A Challenge

reposted from A Teacher's Fight.

We Need to Talk...

Now. Let me be more specific. We, the parents, educators, and concerned citizens, need to have a conversation via social media or in person about education in our communities. We will listen to each other and have a civil debate. No personal attacks. Put your personal agendas aside and any allegiances you may have to particular organizations. But we have to start talking. We all have to start asking questions and seeking the truth. We need to look at the research for ourselves. Then we need to look at who is doing the research and examine the context.

Beware. I'm purposely going to ruffle some feathers to get the conversation started.

Let's look at charter schools. If you are an educator in a charter school and your school does not meet the needs of children by providing the resources and opportunities that, as professionals, we know are important for addressing the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of children, WHY ARE YOU STILL TEACHING THERE OR WHY ARE YOU NOT CHALLENGING THE INEQUALITY?

Listen, it's one thing to be teaching in a traditional public school that has been forced to make incredible cuts to important programs and opportunities for children, and another to be teaching in a charter school that just doesn't provide what students need. I'm just going to say it....you are enabling educational inequality and possibly racial inequality as well. You need to speak up for children and families. Go to the school board meetings. If your CMO or EMO is for-profit, demand that that they take less profits in order to fund what students need. Of course, be prepared to be fired.

There are some big questions that we need to answer. Look at the local statistics below. What questions arise from this data?

Fort Wayne Charter School ISTEP Percentages of Students Passing Both Math and English/Language Arts for Each Year Since Opening

Imagine MASTer Academy - 50.8% 53.6% 54.7% 53.6% 60.3% 51.7%
Imagine Schools on Broadway - 23.4% 29.8% 31.1% 36.6% 36.8%
Timothy L. Johnson - 25.8% 20.3% 35.9% 25.6% 37.8% 28.2% 41.3%

I have more important stats to share, but we'll just start out with this. Please respond or ask questions. Post a comment anonymously if you need to or e-mail me for a private conversation. (eileenrdoherty@gmail.com)

Education Issues 2012 #4

Corporate Reform, Parent Trigger, Wisconsin, IREAD, Testing, Testing Errors, Charters, Lies About US Education.

(Click on the titles below to read the complete articles.)

Connecticut and Alabama deal blows to Michelle Rhee-style corporate education reform

There's good news for public education in Alabama and Connecticut, as the Michelle Rhee breed of privatizers and corporate reformers were thwarted in both states, at least partially and at least for now. In Alabama, "a radical, far-reaching charter bill that would have allowed wholesale privatization of public education in the state" was declared dead in the state House for the session just ending. And in Connecticut, legislators fought Gov. Dannel Malloy's initial, teacher-scapegoating plan and gave teachers unions a voice in arriving at a compromise.

Beware! ‘Parent trigger’ misinformation coming to a theater near you

With the September release of Won’t Back Down, Tinseltown is stepping in where corporate mouthpieces, for-profit education companies, ill-informed politicians and pseudo-education reformers have been coming up short, most recently in Florida.

Starring an Oscar winner and two Oscar nominees, the movie, hope corporate education reformers and privatizers, will lend legitimacy to a movement that has generated bitter feelings and turned schools and communities against one another.

In film, Walker talks of 'divide and conquer' union strategy

"Well, we're going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill," Walker said. "The first step is we're going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer."

Senator agrees: Indiana education board overreached with reading retention rule

Sen. Luke Kenley has affirmed that Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and the Indiana State Board of Education went beyond the bounds of state law when they adopted a rule that requires third-graders to pass a reading test or face grade-level retention.

Student video: How high-stakes tests affect kids

There is one voice rarely heard in the screaming debate about the role of high-stakes tests in education: that of students.

Though the big focus today in education is on evaluating teachers and whether student standardized test results should be a part of educator assessment (they shouldn’t), there is no group more affected by high stakes on these exams than the people who have to take them. Results from a single test can determine whether a student moves up a grade or graduates from high school.

Corrupt, Unethical, Inept: Boycott Pearson

Almost 30 different test questions have now been declared invalid because they're confusing or have outright errors. And now Pearson Publishing is scrambling to explain what went wrong and how it's going to fix things.

The Nation’s Largest Charter Chain

There are legitimate questions to be raised about public dollars funding schools that are tied to a cleric, as well as questions about a charter chain that has close ties with another nation.

Report: Some charters spend more than traditional schools

For example, KIPP, Achievement First and Uncommon Schools in New York City, spend between $2,000 to $4,300 more per student than public schools. High-profile charter network schools outspend district schools in Texas, too — for example, KIPP spends around 30 to 50 percent more in some cities — but not in Ohio. The highly regarded KIPP charter network, the report says, is the one that spends more than neighboring traditional districts, though the amount varies by grade and place.

The conclusion contradicts, at least in some cases, one of the common assertions made by charter supporters: That they deliver a better education to the same profile of children for less money than traditional public schools.

Telling Lies About US Education

....this description of U.S. Education is a pack of lies that smears our nation. I wonder if the people who created this website went to fancy prep schools and looked down their noses at those of us who went to public school. They seem so eager to put down American schools, which educated 90% of us, and by implication, put down the United States. it makes one wonder who they are. Too bad they didn’t take responsibility and put their names on their work so we would know who they are.

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Application Overview for Newly Proposed Charter School in Fort Wayne

Crossposted from A Teacher's Fight

 

Sun Academy of Fort Wayne

Charter School Application Overview

Who is proposing this school?

Keith Birkhold who is the CEO of Stellar School Services, LLC located here in Ft. Wayne. SSS is a limited liability for-profit company est. in 2006 under the name Stellar Educational Management Servies, LLC. http://www.stellarschoolservices.com/

Keith Birkhold has been trying to establish charter schools for several years.  He first tried to open up virtual charter schools in Indiana, but was denied each time. He does have one school in Ohio called Star Academy of Toledo which is managed by a company called Mosaica.

Key Findings: He is looking to create 5-10 schools. His strategic goals for the SSS business: “expand SSS’ (Stellar School Services) impact through strategic messaging and outreach efforts with key influence makers”; “research, develop and build a long-term brand and marketing strategy”;  “integrate the brand and marketing strategies”

What kind of school?

A K-12 (at full enrollment) school beginning with K-6. The focus will be a bilingual/STEM school.

Where?

1025 West Rudisill Blvd., Fort Wayne, IN – on the former Taylor University of Fort Wayne campus

What is being proposed?

• Will adapt the Sakai digital learning platform to support SSS managed school
• SA will establish a 4 month marketing strategy by utilizing the teaching staff for marketing, community outreach, and enrollment activities.
• 1^st year - Two highly qualified teachers per classroom to promote collaboration and be more effective at addressing remediation needs – then in year two they would separate
• All students will have a tablet PC.
• Typical school day for a 2^nd grader – 7-7:55 Early Arrival/Breakfast; End of day 4:00 (tutoring till 5 if student is struggling)
•  Teachers report 7:30 am and leave at 4:45 pm.
•  If students are below 70% mastery – summer school will be mandatory.
• Will work closely with Turnstone and admit any SPED students – faculty list has 2 SPED teachers budgeted.
• Since they aim to be a bilingual school – all staff and administrators will be hired with training in ELL or training will be provided. Staff will engage in training to become fluent in Spanish in one year.  They know it will reduce the pool of applicants so they are going to try and recruit from teacher colleges in Chicago, Texas, and California. First, will recruit locally. Then also work with TFA. Look to areas with high percentage of bilingual teachers (Chicago, LA, South Texas) All teachers must be fluent in Spanish within 12 months. Anticipates hiring teachers with 0-5 years in the beginning years.
•  Targeting Hispanic families – through FW Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Cinco de Mayo celebrations
• Will begin an aggressive recruitment campaign once approved.
•  NWEA testing will be used along with all the other state testing requirements.
• Will implement a continuous and rigorous system of data collection – they are extremely specific on how this will be done. Realistically, it’s going to be quite the challenge for a teacher esp. if they hire recent college grads. They are pushing the use of the Sakai Learning Management System (which all I could gather was that it has been used in higher ed)
• Using many ideas from the Camino Nuevo Charter Academy (CNCA) in L.A. and the Denver School of Science and Tech. School (which is supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)
• Teacher aides for every classroom
• Atyani Howard from CNCA will work with SA to design a professional development program that integrates with the data-instruction looping system.
•  “Our strategy will be to out-compete local schools for the best new teachers by partnering with local colleges for training their teachers, identifying top performers, and offering a better starting employment package and work environment.” Merit pay system yet to be determined. NWEA will be used for performance bonuses.
• Min. 1 year increase for those already on grade level and 3 years to catch kids up. Of course it says that the performance pool will be tied to the financial strength of SA.
• NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED
• Curriculum – Houghton Mifflin as a resource with mostly technology resources to be used. Singapore Math to be used. 

Education Issues: 2012 #1

Teacher Satisfaction and Morale, Corporate Reformers, Charters, ALEC, New York City Teacher Evaluations

The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher

Teachers are less satisfied with their careers; in the past two years there has been a significant decline in teachers’ satisfaction with their profession. In one of the most dramatic findings of the report, teacher satisfaction has decreased by 15 points since the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher measured job satisfaction two years ago, now reaching the lowest level of job satisfaction seen in the survey series in more than two decades. This decline in teacher satisfaction is coupled with large increases in the number of teachers who indicate that they are likely to leave teaching for another occupation and in the number who do not feel their jobs are secure.

‘You are so smart…why did you become a teacher?’

One of my finest teachers was near tears the other day. Her student had asked her, “You are so smart…why did you become a teacher?” Within the context of this teacher-bashing climate, that remark was just too much to bear, and I hugged her as she cried. Less than a mile away, her Governor had thumped on a podium at Molloy College saying “if they want the money, perform” as though she and her colleagues were trained seals.

Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools

Drilling students on sample questions for weeks before a state test will not improve their education. The truly excellent charter schools depend on foundation money and their prerogative to send low-performing students back to traditional public schools. They cannot be replicated to serve millions of low-income children. Yet the reform movement, led by Gates, Broad, and Walton, has convinced most Americans who have an opinion about education (including most liberals) that their agenda deserves support.

Corporate Foxes in the IN DOE Henhouse: The Chain School Gospel of Jeb Bush, Jon Hage and WalMart

When the Indiana Charter School Board recently approved two new Charter Schools USA schools to open in Indianapolis, the corporate school honeymoon was on. The East Indianapolis Charter Academy and the South Indianapolis Charter Academy, Charter Schools USA claimed, would be “feeder schools” for students to eventually enter the three other Indiana public schools the Florida for-profit company will be handed $2 million yearly to “turnaround.” “Feeder schools” is an appropriate term, for what these schools do is “feed” taxpayer’s money to Charter Schools USA (CS USA) and whatever other for-profit companies it brings to Indiana.

A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education

A legislative contagion seemed to sweep across the Midwest during the early months of 2011. First, Wisconsin legislators wanted to strip public employees of the right to bargain. Then, Indiana legislators got into the act. Then, it was Ohio. In each case, Republican governors and Republican-controlled state legislatures had introduced substantially similar bills that sought sweeping changes to each state’s collective bargaining statutes and various school funding provisions.

What was going on? How could elected officials in multiple states suddenly introduce essentially the same legislation?

The answer: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

A Dark Day for New York

Last week, with Cuomo's deadline looming, the state and the unions reached an agreement. It says that 20 percent of teachers' evaluation will be based on the state tests and another 20 percent on locally designed tests, or on the state tests used in a different way. (It's the same scores, used for the same purpose; I have no idea how those scores might be used in "a different way,") The remaining 60 percent is supposed to consist of classroom observations and other measures. All teachers must be rated on a scale from 0 to 100, using these multiple measures. This draconian point system will guarantee that a teacher with a perfect 60 out of 60 on teaching skill will nonetheless be judged "ineffective" if he or she is in the ineffective range on scores. As it now stands, the rating system is so bizarre that a teacher could be rated effective in all three categories and still be rated "ineffective" overall.

Secretary Duncan hailed the pact and urged other governors to follow Cuomo's example. I am sure that Secretary Duncan knows that President Barack Obama wants teachers to "stop teaching to the test," as he said in his State of the Union address, and to teach with "creativity and passion."

Does anyone seriously believe that teachers in New York state will dare to stop teaching to the test? How many will be fired if they take that risk?

In addition to the parties involved, charter school supporters hailed the agreement, which was odd because teachers in charter schools will not be subject to its provisions.

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