“She’s a good girl. She helps me a lot. She has big, big dreams. I don’t have the money, but she has big dreams. I hope she’s going to get everything, but she works so hard. She works so hard in school.”
“Our family is needing to make some really big sacrifices because we believe this is important, and so, we’re basically going to do whatever it takes… Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘I don’t know if I can do it again another month…’”
“A lot of the families have to sacrifice and work multiple jobs… And just scraping together enough money to just make tuition, just the basics.”
“It is discriminatory, that parents who want to choose an alternative to public school for their children, would not in any way receive any compensation for that, whether it be tax credit, whether it be a voucher…”
In the 1840s, nativist movement leaders formed official political parties and local chapters of the national Native American Party (later the American Party), although they continued to be commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party. Politicians sought to insert provisions into state constitutions against Catholics who refused to renounce the pope. The Know-Nothing movement brought bigotry and hatred to a new level of violence and organization.
The party’s legacy endured in the post-Civil War era, with laws and constitutional amendments it supported, still today severely limiting parents’ educational choices. A federal constitutional amendment was proposed by Speaker of the House James Blaine prohibiting money raised by taxation in any State to be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations. These were then named the Blaine Amendments of 1875.
in recent decades, often in response to challenges to school choice programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated great interest in examining the issues of educational alternatives and attempts limit parental options. Massachusetts plays a key role in this debate. The Bay State was a key center of the Know-Nothing movement and has the oldest version of Anti-Aid Amendments in the nation, as well as a second such amendment approved in 1917. Two-fifths of Massachusetts residents are Catholic, and its Catholic schools outperform the state’s public schools, which are the best in the nation.
Green Dots in LA and now in NYC
/0 Comments/in Blog, News, Related Education Blogs /bySteve Barr has become a lightning rod for many in LA and now also in NYC (and here infecting UFT chief Randi Weingarten) as he works with the State University of New York to open up a Green Dot school in the South Bronx.
What union opponents (and it is not everyone) don’t seem to get about Green Dot schools is that the formula is very attractive to many teachers. Especially younger teachers, many of whom would otherwise leave the teaching profession.
Attractive? Why? Site-based management means teachers and principals have authority over 80-90 cents of each budget dollar, over curricula, and over work rules. As a result, decisions are made closer to the student and are more relevant to student needs, so the work of the teacher becomes less bureaucratic and more meaningful (though, let’s be clear, sometimes with longer days).
All of the above is also true of site-based management reforms in Edmonton, Alberta and back home here in Barnstable, Mass. (see 1, 2, and 3), as well as charters and pilot schools.
Interesting item to look into: Green Dot is said to keep its admin expenses to 6 percent of its total operating budget for its network of schools, and so it pays thousands more annually to teachers, even though the schools receive less in per-pupil reimbursements.
Noble rhetoric, base motives
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /byWrap Gov. Patrick’s proposal to overhaul public education governance in whatever rhetoric you want, at its core, his plan is about taking control of the Board of Education.
His plan, simply put, is to give the Urban Superintendents, Mass Association of Superintendents, the Mass Association of School Committees and the Mass Teachers Association what they have been clamoring for the past decade. Reminder to all: These are all a really nice bunch of well-meaning people who never forget to mention the children when they talk about their own interests, which are control, control, control and, hmm, control… in that order.
They’ve had enough of the pressure to change business as usual. That pressure comes from the state’s accountability system, competition from charters, teacher testing and state curriculum frameworks, which ensure that we are serious about teaching kids what is needed to access a liberal arts education.
The bête noire here is the Board. It has ensured, gulp, reform. And its independence from politics has meant, gulp, gulp, that these groups were unable to stall reform and ultimately kill it.
At the start of the 90s, both political parties and lots of business executives saw the wisdom of securing the Board’s independence and the reforms mentioned above. Experience has proven them right.
Few reforms have done more to make the commonwealth a great place for children to grow up than these two initiatives. In 1993, Massachusetts barely made the top 10 in national assessments. Today, the commonwealth not only leads the nation in student performance, but our rate of improvement is unparalleled among high-performing states.
Instead of caving to special interests, the Governor should keep his eye on the state’s weakest area: urban schools. Charter schools, pilots schools, METCO, vocational-technical schools and university partnerships have proven effective in addressing this issue.
But this is about politics pure and simple. Why don’t you send the Governor your views on this? More importantly, send the Senate President and the Speaker of the House your views.
Mother’s wisdom
/0 Comments/in Blog, Related Education Blogs /byI am visiting my mom, who is really nice. Hard to believe, huh? Apple falls far from the tree in this case. We are enjoying a coffee and leafing through Roxbury Prep Charter School (a public middle school) annual report.
First, how many district schools provide an annual report as clear as the one distributed by the Roxbury Prep Charter School? How many focus as clearly on results? On values? Harumph.
The MCAS results are important and inspiring. Consider the following comparisons on the Math portion of the MCAS:
On the English portion of the MCAS:
The student body is entirely students of color. From the annual report: “Most live in single-parent households and 62 percent of students qualify for either free or reduced-price lunch.”
As much as that impressed Mother Dearest, who as an immigrant holding a GED, is still smarter than all of her gown-wearing offspring (I mean that figuratively, as in Ph.Ds…, no, I mean, really…), it was the strong values of the school (only some of which are here) and also its strong enrichment program that impressed her. Contact the school for a copy of the report–it is inspiring.
While you’re at it, contact Mayor Menino and ask him why he does not support an expansion of “chahtahs”. If you don’t mind, cc me on the email (jstergios@pioneerinst.wpengine.com).