- Enrique Cruz: newest member of the DC Public Charter School Board [DC Prep PCS mentioned]
- Rick Cruz back in D.C.'s charter school movement [DC Prep PCS and Monument Academy PCS mentioned]
- Bowser remains vague on education plans, but clearly hopes Henderson will stay
- New report reveals surprising facts about Hispanic children and teens
Enrique Cruz: newest member of the DC Public Charter School Board [DC Prep PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Michael Alison Chandler
September 23, 2014
The D.C. Council Tuesday confirmed the appointment of Enrique “Rick” Cruz, a former charter school leader, as a new board member for the D.C. Public Charter School Board.
Cruz was the chief executive for DC Prep Public Charter School in 2012-2103 and a vice president at Teach for America, where he oversaw multiple regions. He also worked for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, which promotes hands-on learning for students who are at risk of dropping out.
Earlier in his career, he worked as a corporate consultant. Cruz is a graduate of Yale University.
In his nomination hearing before the education committee, he described his background as a child of Peruvian immigrants who became the first in his family to go to college.
He described his interest in serving on the charter school board this way:
In the time I have lived in the city, education has improved and the public charter sector has played a large role in this progress. There are many reasons for that. Much of it is due to the hard work of social entrepreneurs, school leaders and teachers. However, credit is also due to PCSB which has distinguished itself as a high-quality authorizer and is recognized nationally as such. While at DC Prep, I had the opportunity to work closely with the Board and its staff who carried out their duties with great professionalism, urgency and transparency. They have set and maintained policies and standards that have allowed public charter schools in its jurisdiction to thrive, innovate, scale and increase student achievement.
Analyses of charter school sectors across the country recognize the District of Columbia amongst a very small sample of cities where charter schools unequivocally perform, setting and meeting a high standard for student achievement. Governance - both by the PCSB and of the PCSB - is an important component of its success. That is why I am so honored to have the opportunity to join the Public Charter School Board.
Cruz is replacing Emily Bloomfield, whose term ended in February.
Rick Cruz back in D.C.'s charter school movement [DC Prep PCS and Monument Academy PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
September 24, 2014
Yesterday it was announced by the D.C. Public Charter School Board that Rick Cruz had been unanimously approved by the Council to become its latest board member, replacing Emily Bloomfield who had resigned her seat to start Monument Academy PCS. Last March I called for Mayor Gray to fill this position. His term goes to 2018.
The local movement is already quite familiar with Mr. Cruz. He became the chief executive office of D.C. Prep after a one year transition period shadowing Emily Lawson. About twelve months after that he and the school's board together decided that the fit was not exactly right.
I interviewed Mr. Cruz in January 2013. I was impressed with his credentials, professionalism, and personal kindness toward me. He had this to say about joining the PCSB:
"Analyses of charter school sectors across the country recognize the District of Columbia amongst a very small sample of cities where charter schools unequivocally perform, setting and meeting a high standard for student achievement. Governance - both by the PCSB and of the PCSB - is an important component of its success. That is why I am so honored to have the opportunity to join the Public Charter School Board."
My question is who knew that Mr. Cruz had been nominated? It seems odd that the public would be left in the dark as to the names of those being considered for this role. Where there others that were put forward?
Although the resume included with the Council's resolution approving Mr. Cruz' appointment lists his last job as with D.C. Prep, a Google search revealed that he is now a director with a FSG, a consulting group in which he co-leads the organization's Education and Youth Practice.
Bowser remains vague on education plans, but clearly hopes Henderson will stay
Greater Greater Washington
By Natalie Wexler
September 23, 2014
Front-running mayoral candidate Muriel Bowser has released a more fleshed-out education platform, but it's still short on specifics. And it seems to put a lot of faith in a hoped-for collaboration with the current DC Public Schools Chancellor.
Bowser has abandoned her flimsy "Deal for All" education platform, which promised to replicate Ward 3's Alice Deal Middle School in all eight wards, replacing it with a plan that would achieve "World-Class Schools for All" instead. But despite the shift in language and the addition of more detail, it's not much clearer how she plans to accomplish that goal.
One of her promises, for example, is to "completely transform" middle schools by 2020. The plan includes "the identification of those schools that need change the fastest, the renovation and/or construction of new buildings, and the evaluation and re-imagination of the curricular and extra-curricular offerings" for all middle-grade DCPS students.
It's clear that most DCPS middle schools need a lot of help, and Bowser has made their improvement a key campaign issue from the beginning. But aside from the part about renovating or constructing buildings, this aspect of her platform is pretty vague.
How do we decide which schools "need change the fastest"? Will expanding the menu of offerings be enough to bring about fundamental change? And will there be enough middle-grade students at K-8th-grade education campuses to support those expanded curricular and extra-curricular offerings?
Vagueness and inconsistencies
Perhaps it's unfair to ask a mayoral candidate to get too detailed in her plans. But to evaluate Bowser's vision, we need to hear more than that she "will accelerate the pace of school reform by discontinuing ineffective programs and policies and replicating those that have demonstrated strong outcomes."
When Bowser does get specific, she's sometimes oddly specific. For example, she singles out a program called SchoolStat, which she defines as "a data-driven performance-management system currently used by DCPS." She says she'll expand the use of the program to identify which education policies are working and which aren't.
I'd never heard of SchoolStat before, and a Google search turned up only a few references to its use in DCPS, all of them at least three years old. One calls it an "accountability tool" that divides employees into teams that meet periodically with the chancellor about how various initiatives are working. Maybe SchoolStat has potential, but it's an odd thing to single out for attention.
Bowser also promises to target schools "that are on the brink of being highly regarded by parents." She calls this the Good to Great Initiative, but the only explanation of how she'll get schools to "great" is to "focus on these schools in a targeted way." Once these schools have made it to great—however that is defined—the District can begin to "focus its energy and attention on those schools most in need of support."
Aside from the quibble that it's hard to focus on things in anything but a targeted way, this part of Bowser's platform seems to conflict with another one that calls for a "specific focus on the 25 lowest-performing schools," apparently simultaneously. Again, she gives no details about what that would mean, other than providing those schools with "additional resources."
Another apparent contradiction in the platform is its final item: "Evaluate Model of School Governance." Bowser says it's "time to assess how" mayoral control of DCPS has worked and see "if changes can or should be made" to accelerate the pace of reform.
But the platform then goes on to say that "As Mayor, Muriel is committed to mayoral control of public schools." So why evaluate whether that model should be changed?
Wooing Kaya Henderson
Generally, Bowser's platform covers many unobjectionable topics without getting into depth on any of them. But one theme that comes up a lot, in addition to "ensuring a high-quality education for every child in DC," is working collaboratively with the DCPS chancellor. Although she doesn't always mention her by name, it's clear Bowser is hoping that the chancellor in question will be the current one, Kaya Henderson.
Bowser says in her platform, as she has before, that she wants Henderson to stay, arguing that "continuity in leadership at DCPS is the best way to ensure the District's reform efforts move forward interrupted." At several points, Bowser seems to be wooing Henderson.
She mentions "working with the Chancellor" to extend the school day, something Henderson has made clear she would like to do at more schools. And while Bowser doesn't quite take sides in the debate about joint planning between DCPS and the charter sector, she hints that she'd like it to go beyond the strictly voluntary collaboration that charter advocates favor and impose some limits on charter school growth and location, as Henderson has urged.
Bowser also wants both sectors to work together "around efforts to … provide a neighborhood preference." Charter advocates have generally resisted the idea that they should give neighborhood students priority in admissions, and Henderson has supported it, at least in some circumstances.
But there's one issue important to Henderson that Bowser, like her rival David Catania, doesn't mention in her education platform: what to do about the controversial new school boundary plan recently adopted by outgoing Mayor Vincent Gray. Henderson supports the plan, and Bowser and Catania have both previously said they oppose it.
It's possible that Bowser is having second thoughts about her opposition, especially in light of a new poll showing a majority of DC residents in favor of the plan. At the recent mayoral debate, she suggested the plan might only need some "tweaks," and a new version could be ready within a year. But a public statement withdrawing her opposition at this point would look too much like waffling.
To some extent, Bowser is telling people that a vote for her is a vote for Henderson, as Jay Mathews has argued in the Washington Post. And at this point, continuity of leadership at DCPS would be our best bet for progress.
There's only one problem: while Henderson has said generally she would like to stay in her post until 2017, she hasn't committed to staying if Bowser wins. There's certainly a better chance she would stay under Bowser than under Catania, who has had a contentious relationship with the Chancellor. But at this point there are no guarantees.
While Catania doesn't have all the answers on education, he has a deeper grasp of the issues and a much more substantial record on education legislation. If Henderson plans to depart under the next mayor, Catania looks like the better choice.
The decision for voters who favor continuity in education reform would be easier if Henderson made her intentions clear. Right now, a vote for Bowser is not so much a vote for Henderson as a vote for a pig in a poke.
New report reveals surprising facts about Hispanic children and teens
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
September 24, 2014
Hispanic children, the largest minority group in public schools as well as the fastest growing, are increasingly showing up in preschool programs, have made significant gains on national math tests, and are posting record high school graduation rates, according to a new study released Wednesday. But they still lagged behind their white peers in academic achievement and were more likely to live in poverty and not finish college.
Child Trends, the non-partisan, non-profit research organization, analyzed a wealth of recent Census data regarding the country’s 17.5 million Hispanic children and teens, and the group identified some surprising facts.
The vast majority of Hispanic children in 2013 – more than 90 percent — were born in the U.S. Most of those children had family connections to Mexico, and the rest were connected to Puerto Rico, followed by El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and other countries in Central America, and South America.
A majority of Hispanic children — 58 percent — live with two married parents. Latino children are more likely than their white or black counterparts to eat a meal with their families six or seven days in a week. And those meals are more likely to be home-cooked in Hispanic households, compared to meals eaten in black and white households, according to the report.
Sixty-two percent of Hispanic children are considered low income, living in families that earn just enough money to cover basic needs, the report said. Roughly one out of every three Hispanic children meets the federal definition of poor, compared with 38 percent of black children and 11 percent of white children, researchers at Child Trends found.
Hispanic parents are less likely to read to their babies and toddler than parents of white children, and Hispanic children are not adequately prepared when they start school, the report found. But there has been a recent jump in enrollment in early childhood education programs among Hispanic children, from 39 percent in 2007 to 52 percent in 2012.
And, as a group, Hispanic students are making gains, though they lag behind their white peers. Twenty-one percent of Hispanic eighth graders were proficient in federally administered math tests in 2013, a leap from eight percent in 2000. The on-time high school graduation rate for Hispanics also has surged, and college enrollment is at an all-time high. But Hispanics lagged behind whites and blacks in college completion in 2013.
One area where Hispanics outpaced other racial or ethnic groups is in smartphone use. In 2012, 43 percent of Hispanic teens between 12 and 17 owned a smartphone, compared to 35 percent of whites and 40 percent of blacks in the same age group. More white teenagers owned cell phones, followed by black teens and then Hispanics.