reform

Education: GOP Convention Edition 2012

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, charter schools, Presidential campaign, reform

Last week, the Republican National Convention met in Tampa, Florida to nominate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) as its presidential ticket for this November.  While education was a not a major focus of the convention, there were some real gems offered up.

No, Eduflack is not talking about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “stand” on teacher tenure and collective bargaining.  I’m talking about the remarks delivered by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State Condi Rice.
From Jeb:
We say that every child in America has an equal opportunity, but tell that to a kid whose classroom learning is not respected.  Tell that to a parent stuck at a school where there is no leadership.  Tell that to a young, talented teacher who just got laid off because she didn’t have tenure.  The sad truth is that equality of opportunity doesn’t exist in many of our schools.  We give some kids a chance, but not all.  That failure is the great moral and economic issue of our time and it is hurting all of America.

I believe we can meet this challenge.  We need to set high standards for students and teachers, and provide students and their parents the choices they deserve.

The first step is a simple one.  We must stop prejudging children based on their race, ethnicity, or household income.  We must stop excusing failure in our schools and state removing — start rewarding improvement and success.  We must have high academic standards that are benchmarked to the best of the world.  You see, all kids can learn.  Governor Romney believes it, and the data proves it.
And from Condi:
We have been successful because Americans have known that one’s status of birth is not a permanent condition.  Americans have believed that you might not be able to control your circumstances but you can control your response to your circumstances.

And your greatest ally in controlling your response to your circumstances has been a quality education.  But today, today when I can look at your zip code and I can tell whether you’re going to get a good education, can I honestly say it does not matter where you came from, it matters where you are going?  The crisis in K-12 education is a threat to the very fabric of who we are.

My mom was a teacher.  I respect the profession.  We need great teachers, not poor ones and not mediocre ones.  We have to have high standards for our kids, because self-esteem comes from achievement not from lax standards and false praise.

And we need to give parents greater choice, particularly poor parents whose kids, very often minorities, are trapped in failing neighborhood schools.  This is the civil rights issue of our day.
Some pretty powerful words from those who know what they are talking about.  Just take a look at Bush’s record in Florida, particularly his efforts to boost reading proficiency in our youngest students.  And Rice is now back at her perch at Stanford University, most likely the top higher education institution in the United States.
This week, it will be the Democrats’ turn in Charlotte.  Who will step up and out-education Jeb Bush?

A Commissioner’s Network in CT

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, reform, turnaround

In May, the Connecticut General Assembly officially established a “Commissioner’s Network” to turn around the state’s lowest-performing schools.  Modeled after turnaround efforts in places like New York City, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Michigan, the Commissioner’s Network was created to identify those schools in most need of turnaround and reconstitute them under the oversight of the Connecticut Commissioner of Education.

The Nutmeg State hasn’t wasted any time getting this up and running.  The Commissioner’s Network was signed into law at the end of May.  Last week, the Connecticut State Board of Education accepted the first four schools into the new network (the law allows for up to 25 schools at any given time).

The Commissioner’s Network is no longer an abstract concept. It is now a very real action, impacting actual students, teachers, and communities across the state. And it is doing so by adopting significant turnaround efforts that reject the status quo and engender hope in those school communities most in need.

These turnaround plans introduce much-needed steps to improve student outcomes. For example, all schools have extended learning time for both teachers and students, and have introduced new ways to hire, retain, and assign staff. In Bridgeport, the Curiale School will require that any teacher hired or retained must earn high performance evaluations. In Hartford, Jumoke at Milner will increase the school year by 34 instructional days, including longer days and Saturday academies. Norwich’s Stanton Elementary is hiring “resident teachers” who will support master teachers in each grade level. And at New Haven’s High School in the Community, outdated school models based on seat time will be replaced with a competency-based instruction, meaning that students will advance once they have mastered content and skills.

It is refreshing to see such out-of-the-box thinking, particularly from a state known as “The Land of Steady Habits.”  But let there be no mistake.  The hard work begins now.  Establishing these reconstituted Commissioner’s Network schools is but the first step.  Now, educators and administrators in these four schools, as well as those that will follow, have to make good on the promise and do whatever is necessary to break the cycles of failure and get all kids learning.

Partnering for School Improvement

Eduflack reform

In this era of tight education budgets and state policymakers worried about the out years of new policies, how is one to advance a real agenda of innovation and school improvement?

Over at Education Week, Andrew Ujifusa has a piece on how the Commonwealth of Kentucky is following the lead of the State of Colorado in establishing a not-for-profit partner that can help raise funds and drive education reforms in partnership with the state, the state department of education, and all those who are looking to break from the status quo of public education.
It is an interesting read, and worth consideration in those states that are serious about reforms, even if they are unsure if the state coffers will be able to meet classroom needs.  From Ujifusa’s piece:
[Kentucky Education Department spokeswoman Lisa Gross] tressed that the money distributed by the foundation would supplement, not supplant, state and other school funding.

“It’s more about innovation programs than it is about run-of-the-mill sorts of things,” Gross said, although she added it’s unclear exactly what the group will fund.

What a novel concept, looking for ways to supplement existing efforts and paving the way to innovate through a real reform agenda.