Thursday night at the Civic Center, the Peoria Charter School Initiative brought in students, parents, and teachers from the Chicago Math & Science Academy to talk about the benefits of charter schools. Here’s a portion of the presentation:
[flashvideo filename=https://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Video/PCSI.flv /]
I am not against a true charter school, however, not at this time. You absolutelty can’t close a high school and expect people to swallow a charter school. We have to fix the issues at hand before we can take this great leap forward. Peoria schools are failing our children. We definitely need to turn this around and in time I firmly believe a charter school will fix that for approximately 500 of the district children. Until the madness stops and the mass of children have been given a school to attend this has to be tabled. Maybe we can look at this after the air conditioning has been installed in the rock pile known as PHS.
Only one board member attended this event??
MAWB,
Could it be because the majority of Board members tend to follow whatever the superintendent says without question?
I hope that BOE is ready to change their minds on this issue. From their point of view (not from the point of view of parents), the charter school is now a bad idea. When the idea was first introduced, 150 was to receive a substantial bonus for voting for a charter school. The bonus is now gone. I believe the PJS article stated that 150 would have to contribute $1.5 million to this venture. How could they possibly justify coming up with the same amount that is to be saved by closing Woodruff. Admittedly, I was already not in favor of the charter school, but I was really turned off when I heard that 100% of the Chicago seniors graduated and have applied for college. Why would anyone ever believe 100%–that smells of hype right away. Also, just applying for college doesn’t mean anything. Junior colleges do not even have entrance requirements, so kids can sign up and never show up and/or start but never finish.
Sharon, the article I posted about the Detroit schools (don’t ask me to find it LOL) also said 100% were going on to college. Who cares if it is a junior college or not? Thank goodness we have ICC! Geesh, I have over 150 hours there! I’ve taken all kinds of classes since its inception.
Financially, the charter school is a net gain to D150 if they handle it properly. The PJStar article said $1.7MM is to come from the district, but you have to understand how that works. The charter school budget, shown on their website with all of the details and assumptions, actually says $1.8MM. That is calculated as 90% of the current D150 per pupil spending. So, yes, the charter school gets $1.8MM from D150, but the charter school takes responsibility for teaching 225 kids from D150 the first year. So, if D150 reduces staff accordingly (225 fewer kids for them to teach), then D150 stands to gain about $225,000 the first year. In the business world, this is called outsourcing. The charter does get the former Loucks school for $1 rent per year from D150, but assumes all operational costs.
MAWB: I didn’t mean to slam ICC–I wish it had been around when I was struggling financially to pay for Bradley. I think ICC does a great job of preparing kids to finish at a 4-year college. I just meant that gaining entrance isn’t that much of an accomplishment–it’s what a student does after he/she gets there. I was simply saying that just because someone signs up in March to go to college the next year, doesn’t mean that it necessarily is going to happen. Jon, I guess I’m not ready to buy the “net” gain argument–on paper maybe–just like class size on paper, etc. I would say that right now 150 has over 250 too many for their classrooms (primary, at least), so they shouldn’t be reducing staff when the classes are rightsized by whatever means. Did you hear all the numbers at the last board meeting? I believe the overcrowding occurred because someone just closed schools without counting heads and empty desks. You did hear that that “whoever” even forgot to plug in the numbers for kindergarten–so there was definitely an overflow at that level. From what I read in the paper, Jim Stowell doesn’t see the charter school as a financial gain for 150. Stick to your guns, Jim!
The question I asked was, after first complimenting the students, parents, and staff, that the charter seemed to provide exactly the type of rigor and expectations we should be providing in ALL of our schools now…….so why is a “Charter” needed? I felt I received a good and honest answer.
I’m trying to decide if there are any lines to read between. 🙂 Because I agree. From whom did you receive the good and honest answer–and what was the answer? Maybe it’s on the tape to which I haven’t listened yet. Do you agree with Jon’s account of savings for 150 (above post)?
I’ll give Jim an “out” as to whether the savings I claimed would materialize. In the short term, probably not – salaries are the primary driver, but there are other costs. As D150 knows, there are certain costs that are less variable. Take something as simple as the HR director position. She has a cost associated with every student she is technically responsible for. In the short term, you don’t cut her or pay her less because she is responsible for 225 less students. Same with extracurricular activities. There is not necessarily a direct initial savings. Over time, good management would make those adjustments. I do think, however, that a good manager at D150 would see that there is no net gain or loss in the first year and over time there would be a financial gain. Part of that gain is the potential to attract families back to D150.
You basically said it, Sharon, parents generally want to see something like this happen – especially if there is no financial burden to the district. Remember, this charter school will be teaching students for a longer amount of time during the school year – the current system does not allow for that.
Jon, I think I’m agreeing with Jim (who has one of 7 votes–actually 4 that make the difference) who believes that the district should start making all schools accountable. If it can be done at a charter school (especially, if the students aren’t cherrypicked), then why can’t it be done in all schools? I am having a hard time with the argument that–if 150 loses 225 students–more people will be drawn back into the district. Manual has a longer school day–not sure that equals better education.
The current approach – all things for all schools – one size fits all – hasn’t worked for the past few decades for D150. People want choice. You want the current approach, that will still be available. Others want an MST charter approach, well, we can do that, too. This district has the mass, the capacity and diversity to offer multiple approaches. The charter school concept is offering D150 a plan that is at least revenue/cost neutral and possibly a net gain.
No wonder you’re having a hard time with the argument – “if 150 loses 225 students – more people will be drawn back”. That isn’t the argument at all…
I think Jim and the entire board believes that D150 should make all schools “accountable”. I think he also knows that it has not been able to do that – and won’t be able to do that without significant changes going forward. Yes, the charter concept is an easy “out”. It’s one that I think he knows the district has no other reasonable choice currently or likely in the near future.
Jon, you don’t seem to understand the concept that money should be divided up equally. Being a teacher, I have seen the Edison teachers receive more than one new laptop in the past 5 years. I, on the other hand, have been using the same “land-based” pc for 9 years. I believe mine may be run, not by electricity, but by squirrels—-very slow squirrels. I have had to beg for ink cartridges, but not anymore, because they don’t even offer them to us. Told us to use our $100 credit cards to purchase ink (we haven’t received the credit card either). What I am saying is that with all the money D150 has “gifted” to the Edison company over the past 11 years, they could have created their own program (in-house) and had plenty of money left over to disperse to ALL schools for all children. The Edison company is nothing but a FOR PROFIT company and can manipulate the data from their schools to make them look better than they really are. If you don’t believe me, please talk to ex-edison employees—-there are plenty of them in D150. This charter school is a joke. This district needs to clean up approximately 83 messes before they try to make a new one.
I was doing some research, via the internet and came upon a very interesting document put together by D150 back in 2002. Some things never change.
Here is the website: http://www.michaelherman.com/publications/peoria.pdf
It is called: Issues and Opportunities for moving forwar together…..
I would like to call your attention to Issue #4 – Money – note the participants……
This obviously took a lot of work on the part of many people, (teachers, administrators, community members). Evidently it was just another way to appease the taxpayers into thinking D150 was moving forward……nothing has changed, as evidenced in this document. Enjoy the read, it did.
“Jon, you don’t seem to understand the concept that money should be divided up equally”
I guess not. If I did, then the charter school should be asking for 100% of the per pupil costs, not 90%. Edison is an additional cost to the district – you can question the merit of such a decision, including any value gained from using Edison, but it’s not an accurate comparison to this particular charter school concept at all, from a financial standpoint.
Jon, you and I both know that this school is going to end up just like Washington Gifted and the Edison program. Children(best and brightest) from D150 will be cherry picked, thus, lowering the overall ISAT scores of their home schools– AGAIN! Why can’t this “charter” school be a “school within a school” like the Preperatory Arts school at Peoria High? I believe it could and should be “housed” at Woodruff all the while keeping Woody High open for yet another generation of Woodruff graduates. Don’t need to keep closing one school and opening another. Someone on Wisconsin needs to take some chill pills…..quickly
Jon – great comments. Wholesale change for District 150, like Sharon is talking about, will never happen, because of the population it serves. You will not be able to make all schools come up to grade in the ways that families are seeking, that currently elect to flee the City and/or its schools.
That is not to say the District cannot do better for all students. I remain optimistic at this point that, this current Board, with a new Superintendent, can move in a positive direction . . . BUT, in the mean time the District must act immediately to address the need to offer more choice.
Not all student are suited to attend a math and science academy, but those that are should be provided the opportunity. If the District can get this “pilot” off the ground, perhaps it can lay the framework for change in other schools as well.
I don’t often agree with Mayor Ardis, but his opening remarks to the effect that this is one of the most exciting opportunities to come along is so true. If the District can generate some “good news” with the charter school perhaps it will translate into better news for the housing markets, city revenues, etc.
Just can’t help thinking that this district needs a tech ed. center more than it needs a math/science charter school. These children need some real life/hands on education that they are not learning in the average high school. IB program is already established at Richwoods—-enroll your kids there.
When you say “cherry pick”, who is doing the picking? The school or the student/parent? Do you really want to deny a child the opportunity for what their parents believe is a better education (at a neutral cost) just so he can stay in the neighborhood school to prop up the scores?
As for the Washington Gifted and IB comparisons, I really don’t think the MST will be in the same category – and that’s not a negative thing. With respect to a vo-tech type school, I’d like to see something like that as well – I wonder what will happen to the CISCO classes from Woodruff? I’m also not opposed to the school within a school notion – if they are separately run (and thus just sharing the same building) – but can it have longer school hours/days?
We would both like to see a comprehensive plan for where the district thinks it is going. Until then, I just don’t see a downside to the community for having this charter school.
Frustrated, I still don’t understand your thinking, “Not all student are suited to attend a math and science academy, but those that are should be provided the opportunity.” You still seem to be of the belief that the school can cherrypick–so that those who are not suited to the school will not be “chosen.” I do believe that that is what will happen–but nobody will want to admit how they achieved those results. My understanding is that the parents, not the school, get the choice–if the selection process is honest. Students are to be chosen by lottery. You are counting on only the better students (the ones whose parents are motivated to seek the best for their children) applying. What if that doesn’t happen. I certainly will be more than curious to find out from what areas of the city these charter school students come.
Jon, all the schools should have longer days–but teachers would expect to be paid extra as are the Edison schools and Manual. Of course, the charter school doesn’t have to worry about pay–since the teachers won’t be unionized. I am going to be curious to find out how many certified teachers want to teach in a non-union school–and I believe that state law now states that 70% of the teachers must be certified. Will the charter school be able to compete with 150 and other area schools for qualified teachers?
Sharon, the requirement of a certain percentage of certified teachers for a charter school applies to Chicago only (50% if the school started after 2003 – 75% if the school started before. All Chicago charters must have 75% certified by 2012.) If not certified, the charter school teachers need to have a Bachelor’s, been employed 5 years using that degree, and pass the Basic Skills and subject matter tests. They need 13 teachers the first year – I don’t think that will be a problem at all.
I believe you are dead wrong, Jon–the law change very recently–downstate 75% of downstate teachers have to be certified. I’ll eat my hat if my dead wrong–except I don’t have any hats. 🙂 I’ll check it out.
Jon, there is a good chance you are right–at least, I can’t find anything other than what you just quoted with regard to Chicago.
Sharon – In my mind, almost nothing happens in a vacuum. There is always a situation and a result. I watched the video and was most interested in the mom that spoke about her son that was an average student (B-C), but she felt he could do better. She sent him to the Charter School, and low and behold, he did better. He is now an A-B student, and when he spoke (ponytail boy) you could tell that he NOW believed in himself and his potential.
I believe that the “learning environment” is what made the difference for ponytail boy. I am sure at his old school there were competent, caring teachers. What was not present at his old school, however, was a critical mass of students/parents that wanted and expected more and were willing to do the work to get there. Charter schools are a self-select group. It is a collective of students whose parents are willing to envision more for their children and work hard to get it.
Frustrated, I suppose that these testimonials can be believed. I’ve just heard too many of them when these companies are trying to sell their products–am I wrong in assuming that the company who runs the charter school in Chicago wants to run Peoria’s? I just heard the same speech coming from the Manual principal–about how students are doing so much better since restructuring–grades improving. And the truth is that the grades at Manual are much higher than ever and it is true that the graduation rate is higher than ever. However, teacher grades are subjective–and subject to administrative manipulation and edicts. At this point, I should stop engaging in these futile arguments about the charter school–the charter school will undoubtedly happen and we’ll just wait and see.
I’m assuming this charter school will have clearly defined academic and behavior standards that the students must meet in order to stay enrolled, and probably that there will be some sort of parental involvement mandated. Sounds great. But I, as a teacher in 150, cannot demand the same from my students. I can ask, beg, motivate, plead and bend, but NOT require. As anyone involved with the schools knows, 150 students can do just about anything they want to not be educated, yet still remain part of the system. Noble sounding idea, but in reality a really bad one for everyone involved [especially the taxpayers]. So now some of the few motivated and achieving students I have left will go to a separate facility to be in an environment with similarly motivated students [can’t fault them for wanting to do that], leaving our original schools further depleted of good role models and student leaders. And now the charter school’s test scores, when compared to mine, will be used as further ammunition that I am a failing teacher in a failing school. I teach, figuratively, with one hand tied behind my back and am judged against those who don’t. Understand that I am all for high standards regarding academics and behavior, as this charter school will demand. Allow me to demand it of my students, as we did in 150 for decades [quite successfully] until we kept lowering and lowering, bending and accommodating, excusing and overlooking. I appreciate the “choice” argument used, but make all of our schools safe, demanding places and people will then stay in them; the frustrating thing is this is so simple. We have a template as we did it for decades. This isn’t complicated – clearly state your requirements and then adhere to them. Good Parenting 101.
I also wish to start a Sharon Crew for Superintendent movement.
Jon–Your post seemed to imply that Peoria’s charter school doesn’t have to have any certified teachers. This is from the Illinois school code:
“At least 50% of the individuals employed in instructional positions by a charter school that is operating in a city having a population exceeding 500,000 and that is established on or after April 16, 2003 shall hold teaching certificates issued under Article 21 of this Code.”
Doesn’t that state that half of Peoria’s teachers must be certified? I still thought the percentage had recently been raised to 75%–but the change may have applied to Chicago only–still not totally convinced.
city having a population exceeding 500,000
Sharon. 🙂 That is not us.
That’s one reason that I can’t be a superintendent–I’m not good with numbers. 🙂 You got me–I guess that’s Chicago.
TPBRicky–I don’t know what we can do to convince those who are not in 150 classrooms every day–charter schools, Edison schools can achieve simply because they can actually have rules that are followed and, consequently, those schools will continue to make 150 teachers and schools look bad–and the success of charter schools will have nothing to do with non-tenured, non-unionized, non-certified teachers..
Sharon, I’m not sure what you mean when you say that Edison schools make D150 look bad. How can National Blue Ribbon awards and achievement above the state average make our district look bad? I’d love to have other choice-based school options in the district that makes us look so bad! 🙂
And, I’m not convinced in any way shape or form that union membership or tenure makes a teacher better than those without such protections. Certification is something altogether…and shouldn’t be lumped in with the others, in my opinion.
JC–because the rest of the 150 schools didn’t get to cherrypick their students.
I just looked on the website for the Chicago Math and Science Charter School. Found this statement, “CMSA seniors, parents and teachers had a busy schedule in Peoria on November 5th, 2009. Concept Schools has applied to open another charter school in Peoria.” So Concept Schools is the company running the PR efforts aimed at selling their product to Peoria. I am assuming that Edison will be in the running, also. This, too, then will be an expensive school because there evidently is no talent in Peoria capable of running a school.
I also looked at the Illinois Report Card and found what I considered to be an interesting statistic. In 2005 (when it opened) the school had a black enrollment of 41.6%. There has been a steady decline in black enrollment and in 2009 there is 25.4%. The Hispanic population has grown to 58.6%. I am curious to know why the black population at the school has decreased. Also, the picture of the faculty shows an almost all male facullty (1 woman, I believe). I’m not sure what that says about the faculty–but just what I observed.
To “help me out here”: I’m a numbers person…love to look at data and trends. I wouldn’t look at Edison’s numbers only to prove the success of the program in D150, but please consider a few things that I’ve found looking at data provided to me by D150 via FOIA requests and from the Interactive School Report card:
1. Yes, it costs the district money to collaborate with Edison Learning, but did you know that Benchmarks now used in ALL 2nd-8th grade schools come from Edison Learning as part of the contract. A good number of students DISTRICT WIDE are benefiting from this part of the Edison contract…up to 20,000+ times in the last 4 years. Why are benchmarks important? They help isolate how well individual students are performing and informs individualized efforts to remediate areas of weakness. Data from D150 shows that for the last 4 years, not all schools were using benchmarks. Now all do. Here’s why: schools that have used benchmarks have made an average of 3.5% gains on ISAT testing while schools NOT using benchmarks have made an average gain of 0.5%.
2. It actually is cheaper to run Edison schools than many of the other special schools/ programs in the district. Keep in mind that the average cost in other D150 schools per student is approximately $6500. Here’s that data:
Operational Costs per Student (2008-09 school year)
Washington Gifted: $5,489
Rolling Acres Edison Junior Academy: $6,068
Northmoor-Edison: $6,462
Franklin-Edison: $6,622
Roosevelt Magnet: $7,487
Valeska Hinton: $8,657
Manual Academy: $11,714
Clearly, setting up a “special” school can be done for the average cost per pupil…as you can see from the above data.
Who’s to say that the rest of the district couldn’t benefit from another choice-based school in the form of a charter school? I think that allowing parents to select the school that best fits their educational priorities is a smart idea to keep families in D150 that might otherwise look elsewhere. Would a charter school be for everyone? Not likely. But would it generate buzz and interest in some? Undoubtedly. I have personally spoken to 2 families that live outside of D150 that would consider moving to D150 areas of the city for a *chance* at sending their children to the math and science charter school if the initiative passes. I think that it could be VERY successful, if given the opportunity to take root. In my opinion, there is no way that a “one size fits all” approach to education will work in D150 or beyond anymore.
Sharon, you and others have said that Edison cherry picks. Where’s your proof? My guess is that if you had any, you would have provided it long before now. It is supposition at this point, which, from my perspective is totally false.
Have you looked closely at the interactive school report card data? Here’s what I found:
In the last few years, Charter Oak and Northmoor have had similar outcomes, and they’re very similar demographically, with hundredths of percentages difference in ethnicity and income levels. Charter Oak has had a slightly higher percentage of low income students (3% difference) in the last few years, but over time, let’s look at a few trends:
1. Northmoor has moved from 25% to 43% low income from 1999 to 2008. In the same time frame, Charter Oak has moved from 40% to 46% low income.
2. In 2002, Northmoor had 62% of students meet & exceed standards on ISAT. by 2007, 91% of students were meeting/exceeding standards. In the same time frame, Charter Oak has moved from 77% to 86% meeting/exceeding.
3. In 2007, there was NO difference in the performance of low income/non-low income students in 4th grade math at Northmoor. While small, a gap did exist at Charter Oak. In reading, a 1% achievement gap existed in 3rd grade for Northmoor students…it was 10% for Charter Oak.
These data are very illustrative to me. First, while the low income level has remained relatively stable at Charter Oak, Northmoor has seen an almost 20% increase in low income students. While increasing low income enrollment, Northmoor has had a 30% overall gain in the percentage of students meeting/exceeding standards on their annual tests. That amount of change is not seen at Charter Oak…they’ve had a 9% net gain in test scores in 7 years. So, despite having similar demographics NOW, they haven’t always been, and in total, Northmoor has enjoyed dramatic increases in student performance under the Edison program.
So, my question to you, Sharon, given these numbers, where is the cherry picking occurring? And, again, proof?
JC–I do know about benchmarks–Mary Spangler educated me on their importance–she was truly big on benchmarks. They have been a topic of conversation at many board meetings which I attend regularly. However, Jim Stowell has made the point frequently that we don’t need Edison to have benchmarks. In fact, I believe the state offers a benchmark system for free. The rest of the district will not benefit from any more choice schools–they others will all be left behind. You said the charter school won’t be for everybody–that’s not what the rules state–everyone is welcome to apply and to be chosen by lottery. The question is what system will be used to be sure the “wrong” students don’t apply? I still believe and will continue to believe that until the district handles the problems at all the schools, choice schools will not rescue District 150. Also, those two families that want to move back to take advantage of the charter school. What if they move back, put their names in the hat, and then aren’t chosen by the lottery system?
JC–I didn’t answer your question. First of all, Franklin Edison started with about double the number of students now enrolled. I believe that a case can be made that the reduction in enrollment could well have been related to cherrypicking. Northmoor was a great school before Edison ever came to town. I believe (but don’t have numbers to prove it) that most of the students at Northmoor are still from the Northmoor attendance area–just the fact that it can draw only from schools north of War Memorial gives it a definite cherrypicking advantage. We never hear too much or any bragging about Rolling Acres Edison–it’s rarely mentioned. Anyway if there is cherrypicking (and my prejudice says there is), it will be difficult to prove because 150 and Edison go to great lengths to be sure that no one discovers such efforts. Of course, we all know that Edison was a complete failure at Loucks–at least, I hope we all know that.
Sharon: The enrollment at Franklin in 1999 was 535. Last year it was 476 for an 11% reduction in enrollment in a 10 year period. Glen Oak is almost exactly similar to Franklin in terms of demographics across the board. In that same period they lost 14% of their students. Using your reasoning, are they cherry picking, too?
How about this…in the same time frame, look at the differences in academic performance in these schools:
Meets and Exceeds for ISAT:
Franklin Edison in the 2000-01 school year = 28%
Glen Oak in the 2000-01 school year = 32%
Franklin Edison in the 2007-08 school year = 76%
Glen Oak in the 2007-08 school year = 38%
So, 2 schools of VERY similar composition over the same length of time. Franklin increases by 48%, Glen Oak by 6%. The only measurable difference in these schools was the presence of Edison Learning.
My child attends Northmoor and we are not in the attendance area…TJ is our home school. We were NOT cherry picked to attend…we followed the procedures that I outlined previously that are in place for ALL D150 students interested in attending. I worked at Franklin-Edison for 1 year…didn’t ever see anything that looked or sounded like cherry picking there, either. Again, until you can PROOVE otherwise, your supposition is, in my view, absolutely incorrect.
Point of clarification: yes, I did say “the charter school won’t be for everybody.” My meaning was that not everyone will be interested, not that all couldn’t participate in the lottery…
I don’t believe that there will be procedures to ensure that the “wrong” students (whomever they might be?) will apply. I’m not a fan of that conspiracy theory. Rather, my thought is that if you have a group of parents and students interested in a similar type of education, you’ll have more buy-in, which could well translate into higher achievement…no matter the makeup of the student body!
JC: take a walk through Washington Gifted on any given day of any given calendar year, I dare you to tell me that you see much diversity with regard to racial make up of the student population. We need a way to instill in parents(of our culturally diverse students) the importance of involvement in their child’s education. It barely exists….I have more than a decade of experience in D150 to base my assumptions. That is why it is easy to call it “cherry-picking”. Sad to say….
JC–you’re right about Franklin’s enrollment–I think I was relying on memory (always a mistake) and may have gotten Loucks’ statistics mixed up with Franklin’s. Also, returning to the Northmoor discussion. I don’t think the term “poverty” covers all bases. Not all children raised in poverty are educationally deprived–especially, in Peoria. Neither of us is going to win the cherrypicking argument. So it’s 1:1–we both will continue to hold our own views and there will be those who agree with you and those who agree with me. That sums up most of the arguments we have on the blog. The “proof will be in the pudding,” so we will just have to wait for the charter school venture to begin–and it will without either of us approving or disapproving.
JC, I am a numbers person, too. Where are you able to find the operational costs per school? I use the NIU interactive report card, but it only shows the average costs for the entire district – not by school. I would love to see another resource. Thanks.
help me out here: I worked in 150 from 97-06 and have had a child in 150s schools for 4 years since. I have plenty of experience in D150 to base my assumptions upon AND I have data to back it up, not just vague references to “former Edison employees.”
My argument in favor of the charter school is not exclusionary. I do NOT think that there is adequate racial representation at Washington, and that wasn’t the point of my post. What I said, and what I believe, is that if parents are interested and buy into the program, a charter school has the potential to be very successful. D150 will need to make a concerted effort to maintain a balanced student body so that it does not go the way of Washington, demographically.
Jon, my source was a D150 FOIA request. If you’re interested in more detail, I’m happy to share. 🙂
I thought charter schools used a lottery of all parents/children interested in attending the school. If that is true, the the ethnicity of the school cannot be hand selected. First, they have to show interest. Secondly, they have to win the lottery, which should not be handpicked either. The school could still end up being lop-sided through the luck of the draw, could it not? I guess it all depends on how the lottery is conducted. Will all children are put into on pot or will they take say, 10 winners from each school? I can see that this could get very hairy! LOL
MAWB…yes…a lottery is the proposed procedure for gaining entry to the charter school. I think, though, that the district and charter school (if approved) would need to equally recruit the interest of all students in the district with an interest in math and science so that the lottery pool is as diverse and rich as possible! 🙂
I think that you have to consider that the parents that care the most will ask their child’s current teacher and other parents, not just about which is the best school, but also who is considered to be the best teacher of a particular grade in that school, and then call long before the school registration to request that their child be assigned to that teacher’s classroom the following year.
….at least that is what my wife did for my 6 year old.
So now he has Michigan Teacher of the Year 2008.
Demographic Observations: I suspect that the parents of the children in my son’s classroom are in many cases the first in their family to complete 4 year degrees, or that they come from educated working class family’s and/or chose degreed careers that pay about half of what a UAW member makes. The class is 45 percent African American 5 percent Hispanic and 50 percent Caucasian. There is not one Asian student in the class, which is rather rare for Washtenaw County) and none of the parents spoke with a hint of a non native English speaking accent. 15-20 percent of the parents are mixed race couples.
At the open houses, 90% of the kids had both parents present and if you watched the parents, nothing about them indicated that divorce was an issue in the family.
The teacher has mentioned to my wife (daughter of 2 U of M Chemistry PhD candidates and herself a teacher) that our son is one of two children in the class that can do 100% of every assignment without assistance.
I am nothing but impressed with the other parents and students. The parents care, are involved, their kids behave in class and everyone is nice to my kid. While most of the kids will go onto college, they are probably not going to get into U of Michigan or MIT. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. Their is probably more healthy diversity in a bunch of lower middle class kids who are going to do as well or better than their parents than a bunch of rich suburban kids with 100k loans on their degrees from the top tier schools, who are going to burn themselves out as their parents before them did, trying to make half of what their parents were able to earn when the American Dollar was still worth a nickel to the rest of the world.
But tying this into the discussion on ISAT achievement……..you can have a socialist school system….yet the scores are not going to be equal among students….and the difference is the “enterprising’ (think free enterprise efforts) of the parents and their children who will make the most of the same resources that other parents and students WILL CHOOSE not to use in the same and more fulfilling manner.
I saw the same thing at Whittaker Grade School 7-8 years ago where the BEST PARENTS made it a point to move into the area because they knew of the quality principal, staff and involvement of Bradley University. So you had cases where the Bradley Professors kid was in a desk next to a kid who’s daddy was in jail for beating mommy, but mommy cared enough to use her Section 8 Certificate to rent a place near Whittaker.
Same thing is already happening with health care and will happen even more if we get complete nationalized health care and the rationing that will follow – the highest functioning patients will rise to the top and work harder to get in line and access the services they need.
Chase – what you describe as the makeup of your child’s classroom in Michigan is what many families are seeking – a community of learning in which everyone is on the same page. I agree, that a classroom made up of lower middle class to middle class dedicated families and their children is the “best” situation, if the academic rigors are also present. I think that is the environment that will be created with the new charter school. I don’t think that same situation can be created at some of the District’s poorer performing schools because many of the elements that Chase described are missing in the families whose children attend those schools.
Though many like to bash Washington Gifted, I found the familiy economics there to be very similar to what Chase described. And though there are few black students, the school is still diverse.
Frustrated, how can you call Washington Gifted diverse in a school district that is 70% black?
I believe that the cherry picking that occurs at Franklin Edison is the children that are “counseled” or enouraged to leave the Edison program.
Amazingly enough, the children “counseled” out of the Edison program are usually behavior problems and/or have academic issues. They usually transfer out right before ISAT testing. Although the school they transfer into does not have to report their scores, neither does the Edison School they just left……therefore, scores “appear” higher. Now those scores don’t float around in limbo land, they do infact get reported for the District’s Report Card. Believe me, Edison has people that literally sit around and think of ways to make their scores appear higher, thus, teachers are teaching better!!! Whatever, give me a break….
Isn’t it amazing how much people know about the cherrypicking? If you work in District 150 long enough, you learn that all sorts of things go on behind the scenes. Companies like Edison are not going to risk their reputations on students that make their company look bad–that would be bad for business. Now that education has become a business, it isn’t about children at all; it’s always about the bottom line (now it’s all about profit). I have heard rumors that Johns Hopkins isn’t happy with Manual–they didn’t know that their program would be expected to raise the reading level of students who read below the 5th grade level. Their program wasn’t designed for those students–now those students will negatively affect their “success” rate.
So does anyone believe that the company that will run the charter school will settle for the “luck of the draw”? The company is in it to make money and it won’t make money if the school doesn’t produce the desired results. Everyone thinks it is so wonderful that teachers will finally be held accountable–that is not what this is all about. It’s big business that could care less about educating children–they are in it to make money period! However, it is the teachers who do care about kids and it is the teachers who will make the best out of some bad situations–but sometimes their best just isn’t good enough because the hole that has been dug for them is too deep. But there will be no success at any school without teachers.