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York City teachers, officials ‘blindsided’ by blended district option

October 10, 2014 By

by Erin James and Nikelle Snader
York Dispatch
October 9, 2014

York City teachers and school officials are digesting the surprise alternative to complete charter conversion announced by the district’s state-appointed financial recovery officer Wednesday.

The concept is interesting, said Carol Hill-Evans, a member of the Community Education Council and president of the York City Council.

But it also came with “no warning or notice or anything,” she said.

Recovery officer David Meckley has also attached a mid-November deadline for the new plan to be developed and approved.

“I’m wondering, is there enough time for them to work out all the details?” Hill-Evans said.

Blended approach: On Wednesday, Meckley announced at an education council meeting that he is willing to consider a blended approach to academic and financial reform that would include both charter schools and traditional district schools — though he, personally, would prefer to see the district’s eight buildings converted by July 2015 to charter schools.

However, in the interest of building consensus among skeptical school board members and other stakeholders, Meckley said he is willing to consider a compromise.

Meckley said he envisions a district of three schools operated by Charter Schools USA and five schools operated by the district under a revised transformation plan starting next year.

Charter Schools USA has agreed to the concept of a five-year contract. During that time, performance evaluations would determine whether a school remains charter- or district-operated.

‘Blindsided’: Teacher and education council member Janice Laird said she was “blindsided” by the proposal.

“It was unexpected,” Laird said. “And I was very surprised that he didn’t in any way ask for the opinions of the council he set up.”

Meckley said the new concept will work only if the teachers union agrees to a new contract — which has not happened despite a year of negotiations already.

Also, the district has a little more than a month to revise the strategies of its academic recovery plan for the next five years.

That deadline doesn’t seem realistic to Kim Schwarz, secretary and past president of the teachers union.

“There’s so many unknowns,” she said. “It’s just a very difficult thing to sign away your livelihood over many years’ time when there’s so many uncertainties.”

Parents, teachers and school board members Schwarz spoke with after Wednesday’s meeting don’t view Meckley’s proposal as a “happy medium,” she said.

“There’s obviously a lack of trust,” Schwarz said.

The union has continued to meet with the school district about contract negotiations, said union president-elect Ira Schneider.

“We continue to bargain in good faith and we will work toward a collective-bargaining agreement,” Schneider said. “That’s always been our goal and that will continue to be our goal.”

Concerns: Contract issues aside, Laird said she has additional concerns about the consequences of a hybrid model.

“There’s no equal footing when a $200 million company comes in to take over three schools,” she said. “If they manage to perform well, they get the whole district.”

Aside from each school in the district having its own distinct community, the transiency of students could create larger education gaps if students move and are caught in two different curriculums between the district and Charter Schools USA, Laird said.

“We have kids who are sometimes in six different places in a single school year,” she said.

Hill-Evans said she likes the idea of competition between district-operated schools and charter schools.

“Competition is good. It’s healthy. And it’s reality,” she said.

Agreeing on a new union contract is the largest concern for school board president Margie Orr.

“Until that portion of it is solved, I really can’t go into the other details right now,” she said.

Filed Under: Breaking News

Why Des Moines Can Be a Model for Urban Schools

October 10, 2014 By

By Matt Vasilogambros and Mauro Whiteman
National Journal

A majority of students are minorities. Poverty rates are going up. Refugees speak 100 different languages and dialects. And despite all this, the school district is seeing gains.

National Journal recently visited Des Moines to see how an increasingly diverse population—a majority of public-school students are now minorities—and booming economic development have changed this once-sleepy town. In the coming weeks, Next America will publish a series of stories about the reality of 21st-century Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa—Parju Rai finishes her quiz on integers with ease, putting her pencil down as Amelia Mieth, an eighth-grade teacher, calls time. Rai and her family arrived in the United States just two months ago from a refugee camp in eastern Nepal. But you wouldn’t know it from her comfort level in the class. She doesn’t speak much English, but she understands the universal language of math. “She knows exactly what she’s doing,” Mieth says in her Amos Hiatt Middle School classroom on the east side of town.

But Rai doesn’t stand out among her peers. Of the 28 students in her math class, only four are white. The others are a mix of Asian refugees, Latino immigrants, and African-Americans. It’s a representative sample of a classroom in Iowa’s capital city.

The majority of the 33,000 students in the Des Moines public schools are minorities, and they have been for the last several years. Whites make up only 45 percent of classrooms here, and the rest includes a growing number of Latinos (24 percent) and Asians (7 percent), and a steady number of African Americans (18 percent). The student population is the result of demographic trends that have reshaped Des Moines over the past couple of decades—as white families moved to the suburbs, Iowa’s open-door refugee policy and plentiful unskilled labor jobs made way for more ethnic newcomers.

It’s clearly a diverse student body, but it’s also a disadvantaged one. Two constant challenges facing the school district are poverty and English language skills. Even so, the district is experiencing some surprising academic successes that could make it a national model for other urban districts.

Superintendent Tom Ahart doesn’t sugarcoat the obstacles: “We really have an uphill battle.” While just 33 percent of students qualified for free or reduced meals in 1993, that number is up to 73 percent today. A majority of schools, in fact, give all students free breakfast and lunch. And poverty is not a problem that’s going away—the rate is even higher for the kindergarten cohort, and enrollment continues to rise. Urban-core poverty in Des Moines is comparable to Detroit or Philadelphia, Ahart contends.

Meanwhile, refugees from all over the world continue to arrive in the public-school system here, bringing with them more than 100 different languages and dialects. The language barrier at home can be quite acute. According to Urban Institute data from 2011, Iowa ranks fifth for the share of children of immigrants who live in homes that are “linguistically isolated,” meaning that there is virtually no one older than 14 in the household who speaks English well. This makes it difficult for parents to communicate with school officials and also limits their ability to help with their child’s classwork.

But despite these challenges, Des Moines public schools seem to be closing the achievement gap across most levels. Test scores and graduation rates are improving. Since 2009, the four-year graduation rate has risen nearly 7 percentage points to just over 79 percent. The graduation rate for black students at the comprehensive high schools (not including the special-education and alternative schools) is just 5 percentage points lower than that for white students, at 81 percent. The dropout rate for Des Moines high school students has also declined since 2009. The district saw gains in statewide proficiency test scores at every grade level in math and reading except in 11th grade reading. And African-American students saw the largest increase in reading and math scores for grades three through five.

How does this demographically disadvantaged school district continue to improve?

Part of it has to do with the culture. Take North High School, which was at the bottom for Iowa in all test scores five years ago, hovering around 40 percent across all levels. It sits in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Des Moines, where many students spend nights working late or essentially parenting their younger siblings. Teachers, knowing this, excused students from academic obligations. North was an afterthought, and the school looked like it, too, with no air-conditioning and rundown classrooms.

Then the school got a new administration, new expectations, and new digs. The district cleaned house and installed different administrators, who immediately addressed what they saw as a systematic failure in the relationship between students and teachers. “We understand these hardships,” explains Michael Vukovich, the current principal, “but in order to break these cycles of poverty in our community, we have to educate our kids and get them to college and get them degrees.”

“You can’t do that by letting them sleep in class,” says Vukovich. “You can’t do that by giving them packets of work instead of teaching material. We can’t control some of the things that these kids endure when they leave our building. But when they’re in, we can hold them to these expectations.”

For teachers, it meant coaching so they could improve. For the building, it meant $14 million in renovations, installing air-conditioning and modernizing. They also used new grants to provide all students with their own laptop—today, students are assigned individual iPads. Add to that a new dress code for students and teachers, the elimination of in-school suspensions and detentions, and a strengthened effort to quickly clear the hallways between classes, and the school’s transformation was underway.

Last year, the school hit 58.3 percent proficiency in reading—almost a 20-point increase. Five years ago, there was one Advanced Placement class with 11 students. Now, there are 12 with 600 total enrollments. North High School started offering AP Spanish to students for the first time last year. Eight students chose to the take the test, and all eight passed and earned college credit.

But Des Moines can’t address all of its challenges without putting heavy resources into its growing English Language Leaners program. Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, refugees have flocked to Iowa. But the situation is different now then it was 40 years ago, says Vinh Nguyen, one of those refugees from Vietnam, and the current ELL program coordinator for the district.

In the mid-1970s, there were just 300 students in the ELL program, speaking Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, and Tai Dam. Today, the program serves 6,100 students (20 percent of all Des Moines public-school students), who speak more than 100 languages and dialects. That number grew rapidly just in the past decade, as there were just 26 languages in 2001. Back in the 1970s, the federal and state governments provided ample resources for refugees. That assistance is scant today. Back then, students came to the U.S. knowing how to read and write in their native language. Many students today come illiterate in their native language.

“Every time we have a new population, I sit back and learn about that population and figure out ways to work with them and learn about their community,” says Nguyen, who came to the U.S. in 1983. “As soon as I get a good hold of it, a new population comes in. My job is never done.”

At its most basic level, ensuring that these students understand English starts with ELL teachers like Margaret Peterson, who works at Greenwood Elementary School. Some of her students have a good foundation of literacy. Some do not. Some quickly learn to speak a new language. Others need more time. But she has to teach all of them together, despite their backgrounds.

“Everyone always asks, ‘Do you speak all of those languages?’ And my answer is always, ‘How did you teach your own children when they started?’ ” she says. “For a teacher to sit and talk about vowel sounds to someone from Somalia makes absolutely no sense to them. You have to simplify everything.”

The number of ELL students will continue to rise; 26 percent of kindergartens are in the program. And these students, too, have to take the statewide standardized tests like everyone else, even though the students are not yet fully proficient when they exit the program. Despite this, 37 percent of ELL students were proficient in reading in last year’s statewide exams, a jump of 19 percentage points from the year before. And it takes an effort from teachers outside of the ELL program (Mieth, a math teacher, decorates her classrooms with vocabulary words and requires written-out answers on homework.)

School officials argue that legislation stands in their way of making truly substantial progress. Last year, 40 Des Moines schools were deemed “in need of assistance” by federal government standards. At the state level, they’re advocating for a change in the way resources are allocated to school districts. At the federal level, they see No Child Left Behind and subsequent tests as archaic and unable to measure progress. But that doesn’t mean Ahart is not pleased with his district’s progress.

“Despite some real state policy issues that get in the way of us doing the best job that we could, you can get the job done if you really believe the kids are capable,” Ahart says. “As simple and Pollyanna-ish as that sounds, it’s really the fundamental thing we need to remember. Kids are capable. We need to hold the bar high, and not sell any of the population short.”

Urban schools across the country struggle with adversities such as poverty and basic language skills, but this school district in Central Iowa seems to be on the right path, despite growing diversity.

Stephanie Stamm contributed to this article.

Filed Under: Breaking News

Best Of Both Worlds

October 1, 2014 By

Everyday we are inundated with technology. We wake up in the morning and watch television, we listen to the radio on the commute to school; but when we arrive to a traditional school, technology becomes a banned distraction entirely. As technology is enhanced, education has the opportunity to improve simultaneously. Blended learning is a unique method of teaching that combines in-person instruction with online learning. Instead of just throwing some iPads into a classroom, blended learning relies on the effective use of technology in which both students and teachers benefit. Websites like “Edmodo,” a teacher/student interaction page that resembles Facebook, and computers with required books already loaded onto them are small examples of technologies that make a real impact. Center School District Superintendent George Welsh said, “I foresee a time when technology will take the place of textbooks.” In the classroom and in the checkbook, the blending of online and site-based learning has the potential to completely change the way we approach education.

The Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation uses four primary blended learning models: rotation, flex, self-blend, and enriched virtual. Rotation model ensures that students switch between online instruction and in-class lessons. This method seems familiar to the structure of elementary classes in which there are always different stations for separate activities. An example of a rotation model-based setting is a “flipped classroom” where students learn lessons virtually and then apply them in class. Self-blend model involves students taking traditional courses at school and additional courses at home.

When I attended traditional high school a few years ago, many online classes were offered in addition to the required courses. This seems to be the most natural high school level implementation option for blended learning because it is not a major adjustment. Enriched Virtual model is simply when students take courses online and then meet with teachers as needed. Flex model is when an entire course is online and teachers are available for in-person support and tutoring. Blended learning tackles the issue of student achievement and having accessible teachers ensures clear student expectations and ownership of resources. In 2013, RAND Corporation researched the effectiveness of blended learning in an algebra class and found that those who spent 60% of the time in the classroom and 40% of the time on Cognitive Tutor software outperformed students in traditional setting.

Not only does blended learning keep students accountable, it also keeps teachers working their hardest to provide the best education. Teachers report that the online lecture is the easy part; the face-to-face aspect of lesson, however, is where the challenge lies. With less classroom time, teachers must plan purposefully to address exactly what they want the students to gain from the lesson. Blended learning demands the most from both teachers and students and causes individuals to work their absolute hardest.

The thing that fascinates me the most about blended learning is how well it contends arguments against virtual learning. Online learning critics often point at the discipline and time-management skills needed to achieve academic success, but blended learning ensures that students are accountable for their education. Meeting with a teacher face-to-face eliminates the idea that students will not aspire to their best on their own. People, especially children, thrive when they get to make their own choices. There is something compelling about having control of your own decisions, and blended learning ensures that students feel connected to their own educations.

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With:

Unraveling The Multiply Reinforced Orientation: School Choice And Peer Influence

October 1, 2014 By

Just like anything you choose to pursue in life, you are only as strong as your team of supporters. While programs with school choice programs are non-discriminatory, the inequity of the system goes deeper than simply sorting through options. The varying income levels that students come from make for a diverse but fragmented group of decision makers. In the process of choosing schools, there is a direct relationship between amount of directional support and income level. While advanced middle-class students are leaning on family and peer support, where are the school advisors to help those who lack foundational support at home?

Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, author of Unaccompanied Minors, compiled interviews of 46 eighth grade students from IS 725 and demonstrates a fresh perspective on equity struggles and debates. The book paints a very realistic picture of the education system as a whole by honing in on personal narratives that establish what life is like for certain students and their families. Chapter four is an assessment of navigating the school choice system and essentially addresses the inequity in NYC high school choice as a rocky foundation of misconceptions and inaccurate assumptions. While school choice is designed to be a personal decision that allows students to pick a school based on their individual needs, family members and peers influence students the most.

The chapter begins by noting that generally, low-income Latino students at IS 725 seemed to be unclear about school choice direction, while middle-class Asian-origin students at IS 725 were reportedly adamant about the school selection search. Students on the advanced track conveyed extensive knowledge of different school choices and were very much aware of details, policies, and performances. Middle-class parents or guardians may be more inclined to send their children to college and therefore more willing to give substantive input about education choices. “Multiply reinforced orientations” sets the standard for where students feel they belong and distance low-income students from attending a high-performing school. While the decisions middle-class students in the gifted program make are attributed to “strategic choice,” the selections of low-income are chalked up to “passive choice.”

Interactions between peers during school days completely shape the way students learn and the choices they make on a day-to-day basis. On a very logistical level, if you surround yourself with people who are organized about school choice events and application requirements, by association you have the advantage of being informed. Students whose friends do not have an agenda for school searching are left to conquer the act of planning ahead alone. On an emotional level, students who have friends aiming for the highest performing schools and often share similar mindsets. Friends often share common interests or goals, so you tend to mimic their actions and decisions. Sattin-Bajaj noted that for low-income students, the decision is less about finding a school that will allow them to thrive, and instead keeping the safety net of people they know close to them. Often times, a student is the only person in his/her family attending school, friends become family and attending school with them becomes exponentially important.

The most frustrating aspect of this is that, generally, school faculty involvement just isn’t helpful. Advisors reassure the gifted students of their extensive knowledge and the immigrant students are told everything from their advisors and know nothing more. Advisors are helping the two extremes and are neglecting an entire misinformed student population. Bottom line: the students who need the help simply aren’t getting it.

School choice is an amazing program that endeavors to place students in programs where they will flourish. As Sattin-Bajaj states, “high school choice experiences and outcomes put into sharp relief the impact of differential access to supports and resources.” In order for all students to reap the benefits of this program, school faculty members need to monitor the progress of low-income students whose family may not be as accustomed to the school choice selection process. From the moment an application is sent in, to the time a confusing letter is delivered to their mailbox, low-income and minority students must have support through every step of the process to ensure that each student receives the highest quality education.

Brett Swanson, CER Intern

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With:

Education Report Card Reveals Most States Still Below Average

October 1, 2014 By

Indiana Remains Number One, While Mississippi Makes Most Progress

CER Press Release
Washington, D.C.
October 1, 2014

Just six states earn rankings above 80 percent when it comes to giving parents fundamental power over their child’s education, according to the fifth edition of Parent Power Index (PPI), released today by The Center for Education Reform (CER).

Parent Power Index is a web-based report card that evaluates and ranks states based on qualitative and proven state education policies. The higher a state’s grade, the more parents are afforded access and information about learning options that can deliver successful educational outcomes for their children.

“While it’s true some states have made progress, it’s not nearly enough to meet demand. Simply put, we need more learning options available to more families, and we need them fast,” said Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform.

“Out of the over 54 million K-12 students nationwide, only an estimated 6.5 million students are taking advantage of charter schools, school choice programs such as vouchers or tax credits, and digital or blended learning models,” said Kerwin. ”With the United States’ school-aged population expected to grow at unprecedented rates in the next 15 years, how will our school system be able to meet demand when we already have wait lists for charter schools and oversubscribed scholarship programs?”

A median PPI score of 67.4 percent (Delaware) shows just how poorly most states have implemented policies surrounding charter schools, school choice, teacher quality, transparency, and online learning, the five main components that comprise state PPI scores. Mississippi, ranked 20, made the most progress, moving up 21 spots and breaking into the top 20 states after being in the bottom 11 states on previous analyses.

“With 36 governor races this November, it’s time enacting parent-empowering policies take front and center. America’s future depends on states’ ability to enact good policy to accelerate the pace of education reform and grow new and meaningful choices for parents.”

CER President Kara Kerwin and CER Executive Vice President Alison Consoletti Zgainer are available for comment on CER’s Parent Power Index. Members of the media should contact CER Communications Director Michelle Tigani at 301-986-8088 or [email protected] to set up interviews.

The PPI education scorecard reveals state summary data, while full state-by-state details, including methodology, can be found at parentpowerindex.com.

This year’s Parent Power Index takes into account CER’s first-ever voucher and tax credit scholarship rankings and analysis, School Choice Today: Voucher Laws Across the States Ranking & Scorecard 2014 and School Choice Today: Education Tax Credit Scholarships Ranking & Scorecard 2014.

Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With:

The fate of Walter D. Palmer Charter School

September 24, 2014 By

This past school year, 1,289 students, approximately 240 of whom with special needs, received an education centered around social justice, development and growth at the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School (WDP – LLPCS) in Philadelphia, PA.

As the school has been busy rebuffing district efforts to unlawfully cap the charter’s enrollment and working to resolve financial issues, it was completely blindsided when Philly’s School Reform Commission (SRC) decided to illegally (see a pattern here?) suspend the school’s charter.

Meanwhile, parents overwhelmingly support the school, saying things like “the school is a godsend,” and “I think it’s an excellent school,” and “I recommend this school over any other public school in the district.”

Walter D. Palmer epitomizes a charter school built with the mission to serve as many underserved students as possible, and it’s criminal to try and stop them from this mission.

Back in late May, the school’s fight to stay open took an interesting turn. Blatantly ignoring due process, the SRC took steps to remove WDP – LLPCS’ charter as the school has been working diligently to resolve financial issues while still providing a viable parental choice for its students.

Unfortunately, in June, a court ruling sided with the SRC, claiming it acted properly within its power to cap enrollment of Walter D. Palmer Leadership Academy. Even Pennsylvania’s highest court has validated the destructive perception that the SRC holds inexorable power over charter schools, despite all of this being in stark contrast to state law.

Hundreds of Walter Palmer families, many of whom come from the poorest areas of Philadelphia, made their voices heard at rallies to preserve this school that some have called a “godsend.”

Currently, the Philly charter school has filed for an emergency hearing, requesting $1.4 million it says the district did not pay the school because of an enrollment dispute.

Sadly, funding for charter schools is a huge equity issue nationwide. The 2014 Survey of America’s Charter Schools finds that charter schools get 36 percent less revenue than traditional district schools. While charter schools have dealt with this reality and have proven to be more effective at delivering results for students with less funding, it makes it extremely difficult for schools like Walker Palmer’s to stay open.

UPDATE:
On Wednesday, September 24, a Common Pleas Court judge denied the school’s request for an immediate payment of $1.4 million from the Philadelphia School District. It is unclear as to what this decision will mean with regard to keeping the school open.

We’ll keep you posted.

Be sure to check back here for the latest developments on the hearing as they unfold.

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso

Panel Reaction: Expanding Opportunity Through Innovation

September 4, 2014 By

It’s currently my first day here at CER and I have already attended a book launch event/panel discussion that honed in on the current struggles with education and markets, and peeked into the future of a more productive system. Upon arriving at the panel at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), we were given copies of Research Fellow Michael McShane’s Education and Opportunity mini-book (emphasis on the mini), which serves as a basic introduction of the education system to a new college audience joining the education conversation. The book addresses reforms such as smaller class sizes, indirect choice, accountability, increase in staff, and universal preschool, which all put concepts into practice.

His overarching theme throughout the piece revolves around the idea that decentralizing a system that leverages society leads to a more holistic understanding of education. He breaks down parent power at a basic level in an attempt to reach a younger age group. He starts off with generalities: Education is important. Academic success is crucial because it leads to monetary prosperity. McShane addresses the gap between the salaries of college graduates and those of high school graduates. The Brookings Institute released a study noting that while 45% of those in the bottom tier of the income bracket without a college degree remained in poverty, those who were born into poverty but pursued college education actually have a higher probability of ending up in the wealthiest tier, as opposed to ending up in the lowest. Another one of his points revolves around the troubling statistic that only 26% of students who took the ACT scored “college ready” in all four subjects. As a student who took the ACT’s only a few years ago, the concept of an education system not properly setting students up for economic prosperity comes as no surprise. ACT scores are on a constant decline. At what point are we going to take a step back and realize that if the system is not producing the results needed, the plan of attack must be changed?

The panel later addressed how markets are extremely powerful tools in separating schools from governments, but made sure to reiterate that markets are not magic. Jeffrey Bailey, Executive Vice President of Arete Scholars addressed education as an enterprise to be approached in new ways. Everything in our society has become interdisciplinary, but our education system has not caught up. In Bailey’s words, “schools should look less like a general handyman and more like a specialized contractor.” Andy Smarick, Partner at Bellwether Education Partners, joined in on the conversation with a challenge to consider “charter” as a verb, not an adjective. To charter is to create, hold accountable, and continue a cycle of improvement. This idea of “School Choice 2.0” is fascinating because it calls out the divisiveness of unitary education system. As society changes, education must innovate to meet new expectations.

What impresses me most about McShane’s book is that it does not aim to intimidate college students with impressive terminology and verbose academic assertions. Instead, he wants to incorporate younger people into the discussion by making his points about education clear and focused. The point he made about price stabilization should be an issue that speaks directly to young students. We have no idea how much it costs to educate a student; we only know how much we spend on that education. It’s up to us to inject market forces into government by adding new innovations (such as education saving accounts) that liberalize the system and those in it. McShane provides an easy-to-follow book that drives home the concept of an independent operated, government-funded, and individually chosen education system. Although the book did seem to oversimplify dynamic issues, it doesn’t seem to cross the line of offending students with its simplicity.

Brett Swanson, CER Intern

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With:

Breaking Down Biases: Context, When It Comes to Education, is a Better Indicator of Public Opinion

August 21, 2014 By

Critical Analysis of the 46th Annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

CER Analysis
August 2014

Informed public opinion happens when there are proper definitions and context in polling. While public knowledge of certain facets of American education like Common Core and charter schools has increased with time, surveys such as America’s Attitudes Towards Education Reform that consistently provide context for respondents are better indicators of America’s attitudes because they allow respondents to more fully understand the issues at hand, allowing for more educated judgments.

Unfortunately, the conductors of the PDK/Gallup poll have yet again attempted to curtail the American public’s true perceptions of education issues by using misleading questions and failing to provide proper context to all respondents.

The following is a topical, point-by-point analysis that compares the 46th Annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools with other public opinion polling to set the record straight and provide a clearer picture of what Americans truly think about education today.

 

What PDK/Gallup Says on Charter Schools:

⋅ “Fourteen years ago, we wrote the question about charter schools at a time when most Americans were unfamiliar with them. For that reason, we added a descriptor indicating that ‘charter schools operate under a charter or contract that frees them from many of the state regulations imposed on public schools and permits them to operate independently.’”

⋅ “We have become increasingly uncomfortable with this question because we hesitate offering explanations that can bias the response, particularly as more Americans are familiar with charter schools. For this reason, we asked half of the respondents in our random sample the legacy question with the descriptor and the other half of the respondents the more direct question: “Do you favor or op- pose the idea of charter schools?”

⋅ “The percentage supporting public charter schools declined when we removed an explanation of charter schools from the question.

⋅ “Most Americans misunderstand charter schools, believing that they can charge tuition and admit students based on ability, and nearly half believe they can also teach religion. More Americans believe students receive a better education at public charter schools than at other public schools.”

CER Analysis:

It’s clear the PDK/Gallup poll recognizes that when asking, “do you support charter schools?” many respondents are still actually unaware of what charter schools are, as it states in the executive summary that seven of ten Americans support charter schools, particularly when they are given the description of what a charter school is [emphasis added].

However, this charter school descriptor was only included for half of the total number of respondents polled, as the PDK/Gallup poll report admits.

Despite PDK/Gallup’s attempt to diminish results, support for choice grows with knowledge, as other polls like America’s Attitudes Towards Education Reform indicate that 73 percent of Americans support charter schools when provided the proper definition.

 

What PDK/Gallup Says on Vouchers:

⋅ “Two-thirds of Americans oppose public school vouchers.”

⋅ “Q: Do you favor or oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense?”
“A:   Favor:    37 percent.    Oppose: 63 percent”

CER Analysis:

We’ve stated for years that rightfully describing school choice programs as “publicly-funded” versus “at public expense” removes the bias that suggests such programs are harmful to the average taxpayers’ pocketbook. The question posed to PDK/Gallup respondents includes this biased qualifier ‘at private expense,’ which feeds into the inaccurate myth that school choice programs drain money from public schools. The reality is that school choice programs can, and do, reduce costs and use public dollars more efficiently.

In fact, a study by researchers Patrick J. Wolf and Michael Q. McShane, published in the peer-reviewed journal Education Finance and Policy in 2013, reveals that the D.C. voucher program offers a 162 percent return on each taxpayer dollar invested in the program.Not only that, but the graduation rate for voucher students is 12 percentage points higher than those not using vouchers.

Again, as with charter schools, despite PDK/Gallup’s attempt to diminish results, support for choice grows with knowledge, as other polls like America’s Attitudes Towards Education Reform indicate that 74 percent of Americans support school choice when provided the proper definitions and context.

A 2013 Friedman Foundation poll reveals seven in ten mothers with at least one child in school support school choice tax credits, and two-thirds support education savings accounts. Additional polling from Friedman finds that 61 percent of Americans would opt for a schooling alternative to their child’s traditional school designated by zip code.

 

What PDK/Gallup Says on Testing & Common Core:

⋅ “The oversimplified model based almost exclusively on standardized testing isn’t working, and Americans know that. That’s why it’s losing public support.”

⋅ “Standardized testing can be one of the tools but it cannot be the only form of evaluation.”

⋅ “While most Americans (68%) are skeptical that standardized tests help teachers, they support using them to evaluate student achievement or to guide decisions about student placement, particularly to award college credit such as through Advanced Placement exams.”

⋅ “Most Americans (60%) oppose the Common Core State Standards, fearing that the standards will limit the flexibility of the teachers in their communities to teach what they think is best.”

CER Analysis:

Testing isn’t the only determinant of student results, yet the way the PDK/Gallup poll phrases questions and reports results causes respondents and readers to conjure up images of rote, bubble-filling, multiple-choice exams as if they are the only tests that exist in public education today. Regardless of the type of test, Americans actually DO demand accountability and think our students and schools should be held to high standards.

It’s rare to find an issue that 86 percent of Americans can agree on, but in education, it’s accountability, according to America’s Attitudes Towards Education Reform: Public Support for Accountability in Schools.

Overall, CER’s poll reveals that 71 percent of parents would remove their child from a learning environment that was not presenting enough of a challenge and seek out a more rigorous alternative. Sixty-seven percent of adults would choose to go elsewhere in the face of an under-performing school, further validating that parents want accountability and value student performance and high standards.

 

What PDK/Gallup Says on Public School Quality:

⋅ “By far, lack of financial support continues to be the No. 1 challenge facing public schools in America, in response to the question, “What do you think are the biggest problems that the public schools of your community must deal with?”

⋅ “50% of Americans gave the schools in their communities either an A or B, with parents awarding local schools even higher marks.”

⋅ “At the same time, Americans give the nation’s schools significantly lower grades with more than 80% assigning the nation’s schools a C or lower grade; no public school parents gave the nation’s schools an A.”

CER Analysis:

People still believe that more money is the answer to our public education woes. This perception runs up against the reality that public education in the U.S. is a $607 billion dollar industry that produces abysmal math and reading proficiency rates at 35 and 36 percent, respectively, among eighth graders. Meanwhile, research shows that charters are 40 percent more cost-effective in delivering math results on national assessments, and 41 percent more effective in delivering results in reading. Charters deliver results while receiving 36 percent less funding on average than traditional district schools, indicating that “lack of financial support” is not the number one challenge facing public schools, but rather something deeper and more systemic in figuring out how to use public dollars more effectively.

When it comes to opinions on school quality, 41 percent of Americans say their child’s school works ‘completely’ well, 44 percent reported a middling level of satisfaction, and eight percent say their child’s school ‘rarely,’ or ‘never’ works well for their child, according to the 2013 America’s Attitudes Towards Education Reform.

While it’s clear from both polls that Americans think their own schools are faring better than their neighbor’s schools, when armed with knowledge and data about schools, opinions change. Over half of adults polled in America’s Attitudes Towards Education Reform would be likely to change schools if their child wasn’t performing well academically, and 67 percent would be likely to change if the school didn’t meet annual measurements and test scores.

 

Conclusion:

For years, The Center for Education Reform has identified deficiencies in how PDK/Gallup presents certain education issues to poll respondents. Thirteen years later, it is time that this widely publicized poll take action to remove bias from questions and provide adequate context to ensure accurate reporting in how the public feels about critical education issues.

 

Filed Under: News & Analysis Tagged With:

Closing Time

August 15, 2014 By

During my orientation at CER, Outreach Coordinator Tyler Losey informed me that I would be doing real work that mattered for the organization. Of course, I did end up taking on some of the administrative tasks such as stuffing envelopes, labeling, and scanning documents; however, I hardly ever felt like such work was meaningless. CER’s mission is to bridge the gap between policy and practice, and everything that I have done, including intense research and effective event planning, speaks to that very mission.

I am astonished at how much I have learned from my internship—so much more than I ever expected to. I will leave this organization with the ability to research so efficiently that I could find my next employer the names of all charter schools in the New England area that have received approval to open up for the coming school year in the span of just one hour. I know where to look for certain information, what sources to trust, and how to organize my information in a presentable way.

I was taught how to write briefly and matter-of-factly, but also informatively. Using the Media Bullpen as my medium for practice, I have written summaries and critiques for articles in just about three sentences total. Getting a message across in a manner like this makes it much easier for my audience to not only remember tidbits from my analysis, but to also gain my perspective regarding a certain topic much quicker than going through a long article trying to find what may be the most important point.

I have stepped out of my comfort zone and have even dabbled a little bit in designing an info-graphic for CER’s Instagram. Through this experience, I learned that it is okay to try new things and make mistakes while experimenting. All I really have to do is try again, and I did. For this reason, I saw an improvement in my work and an increase in a skill I thought I never had.

I now read the news with passion rather than boredom. CER’s Daily Clips, an email full of educated-related articles, has made me come to depend on news to wake me up in morning more than my usual cup of coffee. I am more aware of what is going around me, and I am better off that way.

I have overcome my shyness and have learned to network—to talk to more people, who often times are more than willing to engage in a conversation with me. In a town like D.C., many people are looking to engage with one another. There was no need for me to even be scared of introducing myself at all.

Clearly, I have enjoyed my time here at CER immensely. Is it really over? It seems like I had my interview with Alison just yesterday, but really that was three months ago—three months that have taught me so much! I thank the CER staff for their laughter, aid, kindness, and open-door policy. I will truly miss working for this organization. I wish CER well in everything that it is doing to encourage a better education system for all children. I hope to see CER happy and settled in their new office when I come back to visit!

Navraj Narula – CER Intern

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso Tagged With:

The Summer Comes To An End

August 11, 2014 By

I can’t believe how much I have gained from this experience as an intern at The Center for Education Reform (CER). I originally came into the internship with the expectation of getting informed about the charter school movement, among other things, and I had no idea that this internship would go way beyond that expectation. Not only do I fully understand the discussion surrounding charter schools, but also I can speak of experiences hearing from CEO’s and founders of charter school networks,and I can recognize the names of charter school authorizers across the country. Beyond charter schools, I have learned about, tax-credits, school choice, STEM education, the “summer slide”, online learning, and teacher evaluation.

One of my favorite aspects about this internship was that I had the opportunity to read about the current issues surrounding education reform, and then hear from and speak with the leaders in the movement. After reading about the changes in education policy, I had the opportunity, along with my fellow interns, to actually meet with Katherine Haley, the policy advisor to the Speaker of the House. She spoke with us about her experiences on Capitol Hill, and the successes she has had over the years.

Interning at The Center for Education Reform got me talking to everyone about education. Throughout the summer I have found myself mentioning studies about education, or sharing links to articles that I read. After my internship, I have even been successful in signing-up my friends and family for CER’s weekly Newswire.

I am excited about how much I have learned over the past ten weeks and seeing where it will bring me in the future. I have enjoyed the support from each staff member and working alongside the other interns. I am very thankful to have had such a great summer here at CER.

Mandy Leiter, CER Intern

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