New Haven Independent

posted by: Morgan on January 17, 2012  11:57am

The NHI includes the link to the full Politifact report – I hope you click on it.  It reveals data that supports the claim that Achievement First schools dramatically out-perform their host districts.  Yet the data doesn’t show that AF always outperforms state averages.  In a state like Connecticut, with high overall student achievement, reaching state averages is an important step toward closing the achievement gap.  According to CMT scores 82% of AF cohorts score higher than their host-districts (Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven) on CMT reading tests. Yet only 21% of cohorts out-perform state averages.  AF has work to do in creating across-the-board excellence in reading instruction. The goal remains to first beat the state average…and then to outperform Connecticut’s most affluent districts (Darien, New Canaan, etc.)  In all transparency AF isn’t there yet – but I believe AF kids are on their way!

The first and most pressing question is, “Does AF offer a good choice for parents in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven?” The Politifact data helps answer this with a loud YES!  Kids at AF schools outperform their peers in these three cities in both reading and math.  (And there are other good choices in New Haven, but Davis St. is the only other NHPS school that joins Amistad and AF schools in being one of top schools in the state for African-American student achievement.)

The data shows this…and so does the experience of hundreds of families who’ve seen their kids’ reading ability improve.  Behind this success is a lot of hard work from AF’s kids, parents and teachers; plus a longer school day, more reading time (both reading class and independent reading,) targeted interventions and extra help and a climate of achievement where it’s cool to bring a book to lunch.

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 17, 2012  11:59am

The Providence Journal’s “PolitiFact” team
concluded that:

“Achievement First schools do outperform city and state averages for math in Connecticut and New York, but the results aren’t as definitive for other subjects.”

This conclusion and the point of view of this story totally miss the point of the legitimate criticism of Achievement First style schools. 

Does it matter that AF-style Charter schools are doing better, worse or the same as non-charters if charters only pretend to provide equal access and opportunity to enroll and stay in those schools to all students in the district? 

If Achievement First style Charter schools are allowed to use underprivileged kids as a way to set up private schools/businesses using public money, does it really matter WHAT their subsequent test results are? 

Why are so-called investigative journalist not savvy enough to look past the red herrings, then key in, AND STAY ON, the main issue here?

Achievement First Style schools are stealing money from legitimate public institutions with the help of local governments, and they are undermining the gains made by the struggles of the Civil-Rights movement to tear down the two-tier education system in this country, where one group was privileged over the other to receive public funds and resources more so than the other tax paying citizens. 

These are the issues that we should focus on and STAY ON.  These are the things that are relevant. 

The fact that Achievement First Style schools are able to manipulate their student body population and get the better students from the inner city and then brag about what a great job they are doing, only shows the length to which they will go to hide the truth about who and what they are.  After this, the resulting test scores at AF-style schools are about as important as the aesthetic appeal of the furniture on the Titanic.

posted by: NH Resident on January 17, 2012  1:00pm

Rev. Ross-Lee,

...  people are choosing to send their children to AF schools and it appears their children are doing well.  You can choose to “STAY ON” other issues if you want, but parents choose to “STAY ON” the success of their children.  If AF schools are all of the negative things you say they are, which I dooubt, then parents will stop sending their children to them.  It really is that simple.
...

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 17, 2012  2:06pm

Yeah, NH Resident, it does “APPEAR” as it they are doing well, doesn’t it?  But you and others should note that simplistic thinking has no sustainable value in a democratic society or in a discussion about, of all things, education.

(I’d REALLY like to know what you guys are saying to/about me that the NHI finds so objectionable so they feel the need to censor you. That is just FUNNY to me!)

[Editor: Just the usual nasty personal remarks. We feel strongly that even if a person is fine with being addressed that way in the comments section, it sets a negative tone that encourages other people to post that way.]

posted by: Lucy on January 17, 2012  2:57pm

Without controlling for the other factors that can affect school performance (such as economic status, language, etc.), this - or any other - comparison of “achievement” between two groups of students such as Achievement First kids and other New Haven kids is scientifically, logically, practically, and 100% meaningless.

(FYI…)

posted by: Observer on January 17, 2012  4:10pm

It seems to me—and I certainly could be wrong—that Rev. Ross-Lee poses a legitimate concern,  certainly one that is not new.  If you are able to cherry pick who goes to your school, then it should not be so surprising that they will do well.  It also seems to me that another reason why parents want their kids in the AF schools is that they are safer and therefore more conducive to learning!  Again, this may be more perception than reality, but I do know if you can easily get rid of the troublemakers and those who disrupt the classroom, you should have better outcomes. The charter schools have not figured out anything we don’t already know.  They just have an environment where they can act on those things (longer school day, flexible teaching responsibilities, permanent expulsion, etc.,)

posted by: dig a little deeper please on January 17, 2012  4:10pm

Not sure how it all adds up.  But here is a link to a “venture philanthrophy fund” (ick) that supports Achievement First.

http://newprofit.com/cgibin/iowa/about/index.html

When I reviewed the Board of Directors, I noticed a few work at Bain Capital.  Gotta love when local charter school takeovers come full circle with scandals related to the current Republican Primary. 

http://newprofit.com/cgi-bin/iowa/about/10.html

Aren’t the millionaires and billionaires donating to “New Profit, Inc” the same folks who advocate for lowering capital gains tax rates; thus causing our public educational (and other) infrastructures to crumble?

Rotten in Denmark indeed.

posted by: Are you serious? on January 17, 2012  4:36pm

To Reverend or Mr. Lee ( I never saw both forms of address used simultaneously) - Please refer to The New Haven Register dated Friday January 13, 2012 page 3. The article entitled “At $133G, etc. specifically states that Dr. Mayo is using a little less than half of the $3 million grant from First Niagra to pay Achievement First “to train future administrators” for NHPS.  You say charter schools are taking money away from public schools, so how do you explain NHPS latest action?  Since all our NHPS principals are paid over $100,000 it is strange to me that not one of them is capable of teaching this skill they obviously possess if in fact they are qualified for the salary and duties of their job.  On one hand you accuse AF of taking money from public schools and on the other you ignore NHPS own superintendent’s choice to allocate almost $1.5 million to AF.

posted by: Morgan on January 17, 2012  5:09pm

I think this debate and all debates about public education are healthy.  I do want to offer some corrections to implicit assumptions and explicit statements regarding the make-up of AF student bodies and its attrition:

1)  Cherry-Picking: Achievement First (like the Sound School, Common Ground and other public-charter schools) don’t select their students.  All New Haven parents are mailed a “Magnet Application,” on which AF schools (Amistad and Elm City) are listed along nearly two dozen other choices of district schools, district magnet schools and inter-district magnet schools. Parents select their top 3 preferences and the NHPS Magnet Office runs a “blind” lottery. Sibling preference is weighted and—in the case of Amistad Academy—so is neighborhood preference for families that live in the Dwight-Edgewood neighborhood.  Kids get into AF schools the same way they get into Barnard, King-Robinson, Career, MBA, etc.  AF does hold specific recruitment events that mostly target families who live in New Haven’s highest poverty neighborhoods…whose kids are presumed to be the farthest behind.  Quite to the contrary of looking for high achieving kids – AF sets out to recruit scholars who are struggling in school and may not be on the path to college.  98% of AF students are African-American or Latino and 75% qualify for free and reduced lunch – this is a significantly higher percentage than NHPS overall.

2)  Attrition: Last year Amistad had an attrition rate of less than 3% (for reasons other than moving out of the district.)  At most AF schools most years the attrition rate is approximately 5%—sometimes up to 7%.  This is on par (or lower) than the transfer rate within New Haven (and lower than most districts.)  AF teachers relish the opportunity to help kids catch up with their suburban peers…longer days, intense academic interventions, etc.  Kicking scholars out for low performance would be antithetical to all AF stands for. 

3)  Expulsion: AF schools follow the same expulsion policy as all other public schools. Students who possess a weapon or drugs on campus have a mandatory 1 year expulsion. During this time the school provides tutoring and must meet all IEP (special education) needs. Students are sometimes eligible to return on a probationary status before one year and always return after the length of the expulsion. (It’s nothing like private school where you get permanently kicked out.  Any expulsion is viewed as a tragedy and we handle these the same way as NHPS.

4)  Special Education: AF serves students with many disabilities who have IEPs.  It is the home-district (NHPS) who is actually technically the owner of all IEPs for public charter schools and traditional public schools.  At times the district reassigns students with severe needs away from an AF school to a public school with a specialized program or that offers the full spectrum of SPED services.  (This same situation applies to all public schools – the district may remove a student with severe autism out of one school and have a controlled transfer to another school with a better program…or to an ACES school.)  It is true that AF schools have a lower proportion of both SPED (approximately 10%) and ELL students…this may be because our SPED program is not yet as fully developed as other schools (and funded at a very low level for SPED,) it may be because NHPS has some wonderful SPED programs and it may be because the district has assigned some of our scholars to other programs…it is NOT because AF is excluding students with IEPs.

posted by: ElisaQ on January 17, 2012  5:11pm

The comparison between AF and NHPS is seriously flawed, because AF and NHPS do NOT serve the same students.

Every student at AF has an adult in his/her life who filled out a piece of paper to enter the child into the lottery. That alone leaves out a significant portion of children who do not have such an adult, and many of these children are the ones with the greatest disadvantages. AF does not do any work to help these kids; NHPS does.

We must also consider the disturbing number of students AF fails to reach, students who they could not teach or guide or “redirect,” all of whom return to NHPS.

Why isn’t AF required to include these students in their statistics?

posted by: I live in the Ville on January 17, 2012  5:22pm

I live in the Ville I sacrafice my income tax to send my 2 children to a good Catholic School.  I pay taxes in New Haven and I wish I could save the money and send them to Public school.  It is a shame.  The money I save on uniforms as well as the confidence I have in the education they are receiving makes it all worth it.  They test at two grades above the public school.  Why send them to public when they can recite the Pledge of Allegence ad the “Our Father Prayer” every morning.  Good Luck with that.

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 17, 2012  6:28pm

To: Are you Serious:

You guys are FUNNY indeed! 

Maybe you should take note of this one simple fact: I don’t work for the Board of Ed., hence I’m not obliged to have to justify or even comment on anything they do. 

And how would you know what I’ve “ignored” anyhow, save you’re a person who trolls this site looking for my comments, saving them up and comparing what articles I respond to and which ones I do not.  Do you do that Mr/Ms? Are You Serious.

By the way, see how I used (twice) the name to refer to you that YOU choose to refer to yourself.  Perhaps you should afford me the same courtesy, whether you’re familiar with the two titles “Rev” and “Mr” together or not.  Orrrrr, perhaps you could goggle it before you reveal your, uhmm, NOT KNOWING about this. Now that’s a thought, isn’t it?  LoLoLoL

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 17, 2012  6:56pm

To Morgan:

Perhaps you’re the latest (somewhat) public advocate (since we can’t get a real full name) assigned to make the case for Achievement First style schools, and particularly those here in NH.  Allow me to make a couple of suggestions. 

1. When addressing lay people about an area of specialty to you don’t use acronyms or institutional jargon.  I have no idea what IEP or SPED stand for.  I just happen to know what an ACES school is and what ELL means, but it would be helpful if you didn’t assume that everyone knows these abbreviations.

2. If you’re going to rebut the arguments made, speak to the argument made.  The argument made about AF-style schools is that they let every and anybody in the front door and then cherry-pick AFTER they get there. 

Your (and countless other) arguments that go to GREAT LENGTH to “prove” that AF-style Charter schools do not cherry-pick by pointing to the public lottery system does NOTHING to respond to the actual complaint. 

The actual complaint is about letting the kids in the front door and then kicking them out the back when they don’t measure up, or their parents don’t/can’t show up (to your satisfaction) or offering them a place in a grade well below their age range, so as to match a student’s academic skills with the school’s need to look good that a higher percentage of kids are at or above grade level.

The fact that you and others keep responding to the cherry-picking, class manipulation argument in the way that you do, i.e. NOT addressing the argument made, reveals that this is nothing more than a PR campaign intended to tell a big enough lie repeatedly, believing that if you do, it will eventually be accepted.

By the way: Stop referring to your kids as scholars. You cheapen the concept when you do. Scholars are highly educated academics whose specialized studies have led them to a point where they are now adding new knowledge to a particular field of study.  Most of these people possess the highest degree in their field. 

At best what you have at ANY secondary education institution are students who, through hard work and dedication, are positioning themselves academically to one day becoming scholars after YEARS of study.  Your elementary and High school students are no more scholars than medical students are doctors.  If you really want to be helpful, let them earn the title, don’t just GIVE it away.

Just Sayin

posted by: Threefifths on January 17, 2012  7:23pm

@ Morgan Will AF push for this,Like they are doing in New York.

The Charter Schools Act.

1. STUDENT RIGHTS – Charter schools MUST be required to retain Special Ed and ELL students. No longer push out, counsel out or expel them out of the school.
2. PARENT RIGHTS – Every charter school board MUST have a parent board member who is the President of the school’s independent parent association.
3. BILL OF RIGHTS – There MUST be a universal Parents Bill of Rights and Students Bill of Rights for charter schools.
4. INDEPENDENT PARENTS ASSOCIATION – Every charter school MUST be required to have an independent parents association.
5. CO-LOCATIONS – The state MUST develop a better process in determining co-locations in public school buildings in New York City because it is pitting parents against each other.
6. ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY – Charter school board members and employees MUST be held to rigorous financial disclosure requirements and conflict of interest prohibitions as all other organizations receiving public money. There MUST be more oversight of Founding Boards. Board members MUST NOT be allowed to be permanent trustees. All employees (principals, directors, staff) MUST not be allowed to serve on the board. All schools must be audited by the State Comptroller.
7. CHARTER CONTRACT & BY-LAWS – Every charter school MUST be required to post their charter and by-laws online to increase accountability and transparency in charter schools and their governing boards. Every board meeting MUST be held at the school.
8. STATE RECEIVERSHIP – The state MUST have the authority to take over a charter school and re-constitute the board of trustees.
9. MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS – For Profit Management organizations MUST NOT be allowed to manage charters. Public money should be spent on public students.
10. COMPLAINT & GRIEVANCE PROCESS – The state MUST develop a formal complaint and grievance process that includes tracking and resolving issues within 30 days.
11. TEACHER RIGHTS & PROTECTIONS – Teachers in charter schools MUST be provided with whistleblower and job protections when exposing corruption, financial mismanagement and corporate chicanery in charters. No teacher should be fired for standing up for their students. E.g. East New York Prep Charter School.
12. CHARTER AUTHORIZATION – Authorization MUST only be granted by the Board of Regents

posted by: brutus2011 on January 17, 2012  8:09pm

The true secret to learning is motivation.

Of course, intrinsic motivation is preferable to extrinsic motivation.

But then, extrinsic motivation is preferable to no motivation.

Who has figured out how to motivate low SES kids en masse?

Charter schools are run by for-profit folks. Their bottom line is money, but they need a justification for their profits.

And that means higher standardized test scores than government-run public schools.

Unless charter schools can point to higher scores then they will have a tough time justifying their profits.

I see an enormous motivation for charter schools to find ways to justify their profits.

Just as I see an enormous motivation for government-run school bureaucrats to find ways to shift accountability for poor student outcomes to teachers, paras, and parents.

The way I see it is that we are being asked to choose between the lesser of two evils-the profiteering of charter schools and the corruption of public schools.

Wow, what a choice!

posted by: I live in the Ville on January 17, 2012  8:54pm

This is why I send my kids to catholic school.  Refer to my previous post.

posted by: Morgan on January 17, 2012  9:35pm

@ Three-Fifths

I’ve seen this list a few times; I think you’ve posted it before. Mostly I think this list or “Bill of Rights” is a straw man. It’s not that I don’t agree with most (though not all of it) but I think using this is a tactic to lead readers to assume that these protections aren’t already in place OR that a bill is needed to stop abuses—whether those abuses are real or straw man abuses.
In principle and practice I believe that all schools should be held to very high standards.  Currently – at least in Connecticut– public-charters are held to high standards and undergo a rigorous charter renewal process every five years. The state has the authority to non-renew a charter school, thus shutting it down. This authority and the entire charter renewal process is a much higher level of accountability and oversight than any traditional public school faces.
Public-charter schools, like traditional public schools vary widely in quality. Some states, like Arizona, Florida and D.C. have had very little charter oversight and have some great charter schools and some very low-performing charters – some of which have been shut down and some of which haven’t.  I’d like to see all schools be held to the same levels of accountability and oversight as public charters are (at least in Connecticut.)
I don’t think we need this “Bill of Rights” simply because most of these laws, provisions and regulations are already written into federal law, state law or into charter stipulations.
-  Student Rights: I wholly agree that public-charter schools should work to retain all students who enroll. As I noted in my last posting it’s not AF’s policy to push out SPED, ELL or other students.  Public-charters, like all other public schools, must follow all state and federal laws that apply to students with disabilities (ADA, IDEA, etc.)  Like all schools AF (and other CT public-charters) spend a great deal of energy staying in compliance with the federal protections that students with IEPs have.
-  Parent Rights: All public school parents, including those of public-charters, should have extensive rights and access to school.  At my AF school we have an “open door policy” any parent may come to school and sit in any class any time for as long as he or she likes.  I can’t speak for all public-charters. But I know that each AF school has a parent who sits on the board of trustees – and I think that’s a great practice!
-  Co-location and Board of Regents: Those are NYC specific issues.  I’d agree that NYC DOE should assign their limited space as judiciously as possible.
-  Accountability and Transparency: I don’t know all of the details of who can and can’t serve on the board. I know that AF always has 1 teacher rep, which I think is a good idea.  The State of CT does audit us annually and subjects us to a very rigorous charter renewal every 5 years – this includes a very intensive financial audit among other elements of over-site. These are all good practices and already happen (hence my not thinking we need an additional Bill to re-codify that the law already requires.)
-  State Receivership: If and when a public-charter school consistently fails, consistently fails to meet goals and/or violates the public trust by misusing money I absolutely agree it should be taken over and / or shut-down. (And I think the same should be true for all schools that fail year after year after interventions and help.)  Again, this is already how charter law works.
-  Some other posts have suggested otherwise and I’d like to be very clear that Achievement First is a not-for-profit.  End of story.  All of the successful charter networks that I know of (AF, KIPP, etc.) are also not-for-profits. I don’t know of for-profits that have been effective at scale…but the jury is still out in my opinion.
-    Teacher Protections: Again yes and yes…I agree…and I also think these laws are already on the books. No school (and no organization) is allowed to retaliate against an employee for whistle-blowing.  This is already the law and it’s a straw man argument to allege that we need special charter school whistle blower protection.

Good night, friends in NHI cyberworld!

posted by: my son went to NHPS on January 17, 2012  9:57pm

My son went to NHPS until sixth grade and we were not happy with the teachers in the new haven system some of them seem to not care we decided to put him in Amistad the first year he struggled but now he is in the 8th grade and is doing much better the teachers really care about helping the kids we can call or text them any time and they respond back although i do not agree with all of their policies some i think are a little over the top but their system over all seems to work my kid needed more structure and he gets it at Amistad

posted by: Threefifths on January 17, 2012  11:31pm

I saw this man on tv tonight.He says it all.

Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System
by Chris Hedges.

A nation that destroys its systems of education, degrades its public information, guts its public libraries and turns its airwaves into vehicles for cheap, mindless amusement becomes deaf, dumb and blind. It prizes test scores above critical thinking and literacy. It celebrates rote vocational training and the singular, amoral skill of making money. It churns out stunted human products, lacking the capacity and vocabulary to challenge the assumptions and structures of the corporate state. It funnels them into a caste system of drones and systems managers. It transforms a democratic state into a feudal system of corporate masters and serfs.
Teachers, their unions under attack, are becoming as replaceable as minimum-wage employees at Burger King. We spurn real teachers—those with the capacity to inspire children to think, those who help the young discover their gifts and potential—and replace them with instructors who teach to narrow, standardized tests. These instructors obey. They teach children to obey. And that is the point. The No Child Left Behind program, modeled on the “Texas Miracle,” is a fraud. It worked no better than our deregulated financial system. But when you shut out debate these dead ideas are self-perpetuating.
Passing bubble tests celebrates and rewards a peculiar form of analytical intelligence. This kind of intelligence is prized by money managers and corporations. They don’t want employees to ask uncomfortable questions or examine existing structures and assumptions. They want them to serve the system. These tests produce men and women who are just literate and numerate enough to perform basic functions and service jobs. The tests elevate those with the financial means to prepare for them. They reward those who obey the rules, memorize the formulas and pay deference to authority. Rebels, artists, independent thinkers, eccentrics and iconoclasts—those who march to the beat of their own drum—are weeded out.
“Imagine,” said a public school teacher in New York City, who asked that I not use his name, “going to work each day knowing a great deal of what you are doing is fraudulent, knowing in no way are you preparing your students for life in an ever more brutal world, knowing that if you don’t continue along your scripted test prep course and indeed get better at it you will be out of a job. Up until very recently, the principal of a school was something like the conductor of an orchestra: a person who had deep experience and knowledge of the part and place of every member and every instrument. In the past 10 years we’ve had the emergence of both [Mayor] Mike Bloomberg’s Leadership Academy and Eli Broad’s Superintendents Academy, both created exclusively to produce instant principals and superintendents who model themselves after CEOs. How is this kind of thing even legal? How are such ‘academies’ accredited? What quality of leader needs a ‘leadership academy’? What kind of society would allow such people to run their children’s schools? The high-stakes tests may be worthless as pedagogy but they are a brilliant mechanism for undermining the school systems, instilling fear and creating a rationale for corporate takeover. There is something grotesque about the fact the education reform is being led not by educators but by financers and speculators and billionaires.”

Read the rest.

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/11#.TxP6dn5yb-I.facebook

posted by: Charter revision on January 18, 2012  5:55am

Here we go again with the Charter school apologists.  Te most comprehensive study charter schools, done b real researchers (not journalists), concluded that 83% of charters nationwide do the same or worse than traditional schools.  I will repeat what I have often stated, if a doctor were successful only 17% of the time, this who go flocking to himor her would be better served seeing a psychiatrist.  But more to the point.

Reverend Samuel T. Ross-Lee is exactly right.  I would like to add a bit more to his larger point.  Charter advocates often contend, as they did in today’s Register, that they are underfunded when nothing could be further from the truth.  Charter schools receive significant funfjnd from the Broad, Gates and Walton foundations, not to mention Bain Capital, mislead entertainers and investment bankers.  Yes, the same investment bankers that brought the country within minutes of a total ffinancialcollapse.  But that’s not it.

Charters are duplicitous in that they form 501c3 organizations in order to funnel money into their schools without considering it an increase in per student expenditure ( which is really is).  Because their books remain hidden from public view, and their Board of directors meetings are never known to the public, just how they operate remains a mystery, which is exactly how they prefer it.  Have you ever attended a board of directors meeting, or heard any charter speak about exactly how much money they have?  But there is more.

In a time when traditional public schools are forced to perform at higher levels with less, why should charters receive more?  What makes charter schools different from traditional public schools when it comes to need?  In fact, when one considers that Charters do not pay for Special Education costs, ELL costs, transportation costs and other costly mandates paid for by traditional schools, it makes you wonder why they are constantly asking for more money.  The costs mentioned in the previous sentence are extremely high (it can cost as much as $40,000 to provide special education services for a typical student with a learning disability), yet these cost are placed on the backs of the traditional public school system.

Standardized test scores are not the best measure of student performance.  If they were, wouldn’t colleges require them in order to graduate,mor as an assessment of learning.  While colleges consider SAT scores, and that trend is passing, they do not care one bit about Mastery Tests or CAPT scores as
neither are considered for admittance. 

Finally, the fact that Charters serve a nearly exclusively Black and Latino student population speaks more to the powerlessness of Black and Latino parents than it does to the schools’ attractiveness.  That is, White parents would not allow their kids to be part of an experiment by venture capitalist as they attempt to privatize public funds.  Charter schools have targeted black and Latino kids because our communities are in constant search for the silver bullet, and too many of us have hung our hopes with Charters.  As with any educational endeavor, parents play the most critical role.

posted by: ElisaQ on January 18, 2012  7:40am

In the 2008-2009 school year, I visited Amistad High and observed sophomore classes. There were nearly fifty sophomores at that point.

Two years later, just over twenty kids graduated from the school. That’s about 50% gone in just two years. AF either could not or would not teach these students.

Most of the students who left went back to public schools and were not mentioned in AF’s statistics about sending students to college. 

Why do we take anything AF says at face value when we have so many examples of manipulated statistics that barely even tell half truths and certainly do not begin to tell the full story?

posted by: I live in the Ville on January 18, 2012  8:19am

Catholic schools have a 98% graduation rate.  I’m just saying.

posted by: educator on January 18, 2012  9:03am

They can get rid of students who won’t pass the CMT and they do.  Their scores should not be compared to New Haven’s.

posted by: Jeff Klaus on January 18, 2012  9:53am

Top 5 reasons why district-run schools are struggling to educate students (according to proponents of the status-quo.)

1. It’s the kids’ fault.
2. It’s the parents’ fault.
3. It’s society’s fault.
4. NHPS can’t possibly do the job for only $16K per student.
5. Charters and school choice are bad.

posted by: Threefifths on January 18, 2012  10:31am

Charter Revision is speaking the truth about how the investment bankers are The Faces of School Reform.

By
John Tarleton.

January 29, 2010

Issue #
146

Led by a band of billionaires, the school-reform movement has gained increasing momentum during the past decade, spreading its reach into urban communities across the country. But instead of truly transforming public schools, private funders want to restructure them. They insist running schools like a business is the solution. At stake is not only control over hundreds of billions of dollars in local, state and federal funding, but also the future of the next generation of schoolchildren.
Bill Gates
Net Worth: $50 billion
Using the Gates Foundation as his instrument, the Microsoft co-founder has channeled tens of millions of dollars into transforming large high schools through the schools-within-a-school model. Critics say boutique public schools tend to enroll (or “cream”) the best students while receiving more per-pupil funding than their large-school counterparts. Gates has also allocated large sums of money to help fuel the growth of charter schools.
During the 2008 presidential election the Gates and Broad foundations teamed up to spend $24 million to influence public education policy. Their shared message: Expand charter schools and tie teacher pay to student performance on standardized tests. President Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has tapped top Gates Foundation officers to be his chief of staff and to head the agency’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. Foundation officers are also spearheading the $4.35 billion Race to the Top program, which promises aid to cash-strapped states that eliminate caps on charter schools and agree to place even greater emphasis on standardized testing. “It is not unfair to say that the Gates Foundation’s agenda has become the country’s agenda in education,” says Michael Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Arne Duncan
Secretary of Education
A former professional basketball player and veteran of many pickup basketball games with Obama, the Harvard-educated Duncan has no formal experience as an educator. As CEO of the Chicago school system from 2001 to 2008, Duncan oversaw more than 60 school closings primarily in people of color neighborhoods while rapidly opening charter schools. The Gates Foundation funneled $63.2 million into the Chicago schools during Duncan’s tenure and now Duncan is taking the “Chicago model” nationwide with the help of top aides recruited from the Gates and Broad Foundations.
Spencer Robertson
The son of a hedge-fund billionaire who has donated $10 million to Mayor Bloomberg’s school projects since 2003, Spencer Robertson opened the PAVE Charter Academy in 2008 inside P.S. 15, a successful elementary school in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Tensions further escalated when the DOE recently announced that PAVE would be allowed to expand inside P.S. 15 over the next five years, even though Robertson has received $26 million from the DOE to build his own school. Robertson’s wife Sarah, the head of the board at Girls Prep Charter School, was at the center of a similar controversy when the school recently sought to expand inside public school facilities in the Lower East Side.
James Shelton
Assistant Deputy Director of Education, Director of Office of Inn ovation and Improvement, DOE
Following Obama’s election, Shelton moved seamlessly from deputy director of education at the Gates Foundation to a post at the DOE as assistant deputy director overseeing a variety of grant programs that assist charter schools. Operating at the nexus of the public, private and nonprofit sectors, Shelton previously worked at Knowledge Universe, where he launched, acquired and operated education-related businesses. Shelton’s former Gates Foundation colleague Margot Rogers now serves as Duncan’s chief of staff.
Eli Broad
Net Worth: $5.4 Billion
Broad, a Los Angeles-based billionaire who made his fortune in insurance and real estate, has been at the forefront of the school restructuring movement over the past decade. Using the foundation that bears his name, he has pushed aggressively for schools to be run more like businesses. The Broad (pronounced like “road”) Foundation has seeded charter schools across the country, including in New York. It has also developed a number of programs to train school administrators, including the Broad Superintendent Academy, which instructs business, nonprofit, military, government and education leaders in how to manage urban school districts. A number of top officials at the New York City’s Department of Education have received Broad training. Speaking at the 92nd Street Y in New York City last year, Broad summarized his approach: “We don’t know anything about how to teach or reading curriculum or any of that. But what we do know about is management and governance.”
The Waltons
(Christy, Jim, Alice, S. Robson)
Net Worth: $79.4 billion
The Walton Family Foundation of Wal-Mart is the single biggest investor in charter schools in the United States, giving a total of $150.3 million during 2007-08. In New York, the Walton group has provided $15 million in construction funding plus more than $1 million per year for operating costs in recent years to help the Brighter Choice charter school network establish eight new schools in Albany, according to the Albany Times Union. Meanwhile, Gov. David Paterson has received contributions totaling $55,900 from Christy Walton, as he pushes legislation to lift New York’s current statewide cap of 200 charter schools.
Eva Moskowitz
Moskowitz, a former Upper East Side councilmember with close ties to the Bloomberg administration, earns more than $300,000 annually for running a chain of four small charter schools in Harlem. Like Spencer Robertson, Moskowitz has sparked protests in the predominantly people-of-color community she operates in as her schools move into existing neighborhood schools. Last April, the Broad Foundation awarded Moskowitz’s Success Charter Network $1 million over two years to support its four existing Harlem Success schools and to help it open 40 new schools in the New York City area over the next 10 years.
Joanne Weiss
Director, Race to the Top program, DOE
Joanne Weiss served as a director and chief operating officer for the New School Venture Fund from 1998 to 2008 before being appointed to head the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program. Using venture philanthropy largesse provided by Broad, Gates and other wealthy individuals, Weiss helped incubate networks of privately controlled charter schools and charter management organizations as well as organizations to mold new teachers and principals in the education reform movement’s technocratic image.
Michael Milken and Larry Ellison
Net worth: $2 billion and $27 billion
Michael Milken dominated Wall Street in the 1980s using junk bonds to fuel that decade’s merger mania before landing in federal prison for violating securities laws. Now, Milken has gone into the education business as chairman, co-founder and driving force behind Knowledge Universe, a multinational conglomerate that operates for-profit day-care centers and schools and makes interactive educational toys. Ellison, CEO of Oracle, co-founded the company with Milken.
Democrats for Education Reform
Established by four New York-based hedge-fund millionaires active in the charter school movement — Whitney Tilson, Charles Ledley, John Petry and Ravanel Boykin Curry IV — this political action committee seeks to build and solidify support for corporate educationreform initiatives inside the Democratic Party, lest it be tempted to heed the concerns of teacher unions or other critics of running schools like a business.
Michael Bloomberg
Net Worth: $17.5 billion
Bloomberg spent $75 million to win the New York mayoralty in 2001. Since then, he has used his Midas-like wealth to dominate the city’s political process while pursuing a top-down, data-driven vision of school reform. When New York won the 2007 Broad Prize for Urban Education, education historian Diane Ravitch described it as “a prize conferred by one billionaire on another.”
Rev. Al Sharpton
Sharpton began preaching the gospel of school reform in 2008 when he joined forces with New York Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to found the Educational Equality Project (EEP). Last fall, Sharpton went on a five-city road trip with “odd couple” buddy Newt Gingrich as well as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to tout the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program. Sharpton’s support for the school reform cause has also yielded its earthly rewards. According to a March 2009 report by Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News, Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) received a $500,000 donation immediately following the establishment of EEP. Sharpton’s benefactor: Plainfield Asset Management, a Connecticut-based hedge fund, where former schools Chancellor Harold Levy is a managing director. The donation came at a time Sharpton was set to pay $1 million in back taxes and penalties he and NAN owed.
Sources: Forbes 2009 Fortune 400, Gates Foundation, newschools.org, The New York Times, Broad Foundation, gothamschools.org, Walton Family Foundation, Albany Times Union, Chicago Public Schools, rethinkingschools.org, wsws.org, U.S. Department of Education, Knowledge Universe, forbes.com, Ed Week, New York Sun, edwize.org, New York Daily News, ednotesonline.org.
For more information see the following articles in this issue of The Indypendent:

http://www.indypendent.org/2010/01/29/faces-school-reform

In fact this blue print will be used here.

Bloomberg’s 12-Step Method to Close Down Public Schools.

http://www.indypendent.org/2010/01/29/bloombergs-12-step-method/

posted by: Teacher in new haven on January 18, 2012  11:13am

Morgan,

While I am not an AF detractor, I think there are some major flaws in your argument, and they call into question the general position of AF boosters. 

There is no mention here of any scores in CT beyond CAPT (10th grade).  What are your AP scores like?  Do you offer comparable numbers of AP courses at Amistad High?  Do any of your kids pass?  What about SAT and ACT?  I don’t dispute that your numbers are higher on CAPT and CMT, but where do your kids go from there?

While I could not find your numbers for free and reduced lunch, I did find the 2009/10 Strategic school profile (most recent available) and compared NHPS (80.5%) to AF (66.3%).  More over, you admit that you teach fewer Ell and Sped (English Language Learners (13% vs 11%, and Special Education-10% vs 3%) students.  I don’t think it matters why in terms of this discusssion.  These kids are both harder to reach, and (on average) less likely to pass the test. 

I have no idea whether or not these numbers account for the diferences in performance on State tests.  Neither NHPS, nor AF make it particularly easy to do a child by child, or class by class comparison.  However, these numbers do expose a glaring difference between NHPS and AF.  You have an easier population to teach.  Not Easy per se, but easier.  You teach them for much longer hours, and in the summer, and you hold their parents (who surpass many NHPS parents in terms of their concern for their child’s education) to account (if only for showing up).

Is it any wonder, under these circumstances, that the numbers you are required to share should be higher than ours

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 18, 2012  12:45pm

The Top ONE reason that an Achievement First Style Charter School will NEVER EDUCATE children.

1. It’s a business, not an educational institution.

posted by: brutus2011 on January 18, 2012  3:26pm

This is kind of an “aha” moment where reality is laid bare for all to see.(at least for those who have eyes.)

We teachers call it a teachable moment. It occurs far less than we would like but it is so cool when it actually happens.

Rev. Lee states that charter schools are a business, and not an educational institution.

I tend to agree but with an important caveat, that public schools are a corrupt educational institution and therefore as undesirable as the charters who seek public dollars to fund their bottom line (money).

NHPS is set-up like a business except the money flows to the managers just like the charters.

The managers are mostly chosen by either cronyism, political patronage, or their organizational equivalents—in both models, charter and public.

If you want proof, go to the city’s website and examine the budget to see how the ed budget is cut up.

And, examine the NHPS administrator’s union contract if you want further proof of my assertions.

We citizens don’t have to settle for this private and public con game. After all, it is our tax dollars.

The charter schools are after more of our tax dollars.

The public school districts already have our tax dollars.

What you are seeing now is the two “con men” jockeying for position with the public schools conceding space to the charters at the public tax money trough (remember we are talking 600 billion nation-wide) so that the people (us) won’t wise up and cut them both off. (I know this is a kind of non-academic explanation but if a phenomena can’t be simply explained then it likely is incorrect.)

It is time for an collective public expression of power to accompany this hoped for epiphany. (Our own education “Arab Spring.”)

posted by: DavidK on January 18, 2012  5:13pm

Atlas shrugged and said “I can educate students better than the public schools can and make a profit. I can hire professionals with degrees but tired of the rat race to teach my children. I will take the profits and put it back into the school by paying bonuses to high performing teachers. Students will be attracted to the school and leave the public schools in droves. I will hire the best of the the laid-off teachers and open new schools. Soon I will be making more profits to further improve the schools and therefore the students. I know this plan will work since it works in the food industries, auto and manufacturing and aren’t our students more important than goods?”

posted by: ElisaQ on January 18, 2012  5:39pm

@Teacher in new haven:

From the New Haven Independent (Feb. 11, 2011):

In 2010, 23 Amistad students took a total of 44 AP tests. There were 122 students in the high school that year, according to state records.

None scored a 3, 4 or 5 on any test. In 2009, 28 students took a total of 62 AP tests. Only one student scored a 3, 4 or 5 that year.

From the same article:

Cross students scored the highest in the district: students earned passing scores on 183 of 345 tests.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/ap_test_takers_increase/

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 18, 2012  6:47pm

@brutus2011

While I appreciate your attempt at a “teachable moment” here (we all can afford to learn) this one runs afoul.  It does so as it manages to be the flip side of the argument that Achievement First Style schools use to justify their existence. 

AF-Style charter schools attempt to win support for their illicit “doings” by pointing to the problems with the traditional public school culture, to include issues with Teachers’ Unions, Board of Education cronyism, untenable tenure systems, etc, etc, etc.

The problem with that approach, of course, is that pointing out the mistakes, mishaps, and intentionally bad policies of one system does not inherently justify the mistakes, mishaps and intentional bad policies of another. 

Your pointing to the legitimate issues that traditional public schools have in no way solves for the legitimate criticism of Achievement First Style Charter Schools.  What it does do, however, is blur the issues of the two and makes it seems as if one is just as good/bad as the other.  While public schools may be mismanaging our money, it is money that the public has agreed to give them and they legitimately have it.  It is now our responsibility to ensure that they use the money effectively and efficiently to the best benefit of the collective community.  Achievement First Style Charter schools are snatching away public money that they should not have in the first place, and then they are using it in ways that privatize public resources for the benefit of a few. 

This is just one example of how the problems of each system are separate! 

These problems need to be looked at in that way in order to provide the quality, equal and democratic education to our children that a free society owes them and needs for them to have.

posted by: brutus2011 on January 18, 2012  7:09pm

to “DavidK:”

Assuming you are serious about your Ayn Rand reference, I would like to point out the following:

1. I happen to agree with some of Ms. Rand’s philosophy.

2. The problem with applying this paradigm to education is that students are not widgets on a production line subject to supply-demand equations, etc.

3. Students are complex entities and often resist compartmentalization and reification.

4. Widget production is best done with a top-down management hierarchy with an emphasis on leadership.

5. Education of human beings is best done with an bottom-up collaboration of qualified individuals with an emphasis on service.

6. This is where both the managers of public school districts and charter schools get it wrong. They believe that service is a sub-set of leadership or that leadership is the well-spring of success.

7. Leadership is a sub-set of service and, in education at least, a servant becomes recognized by the learning community and leads accordingly.

8. In international relations, one can think of political legitimacy as the main reason a group of people will choose a leader—because of his or her service. Examples might be: Ho Chi Minh, Ghandi, Golda Meir, Martin Luther King, the prophet Muhammed, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

9. Teaching kids is not about a business model, or leadership or even about money—it is about serving one’s peeps which is of paramount importance because it helps ensure the survival of our species.

And if that is not important enough for us to start to pay closer attention to the education of our future generations then all may indeed be lost.

posted by: Jeff Klaus on January 18, 2012  9:33pm

Hey, I thought that charters were the ones kicking kids out??

http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/wnpr/pushed-out

posted by: Threefifths on January 18, 2012  10:50pm

posted by: Jeff Klaus on January 18, 2012 9:33pm
Hey, I thought that charters were the ones kicking kids out??

http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/wnpr/pushed-out

I read this.But look what is says.

Education advocates are divided on how to solve the problem. Some say education reform in the traditional public schools will prevent students from getting to a point where they might be pushed out. For right now, however, there are thousands of students enrolled in alternative and adult education programs in Connecticut, and it’s hard to know how they’re doing.

But they have Alternative Schools.

Connecticut’s “Alternative Schools”

A solution for struggling students?

By Neena Satija

Published: Jan 18, 2012

http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/wnpr/connecticut-s-alternative-schools

But you kick them back to the public schools.I have sent a e-mail to Neena Satija to look into the charter schools in this state to see how many are sent back to the public schools.

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 19, 2012  12:41am

So Klaus, is the article in your posted link suppose to prove that Achievement First Schools are NOT kicking kids out? That your kicking kids out is OK because others are doing it? Or that’s it’s not POSSIBLE for you to be kicking kids out because “they” are “the ONES” doing it, and like the Highlanders, there can be only one?

You are grasping at straws man. This is simply one of your diversion tactics.

posted by: Charter revision on January 19, 2012  4:08am

@Jeff Klause
Here we go again with the typical charter school deflect and defend strategy.  No one said that public schools do not encourage students to leave.  Let me give you an example.  A 19 year old student returns from being incarcerated and has accumulated all of 8 high school credits in a 5 year period.  Should e student spend three more years in a traditional public school, or should he be counseled to an alternative program.  This is not hypothetical, it actually happened.  State law gives schools the right to direct a 19 year old student who cannot reasonably graduate that year to an alternative program.  Maybe, AMISTAD High School is willing to take this student and insure that he gain acceptance to college before he graduates.

I will repeat what I have said before, some students do not belong in traditional public schools and should be counseled out to alternative schools.  When thisnhappens, however, students are still registered in that district.  Charter schools do not offer alternative educational options for their students who cannot make it in th regular charter setting.  If a student cannot make it at a regular charter school, there is only one option:  return to your home district.  If charter schools want to boast abut being better than traditional schools, then they should be required to provide an educational alternative for students who are not successful, and that alternative should not be the home district.

Top five reasons charter schools cannot help struggling students

1) They have insufficient special education resources
2) They have uncertified teachers
3) They offer no alternative educational setting for struggling students
4) There is very little if any public oversight of charters
5) They have significant difficulty retaining high school students
4)

posted by: DavidK on January 19, 2012  11:39am

The reason Atlas shrugged is that we mortals make life much too complicated. We create procedures, certification, unions and bureaucracies when simple communication between teacher and student will do. A little motivation also helps. We should step back and simplify by removing all these barriers to success.

posted by: Jeff Klaus on January 19, 2012  3:34pm

Three-fifths and others,  If you’re really interested, here is a link to a press conf that the Parent Union held yesterday.  Its an hour long but if you FF to about the 47 minute point you will hear about the “invisible” student, that is the student that the public school regularly system throws to the curbside. 

http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/webstream.asp?odID=7360&odTitle=Education Reform Briefing hosted by the Connecticut Parents Union&caption=true

posted by: Threefifths on January 19, 2012  4:13pm

posted by: Jeff Klaus on January 19, 2012 3:34pm
Three-fifths and others,  If you’re really interested, here is a link to a press conf that the Parent Union held yesterday.  Its an hour long but if you FF to about the 47 minute point you will hear about the “invisible” student, that is the student that the public school regularly system throws to the curbside.

I know Gwen Samuel, president and founder of Connecticut Parents Union.Give me a break.Look at the corporate vampires were they get there money from. Ask how come some parents are kept from making comments on there website?Also how many parents belong to this union.All I see is her.Give me a break.You got to come better then this.

posted by: Jeff Klaus on January 19, 2012  5:46pm

Forgive me 3/5.  I forgot that EVERYBODY is a corp sell-out.  She probably made up the part about having kids in Meriden public schools.  Good catch!

posted by: arlette jackson on January 20, 2012  7:30pm

My nephew struggles so Hard to accomplish his goals in his young life
My nephew comes from a single hard working mother who want him to believe life is Only what you make it , during my sister journey she too has pursued her education and will be graduating from college . I feel so good that my past hasn’t affect their American Dream , I feel so special seeing my nephew play this large instrument , does SAT testing to prepare him for Summer College , read very thick best sellers , and buy books on his own to read ! Go Trevaughn your the best whose ever done it in Our family since I was young ! Keep up the Hard work Zaneta your the Best Mom and homeowner and Role Model to many . Love baby sis

posted by: AF Satisfied Parent on January 21, 2012  12:49am

Let me begin by stating my scholar started at Elm City Elementary when she began second grade. I am going to give you my point of view as a parent of an AF student. At the time my child was born I worried about the education she would receive from NHPS due to my experiences with the school system, as well as my siblings experiences. I began researching private schools when she was a toddler.  I worked very hard for her to attended an affluent private school in Hamden, CT. She was doing very well there. During a conversation with a friend, she spoke highly of the education her child was receiving at Amistad. She became the first of 3 other friends and family members who’s children attended Amistad and Elm City who hghly recommended the schools. After hearing all of this positive feedback about the AF schools I decided to apply for the lottery.  Being an African American who grew up in the inner city in the late eighties and early nineties (class of 1995)and had attended New Haven Public Schools all of my life, I had very little faith in the traditional public schools and the education she’d receive. Yes, I did have some good teachers, and may one or two excellent teachers; however as I look back over the years, I remember no one ever talked to me about college; there was never a stressed importance about success after school. SAT’s were not explained to me at all.  But , I deided to give the public charter school a chance since people I trusted were very pleased.  She transitioned smoothly into the school and I have been very pleased with her cotinued progress. The atmosphere, the expectations, the accountabilty, the parent involvement,the availlibity of the teachers and Principal. I am pleased. My questions to all of you who oppose charter public schools: What is wrong with having the option to send my child to a school that is out performing the district schools? The true problems are there isn’t sufficient funding for the many others who are waitlisted and want to their children to attend these schools and the other problem is the host schools are not measuring up. Should my child suffer for this? As a parent my focus and goal is results. Whether those results come from private, traditional public, or public charter all I want is a well educated child. 
ElisaQ should my child not have the option to attend a charter public school if that my choice because some children dont have an adult in their lives to apply for the lottery? Should my child not attend private if thats my choice because some children dont have parents who can afford private? No, how do those become my issues or the deciding factors?  I was raised with 3 siblings by a single mother, I lived in a poverty stricken housing project, I wasn’t emotionally available to fit in with the students who went to their teachers or counselors for the information, help, guidance needed or maybe it was offered on a day that I was absent. All I know is that I didnt receive what was supposed to be provided to me. I know that at Elm City there’s no room to slip through the cracks. Your child will receive a top quality education and the expectation is college graduation. I went on to graduate with a Bachelors Degree, but that was later in life when I learned on my own what I needed in order to be successful in life. Rev.
Ross-Lee, if my memory serves me correctly, isn’t it often said, “claim it and it shall happen, speak it into existence” so what’s wrong with calling our children scholars(by the way a kid is a goat, I noticed thats what you keep calling our scholars). Scholar is much better than many other names they can be called such as inmate, victim, perpertrator, etc. 

Whether my scholar is succeeding due to her genetic make-up, her supportive involved parents, or both whats the purpose of having those things without a educational system to properly educate her?

posted by: LOL on January 21, 2012  9:08am

@Morgan—You are not accurate regarding expulsion.

In each of the past three years, I have received PRIMARY-GRADE students from Elm City Prep and Amistead.  None were dismissed for drugs or weapons violations.  And neither school ever called back to check on the welfare of those students.

In each case, the students were dismissed because the students were deemed “not a good fit” because of their poor behavior.  One student was dismissed because his parents were not following the school’s guidelines.

Fact is, none of those students received the proper Tier I, II or III interventions and were merely dumped into my already struggling school.  Had they received such interventions, they wouldn’t have arrived in my classroom in October and November.

It’s not as though ECP and Amistead worked with these students for the majority of the school year.  Instead, these students were given just a few school weeks to get their act together—then they were dismissed.

Morgan, you also failed to mention that ECP and Amistead have far more resources than other public schools.  What ECP and Amistead lack is the patience to deal with behavior-challenged students.

posted by: brutus2011 on January 21, 2012  10:29am

I’m glad “LOL” brought this important issue up.

“LOL,” as a practicing NHPS classroom teacher, has hit upon the primary problem facing everyone, sincere or not, who is concerned with educating our kids.

This is the relationship between student’s behavior and learning. Or the relationship between a school’s learning environment and learning.

The charter schools know that they have to show higher test scores to justify their existence.

They know that behavior, attitude, and learning are inextricably linked.

Therefore, the charter schools make sure they identify and remove those students who do not fit their criteria to meet their main goal—higher standardized test scores.

Simple.

Equally simple is the fact that NHPS is required by law to teach every resident’s child regardless of their attitude and/or behavior.

If you think I am now going to bludgeon charter schools with this; I am not.

I want to point out that this is positive proof that something more fundamental than teacher quality needs to be addressed before any meaningful education reform can occur.

We adults (parents, teachers, building and district and state administrators) need to establish and ensure that our schools develop and maintain proper, and sane, learning environments.

The kids are running the show.

This is insane.

We adults need to work together and set proper boundaries for our children’s behavior when they are at school.

It is an axiom of our legal system that my rights end where yours begin, and vice versa.

This needs to be enforced in our schools. In fact, there already exists a Conn. State Statute that addresses this issue.

It is the job of our educational leaders to see to it that this nonsense of blaming others for their inability to solve this basic problem must end.

It is equally the job of our citizens to demand that our leaders stop blaming those below them for their inability to address this most basic problem.

This in not rocket science people!

posted by: Jane Cravedi on January 21, 2012  10:48am

There are many arguements for and against both public and charter schools.  I am a a proud parent of 3 boys who attend Achievement First in Hartford.  I know what is working for my children I know the difference it has made in their lives.  Time will only tell where they end up but I do know that their future is definitely looking brighter from where I stand and that is what matters.  They are all achieving and growing educationally by leaps and bounds.  My children were not cherry picked in fact one was brought in as a repeat eighth grader who was well below grade level and extremely lazy… he was given extra resource without even having an IEP… and now he is with the regular class and made high honors.  They meet the children where they are and bring them where they need to be.  So the arguements can play but at the end of the day I know that AF is helping many children realize an education that in the traditional public school just wasn’thappening.  If it was those of us who looked at choice and charter schools really would not have had a reason to look.  So maybe the focus is off what it should be ...... Educate the child fund all schools equitably because after all if someone offered a public school money to be able to offer more programs or better programs they would take it and no one would say a thing about it nor would the state or district only fund them at 75% because of it so why do we do this to charter schools??????

posted by: Laura McCargar on January 21, 2012  1:31pm

As the author of the Invisible Students report that prompted the NPR series cited by Jeff Klaus, 3/5s and others, I want to reiterate that push out happens everywhere - in the public school system and, yes, in charters.  There has not been sufficient research around charter practices in this regard, and it was unfortunately outside the scope of my report.  I do however, have “exit code” data from the SDE which indicates how many students transfer or withdraw from AF schools and I’m looking forward to analyzing and sharing that data to help inform these kinds of discussions.

posted by: LOL on January 22, 2012  7:31am

@Laura—Public schools are obligated by law to teach students regardless of attitude, behavior, etc.

Students in this city’s worst public schools are suspended, but the trend now is to first implement mulitple interventions to reduce suspensions.

To get expelled, it’s got to be for serious offenses, such as guns, weapons and drugs charges.  And even then, those offsenses are “examined” closely before any decision to expell is made.

Truth is, many of the behavior-challenged students get bounced around (transferred) from school to school and never truly receive the help they need.  If you need data to support my statements, come visit any Tier III school in New Haven.

posted by: ElisaQ on January 23, 2012  7:16am

@AF Satisfied Parent

I never said that there shouldn’t be options. NHPS itself offers amazing magnet school options, and Common Ground is an excellent charter. Options are great.

AF, however, is a business that claims it has the answers and claims to be better than public schools, but uses manipulated data to back these claims.

It’s nice that it works for your kids, but we need to hold AF accountable for the kids they don’t help. Do you think it’s OK that nearly 50% of the AF high school students returned to public schools over the past two years, but AF is allowed to crow about its college placement rates without including these students in their data?

It’s not about removing options; it’s about discussing what works and what doesn’t with our eyes open. It’s about not letting a company take resources under false pretenses.

posted by: AF Satisfied Parent on January 23, 2012  11:54am

@ElisaQ I’ve never gotten the impression that AF believes it is better than NHPS nor have I ever witnessed them make that claim. I have witnessed the teachers and administrators work with children with behavior issues. I have witnessed them work with parents to develop plans and strategies that will ensure their children’s needs are met and the child has successful outcomes. Those parents have personally told me that they are highly satisfied with the school.

I worked in an Alternative School Program for eight years serving students who had behaviors and emotional issues. Their home districts paid thousands of dollars to send their students to this Alternative School rather than working with the children in the public school. I sat in countless PPTs where it was stated that these students behaviors interrupted the learning environment for their peers and they needed alternative programming. This was either for full day programming or half day programming. So whats the difference with AF first doing the same exact thing?? There is no difference.

How is AF taking resources from the school districts? The 16k that is allotted for my child in the NHPS remains with the NHPS. What are they doing with that money every year and she has never attended a NHPS? For the thousands of students that attend AF schools what are the districts doing with the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are not following the children? Our children at AF schools are funded significantly less and my question is WHY? If some one can give me an answer that makes sense that would be great. I have nieces and nephews who are older than my daughter but performing academically lower than her. She’s reading well above average. The proof is in the pudding. AF is out performing other schools serving the same types of students. Their goal is to close the achievement gap and they slowly doing so. While being grossly under funded and it is a shame.

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 23, 2012  2:48pm

@AF Satisfied Parent:  Two Things

1. I’m not a fan of religious sounding clichés, but the one you spout is close enough to something that is actually in the Bible that I will comment on it.  Romans 4:17 is what I THINK you (and others who use the concept) are trying to reference.  READ IT AGAIN.  You’ve misunderstood the statement, the speaker and the context. 

Yes, the Christian faith does seek to bring into being that which is not, that’s faith.  But it does not perpetuate the notion that simplistically calling things something that they are not accomplishing the goal of transformation, that’s fantasy (and superstitions)

I have faith in faith, I don’t subscribe to superstitions. 

2. I find it interesting and curious that most of you parents who respond to legitimate criticism of Achievement First Schools that you do so by talking about how good the school is for YOUR child(ren).  It is a highly selfish, solipsistic perspective. 

The criticism of AF-Style Schools is that they are bad for the community and for the future (and present) of education.  There will always be programs, systems and policies that positively affect SOME people.  Think: Trickle Down Economics, Deregulated Financial Markets, and Prosperity Theology.

But good for a few is not good proof of the Greater good.  Those of us who are not limited to thinking about our own children, but about all children criticize Achievement First Style Charter Schools because we cast a wider net that our personal self-interest.

posted by: AF Satisfied Parent on January 23, 2012  4:13pm

@Mr. Ross-Lee, Yes, we call them scholars, yes we post and repeatedly talk about the year of college graduation for our students, yes at 9 years old my child can sophisticatedly talk about the colleges she would like to visit and maybe attend in the future which will be upon us sooner than later. Is any of this negative? Is any of this to stir our children in the wrong direction? No. What I do care about is the fact that we live in a state where we have one of the largest achievement gaps? We live in a city with one of the most prestigious universities in the world, but less than one percent of the students come from this city. You see blacks cleaning the grounds, serving the food, washing the dishes. while the students receiving this top quality education are no different than children of this city.  Take a walk through Yale New Haven Hospital with a pen and paper. Write down the number of CNA’s, transporters, support staff, cleaning staff who are black compared to how many are Dr.s and nurses. Its sad!! Yes, I’m concerned for my child because I want her to have the opportunity and the educational foundation to attend Yale University if she wishes and to be a Dr. (pediatrician which is her wish) if that’s what she wants. Not to be the CNA, the environmental staff or transporter which seems to be the norm. I don’t see any handouts being given. So lets make it clear yes MY CONCERN is MY CHILD!! Because she is no one else’s concern. If you want to hand over some of your offering money to assist her I will gladly accept it. If my concern for MY child’s future is selfish then I will gladly wear that title for this situation. The community issues, are much bigger than me and I’m not a politician therefore its not my job to try to rectify them. My job is to make sure my children are successful productive citizens and have the ability to do what makes them happy in life. I was failed by the NHPS and the problems have only gotten worse since I was in school. Like I said earlier, I am focused on results. If NHPS was producing results then my child would be there but they’re not. As for Sally’s child, Sammy’s child’ Tony’s child and Mary’s child; not my concern because not one wealthy parent in this rich state would trade places with me and my family. The “greater good” “wider net than my self interest” sorry not at my child’s expense.

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 23, 2012  6:35pm

To:AF Satisfied Parent

You have summed up, rather nicely, the attitude and perspective of the entire Achievement First Style Charter community: Me, Me, Me, with no concern for the greater good.  Good job. I will let your statement stand on its own. Nothing more need be said.

posted by: ElisaQ on January 23, 2012  7:24pm

@AF Satisfied Parent:

AF is not closing the achievement gap or outperforming anyone. They are primarily serving students who would have done well in public schools and sending struggling students or difficult students back to the public schools, effectively washing their hands of any responsibility for these children all while claiming success.

In addition to the concerns I have about AF’s data, which I have already explained, I’m deeply concerned about the teaching model at AF and its long term impact on students.

There has only ever been one passing AP score at AF. Why? Because the AF “I-We-You” model teaches rote thinking. That works well enough when preparing for elementary school level tests, but true scholars need to engage in independent thought like that required by the higher level Advanced Placement exams.

I visited AF and heard the teachers there wondering how to get students to “think instead of do.” Despite concern among its own faculty, AF schools continue to rely on a model that leads to good test scores, but none of the thinking skills necessary for true success. Is that what we want for our students? That they do, not think? That we call them scholars but don’t give them the tools to embody that name?

Visit Sound School. Visit Co-Op. Visit Metropolitan. Visit Common Ground. At these schools, you will see teachers working to help students become the true scholars we all want them to be. They don’t just say it; they really do it.

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 23, 2012  10:29pm

VERY well said ElisaQ!

posted by: Ms. K on January 26, 2012  9:02am

I am an AF parent of 12 years and my children did start in public but I chose charter because of rigorous curriculm, exposure to books that will challenge them in serious conversation with their future college peers, to be able to articulate and socialize and not be automatically stigmatized that they are black, low income kids. It is a shame that because adults will sit here and talk what they heard and not care about how the other schools have let our kids down. How the Mayor has not truly change much to get more accountability. Charters are not scapegoats for the traditional public schools, they are choice, and for hundreds that chose to go elsewhere many are regretting it, some are locked up, many are with kids to care for and try to finish school with GED, DEAD, on street corners selling drugs, raping, killing and beating the hell out of their parents. WEll, I made my choice and you have made your choice, so why is there a issue if this charter has closed the gap or not if you really cared about the kids you would stop parents from having kids with truancy issues, kids who have behavior issues to be addressed and stop allowing schools to be baby-sitting services that have to constantly call parents because they can’t control their kids even at home. This are no perfect education solutions, only choices. Move on.. sounds like constipation to me.

posted by: for the life of me on January 26, 2012  9:53am

We all are accountable for what a school can and is not willing to do.  Bring back the old school values and new school teaching methods.  I understand why “I live in the Ville”. Made that comment.  He has got a good point.  Keep it up.

posted by: Ms. K on January 26, 2012  10:37am

The Observer, thank you because your point is well noted, but we can not cherry pick our kids at AF, they come straight from the New Haven Magnet Lottery, a chance. The biggest difference I have seen in the school that is not enforced in other schools is that they “sweat the small stuff”. We as parents are always telling our kids, pull up your pants, tie your shoes, tuck in your shirt, etc. So when there is a school that supports that and stays up on that to Build better habits it Builds a better character. It has been said that slavery is over. Not true!, the chains have been taken off the legs, arms, and necks and placed on the brain. Kids are not positively motivated in their good but are put down, locked down when they do bad and are getting more praise for, especially in the media. I raise my children as such. Watch you thoughts before they become your words. Watch your words before they become your actions. Watch your actions before they become your habits. Watch your habits before they become your character. Watch your character before it becomes your DESTINY. No child will stay on a straight line but it starts at home and supported in the school which has them much of the time. Not to mention that single parent households always get a bad praise. So what about the success stories, there are more of them than negative ones. Negative begets only negative. So many people are of the mentality of complain, condemn and criticize that they will not even offer a solution. That is sad. One thing is for sure and it doesn’t matter what anyone says from this point on, traditional public, charter and magnet are ALL OUR FUTURE and if we can not find solutions for them in education and for them to grow WE ALL have failed them.

posted by: Ms. K on January 26, 2012  10:48am

To the comment ElisaQ, some parents have chosen, yes chosen to remove their kids to go to NHPS because of sports, their choice, some kids play around and do poorly on purpose making sure parents , yes controlling their parents to pull them from the school so they can be with their friends. AF is an educational institution and is not going to allow a child to control a classroom just because he/she may be able to control home. These are facts, working with parents of AF for many years. I respect choice and support their decision and wish them the best. Again they are still , yes all the children are my future no matter what school they attend. I will work with them, try to educate them, help build their character and life skills. I do not want any child to say I wish so-in-so had told me this, maybe I would have done something in my life differently.

posted by: ElisaQ on January 26, 2012  7:55pm

@Ms.K:

“some parents have chosen, yes chosen to remove because. . .”
When a high school graduates only 50% of the students who entered as freshmen, it raises concerns. That’s a LOT of students gone, for whatever reason, and not included in the school’s statistics, which they love to crow about.

“[Some leave because AF] is not going to allow a child to control a classroom just because he/she may be able to control home.”
That’s a good point—students who have trouble with authority do not stay at AF. AF does not have to help these students. The students return to NHPS where we are responsible for them, and AF is not held accountable for their education. They simply do not teach our most challenging students, yet they continually insist that their students are “the same.”

“for hundreds that chose to go elsewhere many are regretting it [. . .] raping, killing and beating the hell out of their parents. WEll, I made my choice.”
What a strange line of logic. So if your children had not attended charters, they may have turned into rapists, murderers, and parent beaters?

“we can not cherry pick our kids at AF, they come straight from the New Haven Magnet
Lottery”
Please see my earlier comment about the single piece of paper. AF does NOT serve the same students as NHPS. Students not in the lottery are sometimes moved to NHPS magnets, but they are not ever placed in AF schools without that paper. That means that those students with the most difficult home lives do not attend AF. Again, that means that AF does not serve our most challenging students.

“So what about the success stories, there are more of them than negative ones.”
Wilbur Cross students earned passing scores on 183 of 345 AP tests in 2010. That’s pretty darn positive (esp. compared to 0 passing AP scores at AF).

You make a lot of assumptions about public schools in your post, which makes me wonder if you have been to any lately. I think that you would be amazed by what our students are accomplishing in our magnet and our comprehensive schools. After you’ve seen it with your own eyes, I’d like to know one single way that AF is better than Betsey Ross, Worthington Hooker, Fairhaven, or any of the other excellent schools available to New Haven students and not run by a business that clearly has no respect for the people it claims to serve.

posted by: Jeff Klaus on January 27, 2012  8:36am

Our traditional public system has systematically pushed out the most challenging students using Adult Ed and alternative schools, including charter schools as a dumping ground. 

Many students who attend charter schools have been “counseled out” of their traditional school by a teacher and/or principal who may have been legitimately concerned for the student and sincerely thought that a program with more structure was the answer. Or some may be concerned about making sure that they get rid of their disciplinary challenges.

The defenders of the status quo on these pages have tried to re-write the facts by claiming incessantly that charters, particularly AF, send their challenging students packing.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Scholars at Amistad who have difficulty with self-discipline are called “KWLMs” (Kids We Love the Most).  KWLMs receive intensive interventions from staff including priority for counseling and personal attention from multiple teachers and deans.  Family outreach is the norm in these situations. Not giving up on any student is at the core of the AF/Amistad approach and culture. 

If you want to see and hear more about the approach, anyone is welcome to attend to the next Amistad visitor morning on Friday February 10, at 7:45am.  Come see for yourself.  Ask questions, meet scholars, staff, and teachers. 

What are the challenged scholars called in your school ElisaQ, before you quietly send them packing to adult ed?  According to Rev., Ross-Lee, they sure aren’t called “scholars”.

(Cut and paste the story that appears on the front page of the NHI today)

http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/wnpr/adult-educationfor-teens

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 27, 2012  3:59pm

Jeff Klaus and the rest of the Achievement First Owners live in an Orwellian world of self-deception into which they are desperately trying to invite the rest of us. 

What I will call their “ipse dixit” approach to the school is further evidence of this.  “Ipse dixit” is a Latin phrase meaning: “He himself said it.” It is an unsupported statement that rests solely on the authority of the individual who makes it.  If you’re not familiar with the term Jeff, ask your Yale Law School trained wife who runs Achievement First - That’s right, she’s NOT an educator, nor was she trained as one - she should know/understand this term.

Suffice it to say that the obvious and stated approach of Achievement First is this: If we SAY that our institutions are educational ones, then they are. If we SAY that we don’t cherry pick our students, then we don’t.  If we SAY that are student body is “the same” as the Public Schools, then it is.  If we SAY that our students are “scholars”, then they are?  Evidence to the contrary on any of this, be damned.

You would be better off if you called your clients, “budding scholars”, or “potential scholars”, or “future scholars”, but humility in what you do and how you’re doing it has never been a trait of Achievement First as an institutions.  All out hubris is more the defining characteristic. 

But even the notion that the children you have will become scholars seems far-fetched, as you can’t get scholars from proficient test-takers, but only from motivated, creative, and critical thinkers, skills that are NOT taught by your instructors or promoted by your methods.

posted by: Laura McCargar on January 27, 2012  5:08pm

@ Jeff Klaus – You are absolutely correct that many students are systematically pushed out of mainstream public schools.  But let me be unequivocally clear: they are also pushed out of “choice” schools, including magnets and CHARTERS.  The NPR story that you link to was prompted by a report, Invisible Students, which I published after nearly two years of intensive research supported by the Open Society Institute that involved hundreds of one-on-one conversations with students, educators, parents and advocates.  Students who get counseled and coerced out of mainstream schools systems land in placement alternative schools and programs, adult education programs, Job-Corp programs, on the streets or in the justice system.  Not once in the course of this research did I interview anyone who recounted a story of students being “dumped” into charter schools.  In fact, the lottery process which charter advocates frequently tout as evidence that charters don’t pick and choose their students prevents students from being “dumped” there.  What I did hear from several interviewees in that their “pushout” process actually started in magnets or CHARTERS. 

@LOL - I completely agree with you that many of our district’s most struggling students never truly receive the help they need.  And while expulsions are supposed to be reserved for only the most series of cases, over the past eight years I have worked with many New Haven students who “voluntarily” withdrew from school because they were told they would be expelled if they didn’t, even if they hadn’t necessarily committed an expellable offense.

posted by: ElisaQ on January 28, 2012  12:40pm

@Jeff Klaus

I have visited AF. When are you going to visit NHPS?

Visit Sound, Worthington Hooker, Betsy Ross, Metropolitan, Hillhouse, Nathan Hale, Co-Op, or any other New Haven school. You’ll be amazed by the high quality teachers and educational programs you will find. Why won’t you let yourself see firsthand?

Young people everywhere—whether in AF or NHPS—are amazingly capable. It would be great if you would visit us and learn how to help AF’s students move beyond merely doing and start really thinking.

Unfortunately, AF can’t seem to admit that there’s a lot they have to learn. Such hubris is never going to serve our students. 

Speaking of hubris, when even the author of a study points out that you are misrepresenting her findings, I really hope that it makes you pause and think about your approach. It is through reflection, not baseless self-congratulation, that we grow and improve.

posted by: i live in the ville on January 30, 2012  10:03am

Volunteering at the Big event of the month.  The school book fair at the Catholic School my children attend.  They read A lot!  No politics no lies only education matters here.

posted by: Jeff Klaus on January 30, 2012  10:45pm

“Rev” you have made up your mind about AF ... in fact, you have never stepped foot in an AF school.  And yet you profess to be an expert on scholarly activities.  ...

ElisaQ, how do you know I don’t visit schools in new Haven?  I attended NHPS.  I’ve been in and around NHPS for decades.  And i find it sad that you feel the need to put down thousands of New Haven students and their families when you claim that AF students don’t “think”.  Thankfully, there are dozens of colleges and university professors who teach former AF scholars - and they wouldn’t agree with you. 

Would it surprise you to know that the entire M.O. at AF is around constant improvement? Did you know that AF was built around borrowing and copying best practices wherever they were found?  AF at a basic level is an amalgamation of methods that have worked for children in other places. It’s professional culture is always about getting better.

I know NHPS has some great teachers and some good schools.  I’ve never said otherwise.  But until 80% + kids in the district are prepared and college bound, we can’t sit still.

posted by: ElisaQ on January 31, 2012  5:35pm

@Jeff Klaus:

When AF representatives misrepresent research (see Ms. McCargar’s comment above), insist on the validity of things that are clearly untrue (that AF and NHPS students are “the same”), refuse to admit that there are problems in their system (all of those students missing from last year’s AF graduating class), and respond to critiques that are based on evidence with baseless assertions that things are fine (“doing not thinking” is a phrase I heard used by AF’s own teachers discussing their concerns about their students, and the lack of passing Advanced Placement exam scores at AF provides concrete data to support that concern), then I cannot believe that AF is looking to improve.

I am not “putting down” anyone. I am discussing AF’s teaching model, which I witnessed firsthand. I am citing concerns that I heard AF teachers themselves express and that I and other teachers see manifested in the many students who come to NHPS from AF.

...

posted by: The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee on January 31, 2012  6:06pm

Klaus,

Does one really need to claim “expert” status to understand that what you guys at Achievement First are doing is not comparable to “scholarly activity”?

REALLY, dude????