Charters Cool

Bill would make it easier for professionals to teach

2012-01-25T07:48:00.000-08:00

Two key changes to competency-based licensing of teachers will make a major impact in the ability of working professionals to become teachers in public schools. This change also makes a significant leap forward in expanding local control of education, greatly empowering local school boards of districts and charter schools to have the only say in what makes a teacher qualified to provide instruction to students at local schools.

H.B. 84, by Greg Hughes, changes competency-based licensing in the following ways:

Would allow districts and charters to set their own standards for whom is qualified to teach.
Would not allow the State Board or State Office to deny a competency-based license once requested by a local school for a candidate that has met the local standards.

Further, the bill gives specific credence to transcripts from military education and service. The bill also puts the decision of granting an official teaching license in the hands of the local school board after the competency-based teacher has taught and been evaluated by the standards of the local school.

This is an expansion of local control, and will therefore be controversial for lawmakers and interest groups who don't believe in local control except when local people would control things just like the interest groups would.

Class size reduction bill would add requirements for classroom aides

2012-01-19T19:23:00.000-08:00

S.B. 31, Classroom Size Amendments, sponsored by Senator Karen Morgan would, as the name suggests, set standards for the size of classrooms in primary grades. That's what's been getting some news coverage. It's another example of lawmakers throwing local control out the window when local boards, elected by local voters, governing local schools, do something that other politicians don't like.

But the bigger deal here is that the bill also institutes state requirements for whom schools can hire as a paraprofessional or classroom aide. If this bill passes, schools will no longer be able to judge what would make a quality teaching assistant; Karen Morgan and the legislature will have decided that for them.

Charter high schools boost graduation and college rates

2012-01-18T18:32:00.000-08:00

A fascinating new study in Florida and Chicago shows that attending a charter high school are more likely to graduate and more likely to go to college. The study, from EducationNext, studied groups of 8th grade charter school students who attended both charter high schools and traditional district schools when they entered 9th grade.

We find evidence that charter high schools in both locations have substantial positive effects on both high school completion and college attendance. Controlling for key student characteristics (including demographics, prior test scores, and the prior choice to enroll in a charter middle school), students who attend a charter high school are 7 to 15 percentage points more likely to earn a standard diploma than students who attend a traditional public high school. Similarly, those attending a charter high school are 8 to 10 percentage points more likely to attend college.

So, that's quite a finding.

Utah ranks 12th for its charter school law

2012-01-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is out with its report on how each state governs its charter schools in law. Utah did not make significant changes, according to the report, last year so our score didn't change, but we dropped two places from number 10 because of progress made by other states. The most notable of those was Maine, which went from not ranked at all (they didn't have a charter school law a year ago) to having the top law in the country.

If Utah had passed the equitable charter funding concept last year that UAPCS has pushed for many years, we would have stayed in tenth place. As it is, we get only middling marks or funding equity and access o all streams of state and federal funding.

Here's the report's abstract on Utah:

Utah did not pass any legislation in 2011 impacting its score and ranking. Its score stayed at 121 points. However, its ranking dropped from #10 to #12 because it was surpassed by states that made substantial changes to their charter laws. Potential areas for improvement include removing restrictions on charter school growth, ensuring authorizing accountability, beeﬁng up its requirements for performance-based charter contracts, enacting statutory guidelines for relationships between charter schools and educational service providers, and providing more operational autonomy to charter schools.

UAPCS is sponsoring several bills this year that can help the school move up in its ranking by getting closer to the NAPCS model of charter governance. One bill would beef up and provide alternative licensure options for teachers. The much-discussed "moral obligation" for charter school bonding would also increase access to funding for charter facilities as recommended by the model. And, obviously, there will be another attempt at funding parity and backpack funding models that allow all taxpayer funding to follow a student to the public school of his choice.

The State Charter Board might suggest some of its own changes under the headline, "I told you so." Some of their attempts to strengthen "accountability" are suggested by the NAPCS model, including "a regular review process" for charters by their authorizer and "a performance framework."

UCAS is a leader in college-readiness

2012-01-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

From the Trib:

Every day that teens walk through the front doors of the Utah County Academy of Sciences, the same image greets them: giant, colorful maps matching photos of the school’s more than 100 seniors with the colleges they plan to attend.“It’s an encouragement for the kids,” said the charter school’s principal, Clark Baron.

This is a public school, open to any student, that has had enormous success. One-fifth of its students come from low-income families, but last year, 98 percent graduated. Nearly all went to college, most having already earned associate’s degrees in high school.

The academy ranks No. 1 in Utah for science achievement on state tests and is tied for the top spot in language arts, out of more than 150 high schools.

Congratulations to Dr. Baron and his top-quality team. They have board meeting tomorrow, and I'm sure this will come up as a well-deserved pat on the school's back.

UAPCS is growing the charter movement

2012-01-14T21:20:00.000-08:00

The key to success in the the world of influencing public policy at the legislature is based on:

Relationships
Political clout

The reason that education is so successful in getting first dibs on extra money isn't because the UEA has a lot of money, it's because they (and other education, especially education establishment, groups) have the good will of a lot of voters.

Charters have been at a disadvantage when it comes to education policy and funding. While they have the sympathies of a lot of influential people in the legislature, and many more now that Chris Bleak is leading the effort, charters haven't had the same level of support from voters.

When it has come to allocating money to students, which charters have argued for, or to the traditional system and its districts, which the establishment has argued for, the establishment has a lot more people who fight for their position, and they have the sympathy of a lot more voters.

As charters have grown so has our potential influence as a voting bloc, but until Chris Bleak's initiative this year to organize charter parents into a real political force, that potential has always been unrealized. In the past, efforts from UAPCS's former leadership to organize parents has been limited to asking schools for email lists and asking Carolyn Sharette to make phone calls. (Which she's always done.)

This year, UAPCS sought and received a grant specifically to build up a network of charter school parents and educate them on the process to influence public policy. Earlier this week there was such a meeting in St. George that was so successful, the local newspaper reported on it. (Unfortunately, it's a subscriber site, so no link--I don't subscribe. I excerpt it here from the Spectrum.

Asking parents to be more politically active, proponents of better funding for Utah's charter schools were drumming up support Thursday for what will likely be more wrangling over funds during the upcoming general session of the state Legislature.

Adam Edwards, who said he moved to the area partly so that his two children could attend George Washington Academy, said he was considering trying to become a Republican Party delegate in order to gain more influence.

Edwards said that before Thursday's meeting, he didn't understand how the funding worked, but after hearing from Urquhart and others, he was upset."Once you understand it, you're like, 'really?'" he said. "It kind of boils your blood a little."

This is one among many reasons why schools should continue to support our association. UAPCS is building the strong foundation of organized and educated charter school parents that are the key to improving charter school policy and funding in Utah.

Utah drops to 42nd in education study

2012-01-12T13:49:00.000-08:00

These studies are all biased by what they consider and what hey don't, but according to Education Week's "Quality Counts" report issued this week, Utah doesn't do very well in education outcomes.

Brenda Hales, Associate Superintendent at USOE, makes the point about bias: "The report did not give Utah credit for such items as professional development opportunities, student-teaching for teachers in training, or mentoring programs for new principals because those things are not required explicitly by state law, even though they are common practice in Utah," she said.

But I have to say that I'm overall very disappointed in the establishment's response to such data. No matter what Education Week specifically leaves out of their report, how can educators and those responsible for education in Utah be satisfied with the results we get here? But some are.

Liz Zentner, president-elect of the Utah PTA, said she dislikes negative reports such as Quality Counts. The low grade, she said, belies the reality she sees in Utah classrooms. “Because of the parental involvement and the incredible teachers we have, Utah’s public schools are really fantastic,” said Zentner, who lives in Granite School District. “There’s no way to put grades on schools.”

There is a way to put grades on schools. Utah law requires it, and dozens of education advocacy organizations, including the federal government, do it all the time. But when Zentner and other establishment-types put their head in the sand and say our schools are "really fantastic," no matter what he data says, advocates of education improvement and reform have to sigh heavily.

Our results are not what they should be, and not enough of those in charge are willing to take real steps to change that.

RTTT gets no progress

2012-01-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Obama's Education Department released the first-year progress reports of the Race to the Top grants this week. 12 states got the grants (not Utah) and three states made so little progress that Arne Duncan threatened to pull their grant funding if things didn't improve immediately.

The Weekly Standard reports.

Someone else's problem; my solution

2012-01-07T20:55:00.000-08:00

John Florez writes in the DNews this weekend that the problems with education are all because the Legislature has 104 members who vote about what education policy should be. He's onto something with that, but unfortunately offers no solutions in his piece. Happily, I've written about the solution before. Recently.

So, this post will be about Florez's problem, take a look at why this problem exists, and touch on my previously recommended solutions at the end, which are the only solutions that will work. Florez writes:

What's wrong with education? One hundred and four legislators who make a plethora of policy changes each year. That's what's wrong. Lawmakers continue to make policy du jour, based on a whim or what a constituent brings up as the latest fad. Sen. Michael Waddoups set the tone for the quick fixes when he cautioned, " … lawmakers are obliged to listen to their constituents."

Such a trite answer trivializes the problems legislators create. How do they justify passing laws based on what one constituent says, then ignore thousands of constituent signatures who want to change campaign-spending laws? It says volumes about lawmakers' commitment to working for the public good.

Sen. Aaron Osmond is the latest to offer the same silver bullet to fix education, teacher tenure. He says, "The real problem isn't morale or recruitment, but rather the fact that right now there's no incentive for teachers to perform at all." He obviously has not talked to front-line teachers who will tell him about the oppressive and overregulated environment in which they teach.

Then there are legislators who keep trying to pass laws on class size. Other lawmakers passed laws requiring greater accountability, transparency, grading schools and teacher performance. However, they have failed to establish what is the core purpose of education and how to measure what our education system produces. They compound the problem by grading how well the system runs, not what it produces.

And he's right. Having a legislature make education policy is the worst possible way to govern education, except for all the others. It's pretty easy for us to get mad at the Legislature. They're the ones in charge of setting policy, and that policy has led to mediocre results (if we're being generous). Let's stipulate: having education governed by the legislature sucks.

But what else is there to do? Have it governed by some other body? The elected Board of Education? You'd get the same problem but with less accountability. At least the legislature has some accountability to voters for their decisions. That's much less true of the State Board. People are not very well informed about their state legislature, but even less so about the school board. Not to mention that in Utah, the board is only marginally "elected" anyway. That sucks worse.

How about an education Czar? Someone with real power to just set policy as an individual, who doesn't care when the legislature does something he thinks is stupid. Just don't follow it. The dictatorship model. No accountability at all. That sucks worst of all.

For better or worse, as long as we elect lawmakers, those lawmakers will pass policy that they think will help them get elected. For education, that means that governors, legislators, and, yes, even State Board members will try to tackle problems with solutions designed as much or more to win votes as to improve education. The only way around that is to have those who set policy not be elected. Whole new set of problems.

What's the solution then?

Put educators in charge of schools and then put parents in charge of their children's education. Relax the legislative rules. Really allow educators to innovate, experiment, and open models of school that they think would address the problems we face. And let a thousand flowers bloom--schools with different models in the same neighborhood, really providing options to students and families.

And then let those parents choose among the options. Let them hold the educators accountable for how schools perform. Let them find the model that works best for their children.

That's the only way, in a society that elects its government, to avoid the problems of that government micro-managing education and turning it into a stagnant bureaucracy so distracted by implementing "the latest fad" it loses focus on what it should be doing--providing a high quality education.

The myth of local control

2011-12-28T14:19:00.000-08:00

Everyone says they support more local control of education. Want evidence? Here's Atlantic Monthly arguing that getting rid of school boards and returning control to the schoolhouse level. Here's National Journal writing about how the chair of the U.S House Education and Labor Committee thinks local control is a fundamental of education reform. Here's Republican presidential candidates Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann arguing for local control. Here's Barack Obama doing the same. And here's his federal Department of Education bragging about all its local control initiatives.

Locally, here's the Deseret News reporting on the issue last year at the legislature on a bill sponsored by Ken Sumsion, and here's Senator Steve Urquhart saying local control "is a good idea."

If so many people of so every political stripe support "local control," why don't we have it? Why are there dozens of funding streams for education in Utah, each one coming with its own sets of rules for how schools have to spend the money. Why, with back-to-back administrations in Washington arguing for "local control" has the control shifted more and more to the U.S. Department of Education?

Because very few people actually believe in local control. Most people see "local control" as a way for their own control, and they really mean "local control if schools choose to do what I would want them to do," which is really code for "my control."

And the concept of local control goes hand-in-hand with something that's an anathema to many on the left--parental choice. Without choice, local control is meaningless.

If politicians were actually willing to give schools more control, they would also have to give parents the right to choose a different school if that "control" led to policies or quality that parents didn't like. If parents don't have that choice, then they rightfully insist that others take "control" from the local educators who screw things up.

And why don't we have parental choice? After all, no less than the UEA-supported vice chair of the State Board of Education just published a piece in the DNews called "Educational choice for all students." But, like most politicians, she really argues for "choice" only to the point that parents' choices agree with her own.

The ultimate local control is the willingness to give both educators and parents control in designing and attending schools. That's what we need, but it's also what interest groups with rice bowls to protect don't want.

The ultimate accountability

2011-12-22T23:33:00.000-08:00

The Center for Education Reform is out with a new study showing something that will probably surprise most people. Nationally, since charters began in 1992, 15 percent of schools that have operated are no longer operating--they've closed. The schools faced the ultimate accountability that comes with failure--they go away. Parents withdraw students, authorizers revoke or fail to renew charters. And the vast majority of those closures took place within just the first few years of a school's existence.

Some highlights:

There are five primary reasons for charter closures – financial (41.7 percent), mismanagement (24 percent), academic (18.6 percent), district obstacles (6.3 percent) and facilities (4.6 percent).

The correlation between strong charter school laws, accountability and effective charter schools cannot be emphasized enough. Independent authorizers have full control over how they evaluate charter schools and have their own staff and funding streams. This enables them to create streamlined, effective tools to manage their portfolio of charter schools and close those that are not living up to their contract.

"The quality of charter schools in the U.S. is not as simple as saying ‘there are too many bad charters out there,’” said Allen. “The real story about charter school closures and accountability is that strong state charter laws and strong authorizers give schools a better chance at success because they hold them accountable and can offer them tools to succeed."

I see this as fantastic news. I'm (obviously) a charter supporter, but I know that not all charter schools meet their goals, improve student learning, or operate efficiently. Those schools should either improve markedly or close. No operating schools have yet closed in Utah, though our state has a presence in the "failed to open" category.

Others might see this as an example of wasted resources. Why should taxpayers fund another "parallel system" of schools, 15 percent of which close. The better question is, why should taxpayers continue to fund failing schools that don't improve? We should shutter or replace more schools than we do, we just need to spread the closure wealth to the traditional district schools that also fail to meet their goals or fail to improve student learning.

Little difference among presidential candidates on education policy

2011-12-22T23:24:00.000-08:00

Leading education reform advocate Jay Mathews has a very interesting piece in the Washington Post describing the differences, or lack thereof, between the leading candidates for president--even between the current president and his predecessor, and between the leaders of both parties for the last ten years, on education policy.

If school policy were a prime issue and we judged the three principal contenders of the moment — former House speaker Newt Gingrich, President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney — on that basis, the race would be dull three-way tie.The president and the two Republicans each have some unique ideas for schools, but by and large they support the test-driven, school-rating, pro-charter-school policy that has ruled the United States for more than a decade, no matter which party controlled the presidency or Congress.

That depresses the many educators and parents who yearn for schools that don’t rate students and teachers on standardized multiple-choice tests, that emphasize improving students’ home lives more than increasing the number of charter schools and that are less eager to follow the lead of billionaire reformers.In turn, the general agreement over education policy at the highest levels of both parties pleases the many educators and parents who think using standardized tests, weeding out weak teachers and giving parents more choices will help our schools break out of decades of apathy, low expectations and illogical policies.

Graduation rate is pretty low

2011-12-20T11:46:00.000-08:00

Spin can be funny. In the Trib today, reporters note that the state's graduation rate is 76 percent--nearly one in four students who start high school don't finish it. Last year the state reported that its graduation rate was 90 percent. That doesn't represent a drop from year to year, but just a change in how rates are calculated.

Judy Park, an associate superintendent at USOE, made this point in the article: "If you just look at this you would say, ‘Wow, 90 percent of the kids are graduating in 2010, now only 75 percent are,’" But she noted it’s important to look more deeply at the numbers. "It’s a change in the calculation, not a change in student behavior."

So that's the spin. And I understand why USOE makes that the spin. Park even argues that rates are going up. But the unstated message behind the explanation of this year's "drop" in graduation rate is that the rate has been this bad for years, and the state wasn't telling anybody.

Thanks to UAPCS's work, Governor's budget includes startup money for charters

2011-12-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Responding to Utah's failure to receive the federal startup and implementation grant that has helped Utah charter schools open for nearly ten years, UAPCS knew it had a new funding priority.

For years, that priority as been funding parity with school districts. That's still a goal, but charters have learned over time to do more with less.

But without startup funding, charters would have a hard time opening. New district schools open tens of millions of dollars in debt through the use of district bonds. Charters don't have that option. They therefore rely on private investors who pour those millions into Utah's public education system and provide a choice in education to Utah's families.

But without startup dollars, charter schools would open with no desks, computers, or textbooks.

Governor Herbert's budget includes, "funding to start new charter schools" according to the Deseret News, and that's entirely due to the work of Chris Bleak, UAPCS Executive Director, and his work with the Governor's office.

DNews likes choice and accountability

2011-12-19T07:30:00.000-08:00

Using a headline that makes you think they're talking about Young Women values instead of education, the DNews editorial board has a great piece on needed reform in education. Some highlights:

The current governance and incentives give well-intentioned, hard working Utahns the average results that any subsidized, bureaucratic monopoly is capable of providing. Unless Utahns choose to allow competitive disruption of this massive but aging monopoly that we call public education, we cannot expect anything dramatically different than our current mediocre results.

Parents should, through meaningful choice, have the right to send their children to a school that meets basic educational objectives. Accordingly, parents need the means to transparently assess finances, methods and results so that they can meaningfully exercise that choice.

In the late 1980s, New Zealand, a small nation of a little more than 4 million, embarked on a fundamental reform of its primary and secondary schools based on choice and accountability. Instead of tinkering on the margins with an unresponsive national bureaucracy that delivered poor results, New Zealand — in one unified bold move — turned every school in the nation over to a local board of trustees, gave every parent the right to send their child to the school of their choice, and allowed centrally-provided per capita funding to follow the enrollment choice of the family.

The results speak for themselves. Although there was actually little disruption in enrollment patterns, there was a tremendous increase in the sense of competition between schools and the sense of ownership by parents. Under hyper-local governance, more dollars went to teaching. According to Maurice McTigue at George Mason University, "Since reforms were implemented, some 67 cents of each education dollar is spent in the classroom, which is more than double the previous amount. Parents play the dominant role in the educational choices for their children. Learning has improved, and classroom size is down."

Some bemoan that a few schools failed under New Zealand's model of accountability and choice. We, however, consider the elimination of schools that are not meeting student needs to be a benefit, not a problem.

If I were King of the district

2011-12-13T18:19:00.000-08:00

I've never understood why districts didn't charter more schools. I take that back. I think it's sad that bureaucratic inertia has kept some of the people who know education best from being part of the innovative and student-centered charter school movement.

I've been drafting this post for some time, when I saw this today in the Tribune. (It's next to impossible to find anything education-related in the DNews since they've redone their website--if there is any education reporting going on over there anymore at all.) The Granite District just chartered a high school for refugees. Well, that undercuts my point of this post at some level, since they are following my advice before the post went up, but it also strengthens my argument, and I hope that other districts will follow suit.

If I were the King of a growing school district (which is most of them in Utah) I'd be a leader in charter schools. Chartering by districts is a win-win-win situation. I hope more districts will break free of their entropic (spell check tells me this isn't a word, but I'm using the adjective form of the noun "entropy," meaning the inevitable and steady deterioration of a system) morass.

Here's my ideal scenario, and this could work in any growing district in the state. First, identify a non-growing area of the district. For Canyons, this would be Cottonwood Heights or Midvale, where the school-age population is shrinking, in Alpine it would be older sections of Orem. Most districts, even large and growing ones, have such pockets of stagnation or shrinkage. Districts deal with this by transporting students from higher growth areas, at great expense to the district, to older schools that aren't at capacity.

Second, pick one of the dynamic and innovative principals working in the district. Give that principal carte blance to design the ideal school. Pretend that union rules don't apply (they don't), that district policies don't apply (they don't either), that you have a blank slate on which to design the perfect school. Shoot for the moon. Get really good people to serve on the school's board.

Now comes the hard part. Close that shrinking school as a district operation. I know that would cause some consternation among the neighbors, but remember, I'm the King. I can do this by divine right. And it wouldn't be so bad, anyway, because any student within two miles of the school would get preferential enrollment in the charter, if they choose to attend it. Many will, many won't. Those that don't will get a bus ride to another district school.

Charge this new charter school the one percent authorizer fee that's authorized by statute. Also, charge the new charter school a market rate for rent on the older school building they occupy. This is pure profit to the district, since the building was bought long ago and the bonds have already been paid off. Also, my district would be the new charter's business office, again at a reasonable, market rate.

In case you missed how this is good for my district:

I've reduced the rate of growth in my district to a more manageable level by shifting students to a new charter school
I've turned a money-neutral asset into a revenue generating asset by leasing an under-occupied, older school building
I've increased my per-student funding by taking advantage of local replacement funding and allowed my locally raised property taxes to educate the fewer students enrolled in my district
I've further increased efficiency for the district by sharing the job of business management and oversight with a service contract and authorizer fee
And most important, I've empowered one of my star leaders in the district to innovate and provide a working model for educational options that, if they are successful, we can implement across the district.

Parents nearby the school may opt to stay at the neighborhood school that's now a charter, or they may feel more comfortable and think that a traditional program they're used to is better for their child. Since I was already busing students into this school to ease overcrowding elsewhere in the district, it costs me no more to bus those students to another nearby school. In fact, overall transportation costs will go down as I won't be providing transportation for families to attend the new charter school. (I'm sick of calling it "the new charter school," so I'm now naming it King Lincoln Academy, or KLA.) My transportation system just became more efficient, too.

Parents who have been thirsty for a choice now have a new one. I'll probably draw some parents who have previously left the district to a state-authorized charter school, each one bringing new funding. Those students are getting just what they want from a school. And my dynamic KLA principal is trying innovative new practices and methodologies. Some of them get great results, and we implement them more widely. Some aren't so good, and we abandon those before too long, learning a valuable lesson about what doesn't work.

I've now got a training ground for new teachers, a working model where we can test new theories and practices before implementing them widely. I get to see how union rules really do affect learning and student achievement because KLA doesn't negotiate with the teachers' union. I get to experiment with different compensation models to find out what really draws teachers into the profession, keeps them there, and motivates them to constantly improve.

And since this KLA thing went so well, I do a handful more of these schools, with different approaches to education, having several different models available to serve different models of students--no two are alike--and meets their individual needs better. Not everything works the way I want it to, but we can make changes on a single-school basis much easier than we can steer the Titanic School District that has more than a hundred years of inertia and a mess of union rope meant to keep things as they are.

But I'm sick of the status quo. I know that my results aren't as good as they could be, so I'm trying new things so we can identify what improves things for our students, and what doesn't. And what works for these kids, and what works for those. I'm trusting my parents and they return that trust in us. Now that I have some charters, I see that 94 percent of those parents are satisfied with their school, which is almost 50 percent higher than I used to have district-wide.

I'm really liking this KLA model. My district wins with models for innovation, increased funding and efficiency, and more satisfied parents. Parents who choose KLA are getting what they want and are highly satisfied, and parents who choose to stay with the traditional district get more funding and the benefit of the innovations that we've discovered really work at increasing educational outcomes and parent and teacher satisfaction. Now, which district has a King that is willing to take a bold step and lead out on reform?

A: Granite.

I hope. I raise a glass to you, Martin Bates and the Granite School Board, and wish you the success that leads to lots of copy cats.

Culture is what counts

2011-12-11T18:01:00.001-08:00

The Atlantic is out with a piece this month called, "Everything You Know About Education is Wrong." (They don't mean me, but may mean you. I know they don't mean Sonia Woodbury of City Academy, who probably could have improv-ed (I mean improvised it off the top of her head--or improv. How do you spell improv-ed if you're not trying to spell "improved"?) this article because she's so dedicated to the same topic.

The piece references a study that shows class size, spending, "highly qualified teachers," and more traditionally accepted ingredients of a quality school actually have no correlation to a school whose students achieve. Instead, the key factor in a quality school is the school's culture. If schools want their student outcomes to improve, they should focus on improving their culture.

Some key paragraphs from the article:

[Study author Roland] Fryer found that class size, per-pupil spending, and the number of teachers with certifications or advanced degrees had nothing to do with student test scores in language and math. In fact, schools that poured in more resources actually got worse results.

What did make a difference? ... Schools that focused on teacher development, data-driven instruction, creating a culture focused on student achievement, and setting high academic expectations consistently fared better. The results were consistent whether the charter's (only charter school's were studied) program was geared towards the creative arts or hard-core behavioral discipline.

The findings all get summed up in a group of handy tables. First, here are the ingredients you think of as being important to a school -- what Fryer calls "traditional" resource-based inputs. Most of those factors don't have a statistically significant relationship to school performance. Some actually have a negative effect.Then Fryer compared less traditional cultural factors to student performance. Teacher feedback and instruction time had the strongest connection. In sum, these six factors explained about 50% of the variations between charter school outcomes.

Read the whole thing.

Navigator Pointe on Fox 13's Cool School

2011-12-09T09:14:00.001-08:00

Navigator Pointe Academy, a school I helped found as its business manager in 2005, was highlighted on Fox 13's Cool School segment this week.

Letter to Santa

2011-12-09T09:08:00.001-08:00

Gateway Preparatory Academy in Cedar City has a student that writes a letter to Santa every year that ends up getting distributed school-wide. This is the first year I've seen it, but I loved it and post it here:

Charter schools are public schools

2011-12-06T08:46:00.001-08:00

And so they aren't subject to wage claims made by former employees at the Labor Commission.

That's a happy lesson I learned today.

Up tree at Mountainville

2011-12-05T19:43:00.001-08:00

On Saturday I saw this tree at the Festival of Trees:

Then today it was at Mountainville--purchased and donated by a parent.

Responding to demand or undermining existing schools?

2011-12-01T16:40:00.001-08:00

I was part of the High Mark Charter School review committee that gave the school advice on their charter before it went to the State Charter School Board. Every volunteer there on behalf of the school talked about how the main reason for the school was because the district had refused to build a junior high school in their area, requiring students to be bused to multiple schools in other communities.

Charter Schools are a great solution to unresponsive school districts. Sometimes that's needed when the district stays with an unpopular math curriculum (Alpine) and sometimes, like in South Weber, when the district's decisions break up a community's children.

Charters exist to provide educational options for parents who believe their children need something different than the local district offers. That can include community schools, if what parents believe is good for their children is to attend school nearby in a community school with their neighbors. And if that school has a great business and entrepreneurship model and curriculum, that much the better.

But the district and its defenders continue to think that education is about the schools, rather than the students, families, and communities they serve. See the Standard-Examiner, which I believe has never wasted ink saying anything positive about charter schools.

The new school...has received some opposition throughout the city. "I think if it was just a junior high, there would be no opposition," said Mayor Jeffery G. Monroe. "But they're going from kindergarten through ninth grade, and I think the elementary school element has people concerned that it will pull some students from the elementary school and create a problem having both schools adequately staffed."

Mo money

2011-11-29T08:32:00.001-08:00

As the economy in Utah recovers, tax revenue to state coffers is up, which is good news for education funding, but not really good news, according to news stories today.

Gov. Gary Herbert’s Office announced the revenue projections Monday: An estimated $280 million from taxes on a growing economy, plus a one-time surplus of $128 million."When you consider what is happening nationally or in other states, the steady drum beat of positive economic news in Utah is certainly encouraging," Herbert, who will release his budget proposal next month, said in a statement.

Despite the good economic news, the swelling budget will just barely cover an estimated $280 million growth in state programs, according to Ron Bigelow, the governor’s budget director."We’re going to try and fund a few little things here and there, but if you take health and human services and education, there’s not going to be a whole lot left over," Bigelow said.

About 12,500 new students are expected to enter Utah schools, costing the state about $50 million. Enrollment in health insurance for children and the poor is growing, with costs for that program and services for people with disabilities expected to grow by between $100 million and $140 million, as well.The state has also funded ongoing programs with about $52 million of money that will lapse at the end of the year. Filling that gap is a top priority with the new money.

Deseret News reports on new charters

2011-11-24T07:31:00.001-08:00

This is a really lame post. All I do is link to a story in the Deseret News, which they publish annually, listing basic statistics about new charter schools set to open in the fall. They list the school's name, location, a tiny bit about the mission, and enrollment caps. No real reporting goes here, since the News doesn't do that anymore.

I just point out the lameness of this post to illustrate that I'm linking to an equally lame article. The News is as lame as I am on Thanksgiving morning. But wait til the weekend when I finally get that post done I've been working on about local control!

Weilenmann sues county over road access and student safety

2011-11-16T21:16:00.001-08:00

Weilenmann School of Discovery sits at Parley's Summit between Park City and Salt Lake City in Summit County. The one access to the school is a winding driveway on the north side of the school. If Summit County and a local developer get their way, that single-lane road would be an access point to a new mountainside development south of the school for construction crews and trucks first, and then for residents once complete.

Weilenmann has filed suit against the county to stop that zoning change. "The school's lawsuit claims the county council's approval of [the development] was arbitrary, illegal or debatable, the approval violated due process, and that the council's decision directly affects Weilenmann property without the consent of the property owner."

Utah's charter magazine wins national award

2011-11-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

UAPCS has published the first-ever magazine for Utah Charter Schools, called Charterology. The magazine won a Gold Medal MarCom award for its design and content. The content was written by volunteer contributors from Utah's charter school movement.

Schools will receive magazines, designed to be distributed widely to staff, parents, board members, and every other school stakeholder, this week if they haven't received them already.

Quail Run students excel at mathletics

2011-11-08T15:14:00.000-08:00

From the Daily Herald:

[Kudos] to 20 students who helped make Quail Run Primary School in Pleasant Grove No. 10 in the nation in the 2011 American Math Challenge sponsored by Mathletics. "The students worked really hard and really long," math teacher Curtis Nielson said of the online competition. "It was a team effort that awarded the school this honor." Special kudos to two brothers at the charter school who were the only pupils from Utah to finish in the top 100 individuals: second-grader James Bott, 7, and sixth-grader Deren Bott, 11.

Charter school lemons

2011-11-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

If we're interested in innovation in education, then we need an environment that allows for:

Autonomy and freedom from bureaucratic rules
Choice for parents, so they can choose to leave schools that fail them and go to schools that they think will do better
A willingness to take risks
A willingness to close or replace innovations and charters that fail

This Time magazine piece makes the point well. "TIME got an exclusive first look at the most comprehensive evaluation of charter school networks ever, and although the study, which will be released on Nov. 4, underscores the challenge of creating quality schools, it also makes clear that it is indeed possible to build a lot of schools that are game-changers for a lot of students."

Here's what I think is the key passage:

How much risk and failure are we willing to tolerate to create much better schools for students who don’t have them today? Or, put another way, if I told you there was a way to create 10 outstanding networks of schools for students who lack decent educational options now but that the cost of doing this would be the creation of four lousy networks of schools, would you take the deal?

Critics of charter schools say this choice is a false one and that we should instead focus on improving existing schools. But their argument ignores the immediacy of educational failure. We’re talking about communities where public schools are not failing just a little but where the catastrophe of broken lives unfolds every school year, places where less than half of high schoolers graduate and where fewer than one in ten students finish college by their mid-20s. And let’s not forget, despite all the noise about turning around persistently failing schools, that successful turnarounds are like snow leopards — more mythical than actually observed.

Charter proponents also disagree with the lose-some-to-win-some premise. Their main argument against it is that bad charters can be shut down. It’s true that this does happen — government officials have refused to renew some charters — but it’s proving to be more difficult in practice than in theory. There is an old saw in education that closing a school is like moving a cemetery: you get very little help from the inside. Charter parents and teachers often resist school closures just like their counterparts in the traditional system, and today there are not enough effective — read strong — charter school authorizers around the country.

And I agree with that completely. If we want to achieve great success, the only way to figure out what works better is to try new approaches, and some of those approaches will not succeed--may even be worse than already exists. But the difference is the choice that parents have. Leaving just the monopoly system without real variety and choice for parents shackles students to a school and a system that has been mediocre or worse for decades. When charters fail, there are no shackles, and parents can freely leave to greener pastures.

However, Utah also faces the same conundrum from the study noted above, namely that parents and school officials often resist the closure of a charter just like the same groups do at traditional schools. That makes it politically difficult to pull the closing trigger, and it's never actually happened in Utah.

I'm a free-market guy who generally believes that if parents are satisfied enough to stay a a school, even if the bureaucracy or the government doesn't like it, we should give deference to what parents are choosing as the best option for their kid, even if the system thinks they shouldn't. Finding the balance between parental choice and public accountability is a tricky balance.

So, I suggest that Utah needs the following:

Expansion of charter schools, particularly successful charter schools, so that parents' choices are not limited by mile-long waiting lists;
School districts that embrace innovation, relying less on boundaries, and that really empower schools to innovate and achieve--along with the inherent risks that come with allowing parents to choose to leave;
A realistic mechanism to close or replace failing schools, both traditional and charter, including making it easier to convert a traditional school to a charter (the state Charter Board has made progress in this area, but I believe they also need an enrollment trigger);
Real freedom in schools to allow for the variety that gives families real choices, including freedom in whom they hire, what they teach (let a school decide that more time teaching reading is more important than teaching how to use laundry detergent), and how they spend money;
No fear to try something and fail.

Very interesting data on teacher pay

2011-11-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

Are teachers underpaid? I've been a teacher and sure felt underpaid. I made more (and worked more) as a principal and now as a business manager. So, what's the real story for teachers? Are they underpaid when compared to:

Private school teachers?
Other working professionals?
Compared to what they could make if they left teaching for another line of work?

Turns out, the answer to all those questions is "no," according to a new study by the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute.

The study finds, in fact, that the typical teacher who leaves teaching for another profession actually sees a decrease in salary.

When factors like retirement benefits and substantial time off during the year (teachers typically have 180 scheduled days off per year), teacher benefits are about double what the private sector typically provides.

The study also finds that:

Public-school teachers earn higher wages than private-school teachers, even when the comparison is limited to secular schools with standard curricula.
Pension programs for public-school teachers are significantly more generous than the typical private-sector retirement plan, but this generosity is hidden by public-sector accounting practices that allow lower employer contributions than a private-sector plan promising the same retirement benefits.
Job security for teachers is considerably greater than in comparable professions. Using a model to calculatethe welfare value of job security, we find that job security for typical teachers is worth about an extra 1 percent of wages, rising to 8.6 percent when considering that extra job security protects a premium paid in terms of salaries and benefits.
We conclude that public-school teacher salaries arecomparable to those paid to similarly skilled private sectorworkers, but that more generous fringe benefitsfor public-school teachers, including greater job security, make total compensation 52 percent greater thanfair market levels.

I'm a simple man that doesn't usually get into all that silly data (though there's plenty in the study). Instead, I focus on the simple and conceptual explanations.

I know that teachers do a lot more work than most private-sector workers at a similar salary level, at least during the school year. It takes a lot of time to prepare lessons and review student progress. I also know that the public largely thinks teachers are underpaid.

So, independent of any data showing how public school teacher pay compares to other professions, why aren't teachers paid more, especially if what they do is seen as so valuable by the public?

It comes down to the same rules that set price for all goods and services in the world: supply and demand. There is a large supply of people who are willing to teach for what the market is currently paying. The study makes the point that it is likely that even reducing teacher pay would not likely result in a shortage of teachers.

What we are short on is excellent teachers. If schools were freed from collective bargaining and could compensate teachers based on the factors that really matter (student achievement, parent satisfaction, quality instruction) instead of just longevity and the degrees a person has, pay for excellent teachers would increase. We'd see more excellent people turn to teaching. Pay for sub-standard educators would fall, and we'd therefore see fewer of those teachers remaining in the profession, once they find that they have to do a lot more work for not more pay.

Unfortunately, that's not the case today. Poor teachers are, according to the study, compensated at 52 percent above the market rate for similarly skilled workers outside of education. Excellent teachers are compensated exactly like poor ones. The incentives are therefor exactly wrong. Traditional public school pay scales encourage poor teachers to remain teaching and encourage excellent ones to look elsewhere.

Reform is needed.

No real improvement

2011-11-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

Utah continues to be "average" in a below-average industrial nation when it comes to educational progress. But the story is actually worse than that, as Utah's "average" score is only that high because our demographics push us up to average. When disaggregated for race and other factors, Utah is in fact quite below average. And we are making no progress.

Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said educators should always strive for improvement, but shouldn't get too discouraged when scores hold steady."Improving student achievement is like climbing a mountain — the higher you climb, the harder the next step gets," Buckley said. "It can be pretty hard just to keep pace, let alone see improvement."

Oh, boy, talk about making excuses and missing the point. We aren't climbing very high. The U.S. is outranked by more than 20 other industrialized nations, including Finland and Poland on international tests, and Utah is in the middle of the pack among 50 states, and even lower based on demographics. (Meaning our white score are below average, and minority kids score below average.)

It's not okay, given where we are, to make no progress. That's a recipe for falling further behind.

Dodgeball Okay!

2011-10-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

At the State Risk Quarterly Meeting on Friday, Brian Nelson had some great news.

Using a dodgeball as a prop, he announced that, while Risk was previously against the sport in schools, now Risk has developed protocols under which this most glorious of schoolyard games gets the stamp of approval.

I've always said that the best part of teaching is being able to throw balls at little kids.

Davis District has banned it anyway, and they let everyone know of the horrible consequences of this barbaric sport on the psyche of the poor kids who are forced to play it.

I say bunk. Dodgeball rocks.

Happy Halloween.

The sad decline of the Deseret News

2011-10-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

I like to link to articles in the Deseret News. I prefer their site to the Tribune because they've always kept their stories online perpetually, while the Trib would deactivate links after two weeks. But the News really has almost nothing worth linking to anymore.

They still have an Education section of their news site, but it's full of old stories, recycled stories, and imported stories from other states. Why does the News think its readers care so much about education funding in Kansas? Not to mention the stories that really have nothing to do with education. Somehow, stories about the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control end up on the Education page, probably because the story mentions what college someone went to.

It's sad to see, but the News is a shell of its former self, and has been for some time.

The study I'd like to see

2011-10-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

Studies of charter schools across the country, like this new one, have shown mixed results.

Focusing on math and reading scores, the authors find compelling evidence that charters under-perform traditional public schools in some locations, grades, and subjects, and out-perform traditional public schools in other locations, grades, and subjects. However, important exceptions include elementary school reading and middle school math and reading, where evidence suggests no negative effects of charter schools and, in some cases, evidence of positive effects.

Charters can be good, or not so good; but some are really good, but some exceptions exist.

But I think the studies (and the one referenced here is just a study of the literature from other studies) are largely focused on the wrong thing, and therefore leave several questions unanswered. And we need the answers to these questions. After all, I'm not a charter school advocate as much as I'm a quality education advocate, and I think that the choice represented by charter schools (as well as other forms of choice) will have a positive impact on public education as a while. (I define public education as all the resources available to the public that can educate children.)

Here's what I'd like to see answered:

Is there a model of charter school that works better than others? Looking at all charters in aggregate will of course result in a mixed bag of outcomes. That's the nature of new models--some work and some won't. Let's identify the models of curriculum, teaching, governance, and practices that actually get positive results.
What are the results of all education when charters come around. I don't care that charter schools compare better or worse than any other school. I care that students at all schools compare better than they did a few years ago. Part of the rationale of choice is that the establishment schools will respond to competition by offering programs and improvements that parents value. There's anecdotal evidence (see Park City's all-day kindergarten and Alpine's move away from Investigations math) in Utah that such happens, but the studies all compare performance between schools, instead of trends over time.
Finally, how satisfied are parents? If parents are happier with more choices, and the results are at least comparable, what should we do at that point? Do we say that parents can't have choice because society judges the value as not much different, or do we continue to let parents exercise choice because they're getting at least something they want out of the bargain?
And one more, how do different levels of autonomy and freedom affect performance. Utah's charters are held to almost all the same hiring requirements, reporting requirements, licensure requirements, funding mechanisms, and all that as public schools. What about states where charters have more flexibility in whom they can hire as teachers? Or more flexibility with dollars? If we're serious about finding new models of education, let's really pull the strings off and let schools innovate like crazy. Unfortunately, there's no currently existing model to allow for such a study, so let's create one.

We need answers.

Freedom Academy recognized at White House

2011-10-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Freedom Academy in Provo (a UAPCS member school) was recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama and invited to the White House for its successful and healthy school wellness program.

"One of the great areas of focus at the school is offering students healthy menus at both breakfast and lunch. In addition, the entire school environment is designed toencourage healthful choices.For instance, only non-food rewards are offered to students. These rewards include things such as extra recess, class activities, or other privileges."

More choice?

2011-10-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Legislature's Interim Education Committee heard plans yesterday for a bill that would give tax credits to individuals and corporations that make donations to non-profit scholarship organizations that provide scholarships to students who attend private schools.

"I realize this is a controversial issue, but I do believe with all my heart that these children at the left of the bell-shaped curve deserve better than they’re getting," said Stephenson, R-Draper, referring to low-performing students. He said it could benefit public school teachers because they wouldn’t have to spend as much time focusing on struggling students.

Some have labeled Stephenson’s proposal as another effort to implement school vouchers, but he reiterated Wednesday that’s not the case. Lawmakers attempted to implement school vouchers for private schools several years ago, but Utahns voted the measure down in a 2007 referendum.

"This is clearly not a voucher," Stephenson said. "I do not want a voucher. I think the public has spoken."

How is this bill different from the universal voucher program that was repealed in 2007? First, it's not universal. Only students at failing schools or with identified at-risk factors would qualify. Second, the scholarships granted by private organizations would be for up to $5,500--nearly double what would have been available under the school voucher plan--significantly higher than the average private school tuition in Utah, making the program more effective at bringing real choice to more families.

But the opposition to this bill is from the same sources and based on the same fallacies that opposed vouchers--and that oppose charters. The quotes in the linked article are all about how we need to focus on improving "neighborhood" schools, in other words, eliminate any financial consequence for failure and instead reward failing schools with more money when they don't educate students, and how private schools aren't accountable to the state and might not do a better job, or parents are too stupid to make judgments about what education is best for their own children.

There may be legitimate reasons to oppose any sort of tax incentive that provides choice to private schools as well as public and still support the concept of choice that includes charters, but if so, I haven't ever heard it.

Charters tear it up

2011-10-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

While I can't link to the report online because users have to put in their own parameters at the state's PSD Gateway here, data show that charter high schools are performing incredibly well.

When comparing school performance on Language Arts proficiency across the state, six of the top ten (actually, the top nine) of the top performing high schools are charter schools. They are: UCAS (1), NUAMES (3), Success (4), Tuacahn (6), Itineris (7), and Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts (9). That's an impresive list. Intech and Karl G Maeser come in at #s 13 and 14, respectively.

UCAS and NUAMES are also numbers one and three in Science proficiency, with Summit Academy High at number eight.

These results are incredible when you consider that students in charter high schools are only about seven percent of the total high school enrollment in the state, but charter schools make up 60 percent of the top performers in Language and 30 percent in Science.

In Math, the results are also impressive, but not quite as much. Charters have nine of the top thirty (thirty percent again), but only one (InTech--number two) in the top ten.

Congratulations to all the charters that performed so well, showing that offering specialization and choice can lead to superior academic achievement across all subjects.

Also, congratulations to the many district schools whose students achieve at a high level.

DaVinci Academy gets a new gym

2011-10-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

DaVinci Academy just opened their first school gym and christened it with a girls' basketball game.

Thoughts on boundaries

2011-10-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

Two recent news articles have me thinking. The first is this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about how parents in Ohio and elsewhere have actually been arrested for sending their children to schools to outside-their-boundary schools, and even sued for back tuition. Praise the Lord for Utah's open enrollment law that allows parents to send their child to any school in the state.

The second piece is this one about the Canyons district drawing new boundaries for all schools as it changes its grade configuration.

I have some unsolicited and sure-to-be-ignored advice for Canyons: eliminate your boundaries. I know, I know, boundaries mean something to you, especially when it comes to transportation. But why not make school boundaries just transportation boundaries. Tell parents that we'll give you a free ride to School A, but just fill out a simple form and you can attend School B, or C.

Want to find out what parents really value in education? Let them choose among many options. You'll find really fast what parents want to see in a school. Worried about parents all choosing to attend the same few schools? Why? What about those schools is drawing parents to them? (Hint: It's not small class sizes if parents all choose to attend schools that get crowded through the exercise of choice.)

It would also give the district a chance to try pilot programs with curriculum, schedules, teaching methods, and more to find out what works.

Make your school boundaries nothing more than free bus ride lines, and you'll see what your customers truly want from you.

First school day in Japan

2011-10-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

October 10 is a holiday in Japan. Not Columbus Day, but Athletes' Day, to commemorate the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. That seemed to me like a funny reason for a holiday, but for Japan hosting the Olympics less than 20 years after the end of its defeat in WWII was a real sign that the war was over and its imperial aggression forgiven, and its arrival back into the world of nations as a global power.

The point is that I didn't really see any school children until today. I headed out on the train early to get to a popular mountain hiking park outside of Tokyo in rush hour traffic. And rush hour wasn't just workers heading into the city (though there were thousands of those). There were also school children, even some elementary children, riding the subway alone on their way to school.

They were easily identifiable by their uniforms, but I tell you that Japanese school's don't have the "four inches above the knee" rule for girls and skirts. Their skirts are short.

Because Japan uses characters for its written language instead of a phonetic alphabet, learning to read takes a lot longer here. I spent a lot of time over the weekend with a seven-year-old Japanese boy, who seems very smart and confident, and who read a map of the prefectures of Japan. (That's kind of like a state or province.) He did well on identifying them by reading their characters. I found out that students typically learn 140 characters a year in school, and that there are nearly 3,000 characters in the commonly written language.

It makes me glad I'm hooked on phonics.

Japan edition, part 1

2011-10-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Japan on Friday at 11 p.m. local time. That's my mother's birthday. It's now 6:30 on Monday morning, so I've been here only while school is not in session. But wait, in Japan, most students attend school on Saturday also, and walking through parts of Tokyo on Saturday I did see several children in school uniforms.

There are no charter schools in Japan, but there is a fledgling movement to bring them. Shoji Sugita has written a little piece about bringing charters to Japan. He's met with charter founders from the U.S., and describes here several charters that would like to open in Japan. Hiroshi Ohashi, an economics professor at the University of Tokyo, has published a white paper on the topic also, which is here. Looking to find information about Japanese charter schools, I also came across this charter school in Oregon, which seeks to serve Japanese and other students in that state on the Japanese model.

Why join UAPCS, part whatever

2011-09-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

Jed Stevenson of Academica West used to make the point that a charter schoolassociation might be an oxymoron—charters are independent and their foundersare independent by nature. So, why do we “associate”? In the past,I think the consensus among schools was that we associate for the good of themovement, knowing that by combining our voice in advocacy and our efforts inmutual improvement we could improve the overall environment for charters in Utah. In that more favorable environment and with broad high-level support, schoolswould be better able to achieve our independent missions with adequate funding,freedom from burdensome regulation and bureaucracy, and autonomy to carry outour charter in the best interests of our students, and be able to call onexpertise for assistance when needed.

But it now seems that there is a class of schools for whom the primary role of anassociation is not to work for the benefit of the movement, but to benefit their school specifically, with the struggles that school specifically has, no matter what's going on in the charter environment at large. I believe thatattitude is dangerous if it replaces the recognition that our movement needs aunified voice for the sake of creating an environment in which charters can besuccessful. If our “association” becomes just a way to provide services to schools then we cease to be an “association” at all.

We (the charter school movement—which was much smaller then anddidn’t include me) formed an association ten years ago for a single reason: toprotect our interests at the legislature. We’ve been moderatelysuccessful over that time. Certainly, we improved funding and the overallcharter environment so that schools could grow and succeed.

When I meet with schools to ask for their membership, I try toconvince them that they should join because they are part of the movement andthey need to be part of the team that works for the movement’s success. Idon’t think any school that I’ve ever convinced to join has done so becausethey expect something out of it for their school specifically. However,there have always been schools willing to freeload off the commitment thatother schools have shared for the movement. There are other schools haveenrollment or financial problems that prevent membership in some years. (But if any of those schools want to see what financial hardship is reallylike, they should see their finance picture in the absence of our Association’swork. This year, they’d be operating with about $500 less per student inlocal replacement and administrative funding.)

I ran for and was elected to the UAPCS Board on the platform that weneeded to provide something of tangible value to schools besides justlegislative success, which they’d enjoy whether they were members or not. I still believe that. We’ve had four executive directors in the fiveyears since I’ve been on this board, and none of them,not me, and not any of the dozen board members I’ve served with over those fiveyears has been able to find a way to deliver those kinds of services that some schools say they want in a way that the school’s are willing to support with the funding it takes tosustain them.

And why haven’t we been able to do so? I’d cite severalreasons:

1. The schools are independent by nature and so varied in approachthat an “association” of the state’s schools couldn’t be focused enough to meetthe needs of individual schools in areas like teacher training that schools payfor directly. Schools find they get more focused and relevant trainingthrough other sources.

2. While startup schools could really benefit from intense servicesduring their first year or two, most schools are more established and don’tthink they need such direct services.

3. Schools that are established and successful resent paying duesto support schools that make their own messes or can’t figure their crapout.

4. An overall sense that stuff should be free.

Does that mean we should stop trying? No. Charter schools have a shared desire for some support and training that we haveprovided in the past, and some new initiatives that we can do or do better inthe future. But if that becomes the primary reason schools join UAPCS,we’ll become just another service provider, and not an Association at all.

I have presented in front of at least twenty different schoolswhy they should join our Association, and I’ve never been turned down, even atschools like Freedom and Lincoln where I have no other relationship with theschools. Why should they join?

Because you are part of the charter school movement in Utah, andwhen the movement is stronger, your school is stronger. When the movementsucceeds, your school is better positioned to succeed. Because over theyears our Association has instituted, protected, and increased LocalReplacement and Charter Administrative funding to the tune of more than $500per student in the last four years. There is no better return on yourinvestment you could make anywhere. That kind of funding allows schoolstremendous resources to train teachers, or address other needs as they identifythem.

Why else? Because without our work, all but three schoolswould now be deemed substandard due to an arbitrary standard of financialperformance, and would be justifying our existence to our authorizer, which hasno current members who have ever worked or volunteered in a charterschool. Because our Association successfully changed how board membersare appointed to our authorizer, giving schools a say in their own governancefor the first time. Becausethe bureaucratic burden would be even higher today than it has already grown tobe. Because without our work, half of the schools currently open wouldn’tbe due to enrollment caps.

That’s what $6 per year per student buys. Schools shouldjoin because it’s not fair to sit back thinking “what’s in it for me?” whileother schools fund and sacrifice for all of the above. There’s a lot init for every school. Unfortunately, if the opposite attitude is morepervasive, school’s won’t realize that until their sitting on the sidelines hasmade it so UAPCS can’t afford a quality advocate at the legislature and all thesuccess above quickly erodes. Make no mistake, without a qualityrepresentative of a unified charter school movement on the hill with the accessand relationships to influence the outcome, our movement will suffer andultimately fail.

So, when I hear thatsome schools want to wait and see how things shake out, or want to withholdtheir membership until we offer better teacher training programs, or want tofreeload off the generosity and sacrifice of other schools, I think we have alot more work to do in educating them about what an association is, what we havedone and can accomplish together, and what will become of us if we splinter ortry to go it alone.

"Then why do they call them 'minutes'?"

2011-09-22T18:00:00.001-07:00

Overheard at a board meeting, when the board chair mentioned to the secretary that he didn't need to write the exact time of every action taken.

School choice helps close college achievement gap

2011-09-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

School choice is the most obvious answer to me. Increasing the investment of students and parents in their education, by increasing available choices, means that schools focus more on meeting student needs and that students get more of what they want. It's one of those "duh" concepts.

And, duh, research is now showing that school choice programs are having long-term positive impact, as students who attend schools of choice do better not only in K-12 education, but also in higher education.

On Monday the National Bureau of Economic Research released a working paper written by Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown University researchers, providing “the first evidence of the impact of school choice on the college achievement gap.”

The researchers, two economists and two education policy experts, looked at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina and the effect of their school choice program “on college matriculation and degree completion.”“CMS implemented an open enrollment public school choice program in the Fall of 2002,” says the paper. “Students were guaranteed admission to their neighborhood school but were allowed to choose and rank up to three other schools in the district, including magnet schools. When demand for school slots exceeded supply, allocation was determined by lottery.”

Of the eight public schools in that district, the researchers ranked four as “low quality” and four as “high quality.” Students who lived in a neighborhood where the nearest school was low quality, but who won a lottery to attend a high quality school, were “more likely than lottery losers to graduate from high school, attend a four-year college, and earn a bachelor’s degree.

“They are twice as likely to earn a degree from an elite university. The results suggest that school choice can improve students’ longer-term life chances when they gain access to schools that are better on observed dimensions of quality.”

Charter news briefs

2011-09-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

News from across the country:

In Rhode Island, a new charter school with a nursing focus is approved. The school’s curriculum challenges students to earn a high school diploma, Certified Nursing Assistant’s (CNA) credential, and will help better prepare students for a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing.
In Texas, former pro football and baseball star Deion Sanders has a charter approved, and he counts that as one of the top accomplishments of his career. PrimeU Prep Academy will focus not only on the academic development of its students, but also their athletic aspirations.
In Florida, a school board may vote to close a charter school that has been having academic and financial difficulties.
For the first time, Missouri includes charter school achievement data on state tests in its annual report on the state's public schools. This data has not been previously included because charters are accountable to the universities that authorize them, rather than to a state board or local school board.
In Louisiana, charter schools have higher student performance and graduation rates when schools convert, and that means that they should have more oversight. Really.

Weilenmann getting "small-town" press

2011-09-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

One advantage of being a charter school in a less populated area is that the local media, often read widely, pays attention and writes a lot about local news. So, local charter schools can get a lot of local press for things that would never make it in big city papers or radio broadcasts.

Weilenmann School of Discovery is in unincorporated Summit County, just west of Park City. It gets a lot of media as the charter school in the area, even getting a nice write-up for their new assistant principal.

Jeb Bush likes Utah's education direction

2011-09-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

And he would, because it's a lot like the direction he took Florida, whose schools and students saw tremendous gains in achievement, particularly among at-risk students. He writes:

Data-driven accountability, high expectations for all students, choices for families, a focus on literacy, an effective workforce of teachers and customized learning are critical components of a quality education system. Fortunately, Utah legislators have begun to embrace policies to provide stronger K-12 transparency, increase academic standards, and expand educational options for students.

Last session, Utah policymakers adopted a system of grading schools on a scale of A through F. The system, pioneered in Florida, provides a clear message to parents about how their public schools are performing. Unlike a system of fuzzy labels, parents and taxpayers instantly grasp the A-F scale.

In Florida, A-F school grades are based on student learning gains. Half of the grade is based on the number of students that are on grade level, the other half is based on learning gains. The gains of the lowest-performing students are double-weighted to incentivize schools to ensure these students are not left behind. As student learning gains improve, school grades improve.
In the first year of the Florida program, more schools earned D and F grades than A and B grades. Yet, Florida's leaders did not waver. Today, there are ten times as many A and B schools as D and F schools, despite the fact that the state raised the bar for earning a high grade four different times. Student achievement in Florida has soared since this policy was implemented.

With proper implementation, which requires an unwillingness to make excuses for poor student achievement, Utah has the potential to earn the same kind of success. If leaders, parents and educators will stick to their guns of high expectations and data-driven accountability, Utah's students, teachers and administrators will earn the pride of improving the grade of their school. The most disadvantaged students will be the biggest winners.

Digital learning has the power to transform education by extending the reach of quality teachers, expanding access to rigorous courses and empowering every student to receive a personalized education that equips them for success beyond high school. The digital learning bill passed by the Utah Legislature and signed by Gov. Gary Herbert earlier this year begins the process of transformation, but funding formulas must be modernized and antiquated rules revised.

Utah has taken important first steps to providing additional options for parents through charter schools and the Carson Smith scholarship program for children with disabilities. These programs must be improved and expanded to give parents the maximum amount of control over the education of their child. Education funds should follow the student to the quality provider the parent has selected to educate their child. Parents best know their child's needs and are best equipped to hold schools and the state accountable for the education of each child. Accountability should come from both the top down and the bottom up.

Similes from student writing

2011-09-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

...and very funny ones.

Annual English Teachers' awards for best student metaphors/analogiesfound in actual student papers:

His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances likeunderpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guywho went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of thoseboxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking athigh schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without oneof those boxes with a pinhole in it.

She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes justbefore it throws up.

Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowlingball wouldn't.From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city andJeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you frythem in hot grease.

Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across thegrassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having leftCleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who hadalso never met.

He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the EastRiver.

Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only onethat had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law George. But unlike George,this plan just might work.

The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eatingfor a while.

He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but areal duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine orsomething.

The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender legbehind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around withpower tools.

He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as ifshe were a garbage truck backing up

Democrats want to improve education, but can't tell us how yet

2011-09-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's pretty easy for anyone to say that class sizes should be smaller, teachers should get paid more, and that education should improve. How to do it is the tricky part. How can you both reduce class sizes (which means hiring more teachers) and increase teacher pay? We have a lot of kids and not a lot of money.

Utah's Democrats in the state legislature held a press conference yesterday where they laid out "a forward-thinking" plan for education. Plan may not be the right word, since there weren't any bills or proposals, just broad statements of goals.

Republicans have generally tried to reduce taxes for individuals and businesses and create a robust economic climate in the state with business-friendly initiatives. Democrats think that has short-changed public schools. If they had their way, I'm sure they'd boost funding with higher taxes. We'll see when they release actual proposals in the coming weeks and months.

House of Representatives updates federal Charter School Program

2011-09-14T21:40:00.001-07:00

From the New York Times:

In a rare display of bipartisanship, the House approved a bill on Tuesday supporting the expansion of charter schools, the first part of a legislative package planned by Republicans to carry out a piecemeal rewrite of the main federal law on public education, No Child Left Behind.

The bill, passed Tuesday by a vote of 365 to 54, tweaks an existing federal grant program that provides start-up money for new charter schools — currently about $250 million— and adds some quality control provisions.It had the support of charter operators as well as civil rights and school improvement groups. If passed by the Senate, it would replace the charter school provisions of No Child Left Behind, the sprawling school accountability law that President George W. Bush signed in 2002.

“This is an important first step in our efforts to improve current elementary and secondary education law,” Representative John Kline, the Minnesota Republican who heads the House education committee, said in a statement after the vote.

The Social Animal

2011-09-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a fascinating new book called The Social Animal by David Brooks. It is largely about the social nature of human behavior, and the power of the unconscious mind on things we consciously decide. The book is non-fiction, but presented as a narrative of two main characters that Brooks uses to illustrate the findings of hundreds of social and economic studies on human behavior.

I mention it here because Brooks spends a fair amount of time talking about the development of humans through childhood and adolescence, including their time at school. His male character, Harold, has a key teacher in high school that sets him on a new direction in his life, and his female character, Erica, demands and is admitted to a KIPP-like charter school.

Brooks argues that the most important decisions we make in school aren't what classes to take or how much homework to do, but rather where to sit in the cafeteria and with whom we build relationships.

Further, it is Brooks's contention that schools can't really change student outcomes in a broad and meaningful way unless they change the entire culture the students are in. He sets up a fictional "Academy" that is permeated by a culture of achievement and hard work in a way that limits the cultural impact of outside society--even family. There's a great scene in the book when Erica demands to get in the charter school, and the school's benefactor is so impressed he tells the board to "rig the f****** lottery" so that Erica can get in.

Here's a review of the book that focuses on its educational aspects.

Ogden will negotiate with the union next year

2011-09-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ogden School District, which earlier this year circumvented its teachers' labor union in negotiations by issuing a contract directly to individual teachers, has reached an agreement with the union to restart negotiations for next year.

No long comment coming. Everyone knows my opinion about education unions. I'll just say this:

The union is good for mediocre or below teachers (removing real accountability and increasing their pay beyond its comparative value). It's not good for good teachers (holding their pay down), not good for students (by keeping mediocre and below teachers on the job), and not good for taxpayers (who waste money on unnecessary bureaucracy and mediocre and below teachers).

Maybe that was a long comment.

Not the outcome I expected

2011-09-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

...but maybe I should have. I thought that participation in the Statewide Online Education Program (created last legislative session by SB65) would be small at first, especially at charter schools where students are already making a choice for the education they want.

Instead, an entirely predictable outcome happened. School districts and charters, faced with the possibility that students would exercise different choices and take funding with them, they banded together to create more options, so that they would be more competitive in the new education marketplace.

When the bill passed, there were four programs that qualified as choices under the program. Three charter schools and the Electronic High School all had programs that could have accepted students for online courses. Now, "Utah students have more opportunities than ever to take ... classes online for free." (Tribune)

In a whirlwind of activity, school districts throughout the state have joined together in recent months to offer more online classes, partly to avoid losing money under provisions of a new state law. The Salt Lake City School District has led the charge, working with districts and charter schools to help hook their students up with online offerings this year. And seven other districts — Davis, Granite, Jordan, Murray, Nebo, Park City and Tooele — have formed a second consortium, that grew out of the first, to offer online classes to students in their districts. Other districts also have their own offerings, some new and some ongoing.

And what does Senator Stephenson, the bills sponsor think about this development? I don't know if he foresaw how quickly new online options would appear throughout the state. Stephenson has long advocated for expansion of online education and new technology as a way to make education more efficient. He believes that technology can leverage the labor of teachers, allowing fewer teachers to educate more students, driving down the cost of education and making Utah's limited education dollars more effective at serving the needs of our non-limited school children.So, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. People respond to incentives, and Senator Stephenson has, whether or not it's exactly what he intended, the incentive for Utah to lead the nation with online education.

Nightclub Academy?

2011-09-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

From Fox News:

MIAMI – A southern Florida charter school has been sent a letter of complaint after evidence mounted that the facility was being used as a venue for raunchy late-night parties, The Miami Herald reported Friday.

Concerns were raised after sexually provocative fliers were found advertising wild bashes to be held at the same address as Balare Language Academy, which is a highly-rated Miami charter school with a bilingual curriculum for children in kindergarten through middle school.

Facebook photographs of wild partygoers pouring alcohol in a cramped kitchen whose captions say they were taken at a bash at the school's address have also emerged. Parents have complained of the smell of smoke at the school, as well as empty beer bottles found on the grounds, the report said.

The fliers prompted the Miami-Dade Public Schools district to issue a letter of complaint to the Academy to emphasize the building is zoned to be used as a school, not a nightclub.

The letter pointed specifically to the fliers, with Superintendent Freddie Woodson writing, "All advertisements include the promotion of alcoholic beverages in addition to inappropriate images for school-age children."

School officials told The Herald they knew nothing about the parties and were investigating the matter.

"The school takes this type of allegation very seriously and with the highest priority," the school's attorney Marlon Hill said, adding that the school sublets its space to two churches on weekends and has no other formal contracts for access to its space.

Hill also said the school was taking steps to ensure Balare Language Academy remained a party-free zone after hours.

Hill and his team may be busy this weekend, as one flier featuring a voluptuous and scantily-clad woman and a man surrounded by stacks of cash says its "Push it to Da Limit Pt-1: The Flossin Edition" event will be at the school's address Saturday.
The school district's power is limited in the situation because Balare Language Academy is a charter school, meaning it can only be shut down if it is either in financial distress or has received failing grades from the Florida Department of Education -- neither of which applies to the school.

The company that has put out the fliers -- Outlaw Skinny Promotions -- did not return calls to The Herald.

Balare's founder and principal Rocka Malik said that the party promoters must be using the address in their fliers but are actually holding the parties somewhere else.

Now that's just funny.

Oops! Charters are public schools

2011-09-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

In an otherwise very positive and wonderful piece highlighting the Weilenmann School of Discovery in Park City, the Park Record wrote that Weilenmann is a private school. How positive? The piece is almost entirely good quotes from the school's director:

The Weilenmann School of Discovery opened its doors on Monday.

According to Weilenmann Principal Mary Kimball, the teachers have been in their classrooms preparing for the last three weeks. She said it was a smooth start.

The school's theme for the 2011-2012 school year is "See The World Through Different Eyes," an idea inspired by a fatal snowmobile accident involving a student last winter.

Kimball said the parents of the student shared that their child's eyes were donated to someone without sight.

"We want our students to embrace life's experiences and be able to appreciate the world through someone else's experience," Kimball said. She added that the school is creating a mural of students' eyes in the school's entryway. The project will be completed sometime in September.

Kimball said it's surreal to look back on the first year. "I said this to the parents and students last year too: 'When you're a part of the beginning of something, you get to watch the evolution of what it becomes,'" she said.

According to Kimball, the middle school students enjoyed the off-campus physical education program so much last year that the school will implement an outdoor survival program this year.

"We have added a few teachers that will teach the students all they need to know about survival in the outdoors," she said adding that students will learn how to pack a backpack and navigate in the wilderness, change a bike tire and build a fire.

The program will tie into the fourth- through eighth-grade curriculum. "It's a day built around the passion of learning and by teachers that are not only teaching, but are passionate about what they are doing," she said.

But the article's headline? "Park City Private Schools see enrollment numbers increase."

The DISTRICT decided to use vouchers

2011-08-27T19:50:00.001-07:00

When I visited Colorado earlier this year I toured American Academy and met with the Colorado League of Charter Schools. I was impressed with the school and the League (see report here) but was floored to find out that Douglas County School District's board had enacted policies that expanded charter school and private schools, including revenue sharing and vouchers.

George Will reports on that here in the Washington Post, including the efforts of establishment educators and their allies in policy and on the bench to undermine the will of the voters.

Colorado charter people told me that, in their county, charter parents had reached a critical mass of highly interested and active voters that were able to turn the tide in school board elections and ballot initiatives. Charter parents turned the school board election, got choice- and reform-minded members elected to the school board, and all parents in the county and district have been seeing the benefits.

Tardies

2011-08-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

The DNews highlights the problem of tardiness and what some schools are doing to combat it.

Last year, East [High School] implemented a fine system for students who don't clear up their tardies through detention.

School administrators "sweep the halls" walking through the school's four stories a few minutes after the tardy bell rings between every class. Students still in the hall are rounded up and issued citations, which can be worked off by attending one after school detention. Students who fail to make it up within a certain time period are fined $5.

Once the school implemented the new policy, the change was remarkable, [Principal Paul] Sagers said. "We had parents calling in saying 'my goodness my kids are rushing me out the door.'"

The policy at Riverton High School in the Jordan School District has been in the works for more than five years, said Principal Brad Sorensen. It's been tweaked and measured to ensure it's not too punitive or too lax, he said. Students are allowed two tardies per class per term. Beyond that, they have to go to attendance school after class or else their grades will be docked.

Lear said the most effective policies she's seen are those that don't seek to punish, but motivate instead. Teachers who have scheduled quizzes at the beginning of class or go the extra mile to make their classes meaningful can motivate kids to be on time, she said.

Carol is right. (That's something, since we disagree on plenty. I once debated her on school vouchers.) The most successful anti-tardy policy I've seen is the pizza party that students with no tardies are invited to. That was in an elementary school, and high school students will need different motivators.

But the principal that praise and rewards for good behavior works better than punishments for bad behavior applies to tardies, too. I'm disappointed that no schools highlighted in the story had any positive consequences in this area.

What makes a great teacher

2011-08-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

A new poll finds that the majority of people think that great teachers are born that way. That's crazy.

I taught for two years. I had some natural talents that made for success in the classroom. If I can say so without sounding arrogant, I was a pretty good presenter, connected naturally with the kids, told stories and taught in an entertaining way. I also loved the kids in my classes, and that's not nothing either.

But none of those things would have made me a good teacher without the guidance and training in successful techniques. As with all activities and pursuits, using standard techniques that are proven to work, well, they actually work.

As a principal, I trained teachers in those same techniques. Even teachers without the same natural tendencies I had were successful. That's because what I had I made work for me, and what other teachers have, they can combine with proven techniques and make it work for them. Whatever a teacher's "natural talents" are, they can learn techniques for pacing lessons, transitions, connecting concepts to what students already know, managing student behavior, and reaching students with different learning styles.

And it's not even that hard, meaning difficult. It is hard in the sense that it takes consistent effort. And it's hard because a lot of teachers' colleges spend little or no time on actual techniques of instruction. And even if they did, without consistent reinforcement by a principal who also knows, trains teachers in, and reinforces their use in the classroom.

KSL highlights choice in education

2011-08-26T19:38:00.001-07:00

And they specifically highlight Endeavor Hall, a newly opening charter school in West Valley (and, full disclosure, a client of mine):

Third-grader Jensen Coombs counts out his green and black polos and khaki pants he needs for Endeavor Hall Elementary. It's a new charter school in West Valley. His dad drives him there from their home in West Jordan.

It's one-on-one time, because his little sister is attending a private preschool and his older brother is at their neighborhood Jordan district school. Their mom, Nichole Coombs, explains why they do it.

"There are some great options. Why not give them the opportunity to do well with their gifts?" she said.

Nichole says so many other parents are doing the same thing. Her Cub Scout troop of 12 attended six different schools among them. "I had a couple public, a couple charter, one at home and one online," she said.

As choices become more ubiquitous, eventually everyone will be making the choice for the school that's best for their child, and not just the one they are assigned or default to because of long waiting lists at their preferred school. Let's look forward to that day, and speed it along.

Teacher gone after facebook post

2011-08-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

So, content aside, is it okay for teachers to have facebook pages? If they do have a facebook page, should their posts be restricted? Can a teacher have and share personal thoughts with the public?

A teacher in Florida was suspended after he posted on his facebook page his thoughts on gay marriage. He's opposed to it, and not leniently. He wrote that it makes him almost throw up. If a teacher does that on his own page and his own computer and his own time, is that a problem? He's a high school social studies teacher who probably has gay students.

What if he had made the same comments verbally in a public place? Would he be suspended then? What if he had written them in a journal, which was discovered and published? Does the existence of technology and the ubiquity of our public and private overlap mean that an employee of a company or a school is never just a private citizen? If he had also posted on his personal facebook page aspects of his professional life, does that blur the line further?

If he had posted the opposite, that gay marriage is awesome and it's about time we treated these people like human beings so he didn't have keep throwing up at society's backwardness, would he still have been suspended?

In short, what's the issue here? Is this an issue of political correctness getting rid of those that don't toe the line? Or is this an issue of a school district thinking its employees must always act like they are at work?

In this case, does it make a difference? He's suspended anyway.

The bill has no chance to pass...

2011-08-23T18:22:00.001-07:00

...but Rep. John Dougall has a bold idea.

When college freshmen have to be remediated in college (as 18 percent do) the college should send the tuition bill to the high school that failed to prepare him. This Trib article quotes people who are against the idea, but the only one in favor (in the article) was Dougall himself.

That's just as well, since he says he just "wants to start a conversation" anyway. It's a conversation worth having, but it won't move beyond that this year.

As expected, charter staff cut in half

2011-08-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

In an announcement that wasn't a surprise after Utah lost the federal startup grant, positions funded by that grant at USOE have been eliminated, and the state's charter school section staff will be reduced by half.

In an email from Director Marlies Burns yesterday:

One of the negative impacts is that our office positions will reduce by 2.5 FTEs. Sadly, Paul Crawford (data) and Cory Kanth (finance) will leave our staff as of August 31, 2011. Additionally, Georgia Loutensock (accreditation) will be reduced to a half-time employee with Northwest Accreditation Commission.

Additional bad news for our office is that Jeannie Rowland has accepted a position with the Teaching & Learning Section. Her transition will be September 2, 2011.

Best wishes to Paul, Cory, Georgia, and Jeannie in their future adventures! We hope that charter schools have changed their lives, as I know they have changed ours.

New SpEd formula for charters

2011-08-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

Since their inception, charter schools have been funded differently than districts when it comes to special education students. That's changing this year.

Districts are funded based on a rolling average of the most recent five years of special education enrollment, with growth taken into account. That creates some predictability and protects districts from massive immediate drops in funding if there are decreases in special education enrollment. On the other hand, it also reduces the rate of funding growth if there is a large increase in such enrollment. In short, it's a predictable fairly stable funding formula.

Charters have been funded based on actual special education enrollment each year, with the student count taken on December 1. This is unpredictable for charters. Where districts know in advance what their funding will be, charters haven't known until January. This can also create wild swings in the funding amount as schools regularly cycle students in and out of the special education program based on need and progress.

Beginning this year, charters will be funded much more like districts, using an average of the previous five years' enrollment (or whatever years the school has been open, if less than five). It's harder to take growth into account in charters as they have enrollment caps that can change from year to year, but the formula will take expansions and satellites into account.

For new charters, the formula will use a statewide charter enrollment average in funding for schools during their first year. In theory, the formula allows for exceptions for schools that are specifically focused (like Spectrum Academy) on students with disabilities, but there's not a new example of that to test the formula on.

The impact to charters will be:

A more predictable and more stable funding stream
A challenge if a school enrolls an increase in high cost or self-contained students, as funding will not keep pace with sudden changes in enrollment up or down
Very little change in dollars this year between funding under the new formula or the old formula given schools' current enrollment

This change had to come. The previous formula was put in place by USOE in an administrative decision based on the differences between charters and districts. (The most significant of those is generally newness--how can you use a five year average when charters are mostly brand new--and size. Small charters--all of us--are more susceptible to significant changes in enrollment demographics.) But as the old system wasn't authorized by rule or statute, the change was legally necessary.

The Special Education Finance Committee (of which I am the charter school member) thought this was a fair system that kept the spirit and letter of the law, was consistent with existing funding realities, and recognized the need for exceptions and the differences between charters and districts.

Why don't colleges authorize charter schools?

2011-08-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

There are several charter schools already on college campuses (UCAS, Itineris, INTech, among others). Others have developed positive relationships with colleges that create win-win partnerships. The Utah legislature authorized higher education institutions to be charter authorizers more than a year ago. Why haven't any jumped on the wagon?

I don't know because I don't regularly talk to University presidents and their boards. So, I'm free to speculate and offer unsolicited advice.

My main theory is that college administrators feel like they have enough on their plates, and they're responsible for kids once they get out of high school, not while they're still in it. Like good charters, good colleges probably focus on their primary mission and try to do that better than anyone else, and don't worry about trying to be more things to more people.

But, here's my argument about why colleges should authorize schools, and what some of those great schools could be.

College professors rightly complain that students come to college unprepared for college work, especially in writing. By authorizing a charter high school, colleges can create their own farm system, growing their own students who will be prepared, because the school can teach and develop students with success in that college in mind.
Colleges with education programs (most of them) should authorize a school to give their students real-world experience in administration, curriculum development, and instruction. It would give the college a real chance to innovate and try new practices.
Colleges could establish a work-site charter school, and have a ready place for the children of their professors, faculty and staff right on campus. What a benefit to both the students and the college employees.
Successful schools and successful programs could be replicated across the public education system, improving college-readiness even more broadly.

There are all kinds of win-win partnerships that could come to colleges and universities by chartering schools. And I'd argue that it could be done without distraction from the core mission. If a college would establish a school consistent with its mission (as outlined above), the school pays for itself, including the money to pay for an entire new staff to establish and run it.

So, Utah, Weber State, UVU, SUU, MATC, SLCC, and all others--get on the ball!

Stocking up

2011-08-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

The DNews has a great piece on saving money on school supplies. It's targeted to parents, but schools can learn a lot from it, too, especially the part about stocking up on loss-leaders.

The article kind of reads like a Wal-mart commercial as it sings praises of its price matching policy.

Office Depot recently had copy paper for $1 a ream, glue for $.01 and binders for $.50. Office Max had 100 sheets of filler paper for $.01 each, pens for $.10 and pocket folders for $.25. Target had big Mead one-subject spiral notebooks for $1.

The trick to saving big is not buying anything until it's a lost-leader sale. Walmart will price match any advertised sale.

What makes a good school

2011-08-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

I have a friend in St. George whose first grade daughter went to Kindergarten at one charter school and then first grade at another. Neither one worked out well, the daughter struggled in both, and she's now back in first grade at the neighborhood public school.

As more and more charters open statewide, and as parents get real options among public schools within convenient driving distance, how are parents to know which one is right for their child. One can look at test scores, waiting lists, curriculum, and coming soon, school grades. Even community reputation is pretty accurate in getting a decent picture of the quality of a school.

But does that mean that the school is right for your child? How are parents to know? There's a new book coming out on Tuesday that tried to give parents the tools and strategy to answer that.

Here's a link to an interview with the author.

AMES is innovative

2011-08-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

So says the Sutherland Institute.

What can ambitious students at a Utah charter school with a dedicated staff and clear vision accomplish? Sutherland Daily spoke with Brian McGill, principal of The Academy for Math, Engineering and Science (AMES), and one of his students, James Brissette, to find out. Watch the following video report to hear what they said:

Charter schools have more flexibility than traditional public schools in how they operate. Utah would do well to give all public schools as much autonomy as possible so that they, like AMES, can better help their students succeed.

How disappointing

2011-08-02T16:12:00.000-07:00

...that a member of the State Board of Education is so ignorant when it comes to education funding.

In a radio interview, Board Member Tami Pyfer said things like, "charter schools are public schools but they do not have to meet all of the requirements that other schools in the state have to meet." There are no examples given in the article, because there aren't any examples. I'd challenge anyone to name the requirements that charters don't have to meet. Special Education? Same requirements. Funding and reporting? Same restrictions. Teachers, curriculum, federal regulations? All the same requirements.

Did she mean that charter schools can hire directors that aren't certified administrators through the bureaucracy? Is that it?

Pyfer also complained about how charters "take money away from district schools." Then later she admitted that the shift of funding is really just taking money from one pocket and putting it in another. In short, the amount of state funding for education is exactly the same as it would be with or without charter schools. Saying that charters take money from districts is just the same as saying that a new district school takes funding away from existing district schools.

What Pyfer wants is a tax increase ("a separate funding method" she calls it). Whatever funding method, whatever source, the reality is still that the state funds (as it should) education based on the students in a school and in the system. Those like Pyfer that think the needs of the school system are more important than the needs of the students will never be satisfied as long as parents have the ability to make a choice that's not the system the establishment prefers.

Utah dominates scholarship and grant awards

2011-08-02T15:41:00.001-07:00

The American Association of Educators annually gives scholarship and classroom grants to excellent teachers, and this year several teachers from Utah won awards--more than any other state. See the full list here. Six of the seven Utah winners teach in charter schools.

Tuition at Hogwarts

2011-08-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is just fun.

Essentially, it was a rally against charter schools

2011-07-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

The first day of a two-day "teach-in" (whatever that is--I haven't seen any reports of actual teaching going on) was yesterday. The Trib has a short story on it here. I wish the story had more detail, but what it does have is illuminating.

First, almost nobody came. The keynote speaker, Democratic Representative Carol Spackman Moss (herself a former teacher) addressed a crowd of only 50, and there were 40 there the night before to watch The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for "Superman." (Get it? Superman's director also directed An Inconvenient Truth.)

So, besides rallying against a fairly successful documentary about how charters are reforming education positively and how unions are trying to stop such reforms, what are they rallying for? Or against? Against, really. And the Trib article lists three things: privatization, funding cuts, and closures. Huh?

Perhaps the rally organizers have some secret list of all the nefarious privatization plots that are about to surface. (Utah has the lowest percentage of students attending private schools in the country. Utah soundly defeated vouchers in 2007. SB65, which was originally drafted to allow for private providers, couldn't pass that way, so only public school programs are available for Statewide Online Education.) I'm left with the conclusion that the ralliers consider charters to be an example of "privatization."

And what closures are they talking about? Granite High? Canyon Rim Elementary? What closure?

Finally, and most telling, the weekend rally ends Friday with a march on USOE where State Board Member Kim Burningham will address whatever crowd bothers to show up. All that's fine. Burningham has long been pro-union and part of the "more money will fix it"-crowd.

But he's also someone who has constantly argued against having school board members run with a party endorsement lest the board become too political. Can we at least now stop pretending that elected board members don't come to the board with their political views and pushing their own political agendas? It's politics, and that's how it works.

Open High School of Utah gets ANOTHER national write-up

2011-07-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

OHSU sure knows how to get its innovative stories into the media.

Vouchers back?

2011-07-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

I think the answer to that question is no. I don't think that the political reality will support another attempt at school choice programs that include private schools so soon after vouchers were defeated so soundly. True believers (and I am one) are trying a new approach, and I'd be thrilled if it worked. I believe that expanding the options of school choice are better for students and, after making necessary adjustments to respond to the new reality, will ultimately be better for schools.

The Deseret News editorial board apparently agrees, and cites charters as an example of supporting success.

"Utah education already has benefited from an expanding charter school program, which redirects a measure of public funds. The state would be foolish not to also consider a true school-choice program that could reduce the enrollment burden on public schools without reducing the amount of money left for those students who remain, all while giving poor people access to the same opportunities as the well-heeled."

Teacher turnover in charters

2011-07-26T10:43:00.001-07:00

Charter school teachers tend to be younger, cheaper, and more likely to not be around next year when compared to their counterparts in school districts. I don't have a study to cite to support that, but some things are just obvious.

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting story today about that. "Around 50% of teachers in charter middle and high schools left their jobs each year over a six-year period studied by UC Berkeley researchers, who released their findings last week."

Why so high? The Berkeley study doesn't say, so I offer my own theories:

Startup schools hire an entire staff of new teachers, many of whom find they don't fit with the school and move to another job. That turnover should be expected at least to some degree, and skews overall turnover rates much higher as more and more new schools open.
Charters don't keep teachers that don't meet their standard. That should mean that ten percent or so of teachers turn over each year at a minimum. If they don't, a school is not improving.
In Utah, teacher turnover rates are higher than the national average anyway, in large part due to family considerations.
There's a lot of competition among charters for teachers as new schools (both district and charter) keep opening to keep up with enrollment growth and parent demand.
And also, many charters don't have good HR practices that tend to keep turnover lower by keeping employees satisfied and happy where they are.

"Could you modify it to stop students from becoming this advanced?"

2011-07-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

In a statement that should be shocking, but that's consistent with the "system-first" attitude among too many in the education establishment, teachers have asked if Khan Academy couldn't be changed to keep kids from advancing too far. (See the whole article, very complimentary of Khan Academy in Wired magazine.)

The model of education that is the basis of public education calls for students to move through grade levels designed around birth dates, rather than ability, knowledge, and achievement. That model cannot work best for every child--or even the majority of children. There will always be half the students who move at a slower than average pace, and half who move above.

When the concern becomes stopping kids from advancing too far so that it's more convenient for those who work in the system, we've truly lost sight of why we do what we do.

Charter news briefs

2011-07-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

News from around the country:

In Wisconsin, a Milwaukee school may have to close because its building is being demolished. In negotiations for a different solution, the school's authorizer, MPS (Milwaukee Public Schools, the city's school district) delayed consideration beyond the normal timeframe, crippling the school's opportunity to get in place the enrollment it needed.
In New York, the city's plan to close 22 poorly performing public schools and replace them with 15 new charters will proceed despite a lawsuit by the teachers' union.
In Florida, in a remarkable and fascinating story, a charter school turned around its academic performance (going from an F to a B) in a single year, in part by getting 70 students glasses.

Utah doesn't get startup grant

2011-07-22T08:23:00.001-07:00

Utah's charter schools will have a much harder time opening in the future because the Federal Startup and Implementation Grant, which Utah has received for the last ten years, is no longer available to our schools.

That means a hit of nearly a half-million dollars over the startup and first two years of operation. This funding had been used to purchase furniture, computers, and curriculum, and to pay for the staff that enrolls students, develops facilities, and establishes the school's program before schools receive any funding based on enrollment.

It will be a hard hit, and the state legislature will need to step up with additional resources for charters if we expect to have a continuing, strong, and vibrant charter school movement in Utah.

I continue to be surprised

2011-07-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

...at the way people describe the situation in Ogden between the school district and its employees.

Today the Trib reports that all but one teacher have signed the "take-it-or-leave-it" contract that the district offered to each teacher. Apparently, a three percent raise and the ability to make more money by doing better work was preferable to the option of finding work elsewhere. What's funny is the opinion that this situation is any different than if the district had offered one collective contract.

In that case, it would still be a "take-it-or-leave-it" for individual teachers. They would have to evaluate the terms of the collectively-bargained contract, and decide if that option is better than finding work elsewhere. For the teachers, it's the same choice. Either sign a contract and accept work under the situation offered, or don't and see what you can find elsewhere.

All relationships of employment involve an employer who offers terms that they think will entice quality people to agree to perform work. Then potential employees evaluate whether or not those terms (pay, job satisfaction, opportunities for advancement, schedule, lifestyle, and other factors) are worth their own time and effort in exchange.

Whether or not a union is involved, the nature of the exchange between employer and employee is the same. The terms clearly change, and as a teacher, I would much prefer the terms offered by the district, as all high-quality teachers should. The transition to a performance-based compensation system has potential to reward the best teachers, and to withhold automatic rewards from poor teachers just because they teach longer. Such teachers will then have more incentive to find work elsewhere, which will be a great benefit to students, and to the excellent teachers who hate to see their work halted the next year when Jaden gets Mrs. Crabberton* next year.

And if teachers don't like that option, there are 40 other districts and nearly 80 charter schools in the state that may offer a package they like better.

*Apologies to any teacher with the unfortunate luck to be named Mrs. Crabberton. I think Jaden must be the name of 100,000 students in Utah, so I feel pretty safe that no one will feel singled-out there.

Performance framework moving in a positive direction

2011-07-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

The "Performance Framework" for charter schools, originally drafted as a very heavy set of regulations that would have put most schools, even very high performing schools, below standard, has been moving steadily in the right direction. The framework is not ready for adoption, as standards for academic performance and governance aren't yet drafted and part of the rule.

Credit for this new and much more collaborative and positive process for drafting the rules goes to Tim Beagley of the State Charter School Board, who has been spearheading the effort for the board and attending every meeting; to Chris Bleak of the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools who lobbied the board consistently to redraft the rules collaboratively; to Marlies Burns and her staff who have facilitated all the meetings. (I've attended a few, particularly on the financial standards.)

This is another reason why schools should continue to support UAPCS with by joining as members. Without Chris Bleak's work lobbying the Charter School Board and staff has steered the framework in this direction.

Teachers aren't the union, and the union isn't teachers

2011-07-12T21:58:00.001-07:00

Language is important, and words mean things. Calling off negotiations with a labor union means that a district is not negotiating with a union. It means the union won't be party to any contract or agreement that a district reaches with its teachers.

It doesn't mean that the Ogden District is disrespecting teachers. In fact, it is showing individual teachers far more respect by treating them as individuals, worthy of compensation not because they belong to a collective, but because they have worth tied to their own contributions, not to the lowest common denominator among their colleagues.

Dixie Allen has it wrong, or rather, is purposely equating the union with all teachers. But teachers aren't the union, and the union isn't all the teachers.

Tribune praises Ogden's move, about half-way

2011-07-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

The Tribune wrote a strong editorial in favor of the Ogden School District's move to implement pay and pay raises based on teacher performance rather than longevity.

Ogden is taking a bold step, but it’s probably necessary if the district is ever to fully embrace a system that provides real rewards for excellence and recognizes that some teachers with 25 or 30 years experience are, nevertheless, not deserving of pay increases. Indeed, some veteran teachers should no longer be allowed in a classroom, yet unions demand new teachers go first when layoffs are necessary.

Basing pay raises on a reasonable and fair evaluation system is common practice in other professions and it should be the norm in education.

But, then the editorial board misses a beat when they disconnect from reality in two ways. First, they seem to think it would be possible to implement a performance-based compensation system by working with the union. Union leaders often pay lip service to such common-sense systems, but I defy anyone to point to any example where the union actually helped put such a program in place.

Second, they make the rhetorical and philosophical misunderstanding that negotiating with the union is the same as negotiating with teachers. "Permanently refusing to talk with teachers about their concerns would be detrimental."

In fact, the district is doing just the opposite. By going around the union, the district is now negotiating directly with teachers. Every single teacher now gets a direct offer from the district, instead of being lumped into a collective that negotiates on behalf of the lowest common denominator. This is not only a great move for the district and for students, but also a big win for the best teachers. It's not so great for poor performing teachers, who will start to see their compensation level off to the level of their competence. If that leads such teachers to other professions were they can be more successful, so students can be taught by better teachers, well that's what we call a win-win.

Wow! Ogden District opts out of negotiating with union

2011-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Becoming the first district in Utah to do so, the Ogden School District has sent teachers a notice that they will not be negotiating with a union, and that teachers can sign individual contracts with the district, or not. If not, the district will advertise the open position. The district is also abandoning the traditional (and harmful) method of basing raises only on years of experience, and is moving toward paying for performance.

The union predictably is apoplectic and reactionary. "I feel sick to my stomach," said Sara Byrd, a science teacher at Highland Junior High who will soon become Ogden Education Association vice president. "They [the district's board] just think we’re expendable like Kleenex." (I'll point out that the district offered an individual contract to every teacher. Is that treating them like Kleenex? Every teacher is also getting a raise.)

Will the union call a strike over this? How will the economic conditions contribute to that? Will teachers be willing to strike in the face of an individual, rather than collective, job offer that comes with a raise?

A banner year for education reform and school choice

2011-07-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal takes notice of the many states who have expanded or introduced school choice programs, highlighting Utah's Online Education Program and the several states that have removed caps from charter schools. The whole article is short and worth reading, but I've excerpted the best part here:

School choice proponents may have had their biggest success in Indiana, where Republican Governor Mitch Daniels signed legislation that removes the charter cap, allows all universities to be charter authorizers, and creates a voucher program that enables about half the state's students to attend public or private schools.

Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma have created or expanded tuition tax credit programs. North Carolina and Tennessee eliminated caps on the number of charter schools. Maine passed its first charter law. Colorado created a voucher program in Douglas County that will provide scholarships for private schools. In Utah, lawmakers passed the Statewide Online Education Program, which allows high school students to access course work on the Internet from public or private schools anywhere in the state.

Choice by itself won't lift U.S. K-12 education to where it needs to be. Eliminating teacher tenure and measuring teachers against student performance are also critical. Standards must behigher than they are.

But choice is essential to driving reform because it erodes the union-dominated monopoly that assigns children to schools based on where they live. Unions defend the monopoly to protect jobs for their members, but education should above all serve students and the larger goal of a society in which everyone has an opportunity to prosper.

This year's choice gains are a major step forward, and they are due in large part to Republican gains in last fall's elections combined with growing recognition by many Democrats that the unions are a reactionary force that is denying opportunity to millions. The ultimate goal should be to let the money follow the children to whatever school their parents want them to attend.

Great piece in the New York Times

2011-07-01T09:21:00.001-07:00

David Brooks writes on education reform today in his column:

As the education blogger Whitney Tilson has pointed out, the schools that best represent the reform movement, like the KIPP academies or the Harlem Success schools, put tremendous emphasis on testing. But these schools are also the places where students are most likely to participate in chess and dance. They are the places where they are most likely to read Shakespeare and argue about philosophy and physics.

In these places, tests are not the end. They are a lever to begin the process of change. They are one way of measuring change. But they are only one piece of the larger mission. The mission may involve E.D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge curricula, or character education, or performance arts specialties. But the mission transcends the test. These schools know what kind of graduate they want to produce. The schools that are most accountability-centric are also the most alive.

Carolyn Hoxby has rigorously shown good charter results in New York and Chicago. New Orleans is dominated by charters and choice. Since 2007, the New Orleans schools have doubled the percentage of students scoring at basic competence levels or above. Schools in New Orleans are improving faster than schools in any other district in the state.

The places where the corrosive testing incentives have had their worst effect are not in the schools associated with the reformers. They are in the schools the reformers haven’t touched. These are the mediocre schools without strong leaders and without vibrant missions. In those places, of course, the teaching-to-the-test ethos prevails. There is no other.

The best part about having a charter school in Moab

2011-06-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

I was talking to Glenna Gallo the other day who said she wanted to take some of her staff down to see Moab Charter School. She thought they'd just love this little school that could, that operates in an old house and two old trailers just south of "downtown" Moab.

I love the school's board and staff, and their whole can-do attitude. They've overcome tremendous challenges. They're small, rural, and awesome. Their dress code is shorts and sandals for board meeting. They are growing, from 36 students a few years ago to almost triple that next year. They care so deeply about their community, their students, and their school.

So, that's probably the best part about Moab Charter. But second best is that when I come down every few months, I get to go on hikes like this.

Negro Bill Canyon (I know!--at least it's better than its original name a hundred years ago, which is even less politically correct) is like the perfect hike. It's the right distance, it's mostly flat, the whole of the hike is by a babbling brook, and it's gorgeous.

When you enter the canyon, you can immediately hear the perpetually running stream.

You'll cross this stream seven times on little rock-step bridges on your way to the end of the canyon, where you'll see Morning Glory Arch, one of the largest natural rock bridges in the country.

This picture is of my skinny white legs and my new hiking sandals. Good for stream crossings. Yes, I know, taking new shoes out on a five mile hike isn't the best thing, and I have a sore left big toe and sore right pinky toe because of it. But, they're really quite comfortable.

My favorite feature of the hike is the contrast in colors and textures. The hike at the begging and for a few other legs in is on mostly sand, not too deep, but it's almost like walking on a beach. Other times you're on packed dirt, and still others you're climbing rock staircases and across large plateaus of windswept stone walkways. Nature is quite the architect.

Many times during the hike I was struck by the beauty of the green trees on the canyon floor with the high red rock walls on either side, and the bright blue sky above it all. My camera phone doesn't do it justice. But check out the image of the rocks reflecting in the stream.

The stream of course sounds awesome, like water running over rocks always does. It raises an interesting point. Do you hike for two hours listening to nature, or is it okay if you bring and listen to your iPod? I listened to my iPod, Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn. So, I got to hear Mitch Rapp kill terrorists, but also the peaceful tranquility of nature's symphony. Contrast, you know.

There are also creatures. Mostly bugs, but also lizards.

I also saw a few little micey squirrels. Those things were fast, and I had trouble getting my camera out to get a picture. Eventually one was hanging out, washing his face on the red rocks, unaware of me or the predator approaching. I shot this great video.

Later as I was hiking, I heard that lion singing. I couldn't quite make it out, but it sounded like he was telling me to "Be Prepared."

"No problem Mr. Skinny Lion with the funny eye. I'm a former boy scout! That's my motto. I have a liter of water per hour and a first aid kit! Thanks for the reminder, though!"

As you approach the end of the hike you climb a rock stairway and can see the arch from the distance. As you get closer you can hear the stream again as you approach its source. Under the arch, the water has sliced away a thin opening in the mountain like a table saw. A small but loud trickle of water runs down this thin and

perfectly straight crack until it forms the stream that you've been following for more than two miles. It's my favorite part of the hike, but watch out for the poison ivy.

On the way back, you see this mountain staring at you.

"That reminds me," you think. "I could save a lot of money by switching to Geico." Then you start to sing, "I always feel like, somebody's watchin' me." It's eerie, especially for the people around you.

You're halfway back now, and the audio book is getting pretty exciting, but now you're thinking of all the clever ways you'll write about this on your blog, and how you'll post a clip from The Lion King (because it will be so funny when you make the be prepared joke!) and you're not really paying attention, and you have to go back and listen to that chapter again when you get in the car. And you think the real test is if Ken Craig thinks it's funny, because if he does, you've got it made.

Then you can go eat at one of the many exciting restaurants in Moab. You probably eat too much and you have to go number two when you get back to the hotel. But, when you're done, flowers came out.

Moab is a magical place.

My first words on this topic

2011-06-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't written about the Utah Charter Network. I take that back. I wrote some things, but decided not to publish them until I had a chance to learn more. I like to get all the facts before I make judgments, and I always try to judge people and organizations by how they treat and interact with me, rather than what I hear from others. So, I waited.

I'm troubled by what I see some of the network's founders doing and saying. There is inconsistency between rhetoric and actions. Some are saying different things publicly than they've said privately. I've seen and heard communication indicating that this is a personal vendetta for some involved. That's troubling and not a way to start a successful organization.

And I think that's too bad. I have clients and friends who are supportive of and are trying to help launch the network. I know that many people involved with UCN hope that it can become a resource for schools to share best practices and provide support among ourselves in a way that, either through UAPCS or schools acting individually, our movement hasn't yet been able to achieve to that degree. That's a goal I can support.

If that's what the organization wants to be, I wish them well and offer my support. But it's not. At least not yet.

I will withhold final judgment until the network gets its feet under itself (if it does) and functions. Since there is a clear split among the still active (some members of its boards have asked that their names be removed, and more will be coming) members of its boards, I will wait and see which side wins out. If the voices of those who want the network to be schools supporting and sharing with each other, I will have a different opinion than if the network becomes an organization based on grudges and a willingness to harm the movement in order to advance personal agendas.

My real concern about negative potential of the network comes down to this. Charters are a little fish in a very big pond. We have a lot of entrenched and powerful interests opposing our efforts for funding equity, autonomy for schools, and freedom from the bureaucratic burdens that prevent a more intense focus on educational achievement and innovation. A split in the movement's voice doesn't double our strength--it halves it. It allows opponents to claim that the charters can't even agree on what they want themselves, kills our messaging to the key undecided lawmakers that make or break our key issues, weakens our strongest supporters in the legislature and in leadership, and limits our access to key policy makers who won't be interested in taking sides and will roll their eyes at our division.

Additionally, there just aren't enough schools to support two strong associations. Remember a few years ago when there were only forty or so schools? UAPCS had one staff person, who worked 3/4 time on advocacy, and a volunteer board that put on a fledgling conference. That was a strong foundation for what our Association has become, but why go backwards? Splitting our movement along ideological, geographical, grade level, or friendship lines is not healthy for our movement, and will end up weakening both groups, until neither can function in any substantial way. We'll lose the ground we've gained in the legislature, which will hurt the new group's stated goals to improve schools.

I've made this argument many times before. A few years ago I was approached by some who were discontented with something about UAPCS and wanted to start a competing group. I argued against it, and the group never got off the ground. Ironically, some who are now founders of UCN made that same argument with and to me back then. They argued that splitting the movement would weaken us. They were right.

They were right again more recently when another group was trying to start a competing Association. Again, now-founders of UCN joined me in arguing for unity, knowing that only by standing together can we bring the strength we need to advocate for our schools and our students.

And a third time, when a group of schools wanted to start a sub-association of certain kinds of schools, and spend time and money advocating for issues specific to smaller groups. Again, I joined with some of those who have now started a new group to argue to these schools that our movement needs to be unified.

So, I don't argue against UCN necessarily, not if it becomes what I know many of its key people hope. I hope those people win the day in UCN's internal decisions about its own future. Because if it becomes what a few of its founders say they want privately, it will fulfill those founders' own prediction from just a year or so ago. It will divide and weaken our movement.

Here's hoping for a good outcome.

Fewer eyerolls at USOE

2011-06-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

My posting here has been less frequent lately, leading to fewer rolling eyes from my readers at the State Office of Education when I spout off about the bureaucracy. (Don't get me started on UCA reimbursements this summer!)

I've been going through a divorce, and my mind and attention has been engaged places besides this blog. I've written a lot, but not a lot that can be posted here.

It is times like these that you learn how the people you work with every day are wonderful and supportive, and I thank all of you who have been so over the last four months.

InTech gets national recognition

2011-06-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

InTech Collegiate High School is one of three Utah schools recognized by Newsweek in that magazine's annual ranking of the nation's high schools. ITCHS ranked 161st in the country.

Curiously, last year's Utah winner, Karl G. Maeser, wasn't on this year's list at all. What kind of methodology do they use to achieve that level of inconsistency in reporting?

Charter news briefs

2011-06-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

From around the country:

In Minnesota, 20 existing charters, including one of the nation's first and most copied, may have to close next week because of a new law that governs authorizers. "The issue stems from a law two years ago that essentially created a new framework under which charter schools operate in Minnesota, especially for authorizers. Eugene Piccolo with the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools said he's worried charters will close because of the state, not the schools, missed a deadline. It makes Piccolo and others wonder whether this isn't a ploy to close charter schools. The Department of Education strongly rejects that claim."
In Ohio, the state senate is considering a bill that would prohibit charters from enrolling students from within their school district if the school's academic performance isn't better than the district's. "Of the 14 traditional public schools in Mahoning County, 11 are rated as 'excellent' despite yearly budget cuts," the bill's sponsor said. "However, these 'excellent' public schools continue to lose funding to charter schools whose educational track record is inferior." It's not about students, you see, it's about favored schools "losing money" when parents determine that their educational quality is inferior. Government, not parents, should decide what schools are best for each child.
In Atlanta, the national charter conference is underway with rallies on the state capitol.

Utah's achievement gap one of the worst

2011-06-24T07:13:00.001-07:00

This isn't news, but like the annual stories of Utah's lowest-in-the-nation funding, this story is an unwelcome reminder.

Utah had one of the six largest gaps in the nation when it came to math and reading scores between white and Latino fourth-graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2009.

“This is not a surprise, and it’s certainly not good news,” said Mark Peterson, a spokesman for the State Office of Education. “It’s a good reminder, a good wake-up call that we have much to do to close achievement gaps.”

The sad part here is that the gap has been present and known for years, and despite the annual "wake-up call" hasn't improved.

Kevin Chavous calls for education revolution

2011-06-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

In his keynote address at the Utah Charter Schools Conference, Kevin Chavous's biggest applause line was when he said that education reformers need to be like George Washington.

Washington lost more battles than he won during the Revolutionary War, but, according to Chavous, won by being relentless and "never going away."

Charter supporters and education reformers are facing policy opponents that are bigger, richer, and much more powerful. We'll likely lose many more battles than we'll win, but by being relentless, we can revolutionize public education, improving it for every child.

Is it worth it to spend money to make money?

2011-06-09T18:08:00.001-07:00

I work with a school that wonders if they should invest in an enrollment and marketing specialist. Enrollment has been lower than they want for a few years in a row. Marketing the school is of course one of the jobs of the school administration, but with compliance, behavior, discipline, teacher training, and, er, actual instruction, who has time?

If your school isn't full, and you invested $50,000 in a person whose job it was to build enrollment, could you get the ten to twelve students that justify the expense? Could you get more? What about spending $50,000 on buying and running a bus to the neighborhood way over there? Could you pick up enough students to justify the cost?

What about fundraising? If you invest actual dollars in a grant writer, will they write enough grants to justify their salary? If you invest in the Benevon model, will it pay off with more people donating larger amounts to the school?

Mountainville Academy has found mostly yes. They do have an enrollment specialist, and the school is full. They invested in Benevon, and had a fundraiser later in the year that brought in more than six figures. The grant writer in this article is a volunteer, but has brought in thousands to the school by dedicating time and resources to finding grant opportunities.

There's a lesson here: it's usually worth it to spend money on things that bring the school more money. It can be a hard decision to make because there's no guarantee of success, but then, if that would stop you, why did you start a charter school?

And charter schools, too

2011-06-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

The DNews has a story about how UTA is in negotiations with colleges and universities on the price of bus passes for them.

Not mentioned in the story is that UTA is doing the same thing for charter schools. Charter students used to get a honey of a deal on annual bus passes so they could take the bus to and from school, but this year the deal unilaterally changed. Charters were able to get a passable deal this year, but there's no guarantee that it can continue.

Thanks, Dave

2011-05-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

Dave Thomas of the State Board of Education writes a good piece on the history of school choice in Utah and the importance of charter schools.

Why is school choice so important? First, it respects the parental role in the upbringing of children; it allows for parental involvement. Second, it fosters competition. When schools compete, innovation is the result. In sum, it fosters experimentation and creativity in the instruction of our children. Third, it embodies the notion that “one size does not fit all.” Children are not widgets; each is unique. School choice recognizes that uniqueness and allows for flexibility.

American Academy

2011-05-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I visited American Academy near Denver. It's a suburban school, a lot like the ones we see cropping up all over Utah. They have a new building (that's too expensive) a core knowledge focus, and a philosophy that believes instruction in classical education and mounds of data to measure progress.

The school has some fun things going on, and a very robust program, including drama, music, art, and a mount of other electives. And their data is incredible. I saw tables and results that showed amazing growth. When sixth graders transfer into the school at that age, they are typically a grade or more below grade level, but by the time those same students leave the school in eight grade, those same students are a grade level above their peers at other schools.

In Colorado, it's common to call the official state test the "autopsy" because it's really only good to find out what happened after its too late to save the "patient." Like Utah, the test is given in the Spring, but results aren't available until August. Well, that's much too late to make changes to curriculum or to provide development teachers--or change them out if necessary. (Unlike Utah, their assessment model is based on growth, not just a snapshot of achievement.)

So, American Academy tests its students several times a year with private tests that provide practically instant results that the school uses to change student placement, teacher development plans, and teacher evaluations, assignments, and retention.

Charters in Colorado aren't LEAs--they are subordinate to districts. That removes some autonomy, but also means that they don't need to provide the full scope of services to special education students because they are part of a larger whole. So, the local school district runs a formula based on the cost of high-cost special education students, levies that on all schools in the district (charter and district), and uses the funds to provide services to high-cost special education students.

American Academy also faces a challenge that many schools in Utah do, namely how to grow and expand while keeping the focus and direction pure, so to speak. Before expanding, the school wants to find the kind of leadership that can allow for satellites and expansions. With the kind of academic and growth results their students achieve, they are well positioned for success if they can find the internal capacity to grow.

Also, check out this fun sign on a popular Language Arts teacher's door:

ConnCAN

2011-05-26T12:53:00.001-07:00

I'm in Connecticut today. When I travel, (Yankees yesterday, Mets tomorrow) I try to visit charter schools, state charter associations, and other education reform groups. I like to learn what they do to be successful and share best practices. I'm especially interested in how other states organize the chartering environment and how politics plays a role in how autonomous, equitably funded, and innovative charters are allowed to be. In the last month, I've visited groups in California, Colorado, and now Connecticut. I'll be posting about all of them, beginning with the most recent.

When I planned this trip, I Googled "Connecticut Charter Schools." That comes up with the state education department, a group called Achievement First (a non-profit that runs several successful schools), a handful of other schools, and an education reform group called ConnCAN, a local education reform group that was also recommended to me by a Yale professor who studies ed reform. No Association came up, even when I added "Association" to my search terms. So, I visited ConnCan. (I tried to visit some Achievement First schools, but they didn't return my calls until today! when I'm already here with plans. Apparently, they thought I was coming out next week.)

ConnCan stands for Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, or something like that. The acronym actually isn't placed very conveniently on their website. Anyway, I'd put them in the category of Utah's Parents for Choice in Education, in that they are a charter supporting group, but are more broadly focused on education reform more generally--and Connecticut needs a lot of it.

Connecticut has 18 charter schools after 14 years of allowing them, and only 6,000 students attend them. The story goes like this: When the state had a Republican governor in the mid '90s and some Republicans in the state legislature who combined forces with reform-minded Democrats, the state came a single vote short of passing a voucher law. That scared the establishment enough to come to the table on Charters. The governor considered the concept a victory, and didn't pay much attention to the details, so the union ended up writing the bill.

So, this long after, charter growth is completely stymied because every new charter school student and piece of funding has to be specifically authorized by legislation. There's only a single authorizer, the State Board of Education, but all money to fund charter students (70 percent of what district students get) has to be paid by the state on top of what the state pays to districts. Every charter student is literally funded by taxpayers twice, once to the charter school, where she is educated, and once to the district where she isn't.

So, one of the top policy priorities for ConnCan is to fix education funding and enrollment in the state so that choice exists within the entire public system and so funding follows students to the school they choose. In this area, they can learn a lot from Utah, which has an equitable funding structure based largely on enrollment and attendance, and very open public school choice laws.

I asked about a Charter School Association, and there is one, the Connecticut Charter School Network (don't get me started on the name). Even googling the exact name of the group puts their link at number six on the list. Hard to find these people. One reason for that is that the group has been moribund for several years. ConnCan has essentially been filling that role as the Charter Association had no money and no organization. Recently, ConnCan helped the Association with new funding and grants, standing it up so it can fill its role.

Since Utah has had some controversy surrounding PCE and UAPCS and how nicely the groups should play together, I asked about that specifically. There is no such conflict or controversy in Connecticut. Both groups rely on each other for support, and both work to improve educational choice and outcomes for families and children. It's symbiotic, just like it is (or should be) in Utah.

The political dynamic here is about the mirror image of Utah. Democrats control every statewide elected office. This year, Republicans won enough seats (in a very strong GOP year across the country) so that the Democrats don't have a veto-proof majority in the legislature, but that doesn't matter this year since a Democrat was elected governor.

Just like Utah, there are three political parties; the minority party that has almost no influence (GOP in CT, Dems in UT) and then the majority party is split in wings, with the further out wing (right in UT, left in CT) holding the leadership and momentum. That makes education reform a real challenge, though there's some hope here that there will be enough "children first" (my phrasing) Democrats who are willing to challenge the establishment and pass some needed reforms in combination with some Republicans.

A very interesting visit.

BTW, I'm writing this from Yale's campus. The internet is awesome.

Charters get the conflict of interest treatment

2011-05-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

Utah has a part time legislature. Every lawmaker has conflicts of interest. For one, they all pay taxes. Almost all are employed by someone, own a business or have investments in some industry that is regulated by the state, which regulates almost everything.

Are those conflicts necessarily bad? When Jim Dunnigan (an insurance broker) runs a bill regulating the kinds of services and practices allowed by insurance brokers when competing for business, is that bad because it impacts his industry, or is it good because he knows the industry well and can craft legislation with the benefit a solid background? Steve Sandstrom, an architect, does architecture work for school districts. Is he conflicted when he runs a bill to reduce impact fees that school districts pay to cities when schools are built?

Charters for years have been the "conflict" that keeps getting brought up, and that generates lots of comments on news websites. So, here comes this story from Fox 13 saying that Rep. Mike Morley (R-Spanish Fork) still "profits" from charters. He hasn't built or invested in one in years, but the ones he helped cobble together four years ago are still running, and still making lease payments.

Look, I'm not here to defend Mike Morley. He owns a family construction company, and that company competes for work in lots of industries. Charter schools and other parts of the government are a growth industry at a time when private construction work is lagging. I make no judgment about his ethics. There's certainly not evidence of anything nefarious. But I certainly don't begrudge him the ability to make a living by competing for the jobs available to his company.

Charters among top and bottom performing school

2011-05-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

North Star Academy in Riverton is number eight on a list of the top ten best schools, according to the DNews. They've always been a high performing school.

The news isn't all rosy, however, as Gateway Preparatory Academy in Ceder City was ranked fourth from the bottom in the opposite list.

Unfortunately, these rankings tell almost nothing about the quality of a school because there is no measure of growth. If students are performing low but are improving, then a school is doing tremendous work. If students perform high on specific tests, but just at a normally expected pace as children grow older, then the school has nothing to brag about. And it's impossible to know in these cases because there's just no data.

Charter students recognized in Philly

2011-05-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

So, I am in Citizens Bank Park tonight for the Phillies v Reds. Before the game the team recognized several students from a local charter high school. I wish I had been paying closer attention so I could share some more details or link to the school. At any rate, it was really sweet to arrange such an event for me on the day I'm here.

NCLB action lagging

2011-05-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

From the AP:

The long-awaited comprehensive overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law may not get off the ground in Congress this year.

The chairman of the House Education Committee, Republican Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, says there is no chance of meeting the August deadline set by President Barack Obama.

Republicans and Democrats agree the law is broken, but there is division within each party on just how it should be fixed. The House is proceeding with a series of small, targeted bills, and the Senate is aiming for more comprehensive legislation

My new iPad

2011-05-20T07:14:00.001-07:00

I got an iPad 2, and it's awesome. It's obviously not as convenient for lengthy writing as a laptop. So, wondered why my posting frequency has gone down? I spend more travel time on the iPad, always figuring "I'll post about this when I have my laptop" and then never crack the laptop out. Also, I've played a lot of Angry Birds and Glass Tower.

Also, some personal matters have kept me focused elsewhere.

But, today is the first of a series of meetings regarding school quality metrics. I have asked for such collaboration on this matter for a long time, and am glad that the Charter Board and Office are ready to meet with stakeholders and work together to come up with standards. I'll write more about it after today's meeting. (I'll be sure to bring my laptop.)