19 thoughts on “Why replicate Edison?”

1. Hard to compare what the scores of the Edison schools would have been without Edison in place…and that is really the real question.

   What I found MOST disturbing is that as a group, District 150 schools are grouped at the bottom of the listing highlighting how poorly we compare to the surrounding school districts. Add as many firefighters and police officers as you want, but this type of educational effort will sink Peoria over the long run.

2. Having all the bottom schools be District 150 schools is very, very disturbing, and I agree that this is an “essential service” that must be dealt with. However, there’s nothing the City (municipal government) can do about it, since the school district is a separate governmental entity.

   My only point was that eighth from the bottom is an Edison school. That tells me that their methods are not any more effective at overcoming urban school challenges than the district-run schools. If they want to save $1.5 million with no adverse effect on student achievement, fire Edison.

3. Is there data for 2005, 2004, or 2003? I think seeing the ISAT trends for each school would be needed before making a judgement on Edison.

   No wonder everyone that I know having kids is moving out of Peoria. As far as Edison goes, it has some of the “best of the worst” schools 🙂

4. I agree with PEZ. It’s possible that without Edison that shcool would have been last on the list. It’s as possible a conclusion as the one you drew … but neither conclusions are valid without more comparison of data over multiple years. Even then it’s hard to account for the “what if” – what if Edison hadn’t been in place? We’ll never really know if it’s better or worse.

   And I disagree that there is NOTHING the local government can do. However, we don’t have an effective working relationship with District 150 and the City government – for a variety of reasons, many of which are the result of 150s actions. However we want to allocate blame, a poor educational system will do more to bring down Peoria than the other essential services (none of which are even close to being at the poor level of service represented by the school district).

5. If the parents of the Northmoor and Rolling Acres Edison students aggressively lobby the BOE to retain the Edison program, the BOE will probably do so. Do not underestimate the BOE’s concern with this group of parents – they are very careful not to take any actions that will precipitate any more “white flight” from this area.

6. Well I would like to see maybe Morton or Dee-Mack Primary/Jr High have the poor makeup of students District 150 has to bear in some of these depressed neighborhoods. Bet their scores drop. You guys miss the point which is that no matter how good the teachers, the school building, or the program in place, if the kids come from welfare moms and drug addicts, you can’t win. Hold the parents responsible like if your child fails at school, them maybe your aid check will be reduced unless you come to the school and get involved. Just an opinion….

7. Emtronics-

   Right on! What happened to accountability? What happened to being a good citizen? I am voting with my feet. I am looking for a house in the “burbs”. My house will be going on the market in April. I love my neighborhood, but it just is not worth it anymore. We have held our own since I have lived here (98), but there are some thugs who have just moved in lately and it looks like my hood is about ready to start its downward spiral like the rest of everything south of Forrest Hill. The city can try all the programs they want, but the simple fact is that we are unable to really hold these dirtbags accountable for their behavior. I am sick of the lip service from the city and District 150.

8. It’s a little difficult to tease out the relevant information but you can look at the report card for the previous year on the 150 website for each school – at the end is a summary. The following is for Loucks under Edison:

   • Academic Performance: Our students dropped 17.4% on the state tests (reading, mathematics, and
   science) from 2003-2004 to 2004-2005.
   • From 2003-2004 to 2004-2005 the fifth grade students dropped 12.2% in reading and 25.8% in math.
   The eighth grade students’ scores rose 3.6% in reading and dropped 25.5% in math.
   • When reviewing subgroups, one can see that all of the identified subgroups need additional assistance in
   all areas of reading and math. A large percentage of students fall into the category of Below Standards
   on the ISAT. They are below both district and state averages.

9. Is it the program, staff, or the population. Anyone know of studies focusing on those specific factors. In order to make changes, we need to narrow down the true cause and effect.

10. Paul, there is something else that needs to be factored into the analysis of the Edison program’s success/failure. Peoria is not operating the full Edison model. The Edison model was designed to run on a longer school day to accommodate reading/math tutoring, staff development, team meetings, etc. The teachers received additional compensation because they were working beyond the contractual 6.5 hour day.
    Several years ago the district, in a cost-cutting move, eliminated the longer school day for the Edison schools. This did dilute the program. Because the district has “chipped away” at the program, it will be difficult to compare it – apples to apples – with Edison schools in other cities with similar demographics.

    It is interesting to note that Franklin, Louck’s feeder school, is making AYP. If the kids are entering Loucks making AYP, what happens when they get to Loucks? These kids should be testing better. Something is wrong here . . .

11. Well, the district certainly can’t afford to spend any more money on Edison, so if it’s (a) not a full-fledged Edison program and (b) it’s not working, then I say we get rid of it.

    As for Paul’s suggestion that we get to the root problem, I agree with that. Maybe instead of CAT donating Six Sigma training to the city, it should donate it to District 150. They have enough surplus administrators that they could easily reassign three or four to be blackbelts and then work on fact-based solutions to the district’s problems.

12. Uh, CJ, Mary Spangler is a huge fan of Six Sigma and the district hired Otto (can’t remember his last name – something like Arcault) from Edison (friend of Ken Hinton’s – bookkeeper for Edison who lost job due to cutbacks) to train staff and implement Six Sigma. Oh, and guess what, Otto didn’t know anything about Six Sigma but was hired at a very generous salary.

13. Are you kidding me? This BOE needs to be dissolved and the superintendent fired.

14. No, I only wish I was kidding. It just gets better and better, doesn’t it?

15. That’s also how the district rehired Susan Grzanich – her position with Edison was being eliminated and one was created for her at #150.

16. Yes, Arcaute and Grzanich were two MORE of the personnel that King Hinton broughtin the back door at 150 since he has been there. Between the two of them with salaries and benefits that is another $200,000 annually – but, hey, what are friends for when you have an endless source of stupid taxpayers?

    Anybody keeping score here with what has disclosed so far? I have already mentioned that King Hinton hired his son-in-law as #2 in Human Resources at a HIGH salary allowing him to wear $2,000 Italian made suits. Don’t forget the independent contractor which employes Hinton’s son at 150 in a Special Ed position at a salary WAY WAY higher than the district is paying comparable staff!

    Want to challenge any of these FACTS? Do you want more? Trust me – Hinton runs that district out of fear and with blantant stupidity! Why that board of education doesn’t ask questions is beyond me – maybe they don’t want to – you talk about sick!
    ^oo^~

17. Why in the H— isn’t the Journal Star all over this nepotism and buddy hiring? This is unconscionable.

18. My hypothesis after being in nearly every school in the district at one time or another and seeing how things operate is that:

    1. a strong, supportive principle and assistant principle providing appropriate levels and types of leadership makes a large differnce.

    2. Generally, the teaching staff work very hard trying to educate students.

    3. Teachers are expected to be parents, mentors, buddies, authority figures, trainers, etc. much of which is beyond their training and job descriptions.

    4. and the most unpopular is that simply the quality of the population in Peoria is declining. More parents fail to parent. There is a decrease in a work ethic. People believe they have rights when there are really responsiblities in play and being ignored. The value of education is not being passed on because of the quality of parents. Dogs mating in the streets have more discretion than an ever increasing number of parents. 1-2 sperm donors per child who are uninvolved in the care or finanicial responsibilty of these children doesn’t help either. The fact that the terms baby momma and daddy have had to be invented to supercede the word parents and the expected responsiblities of parenthood go a long way to explain the values of members of our community. and I could go on. This school district or any other simply is not equipped to meet those types of needs. Teachers are assaulted by students and parents. Teachers are ignored. Principle’s authority is diminshed by such students and parents. Students are being robbed of their education by these disruptive students.

    The two fastest growing types of population in the city are families under $10K and those over $200k. The former are district 150 the latter go to Dunlap or at least Mark Bills/Charter Oaks.

    The unpopular decision is that clearly not everyone is going to get an education. Those who don’t want it should be cut loose and all public monies cut off in conjunction. Stop investing money in those who have no desire to be anything more than future prison fodder and stop rewarding those who pop out kids with every man they lie down with. As I said widely unpopular, but gives people a choice, change the behavior or plan to get a job to eat, have housing, and survive or leave the community for some other unsuspecting lot.

    With those who want an education a better system addressing the needs, such as the reality that everyone is NOT going to college be implemented. Start apprenticeships with local electricians, plumbers, CAT, business owners in conjunction with the educational system, etc. Teach trades, give choices based on skills. I would suspect that enrollement would actually increase and behavioral issues would decrease.

    I believe the original Edison Model would be more successful, but as with anything else, with those who want to succeed.

    The educational models for Glen Oak could be implemented (keeping the location the same), but the programming ideas are good.

19. Wow, Paul you said it. I wish I could express myself in words like you do. I agree with everything you said and couldn’t have said it better. We are all parents in a sense as if you hold a job and pay taxes then you help support almost 70% of the kids in D150 via welfare. And as you said, some women have kids from different fathers. Most of these fathers pay no support for these kids and hide from welfare officals who neither can find them nor have the resources to find them. I can find them. Hang out at Sears Auto. When these “fathers” come in to buy $5000 worth of rims and tires, grab them. D150 can not succeed with a demographic like it has. D150 does succeed when parents are responsible and are involved. Witness Washington Gifted School. Why are those kids so successful? Because there are smart? Some are but most come from strong family backrounds to begin with. I can tell you this; you can get any kid, not matter what is grades are, into Washington Gifted if you know the right people in the right places and I can prove this. I saw it done.

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