The Aspen Institute's National Education Summit: An Urgent CallWashington, D.C., Sept. 15, 2008British education consultant (and long-time student and friend of the United States) Sir Michael Barber believes too many Americans still aren't worried enough about the dire state of education in America.
The Aspen Institute's National Education Summit: An Urgent Call
Washington, D.C., Sept. 15, 2008
British education consultant (and long-time student and friend of the United States) Sir Michael Barber believes too many Americans still aren't worried enough about the dire state of education in America.
In a recent speech to The Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., Barber, former chief policy advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair (see here), emphasized this lack of anxiety and that it needs to end. He drew on his work in Britain and knowledge of other countries' education systems in making several points about American schooling. His observations are highly relevant to Ohio and will resonate with those who have read and appreciated the McKinsey-Achieve report shared with the state's leaders in late 2006. Barber served as the lead author of that report (see here).
Progress is difficult in America as compared to other countries, Barber said, because of our highly decentralized system of government: separated powers between the three federal branches as well as between federal, state, and local levels of government. Barber is hopeful, however, because more Americans are starting to realize that the nation's education systems are failing too many children and are in need of serious reform. In stating something fewer and fewer Americans will say themselves, he is hopeful because of the focus on the achievement gap generated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. Barber says NCLB, while not perfect (and he notes no law of this kind in any society is) has at least set a high floor for educational performance across the country. A floor, by the way, which gets lower and lower with each year in far too many states as people complain that NCLB expectations are unfair to school districts, schools, teachers, and students and demand they be watered-down further.
What Barber concludes from his survey of American education is that we face one of two pathways going forward. One path would be "comfortable, introverted, input-focused, evidence-light" and continues what we have been doing for much of the past 30 years as our international rating in education falls further and further behind. The other pathway of available to us would be "demanding, outward looking, results-focused, evidence-informed." To follow the second pathway, Ohio needs to take notes on Barber's points and start implementing some of the excellent recommendations shared by McKinsey-Achieve in 2006. Only then will the Buckeye State have a shot at being world-class when it comes to educating our children.
Gov. Strickland and other Ohio policy makers should take heed of this advice as it is some of the best in the world and comes from a political liberal who actually ran one of England's largest teacher unions.
Brian L. Carpenter
National Charter Schools Institute
2008
The book begins, "Except for global warming, healing your inner child, and achieving financial success in life, I doubt few other topics have been as exhaustively written about as organizational strategic planning." Is the author unfamiliar with love, war, religion, and Paris Hilton? But things improve a bit when author Brian Carpenter spins a tale about fictional Breezy Palms Charter School, the board of which is composed of regular, down-to-earth people with good intentions but no strategic plan. Because its students are not achieving at high academic levels, Breezy Palms almost has its charter revoked. The authorizer decrees that the school may stay open, but only if its board presents a strategic plan that prescribes how the school will improve.
Enter The Seven Outs: figure out, find out, scope out, write out, carry out, measure out, and shout out. By constructing its strategic plan according to The Outs' guidance, the school stays open. The book's second half delves into The Seven Outs and describes how these can be applied to schools. While some of the lessons are basic common sense-preparing for board meetings, planning your weekly/month schedule-we know that lots of charter boards have little idea what they're doing, and so, simple instructions, as this book offers, can be helpful. Value can be found in The Seven Outs for those who have an interest in charter-school governance. The book can be ordered here.
A version of this review previously appeared in the national Education Gadfly (see here).
It took a year, but common sense prevailed Sept. 25 when a Montgomery County judge dismissed the latest legal shenanigan of charter-school foes in the Buckeye State (see here). In September 2007, then-state Attorney General Marc Dann sued to close three Dayton-area charters alleging that their poor academic performance and mismanagement put them out of compliance with the state's charitable trust laws (see here). He added a fourth case, against a Cincinnati charter, in January 2008.
In the ruling involving the New Choices Community School in Dayton, Common Pleas Judge Michael Tucker disagreed: "This court concludes... that New Choices [charter school] is a political subdivision. Given this conclusion, there is simply no charitable trust role for the Attorney General either by statute or at common law."
The New Choices decision gives hope of a favorable outcome in the remaining two suits since they are also based on the same novel interpretation of Ohio law. Cases remain against Moraine Community School in Montgomery County (see here) and the Harmony Community School in Cincinnati, in Hamilton County (see here). Dann originally filed against four charters, but the fourth school, the Colin Powell Leadership Academy, in Dayton, closed.
As The Gadfly has noted, Dann's lawsuits were never about rescuing kids from bad schools (see here). They were a political maneuver, pure and simple. The Ohio Education Association (OEA), in return for Dann's cooperation in filing the suits, agreed to drop its own flawed legal action against the state for allegedly failing to monitor charter schools properly. E-mails later revealed that Dann's legal strategy was the brainstorm of his cronies at the OEA (see here). With the ruling and the fact that Dann resigned from office amid scandal last spring, the union is sure to be rethinking that decision (see here).
We're no apologists for lousy public schools (district or charter), of which Ohio has too many-especially in the urban centers. Last school year, 51 percent of students in Ohio's eight biggest cities attended a school rated D or F by the state (see here). Fordham, in conjunction with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, laid out recommendations in 2006 for addressing underperforming charter schools (see here). And just last month we called on Ohio to be aggressive in closing bad charter schools (see here). We've even provided ideas for how to do this in a way that provides due process, is transparent, and will hold up in court.
The state has until October 27 to appeal Judge Tucker's decision in the New Choices case. It's possible a decision to appeal, or not, won't be made until after the Hamilton County case is decided in a ruling expected later this month. An appeal remains a real possibility since Attorney General Nancy Rogers, appointed after Dann's resignation, decided to press on with the cases and the ongoing expense to state taxpayers.
Ohio's scarce resources shouldn't be spent on law firms and courtrooms, but in classrooms. The legal standing of charters and choice has been consistently supported by both the state and federal courts. Instead of continuing to fight against the mere existence of charter schools, traditional school districts and their allies in the General Assembly and statewide office should be seeking ways to work with, learn from, and support the good ones. There are simply too many children in Ohio attending schools that are not preparing them for success and any school-charter or district-that delivers results should be supported, while those that don't-charter or district-should be put on notice.
Before the local report cards for Ohio public schools had even been released last summer, districts were crying foul over one particular component, AYP (adequate yearly progress). Simply put, schools must meet annual AYP targets in reading and math proficiency and test participation, graduation rate, and attendance rate for all students and for subgroups of students (see more here). AYP targets increase each year in order to move schools toward the federal No Child Left Behind goal of all children being proficient by 2014. Districts or schools that miss AYP for three consecutive years can be rated no higher than Continuous Improvement, or a C, by the state.
Dublin City Schools feared it would become the latest Columbus suburb to see its rating fall because of AYP and went to the media in July to warn parents and residents that, despite having met 30 of 30 state report card indicators, the district's overall designation might be less than perfect (see here). In the end, however, Dublin's worries-and those of other districts around the state-were for naught. Dublin met its overall AYP targets and was rated Excellent with Distinction-the highest possible rating (see here). So, what happened? The AYP growth model kicked in this year.
Ohio schools previously had three ways to meet AYP: 1) meeting current year achievement targets with current year results, 2) meeting current year targets by combining this year's and last year's results, or 3) meeting "safe harbor" provisions (making a 10 percent or larger reduction in the number of non-proficient students and meeting graduation and attendance goals). This year, Ohio added a fourth way to meet AYP: the growth model. With the growth model, a non-proficient student who is on a path to be proficient within two years counts as proficient during the current year when it comes to AYP. The growth model is based on data from the Ohio Achievement Tests (grades 3 through 8) and so does not apply to traditional high schools that serve grades 9 through 12.
Last year, 30 percent of Ohio school districts met AYP. This year, 51 percent did so. The number of individual buildings meeting AYP rose slightly from 62 percent to 64 percent. In a presentation to the State Board of Education last month, Matt Cohen, executive director of the office of policy and accountability at the Ohio Department of Education, explained that the growth model helped all types of districts and schools across Ohio meet AYP. With the growth model, urban districts saw the biggest jump in the percentage of their subgroups meeting AYP but more suburban districts were able to meet overall AYP.
Ohio is one of several states approved by the federal education department to adopt an AYP growth model (see here). The growth model plans vary from state to state, and early-adopter states saw similar jumps in the number of districts meeting AYP the first year of using the growth model.
Brian L. Carpenter
National Charter Schools Institute
2008
The book begins, "Except for global warming, healing your inner child, and achieving financial success in life, I doubt few other topics have been as exhaustively written about as organizational strategic planning." Is the author unfamiliar with love, war, religion, and Paris Hilton? But things improve a bit when author Brian Carpenter spins a tale about fictional Breezy Palms Charter School, the board of which is composed of regular, down-to-earth people with good intentions but no strategic plan. Because its students are not achieving at high academic levels, Breezy Palms almost has its charter revoked. The authorizer decrees that the school may stay open, but only if its board presents a strategic plan that prescribes how the school will improve.
Enter The Seven Outs: figure out, find out, scope out, write out, carry out, measure out, and shout out. By constructing its strategic plan according to The Outs' guidance, the school stays open. The book's second half delves into The Seven Outs and describes how these can be applied to schools. While some of the lessons are basic common sense-preparing for board meetings, planning your weekly/month schedule-we know that lots of charter boards have little idea what they're doing, and so, simple instructions, as this book offers, can be helpful. Value can be found in The Seven Outs for those who have an interest in charter-school governance. The book can be ordered here.
A version of this review previously appeared in the national Education Gadfly (see here).
The Aspen Institute's National Education Summit: An Urgent Call
Washington, D.C., Sept. 15, 2008
British education consultant (and long-time student and friend of the United States) Sir Michael Barber believes too many Americans still aren't worried enough about the dire state of education in America.
In a recent speech to The Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., Barber, former chief policy advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair (see here), emphasized this lack of anxiety and that it needs to end. He drew on his work in Britain and knowledge of other countries' education systems in making several points about American schooling. His observations are highly relevant to Ohio and will resonate with those who have read and appreciated the McKinsey-Achieve report shared with the state's leaders in late 2006. Barber served as the lead author of that report (see here).
Progress is difficult in America as compared to other countries, Barber said, because of our highly decentralized system of government: separated powers between the three federal branches as well as between federal, state, and local levels of government. Barber is hopeful, however, because more Americans are starting to realize that the nation's education systems are failing too many children and are in need of serious reform. In stating something fewer and fewer Americans will say themselves, he is hopeful because of the focus on the achievement gap generated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. Barber says NCLB, while not perfect (and he notes no law of this kind in any society is) has at least set a high floor for educational performance across the country. A floor, by the way, which gets lower and lower with each year in far too many states as people complain that NCLB expectations are unfair to school districts, schools, teachers, and students and demand they be watered-down further.
What Barber concludes from his survey of American education is that we face one of two pathways going forward. One path would be "comfortable, introverted, input-focused, evidence-light" and continues what we have been doing for much of the past 30 years as our international rating in education falls further and further behind. The other pathway of available to us would be "demanding, outward looking, results-focused, evidence-informed." To follow the second pathway, Ohio needs to take notes on Barber's points and start implementing some of the excellent recommendations shared by McKinsey-Achieve in 2006. Only then will the Buckeye State have a shot at being world-class when it comes to educating our children.
Gov. Strickland and other Ohio policy makers should take heed of this advice as it is some of the best in the world and comes from a political liberal who actually ran one of England's largest teacher unions.
