limited by a breakout of the funds that requires a certain amount to be focused on 2 main groups: low income students and special needs students. School districts will have to determine how they will allocate those funds and then apply to receive that funding for their programs or spending needs.

These dollars will hopefully tide Missouri k-12 education over while state revenues are scarce. The Post-Dispatch article shows the breakdown of funds by district, and notes that funding to St. Louis City schools and the Special School District that serves across districts to provide special needs services and specialists will nearly double the amount of federal aid they receive.

What is still somewhat unclear is exactly how school districts will be accountable: will they simply be burdened to show that they spend those dollars in the appropriate area, or will they be asked to show that these programs are improving quality of education?

While these funds seem very restricted (the Post-Dispatch notes that little can be spent on hiring or facilities), they offer a huge opportunity to track the success of targeted programs on specific demographics. They also present an opportunity to public schools to experiment with ways to help their most underprivileged students.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/stimulus-funding-for-education/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/race-to-the-top http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/race-to-the-top#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:51:15 +0000 Michelle http://www.dfermo.org/?p=233 Six Important Points Concerning the “Race for the Top” Fund

The $5 billion “Race to the Top” Fund was enacted by the U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan as a part of the federal stimulus package.  This provides an encouraging opportunity to refocus the eduction reform discussion and support our nation’s schools both with passion and funding.

Click below for some concepts that DFER supports as part of the Race To The Top competition between states:

Public Charter Schools and High Quality Pre-K

Unleashing Innovation In America’s Schools

Enhancing Entry Points To The Teaching Profession

World Class Standards and Assessments

Growing Innovative Charter Schools

A Great Teacher For Every Child

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/race-to-the-top/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/duncan-on-charter-school http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/duncan-on-charter-school#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:09:25 +0000 Michelle http://www.dfermo.org/?p=219 Education Secretary Arne Duncan Speaks Out About Charter Schools

Charter schools have proven to be a successful means of reforming our educational system, especially in urban areas.  Based on extensive research and personal tales of hope, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, President Barack Obama and millions of others have taken an active role in charter schools support.

After his passionate speech at the National Charter School Conference in Washington D.C. last week, Duncan continued his vocal support for charter schools at a recent Press Conference.

States need to have a plan to turn around their lowest-performing schools. I’m an advocate of using whatever model works for children and I want charter schools to join that work. But they won’t be able to get into the turnaround business in states that restrict the growth of charters. States that slow innovation are limiting opportunities for students and placing themselves at a competitive disadvantage for $4 billion in Race to the Top Fund grants…While some states limit the number of charter schools, others like Louisiana and Tennessee, have lifted their caps on charters, giving more students the opportunity to attend higher performing schools.

Unfortunately, Missouri still has restrictions on charter schools in place.  Our state must lift these caps so we are not at a disadvantage for stimulus money and, more importantly, so the kids in our communities are given opportunity and hope through high-quality education.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/duncan-on-charter-school/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/education-reform-success-09 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/education-reform-success-09#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 16:21:05 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=214 Education reform advocates rejoiced after the passage of SB 291, which incorporated some of the best ideas in education reform that will offer real opportunities and needed change for Missouri children.

The Open Enrollment study to be completed by the Joint Committee on Education (rather than the Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education as originally proposed) is one of the great solutions that will give legislators data they need to put together an open enrollment proposal that fits Missouri.

Sen. Jeff Smith’s merit pay bill is another great addition. Teachers in St. Louis City public schools would be able to opt-in to a merit pay system in lieu of the traditional tenure track. Aside from simply offering pay commensurate with effective teaching, this will hopefully draw young, energetic, quality teachers into the SLPS when they know they’ll be compensated for teaching in a way that works.

This proposal is now on Gov. Nixon’s desk, and DFER encourages him to sign into law these strong, common-sense proposals that have great potential to improve the education and lives of children in Missouri.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/education-reform-success-09/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/charter-school-researcher-slu http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/charter-school-researcher-slu#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 20:49:26 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=211 From The Grade:

Stanford University Professor Caroline Hoxby is speaking at St. Louis University tonight about her research comparing charter school students to district students in New York and Chicago.

Her talk will focus on what she’s learned from her study of over 100 schools — the biggest study of charter school affects so far, she says — and how charters are teaching educators what works for disadvantaged students in American cities.

The Grade interviewed her last week for a preview of her speech. The following answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Why is this study special?

I compare students who apply and are lotteried-in to students who are lotteried-out, to see how they do over time. It’s apples to apples. The kids who applied are exactly alike — their families are equally motivated — the only difference between them is that some won the lottery and are going to public charter schools and some didn’t. Some of the charter schools in my study have been in business for nine or 10 years; some are more recent. It covers about 55,000 students. We compare standardized test scores on statewide exams, and some other factors — graduating on time, truancy, attendance.

What are you finding?

If you were to take a child in kindergarten and put him in a public charter school in New York or Chicago, and leave him there until 12th grade, he would have achievement levels that looked a lot like that of a student from an affluent family in one of the best suburban school districts that surround these cities. Think of your favorite affluent suburb where everyone thinks the schools are great. That would be about the level of achievement. They’re really closing the whole achievement gap.

Wow?

Wow is the right reaction. But it will take from kindergarten to 12th grade. If you only stay in a charter school for three years, you only get three years of that effect. If you stay the whole time, you could make up the whole gap. By the time you get out of high school, you would not be at a disadvantage, relative to anyone else.

Why aren’t charter schools in St. Louis performing so well?

First, I’m not sure charters have been evaluated in St. Louis. I don’t know how well they’re doing. But charter schools are independently managed. And therefore, they can differ. Some will be better than others. Over time, families will move to the charter schools that are more successful. That’s part of the idea behind charters.

Why would parents stay in bad schools?

I’m not sure. But in Chicago and New York, parents are gravitating toward successful charters. It’s not necessarily rocket-fast. But there are two things that prevent many students from attending unsuccessful charter schools. Over time, parents are less likely to send their children to unsuccessful charters. They don’t necessarily pull them out, but the flow in gets smaller and smaller. Also, the board or authorizer sometimes makes the decision to close unsuccessful schools. Or, they look around and say, “We’re not that successful. What are they doing that we’re not doing?”

What would critics say of your study?

Randomized studies of charter school students don’t get a lot of criticism. They’re pretty bullet proof. For instance, the criticism that charter school families are more motivated is not valid, because all of the students came from equally motivated families (who all applied to the charter schools).

What’s the main point?

You can learn a lot from charter schools. Because they experiment more. For instance, some charter schools have 210 days or 215 school days a year, not 175, which is normal. And some have much longer days, say, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. So, if you just wanted to learn if it works to have a long school year and a long school day, you might want to look at charter schools.

Caroline Hoxby will speak at 6 p.m. tonight as part of the SLU/Show-Me Institute lecture series at the Anheuser-Busch Auditorium in John and Lucy Cook Hall at Lindell Boulevard and Spring Avenue.

Go HERE to learn more.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/charter-school-researcher-slu/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/npr-slps-historic-schools http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/npr-slps-historic-schools#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:20:05 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=185 Turn-of-the-Century architect Wm. Ittner designed many historic school buildings in St. Louis City. 10 of those Ittner buildings, dear to many neighborhoods as well as aficionados, are set to be sold by the city.

One victory for those schools is the recent lifting of the deed restrictions that prohibited the most likely buyer (other educational entities like Charter schools) from purchasing closed public schools with a caveat that the school could not be reopened as any type of school or education entity for the next hundred years.

That restriction, set by the 3-member Special Administrative Board was a short-sighted answer that could have overshadowed a century of growth and change in the city. St. Louis already has several Ittner landmarks sitting vacant and in disrepair.

In the 1930s the public school population was more than four times larger than it is today, so the closings are an unfortunate necessity. Some schools closed in the past had been able to find new life with new owners, as apartment buildings primarily, but the dismal outlook for real estate ventures has made that option less and less likely for the next round of closed buildings.

Charter and private schools, however, are prime buyers. There are currently several groups interested in starting Charter schools in St. Louis City who have financing set up to find a building, and what better match than a school building already equipped with the right layout and other school-specific needs.

The benefits are many: for neighborhoods, they no longer have a vacant, potentially dangerous lot that drives down property values; for families with little mobility a Charter can offer many new educational opportunities. The St. Louis Public Schools can recoup revenues – which they are sorely in need of – through the sale of these buildings and avoid asking taxpayers for help with their budget.

NPR offered a great tour of the historic school buildings of St. Louis, and what they mean to the neighborhoods they’ve anchored for the past century.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/npr-slps-historic-schools/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/slps-board-lifts-deed-restrictions http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/slps-board-lifts-deed-restrictions#comments Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:04:58 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=179 DFER had a very exciting March on Friday, April 17. We not only brought together some great spokespeople on the value of choice in education, but we got to announce that the Special Administrative Board of the St. Louis Public Schools had voted 3-0 to lift their ban on selling former public school buildings to Charter schools.

This is a significant win for the children and communities of St. Louis, who have a right to build better communities and expand the options available for their children.

The PD wrapped it up:

City charter schools will soon — at least in theory — be able to buy shuttered St. Louis Public School buildings.

The district announced Friday it would lift the deed restriction that barred charter groups from buying the sites.

“The Legislature felt very strongly that the provision was unfair or not appropriate,” said district CEO Rick Sullivan. “We worked with legislative leaders to reach an understanding that I think is good for all parties.”

More than a year ago, the board placed 100-year deed restrictions on the sales contracts of its old schools. The restrictions banned liquor stores, landfills, distilleries, sex shops — and charter schools — from opening in them.

And they infuriated charter leaders as well as dozens of state politicians tired of seeing the old buildings sit unattended in their districts, drawing crime and vandalism. But so many people were leaning on the board, said Rep. T.D. El-Amin, D-St. Louis, it was just a matter of time before the district reversed course. “We knew it was a levee bound to break,” he said.

We’ll have more of the statements soon from great national leaders like Horace Sheffield, Kevin Chavous, Ben Chavis and local leaders who gathered on Saturday for a panel discussion about improving educational quality for all children, and we look forward to getting everyone involved in coming up with real, effective solutions.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/slps-board-lifts-deed-restrictions/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/education-advocates-sinquefield-schock-remove-slps-deed-restrictions http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/education-advocates-sinquefield-schock-remove-slps-deed-restrictions#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:19:00 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=176 Saint Louis City residents and education reform advocates Rex Sinquefield and W. Bevis Schock filed a lawsuit in United States district court today seeking removal of deed restrictions placed on the sale of closed public school buildings by the Special Administrative Board (SAB) of the Saint Louis Public School District (SLPS). The deed restrictions prohibit buyers of closed SLPS buildings from reopening the building as a school for 100 years.

“These deed restrictions do nothing to help the poor and underserved children of the City of Saint Louis,” Sinquefield said. “In addition to denying young people an important educational opportunity, they contribute to the economic instability of our neighborhoods and create a dangerous situation for families. Clearly, this decision by the SAB is short-sighted, and they should completely rescind this egregious disregard for Saint Louis children and the taxpayers who paid for these structures.”

The deed restriction policy is seen by charter public school advocates, and many others, as a direct attempt to prevent charter public school expansion in Saint Louis. Three new charter public schools are scheduled to open in Saint Louis in the fall of 2009 and many other founding teams have begun the process for opening a charter public school. Many charter school founders cite finding a building as one of the most difficult parts of opening a school.

The deed restriction policy is in place despite the fact that the district is facing a $35 million shortfall in the coming budget year.

“The City of St. Louis has consistently maintained that they do not have enough money to educate their children,” said Josh Schindler, attorney for the plaintiffs. “Yet when they have an opportunity to sell closed, vacant buildings, the proceeds of which will benefit children attending SLPS schools, they arbitrarily and capriciously put restrictions on the deeds locking out the greatest potential buyer for these buildings. In addition, the cost to maintain these vacant buildings adds an unnecessary extra burden on taxpayers.”

The deed restriction policy was adopted by the SAB in December 2007 when the district began to close schools to reflect the city’s declining population. The district’s enrollment has shrunk from 45,000 students 10 years ago to less than 27,000 today.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/education-advocates-sinquefield-schock-remove-slps-deed-restrictions/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/encouraging-exchange-with-sec-duncan http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/encouraging-exchange-with-sec-duncan#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:07:29 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=165 I had an encouraging exchange with new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan yesterday.

While attending a National Forum on Education in Washington, D.C., I had an opportunity to speak with Sec. Duncan about how cities, including St. Louis, could join his movement in trying to rebuild  public education through not-for-profit leaders. Duncan told me to  continue to reach out, noting that there’s $5 billion on the table for education.

Just a side note, when I handed him my card, he noticed I was with  DFER and grinned. He told me to make sure I told Joe Williams and  Kevin Chavous “Hi,” and that he’d be in touch.

–Rep. Rodney Hubbard

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/encouraging-exchange-with-sec-duncan/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/officials-discuss-the-benefits-of-open-enrollment http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/officials-discuss-the-benefits-of-open-enrollment#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:53:50 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=162

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/officials-discuss-the-benefits-of-open-enrollment/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/legislators-speak-out-against-public-school-deed-restrictions http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/legislators-speak-out-against-public-school-deed-restrictions#comments Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:46:13 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=152 Legislators speak out against SLPS Deed Restrictions:

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/legislators-speak-out-against-public-school-deed-restrictions/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/public-schools-belong-to-the-community http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/public-schools-belong-to-the-community#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:25:49 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=149 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was recently quoted in an interview with the Washington Post as saying:

“School buildings don’t belong to us. They don’t belong to the unions. School buildings belong to the community.”

He is absolutely right.  When the St. Louis Public School’s Special Administrative Board placed 100-year deed restrictions saying that, even though vacant school buildings were on the market, if someone in the community wanted to purchase one and put the time and effort into rehabbing and revitalizing a public building they were barred from doing so ONLY because they intended on using it for a charter school.

Many people have spoken out about how parents and communities are largely to blame for the quality of education in St. Louis City.  They complain that parents aren’t engaged or active in their children’s education.  But the message being sent to them by the SAB denies them access to a school building, and deters partnership with community activists who want to bring more educational opportunities to their community.  Bertha Gilkey Bonds is one of those activists, and she simply wants the chance to improve her community with the resources that should be available.

Public Schools for the Public’s Children

By Bertha Gilkey Bonds
Missouri Black Alliance for Educational Options

When did it become unpopular to use a public school building to support public education? You’ll have to ask the Missouri State Board of Education, the SLPS Special Administrative Board and other supporters of the current deed restriction law on unused St. Louis public school buildings. As a long-time resident of St. Louis, I’ve watched my city’s school system deteriorate annually; be it academically or otherwise.

Now our community seeks access to school buildings for school children, but the doors are locked. My goal is to unlock the doors so that my people can get in. It will take some work as well as face-to-face meetings with state leaders and local officials, but I am sure that our community support for this effort will pay off. At the same time, you have to question the motives of those who support “restrictions” in lieu of our desire to open public charter schools in this public space. It is not as if we are asking the state to freely give away public property to money-grabbing private corporations that have no accountability to the community. At the same time, I am tired of seeing closed public school buildings become a haven for crime, drug use and other activities that are equally counter-productive to our community. I simply want public access to a public building. So if the community wants to open a public charter school in an unused St. Louis public school building—I stress public charter school—why can’t we? Are these not our public’s children? Absolutely! So let’s band together to get the deed restriction removed.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/public-schools-belong-to-the-community/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/obama-props-to-merit-pay-charter-schools-as-key-education-reforms http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/obama-props-to-merit-pay-charter-schools-as-key-education-reforms#comments Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:46:24 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=146 Obama’s speech this week laid out a framework for education reform that was refreshing and heading in the right direction for our youth that are struggling.

Merit pay is a system that rewards teachers who excel, whose students are learning and achieving, and refusing to reward teachers who are not committed to those goals.  This is an about-face from what typically happens in public schools, which is a steady advancement based on years worked, not quality of teaching.  This method disregards the hard work of young teachers, discourages them from continued improvement, and rewards seniority regardless of how successful a teacher is at the job of educating children.  The sole purpose of the money we spend on public education is to educate children.  If someone is not accomplishing that, we have no obligation to support a bad teacher, but every obligation to not let a child be poorly educated because seniority kept a bad teacher in the classroom.  On the other hand, we want to encourage–not discourage–teachers who bring innovative and effective ideas to the classroom.  We want to reward excellence in teaching so that it keeps happening!

Now, here’s what that commitment means: It means treating teachers like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountable…New teachers will be mentored by experienced ones. Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement, and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools.

And just as we’ve given our teachers all the support they need to be successful, we need to make sure our students have the teacher they need to be successful. And that means states and school districts taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom. But let me be clear …the overwhelming number of teachers are doing an outstanding job under difficult circumstances. But…If a teacher is given a chance or two chances or three chances but still does not improve, there’s no excuse for that person to continue teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences…We can afford nothing but the best when it comes to our children’s teachers and the schools where they teach.

President Obama went on to talk about another vital component: Charter schools.

One of the places where much of that innovation occurs is in our most effective charter schools. And these are public schools founded by parents, teachers, and civic or community organizations with broad leeway to innovate — schools I supported as a state legislator and a United States senator.

But right now, there are many caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states, no matter how well they’re preparing our students. That isn’t good for our children, our economy, or our country. Of course, any expansion of charter schools must not result in the spread of mediocrity, but in the advancement of excellence.

This is reminiscent of Missouri as well.  We only allow Charter schools in Kansas City and St. Louis.  We have noxious deed restrictions on the sale of public school buildings so that Charter schools are barred from purchasing them.  This culture of single-mindedness is being challenged by our president, and Missouri democrats should also begin looking at these ideas and trying to apply them to our problems locally.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/obama-props-to-merit-pay-charter-schools-as-key-education-reforms/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/kcstudent-advocates-for-better-education http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/kcstudent-advocates-for-better-education#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:56:02 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=140 The Kansas City Star today reported on a public school teen Taylor Brown, who spoke out about her disappointment with the education she’s received.  Usually, it is parents and reform groups demanding a change for their children, but even children, it seems, are aware enough of the problem to demand change for themselves.   From the article by Mary Sanchez:

…A child shouldn’t have to be her own advocate for a decent education.

Yet Taylor aptly states what many a task force, endless reports and community advocates have said for years: the Kansas City School District too often fails its children.

Taylor Brown is one of those children.

“I fell off in math about second or third grade. By fourth grade, I was lost. Not to say I wish I would have been flunked, but I kept getting moved up and up. Now, I look at the things that I should know. I can’t handle geometry. I can’t handle algebra. And I’m a bright girl. I know that.”

Taylor is a junior at Paseo Academy, and attended a number of Kansas City elementary schools — Attucks, Troost, Banneker, Bancroft and Robeson, the transferring determined by family moves.

She studied a few years at Genesis School, a period that may have saved her from becoming a dropout.

Taylor is the type of teenager adults gravitate toward. She knows how to please an adult ear, dropping phrases such as, “elevate the student,” “the fundamentals,” “some kind of accountability” and “an unhealthy learning environment.”

She’s sassy, another trait that has drawn adult attention in both positive and negative ways.

“I get applauded on my thoughts, but not corrected on my grammar. But at the end of the day, people don’t care about your big personality. An employer is going to want to know what you bring to the table.”

Taylor’s worried she will have less to offer. For this, she partly blames herself.

“I was a bad kid. I got suspended. I had no respect for teachers.”

Teachers, she argues, have become cogs in a dysfunctional education system they did not create. Some are simply lazy, in her view, giving far too many worksheets, memorization drills and reading assignments that work for low-skilled readers, but don’t challenge those with higher skills in the same classroom.

Still, she thinks if teachers were allowed to simply teach, most students would pass the standardized tests that control so much of the school curriculum.

And she reiterated a common complaint of teachers: Administrators who do not back up teachers when students need discipline.

Black students like Taylor readily mark teachers they believe feel sorry for them. She charges that some white teachers who live in suburban areas but teach in urban schools are guilty of what she terms “the hero syndrome.”

“I respect teachers who respect what I go through, but who don’t try to identify with it and they don’t try to relate to it. You can’t relate to me, because you are not me.”

Rather, what she desires of teachers is the patience to break through her sharp demeanor. She says many students test teachers, but are seeking someone they can count on.

“If I know you only want the best for me, I won’t do anything to jeopardize the relationship with you.”

She insists that repairing the teacher/student relationship is the best first step in changing the problems of Kansas City and other urban districts.

Recently, she heard a statistic that spoke to how graduates of urban public schools often enter college on academic probation. She felt the report was talking about her. She took a practice ACT test and got a 17.

“It scares me to death. I know that I do not have the study habits that I need.”

Brown in all likelihood will graduate. She hopes to enter pre-law at Prairie View A&M. Recognizing her deficiencies, she attends university programs, is tutored on Saturdays and is active in a poetry group. In addition, she has a flair that will surely draw mentors to her side.

Counting those social pluses, she comments: “I’m one of the fortunate ones.”

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/kcstudent-advocates-for-better-education/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/deed-restrictions-have-sordid-history-in-st-louis http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/deed-restrictions-have-sordid-history-in-st-louis#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:28:40 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=136 A news release from the University of Iowa announcing the findings in Colin Gordon’s book “Mapping Decline” has this to say about deed restrictions in the history of St. Louis’ loss of population:

Sixty years ago St. Louis was a thriving city with a population of almost a million. These days fewer than 300,000 people call The Gateway City home.

With decrepit Victorian homes and boarded-up factories in abundance, some would say it’s a pathetic picture of decay and abandonment. Even the post office moved to the ‘burbs. So what happened?”

Gordon attributes the decline of St. Louis to discriminatory housing policies, the collapse of the city’s tax base, and shortsighted urban renewal policies.

The city’s problems date back to the early 20th century when restrictive deed covenants — which prohibited homeowners from selling, leasing, renting or allowing property to be occupied by “negroes” — came into play, Gordon said.

During World War II, thousands of African Americans moved to the city for industrial jobs. But with the deed restrictions in place, they were forced to live in a small north-side neighborhood not covered by the restrictions, creating tremendous stress on that area’s housing stock. The covenants were used systematically until 1948, when the Supreme Court declared them illegal.

As the strained city neighborhoods went downhill, whites fled to suburbs. During the “white flight” — which began in the 1950s and picked up steam in the ’60s and ’70s — each suburb developed its own zoning code, typically providing for only single-family houses on large lots and prohibiting industrial, commercial, multifamily housing or small-lot development.

“Those codes guaranteed that people who lived in the suburbs were of a certain income. They barred poor and working-class people in the central city from ever moving to the suburbs. So the city got a larger share of the area’s poor, while the county got all the wealth,” Gordon said. “The demands on the city in terms of fighting crime, maintaining infrastructure and schools and providing public housing steadily increased, but its ability to earn money through property taxes collapsed.”

Each suburb existed as its own little fiefdom, setting its own taxes and running its own schools, Gordon said. Since St. Louis is an independent city in its own county, there’s no regional government or other system for sharing tax revenues across the metro area to even things out.

“So cheek by jowl, you see dismally poor schools where 95 percent of kids get free lunches and ridiculously wealthy schools building football stadiums pro teams could play in,” he said.

All the while, St. Louis attempted to reinvent itself. As neighborhoods disintegrated they were cleared in the name of “urban renewal.” This not only displaced many residents, but also took enormous chunks of land off the tax rolls for 30 or more years at a time, further eroding the city’s income.

So it’s that much more concerning that more deed restrictions are the Special Administrative Board’s answer to the problems partially stemming from racial and economically motivated ones in the past.  To be sure, the intention is not the same, but the effect will be.  Families in the city will have fewer opportunities in the way of education, especially innovative programs that are meant to enhance urban education and combat the influences mentioned above.  Charter schools are one of St. Louis’ opportunities to simply and positively reinvent the way we meet urban education needs.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/deed-restrictions-have-sordid-history-in-st-louis/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/creativity-in-education http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/creativity-in-education#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:55:09 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=131

This video of Dr. Ken Robinson is sharp and funny, but it makes some claims about what education should look like that gives us food for thought. What practical changes can help us move from a rigid, stifling framework to one where creativity is encouraged both in our children and in the ways we approach teaching?

Democrats for Education Reform wants to start that conversation. We want to talk to communities about where the problems they see are stemming from, and what changes will change the face of education for the better.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/creativity-in-education/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/st-louis-deed-restriction-news http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/st-louis-deed-restriction-news#comments Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:42:42 +0000 emily http://www.dfermo.org/?p=60 Several news stories and a video revealing the deed restriction policy’s effect on neighborhoods and education in St. Louis have stirred strong feelings in St. Louis.

The first, a video created by the Children’s Education Alliance of Missouri, explains the deed restriction that the Special Administrative Board has placed on closed public school buildings, barring them from being sold to another educational entity, and visits affected neighborhoods with Rep. T.D. El-Amin.

The Riverfront Times writer Kristin Hinman digs deep into the reaction of Charter School impresario Rhonda Broussard, who is working diligently to open Language Immersion charter schools in St. Louis, along with other community and education leaders.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch education writer David Hunn discusses the history of the reprehensible deed restriction policy, and the message an empty school sends to communities and students.

The St. Louis Beacon published an op-ed by Children’s Education Alliance of Missouri Director Earl Simms chiding the SAB for the harmful deed restrictions.

It looks like with the emotional potential of almost 30 schools closing in SLPS, the deed restrictions policy is ill-conceived and inappropriate.

It is inappropriate for a district that is operating a huge deficit, considering a plethora of school closings, struggling to keep families in the city and in their schools, and failing to meet basic state standards to restrict their ability to recoup taxpayer dollars, to limit the options available to the children they are serving, and it is incredibly irresponsible to prevent children from getting a public charter school if their neighborhood school shutters. The school district is not “protecting assets” as they claim, but simply being stubborn at the expense of children’s education.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/st-louis-deed-restriction-news/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/deed-restrictions-harm-communities-educational-opportunities http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/deed-restrictions-harm-communities-educational-opportunities#comments Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:46:58 +0000 sean http://www.dfermo.org/?p=48 Deed Restrictions Harm Communities and Limit Educational Opportunities

One of the more unknown attacks on quality education in St. Louis City is the 99-year deed restriction on the sale of abandoned St. Louis Public School Buildings.

Many public schools in the city have closed over the years, and approximately 20 schools are vacant (though not all are for sale). Often they sit vacant for several years before they are put up for sale, not serving children, and instead serving as a drag on property values in the neighborhood.

The deed restrictions, set forth by the St. Louis Public School Board, say that these vacant buildings cannot be sold to anyone who wants to use them as a school.

If you’ve walked around neighborhoods in St. Louis, you’ll occasionally see schools converted into lofts, but it stands to reason that the most likely buyers for a school building equipped with blackboards, public restrooms, etc. are other educational entities, particularly charter schools that offer public education often tailored to the needs of urban areas.

The St. Louis Language Immersion School blog makes the case that charter schools are ready and willing to purchase schools that are sitting empty, and the deed restrictions have at least once prevented a charter school from providing more opportunities in St. Louis.

Vacant schools are also a lost source of revenue for SLPS, in more ways than we might realize. First, the SLPS receives nothing in exchange for these buildings. They are subject to graffiti and squatters and other vandalism that makes them ever less desirable to potential buyers. Recouping funds from the sale of these buildings could even prevent more school closings. But the most critical loss in revenue has happened only in the last several hours with the passage of the House federal stimulus package. Because of the deed restrictions on these schools, St. Louis will lose out on an estimated $35 million in federally allocated construction spending.

With more school closings imminent, we should be vigilant against new deed restrictions, and work with neighborhoods to repeal existing restrictions—if we hope to meet our obligation to educate and advocate for our children.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-news/deed-restrictions-harm-communities-educational-opportunities/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/videos/the-need-for-autism-education-reform-in-missouri http://www.dfermo.org/videos/the-need-for-autism-education-reform-in-missouri#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:28:52 +0000 admin http://www.dfermo.org/?p=41 The story of a young family fighting autism, and how our current education system is dropping the ball.

]]> http://www.dfermo.org/videos/the-need-for-autism-education-reform-in-missouri/feed 0 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/post-1 http://www.dfermo.org/missouri-education/post-1#comments Thu, 01 Jan 1970 06:00:00 +0000 sean http://www.dfermo.org/?p=3

Rodney speaks out about Schools Closing

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