The Education Gadfly Weekly

The nearly 330 students at KIPP Columbus (aka KIPP Journey Academy) currently learn in a former city school facility. The building itself leaves much to be desired, but KIPP Columbus has made it their dutiful home since the fall of 2008, KIPP’s first year of operation. Since that time, the board and KIPP team have been focused on doing what is best for their students by pushing them to work hard, focusing on results, and helping them climb the mountain to and through college. KIPP’s students come from traditionally underserved backgrounds with nearly 90 percent of the student population economically disadvantaged.

Our Ohio team had the good fortune of spending a morning at the construction site of the KIPP Columbus campus at the former Bridgeview Golf Course.  The new campus, roughly five miles north of its present location, is set to open this fall. (Fordham proudly sponsors KIPP.) We met with Hannah Powell, the executive director of KIPP Columbus, who gave us the scoop on the new school and a guided tour of the site. The campus will integrate safety, technology, and learning design with ample room for collaboration, small group activity and community spaces. Throughout the building, the natural landscape is emphasized, with plentiful open space and large windows that allow for natural lighting, and there are plans for using the surroundings for STEM- and environmental-focused education elements.

Things are moving fast. From the purchase of the property in summer of 2013 to a nearly round-the-clock construction site, KIPP is focused on getting KIPPsters into the new school by next fall. Hannah pointed out, "There is no time to lose, and we are dedicated to making certain our students can move into this incredible place on time."

“The support the community has provided for this project has been tremendous,” said Hannah. “KIPP was founded on the belief that all students in our community should have access to transformational education that empowers them with the knowledge, skills, and character necessary for success in college and in life. We know this new facility will be a game changer for so many young people and we cannot wait to welcome even more students into the KIPP Team and Family.”

As we toured the amazing new campus with its scenic views and natural features, it brought home that the KIPP Columbus family—the staff, governing board, KIPP families, hard-working students, and the Columbus community—are truly making this mission a reality.

Check out our Facebook page for more pictures of our tour of the construction site!

Artist’s rendering of the KIPP elementary and middle school. Photo courtesy of KIPP Columbus.

The main entrance to the new KIPP Columbus elementary and middle school.

Walking the halls of the new school

In the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, Bill Murray relived February 2nd day after day. The Ohio charter-school sector is experiencing its own Groundhog Day moment with every struggle seemingly like the one before—with no end in sight.

Last week, the Toledo Blade brought us news of another charter-school closing. Secor Gardens Academy, which first opened last fall, closed abruptly over the weekend of February 8, sending parents scrambling to find a place to send their children. Maddeningly, the North Central Ohio Education Service Center (NCOESC was characterized in the Blade as defending its own performance as the school’s sponsor.

Yes, this NCOESC is the same one that sponsored two schools infamously closed in October 2013 by State Superintendent Richard Ross for being “an educational travesty.” A couple schools it sponsored, including one with which another sponsor had cut ties due to low performance, closed in December. Meanwhile, the NCOESC has drawn attention for its practice of selling services to schools it sponsors. I’m not sure that this sponsor gets it—but luckily, others are starting to do so.

Fresh off of his comprehensive investigation of the data scandal in Columbus City Schools, Auditor of State Dave Yost announced last week that he plans to take a closer look at charter sponsors, including NCOESC. Yost’s plans currently call for auditing three sponsors (NCOESC, St. Aloysius Orphanage, and Warren County Educational Service Center) and the Ohio Department of Education, focusing on the department’s charter-startup process and internal processes. Auditor Yost deserves kudos for tackling this issue. Parents who choose to send their boys and girls to charter schools, as well as the taxpayers, deserve a high-functioning charter sector, and Yost’s audit looks to be an excellent starting point.

News stories have indicated that Auditor Yost’s audit will be structured as a performance review, which is of course desperately needed. However, I’m hopeful that the audit will extend beyond questions of process and delve into patterns of activity that reflect on professional competence. Analyses of processes often focus on paperwork—dotting of i’s and crossing of t’s. It’s quite possible for a sponsor to get the processes right and still end up making a bad decision. Predicting which charter schools will be successful in terms of both academic success and student enrollment is a combination of art and science.

In the end, the success of a sponsor will often boil down to professional judgment and decision making. If that’s true, it becomes even more important to look at performance outcomes. Charter closures, though painful, are not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, the decision to close a school -- is actually the right one. However, sponsors with multiple closings due to poor academic performance, unsafe conditions, and financial instability—especially early in a charter school’s existence—are making mistakes on the front end. They have no business sponsoring schools.

Unlocking the sponsor conundrum is a necessity if we are going to escape from our Groundhog Day. The upcoming reviews by Auditor Yost, in addition to ODE’s ongoing work on sponsor evaluation, will shine a bright light on charter-school sponsoring. As they should. Our only hope to cease repeating history is for Ohio’s charter-school advocates to come into the daylight and lead the fight for quality, rather than burrowing into darkness and waiting for the season to change.

Political theorist Benjamin Barber is not the first person you would associate with education reform. He is a staunch advocate of democracy, democratic institutions, and “democratic patriotism,” and he is best known for a somewhat prescient 1992 book called Jihad vs. McWorld, which gained some clout following the 2001 terrorist attacks. In his 1994 book An Aristocracy of Everyone: The Politics of Education and the Future of America, he argues that the most critical outcome required of our education system is an appreciation of inclusive civic engagement—and that this outcome and excellence are not mutually exclusive. In fact, he warned of the “dumbing down” of American education at that time. In If Mayors Ruled the World, his latest book, Barber goes even further, calling out national governments of all stripes as gridlocked failures of representative governance. Instead, he argues that cities are the true and proper vehicles of citizenship and democracy…not to mention the only political entities capable of “taking out the trash” - by which he means literally getting the job done. Where does that leave education in the United States, traditionally the domain of the states? Barber cites all the various vehicles of education today—districts, charters, vouchers—and concludes, “In education, then…we need to seek partial solutions, relevant remedies, and best practices that are best because they are salient and pertinent to the specific challenges being addressed. That is in fact what cities do.” “Best practices,” he continues, “arise out of experimentation and action….Those are ‘best’ that work.” Sounds like city mayors need to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

SOURCE: Benjamin R. Barber, If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, November 2013).

• Ohio is gearing up for the spring field testing of the state’s new assessments, the PARCC exams, which align with the Common Core. Not everyone is happy with the change; Representative Andrew Brenner has introduced a bill to delay the implementation of the new tests (set to be administered for real in Spring 2015). In a pointed rejoinder to Brenner’s bill, the Columbus Dispatch argued that the state mustn’t scuttle or delay the implementation of PARCC. We agree: full steam ahead!
• From Lima, in Northwest Ohio, one reporter provides a profile of home-schooling life. Among the reasons the parents gave as to why they home school, they cite their faith, their frustration with the public schools, and the flexibility to choose their own curriculum. Some have suggested that home-schooled children are “denied the memories that come with the public-school experience.” To this, one mother replied, “[t]he only things she [my child] missed out on are the things you shouldn’t really be doing in high school.”
• “Objective number one is that parents understand they have the right to choose, and this is a simple and powerful message,” said Alan Rosskamm of the Breakthrough charter network. He is describing Cleveland’s new website, which is designed to give parents information on all of their public-education options. Unfortunately, most charter schools have thus far failed to provide information for the website’s “brag sheet.” 

Well-meaning people can and do quibble over school-choice issues in our line of work. Sometimes the rhetoric becomes calcified and hardline ideological. But in my neighborhood in central Columbus, where a general dislike for “school choice” as a movement resonates, a small education marketplace has quietly sprung up just the same. And it’s all in the name of keeping young families from moving to the ’burbs.

Clintonville evolved in the early twentieth century along new streetcar lines heading north from downtown Columbus, but it has been politically and geographically part of the larger city for decades. Our neighborhood schools belong to the city district, and we have no autonomous government or ward representation on city council. We have what other neighborhoods here have, which is an Area Commission—elected members from various street-bound jurisdictions for whom we vote by paper ballot at the local barber shop or bank every couple of years. Area commissions exist to advise the Columbus City Council on matters pertaining to their neighborhoods but have no power of their own.

Clintonville is a proud collection of the weird and offbeat, and most of us like it that way. It isn’t flashy, but it feels like home.

For the ninth year in a row, the Clintonville Area Commission sponsored an “education fair,” which is designed to show off the schools that students in the area “traditionally” attend. They include traditional district schools, alternative district schools, charters, private schools (both secular and not), and a standalone STEM school accessible by lottery. If you read the article linked above, you’ll notice that the term “school choice” is studiously avoided, as if children in the area have been magically disbursed to these various schools by means of a Sorting Hat.

But make no mistake: this is truly a school-choice marketplace in form and intent.

I’ve argued elsewhere that a fully functioning school-choice marketplace requires three components: quality, visibility, and accessibility. Whether they like it or not, the people of Clintonville have put together a good facsimile of all three.

All of the schools featured at the fair are equally visible to parents, whether they are education stalwarts or newcomers or whether they require tuition, luck, or a zip code to access. School representatives, often the principals themselves, staff the booths to answer questions and provide information on programs and opportunities in their school. Parents can obtain application materials, make an appointment to visit, and take home a data sheet listing things like teacher-education levels, test scores, transportation or aftercare availability, and academic ratings. That goes for private schools, too, whose information is generally not available outside the walls of the schools. This is information absolutely necessary for parents to make informed choices.

The schools at the fair are not universally accessible, that’s true. If you don’t live in the assignment zone for Clinton Elementary, which is the highest-rated district school in Columbus, you can’t go there. That’s a shame, but many fair attendees do live in that assignment zone (buying a home or renting an apartment in and around Clintonville is a lot cheaper than any fancy suburb you can name) and can learn at the fair that Clinton Elementary bucks a lot of the negative trends raging through the district. For those schools that have non-zip-code access—alternative schools, lottery schools, charters, and tuition-charging private schools—the school representatives can get prospective students into their enrollment process right then and there. Clintonville’s Catholic school has the lowest tuition of any private K–8 in the city. I know this because I’ve been to that fair a couple of times while seeking options for my children.

At the moment, the school-quality aspect is still in the eye of the beholder. Maybe it always will be. But we are most definitely spoiled for choice compared to many other areas of Columbus: the best district elementary, the least-expensive Catholic school, a high-performing STEM school, a secular private school, and two highly rated alternative schools are all accessible. You might not think like my wife and I, but we have sent our children to three of the schools that have booths at the fair and have seriously considered two others along the way.

Why? Because we love Clintonville—we live in a hundred-year-old home filled with character that is also close to work. We don’t want to go to the ’burbs if we don’t have to, but education would be the first and best reason to leave. As evidenced by the fair, the members of the Clintonville Area Commission have understood the value of school choice for years. And despite the commission’s aversion to “school choice” as a phrase and as an idea, it is fully appreciative of what it takes to keep young families here.

“If the state shackles them [school leaders] with rules and envelops them in mandates even as it cuts their budgets, achievement will inevitably head down, not up.” We penned this sentence three years ago in a report entitled Yearning to Break Free. Though Ohio’s economy—and school funding—is much improved compared to 2011, state lawmakers still haven’t loosened the ties that bind school leaders.

That is why the recent comments by Governor John Kasich grabbed my attention. At the Ohio Newspaper Association convention, Kasich told the audience, “We really need a flexible education system“ and “we need to bring about some deregulation.” Agreed, wholeheartedly— but what does a “flexible” public-school system look like? It hinges on the reform of three policies: licensure, the salary schedule, and collective bargaining. The points that follow outline these policies and where the state should go.

Give schools latitude in hiring

Ohio has raft of regulations related to teacher credentials. They can be found in state law (ORC 3319) and in administrative code (OAC 3301-23 and 3301-24). Generally speaking, the completion of a teacher-prep program and the passage of a standardized exam guarantee licensure. These have proven to be woefully mediocre requirements. Teacher-prep programs will admit practically anyone, regardless of academic accomplishment, and the quality of these programs is spotty at best. Meanwhile, the assessment requirement is worse—something of a joke—as virtually everyone passes it.[1]

Licensure does set a minimal threshold for entering teaching. It surely keeps the riff-raff out of our schools. But is the minimum what our students need? And do hiring managers really need a credential that doesn’t say much about the applicant’s potential for effectiveness? (Wouldn’t most schools prefer to hire an Ivy League grad with a 4.0 GPA, with no credential, over a typical ed-school grad with a credential?) In fact, why bother with hoops that shrink the pool of potential teachers and discourage talented individuals from entering the profession? The opportunity lost to our schools due to worthless licensure requirements is great.

It’s time to obliterate the licensure process as a barrier to entering teaching. Already, Ohio has a law that gives public schools (especially STEM schools) some leeway to hire non-licensed teachers (ORC 3319.301). Alternative teacher-certification routes also exist, though there are still burdensome requirements. State law should make it clear: licenses don’t matter much when it comes to hiring great teachers. Instead, school managers should hire whomever they judge to have the highest potential to learn the job quickly and ultimately get it done. That’s really what matters.

Give schools flexibility on teacher pay

The state’s minimum-teacher-salary schedule in state law requires districts to adopt a pay system based on credits earned and longevity (ORC 3317.13 and 3317.14). In short, the law formally requires that schools reward teachers for degrees unrelated to effectiveness and for just being around the school for a long time. Meantime, the salary schedule also incentivizes teachers to pursue superfluous master’s degrees or to teach for a longer time than they really want.

A formal salary schedule is no way to organize a school for effectiveness. It limits school management’s ability to adopt a compensation scheme that adjusts to (1) the overall labor market conditions for a particular specialty (for instance, if there is a shortage of math teachers in a locality); (2) the context of the school (for instance, if a high-poverty school has a shortage of great teachers); and (3) teacher performance. In essence, the salary schedule steals discretionary power from the hands of school managers. State law should untie their hands when it comes to teacher pay by removing the minimum salary schedule.

Give schools relief from rules

Most states require or allow teacher collective bargaining. Ohio is no exception, as it permits—though it does not require—collective bargaining. If a labor union and district negotiate a teacher contract, state law requires that it govern the wages, hours, and the “terms and conditions of employment” for teachers (ORC 4417.10). The “terms and conditions” clause opens up a veritable Pandora’s box of work rules that tie up school managers, restricting their ability to deploy resources (human and financial) efficiently, to establish a distinctive school culture, and to order the school day and classrooms in a manner that best promotes learning.

Among the work rules that may be found in a teacher contract are rules that specify procedures in an effort to dismiss a teacher, rules that limit class size, rules that limit the nonteaching duties of teachers (e.g., “lunch duty”), rules that specify the amount of time for breaks or planning periods, rules that govern teacher transfers between schools, rules about secretaries, rules about vacation days, rules about procedures to reduce the teacher workforce, and rules that limit the number of parent conferences.[2] (Read for yourself Ohio’s teacher contracts.) Public schools slog through a rules-based culture—and much of that culture is the direct result of collective bargaining.

This is no way to organize for effectiveness. State law should weaken or eliminate collective bargaining. One such arrangement may specify which items are not up for negotiation. Indiana and Wisconsin, though they require collective bargaining, specifically take a number of terms of employment off the negotiation table. Ohio could do this. Or it could strike down collective bargaining for teacher unions altogether.

Conclusion: Give schools freedom but hold them accountable

Governor Kasich is right to push for greater freedom in Ohio’s schools. (He did some of this in 2011 with the passage of Senate Bill 5, which was overturned by referendum.) Such freedom, however, must come alongside strong and determined accountability for school outcomes. The Ohio Department of Education should identify schools that struggle and need intervention. State policymakers could help the agency by establishing and funding an entity—a recovery district, perhaps—that can directly manage a floundering school. Schools, whether district or charter, that persistently fail to meet desirable outcomes ought to be closed. Conversely, the state ought to reward schools that regularly perform at a high standard of academic achievement or growth.

Under the bold leadership of the governor, state legislature, and the state board, we can cut the regulatory mumbo-jumbo. Licensure, the salary schedule, and collective bargaining are good places to start. They can free public schools to operate with the mission in mind, not regulation; with effective resource allocation, not rules; and with the best possible talent, not credentials, licenses, or seniority. As we do this, however, the state should enact strong accountability measures for outcomes. Ohio’s kids are still waiting for something better in their public schools.