Beacon Preparatory School first open house

Last night, Scholar attended the first open house for Beacon Preparatory School, a public charter middle school opening in Plymouth next fall.

Beacon Prep is sponsored by Friends of Ascension, building on the success of an existing Friends of Ascension charter elementary school (Beacon Academy), and based on Core Knowledge, Saxon Math, daily Spanish language instruction, and character development.

One of the board members noted that Core Knowledge is the same curriculum being used by that school just up I-494 from Beacon Prep: the highly regarded Providence Academy. Of course, Beacon Prep will be charging much lower tuition (zero), and its campus lacks PA's look-and-feel of Colonial Williamsburg!

Both the lower Beacon Academy and the upper Beacon Prep are housed in the former Beacon Heights Elementary School. The building was recently upgraded with new heating and air conditioning, and a wireless computer network. It has the sturdy, traditional feel of a post-World War II school building, complete with a hardwood floor gym and those indestructible terazzo floors I recognize from my salad days in the 1970s.

The Beacon Prep board of directors is made up of parents and community members (and soon teachers, after they are hired). Some of the directors are parents of current Beacon Academy pupils. Parent volunteerism is expected to be as robust as it is for Beacon Academy. The startup coordinator is Jordan Ford, a longtime family friend and an experienced private, public, and charter school administrator. Other than homeschooling, this is the ultimate in local control, truly a community-run school.

Last night's open house was attended by around thirty parents and a few prospective members of Beacon Prep's first sixth grade class. Ford provided a detailed, rapid fire PowerPoint presentation, which revealed that Beacon Prep is on track for a successful fall 2006 opening. A grades 6-12 charter is in hand, grant money secured, staffing underway, facility being readied, startup coordinator and board of directors in place, and classrooms being stocked with everything from books to computers. The first direct mailing to prospective students is complete, and the first student applications have been accepted.

Some of Beacon Prep's operational details are to be determined, based on the needs of its future students: transportation, sports opportunities, enrichment (Destination Imagination and Continental Math League were mentioned as possibilities), and possible expansion to grade 12. Special education services will be available as in any other public school.

Ford said that about six applications were accepted before last night's initial open house. Beacon Prep plans on two sections of sixth grade for 2006-2007, with about 26 students in each section, for a total of around 52. After the application deadline of March 17, 2006, further applications will be put on a waiting list, and a lottery held after the enrollment limit is reached.

This year's fifth grader parents who are looking for an affordable alternative to integrated math, lack of classic literature or world languages, large class sizes, and the bureaucracy of a large suburban school district should check out Beacon Preparatory School. The next open houses are Tuesday, March 7 and Saturday, March 11.

EDUCATION

History Day

An American student, regardless of race, religion, or gender, must know the history of the land to which they pledge allegiance. They should be taught about the Founding Fathers of this Nation, the battles that they fought, the ideals that they championed, and the enduring effects of their accomplishments. They should be taught about our nation's failures, our mistakes, and the inequities of our past. Without this knowledge, they cannot appreciate the hard won freedoms that are our birthright.
—Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-West Virginia)

So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important...If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.
—Ronald Reagan

Take away a nation's heritage and they are more easily persuaded.
—Karl Marx

Yesterday morning, Scholar had an opportunity to study his favorite topics — curriculum and instruction, and United States history — as a judge at the Wayzata East Middle School History Day competition.

The History Day competitions among the seventh graders at Wayzata East, Central, and West Middle Schools (and many other schools nationwide) are the first rung in a National History day program that leads to regional, state, and national History Day events. This year's theme is "Taking a Stand in History: People, Ideas, Events." According to the Minnesota History Day web site:

Students make history come alive as their research leads to imaginative exhibits, original performances, media presentations and papers in junior and senior divisions in seven categories.

History Day demonstrates that students learn history when they do history. This program provides the ideal format to meet the inquiry component of the state graduation standards.

Performance-based learning

The old Profile of Learning "performance packages" are dead, but long live performance-based learning anyway. Taken to its extremes, in performance-based learning, the process of doing is equally or more important than the academic content. In addition, teachers are encouraged to be a "guide on the side" rather than a "sage on the stage:" students direct their own learning. They choose the topic, whether to work alone or in a group, even what sort of product they will create.

For performance-based activities like History Day, in which seventh graders produce multimedia presentations, poster boards, or performance art, the devil is in the implementation details. The subject may "come alive" for students, or students could spend weeks trying to schedule a time when everyone can meet after school, or mired in the technical minutiae of PowerPoint, scrapbooking, or DVD burning, to the detriment of learning the ostensible subject at hand. Others may choose a topic with only tenuous connections to the assigned theme, reducing the benefits of the exercise from the start. In other words, it can be a rich learning experience and lifelong memory, or a profound waste of time.

How they fared

So how did the wide-eyed, energetic scholars at Wayzata East fare on History Day 2006? Results varied. Perennial topics like Jackie Robinson and Harriet Tubman were treated with less depth and imagination than original choices like local hero Bob Fisher, who founded The Sleep Out fundraiser for the homeless. Experienced scrapbooking girls produced much more attractive poster boards than most of the boys. Kids with access to technology at home produced some impressive iMovie and PowerPoint projects. Almost every student produced neatly word-processed reports, with an extra copy available for the judges. One judge told of an exhibit about Patrick Henry taking a stand with his "Give Me Liberty" speech, but its creators could not identify whether Henry fought on the side of the Colonists or the British!

Some individuals and teams (the students could choose whether to work individually or in a team of two or more) did well at learning about their topic in depth. One duo tackled the life of Hubert Humphrey with gusto, interviewing family members for their favorite Humphrey quotes and memories, taking in Humphrey exhibits in a museum, downloading Humphrey images from the Internet, producing an attractive three-panel exhibit, compiling an extensive bibliography, and even creating props like campaign buttons from historical sources.

Yet according to its creators, even this stellar entry (we recommended it for advancement to the regional competition) was sidetracked by issues like matting photos and spray painting. Each team was required to write a "process paper" that summarizes technical challenges, and how the team worked together.

The student-directed approach to process-based learning should signal parents to pay extra attention to their child's project assignment, their choice of topic and work product (report, exhibit, performance, multimedia, etc.), their choice of working in a group or individually, and their progress during the project. They should also find out how much guidance students receive on the project in class. The nature of student-directed, process-based learning will ensure that results will vary widely since every student will get a different experience. Schools should balance performance-based instruction with direct instruction. As one student put it, "We come to school because people who know more than we do have something to teach us."

EDUCATION

Coming to Minnesota: universal mental health screening?

The Minnesota Legislature is considering universal mental health screening for all kids at least once by age three ("all" means "all").

Mental health screening is subjective and inaccurate in children. Diagnoses very often reflect simple behavioral issues or "politically incorrect" attitudes and values. Powerful medications with serious side effects are almost always used as the treatment. Using drugs to control behavior is dangerous and wrong, especially when study after study has shown these drugs to be ineffective and dangerous. Prescriptions for psychotropic drugs for children have increased by 300% in ten years!

You can learn more about this issue at an evening sponsored by EdWatch, "The Dangers of Universal Mental Health Screening Legislation in Minnesota," 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 2, 2006 at the Green Mill Restaurant in Plymouth. The speaker will be Dr. Karen Effrem, M.D.

Reservations are due Monday, February 27. The cost is $25, which includes dinner. For further information, contact EdWatch, (952) 361-4931.

Land of the free (except for school choice)

"Most countries that beat America on international tests give their students that choice. In Belgium, the government spends less than American schools do on each student, but the money is attached to the kids. So they can go wherever they want — to a state-run school, a Montessori school, or even a religious school... In public education, our land of the free is now a bunch of local fiefs, where petty-bureaucrats-turned-lords-of-the-manor decide whether you can get a decent education, and parents must go to them, begging for their children's future. Meanwhile, in Belgium and much of the rest of the world, students and their parents have the freedom to choose their schools?and the opportunity that comes with that freedom." —John Stossel

EDUCATION

Take the lead, take the money

Mike Antonucci's Education Intelligence Agency is the best teachers union watchdog on the web. I learn something new, interesting, and humorous with every visit to his site and every e-mail "EIA Communiqué."

Antonucci recently reported on the Washington Education Association's new well-funded public relations campaign for more education funding, which sounds eerily like Education Minnesota's new well-funded public relations campaign for more education funding:

Take the Lead, and the Money. Next week the Washington Education Association (WEA) will launch its latest public relations campaign for more education funding with a member mailing. The campaign will feature the slogan "Take the lead. Restoring Washington's Commitment to Great Public Schools."

WEA distributed its rationale for the rather pedestrian campaign name. I've posted it as an Acrobat file, and was fascinated by the description of it as a "multi-year effort," that included member focus groups and polling. The result, WEA believes, is believable, aspirational, factual, empowering, positive, solution-oriented, etc.

In fact, the slogan does accomplish the most important thing: it doesn't mention money. EIA has also posted the union's talking points as an Acrobat file. They make it clear that "commitment" means money, and only money. But a media campaign with the slogan "We want more of your money!" isn't likely to have the desired effect.

(For more, see the Education Intelligence Agency and drill down to the January 30, 2006 "EIA Communiqué.")

Public relations campaigns like this (and follow-on lobbying at state legislatures and Congress) will become increasingly sophisticated and persuasive. According to the EIA, the "underpaid and unappreciated" National Education Association union member accounted for over 15% of all union members in 2004 (the latest data publicly available). In Minnesota, where the NEA and AFT affiliates merged into a 73,000 dues-paying member organization, the percentage was 17%.

Meanwhile, parents and taxpayers are pretty much on their own when it comes to lobbying. When evaluating the merits of these P.R. campaigns, legislators and voters should recall the candid remarks of Albert Shanker, American Federation of Teachers President (1974-1997): "When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."

EDUCATION

Kerry: less than half of Americans are high school grads

This morning, the Drudge Report posted a transcript of an interview between Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and Katie Couric, in which Kerry claimed that "53 percent of our children don't graduate from high school." But Drudge disputes the statement:

Kerry's 53% claim conflicts with a recent press release from the U.S. Census Bureau: "High School Graduation Rates Reach All-Time High."

And the Census Bureau's own website states: 85.9 Percent Of Americans Aged 20-24 Are High School Graduates. (U.S. Census Bureau Website, www.census.gov, Accessed 2/1/06)

You are entitled to your own opinions, Sen. Kerry, but not to your own facts.