Read about this school in New York:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/opinion/08brooks.html
The Harlem Miracle
By DAVID BROOKS
The fight against poverty produces great programs but disappointing results. You go visit an inner-city school, job-training program or community youth center and you meet incredible people doing wonderful things. Then you look at the results from the serious evaluations and you find that these inspiring places are only producing incremental gains.
That's why I was startled when I received an e-mail message from Roland Fryer, a meticulous Harvard economist. It included this sentence: "The attached study has changed my life as a scientist."
Fryer and his colleague Will Dobbie have just finished a rigorous assessment of the charter schools operated by the Harlem Children's Zone. They compared students in these schools to students in New York City as a whole and to comparable students who entered the lottery to get into the Harlem Children's Zone schools, but weren't selected.
They found that the Harlem Children's Zone schools produced "enormous" gains. The typical student entered the charter middle school, Promise Academy, in sixth grade and scored in the 39th percentile among New York City students in math. By the eighth grade, the typical student in the school was in the 74th percentile. The typical student entered the school scoring in the 39th percentile in English Language Arts (verbal ability). By eighth grade, the typical student was in the 53rd percentile.
Forgive some academic jargon, but the most common education reform ideas - reducing class size, raising teacher pay, enrolling kids in Head Start - produce gains of about 0.1 or 0.2 or 0.3 standard deviations. If you study policy, those are the sorts of improvements you live with every day. Promise Academy produced gains of 1.3 and 1.4 standard deviations. That's off the charts. In math, Promise Academy eliminated the achievement gap between its black students and the city average for white students.
Let me repeat that. It eliminated the black-white achievement gap. "The results changed my life as a researcher because I am no longer interested in marginal changes," Fryer wrote in a subsequent e-mail. What Geoffrey Canada, Harlem Children's Zone's founder and president, has done is "the equivalent of curing cancer for these kids. It's amazing. It should be celebrated. But it almost doesn't matter if we stop there. We don't have a way to replicate his cure, and we need one since so many of our kids are dying - literally and figuratively."
These results are powerful evidence in a long-running debate. Some experts, mostly surrounding the education establishment, argue that schools alone can't produce big changes. The problems are in society, and you have to work on broader issues like economic inequality. Reformers, on the other hand, have argued that school-based approaches can produce big results. The Harlem Children's Zone results suggest the reformers are right. The Promise Academy does provide health and psychological services, but it helps kids who aren't even involved in the other programs the organization offers.
To my mind, the results also vindicate an emerging model for low-income students. Over the past decade, dozens of charter and independent schools, like Promise Academy, have become no excuses schools. The basic theory is that middle-class kids enter adolescence with certain working models in their heads: what I can achieve; how to control impulses; how to work hard. Many kids from poorer, disorganized homes don't have these internalized models. The schools create a disciplined, orderly and demanding counterculture to inculcate middle-class values.
To understand the culture in these schools, I'd recommend "Whatever It Takes," a gripping account of Harlem Children's Zone by my Times colleague Paul Tough, and "Sweating the Small Stuff," a superb survey of these sorts of schools by David Whitman.
Basically, the no excuses schools pay meticulous attention to behavior and attitudes. They teach students how to look at the person who is talking, how to shake hands. These schools are academically rigorous and college-focused. Promise Academy students who are performing below grade level spent twice as much time in school as other students in New York City. Students who are performing at grade level spend 50 percent more time in school.
They also smash the normal bureaucratic strictures that bind leaders in regular schools. Promise Academy went through a tumultuous period as Canada searched for the right teachers. Nearly half of the teachers did not return for the 2005-2006 school year. A third didn't return for the 2006-2007 year. Assessments are rigorous. Standardized tests are woven into the fabric of school life.
The approach works. Ever since welfare reform, we have had success with intrusive government programs that combine paternalistic leadership, sufficient funding and a ferocious commitment to traditional, middle-class values. We may have found a remedy for the achievement gap. Which city is going to take up the challenge? Omaha? Chicago? Yours?
Friday, May 8, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Where Do You Talk About Educational Equity?
Where do you have conversations about educational equity? Though I have had numerous e-mails and comments from people who have browsed this blog, it's clear that this hasn't become a spot people where people have been having these discussions. There have been very few comments and even fewer posts about new topics others want to bring up.
I hate to think that the low rate of activity on this blog shows the current level of conversation about school integration. If people aren't interacting about the topic here, where is that interaction happening? More importantly, how do we continue to push that conversation to the front burner?
People who counsel patience make me even more impatient. I have heard anecdotes and frustration about integration issues from at least 2 Hopkins schools (my home district), 2 Robbinsdale schools, several Minneapolis schools, Edina schools, Wayzata schools, and that racial graffiti was found outside FAIR in the WMEP District. Some of these stories involve schools not reacting to actions which seem clearly racist in tone. So, students continue to be in the midst of integration issues and I hear nothing.
Where are the conversations being held? I'd like to be a part of them, and I think our students would feel safer knowing they are being held.
I hate to think that the low rate of activity on this blog shows the current level of conversation about school integration. If people aren't interacting about the topic here, where is that interaction happening? More importantly, how do we continue to push that conversation to the front burner?
People who counsel patience make me even more impatient. I have heard anecdotes and frustration about integration issues from at least 2 Hopkins schools (my home district), 2 Robbinsdale schools, several Minneapolis schools, Edina schools, Wayzata schools, and that racial graffiti was found outside FAIR in the WMEP District. Some of these stories involve schools not reacting to actions which seem clearly racist in tone. So, students continue to be in the midst of integration issues and I hear nothing.
Where are the conversations being held? I'd like to be a part of them, and I think our students would feel safer knowing they are being held.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
RACE, EQUITY, AND THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP
The Minneapolis Public School Board is conducting a series of dialogues with diverse communities on race, equity and the achievement gap. There is one this Thursday at Nellie Stone Johnson School (807 27th Avenue North, Mpls.). The meeting is from 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. The widening achievement gap is a serious issue that must be addressed if MPS is to meet the goals of their Strategic Plan.
For information call 612-668-0105
Dinner will be available from 5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Limited childcare will also be available.
For information call 612-668-0105
Dinner will be available from 5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Limited childcare will also be available.
Monday, April 27, 2009
By the Numbers
Because few of us are involved in more than one school district, it can get hard to see how districts look different from one another. I hope to add some demographic information about area districts for comparison sake. Space limitations prevent me from a full-blown spread sheet presentation, but I'll add information to try and broaden the view. Source is the Minnesota Department of Education website.
____________Mpls Public Schools Hopkins Public Schools
Am. Indian..................................5%................................1%
Asian....................................9%................................5%
Black ...................................39%........................... 17%
Hispanic...............................17%.............................5%
White..................................30%............................. 71%
Limited English....................23%............................. 6%
Special Ed............................15%............................. 12%
Free/Reduced ....................84%................................26%
Graduation Rate................ 73%............................... 98%
Students Enrolled ...........34314............................ 7558
'07-'08
MCA Proficient Rate (Math). 46.13% ......................70.78%
Expenditures/Student.... $11,988...........................$9997
____________Mpls Public Schools Hopkins Public Schools
Am. Indian..................................5%................................1%
Asian....................................9%................................5%
Black ...................................39%........................... 17%
Hispanic...............................17%.............................5%
White..................................30%............................. 71%
Limited English....................23%............................. 6%
Special Ed............................15%............................. 12%
Free/Reduced ....................84%................................26%
Graduation Rate................ 73%............................... 98%
Students Enrolled ...........34314............................ 7558
'07-'08
MCA Proficient Rate (Math). 46.13% ......................70.78%
Expenditures/Student.... $11,988...........................$9997
IS AMERICA ENTERING A POST-RACIAL STAGE?
Follow this link to an interesting "article" and comments about whether or not America is entering a post-racial period. The author is Leonard Pitts,a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/28/pitts.black.america/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/28/pitts.black.america/index.html
Friday, April 24, 2009
Interesting Reading Ideas from NUA
The National Urban Alliance (NUA has a site where they feature a book each month that relates to their mission.: "The NUA's mission is to substantiate in the public schools of urban America an irrefutable belief in the capacity of all children to reach the highest levels of learning & thinking demanded by our ever-changing global community."
Find the current book recommendation (The Race between Education and Technology) and past months' suggestions at http://www.nuatc.org/TESTONE/book_month.htm
Find the current book recommendation (The Race between Education and Technology) and past months' suggestions at http://www.nuatc.org/TESTONE/book_month.htm
Where does the integration funding go?
I'd be curious to know how the public school districts that receive integration dollars are spending that money. In the current crunch of money, how many are diverting it to budget items to keep braod programs at their current level rather than as the law intends? Are you aware if your home district maintains the funds in a separate budget as required?
Here is the link to the state statute on integration revenue. It says, near its beginning, that "Integration revenue under this section must be used for programs established under a desegregation plan filed with the Department of Education according to Minnesota Rules, parts 3535.0100 to 3535.0180, or under court order. The revenue must be used to create or enhance learning opportunities which are designed to provide opportunities for students to have increased interracial contacts through classroom experiences, staff initiatives, and other educationally related programs." Are our school districts using Integration Revenue for purposes following a desgregation plan filed with the department of Education that accomplishes the intents noted here?
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/getpub.php?type=s&num=124D.86
Here is the link to the state statute on integration revenue. It says, near its beginning, that "Integration revenue under this section must be used for programs established under a desegregation plan filed with the Department of Education according to Minnesota Rules, parts 3535.0100 to 3535.0180, or under court order. The revenue must be used to create or enhance learning opportunities which are designed to provide opportunities for students to have increased interracial contacts through classroom experiences, staff initiatives, and other educationally related programs." Are our school districts using Integration Revenue for purposes following a desgregation plan filed with the department of Education that accomplishes the intents noted here?
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/getpub.php?type=s&num=124D.86
Top Ten Reasons Not to Change WMEP Schools to Charters
There are rumblings about what the future of the two WMEP schools may bring. There are worries that Minneapolis, or another district, may withdraw from WMEP and that might lead to the eventual collapse of the system that supports the two schools. One idea that gets whispered about is turning FAIR and IDDS into charter schools. Not so fast! Here are ten reasons why this idea should not be on the front burner.
Top Ten Reasons Why This Would Be a Bad Time to Turn FAIR and IDDS into Charter Schools:
10. There are easier, more straightforward ways to deal with administrative structure issues. It seems that with the recent policy change among WMEP districts the board will be more manageable. Minneapolis Superintendent Bill Green advocates for parent representation. Some voices have begun talking about either eliminating the superintendents position or combining with other integration districts in administrative ways.
9. What public school equity and integration credentials does the likely perspective charter sponsor have? Is a higher ed name association as important as n identity as a integration body?
8. Our partnership with Stages Theatre is a WMEP agreement. Would Stages want to antagonize 11 cooperating member districts to make nice with two charter schools?
7. After the next couple of years (admittedly probably not in the next couple of sessions) there is the possibility that the legislature might fund integration schools directly – eliminating some of the headaches associated with being run by a board managed by member districts.
6. Similarly, there are real rumblings at the legislature that a new type of school may be created that would function in the half-way ground between charters and regular public schools. These schools would have some additional freedoms and some safeguards not presently found. Waiting to see if this type of school may develop might be a better answer.
5. Charter schools have notoriously difficult times financing things they need. Do our staff development opportunities through things like the Cultural Collaborative continue with the same robustness? Would a charter school be able to keep current with competitive salaries current teachers earn?
4. There is no assurance that WMEP would sign over the buildings. Starting again in buildings not constructed for our purposes would be more than difficult. Additionally, with the buildings would go many of our capital purchases: media equipment; art facilities such as kilns, wheels and musical instruments; texts and media center inventory; etc.
3. By state law, converting existing schools to charter schools requires 60% of staff to agree. Charter schools can hire non-licensed teachers. Do enough licensed teachers think it is a wise idea to be able to hire non-licensed (probably cheaper) teachers for jobs currently requiring one? Promises made about how hiring would include only licensed teachers might be in contradiction to charter law as it would probably constitute a promise about union rights – something a charter school may not be able to do according to statute. Would seniority and continuing contract status be voided?
2. Our schools already suffer from people thinking we are not real public schools. This hurts our chances of attracting students. Rightly or wrongly, a large percentage of the public perceives charter schools as lesser schools. In addition, many parents don't want to lose their ties to the member district where they live. Our schools' current status preserves that affiliation; it doesn't seem likely that charter schools would leave parents feeling the same way.
1. Do we influence integration and equity issues in member districts – our real purpose for existing - when we stand apart from them? Surely when IDDS and FAIR can claim membership in all of the WMEP districts we have more ability to be part of the solutions. If we run into the shelter of charter sponsorship are we really going to be leaders in forcing the member districts to face the facts about educational inequity?
Top Ten Reasons Why This Would Be a Bad Time to Turn FAIR and IDDS into Charter Schools:
10. There are easier, more straightforward ways to deal with administrative structure issues. It seems that with the recent policy change among WMEP districts the board will be more manageable. Minneapolis Superintendent Bill Green advocates for parent representation. Some voices have begun talking about either eliminating the superintendents position or combining with other integration districts in administrative ways.
9. What public school equity and integration credentials does the likely perspective charter sponsor have? Is a higher ed name association as important as n identity as a integration body?
8. Our partnership with Stages Theatre is a WMEP agreement. Would Stages want to antagonize 11 cooperating member districts to make nice with two charter schools?
7. After the next couple of years (admittedly probably not in the next couple of sessions) there is the possibility that the legislature might fund integration schools directly – eliminating some of the headaches associated with being run by a board managed by member districts.
6. Similarly, there are real rumblings at the legislature that a new type of school may be created that would function in the half-way ground between charters and regular public schools. These schools would have some additional freedoms and some safeguards not presently found. Waiting to see if this type of school may develop might be a better answer.
5. Charter schools have notoriously difficult times financing things they need. Do our staff development opportunities through things like the Cultural Collaborative continue with the same robustness? Would a charter school be able to keep current with competitive salaries current teachers earn?
4. There is no assurance that WMEP would sign over the buildings. Starting again in buildings not constructed for our purposes would be more than difficult. Additionally, with the buildings would go many of our capital purchases: media equipment; art facilities such as kilns, wheels and musical instruments; texts and media center inventory; etc.
3. By state law, converting existing schools to charter schools requires 60% of staff to agree. Charter schools can hire non-licensed teachers. Do enough licensed teachers think it is a wise idea to be able to hire non-licensed (probably cheaper) teachers for jobs currently requiring one? Promises made about how hiring would include only licensed teachers might be in contradiction to charter law as it would probably constitute a promise about union rights – something a charter school may not be able to do according to statute. Would seniority and continuing contract status be voided?
2. Our schools already suffer from people thinking we are not real public schools. This hurts our chances of attracting students. Rightly or wrongly, a large percentage of the public perceives charter schools as lesser schools. In addition, many parents don't want to lose their ties to the member district where they live. Our schools' current status preserves that affiliation; it doesn't seem likely that charter schools would leave parents feeling the same way.
1. Do we influence integration and equity issues in member districts – our real purpose for existing - when we stand apart from them? Surely when IDDS and FAIR can claim membership in all of the WMEP districts we have more ability to be part of the solutions. If we run into the shelter of charter sponsorship are we really going to be leaders in forcing the member districts to face the facts about educational inequity?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Three Integration Districts
There are three integration districts in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. Few people are familiar with any of them, let alone know about all of them.
The first, District 6067, is the East Metro Integration District (EMID). It is a collaboration of 11 school districts, including St. Paul, which operates 2 schools, Harambee and Crosswinds. It's board members are representatives of the member districts - not Superintendents. Harambee has community cultures and environmental science foci. Crosswinds is a year-round school that integrates arts and science across the curriculum. The district offers a variety of staff development options related to integration and school practices. Find more information at http://www.emid6067.net/
WMEP is the West Metro Education Program. It serves students from Minneapolis and its surrounding suburbs, 11 districts in total. There are two schools, Interdistrict Downtown School (IDDS) and the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource School (FAIR). WMEP also operates the Choice is Yours (CiY) program which supports enrollment of lower income students from Minneapolis in suburban schools. The broad ranging training component of WMEP is called the Cultural Collaborative. Find web access at http://www.wmep.k12.mn.us/
The third integration system is the Northwest Suburban Integration School District (NWSISD). NWSISD serves seven districts. Currently Brooklyn Center is a member of both NWSISD and WMEP. NWSISD operates a number of magnet schools within the member districts. Students from the member districts can apply to attend any of the magnet schools in any of the districts. The governing board of the district has 21 members, the superintendent (or designee), a parent representative, and a school board member from each district. Their website is http://www.nws.k12.mn.us/index.php
The three integration districts together serve students from west of Buffalo all the way to the Wisconsin border. Each has a separate superintendent and administrative offices.
The first, District 6067, is the East Metro Integration District (EMID). It is a collaboration of 11 school districts, including St. Paul, which operates 2 schools, Harambee and Crosswinds. It's board members are representatives of the member districts - not Superintendents. Harambee has community cultures and environmental science foci. Crosswinds is a year-round school that integrates arts and science across the curriculum. The district offers a variety of staff development options related to integration and school practices. Find more information at http://www.emid6067.net/
WMEP is the West Metro Education Program. It serves students from Minneapolis and its surrounding suburbs, 11 districts in total. There are two schools, Interdistrict Downtown School (IDDS) and the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource School (FAIR). WMEP also operates the Choice is Yours (CiY) program which supports enrollment of lower income students from Minneapolis in suburban schools. The broad ranging training component of WMEP is called the Cultural Collaborative. Find web access at http://www.wmep.k12.mn.us/
The third integration system is the Northwest Suburban Integration School District (NWSISD). NWSISD serves seven districts. Currently Brooklyn Center is a member of both NWSISD and WMEP. NWSISD operates a number of magnet schools within the member districts. Students from the member districts can apply to attend any of the magnet schools in any of the districts. The governing board of the district has 21 members, the superintendent (or designee), a parent representative, and a school board member from each district. Their website is http://www.nws.k12.mn.us/index.php
The three integration districts together serve students from west of Buffalo all the way to the Wisconsin border. Each has a separate superintendent and administrative offices.
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