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Indy Star: Dems should awaken to their history, and their national leadership, on education reform

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On March 18, 2011 in Charter Schools, Education and Public Policy, General, Parental Choice, School Choice, Unionism

Indianapolis Star associate editor Russ Pulliam continues to highlight the Democratic heritage to voucher-like education reforms and charter school initiatives, especially so since Indiana Democrats have boycotted their Capitol to put pressure on Republicans to water down a voucher proposal. Last month, Pulliam focused on the story of one former Democratic candidate for mayor of Indianapolis who made school vouchers for the city’s most disadvantaged students part of his platform (With that proposal, the teachers union threw its support behind the candidate’s Republican opponent). Now, Pulliam broadens his focus to highlight the growing schism in the party when it comes to education reform:

It’s hard to tell why the House Democrats mixed up worker rights with opposition to education reform. In staying out to protest charters, Indiana Democrats have put themselves at odds with national Democratic leaders such as President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

State Democrats also object to private school choice for low-income families. Yet that idea originated in Milwaukee with a Democratic mayor, John Norquist. A Democratic candidate for mayor of Indianapolis, Louis Mahern, advocated the idea in his campaign 20 years ago.

Where were these Democrats when Mahern was running for mayor? Where are they now when one of their own, former Mayor Bart Peterson, has helped lead the charge for charter schools?

“There’s a schism in the Democratic Party around education reform,” notes David Harris, founder and CEO of a local reform group, The Mind Trust. “A new generation of Democrats, led by the president and Secretary Duncan, is demanding we remake public education even though that means upsetting the teacher unions. But we don’t have enough Obama/Duncan-style Democrats in Indiana.”

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In Georgia, one voucher measure is tabled, another is voted up

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On March 17, 2011 in Education and Public Policy, General, Parental Choice, School Choice

There’s been some mixed results this week with Georgia legislation that would enhance the state’s private learning options. The Georgia Senate yesterday tabled SB 87, which would have expanded Georgia’s special needs scholarship to children of military families and to children in foster care. Yet the House, on the same day, passed HB 325 by a 110-56 margin. That bill enriches the state’s tax credit scholarship. 

Additionally, another special-needs scholarship measure, HB 62, which relaxes some requirements for students on a case-by-case basis, passed the House by a 115-33 margin earlier this week.

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A constructive look inside the classroom, but a word of caution

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On March 16, 2011 in Education and Public Policy, General, Teacher quality

The Florida House today passed a landmark teacher pay and tenure bill – one Gov. Rick Scott said he will sign it into law — but one evaluation remains overlooked. Under the bill, parents could get a report card on their own student’s teacher.

The disclosure provision in SB 736 is narrowly drawn: “Each school district shall annually report to the parent of any student who is assigned to a classroom teacher … having two consecutive annual performance evaluation ratings of unsatisfactory, two annual performance evaluation ratings of unsatisfactory within a 3-year period, or three consecutive annual performance evaluation ratings of needs improvement …”

So this particular public rating is a distant cousin to the kind of value-added performance database of 6,000 third- through fifth-grade Los Angeles school teachers that was constructed and published last fall by the Los Angeles Times. First, no one will be rated and ranked. Second, no one’s teaching ability will be reduced to a numerical score. Third, this will draw on multiple years’ worth of evaluation. Fourth, this disclosure will be limited to teachers who have been judged as poorly performing.

Still, this is a significant step. It will give parents information that puts teachers on the spot, which will probably give pause to both. The ticklish part here is that evaluations will always be flawed to some degree, and we still are learning how best to deal with classroom factors such as student absenteeism or mobility, parental support, and the disadvantages of poverty. We’re still calibrating how to assess team teaching or courses, such as art and physical education, that are not as easily assessed.

These evaluations are sufficiently complex that they might be best offered with a warning label for parents. But they do have intrinsic value and play a constructive role in a public education system that keeps inviting parents to take advantage of different learning options and to find the right match for their children. This kind of data is also destined, much like the comparative performance scores that were revealed by the No Child Left Behind Act, to lead us to a greater understanding of what happens in the classroom. That’s never bad.

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State superintendents call for student-centered reform

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On March 16, 2011 in Education and Public Policy, General, Parental Choice, School Choice

The education chiefs from Louisiana, Florida, Virginia, Rhode Island and Indiana published a column today on The Hill identifying education reform as a “national priority and economic necessity” and called for greater educational choices for families:

… the goal of all reforms should be to create a student-centered education. Today, America can offer an unprecedented array of choices to customize education to ensure each and every child achieves their full potential for learning. Choices can come in many forms, including charter and magnet schools, inter- and intra-district enrollment, dual or early college enrollment, vouchers and tax credit scholarships for private schools and virtual schools. In an age where choices dominate every aspect of our lives, the time has come for greater choices in education.

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Colorado school district readies voucher plan

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On March 16, 2011 in Education and Public Policy, General, Parental Choice, Private Schools, School Choice

From today’s Denver Post:

After months of study, roiling controversy and emotional debate, the Douglas County school board Tuesday night unanimously approved a groundbreaking plan to help pay tuition for hundreds of students to attend private schools.

The pilot program, which will be reviewed each year, would make up to 500 students eligible to receive $4,575 to attend a private school in the 2011-12 school year …

… The district estimates it would save about $3 million by having 500 fewer students. The district would pay about $2.29 million in voucher scholarships, but when CSAP and other expenses are deducted, the district might actually net $402,500.

After some residents complained that all but one of the 14 eligible private schools within the county are religion-based, the district revised its proposal, expanding the boundaries to include a more diverse group of private schools.

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Equal protection, not equal education

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On March 14, 2011 in Education and Public Policy, General, Parental Choice, School Choice

Not long ago, UC Berkeley law professor John E. Coons reflected on the history of one of the most important cases he ever argued and the impact it had on our nation’s public policy. The case was known as Serrano v. Priest, and it struck at the inequalities in school spending between rich districts and poor districts. Serrano questioned California law, but its plaintiffs had hoped that other state legislatures would recoil at the disparities in per-pupil expenditure that were determined largely by a school district’s wealth. In 1971, the California Supreme Court established as law the concept of “fiscal neutrality,” which recognized that the quality of a child’s education should not be a function of a district’s wealth or poverty. Although similar equity suits filed later in other states had mixed results, the Serrano decision did enough to convince lawmakers to equalize their states’ funding schemes to maintain the constitutional promise of equal protection.

Late last week, a federal judge in Kansas upheld that promise when he ruled against a group of suburban parents who wanted to raise more money for their public schools in the Shawnee Mission School District by raising their property taxes. Kansas caps the amount of money that districts can raise from property taxes so that school expenditures are relatively equal. U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum said the cap was critical to the state’s funding formula, which ensured that wealthy schools don’t have an unfair advantage over poor ones.

To some, the ruling has consequences that affect more than just our value of equal protection. Fordham fellow Peter Meyer wrote the day after the decision, “Will we allow the kind of inequity which allows for excellence? I predict a new Lake Wobegon, where all the children and their teachers are average.” That criticism, however, asks for more than a federal judge can deliver. It’s up to lawmakers in Kansas to establish a system of public education that recognizes the economic diversity in the state as it meets the learning needs of it students. Coons never sought to discourage educational innovations. Writing for the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties in 2008, he wrote, “When the ultimate cure is legislative, the trick is to force the lawmaker to confront the identified problem without preempting — or even threatening — his legitimate options. Under Serrano, every choice would remain to the legislature except the existing policy of discrimination by wealth.” Continue Reading →

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Parent trigger roundup and a big city mayor’s embrace of charters

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On March 11, 2011 in Charter Schools, Education and Public Policy, General, Parental Choice, School Choice

In California, John Fensterwald’s Educated Guess column has more details on the California State Board of Education’s move to decide against pursuing legislation that would “fix” the parent trigger law, as school superintendents have demanded. More than 100 parents defending the parent empowerment law had traveled to address the board during its meeting this week. Also, the Sacremento Bee weighs in today with an editorial that berates the Compton Unified School District for fighting the trigger “with every ounce of energy.”

Relatedly, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, writing this week in the Huffington Post, reflects on his being named the California Charter School Association’s Elected Official of the Year:  “Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t have an anti-union bone in my body; In fact, I was a field organizer and legislative advocate for [the California Teacher Association] and [United Teachers Los Angeles]. But I believe that we can no longer afford to make decisions based on what is best for the adults in our school system. We must make what is best for our students our top priority.”

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The federal role in education

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On March 11, 2011 in Education and Public Policy, General, Technology and Innovation

Most barriers to innovation in education occur at the state and local level, Tom Vander Ark writes today at edReformer, but there are a few at the federal level. They include:

1. NCLB picked criterion-referenced testing over growth models; that probably set back competency-based learning a bit. Growth models are being approved state by state.

2. The feds retain the historical bias/restrictions against private enterprise; e.g., excluding private enterprise from stimulus funding (compared to massive private investment in energy).

3. Input-oriented programmatic funding (exacerbated at the state level)

4. Inadequate Investigator driven research funding rather than DARPA-like strategic funding

Also, RiShawn Biddle has some good historical context on the role federal funding has played in education.

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Rhee keeps heaping praise on Florida

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On March 11, 2011 in Education and Public Policy, General, Teacher quality

The St. Petersburg Times caught up with Michelle Rhee today and asked for her thoughts on the Florida Senate’s swift approval of a measure that would revamp the hiring and firing of teachers and install performance-based evaluations. Rhee told reporter Jeff Solochek, “We’re very excited about the progress that’s been made … We’ve been using Florida as an example across the rest of the country as a state that is taking an aggressive stance on these important issues.”

Rhee has been highlighting these issues frequently in Florida, where she works as an informal education adviser to newly elected Gov. Rick Scott. The state’s legislative session just opened this week, and what the Senate did this week for the teacher bill, the House is expected to do next week. When that’s done, Rhee won’t be finished in the Sunshine State. She tells the Times that she plans to return to promote proposed changes to charter school governance.

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House committee approves Boehner bill

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On March 10, 2011 in Education and Public Policy, General, Parental Choice, School Choice

UPDATE: The Washington Post on the committee’s vote.

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform voted 21-14 today to approve John Boehner’s proposed renewal of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program.

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