THE PIONEER BLOG

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.

Jim Stergios

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 […]

Jim Stergios

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 […]

Jim Stergios

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 […]

Steve Poftak

Running the Numbers

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The Herald reports on Governor Patrick’s fundraiser today: the event has raised $600,000 for the governor’s re-election war chest, said Patrick spokesman Steve Crawford. He added 400 contributors are in the ballroom of the Westin Copley Place with about 140 more who donated $6,000 invited into the VIP lounge with Obama. Still, there are some empty seats. Let’s run the numbers. Each of the 400 contributors was supposed to max out to Patrick at $500, so that raises $200k. The 140 VIP contributors donated $6k, which breaks down into $500 for the GOV, $500 for the LG, and $5k for the party. So the VIPs raise $70k for the GOV, $70k for the LG, and a whopping $700k for the […]

Jim Stergios

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.

Steve Poftak

Committed to Maximum Transparency

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The above words are Governor Deval Patrick’s description of his administration. The practice has proven to be quite different (and I’m not the only one who thinks this.). In May, I asked the state’s Human Resource Department (HRD) for an update of an old layoff report that was used in 2004. They said no one knew what it was. I sent them an old copy, then they said it was a one-time report. I showed them it was a weekly report. They said it was discontinued. I asked for whatever they were using to track layoff counts now, then the conversation stopped. Next, I made an open records request, dated June 16, 2009. HRD did not respond, in violation of […]

Steve Poftak

Not Just Minutiae and Methodology

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UPDATE BELOW The Boston Globe has the power to set the agenda at times in this town. On Sunday, they released the results of a poll of the mayor’s race that suggested it was tightening a bit but still favored the incumbent by a wide margin. The opposite result probably would have gotten a lot more casual observers focussed on the race. David Bernstein of the Phoenix and the challenger’s campaign immediately took issue with the poll, noting that the sample appeared to consist of self-described ‘likely’ voters, not registered voters. My read is a bit more ambiguous. The source document, the UNH Survey Center’s full report, is not precisely worded. It refers initially to a sample of “553 randomly […]

Jim Stergios

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. […]

Jim Stergios

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: […]

Jim Stergios

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 […]

Steve Poftak

Make It So

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Just today, Candidate for State Treasurer Steve Grossman said that if elected he would….”create an opportunity for universal financial literacy… And the [treasury] should be the place where you set up an office of financial education and provide those tools.” (from State House News, sub. req.) Abracadabra, an office of financial education in the State Treasurer’s office that provides financial literacy training. Next request, Mr. Grossman?

Jim Stergios

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 […]

Jim Stergios

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, […]

Steve Poftak

Walking the Walk

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A number of state legislators did not accept an automatic pay raise last year, citing economic conditions. But did you know that Senator Steven Panagiotakos of Lowell has forgone most of the payraises since 1994. It’s cost him close to a quarter of a million dollars. Impressive.