Re: KIPP's Report Cards: KIPP expelling students before test time

In Nashville, along with other charter schools -- KIPP appears to be dumping weaker students just before test-time to boost their scores.  Might this be happening in St. Louis?

Charter schools losing struggling students to zoned schools - WSMV Channel 4

The reporter in Nashville concludes:  "The two types of schools are playing by different rules."

And see our post on St. Louis KIPP from a few days ago here.

Philadelphia, starting to look like Santiago, Chile....

Students mobilizing to protest attacks on their schools.
From the Youtube site:
Thousands of students walked out of class Friday May 17th to say no to drastic budget cuts that will eliminate extracurriculars, nurses, support staff and other programs in schools. They marched from the Phila. School District Headquarters at 440 N. Broad street to City Hall, closing down traffic for the afternoon hours.

STL BEACON: Enthusiastic article on KIPP, but...

...read the article critically and check the results closely.  KIPP is only as good or better than SLPS (which is admittedly struggling) in some MAP scores. KIPP is still below (sometimes well below) Missouri average in most. In most cases less (sometimes significantly less) than 50% of KIPP students are scoring proficient in any field.  KIPP matches Missouri averages only in fifth grade science.  Whether or not this is a model for improving education for any, let alone, all students in St. Louis is still an open question. However, the article reads as if it is promotional material for KIPP, which plans to open another school in St. Louis in 2014 (and four more in the future). For article and image, see: https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/30931/kipp_school_graduates_051513

Looking over KIPP's own St. Louis report card for the 2011-2012 norm referenced test for measuring year-to-year academic progress we see that students were tested first in fifth grade, then performed slightly worse in sixth grade (in reading and math), and improved again in seventh. Data are not offered for science in sixth and seventh grades.  With missing data we presume that they fared worse? Or were not tested?

Now that I'm curious, I explore the national KIPP report card further -- see: http://www.kipp.org/reportcard to pick any city you want.  Kansas City KIPP is faring worse than STL KIPP. There KIPP is failing to match struggling public schools across many grades, topping them only at three points. Like St. Louis KIPP, they are still well below state averages (and Missouri averages, nation-wide, remember, are in the lower half of all states across the nation). Curiously again, data are not provided for 6th and 7th Science in KC, which gives only 5th and 8th.  When data are missing, one wonders why. See:
http://www.kipp.org/00/docs/ReportCard/KIPP_2012_ReportCard_KIPP_Endeavor_Academy.pdf

As with other charters, one might expect that schools untethered from the burdens of teachers' unions and public school bureaucracies, with parents who have exercised their own initiative and choice to attend, the ability to expel or exclude students who present difficult challenges, with motivated teachers free to experiment with the best pedagogical models, leaders who are energetic and qualified, competing with public schools in dire shape, and doing all of this with public money and significant corporate financial and university support, would be posting much clearer and convincing signs of success than this article and the report card illustrate.

Nat'l Council of Teachers of Math: Excellent Speech on Education and (In)equality

Excellent, reasoned, data-driven critique of the corporate reform/high-stakes testing/attack the teacher model currently being proposed across the country.

As Diane Ravitch commented on her blog, which also posted this, "Pay particular attention to his evidence about the effects of charter schools."  And consider as well the core issue: child poverty.

See some good figures on how poverty shapes educational outcomes in his slides, available at:
http://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Conferences/Annual_Meetings/2013-Denver/-NCTM%20Iris%20Carl%20Talk%204-19-13.pdf

New Book: The Changing Politics of Education: Privatization and The Dispossessed Lives Left Behind (Fabricant and Fine)

A study that illustrates many issues related to school reform in St. Louis and Missouri:

The Changing Politics of Education: Privatization and the Dispossessed Lives Left Behind

Michael Fabricant & Michelle Fine (Paradigm, 2013)

Description

The authors persuasively argue that the present cascade of reforms to public education is a consequence of a larger intention to shrink government. The startling result is that more of public education’s assets and resources are moving to the private sector and to the prison industrial complex. Drawing on various forms of evidence—structural, economic, narrative, and youth-generated participatory research—the authors reveal new structures and circuits of dispossession and privilege that amount to a clear failure of present policy. Policymaking is at war with the interests of the vast majority of citizens, and especially with urban youth of color. In the final chapter the authors explore democratic principles and offer examples essential to mobilizing, in solidarity with educators, youth, communities, labor, and allied social movements, the kind of power necessary to contest the present direction of public education reform.

Reviews

This is one of those very rare books on public education and social dispossession that bursts the bounds of its brilliant scholarship and explodes into a soaring call for action. Fine and Fabricant carefully dissect the ideological attack upon the public schools, the selling off of public services to the private sector, the marginalization of professional teachers, and the relegation of low-income students to the status of expendables. But the genius of this book lies in its recognition that disinvestment in the public schools and their replacement by selective boutique institutions are serving the purpose for which they were intended: mightily expanding the inequalities of wealth, darkening the futures of the dispossessed, and cannibalizing what remains of democratic spirit in a corporate society. The book ends with strong proposals -- “direct action” and “the reinvention of the work of unions,” among other bold suggestions that are seldom heard from academic authors in this era of retrenchment. The book has an electrifying tone. It creates a sense of urgency. I’m profoundly grateful to the authors.
--Jonathan Kozol

http://www.paradigmpublishers.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=321381http://www.paradigmpublishers.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=321381

On ALEC: Those who write anti- public education legislation for docile lawmakers

http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2013/05/report-card-ALEC-2013

Sinquefield and local control – of schools - St. Louis American: Political Eye

Sinquefield and local control – of schools - St. Louis American: Political Eye: Four Missourians with expertise in public education filed a lawsuit against Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander and Missouri State Audito…

What knowledge is good for - St. Louis American: Columnists

What knowledge is good for - St. Louis American: Columnists: Because I majored in cultural anthropology, people always asked, “What are you going to do with that?” If you studied anything other than medi…

ONLINE SCHOOLING: Making us better or worse?

Nation’s Online Elementary and Secondary Schools Expand Rapidly, But Academic Performance Lags Behind Other Public Schools, New Report Finds | National Education Policy Center

Boulder, Colo. (May 2, 2013) -- A national study, released today by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), offers a comprehensive review of 311 virtual schools operating in the United States. It finds serious and systemic problems with the nation’s full-time cyber schools.

University of Colorado, Boulder Professor Alex Molnar, who edited Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2013: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence, summed it up this way: “Even a cursory review of virtual schooling in the U.S. reveals an environment much like the legendary wild west. There are outsized claims, lagging performance, intense conflicts, lots of taxpayer money at stake, and very little solid evidence to justify the rapid expansion of virtual schools.”

READ MORE: http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2013/05/virtual-schools-annual-2013

New NEPC Report: Reviews Claims on Benefits of Mayoral Governance

From the National Education Policy Center: "Claims on Mayoral Governance Don't Stand up to Scrutiny" Contact: William J. Mathis, (802) 383-0058, wmathis@sover.net Katrina E. Bulkley, (973) 655-5189, bulkleyk@mail.montclair.edu URL for this press release: http://tinyurl.com/bwyrk3h BOULDER, CO (April 23, 2013) – A recent Center for American Progress report purports to find that school districts led by city mayors are raising student achievement while improving the districts’ fiscal health. A new review finds some useful information in the report, but says it is too flawed to rely on for policy guidance. The report, Mayoral Governance and Student Achievement: How Mayor-Led Districts are Improving School and Student Performance, by Kenneth K. Wong and Francis X. Shen, was reviewed for the Think Twice think tank review project by Katrina E. Bulkley, Professor of Educational Leadership at Montclair State University. Her review is published today by the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education.... READ MORE AT: http://tinyurl.com/bwyrk3h

Hundreds of Thousands March for 'Free Education' in Chile | Common Dreams

Hundreds of Thousands March for 'Free Education' in Chile | Common Dreams

The test score racket - St. Louis American: Columnists

The test score racket - St. Louis American: Columnists: It is time to acknowledge that the fashionable theory of school reform – requiring that pay and job security for teachers, principals and admi…

Charter schools want flexibility in pensions : News

Charter schools want flexibility in pensions : News

PUBLIC EVENT: RACE, DEMOCRACY, AND PUBLIC EDUCATION (Tues. Apr. 16 @ 7 PM)

RACE, DEMOCRACY, AND PUBLIC EDUCATION (Tues. Apr. 16 @ 7 PM)

Washington University - Siegle Hall Room L006

The St Louis Schools Project, with the support of the Washington University Department of Anthropology, the Department of Education, and the Center on Urban Research and Public Policy, is proud to host a book presentation and lecture by Peter Downs, author of Schoolhouse Shams: Myths and Misinformation in School Reform, published 2012 by Rowman-Littlefield.   

The book explores the recent history of school reform politics in St. Louis, written through the first-hand experience of Peter Downs, who was President of the Elected School Board of the St. Louis Public Schools and a direct participant in many of these debates.  

Dr. Diane Ravitch, internationally recognized scholar of American education and research professor in education at New York University writes that the book is a "provocative, informative, and timely book about school reform in St. Louis. Its lessons apply to many cities undergoing similar reforms today."  This is sure to be a lively discussion.

Lecture:

"Schoolhouse Shams and Current Issues in Education Reform"  

Peter Downs, author, former president, St. Louis Public School Board: 

Commentary:

Donna Jones, member, St. Louis Public School Board.

Katie Wessling, president, St. Louis Public School Board.

The lecture and commentary will be followed by time for public questions.  Peter Downs' book will be available for purchase and signing.

The event will take place on the campus of Washington University, in Siegle Hall, room L006 (lower level) on Tuesday April 16th at 7PM.   All are welcome.  The event will be video-taped for archiving and re-broadcast.

Check back here for more information.

For a campus map, see: http://wustl.edu/community/visitors/maps/danforthmap.pdf.

Siegle Hall is on the west end of campus. (Building 97 on the map).  Best parking would be in the garage (enter off Forsyth), or in the lots to the south and east of Siegle Hall (near building 105 on the map).  There are also metered spaces along Forsyth.

For more information, write: Bret Gustafson (gustafson@wustl.edu) or visit:  http://stlouisschoolsproject.blogspot.com/.

Shocking Rahm's Shock Doctrine | The Nation

Shocking Rahm's Shock Doctrine | The Nation

Coming soon to (or already at) a city near you.  Mayor Slay (recently re-elected) announced in one campaign flyer a plan for "sustainability" that includes 20 new charter schools, even as public schools are being closed.

The Guardian on Chicago/STL Style School Reform

Chicago is ground zero for disastrous 'free market' reforms of education

Chicago has turned public schools into privately run charters. The results aren't stellar and other cities should beware

Micah Uetricht - - The Guardian

"If you want a glimpse of what slash-and-burn free market education reform does in cities throughout the US, look no further than Chicago. Last week, Chicago Public Schools announced its plan to close 54 public elementary schools in the city by next year – about 8% of all public schools in the city. Almost all are located on the city's south and west sides in predominantly black neighborhoods.

In a city where the majority of black children live in poverty, in communities long plagued by hyper-segregation, unemployment, youth violence, and disinvestment, these neighborhoods will likely be thrown into further chaos, as students (91% of whom are students of color) are forced to cross into rival gang territories. Public schools, which served as one of the few remaining community anchors, will be shuttered.

.....

Not all teachers unions have had the willingness or wherewithal to resist that agenda; many have capitulated, or at least been complicit. But the Chicago Teachers Union has fought back." 

READ MORE

Austerity's Cruelest Cut: Democracy Denied in Detroit | The Nation

Similarities to St. Louis school board:  Republican-controlled legislature, majority minority (school district), disenfranchisement.

Austerity's Cruelest Cut: Democracy Denied in Detroit | The Nation

Editorial: Study points the way to better public schools : Stltoday

Editorial: Study points the way to better public schools : Stltoday

Mathematica, the think tank that carried out this research, is characterized by a generally pro-corporate model reform agenda in most of its research.  Both the KIPP Foundation and the Walton Family foundation are clients of this think-tank.   This suggests the possibility of a conflict of interests that jeopardizes the objectivity of the study.  We would do well to await review by academic researchers without sponsored research agendas.

Charter Schools vs Excellent Public Schools for All

CHARTER SCHOOLS AND THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

It’s time to refocus public policy on providing excellent public schools for all

Written by Stan Karp

New Jersey Education Association website.

Column: It’s time for my party to stand up for students instead of stepping on them

Column: It’s time for my party to stand up for students instead of stepping on them
Martin Casas (Missouri Times)

By a local Democratic activist calling for the embrace of Republican school reform proposals.