newteacher

Not quitting on Urban Education

The  city of Indianapolis might be finally waking up to the challenges of urban education and maybe, just maybe, seeing how in many ways they've abandoned these kids, teachers, and communities.  Here's to hoping that the public interest will keep the pressure on as Tully says here, it would be foolish.  It's also not right.

It's time to act to save our schools

December 20, 2009, by  Matthew Tully

 It's time to act to save our schools "I want to be the first person in my family to graduate." A junior named Britney Bishop said those words to me Thursday as she stood in a hallway outside Manual High School's band room. One of her friends, junior Tiffany White, agreed. She, too, hopes to start a family tradition on Graduation Day 2011. The girls' status isn't unique. I've frequently talked to Manual students who come from families still waiting on the first diploma to hang on a wall. Some, like Britney and Tiffany, are striving to graduate. Others don't seem to care. It's easy to be overwhelmed by the idea that in 2009, when a college education is often needed to land a decent job, many households served by the Near-Southside school still don't possess a single high school diploma. It also would be easy, in light of Manual's many problems, including a 39 percent graduation rate, to write off the troubled school as a lost cause. 

But quitting on this school would be a foolish mistake for this city, as foolish as the decision made every year by scores of teenagers to drop out of Manual.

Read More: IndyStar LINK

The War on Kids

There is some buzz around this film coming out and it would be great to see some discussion of these general ideas ....apparently, there are more clips on YouTube. The "War on Kids" phrase was popular about six years ago by some scholars but it got dropped pretty quickly.  I do think that what a lot of the rhetoric (and now policy) serves to do is blame the victim; we end up blaming kids for our own system that alienates and derides them.  thoughts?

The Soft Bigotry of....well, Racism

Friends,

   Needless to say that I was shocked to see that Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels handed out copies of the book Real Education (see Higher Ed Review) by Charles Murray at the Education Roundtable today (he called it “provocative” and said it changed the way he thought about education—the basic premise is that “too many people go to college”  and that we should focus our education system on the "gifted" as everything else is a waste of time. You may remember that Murray is the co-author of The Bell Curve (1994), a book that was widely criticized as methodologically weak (if not unethically so) and racist.  There indeed was a firestorm of protest and refutation after that book but it seems as if he may be back in favor as a darling of right-wing thinktanks like the American Enterprise Institute and the Manhattan Institutute. A quick search found the review/overview below but there was a lot of published critique that should be easy to find. Troubling times indeed as the attack on public education continues.

 

Thought you might like to know and it would be great to hear some comments here:

 

 

The Bell Curve and Its Critical Progeny: A Review

Alan Davis

University of Colorado, Denver

“In short, their aim is to persuade an educated, overwhelmingly White readership through what appears to be an appeal to reason and evidence, that they, the readers, are genetically, socially, and intellectually superior, and that governmental efforts to raise the economic and educational status of African Americans and Latinos are ultimately doomed to fail” (p.183)

School Budget Cuts Nationwide

Things are tough all over I'm afraid.  It is interesting however how the cry of "failing schools!" almost never includes a discussion of budget cuts, class size, and firing teachers.  The other key point here is that the stimulus is only that and can't be sustained or expected too.  Folks really need to be looking into how the cuts have effected there schools and start making noise.

Public v. Charter

...a new article in the NUVO on the charter school debate, flawed in several ways (most notably being that charter schools are public schools in Indiana) and including some voices that may be familiar to some.  In general, I would say that the article tries to do too much-- forcing a less than in-depth discussion of the multiple issues presented here (i.e. school funding & budget cuts, charter schools in general, education reform, market logic, etc...).   It would be good to hear some comment, correction, or critique here.  Have at it!

 

Public v. Charter: A tale of two schools by Josefa Beyer

Something’s lost and something’s gained in the public school marketplace

Since the first Indianapolis charter school opened in 2002, an advertising campaign of billboards and summer mailbox brochures has been targeted at consumers of public education. With more than 20 charters to choose from this fall, many parents are pleased with the widening school selection. However, because 14 Indianapolis Public Schools have closed in just two years, another set of parents see their choices dwindling.

Before summer break, I visited two Indianapolis schools set apart by miles and experience. One is finishing its first year. The other is finished, closing its doors forever. They seem like good places to find what’s gained and what’s lost in the public school marketplace.

Read More at NUVO:

Fatal Blows to Public Education

Troubling news in the funding for public education debate of late--it seems that the Governor's budget cuts IPS's budget by almost $77 million by 2011.  Critiques of the Indianapolis urban school district are legion and should be talked about but a cut like this would certainly be a step backward and, of course, take even more from the students with the greatest needs.  Alternative & magnet programs, class size, English as New Language instruction, and professional development would all suffer (not to mention art & music which is always the first to go).  Another factor to consider to is that the children of Indiana are getting poorer (see Indiana Youth Institute) and the number of students served by IPS that meet the federal standard for homelessness is now over 1600!  As Sheila Kennedy states in her article, the time for leadership in relation to this city's children is now.

 

Avoid fatal blow to IPS by Sheila Seuss Kennedy

Posted: June 8, 2009

The legislative special session has an unenviable task. Times are tough, and we have long since stopped cutting government fat, and moved on to muscle and bone.

That said, one of the most monumental threats facing Indianapolis in this round of budget cuts is the potential to effectively destroy Indianapolis Public Schools -- and thus deliver a mortal wound to economic and community development in Indianapolis.

The House/Senate budget proposal that failed in April would have meant a $47 million loss to IPS over the next two years. After the last revenue forecast, Gov. Mitch Daniels told lawmakers to cut more; his numbers would mean an additional $11 million lost to IPS.  Read More at: http://www.indystar.com/article/20090608/OPINION12/906080310/1301/ARCHIVE/Avoid+fatal+blow+to+IPS

IPS & Funding Cuts

A letter to the editor from IPS Superintendent Eugene White on funding cuts, the state budget, and the "financial death spiral" of public education.  Great cause to be concerned here as, in effect, the district will almost certainly have to cut programs in addtition to firing teachers.  If you thought class size was a problem this year in the district...just wait till next.

 

Funding cuts create dire scenario for IPS
Eugene White 

This month, approximately 300 Indianapolis Public Schools teachers and 40 administrative staff received notice that their positions would be eliminated as IPS prepares to cut $25 million from our budget. At the end of this school year, IPS will close six additional schools on top of the eight schools that were closed last year. These cuts are the necessary but painful result of declining enrollment and the dollars-follow-the-child funding formula adopted by the legislature in recent years. IPS still is determined to become a model urban school district by 2010. To meet the diverse learning needs of our students -- many of whom live in extreme poverty -- IPS has established more magnet and option programs than any other Indiana district. We've put a number of creative initiatives in place to increase student achievement and graduation rates, including 21 alternative programs serving students who are disruptive or who cannot learn in a traditional school setting. These programs are working and, until recently, there was reason for optimism in IPS. What changed? Under the budget adopted by the Indiana Senate, state funding for students who attend IPS will be cut by 2.5 percent in 2010 and 4.2 percent in 2011, a $26.5 million loss over the biennium. This loss is on top of the $8 million in property tax revenue that IPS is projected to lose to the new property tax caps over the next two years. These reductions alone are enough to force hundreds of additional teacher layoffs, but when you add the Senate's plan to repeal a state law that allows school corporations to levy property taxes to pay for utilities and insurance, IPS will be forced to cut an additional $22 million from its general fund, which pays teachers, to pay
 for utility costs that were previously covered by property taxes.

The bottom line is that funding cuts of this magnitude will devastate IPS and severely disadvantage the children it serves. Even if the legislature ultimately rejects the Senate's plan to require schools to pay their utility bills with dollars that should be directed to the classroom, IPS would lose nearly $35 million over the next two years in state and local funding. If the Senate budget becomes law,
IPS will be forced to cut programs. Without the resources to compete with charter and neighboring school districts, IPS' enrollment will continue to drop and the district will be thrown into a financial death spiral that will make it difficult, if not impossible, to provide an adequate education for our students.

 Some policymakers believe the additional Title I funding that IPS is projected to receive through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help offset steep cuts in state funding. However, its strict requirements include the general rule that Title I dollars may not be used to replace state funding. Also, the Senate funding formula appears to contravene the intent of Congress in providing stimulus funding to states to stabilize public education. While there's no consensus that more money will improve educational outcomes, I think it's safe to say that less money, especially $35 million less, certainly won't help improve student achievement in IPS.

Hope in the Classroom

Finally a positive story coming out of IPS!  I would question some of the assumptions here (i.e. charter schools & Teach for America) but it's good to see how a dedicated administrator can turn a school around.  Of course, the piece of this puzzle related to the firing of teachers in a beleagured district is troubling (wasn't the stimulus package supposed to stop that, Superintendent Bennet?) and I wonder how administrators can be supported to do this kind of work. 

Bringing hope into the classroom

by Mathew Tulley at Indy Star

For anyone who cares about urban education, these are, believe it or not, promising times.

Across Indianapolis, charter schools are providing inspired choices for many families. In Washington, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is challenging harmful old-school policies and entrenched education interest groups. Groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, meanwhile, are aiming billions of dollars at innovative educational programs.

This is all just a start, of course. Few problems are more vexing and immense than the dire condition of urban schools. There are no easy fixes. But there are signs of hope.

That was the thought I had recently after visiting Gambold Middle School, a Westside school of about 400 students run by an energetic principal named Yvonne Rambo. An educator for 25 years, Rambo thinks the only way to improve city schools is to dramatically change the way they are run.

"We changed everything," Rambo said, recalling her 2006 arrival at the Indianapolis Public Schools middle school. "It was out of control. You'd drive up and see kids throwing things from the windows. Teachers couldn't clear the halls. There was graffiti, and gang issues."

Rambo didn't make excuses out of the high crime and poverty rates surrounding the school or the heartbreaking troubles many students carry with them each day like books in a backpack.

Befitting her last name, Rambo got tough, installing security cameras and a zero-tolerance policy that led to increases in suspensions and expulsions. She pushed teachers so hard that many quit. She also championed a program to tailor classes more closely to each student's skill level and built self-esteem by pushing top students to take high-school classes.

"The first couple of months were really rough," Rambo said. "We were trying to change a culture and change bad habits."

Three years later, ISTEP scores are still low, but they're up. Suspensions and expulsions are down. A hard push has cut the number of students not reading at grade level from 140 to 40. Walk the halls, and you'll see students move quietly from class to class. Rambo, meanwhile, is chock-full of innovative ideas, such as using iPods to improve the English skills of her many Spanish-speaking students.

"This is the age where you hook students in -- through sports or band or academic success -- or you lose them forever," she said of middle school.

Peek in classrooms at Gambold, and you'll find wonderful teachers such as April Partee, a dynamic educator who engaged her special-education class on a writing project by dancing around the classroom. Or Stephanie Parido, a recent college graduate who is spending this year at Gambold as part of the inventive Teach For America program.

Sadly, budget cuts could cost Rambo four of her 20 teachers next year. The problems at urban schools won't go away. Still, there are no excuses at Gambold.

"We have to be creative," Rambo said. "We have to see every challenge as an opportunity."

Students View of IPS

Some local kids talk to policy makers about the state of education in IPS in today's Indy Star.  Good to see someone thought to ask them.  Now a panel of teachers would be a nice touch.  I must say some of the comments posted are the most interesting as (finally) folks are becoming comfortable putting Dr. White under the microscope--he has a lot to answer for methinks.  Now don't misunderstand me here, IPS needs to supported and the challenges taken up; the solutions undoubtedly offered by Lubbers (charter schools, more scripted curriculum, more de-professionalizing teachers) are based more on ideology than research and ultimately.....can and often does hurt kids.

Students give lawmakers a bleak view of IPS

By Andy Gammil

Margrette Lowe wants state legislators to understand that they have given her a raw deal when it comes to her education.

She and a dozen other Tech High School students met with eight lawmakers Friday and painted a bleak portrait of their district: Many teachers don't care; the district doesn't offer the challenging classes commonly offered elsewhere; and some students receive such bad guidance that it can affect whether they graduate

READ MORE

Magnet Schools & Blaming Parents

I just can't keep quiet about the stories in the Star about Indianapolis Public Schools.  The audacity of the IPS administration to blame parents for low magnet enrollment and the failure of small schools is the epitome of spin.  Anybody who has spent any time at all in the IPS small school fiasco knows that they were never given a real chance and were "small schools" in name only.  To say that they're shifting back because of "research" on effectiveness is insulting.  The tone of today's article on magnet programs is even worse: the Superintendent telling parents to leave neighborhood schools for magnets?!  This is a complete reversal of the original intent of magnets--to bring high quality programs to struggling urban schools.  This is simply tracking the district (we used to at least pretend that we didn't do this), creating trophy schools and leaving vast numbers of kids, communities, and teachers behind--all for the sake of looking good for the paper. But, in the end, to blame parents is just too much--we need some public outrage, people.

Most of IPS' magnet high schools struggle to fill their seats

Shortridge High School is set to reopen next year as a magnet school with a focus on law and public policy, but so far there are few takers: only 235 students have signed up for 600 seats. 

To view the contents on www.indystar.com <http://www.indystar.com> , go to: http://www.indystar.com/article/20090222/LOCAL18/902220389