September 26, 2011

Notes on a Reformer – StudentsFirst Event with Michelle Rhee in Philadelphia 9/22/11


The StudentsFirst event took place at a former comprehensive public high school in North Philly which was considered the most violent and lowest academic performing school in the Philadelphia Public School District.  As of this fall, it has become a neighborhood charter school in which is accepts students from the entire high school catchment area – in other words, there is no “cherry picking” or “creaming.”  This school takes all comers.  The principal’s goal is to eliminate the 9-11 from the previous year – 9% of students proficient in math, and 11% students’ proficient in English on the PSSA state test. 

Philadelphia is considered an “educational hub,” however there are only 55% of high school students graduating in the District and the per pupil spending is approximately $17,000/year. 
    
In terms of budget constraints, the program known as last in, first out (LIFO) is mandated by the PA State Board of Education.   StudentsFirst was asked by its membership to come to Philadelphia to address this issue.  The goals of the organization (which are found on their website www.studentsfirst.org) are vast.  However, Rhee noted that this is a membership organization and this issue is what the Philadelphia membership wanted to emphasize at this form at this time.

Rhee articulated that there are three types of LIFO states – Green States (which are 11 states where LIFO is based on quality of teacher performance), Red States (which are 12 states where LIFO is based solely on seniority) and middle states (which I’ll call Yellow) in which LIFO is based on collective bargaining by individual Districts or State Board of Educations.   The importance of having the debate/discussion on LIFO now is that it is a timely issue and one which is explicitly tied to the current budget crisis facing most school districts around the country.

Rhee highlighted three points about how LIFO directly impacts schools:
1)      LIFO means schools are firing some of their “best” teachers which compromises the effectiveness of the whole faculty.  Research has shown that when teachers are rated independently on their effectiveness versus being let go strictly on the basis of seniority, there is only a 13% overlap in the number of teachers. 
2)      LIFO effectively means schools and districts are firing “more” teachers because less senior teachers earn smaller salaries than their more veteran peers.   If LIFO was based on quality, districts would save an estimated 30% of jobs in the respective districts.
3)      LIFO affects the lowest performing schools the greatest because more often than not, the least senior teachers are assigned to the lowest performing schools of schools of “last resort” or who are underperforming.  This means that the most “needy” students are having their schools turned over at a higher rate than more successful schools.  [What I have defined as “institutional amnesia” takes place because there is very little stability in the school.]
Per the Philadelphia Inquirer (http://tinyurl.com/43ejw9m and Rhee’s initial opinion piece http://tinyurl.com/3sxoobd), you can read some of the responses to Rhee’s talk.  Further, on the main wall of the StudentsFirst FB page, there is a testimonial from one of the teachers who spoke in opposition to LIFO through the lens of their own experiences working in the Philadelphia Public School District. 

In sum, the main takeaways from the talk were; the reasoning behind discussing LIFO (timely because of the budget crisis and it was what the membership asked for), the three highlights on LIFO’s impact in schools, the distinctions between Red, Green and middle states, and finally, in regards to the whole tone and tenor of the current public discourse surrounding education reform which pits “us versus them,” the biggest thing Rhee mentioned was that education reform and teacher efficacy wasn’t an abstract concept to her – she placed her own child in a classroom with a former TNTP alum.

August 4, 2011

Thoughts on the Save Our Schools (SOS) Teacher March Washington DC July 30, 2011:

Driving down from Philadelphia to Washington, DC (my home for three plus years during the early 90s), I reminisced about the numerous rallies and protest marches I attended during my years in DC.  The night before driving down, I rummaged through our tech drawer trying to find the digital video camera because I wanted to be able to zoom up to 60x rather than the 12x we have on our “regular” digital camera. 

Thinking about the rallies from the '90s, I recalled using my knowledge of the National Mall to try and get as close as possible to the stage and upon doing so thinking I was really lucky to be this close; there are thousands of people behind me who can’t see anything on the stage.  Hence I thought to bring my video camera in anticipation of at least 100,000 folks attending the Save Our Schools March this past weekend.  Unfortunately, or so I thought, I couldn’t find the charge cord.  Fortunately I didn’t need the video camera with the 60x zoom, because unlike the previous rallies/marches I attended which include the 1992’s March for Women’s Rights, 1993’s March for LGB (before the T was added) Equal Rights Liberation, and the 30th Anniversary of the March on Washington (where King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech), and the 1995’s Million Man March, this teacher’s rally had fewer than 5000 participants.

In the weeks and months leading up to the Rally, based on what I read and saw on Twitter and Facebook, you’d have thought that the Ellipse (smartly the organizers did not hold the rally on the National Mall) would be packed with teachers ready to make social change, armed and ready to “Save Our Schools.” Despite a list of noted speakers any educational conference would die for – Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, Dr. Pedro Noguera, Jonathan Kozol, Deborah Meier, and the patron saint of reform to most of this faction of the education reform movement, Dr. Diane Ravitch, even the wattage of this amount of star power couldn’t garner more than 5000 individuals to travel to sweltering Washington DC on one of the hottest days of the year.  The first question I had, as I walked towards the stage set up on the Ellipse and the small crowd was where is everyone?  Why is this rally so small?  I've attended street fair concerts with a larger, more vocal crowd. 

A few of the questions I have regarding the Save Our Schools Movement are the following;
1)      With such intellectual firepower behind the Movement, why was it so hard to mobilize people, during the summer, to come to Washington to support public schools
2) The position papers advanced on the Save Our Schools March website (www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/resources/position-papers) include such important education reform topics as; better assessments, civics, curriculum, equitable funding, family involvement, high-stakes testing, and unions & collective bargaining.  The only thread heard throughout the speakers on the dais on Saturday was ending high-stakes testing.  Why is this?
3) Where are the areas that the Administration and this branch of reformers can agree upon and what are the “non-negotiables” for both sides?

My overall impressions of the March and videos of some of the speeches…next time. 

June 5, 2011

Welcome Back...

After an arduous six months of teaching and learning I am FINALLY finished with course work and spring semester. I am now finishing up my Dissertation Proposal and look forward to defending it by mid summer.

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you...

Now that I am back, I want to briefly revisit the last blog post I wrote way back in December.  It seems as if Education Week has caught onto the idea that teachers need to be more politically astute and aware.  In her article Ms. Van Shura stresses that educators must become political animals (Why Educators Must Become Political Animals).  I too echoed the same sentiment in my last post.  Interesting.

An internet note, I've recently been spending time on the Student's First (the new non-profit education reform group created by Michelle Rhee) Facebook page (Students First FB Page).  While I have never been a 100% supporter of anyone, I do think that much of what Ms. Rhee has done in her quest to create a better educational environment  is on the right course.  I encourage you to check out some of the discussions and even chime in.

Over the course of the next few weeks as we lead up to the SOS March and Call to Action (SOS) I'll be discussing in greater detail some of the topics raised on the SF page, and other ideas that I have been kicking around in my mind since I've started this PhD process.

I look forward to a more regular dialog on this page.  Please, let's remember to be civil.  - Peace