- A 'real' return to school…
- Board revises graduation proposal
- Charters and traditional public schools compared [FOCUS mentioned]
- Michelle Rhee proud of controversial school reform efforts in D.C.
- Advice for parents facing school closures in the District
A 'real' return to school…
The Current Newspapers
By Tom Sherwood
January 2, 2013
So, the holidays are over and the children will soon be back in school.
And, so, too, will the D.C. Council.For the first time since 2007, the council has a full-fledged education committee. Oversight of the city’s schools no longer will be in the “Committee of the Whole,” where all 13 members were responsible for it, which meant no one was.
And this committee will be chaired by independent at-large member David Catania, who is not known for sailing along with the status quo. Chancellor Kaya Henderson “should be expecting more pointed attention” to her reform efforts, one veteran political observer noted.
In fact, the chancellor should expect a lot more monitoring and oversight from Catania, but don’t assume that will be a bad thing for her.
“She and David have a pretty good relationship already,” said another insider. “There’s mutual respect, [and] they’ve met a lot over the past couple of weeks.” And this was before Catania was certain that he’d be appointed by D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.
This might be a good time to recall that Mendelson voted against the mayoral takeover of schools. He has now picked a bulldog member to head the new education committee. In Catania’s previous post atop the Committee on Health, some people joked or ruefully said, the veteran legislator “ran” the health agencies rather than overseeing them.
“He drove the health care agenda,” one involved admirer said, from doggedly saving the United Medical Center in Southeast, to providing HIV/AIDS funding, gaining groundbreaking dental services for low-income families, and dramatically increasing Medicaid coverage for the city’s poorest uninsured.
There are better health outcomes and the city is a leader in the nation with its reforms, the insider said.
But back to school.
When the council held its hearings on looming school closings, Catania walked in with a huge binder filled with details on every school. Again, this was before he became education chair. The binder detailed every aspect of each school — enrollment, test scores, staffing, renovations, et cetera.
He asked pointed questions about things like staff-to-teacher ratios. Mind-numbing television (alas!), but on point. Since then, Catania’s staff has created
similar binders for nearly 200 school buildings, both public and charter.
Given Catania’s attention to detail, we could be in for the first real dissection of our $1 billion school system and school reform — with all its pluses and minuses.
While we can expect “Catania to be Catania,” with his sometimes withering temperament when things are out of sorts, should Chancellor Henderson be even a little bit worried?
The insiders we consulted suggested it could be a rocky road but that Henderson may welcome Catania’s passionate dive into education. He doesn’t want it to falter or fail — that wouldn’t make him look good. Just criticizing? Lots of people can criticize.
Instead, one person said, expect Catania to be aggressive in highlighting shortcomings and bureaucratic bottlenecks to push funding for real returns. The new committee chair also will influence the role of the Washington Teachers Union, too. (He’s already met with union president Nathan Saunders.) In that way, Catania could become a powerful ally for Henderson.“Kaya almost wants her feet to be held to the fire,” the insider said. It will give her support to make the tough decisions. Right now, with all that Mayor Vincent Gray has on his plate, the mayor can’t be the No. 1 backer of Henderson.
The new era starts this month when Henderson announces her final list in the latest round of school closings. There is no formal role for the council — and no required vote — but we’ll see how things move along from here.
■ Catania’s committee. The chairs of council committees hold great sway over what those committees do. But the other members count, too.
Those on the new education committee include Marion Barry (Ward 8) and Tommy Wells (Ward 6) — both former school board members — as well as Yvette Alexander (Ward 7) and newcomer David Grosso (at-large).
It is essentially the same committee that Catania had as Health Committee chair; the only difference is that Grosso replaces Mary Cheh (Ward 3). Grosso has a kind of earnestness and, as a former council staffer, a knowledge base to get up to speed quickly. Grosso also asked to be on education and likely will work well with Catania.
But what of Barry? He and Catania had another of their occasional blowout rhetorical exchanges recently, with Catania saying Barry is a worn-out, past-hisprime politician. (We’re cleaning it up a bit.)
But Catania and Barry have a thorough understanding of each other. They can be remarkably collegial — almost stunningly so. And besides, Barry likely will spend more time on his workforce development committee.
So pull up a chair and keep your eyes on the Education Committee.
■ Slurpee to slim? The most surprising news this past week came from The New York Times:
“The chain that is home of the Slurpee, Big Gulp and self-serve nachos with chili and cheese is betting that consumers will stop in for yogurt parfaits, crudité and lean turkey on whole wheat bread.”
That’s right, 7-Eleven wants franchises to begin shifting stock to have 20 percent of their shelves devoted to healthy food options. Good luck! We’ve generally found bottled water about the best, least fattening thing available there on our infrequent trips.
Tom Sherwood, a Southwest resident, is a political reporter for News 4.
Board revises graduation proposal
The Current Newspapers
By Deirdre Bannon
January 2, 2013
D.C. education officials have released a revised proposal for new high school graduation requirements, updating a draft from August with a slight increase in required credits and alternative ways students can demonstrate proficiency in certain subjects.
The D.C. State Board of Education issued the latest version on Dec. 19 in conjunction with the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. The proposal would raise the total number of credits required to graduate to 26, up 2 units from current requirements. That extra credit load would come from a proposed addition of 1 credit in arts and music electives, and an increase in physical and health education credits from 1.5 units to 2.5 units.
The board’s earlier proposal shuffled credit loads among various subjects without increasing the overall requirements. After receiving public feedback, the board is now proposing to maintain the existing standard for social studies coursework — a total of 4 units — instead of reducing them to 3 units. The plan would eliminate a required course in U.S. government, a change that some stakeholders still criticize.
General elective credits would be bumped up to 3.5 units from the previously proposed 3 units. Physical and health education, which was increased by 0.5 credits in the August proposal, was further expanded another half credit for a total of 2.5. “The big picture here is that we want to create a set of graduation requirements that set an expectation of students to go through high school and study a variety of topics and fields, so that when they come out they are prepared for secondary education or a high-skilled career and to be good citizens of the world,” Laura Slover, president of the State Board of Education, said in an interview.
Educators, particularly those teaching social studies, civics and history, provided “overwhelming input” that reducing social studies coursework would be a mistake,
since the subject is considered critical for students to understand the value of citizenship, Slover said.
Also new this round is an option for students to meet requirements through a demonstration of proficiency. This would apply only to world language, arts and music, and physical and health education subjects. In alignment with national education trends, D.C. officials are proposing to emphasize mastery above “seat time,” Slover said. Students could show proficiency in music by performing in an orchestra, or in physical education by participating in team sports, she said.
The board will also push harder for schools to require a thesis or culminating project for students to complete in their junior or senior year. That requirement has actually been in place since 2007 — the last time the graduation requirements were adjusted — but some schools were unable to implement it, so an emergency measure passed in 2011 has allowed many exemptions.
“One of the most important things college professors and employers say is that students have a hard time writing,” said Slover. The thesis project requires students to read multiple texts, synthesize ideas and make an argument using original writing — skills board members agree are important, Slover said.
The board’s guidelines apply only to the city’s traditional public high schools. Representatives from D.C. Public Schools were not able to provide comments on the proposed changes before The Current’s deadline.
While some charter schools independently decide to incorporate the state board’s graduation requirements, the D.C. Public Charter School Board sets policy for the city’s charter schools. In an email to The Current, charter board spokesperson Theola Labbé-DeBose said members are currently reviewing the state board’s proposal.
Some school stakeholders say more evaluation of the graduation requirements is needed.
Cathy Reilly, director of the Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals and Educators, said in an interview that while the State Board of Education is striving for improvements and flexibility, it should offer more research to validate its proposed changes.
“What did we learn from the previous graduation requirements?” Reilly asked. “Did they achieve what they were supposed to achieve?”
“We’re not saying these proposed changes are wrong,” she said, but more information is necessary.
The Senior High Alliance is particularly concerned about the omission of U.S. government as a requirement. Under the current proposal, students could choose to take the class as a social studies elective.
“We see it as a big mistake,” said Reilly. “This is a radical change, and there has been no time for this to be vetted.”
The new flexibility for students to meet requirements by demonstrating proficiency is also a concern for Reilly, who called the policy “too loose.” The board has offered no guidance on who or what will determine whether a student’s rigor in a subject area meets proficiency levels, she noted. For example, if a student is a member of a team sport but sits on the bench, will that count toward physical education? The process could get especially complicated, she said, if each school is in charge of deciding its own standards.
Reilly, who spearheaded the effort to pass the emergency rulemaking on thesis requirements, also feels the school board hasn’t addressed the problems that spawned
that measure in the first place.
She said nothing has changed since 2011, when it became clear the initiative wasn’t working. With no specific course attached to the thesis, “there is no way to verify that the project was completed and it’s a huge burden on students, who end up falling through the cracks,” she said. The Senior High Alliance wants to see more direction from the board, including the possibility of adding a standalone course for student theses.
A public meeting on the proposed graduation requirements will be held Jan. 23, the same day the public comment period ends. A final draft from the school board is expected in February, and board members plan to hold a final vote at their March 20 public meeting.
Charters and traditional public schools compared [FOCUS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Peter Rosenstein
December 31, 2012
I read with interest Mark Schneider and Robert Cane’s Dec. 30 Local Opinions commentary, “Why charters shouldn’t be ‘neighborhood schools.’ ” What has been missing is a study on the differences between the families of the children who are successful in charter schools and those of children failing in traditional D.C. public schools.
We should examine family incomes, the stability of the child’s home life, and how much time their families spend with them on homework or other family activities. We should look at the attitudes of the family toward the education and how they impart these views to their children. We also should look at the money spent per child in a successful charter school from all sources, including money raised from foundations and donations.
If we did this, we would have better comparisons and an understanding of what we need to do to let all children succeed, which has to be our goal.
Michelle Rhee proud of controversial school reform efforts in D.C.
The Washington Examiner
By Rachel Baye
January 3, 2013
Former DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee says in a new documentary that she is proud of the reform efforts she initiated in 2007, measures that have been heavily criticized since before she left the District in fall 2010.
In dozens of D.C. classrooms, investigations into allegations of cheating on the city's standardized tests revealed that answers were changed on the tests after the students turned them in. Improvement in students' test scores are a critical component of the federal No Child Left Behind law, as well as the Impact evaluation tool used for DCPS teachers.
Similar incidents -- in which teachers were discovered changing students' answers out of fear that poor scores would cost them their jobs -- have been uncovered in cities across the country.
But Rhee tells PBS' John Merrow in the new "Frontline" documentary, "The Education of Michelle Rhee," that while cheating was discovered at some schools, dozens of others "saw very steady gains over the course of the years that we were there, or even saw some dramatic gains that were maintained."
Rhee would like to have stayed with the school system for another four years, telling Merrow, "I lost the job that I loved." She left after Mayor Vincent Gray beat out then-Mayor Adrian Fenty's re-election bid.
During her two controversial years overseeing DCPS, she established the Impact teacher evaluations, which combine students' performance on the standardized DC Comprehensive Assessment System tests and a series of classroom observations to rate teachers. Poor ratings have led to hundreds of teachers being fired, while teachers who perform well receive cash bonuses.
And Rhee's decision to close 23 schools had parents outraged.
"The schools shouldn't have been closed," said Shavan Collier, the mother of four DCPS students. "They should have, you know, put money into bettering the schools instead of closing them."
Current Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who was deputy chancellor under Rhee, has proposed closing 20 schools next year, with a final list due in mid-January.
Henderson's office declined to comment Thursday, and Rhee could not be reached at her nonprofit, StudentsFirst.
"The real thing that Michelle Rhee did was she got us all focusing on the right issues in D.C. -- you know, looking at student performance, looking at teaching, looking at the quality of schools, looking at leadership in the schools," said David Pickens, executive director of the nonprofit DC School Reform Now.
But for all the publicity, some parents and teachers have questioned whether Rhee accomplished anything.
"The success in terms of student achievement and the achievement gap actually expanded instead of retracting [under Rhee]," said Nathan Saunders, president of the Washington Teachers' Union.
The test scores that improved would have improved naturally, he added.
According to a report released last month by the nonprofit DC Action for Children, third-grade students in DCPS have not shown any improvement in math or reading since Rhee's reforms began. Third-grade proficiency is considered a key indicator of whether a student will graduate from high school.
DCPS has begun whittling away at Impact, considering reductions in how much weight test scores should have in evaluating teachers.
But that is to be expected, Pickens said. "I've been in education for 20 years at some level, and I've never seen a new initiative launched in its perfect state. You kind of get the best that you can get at the time, and you tweak and you augment and you continue to make it better."
Advice for parents facing school closures in the District
The Washington Post
By Mari-Jane Williams
January 3, 2013
If D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s plan to close 20 under-enrolled public schools goes through, thousands of parents across the District will be in search of a new school for their children.
This didn’t go well in 2008 when former chancellor Michelle A. Rhee closed 23 schools, which cost more than anticipated and led to violence between teenagers from different neighborhoods whose schools had been consolidated.
Parents are not happy about the proposal, either. They have been especially vocal about plans to close five schools in Ward 7, saying it will push more students into public charter schools and further erode the traditional public schools.
Finding a new school can be a difficult decision, one that can be overwhelming for children and parents. Experts say now is the time to begin searching for a new school. The D.C. Public Charter School Board will host an expo Saturday, and the public school lottery opens Jan. 28.
“You should put more research into this than you do into buying a new car,” said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. “It’s the same with a house or anything you’re buying. This is something you’re buying that can’t be replaced after two years if it didn’t work out. You can’t get those two years back.”
Parents in the District have multiple options, including traditional, charter, magnet and virtual schools, and the city also has a scholarship program for private schools. The Brookings Institution recently ranked the District third in the country for school choice on its Education Choice and Competition Index.
To find the best fit for your child, here are some tips from officials with D.C. public schools and the Charter School Board, and experts on school choice.
Figure out the lottery
Because the District allows students to attend schools outside their neighborhoods, it’s important to know how to navigate the public school lottery. Students can apply to as many as six public schools through the lottery. For public charter schools, students can apply to as many as they like.
Last spring, about 35,000 students were on waiting lists for traditional and charter schools. Parents can visit the D.C. public schools Web site (www.dcps.dc.gov) to see how many seats were offered at a particular school last year, to get an idea of demand, said Claudia Lujan, chief of staff in the office of the Chief Operating Officer for D.C. public schools.
Dig deeper
Parents should look beyond test scores and report cards in deciding whether a school is a good fit for their child, experts say. Consider other things such as how a school serves a wide range of students, said Carol Lloyd, the executive editor at GreatSchools.
“Ask the principal and teachers what happens if a kid is failing here,” Lloyd said. “What will you do for a kid who is falling through the cracks or struggling? And not only if your child might be failing, but also if your child is an exceptional student.”
Campanella agrees that the school environment, and the fit for your child, are the most important things to consider.
“You want to get a sense that everyone feels that they’re on the same team and that there’s an expectation that children are going to succeed and it’s not a chore,” Campanella said. “It’s not about what the experts and pundits are saying is the newest fad in education, it’s about your child.”
Can you get there?
The school’s location is an important consideration, said Audrey Williams, the government and public affairs manager for the D.C. Public Charter School Board. If parents like a school in Ward 4, but live in Ward 8, they need to figure out whether they can realistically get their child to school on time, she said.
Lujan also advises parents to take a long look at the school they’re being reassigned to before looking outside their school district.
“Don’t assume that the receiving school is not the place for you and you have to go elsewhere,” Lujan said. Transition teams of parents from both the receiving school and the school that is closing often work together to find ways to incorporate the best things about both schools, she said.
Parents also shouldn’t put too much emphasis on what a school looks like. A new or renovated school building might look better than an older one, but that is not a measure of the strength of academic programs, Campanella said.
Visit your target schools
Guided school tours and open houses can be a great way to start looking for a new school, experts said. But to get a real sense of what goes on in a school, parents need to spend time there.
Lloyd said that when visiting a potential school, parents should observe not just how teachers and students interact, but also how the students interact with the principal, aides and everyone on the faculty.
Talk to parents
PTO meetings are another great source of information, said Paramjit Joshi, the chairwoman of the behavioral medicine department at Children’s National Medical Center. If there is not a robust PTO, Lujan said, ask the school to give you the names of parents who are involved, and reach out to them.
But keep in mind that schools are not one-size-fits-all, and a school that is terrible for one child might be the perfect fit for another.
“You cannot depend on the opinions of others to make a decision about your child, and can’t depend on hearsay compared with what you see with your own eyes,” Lloyd said. “You can get great information, great ideas and hear about schools you wouldn’t have thought of [from talking to other parents], and get diversity of opinion and perspective, but don’t depend on the playground chatter to make decisions.”
Prepare for the change
Once you have chosen and been accepted to a school, experts said, talk about the new place and make arrangements for your child to spend some time there.
“For younger kids . . . you might just want to start talking up the school and how lucky they are,” Lloyd said. “You could say ‘I hope we get in, I’m really excited about it,’ anything to build the thrill of this journey to a new school. With older kids it’s probably best to give them time at the school.” That could include attending sports events or other extracurricular activities at the school, she said.
Parents should remember that anxiety and nervousness are normal for everyone when they are making a big life change, and should try to help their children work through their feelings by talking to them about their concerns, Joshi said.
“Be supportive and encouraging, and let your child ask questions,” Joshi said. “If you brush your child off and say ‘Don’t worry, everything will be fine,’ your child will still have questions in their mind. So have an open dialogue, and ask ‘what are you thinking’ but not ‘what are you worried about.’ ”
Joshi added: “They don’t know the teachers, the curriculum, the expectations. Parents need to anticipate some of this and support them through it and also say it’s normal to feel worried, but we are able to help you, and the school is there to help you.”
Dates to remember
Jan. 5: Charter School Expo, noon to 4 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Jan. 28: First day to apply for D.C. public schools out-of-boundary lottery.
Feb. 25: Last day to apply for D.C. public schools out-of-boundary lottery.
March 15: Deadline for applications to the 45 charter schools participating in the common application. For the first time, most of the city’s 57 charter schools are using a common application and deadline.
March 22: Lottery for charter schools participating in the common application.
May 1: Families who get seats in the public schools lottery must notify D.C. public schools of their intent to enroll.
SOURCE: D.C. public schools and D.C. Public Charter School Board