Ravitch Forum in New Orleans

I attended a forum last night (Oct. 27) at Dillard University in New Orleans that featured Diane Ravitch speaking and answering questions on education reform. Dr Ravitch is one of the few voices today who speaks the truth about public education and the current reform movement in this country. Here are some of the most critical issues I believe that were addressed in this forum.

• The charter school movement in this country was originally started by educators who wanted to use them as a laboratory for positive changes in education. Unfortunately the movement has been hijacked by tycoons of wall street and the business world who are creating private schools with public money. By creating the illusion that charter schools will finally provide poor children with a superior education that will result in a college education for all who attend, charter organizers have succeeded in getting support from both liberal and conservative lawmakers.
• Huge salaries are being paid to the “entrepreneurs” who manage these charters while cheap short term teachers are used to do the work.
• Recent studies show that only a small percentage of charter schools outperform regular public schools while a larger percentage under-perform compared to traditional schools. We see many examples of this in Louisiana schools. It is interesting that some of the most successful charter schools were set up by local school boards, very much like the successful magnet schools that are run by local boards.
• Unfortunately many charter schools (just like magnet schools) perform better by attracting the better, more motivated students leaving the remaining students in under-performing schools.
• Once charter schools are formed and thereby create a special interest group of parents and school operators, most politicians are reluctant to convert their schools back to publicly operated schools. This point was made by a New Orleans school board member who attended the forum. He said that even though the New Orleans school board now has the third highest performing school system in the state and excellent audit reports, the political forces in the state are working to keep Recovery District charters independent of the elected school board. The law setting up the Recovery District envisioned a possible return of schools to the local board after 5 years.

Another alarming trend discussed in the New Orleans forum is the current movement in the U.S. to reduce rather than to improve the professional status of educators. This is exemplified by the efforts of big foundations (such as the Broad Foundation) to transplant people from private business or other backgrounds into positions as school superintendents and principals. These new education leaders are expected to improve schools by firing anyone who does not improve test scores. Apparently they don't have to know anything about education, just how to demand results. The question posed is: “How can experienced teachers be expected to have respect for principals and superintendents who have never worked in the classroom?” Dr Ravitch pointed out the folly of these national trends. “As we run off and fire current teachers there are not nearly enough “teach for America” kids to take their places.” As baby boomer teachers retire, our country should be preparing many thousands of young professionals in the field of education.

One of the most interesting points made by Ravitch and participants of the New Orleans forum is that a person cannot perform effectively as an education leader by bashing and attacking the very people he/she is attempting to lead. This point is being demonstrated today at the very top of Louisiana's education establishment.

School Performance Scores in Proper Perspective

School performance scores (SPS) are now available for review at the LA Dept. Of Education web site. The state average SPS has grown to 92.5 which is an increase of 1.5 from the 2009 average. Even though most public school systems in the state have implemented major campaigns aimed at raising test scores at each school, it is becoming increasingly difficult to show dramatic gains. Most of the obvious strategies for increasing LEAP scores which make up the greatest part of the SPS have already been implemented in most schools. The one remaining strategy is one that few local education leaders are willing or should be willing to employ. That would be essentially converting the entire school year to test rehearsal.

The state goal of an SPS of 120 for all schools by 2014 is looking more and more unattainable for all but a few select schools. A total of 75 out of 1282 public schools have already reached this goal to date, but if the tests retain their present rigor, it will be difficult for a significant percentage of the remaining schools to reach 120 by any deadline.

I believe that the accountability program in Louisiana has basically succeeded in focusing the attention of local school officials on academic achievement. There is no question in my mind that we have long needed a major push for improved academic performance. Thanks to good local leadership, most of this improvement in emphasis has been accomplished without abandoning solid principles of good education. Even so, the continued pressure by state and federal officials to simply improve test scores threatens to convert most public schools into creativity killing "test prep factories". Some schools are already using public funds to hire test prep companies who begin the testing and diagnosis process early each school year. Such schools focus most of the rest of the year on boosting test performance. Many highly respected master teachers believe that such strategies result in less emphasis on critical learning and thinking skills in favor of rote learning. (Not to mention the fact that it is sure to drive the best teachers out of the profession)

In addition, most of the emphasis of the “no child left behind” mandate has placed the full responsibility of school performance on the school administration and teachers without adequate consideration of negative or positive community factors. That incorrect assumption is made evident by the setting of an identical goal of school performance for all schools by 2014. As 2014 approaches it will become increasingly evident that such a goal was impractical and unfair to many schools and their students and staffs.

Another Critical Analysis of “Waiting For Superman”

Click on the following link to Diane Ravitch's analysis of the documentary movie “Waiting for Superman” which was published in the New York Review of Books. Educators may also be interested in reading her latest post in her blog titled “Bridging Differences”, in which she examines a recent “Manifesto” on education by 16 large city Superintendents. She points out the apparent hypocrisy of superintendents calling for reforms to systems which they now have the authority to implement themselves. Where will these superintendents point the finger of blame when it becomes clear that just firing a certain percentage of teachers makes no significant change in student performance? My comment on this issue, is simple: Take the top performing teachers in one of our high performing magnet schools and place them in one of our low performing poverty schools and you will see a dramatic change in their student's test score results. Or do the converse by sending teachers from low performing schools to high performing schools and see the dramatic improvement in their performance.

Special late addition:
I just got an interesting email from Lance Hill at Tulane, who sent me a chart on the SEED school in Washington DC that claims in "Superman" that they now have a 100% graduation rate. The only problem is (and the chart shows) that in 7th grade they had approximately 145 students enrolled while in 12th grade there were only 13 students left. The school apparently has a practice of weeding out low performing students before they get counted in the graduation rate. That's also why I believe it is more accurate and honest to calculate our graduation rate by following a cohort starting at 7th grade even if we give them a couple of extra years to graduate. It has also been brought to my attention that some of the charter schools that claim to have 100% of their students attending college have not been in business long enough to see the results of those college enrollments! Here in Louisiana, many folks are proud to send their children to LSU but what really counts is graduation from that special 4 year institution. LSU has less than a 20% graduation rate.

Continuing to blame teachers for all the ills of education is preventing us from attacking the real causes of under-performance in our schools. I've discussed this before so I will just summarize the critical issues with just a few words: Firm school discipline, parental responsibility, and strong principals who work with teachers to create a positive learning environment. We don't need charter schools to implement these principles. Finally, our school curriculum must be made more relevant to the world of work. Students must see the connection between success in school and future rewarding careers. It is absolute folly (and destructive to many students) to call for college prep as the only worthwhile goal for all children.

Big Bucks for Under-performing Charters

Some Louisiana charter schools seem to be enjoying favored treatment by both state and federal education authorities even if their performance using accountability measures is very poor. A recent federal grant to some charter schools in the Baton Rouge area is especially notable. The State Department of Education announced this week that the five charter schools managed by the Advance Baton Rouge organization have been approved for a 13.3 million dollar federal grant to be distributed over a 5 year period. The announced purpose of the grant is to implement the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). This program rewards some teachers with higher status positions and salary increases based on student gains in basic skills. The press release from the Department of Education announced that several school systems in Louisiana are to be awarded a total of 73 million dollars in federal grants for implementation of the TAP program. The money is to come from a 1.2 billion dollar federal grant designed to attract teachers to hard-to-staff schools. Apparently all of the federal money for this project in Louisiana will be funneled through the Milken Foundation's National Institute for Excellence in Teaching which is a private non-profit organization that sponsors the TAP program in many school systems across the nation. This program seems to fit neatly into the U.S. Education Department's push for teacher merit pay based on student achievement.

I have two major concerns about the part of the grant that was approved for the Advance Baton Rouge organization:

1. By all accountability measures Advance Baton Rouge's performance in managing these five schools has been a complete disaster. The performance of these schools has regressed significantly since the takeover by the charter school group. Only one of the 5 schools has shown a slight improvement in student high stakes scores. The composite scores of the 5 schools has changed as follows since the takeover: English/Language Arts performance has dropped from 33% basic or above before the takeover to only 23% basic or above in Spring 2010. Math has dropped from 29% basic or above to only 24% in 2010 and Science has dropped from 17% basic or above to only 12%. In comparison the state average for each of these three subject areas are ELA: 66% basic or above, Math: 65% basic or above and Science: 59% basic or above. How can such a huge commitment of our tax dollars be made to an organization that has shown no competence in running the schools entrusted to it?
2. The size of the grant to this group is totally out of proportion to other school systems receiving similar grants. For example, one school system serving over 4,000 students will be getting a grant of 7.2 million to implement the same TAP program while the Advance Baton Rouge group will receive 13.3 million dollars to serve only 1,600 students. This amounts to over $8,000 per student. It is over 4 times as much per student as the regular school system will receive.

When the charter school program was approved in Louisiana, citizens and taxpayers were assured that all charter schools would be held to strict accountability for performance. Superintendent Pastorek has repeatedly pledged that failing charter schools would be either closed down or taken over by new management. It seems to me that some charters in Louisiana are favored and provided with massive funding whether they perform or not.