Closing the Achievement Gap: Uncommon Education Reform and How You Can Change Urban Education

1. Closing the Achievement Gap:  Uncommon Education Reform and How You Can Change Urban Education Emmanuel College Monday, April 2, 2012

2. Articulate the misconceptions and realities regarding particular Charter Schools. Articulate the gravity of the achievement gap and discuss the importance of closing it. Communicate the successes of Uncommon Schools and rationalize its successes. Take advantage of the opportunities for effectively closing the achievement gap. Objectives: ECSWBAT—

3. Who am I? • Why am I here? Introductions:

4. My Journey: The Charter School Debate What is a Charter School? You tell me!

5. “Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The ‘charter’ establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school's contract. Charter schools are accountable to their sponsor-- usually a state or local school board-- to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract. The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for this accountability. They are accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups: the sponsor that grants them, the parents who choose them, and the public that funds them” (USCharterSchool.org). Charter Schools in Definition

6. Charter schools are an alternative to the traditional public school system; based upon choice Individuals, organizations, parents, etc. may submit a charter for a new school with alternative methods for achieving the standards set by the state and federal government. They are provided the autonomy, although considered a public institution, to experiment with new pedagogical methods, utilize parental contracts, incorporate methods of community organization, in addition to the use of many other (often bizarre) methods of meeting standards. Let’s Break that Down:

7. As a result of this given autonomy, charter schools are supposed to be held more accountable to the growth they outline in their charter. If the school does not meet its goal or demonstrate significant progress, they will be issued a probationary charter then/or have their charter revoked. Why? What is the purpose? Proponents of school choice and charter schools say it is to inform traditional public schools on “what works.” Let’s Break that Down:

8. In 1988, Ray Budde, a professor of educational administration in Massachusetts, first proposed the idea of charter schools. Budde wanted teams of teachers to apply for charters to run schools within the district. Each charter would have a specific set of goals and a specific term and would be rigorously evaluated to see what it had accomplished before the charter was renewed. In his plan, those who received a charter would have a bold vision and would take risks to explore the unknown. Back to the Beginning…

9. Furthermore, in that same year, President of the American Federation of Teachers, Albert Shanker, offered a similar concept: Shanker suggested that any group of six or more teachers should be able to submit a proposal to start a new school. THE KEY IS AUTONOMY! These new schools would be research programs with a five- to ten-year guarantee that they could try out their ideas. The schools would be schools of choice for both the teachers and the students. Shanker revoked his endorsement of charter schools in 1993 only to become one of the movements leading critics as he watched big business jump into the “education industry.” The Father of Charter Schools

10. Why would the “founding father” of Charter schools revoke his endorsement and suddenly oppose the movement? In 1955 Milton Friedman, an economist at the University of Chicago, wrote a theoretical piece called “The Role of Government in Education.” It would would pave the road for Educational Reform from Reagan onward. Neo-liberalist reform efforts (reform based upon Milton Friedman’s voucher model involving choice and competition) are grounded in theory, yet there is little data to support this orientation. Adopting the Charter Friedman hoped that by creating competition within the school system (demand), the school systems would improve (supply), or, at least, be run more efficiently.

11. The charter issuing committee varies state-by-state, often district-by-district. Towards the end of the charter period, the committee will review the progress of the school and can grant the school a new charter, put the school on a probationary period to make improvements, and or revoke the charter. Thus, in theory, the school is accountable to its proposal, to growth in student learning (as demonstrated by state assessments) because they are accountable to the public funds from which they acquire their budget. Accountability

12. Charter Schools under fire: nepotism, conflicts of interest, financial mismanagement, corruption, improper special education programs, and even assault. If no pedagogical innovation is coming out of this autonomy, and mostly negative has manifested, are charter schools an intelligent use of funding and beneficial reform? Last year one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted on charters, by researchers from Stanford University and funded by pro-charter organizations, found: Charters Under Fire • 17 % of Charters nationally are performing better than the comparable local school • 46% offer an equivalent education • 37% are performing significantly worse

13. Why is it important to have this discussion?

14. Under the Current Administration… The regulations for the Race to the Top fund excluded any states that… have legal barriers at the state level preventing data on student achievement or student growth from being linked to teacher and principal evaluation limit the number of charter schools

15. The Current Reform Metaphor: Imagine a recent study came out stating that studying abroad in a third world country bolstered one’s ability to find a job and be a productive member of a professional community. The government, instead of holding students accountable to the direct “what works” model, creates a law requiring all students to study abroad. What’s missing?

16. The Current Reform Reality: A number of charter schools who focus on purposeful, data-driven, and positive instructional and pedagogical reform perform better than their traditional public school counterpart. The government, instead of holding educators accountable to the direct “what works” model, creates a law to exponentially increase the number of charter schools. What’s missing?

17. My Argument: We need to shift our discussion from Charter Schools vs. Traditional public schools to an identification of “What Works” and to holding emerging schools accountable to utilizing successful reform practice. Currently, as a whole the charter school movement is unsuccessful, yet if we embrace the founding principal of “pedagogical laboratory” and hold schools and states accountable to the pedagogical gains made by the 17% (successful Charters), we can promote an exponentially increasing margin of return for the students of our nation, particularly in the most crucial areas: our urban centers.

18. Let’s look at one of these successful schools. Think to yourself how can the current reform effort embrace these pedagogical innovations in a whole scale endeavor…

19. Newark: Brick City

20. The Achievement Gap http://www.nps.k12.nj.us/228610216154624947/lib/228610216154624947/Overview.pdf

21. Closing Reversing the Achievement Gap

22. Closing Reversing the Achievement Gap

23. Almost There…

24. College Acceptance: 100% Of HS graduating class from 2008-2012 accepted into a 4 year college. The Most Interesting Metric… Does anyone remember the college matriculation data for Newark?

25. How Does North Star Compare? • NSA: • College Graduation of HS Graduates: 44% • College Graduation of MS Graduates: 28% • HS Grads Currently enrolled or College Grads: 75% • KIPP Houston/KIPP New York: • College Graduation of MS Graduates: 33% • MATCH Charter HS (Boston): • College Graduation of HS Graduates: 26% • Currently enrolled or College Grads: 44%

26. How?

27. North Star Vision Statement In order for our students to be successful and make it to college, we must be tenacious with them. North Star sets a high bar for our students to get over. We cannot lower our high expectations nor can we feel we have done enough if large numbers are failing. So we must cajole, push, coax, demand and even drag our students until they get over this bar. Again, we must do whatever we would do for our own children to ensure they get over the bar. Only this kind of tenacity will achieve what has eluded so many other schools with students like ours. Good teaching is the answer. Teaching that is engaging, rigorous and exciting will make the difference; teaching that is focused on attaining important standards; teaching that is focused on what students actually learn, not just on what we teach; teaching that gets kids working, involved, and having fun. We should not minimize the importance of making it enjoyable, nor should we ever minimize the importance of real results. Real learning yields real results on tests. Remember that teachers are the soul of the school; it is the teachers who make the real difference in the lives of children and teachers who make results happen. However, we must be real about the challenges that we face. The challenges of life in Newark can breed resilient anger, despair and hopelessness. The gains we make every day can be undermined and even torn down by the forces of negativity. We must work every day to get our children to believe in the vision of hope that we have for them. We must work to get them to internalize it—to truly see the star. We must be strong, unrelenting, tenacious and loving with an almost religious zeal. Nothing should be able to stop us in our collective endeavor to help our children—not poverty, not racism, not poor parents, not horrible histories of abuse, not the state bureaucracy, not even a low budget. None of these should keep us from teaching well. We can make no excuses. We have the power to make a difference. We touch lives daily. We are teachers.

28. Good The Best Teachers

29. Overview: Be Uncommon

30. Purposeful Instruction: 100% 100%

31. Purposeful Instruction: No Opt Out No Opt Out

32. Purposeful Instruction: Urgency Urgency

33. Purposeful Instruction: Cold Calling Cold Calling

34. Purposeful Instruction: Precise Praise Precise Praise

35. Summation: We need to shift our discussion from Charter Schools vs. Traditional public schools to an identification of “What Works” and to holding emerging schools accountable to utilizing successful reform practice. Currently, as a whole the charter school movement is unsuccessful, yet if we embrace the founding principal of “pedagogical laboratory” and hold schools and states accountable to the pedagogical gains made by the 17% (successful Charters), we can promote an exponentially increasing margin of return for the students of our nation, particularly in the most crucial areas: our urban centers.

36. Closing: -Questions, comments, concerns, celebrations? -matthewsmccluskey@gmail.com -And most importantly… “I can no other answer make, but thanks, / and thanks.”