07/01/09
03:15:16 am, Categories: Announcements [A] 
""We will also ask whether the data around student achievement is linked to teacher effectiveness. Believe it or not, several states including New York, Wisconsin, and California, have laws that create a firewall between students and teacher data. Think about that, laws that prohibit us from connecting children to the adults who teach them.
"To somehow suggest that we should not link student achievement and teacher effectiveness, it’s like suggesting we judge a sports team without looking at the box score.
"In California, they have 300,000 teachers. If you took the top 10 percent, they have 30,000 of the best teachers in the world. If you took the bottom 10 percent, they have 30,000 teachers that should probably find another profession, yet no one in California can tell you which teacher is in which category. Something is wrong with that picture."
Arne Duncan, June 8, 2009
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06/30/09
04:00:14 am, Categories: Announcements [A] 
From Democrats for Education Reform Race to the Top Issue Brief #4,"World Class Standards and Assessments":
"Implementation of national “college-ready” standards should include articulation agreements in each state that meeting such standards would ensure that students are eligible for admission to state colleges and universities."
"Any effort to implement higher standards must be coupled simultaneously with an aggressive and sustained push to put educators in place who can teach to them. [Previous] efforts have been hampered by uneven quality of instruction between schools, usually along class and racial lines. "
"The federal government must ensure that states and the major testing companies break the patterns that have rendered mediocre and unimaginative assessment products in the past. This may involve bringing individuals and companies to the table who have not been involved previously."
"Many states have been chronically delinquent in ensuring that assessments are appropriate for special education and LEP students. States should have to show that their assessments meet these criteria before they get a dime of money for implementation."
06/29/09
05:19:46 am, Categories: Announcements [A] 
The difference between what I saw at the charter schools conference held in DC last week, and what I have heard from some of the anti-charter members of Congress in the past month or so could not be more striking.
Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see any of the latter group mingling with the former at the DC convention center. I have never seen a greater number of grass roots activists - parents, teacher, principals, administrators - at any education conference I have attended (and I’ve been at many).
Speakers talked about what they have done and, more important, what they wanted to do in the future, if only the powers-that-be would give them a chance.
This stands in stark contrast to more mainstream education conferences where speakers talk about what they can’t, won’t, or refuse to do. No one booed when Arne Duncan said: The "charter movement is putting itself at risk by allowing too many second-rate and third-rate schools to exist." Instead, everyone seemed ready, willing, and able to respond to Duncan’s challenge.
Most people have a personal story about how they, often accidentally, came to be involved. They were looking for something different, and they happened to find it in a charter school.
Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, who I imagine could easily afford to pay private school tuition, talked about his quest for finding an appropriate, high quality public school for his daughter in Portland, Oregon, and reached the following conclusion: "Charters are the Googles and the Apples of the coming age of education." (for these and other quotes, see our tweets from the advocacy day event).
steve berlin of los lobos
Berlin, among others, helped rally more than 1500 charter school proponents who were headed to Congressional offices on Capitol Hill to solicit support for, among other things, Representative Jared Polis’ (D-Boulder) ALL STAR bill, which would encourage states to expand high-quality charters through a $500 million incentive fund (see fact sheet: here). The Polis bill is highly consistent with the types of actions Democrats for Education Reform would like to see as conditions for "Race to the Top" funding per RTTT issue brief #5: here.
I hung out with some of the New Jersey folks, and was really impressed with what I learned. They are proud of what they have achieved, eager to do more, but also frustrated about inequitable funding of charter schools in the Garden State, where 11,000 are on charter school waiting lists and the state approval process is bottlenecked, dubious, and about as transparent as the Hudson River.
There are 10 charter public high schools in New Jersey currently enrolling seniors. Nine of the schools are college preparatory schools while the tenth provides vocational preparation for its students. The figures reported by the New Jersey Charter Public Schools Association represent statistics from eight of the nine college preparatory high schools. New Jersey’s charter public high schools will graduate a remarkable 99 percent of their seniors this year and send more than 86 percent of them on to higher education at two and four-year colleges, according to the NJCPSA.
The chart below illustrates the success of these 9 schools (in red) vis a vis the districts (blue) in which they are located, and the state as a whole (yellow). Pdf for easier viewing: here.
Why any politician would want to block thousands of children from availing themselves of similar opportunities is beyond me.
There is no silver bullet for education reform. Charter schools aren’t the answer to all our education problems, but they certainly have been a game-changer for parent choice, innovation, and community involvement.
There is probably no other issue where the adult power bosses and rank-and-file parents who just want better schools, no matter what they’re called or who runs them, are so at odds. It’s not a matter of if mainstream politicians will stand down from their efforts to block the expansion of charter schools, but a matter of when.
06/24/09
04:27:12 pm, Categories: Announcements [A] The recent DFER Race to the Top issue brief on "unleashing innovation" states that:
"Green Dot and other disruptive innovators have forced a discussion that had not taken place in prior school reform efforts and, more importantly, that has resulted in action, rather than just rhetoric and hand-wringing. The R & D work they have done merits their being national leaders in informing the expansion of similar innovative efforts throughout the country."
Barr proved it yet again, when he reached an agreement yesterday with the UFT in New York City that rewrites collective bargaining agreements to give teachers some of what they want, like smaller classes, and to give administrators some of what they want, like data-driven accountability and "just cause" provisions instead of job-for-life tenure.
According to Gotham Schools, Randi Weingarten called the contract a model for the nation. Rotherham has all the 411 here and, as usual, asks the right questions.
If you’ll notice in the Gotham Schools piece, Green Dot claims only to have fired two teachers in its 10 years in L.A. Of course, there’s a lot less need to fire people when you’ve chosen them in the first place, rather than have them foisted on you from the district through no choice of your own.
On Capitol Hill, many members of Congress are asking why charter school operators have not focused their efforts on "public schools," missing the point that charter schools are public schools. Slightly more enlightened members have asked why such efforts can’t be made on behalf of entire districts.
What’s clear now is that the deal Barr cut with Weingarten has been there for the asking to principals in NYC and in other districts across the nation. Principals, or groups of principals, in non-charter public schools are free to pursue such deals any time they want. But most administrators find such struggles - and, trust me, they are struggles - too difficult or assume they can’t be won. And it makes for some uncomfortable cocktail parties on the weekends (name me an issue where the largest national teachers’ and administrators’ associations, NEA and AASA, have taken different positions).
Until a similar movement pops up somewhere else, and calls itself something else, the heterogeneous quality school movement we currently call "charters" seems like our best hope for creative problem-solving that tries to establish schools that work better for administrators, teachers, and students.
06/22/09
05:39:33 am, Categories: Announcements [A] 
Democrats for Education Reform: Race to the Top Policy Briefs Continue Rolling Out
"There are two paths that Race to the Top can take. The first is the old way - the path of least resistance - where government officials succumb to political pressure. This path ensures that the education system we see three or four years from now will look very much like the education system we have today. This path represents a squandered opportunity of epic proportions."
#1 Pre-K. "Pre-K charter schools offer a promising solution that many states could use to maintain Pre-K investments and even expand access to quality Pre-K programs despite state budget crises."
#2 Unleashing Innovation. "Non-public entities are bringing new energy and new ideas to school reform that break through bureaucratic inertia and move beyond outmoded ways of thinking about what schools can and should do."
#3: Entry Points to Teaching "High quality alternative teacher certification programs are among the most promising strategies for expanding the pipeline of talented teachers, particularly for subject shortage areas and high-needs schools. Therefore, states should use stimulus funds to adopt policies and programs that support the development and expansion of high quality alternative teacher certification programs."
#4: Standards and Assessments: "We think that the opportunity to push states to develop higher standards should not be sacrificed on the altar of an absolute requirement that such standards be common across all 50 states….Any effort to implement higher standards must be coupled simultaneously with an aggressive and sustained push to put educators in place who can teach to them."
Stay tuned. More to come.
UPDATES:
U.S. The New York Times previews Arne Duncan’s keynote address today to the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools: “The charter movement is putting itself at risk by allowing too many second-rate and third-rate schools to exist."
Arizona. Arizona Republic: "A warning is out…against using the supplemental education funding just to fill budget holes. Huge sums are at stake, and Arizona should not make shortsighted moves that disqualify us."
California. Budget woes put longstanding CA education funding and policy problems into sharp relief. Secretary Arne Duncan: "California used to lead the nation in education. Honestly, I think California has lost its way, and I think the long-term consequences of that are very troubling."
Hawaii. Lingle: “I can’t furlough any Department of Education, judiciary, University of Hawaii employees or the legislature or OHA,”
Indiana. Indiana State Representative Nancy Michael makes the case for state Democrats’ budget plan: "It allows for controlled expansion in our growing charter schools while maximizing our use of the federal stimulus dollars."
Nebraska. Governor and school boards at odds over use of stimulus dollars (and it’s the Gov that seems to be arguing for value added).
New Hampshire: Senate President Sylvia Larsen said "she was proud that the budget – with a little help from the federal government – includes full funding for an education-funding plan that costs $123 million more than the current one but that lawmakers say is the first to meet the state’s court-mandated requirement to fund an adequate education."
North Carolina: Partisan budget sniping. Perdue wants to maintain state role in financing education. R’s want cuts.
Oklahoma. Tulsa World’s Randy Krehbiel: ""For most of us, $3 billion is a lot of money. It’s enough to hire 85,714 teachers, at $35,000 each, for one year. Enough to buy 30 billion Pixy Stix, 1.5 million iPhones or 120,000 American-built hybrid sedans."
Pennsylvania: Duncan to PA R legislators: "To cut state appropriations for primary education by $728 million [14 percent] while leaving a $750 million rainy-day surplus completely intact is a disservice to our children."
Rhode Island. Entrepreneur, education reformer, and member of the Rhode Island Board of Regents Angus Davis says Rhode Island may endanger Race to the Top eligibility due to spending decisions and lack of reform (hat tip Kmareka).
South Carolina. State Comptroller, impersonating Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, says: "ARRA stimulus funds are nice. For me to poop on."
Tennessee: Charter school expansion bill heads to Governor’s desk, following pressure from Secretary Duncan re: charter school caps and eligibility for second wave of stimulus $.
Texas: "U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said that Perry and the state’s Republican legislators ‘hijacked’ $3.2 billion of the federal money to build up Texas’ rainy-day fund." Obama last week pledged to help TX D’s. A month ago, the Center for Reinventing Public Education estimated that stimulus funds should have resulted in more than an 8% increase for TX schools.
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