turnaround

Is the Charter School “Experiment” Truly Over?

Eduflack Achievement gap, BAM, charter schools, DeVos, reform, turnaround

Last week, President Donald Trump declared “mission accomplished” when it comes to charter schools and school choice, noting that the experiment is now over and charters have clearly won the day.

While one might be able to make such a claim in New Orleans, New York City, Chicago, or DC, are we really ready to declare victory across the nation? I look at the school district that gave me my high school diploma — in Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia — and wonder what charters would mean in a community like that, if charters even existed in a community like that.

With so few communities experiencing charter schools — and with most of those that have being limited to our large, urban cities — can we really declare the experiment over? Is it done when we simply have too few test subjects to render a full and complete decision?

These are some of the questions I explore on the latest edition of #TrumpED on the BAM! Radio Network. Give it a listen. You won’t be disappointed.

Eduflack Students, teachers, turnaround, Woodrow Wilson

I’m not playing around here. Using gaming to enhance classroom instruction can be an incredibly powerful tool.

In my latest for Education World, I explore how gaming — in the hands of a great teacher — can make a huge difference in helping subjects like civics and history come alive for students. And they don’t even have to be electronic, technology-based games to be effective.

As I wrote:

Classroom instruction has evolved a tremendous amount in a relatively short period of time. Educators today clearly recognize that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to educate 21st century kids. As we learn more and more about how the human brain processes information, we knew more and more that kids learn in different ways, and instruction has to be tailored to address the learner.

Game-based instruction can be a strong approach to such tailored instruction. While delivering content in new and interesting ways – ways that today’s learners can relate to – it also teaches those 21st century skills we know our kids need to develop.

Give it a read. And I’m not playing!

 

Good Teaching Trumps All

Eduflack Achievement gap, Teacher Education, teachers, turnaround, Woodrow Wilson

It is impossible to seriously improve student achievement without focusing on how we prepare teachers for the classroom. Over at the American Youth Policy a Forum blog, I recently talked to AYPF about the new for effective teacher prep and the impact it can have on student achievement, particularly in high-need schools. 

“If you have a good teacher in charge of a classroom to do what is necessary to educate the kids, the kids learn. There’s no getting around that,” said Riccards. “As policies change, as instructional approaches change, we know that good teaching trumps all.”

Give it a read. You won’t be disappointed. 

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.