- Jennifer Niles appointed D.C.’s next deputy mayor for education [E.L. Haynes PCS and KIPP DC PCS mentioned]
- Jennifer Niles named next D.C. Deputy Mayor for Education [FOCUS, E.L. Haynes PCS, and KIPP DC PCS mentioned]
- As Lottery Opens, Bowser Remains Mum On Tweaks To New School Boundaries
- D.C. Public School district less diverse than D.C. charters [Creative Minds PCS mentioned]
- CHAVOUS: An Open Letter to Black Elected Officials
- Wilson's principal gets the axe even though test scores are up. Here's a likely explanation [Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS mentioned]
Jennifer Niles appointed D.C.’s next deputy mayor for education [E.L. Haynes PCS and KIPP DC PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Michael Alison Chandler
December 15, 2014
Jennifer C. Niles, the founder and head of a prominent charter school in the District, was named the next deputy mayor for education on Monday.
Mayor-elect Muriel E. Bowser cited Niles’s 25 years of experience in public education and said she will work closely with D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson to make “the goal of a quality school in every neighborhood a reality for all our families.”
Niles has deep roots in charter schools, in the District and as a former director of the charter school office for Connecticut’s Education Department. Bowser emphasized that her “impressive and innovative background” will make her well-equipped for “increasing collaboration between all of our public schools — our traditional public schools and our public charter schools.”
E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, which Niles founded in 2004, has become one of the city’s most oft-cited examples of success, with frequent recognition from philanthropic and political leaders.
The school serves more than 1,100 students in preschool through grade 12 on two campuses and will graduate its first class this year.
Niles has become a prominent figure in citywide school reform efforts. She served on the city’s leadership team to draft its federal Race to the Top application, which resulted in a $75 million award.
Through Race to the Top funding, her school created a consortium of 22 public and charter schools to help teachers transition to the Common Core state standards and share best practices. It has also developed a residency teacher training program in partnership with KIPP DC.
Niles has also been active in promoting blended learning, special-education reforms and competency-based graduation requirements, which offer more flexible, expedited paths to graduation.
She is a graduate of New Leaders for New Schools, a year-long program to prepare urban principals. She’s also a part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Niles will succeed Abigail Smith, who also has close ties to E.L. Haynes, as a parent and former chair of the Board of Trustees.
At the event Monday, Niles said she was “humbled to accept the responsibility for educating all students in D.C.” and that she is “very excited” about the next mayor’s education goals, including increasing collaboration between traditional and charter schools, improving middle schools and boosting transparency.
She said it was a tough decision to leave E.L. Haynes. “I never thought I would have two dream jobs,” she said.
Henderson also emphasized collaboration in her comments Monday. “She’s not just about charter school kids; Jennie is about all kids,” the chancellor said.
Bowser’s education transition team hosted a four-hour hearing last week, and more than 80 people testified. The team, which Niles is a part of, will create a report with short- and long-term recommendations for the new mayor.
Bowser said Monday that Jesús Aguirre, the state superintendent of education, is expected to submit his resignation in the coming days, and she plans to hire someone new for that role as well.
Jennifer Niles named next D.C. Deputy Mayor for Education [FOCUS, E.L. Haynes PCS, and KIPP DC PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
December 16, 2014
Washington D.C.'s public education reform movement received an early Christmas present yesterday when Mayor-elect Bowser announced that Jennifer Niles will become the next Deputy Mayor for Education. There was not really a better choice. Ms. Niles is a friend who is friends with all of the major players across the educational landscape in the nation's capital including Robert Cane, executive director FOCUS; Kaya Henderson, DCPS Chancellor; Katherine Bradley, president CityBridge Foundation; Maura Marino, managing director NewSchools Venture Fund; Michela English, president and CEO Fight for Children; Scott Pearson, executive director DC Public Charter School Board; Carrie Irvin and Simmons Lettre, founders of Charter Board Partners; and Joe Bruno, president Building Hope, just to name a few. She has the greatest respect from everyone who knows her.
One of the most valuable attributes Ms. Niles has brought to local schools is her emphasis on the incorporation of best practices. E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, the institution she founded and headed for a decade, was one of the first to hold conferences in which other charter and traditional school teachers and administrators were invited to sit together to figure out what how best to teach inner city children. Her school was also a leader in using student data to drive improvements in pedagogy. Along with KIPP DC, Ms. Niles created the Capital Teacher Residency to train instructors on how to close the academic achievement gap. The residency has partnered with Fight for Children's Joe's Champs program to raise the quality of teaching in early childhood education. Ms. Niles is also a strong supporter of CityBridge Foundations effort's to bring blended learning to the classroom.
I could go on and on. However, now I would like to concentrate on the future. Ms. Niles could have an immediate impact in two critically important areas in regard to charter schools. First, she is well acquainted with the difficulty charters face in finding permanent facilities. One of E.L.Haynes campuses is a former DCPS site. Therefore, I have complete confidence that she will use her influence to turn every empty traditional school building over to the charter school movement in as short a time period as is possible. It is time to end the detrimental practice of allowing these spaces to sit vacant while charters scramble to find classroom space.
Nest, she could use her influence to bring a quick end to the FOCUS lawsuit over inequitable funding of charters compared to DCPS. Her predecessor Abigail Smith, who the charter movement has many things to thank her for, was behind the effort that for the first time documented the government's illegal practice of providing funding to the regular schools outside of the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula. The new Mayor's budget would be the place to demonstrate loudly and clearly that this practice too will come to an end.
Finally, I just wondering if the PCSB will take another look at not tiering charters after their students take the PARCC assessment for the first time next year. Ms. Niles was a primary signatory of the letter sent to Mr. Pearson which made this recommendation and I'm sure the board would want to start its relationship with the Deputy Mayor on the right foot.
As Lottery Opens, Bowser Remains Mum On Tweaks To New School Boundaries
WAMU
By Martin Austermuhle
December 15, 2014
As the District's citywide school lottery opens to parents, Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser remains quiet on the tweaks she has said she wants to make to new school boundaries and feeder patterns that start taking effect today.
Speaking at a press conference where she introduced her new deputy mayor for education, Bowser said that any of those tweaks would be made "early in the year," but offered no specifics as to what those tweaks would be or if they could affect applications being submitted through the My School D.C. universal lottery, which opened today.
"We don't expect to see any changes until I take office," she said, declining to say more.
In August, Mayor Vincent Gray adopted changes to the city's school assignment policies. While the most controversial changes had to do with the city's 40-year-old school boundaries and feeder patterns, the plan included new policies setting aside seats at high-performing schools for at-risk students and establishing by-right access to pre-K programs for certain schools.
The changes are being phased in over the next five years, and many existing students will benefit from grandfathering provisions. The new school boundaries, though, went into effect with the new lottery. According to D.C. Public Schools, 3,200 students — 14 percent of all in-boundary students — have been assigned a new school boundary under the changes adopted by Gray.
Bowser criticized the changes during her mayoral run, saying they would exacerbate educational inequality in the city. Shortly after winning the mayoral election, said she would seek to tweak some of the changes.
Outgoing education officials say that Bowser could tweak policy changes that are being phased in over the next few years, or extend grandfathering protections for students who may be moved from one school boundary or feeder pattern to another, without disturbing the current lottery process.
But reversing any changes to the new boundaries, they say, could provoke confusion among parents who submit applications through the lottery before January. The lottery runs through March.
"By the end of the year, and by January, typically there are already a couple thousand applications submitted with the lottery. If there were any changes to that, that would be concerning," said one Gray official in November.
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who supported the changes adopted by Gray, was similarly reticent to answer questions about what tweaks could come after Bowser takes office in January. She would not say if the new boundaries would be tweaked or reversed.
"I don't think so, but I can't make any guarantees," she said.
Henderson said that regardless of what tweaks are made, parents would be given advance notice.
"Whatever tweaks ultimately move forward will be in a way that's respectful to families so they continue to have confidence in the system," she said. "My guess is that we will continue to work to ensure that families have the smoothest transition as possible."
Other changes going into effect for today's school lottery are by-right access to pre-K programs for families at five Title 1 schools (with more schools to be included in the coming years) and a new proximity preference in the lottery allowing families to live more than a half-mile from their in-boundary school if they apply for an out-of-boundary spot in a school that's closer to them.
D.C. Public School district less diverse than D.C. charters [Creative Minds PCS mentioned]
Watchdog.org
By Moriah Costa
December 16, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. — While some D.C. charter schools enroll a disproportionately high number of white students, several of the city’s traditional public schools have even greater disparity.
A review of the 2013 D.C. School Equity Report shows that ethnic mismatches between schools and the broader community are prevalent citywide.
About 68 percent of students in the D.C. Public School are black and 12 percent are white. However, out of 111 schools, 13 have a white student population exceeding 40 percent. Of those, seven campuses are more than 60 percent white.
In comparison, 78 percent of D.C. charter school students are black. Just 5 percent are white.
Only one charter, Creative Minds International Public Charter School, has a student population of more than 40 percent white. The other eight have 20 to 30 percent.
Last month, Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews wrote a column that questioned whether some high-performing charter schools enroll an overabundance of affluent whites. He later acknowledged that some of the schools could have a higher proportion of white students because they are in middle-class areas where high-performing schools are in demand.
The D.C. Public Charter School Board posted a response to Mathews’ column on its website, saying parents choose where to enroll their kids.
“Because public charter schools are not neighborhood schools, parents are able to choose a quality programs anywhere in the District,” the board stated.
The DCPS did not respond to a request for comment.
The charter schools use a lottery system run by My School DC to determine admissions. Parents list the top schools for their child and are assigned a random lottery number that determines the students placement.
Charter schools are in high demand, with 44 percent of D.C. students attending one of 96 charter schools. More than 20,000 students are on a waiting list. Seventy-nine percent of charter students graduate from high school, compared with 58 percent at public schools.
Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, said what distinguishes charter schools from traditional schools is that parents have a choice.
“The whole point is for parents to say this way of education for my child is the best fit,” she said.
CHAVOUS: An Open Letter to Black Elected Officials
The Washington Informer
By Kevin P. Chavous
December 15, 2014
Each year, various social service organizations issue reports relating to the state of black America. While issues such as affordable housing, jobs, crime and challenging family dynamics are generally discussed, the poor quality of the education received by far too many African-American children continues to be a focal point found in these reports.
The facts don't lie. According to John Hopkins University, 32 percent of African-American students drop out of high school nationally — 15 percentage points higher than their white counterparts. In urban school districts with a high concentration of low-income and minority students, the gap is widened and graduation rates are even lower. According to the Schott Report on Black Males in Public Education, African-American males have the lowest graduation rates out of any other race in 38 of our nation’s 50 states, a 76 percent majority. For over a decade, African-American students have been the least likely to obtain a high school diploma out of every racial or ethnic group in the United States. Additionally, the achievement gap between African-American and white students has consistently grown or stayed stagnant nationally with white students outperforming their African-American peers by up to 30 points on standardized tests. Not only are African-American students struggling in high school, but they are ill prepared to succeed in higher education. Nearly 63 percent of African-American students enrolled in a full-time, four-year college institution fail to graduate.
For years, we have known that these deficits exist in many of the schools in our community. And for years, we have put a Band-Aid on the problem and talked in platitudes about future solutions. Yes, many of you offer well-intentioned remedies consistent with the memories of your own schooling — even though those days represent a faraway time that has long passed us by. Additionally, many of you have relied on assurances from friends and acquaintances who are part of the education system and continue to work hard in that system each day — assurances of coming change that never comes for so many of our kids trapped in failing schools.
On the other hand, it is hard to join forces with some of your fellow conservative legislators who may be identified with education reform. I do understand that you have fought with many of those legislators for years over proposed cuts to social service programs that provide a needed lifeline for many of your constituents. As one of your peer colleagues from Mississippi said to me, "You need to realize that if I support charter schools or school choice, I am instantly identified with the enemy and viewed as a traitor to many of my people.”
The truth is I know that it is not easy to pick up the baton and challenge the education establishment on behalf of the children poorly served by that system.
But, those challenges aside, enough is enough.
Those of us who are vested with some measure of authority or influence need to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to addressing the educational shortfalls within our community. As best we can, we need to lay aside the adult issues, the system preservation issues and the tendency to go along to get along and start to truly put our children first.
Our new standard should be: will this proposal — irrespective of who proposed it — help our children learn? If the answer is yes, we should support it.
Of course, this new approach requires something equally hard: taking the politics out of education. Now is the time for us to do all we can to take partisanship and party caucus prioritizing out of the education policy and funding discussion. Such partisanship continues to curtail the reform effort in many school districts and hurts our kids.
Rather, the example set by many of your peers in the Louisiana Black Legislative Caucus is one to follow. In recent years, several of those members have embraced bold education reform initiatives ranging from charter schools, virtual learning, common core and the statewide opportunity scholarship program. Moreover, some of those same members have been supportive of the aggressive system reform efforts promoted by state Superintendent John White. Often, these Louisiana Black caucus members find themselves voting with conservative colleagues with whom they oppose on most other issues. But, as former Louisiana state Sen. Ann Duplessis says, "At some point, we have to come together to help our kids, or accept the fact that we will continue to lose more of them.”
With all of the challenges facing Black America, none is more important to our future than the education of our young. As you enter your respective legislative sessions in the new year, I truly hope that that you find the way to extend yourselves beyond yourselves and build the needed alliances to get our kids in good schools now — by any means necessary.
Kevin Chavous is the senior adviser and executive counsel for the American Federation for Children and co-founder of Democrats for Education Reform.
Wilson's principal gets the axe even though test scores are up. Here's a likely explanation [Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS mentioned]
Greater Greater Washington
By Natalie Wexler
December 15, 2014
Wilson High School is the largest and most sought-after neighborhood high school in DC. On Friday, its principal announced that DC Public Schools had decided not to renew his contract for next year because standardized test scores at the school were unsatisfactory. How do these two facts fit together?
Wilson's principal, Pete Cahall, recently made headlines when he came out at the school's Pride Day event. Now he's in the news for another reason: he sent a letter to the DC Council announcing he'd been fired. Although he said he wasn't going to fight the decision, he listed what he saw as his accomplishments at the school—including raising test scores.
DCPS evaluates principals based on a number of factors in addition to test scores. And in accordance with its general policy of silence on personnel decisions, the agency hasn't explained why Cahall was fired. But let's assume Cahall's explanation is accurate. Given that Wilson's test scores are the highest of any DCPS high school that doesn't require students to submit applications, many may be wondering where Cahall fell short.
Wilson's achievement gap
Most likely, the answer is that he failed to significantly boost scores for low-income and minority students at the school. For the 2012-13 school year, proficiency rates on DC's standardized tests, the DC CAS, were 90% for white students and only about 47% for black students. There are marked disparities in proficiency rates between whites and Hispanic, special education, and low-income students as well.
As a result, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education has classified Wilson as a Focus school under federal guidelines. Focus schools are schools that have large achievement gaps between specific groups of students and get special monitoring and professional development. There are 20 DCPS schools in that category, but Wilson is the only high school. Deal Middle School, Wilson's main feeder school, is not in the Focus category.
Wilson, located in Ward 3, has more affluent and white students than any other neighborhood high school in DC. But it's still pretty diverse. Its enrollment is 46% black, 17% Hispanic, and 31% low-income. Students who live outside its boundaries make up 46% of its student body.
In his letter to the DC Council, Cahall pointed out that scores for Wilson's African-American students increased last year: the proficiency rates for that group went up from 45% to 58% in math and from 49% to 61% in reading, according to the DCPS website. (Last year's scores for low-income students at Wilson aren't available yet.)
Perhaps DCPS just didn't think that progress was enough. But it's also possible that other factors entered into its decision. While many commenters on the DC Urban Moms and Dads forum expressed disappointment at Cahall's departure, others had complaints. Some didn't like the way he handled a robbery spree at the school last month, and several felt he wasn't moving the school forward academically.
Two Wilsons
While the specifics of Cahall's firing aren't entirely clear, many have observed that for years there have essentially been two Wilsons: one for affluent white students, most of whom live within the school's boundaries, and another for low-income minority students, many of whom come from other parts of the District.
The first group can get a pretty good education at Wilson, but the others often don't get the attention they need. Maybe DCPS hopes that firing Cahall will move the school in the direction of making the Wilson experience the same for students at all income levels. Is that possible?
One way to measure how much a school does for its students is to look at how much its students have improved on test scores. DCPS and other government agencies tend to emphasize proficiency rates, which measure the number of students who score above a certain "cut score." But if students come in at a fairly high level of proficiency, it doesn't make sense to give the school credit for that.
Growth percentiles, on the other hand, compare test scores at the school against those for students with similar levels of prior achievement across the city. If a school has a median growth percentile of 60, that means that on average, its students grew as well or better than 60% of their academic peers. You can find measures of student growth for all DCPS and DC charter schools in the school equity reports available through the LearnDC website maintained by DC's Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
Growth measures at Wilson and elsewhere
The growth percentiles for low-income students at Wilson haven't been all that impressive. The average for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years was 43 for both math and reading, below the city average of 49. (The overall growth percentiles at Wilson were 53 for reading and 48 for math.)
Some other non-selective DCPS high schools had better growth percentiles for their low-income students, even though their overall proficiency rates are far lower than Wilson's. In math, Ballou's low-income growth percentile was 50 and Cardozo's was 52. In reading, Coolidge's figure was 46 and Eastern's was 49.
None of these figures is stellar, but one charter high school does far better than that: the growth percentiles for low-income students at Thurgood Marshall Academy were 86 for math and 73 for reading.
Of course, it isn't always fair to compare charter and DCPS schools. Charter schools have more freedom to experiment and don't have to take in new students mid-year, which can be disruptive. And to some extent, students at charters are a self-selected group since their parents were motivated enough to apply.
But virtually all low-income students at Wilson had to apply as well since they're largely from outside the school's boundaries. So they, too, are a self-selected group.
Socioeconomic integration may not be enough to help poor kids
Some have argued that low-income students do better at schools with a significant proportion of more affluent students. But Wilson's growth percentiles suggest that merely putting them in the same building with wealthier peers isn't enough. And Thurgood Marshall, with its far higher growth figures, is 80% low-income.
One advantage to a school that has a large proportion of low-income kids is that it can focus on the remediation that many of its students need. That may be more challenging at a more diverse school where kids come in at different levels.
Of course, test scores don't measure everything. No doubt there are other advantages to a socioeconomically diverse school like Wilson. Theoretically, kids of all backgrounds learn to interact with students who come from circumstances different from their own, even if the subgroups don't mingle all that much.
But Wilson needs to figure out a way to do better by its low-income and minority students. Whether or not Cahall was on his way to doing that is now a moot point, but it should be a top priority for his successor.