FOCUS DC News Wire 2/28/2014

 

 

D.C. Council member David A. Catania recited a litany of data Thursday to illustrate the city's large and persistent student achievement gaps, using an annual oversight hearing for the school system to ask whether officials are moving quickly enough to improve outcomes for poor and minority children.

 

"What I hear is this constant cheerleading ... about this fantastic trajectory we're on" without a straightforward accounting of how disadvantaged students are faring, said Catania (I-At Large), who is chairman of the council's Education Committee and is contemplating a run for mayor.

 

The D.C. school system had the country's largest math and reading gains on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress, growth that drew widespread attention and praise from Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

 

But Catania said that the overall gains on national tests have largely been driven by population shifts that have left schools whiter and more affluent. Since 2007, for example, reading scores for fourth-grade black students have not budged, and the gap between poor and affluent children has grown.

 

Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who had earlier highlighted minority groups' improvement on city tests, pushed back against the idea that demographics are driving the gains. But she agreed that the gaps are unacceptably large.

 

"None of us should declare victory in our work to improve schools," Henderson said. "We're making progress, and we still have a long way to go."

 

Also at issue were several million dollars in federal Race to the Top funds that the District received in 2011 to help turn around its lowest-performing schools. The grant funds expire at the end of this fiscal year, but the school system is only now beginning to spend the money, she said.

 

Henderson attributed the delay to difficulties in getting school-improvement plans approved by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), which administers federal grants.

 

Much of Thursday's hearing was focused on the state of the city's middle schools, which have drawn increasing scrutiny from politicians and from parents, who often leave the system in the middle grades for charters, private schools or the suburbs.

 

Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) pressed Henderson to consider hiring private providers, such as charter operators, to run the city's middle schools, while Catania said the focus needs to be on ensuring that students are prepared for middle-school academics when they graduate from fifth grade.

 

Henderson reiterated that improving middle schools and ensuring that there are equitable offerings across the city are key priorities for next year. But she also said that the system's middle schools have been making notable gains in student achievement and enrollment.

 

City enrollment data released Thursday appear to bolster her case: There was a 2 percent decline at charters this year in grades six through eight, while the traditional system saw an increase of 2 percent in those grades, reversing a long trend.

 

"Contrary to popular belief, our middle grades have made big improvements in recent years," Henderson said.

 

Citywide, enrollment in the District's traditional and public charter schools ticked up 3 percent this year, the fifth consecutive year of growth, according to figures OSSE released Thursday.

 

The numbers closely mirror the raw count released in the fall and show that charter schools grew faster than the traditional school system, continuing a years-long trend that has given charters a larger share of students in the District than in nearly any other U.S. city.

 

But unlike in the past, when the traditional school system has fallen short of its projected enrollment, the system exceeded expectations this school year by hundreds of students.

 

Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) called the increase "proof that the public school system in the District of Columbia is a great place for young families."

 

Enrollment is not only a barometer of parents' faith but also a critical factor in determining how much public funding schools receive each year. Schools count their students each October, and city officials then hire an outside firm to audit the numbers. The audit typically results in a somewhat lower count because officials find students who have withdrawn from school, are not actually enrolled or are not D.C. residents.

 

Citywide, the audit eliminated about 380 students from the enrollment figure, which stands at 82,958, up from 80,231 last year. Most of the students eliminated by the audit were in charter schools, which grew by 5 percent. They now enroll 36,565 students, or 44 percent of all public school students in the city.

 

The traditional school system grew 2 percent, to 46,393 students, the second consecutive year of growth and the first back-to-back increase in more than 40 years. The growth comes despite the system's decision to close 13 schools last year.

 

"I am proud that we have so clearly reversed a decades-old trend of declining enrollment," Henderson said.

 

 

Final audited figures from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education demonstrated that charter schools increased their enrollment by 5% from the previous year. The sector now educates 36,565 students, maintaining its 44% share of all public school students. DCPS enrollment went up by 2% to 46,393. There are some interesting findings in this data.

 

The Washington Post's Emma Brown points out that the number of students in grades 6 through 8 attending charters declined 2% from last year while DCPS grew in those grades by the identical proportion. I believe this is the first time since charters opened in the District we have seen this phenomenon. Overall, students attending public school in the nation's capital increased by 3.3 percent to 82,958 students, and this is the fifth straight year that the number has gone up. Here are the statistics:

 

2 percent increase in 2009-10

4 percent increase in 2010-11

2 percent increase in 2011-12

5 percent increase in 2012-13;

3 percent increase in 2013-2014

 

There is a fascinating graph which accompanied the OSSE press release regarding this data. It shows that enrollment in the city's schools reached its lowest point during the 2007 to 2008 term at 70,922 students. Since that time the line goes almost straight up. Our expectation should now be to have student academic proficiency rates follow exactly the same pattern.

 

 

[CORRECTION (Feb. 27): An earlier version of this post misstated the number of schools Rocketship Education will be opening in 2015-16. The network will be opening five new schools in 2015-16 including one in Washington D.C.]

 

Charter school network Rocketship Education will be opening five new schools in 2015-16, one of which will be located in the District of Columbia, the first time the network has expanded to that city.

 

The network, which operates blended learning elementary schools, has announced that it has plans to open up to eight schools in the nation's capital over the next five years. In a blended learning model, students spend part of their school day learning through face-to-face instruction and part of the day learning through virtual education.

 

The move comes amid criticism lobbed at the network for expanding too rapidly and a steady decline in students' standardized test scores in recent years. Part of that downward trend correlates with the rollout of the network's new flexible classrooms, in which more than 100 students may be broken into groups to work on different lessons in separate parts of the same classroom. 

 

That approach was launched originally, in part, to reduce staff and redirect that money toward expansion of the network. But that plan has been scrapped after a rocky rollout of the pilot during the 2012-13 school year that contributed to a dip in test scores and the loss of nearly 30 percent of Rocketship's teachers. 

 

The additional charter schools opening in 2015-16 will be located in Rocketship's other regions"”the San Francisco Bay area, Milwaukee, and Nashville"”bringing its total number of schools up to 16.

 

The network, which began in 2006 in San Jose, California, currently educates about 5,000 students in nine schools. Its student population consists of 75 percent English-language learners and 90 percent of its students qualify for the federal free-or-reduced-price lunch program.

 

 

Charter schools in three of the nation's largest school districts are facing changes in how they operate, including how they will be evaluated, how they will be authorized, and where they can operate. Read on for a roundup of news about policy changes to charter schools in New York City, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia.

 

In New York City, about 100 charter school leaders sat down this past weekend for their first meeting with new Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina. Although the meeting was closed to the public, the New York Times reports that no policy was discussed. One participant said the meeting focused on topics such as how to best educate low-income students.

 

The relationship between charter schools and the city have been tense since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office. De Blasio was a vocal critic of charter schools throughout his campaign and has repeatedly vowed to curb the co-location policies of his predecessor Michael Bloomberg. Recently, de Blasio has threatened to halt the opening or expansion of 28 charter schools next school year, angering charter school leaders.

 

In Washington, the D.C. Public Charter School Board has adopted new policies to evaluate alternative charter schools - or those that serve a student population that is at high risk for academic failure, reports The Washington Post. The board voted to define alternative charters as schools that have at least 60 percent of their student population falling into the at-risk category, which includes students who have been incarcerated, students who are pregnant or have children, students who have been expelled, and students who are homeless or in foster care, among other factors.

 

Evaluating the performance of such schools has been notoriously difficult - an issue that the National Association of Charter School Authorizers recently tackled in a working group and subsequent paper. 

 

Three schools in the nation's capital qualify under the newly defined 'alternative' label. The board will be working with those schools over the next year to create a fair evaluation system with metrics that could include change over time in test scores as well as suspension or truancy rates, says the article.

 

And in Philadelphia, the school district recently revised its charter school proposal to treat charter schools differently based on how well they follow the district's rules. The proposal suggests limiting charter school expansions to high-performing schools and doing annual evaluations of each charter school instead of waiting until their five-year charter is up. Such a move aligns with recent recommendations from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the Charter School Growth Fund. 

 

The proposed charter school policy draft is open for comment from the public until March 7, 2014. It is the first phrase in a three-part effort to overhaul the way charter schools in Philadelphia are authorized and overseen.   

 

 

D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson is launching a $5 million effort to increase student satisfaction.

 

On a conference call with reporters yesterday, the chancellor unveiled a new grant pro- gram for the upcoming academic year that will provide money to traditional public schools developing initiatives to make the student experience more enjoyable.

 

According to a news release from Henderson's office, these Proving What's Possible for Student Satisfaction awards will fund "enrichment activities, field trips, extracurricular activities, clubs, new athletic teams and anti- bullying work," among other programs.

 

One purpose of the new grants is to help D.C. Public Schools reach its goal of 90 percent student satisfaction by 2017. Henderson said surveys conducted last year suggest that 78 percent of students are satisfied with their school. Many who are unsatisfied cited unappealing school meals or a lack of cleanliness in school buildings. In addition, the chancellor said, "a lot of them reported that their peer-to- peer interactions were not always positive."

 

Asked how the grants will be financed, Henderson said she was unsure of the school system's overall budget for the next fiscal year, but she was "willing to make this commitment now, because it's that important." She explained that the amount of money each school receives will be determined by enrollment "” likely about $100 per student.

 

The school system has previously distributed "Proving What's Possible" grants to schools that wanted to adopt a particular program to help struggling students.

 

 

Turnaround for Children aims to improve low-performing schools by addressing the effects of poverty both inside and outside the classroom. This year the organization is working in 5 DCPS schools and hopes that the school system will incorporate its approach on a broader scale in the future.

 

Generally speaking, there have been two polarized camps in the education debate: those who say you can't fix education until you fix poverty, and the "no excuses" camp that says a good teacher can educate any child regardless of her income level.

 

Turnaround for Children (TFC) occupies a middle position. Recognizing that kids don't leave the effects of poverty at the schoolroom door, the program tries to connect persistently disruptive students at a struggling school with the social services they need. At the same time, it trains teachers in a school-wide approach to teaching and classroom management that aims to both foster social and emotional skills and raise academic performance for all students. (Disclosure: I have contributed financially to TFC.)

 

TFC has partnered with over 80 schools, mostly in New York City, and has been in DC since 2010. This year it's involved with 3 DCPS elementary schools and two K-8 campuses.

 

All 5 schools have a 99% poverty rate (as measured by eligibility for free and reduced-price meals), and 95% or more of their students are African-American. Their proficiency rates on DC's standardized tests average 29% in math and 24% in reading, meaning that about three quarters of students are performing below grade level.

 

Founded in 2002 by child psychiatrist Pamela Cantor, TFC began its work in New York. Cantor had been asked to assess the level of trauma among schoolchildren after the events of 9/11, but she came to realize that an even bigger cause of trauma for children in the city was living in poverty.

 

Research has shown that the stress associated with poverty has effects on the brain that make it harder for kids to focus, to control their impulses, and generally to do the things they need to succeed in school. That's one reason high-poverty schools have more than their share of children with behavior problems. And those kids make it difficult for all students to learn.

 

The good news is that these effects can be reversed, especially in children. To do that, TFC has devised what it calls a "fortified environment for teaching and learning." The organization partners with a school for 3 to 5 years, bringing in a team consisting of a social work consultant, an instructional coach, and a program director.

 

The goal is that instead of relying on suspensions or even visits from the police to maintain order, schools will develop a nurturing, positive culture that will drastically decrease the need for serious disciplinary measures.

 

Walker-Jones Education Campus

 

That seems to be happening already at Walker-Jones Education Campus in Ward 6, a K-8 school that is in its first year of a TFC partnership. Principal Michael Moss says that when he arrived at the school, it had more suspensions per year than any other DCPS school below the high school level: 452, in a school of about 420 students.

 

The school has had a troubled history. Moss is the 13th principal there in the past 10 years, and there's a thriving drug culture in the neighborhood. (The Sursum Corda and Tyler House housing projects are nearby.) Moss recounts the story of one 3rd-grader who came to school last year with "3 baggies of crack and was trying to sell them in class."

 

Moss realizes that many kids at Walker-Jones have a lot going on in their lives. "We've got to be a sanctuary for our students," he says. And although at first he was skeptical of TFC, after hearing Cantor speak, he thought: "She's got it, right on the nose."

 

TFC works with teachers to develop common procedures they can use to establish order throughout the building. To ask for quiet, for example, teachers hold up a hand and say, "Give me 5 please." Moss even uses the phrase when making announcements over the PA system and to get attention at faculty meetings.

 

In addition, a team meets regularly to discuss individual students who are experiencing significant difficulties. If the school itself can't address the student's needs, the team connects the student's family with Hillcrest Children and Family Center, a mental health provider. The costs of treatment are generally covered by Medicaid.

 

And TFC provides an instructional coach who helps teachers learn to head off or defuse disruptive situations. The coach also introduces teachers to "cooperative learning" techniques that are designed to foster social and emotional skills at the same time they teach kids content.

 

In part two of this post, we'll look at how TFC's approach is working at Walker-Jones and another DCPS school and how the organization plans to broaden its reach in DC in the future.