Entries by Jim Stergios

Good news on charter performance

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From Marc Kenen of the Mass Charter School Association comes some good news. The new MCAS growth model analysis shows that charter public schools are producing very strong academic gains for their students statewide (see the data at the Boston Globe online): * In Grade 6, charters represented 9 of the top 10 growth districts in math and 6 of the top 10 districts in English; * In Grade 8, charters represented 7 of the top 10 growth districts in math and 4 of the top 10 districts in English; * In Grade 10, charters represented 5 of the top 10 growth districts in both math and English.

How is this for pushing hard, part 2

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Whitney Tilson passes on additional news from RI. Given that the state department of education certifies schools of education, RI Education Commissioner Gist also raised the minimum score required to get into RI teacher training programs. “cut score” required to enter the teacher training program at all RI colleges. We previously had the lowest cut score in the country, tied with Guam. To set the new cut score, she asked her staff to research who had the highest in the country, and learned it was Virginia. So she set our cut score one point higher than theirs. From Jennifer Jordan’s report in the Providence Journal: It’s going to get harder to become a teacher in Rhode Island. Education Commissioner Deborah […]

How is this for pushing hard to obtain Race to the Top Funds?

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In a recent post, I pointed to the new Commissioner of Education in RI, Deborah Gist, and her moves to remove seniority from decisions about teacher hiring and deployment. (Springfield, MA, is the only other place in the Northeast to be trying hard to address this issue. And while the contract in Springfield is great, I am not at all sure where implementation is.) Take a listen to the Dan Yorke show on WPRO for both Commissioner Gist’s view and NEA-RI Executive Director Bob Walsh’s reaction. Kudos to Dan Yorke for pressing his guests and his civility. Really great stuff. Note to the Chairs of the Education Committee, Marty Walz and Bob O’Leary: Lots of other states (even RI) are […]

Will the Gloucester mess impact the charter cap lift?

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Whether House Education Committee Chair Marty Walz was deflecting yesterday in noting that the decisions on the charter school caps may be further in the future, we can’t know. God knows she has a lot of people offering advice so a little break might be just what the doctor ordered. The discussion of the charter cap lift seems to be premised on what we need to take out of the charters to make a “compromise” palatable to opponents, such as the superintendents (who hate losing control) and the unions (who hate losing market share). Two principles any serious agreement must include are: (1) no loss in the per-pupil education amount, and (2) no weakening of the charter authorization process. And […]

Breaking News – RI Ed Commissioner on seniority

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From the Providence Journal: RI education commissioner Deborah Gist orders school districts to abolish seniority Sent: Oct 23, 2009 2:02 PM PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Dropping a bombshell on the state’s teacher unions, state Education Commissioner Deborah Gist announced Friday that districts must abolish seniority as a method of assigning teachers. Gist, in a letter to all superintendents Thursday, said the Board of Regents’ new Basic Education Plan, which takes effect in July, 2010, requires that highly effective educators work with students who have significant achievement gaps. Wow.

Contrition about Attrition

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The Mass Teachers Association’s report Charter School Success or Selective Out-Migration of Low-Achievers? makes the claim, in short, that charter schools push out underperforming students, and as a result have higher MCAS scores. This has delighted some bloggers and all those who believe that there is no way to break the mold and improve the academic outcomes for disadvantaged students. Problem is that the argument is a heap of mullarkey. A lot of “attrition”? Let’s define attrition. Attrition is mobility. It’s when a student leaves a school. It does not mean that students drop out. Folks, when parents have choice, their kids will move around. And even parents without the ease of choice that charters provide move their kids around. […]

One more time on education funding

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Given my previous post about the report from the US DOE’s Inspector General criticizing Massachusetts for cutting education funding and then using stimulus funds to fill the hole, the Governor may want to weigh assertions in his new video such as his “extraordinary efforts to invest infrastructure and education.” (See 1:25 and 1:50.) On infrastructure, absolutely. And the bridge repair plan, though flawed in some ways, is something that Pioneer supported strongly. Smart move. But on education? Nope. (Pssst. Candidates Baker, Cahill and Mihos, this video is really well done. It shows you the rhetoric and human connection the Governor is capable of. You may have good ideas and you may be running solid campaigns, but do yourselves a favor: […]

US DOE's Inspector General questions MA funding of education

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The Alliance for Excellent Education has released a report, Straight A’s, that is scathing about the misuse of stimulus money in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. It cites a report from the US DOE’s Inspector General criticizing the three states for using the stimulus funds in a way that was not intended in the stimulus legislation. (See the OIG’s memo and the Federal OESE’s response here.) The Patrick administration has not done anything illegal but the feds don’t like it. Basically, what happened is that the ARRA had a loophole and it has led to unintended consequences – reductions in state funding for education commensurate with what the three states thought they could use the federal money for. The feds clearly […]

Interesting numbers on MA K-12 teachers

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A very interesting story comes out of the Census data compiled by the Education Intelligence Agency on trends for K-12 teachers. The district-by-district comparisons further demonstrate the loss in student enrollment in our larger urban districts since 2001-2: – Boston shed 9.3% of its students (down to 56,388) – Worcester 8.6% – Lynn 10.7% – New Bedford 11.4% – Fall River 13.6% – Haverhill 11.6% – Cambridge 20.5% – Somerville 14.1% Ken Ardon noted this last year in a policy piece for us: The primary cause of the decline is demographics – the population of Massachusetts is aging and the children of Baby-Boomers are rapidly moving through school. The Census data suggests that Boston also shed a whopping 22% of […]

K-12 enrollments down, number of teachers up

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Our Education Intelligence Agency operative once again comes in with some very interesting material to consider. With the Census Bureau’s release of data, EIA has produced a set of tables on enrollment, staffing and spending in public school districts across the country, and growth/decline since 2001-2. The state-by-state comparisons show that teacher hiring has outpaced enrollment growth in 38 of the 50 states. In Virginia, student enrollment grew by 5 percent, and the number of K-12 teachers increased 20. In Massachusetts, enrollment statewide declined 1.5 percent, and the number of teachers has increased over 6 percent. (The overall US average is 2.7 percent growth in enrollment and 5 percent growth in K-12 teachers.) Nothing necessarily good or bad in that, […]

Cleaning up my emails

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No, not those emails, silly. No reference to new computers or troubled staffers moved to campaigns. (Note that the Kineavy emails are now available online.) Instead, I am talking about the great suggestions for reading that get passed to me. Here is one, and it comes from Mike Antonucci, who suggests an article by Mike Petrilli in the new edition of Education Next entitled Disappearing Ink. Ed Next is a great magazine, but Petrilli’s article stood out in my mind, because we interact with reporters an awful lot. And the landscape is changing very fast. And Petrilli is right to delve into the question of whether we can have a good public debate about education when the pressures in the […]

This is dumb smart growth

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While Pioneer has done quite a lot of work on water pricing and on wetlands regulatory reforms, given the fiscal crisis and President Obama’s call for school reform, we have set environmental issues a little to the side for the moment. Over the next few months, I’ll post a few questions on environmental issues, which any gubernatorial candidate will need to weigh. So, basic question on smart growth. I understand the politics of targeting $50 million a year for open space protection. I also understand the shortcomings, such as goal-setting based on dollars out rather than environmental significance (i.e. agricultural value, habitat protection, or drinking water source protection). But in the term “smart growth”, there is, well, growth. Land protection […]

Will the state keep passing the buck?

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Matt Murphy of the Sun (and the associated Sentinel and Enterprise) reports that state revenues will come in $150 to $200 million below budget estimates for the month of September. On top of subpar revenues in July, we have to gird ourselves for some real tough actions — and fast. The State Treasurer and Lowell City Manager are both right to call for one quick, clean cut early in the fiscal year. Murphy paraphrases Lynch as suggesting “he’d rather have the Band-Aid ripped off quickly than endure a slow peel.” Lynch also notes “hopefully the governor will find other savings at the state level.” He’s right. Our view is that local cannot be the first option, to the point that […]

What's non-negotiable and what's at risk

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Under the cover of the appointment of Paul Kirk as the US Senator from Massachusetts and the mess created by an email from the Commonwealth’s Secretary of Education regarding a charter school approval came a huge story. The state, after years and years of talk, will take over CSX rail lines between Framingham and Worcester, and between Taunton and Fall River/New Bedford. First, this is overall a very good thing. Murray’s announcement at a Greater Boston Chamber breakfast helps move the state’s transportation infrastructure ahead in some very positive ways. More frequent commuter rail service between Boston and Worcester is a no-brainer that previous administrations did not get done. Also, the state’s takeover of Worcester line will allow for changes […]

The Perfect Storm in Gloucester

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We have long lamented the politicization of education policy broadly, but especially on charter schools, since the creation of the position of the Education Secretary and the packing of the board of education. Think back to the decision to kill off a great charter application in the Brockton area for purely political reasons. Or consider how the 21st-century skills agenda moved forward in the MCAS contract without any board approval. Looking for reminders? Okay, try here, here, here, and here, as well as a number of reports, op-eds, etc., which I will not list out. All of this is the lead-up to the perfect storm in Gloucester, where the Gloucester Times notes, with charity, Ed chief’s e-mail kills his, secretary’s […]

Small suggestion

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The Globe editorial page has settled into a very even-keel point of view on school reform, embracing accountability, testing, funding, high academic standards, as well as charters and newly proposed readiness schools. They’ve been advocates of positive change. Editorial pages and news pages are different. Opinions belong on the opinion pages and we could use a little less tilt in the Globe’s day-to-day education reporting. This space has noted the tilt several times in the past (here, here, and here). A little more knowledge of the history of how Massachusetts went from, on average, having pretty good schools to having the best schools in the country would help improve that reporting. And (small suggestion) on a day when Jamie Vaznis […]

Dramatic Standoff at U.S. DOE

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A follow-up on my previous post. Former Democratic D.C. Councilman Kevin P. Chavous, longtime D.C. education activist Virginia Walden Ford, the Rev. Anthony Motley, Black Alliance for Educational (BAEO) Board Chair Dr. Howard Fuller, BAEO President Gerard Robinson, and education reform leader Darrell Allison defiantly blocked the entrance to the US DOE’s building. From Kevin’s email: The protesters refused to leave the premises for nearly an hour, leading to a standoff with police. Apparently on orders from federal officials, no arrests were made. … The protesters—who sought to block the entrance of the Department because “the President and the Secretary have blocked low-income parents from accessing the schools of their parents’ choice”—were cheered on by 50 families and supporters, including […]

Civil Disobedience Protest in DC for School Choice

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From the desk of Kevin Chavous, who spoke at an event we held on school choice and the Know-Nothing Amendments, is an announcement that this morning, as the school day begins, is “First-Ever School Choice Civil Disobedience Protest Set for Washington, D.C. at U.S. Dept. of Education.” [Check out their website !] Their goal is to save the endangered D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Washington, D.C. (September 8, 2009)—In the first-ever act of school choice-related civil disobedience, prominent education reform leaders will block entrance to the U.S. Department of Education building today at 9:30 A.M. and demand that President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan act immediately to save and strengthen the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. The protest will take […]

Hitting the Reset Button

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Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has a provocative piece in today’s Wall Street Journal that argues that “my fellow governors and I are likely facing a permanent reduction in tax revenues.” Daniels is running a budget surplus through close financial management and lots of innovation (e.g., the tollway deal) and reforms. In the WSJ op-ed, he has a message for Massachusetts. The “progressive” states that built their enormous public burdens by soaking the wealthy will hit the wall first and hardest. California, which extracts more than half its income taxes from a fraction of 1% of its citizens, is extreme but hardly alone in its overreliance on a few, highly mobile taxpayers. Both individuals and businesses are fleeing soak-the-rich states already. […]

234 and counting

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The piece Alan Wirzbicki did in today’s Globe has pushed comments up to a level you wouldn’t ordinarily expect given the topic. 234 at 2:15. Not bad for a story on congressional seats. Down from 16 Congressional seats in 1920 to 10 a century later. Two Congressmen who provided quotes proved that they are clueless. Richy Neal is a nice guy but in his quote he raises navel-gazing to a new art form: “Everybody in the delegation is particularly well positioned with their committee assignments,’’ said Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Springfield, a member and subcommittee chairman on the Ways and Means Committee. “It obviously would present a challenge for the state.’’ The loss of a seat is a […]

Charter Watch, August 11

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Thus begins our series of posts on how people are moving the goal posts on charters. We noticed this a while ago, but with Jamie Vaznis’ piece in the Globe today, I’ll start keeping tabs more publicly. Jamie V asks a fair question: Are many charter schools achieving dazzling MCAS scores because of innovative teaching or because they enroll fewer disadvantaged students? But while there is a single line in the piece on other disadvantaged categories of students, Vaznis did not go beyond special needs and limited English proficient students. A bit of digging would show that charters serve higher numbers of Hispanics, African-American, and poor (Free and Reduced Lunch) students. Aren’t they disadvantaged? My Jamie (Jamie Gass, head of […]

Random thoughts on Globe poll

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I have admittedly only skimmed the 51 pages of questions and results in the poll performed for the Globe by Andrew Smith of the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire. (See a graphic representation here of the Globe’s takeaways.) Note to Matt Viser and Frank Phillips: It is always good to give folks a clear sense of whether these were likely voters, random calls, etc. Page 19 of the summary document is full of interesting tidbits on policy issues of highest concern. Here are some I found interesting: – Taxes: (1) Taxes mattered most to $30-60,000 earners. (2) Curiously, taxes did not matter to African-Americans (could be an anomaly reflecting the number interviewed or maybe not). (3) Taxes […]

Subway incentives to promote seat belt compliance

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Joe Giglio and Charlie Chieppo had a nice piece, High-tech Highway Funding, in the Globe today on the need for broader and more strategic use of technology to improve transportation service and create an effective revenue stream for transportation needs. Some people – not naming names – some people love this idea but worry that technology can be, well, misused, let’s put it that way, to, uhm, well, also reduce the ability to violate speed limits. Not that they are right. Again, I am not naming names, nope. A similar issue arises with today’s announcement by state and local public safety officials and advocates about an impending seat belt law “enforcement blitz,” as the Statehouse News Service put it, which […]

Duncan Rex, Daniels Rex

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Great news out of Indiana. We have in the past few weeks seen movement in Chicago, Tennessee, and Rhode Island to remove caps on charter schools or to implement new charter school laws. Duncan Rex is pushing the clock forward quickly, leveraging new Race to the Top funds to gain reforms at a pace that was until now impossible. From the July 1 Indiana News comes great tidings on Indiana’s progress. Because of wise fiscal stewardship by Governor Mitch Daniels, Indiana is one of a handful of states with a surplus in this fiscal crisis. And unlike Alaska, Indiana does not have oil and other resources to sustain a glide path on revenues. He is managing his way through it. […]

Minneapolis 180, Boston 0

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This just in from our friends at the Institute for Justice: The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has come down with a decision that protects a freer market for tax medallions in Minneapolis. The Institute for Justice Minnesota Chapter intervened in the case on the side of the city of Minneapolis to defend its free-market reforms that removed a cap on the number of taxis allowed to operate within city limits. The reforms, finalized on March 30, 2007, will open the market to entrepreneurs who are fit, willing and able to serve the public, increase the number of cabs by 180 in the coming years, and eliminate completely the cap on the number of cabs in Minneapolis by 2011. In […]

Welcome to Massachusetts, Secretary Duncan!

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U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is in town this Thursday for an event at the Museum of Science and what is likely to be an announcement from Governor Patrick that he is seeking to lift the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts in order to access the Race to the Top funding. Still lack of clarity on the proposal, but it seems to be looking like no quotas on specific populations and a proposed increase in the net district spending on charters from 9% to 14%. Given the reputation Massachusetts has gained over the past few years (en bref, they’re not welcoming to new charters!), this is not enough. To get KIPP and other national, proven players to declare Massachusetts […]

A bit of soul searching

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Matt Murphy of the Lowell Sun writes today on an issue that Pioneer has been banging the drum on for some time: the growth in the state’s payroll notwithstanding the fact that we are in a recession. (See our Countdown to Fiscal Sanity, item #9, for more.) Murphy notes that While many private-sector companies continue to shed jobs at alarming rates, state employees have been largely spared the anxiety of getting a pink slip. The state payroll, in fact, has grown by about 2,200 employees since the recession came to Massachusetts last fall, leaving roughly 98,278 workers dependent on the state for a paycheck, according to payroll records that include the University of Massachusetts and other public colleges. Meanwhile, Fall […]

Driving the New Urban Agenda

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As national discussions continue on the future of cities across the country, an array of stimulus strategies are being offered. These include downsizing older industrialized cities or engaging in large-scale urban renewal projects. Whatever path is taken, Pioneer urges elected officials and policymakers not to fall into old habits of things tried that failed. The challenges our cities face are not new and while stimulus can be helpful, it will not turn back generations of economic change to which cities have not adapted.

Charters alive in Rhodey!

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The mayor of my hometown, Cumberland (RI), Dan McKee has gained recognition among charter folks nationwide for a new concept, Rhode Island Mayoral Academies, which he is proposing along with a number of Ocean State mayors. These would be in essence regional charter schools driven by mayors tired of the continued failure within the school districts. It is great to see local leaders in RI standing up, much like Mayors Fenty (DC), Bloomberg (NY), and many others across the nation. (Editor’s note: Boston may get there, it seems, this election.) Last week, the Rhode Island House Finance Committee turned its nose at the new schools, cutting $1.5 million in proposed aid for two new charter schools. Yesterday, after U.S Education […]

Boom times at the NEA

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From our man in Education Havana, Mike Antonucci, sleuth extraordinaire, gives us some numbers on why the recession cannot be said to have hit everybody equally. Proposed Budget Shows No Recession at NEA Headquarters. The economy may be staggering along, the labor movement may be facing financial problems, but the National Education Association continues to let the good times roll. The proposed 2009-10 NEA budget forecasts $355.8 million in revenue, an increase of $10 million over this year. The headlines warn us of massive teacher layoffs across the nation, but NEA modified its projection of new teacher members upward. Originally expecting an increase of 5,000 new teacher members for 2009-10, the latest proposed budget now predicts 7,000 new teacher members. […]