They leave no child behind (without NCLB)

The schools that innovate are going to be rewarded. You can feel like a victim in education. This is saying, "We're going to control our own destiny." —Principal Rob Metz, Saint Louis Park High School

Does it take a village to raise a child? To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it depends on what your definition of "a village" is. In her book It Takes A Village, Hillary Clinton says, "Every child needs a champion." For the last fourteen years at Saint Louis Park High School, every ninth grader has had multiple champions, even those whose home lives were less than ideal.

Almost half (and rising) of Saint Louis Park High School's ninth-graders were failing at least one class. Lacking the funding to simply throw money at the problem, counselor Angela Jerabek decided that a team of teachers, social workers, counselors, and administration would "have the back" of every ninth grader, meeting with and about each one continually, all year long. The result?

Since the program started in 1998, the number of students in advanced classes has skyrocketed. Then, 44 percent of ninth-graders were failing one or more classes; last year, that fell to 20 percent. Cigarette use was cut in half among ninth-grade boys...It's a simple premise: more adults reaching out to a student to prevent them from slipping into anonymity, failing class and dropping out. "No student will be able to get by unnoticed," Jerabek said. ("Intense focus on 9th-graders pays off big in St. Louis Park," Star Tribune, December 23, 2011)

The school is now closed to open enrollment and has a waiting list. The program is being piloted nationally by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute under the name Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR).

When it comes to raising kids, no school or government program can replace the loving support from a team of parents, extended family, friends, a church home, and youth groups. Saint Louis Park High School's experience has confirmed that kids can overcome adversity with a group of caring adults in their corner.

New social studies standards nearing completion

According to a January 12 e-mail update from the Minnesota Center for Social Studies Education (CSSE), the latest revision of Minnesota's K-12 academic standards in social studies is nearing completion:

The state K-12 social studies standards are in the final phase of revision, with an estimated completion date of mid-February or sooner. The CSSE will send an e-blast as soon as the final draft of the standards is posted on the Minnesota Department of Education website.

The CSSE has received many questions about the possibility of delaying the implementation date. At this point, there has been no legislative action to delay the implementation of the new standards. Therefore, the implementation timeline remains in place and the newly revised social studies standards must be implemented no later than the 2013-2014 school year.

There will be a session on the new standards at the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies Conference on March 5 in St. Cloud. Please join us if you would like to spend some time "digging in" to the new standards with other teachers and curriculum coordinators!

There will also be multiple opportunities for training on the new standards this summer through the Minnesota Department of Education and Minnesota's social studies organizations.

The current standard for history and social studies was created to replace the Profile of Learning in 2004-2005. It was created with an unprecedented level of public input in a relatively short period of time, including public hearings that at times devolved into politically-charged shouting matches. The 2004 standards had plenty of room for improvement (earning only a grade of C from the Fordham Foundation), so after Minnesota schools lived with them for several years and a rigorous and public revision process was conducted, I am anxious to hear what teachers and outside experts have to say next month after the new standards are released.

Wayzata candidate forum avoids debate

On Monday night, the candidates running to represent residents of the Wayzata Public Schools district at the state legislature met in a forum sponsored by the school district's Legislative Action Committee. The district overlaps Minnesota Senate Districts 32, 33, and 43.

I attended the session for SD43, which had about two dozen in the audience. All of the endorsed legislative candidates in SD43 were present: the incumbent Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) and Republican challenger Norann Dillon (Twitter: @dillon4senate); HD43A incumbent Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth) and DFL challenger Audrey Britton; and HD43B incumbent Rep. John Benson and Republican challenger Brian Grogan (Twitter: @bwgrogan).

A forum like this is not a debate. The moderator read questions and allowed all candidates to respond in turn. Afterwords, the audience was invited to ask questions, to which each candidate had a set amount of time to respond. The format seems designed to avoid confrontation, which is probably appropriate for the venue. Still, there were insights if you knew how to listen for them.

Bonoff said early in the forum that education is her top priority. This was an interesting statement in light of Bonoff's response in a recent debate:

"While I speak a lot about education because I serve on the Education Committee and I serve on the Transportation Committee, I think the environment is first and foremost."

Bonoff promoted the idea of "regionalizing the business" of school districts and touted her "shared services" bill. Dillon stated pointed out that while some economies of scale could be had by pooling purchasing for example, districts should be aware of whether such arrangements are voluntary or mandated by the state.

The audience question about early childhood education prompted the most controversy of the evening. While most of the candidates expressed support for early childhood education, it was Grogan and Dillon who had the courage to say that the emperor has no clothes (Dillon's aphorism was, "This dog don't hunt"). Grogan pointed to research revealed by Karen Effrem, governmental relations director for EdWatch, that demonstrates the same or lower academic achievement level for children who enroll in early childhood programs, compared to children who do not. Dillon said that the return on investment must be considered when allocating scarce state revenues to any program, including early childhood education, and questioned the overwhelming ROI cited by Bonoff. Dillon wondered with all of the dollars spent since the 1960s on Head Start and similar programs, why is there still such a large achievement gap?

Although "local control" was a safe point of consensus among the candidates, Bonoff said that there must be some set of uniform academic standards, otherwise there would be a patchwork of curricula in which there could conceivably be schools that teach their students to deny the Holocaust, for example. If you have been reading this blog since its beginning, you probably know that the rub is in who determines the standards (anyone remember Christine Jax?). That is why state academic standards, like state funding, are so politicized. For example, who should decide whether viewpoints critical of evolution or global warming theory should be heard in the schools: the state or local school boards?

Speaking of local control, all of the candidates agreed that unfunded mandates are a problem, but Benson basically said that fully-funded mandates are the solution (example: the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or "special ed") , while Grogan called Benson for removing mandate relief from a bill. The DFL must think that mandates are a problem only until they are fully funded.

I did not have a chance to ask any provocative questions before the forum adjourned, but I had two ready:

• K-12 education funding consumes nearly 50% of the state general fund budget, yet almost no one understands in toto the Minnesota Nightmare of per-pupil formulae, categorical aids, and other minutia that determines the amount of state aid that each local school district receives. What reforms to the funding formula would you support to increase the transparency and fairness of K-12 funding?
• Homeschool and private school parents pay double for education. Would you support tax credits or funding that follows the child to level the playing field for these double-taxed taxpayers, and raise Minnesota's quality of education by increasing competition among education providers?

After the forum adjourned, Grogan commented to me that of the various education forums he participated in, this forum had the best moderator questions and most engaged audience. Effrem, who was also in the audience, shared with me EdWatch's concerns about whether Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer is in agreement with its positions on academic freedom reforms.

Pawlenty challenges Minnesota to lead rather than "get dragged"

On Tuesday, Governor Tim Pawlenty simultaneously stood up for meaningful education reforms and tried to position the state to win second-round federal Race to the Top education reform dollars.

"The only question in this room is going to be 'Do you want to get dragged there, or do you want to lead to that point?'" said Pawlenty. "I suggest we lead because this is going to happen. It will happen some time in the next 3-10 years."

Sometimes politics makes for truly odd bedfellows. The Pawlenty administration and education reform advocates are finding themselves supporting some of the significant aspects of the Obama administration's Race to the Top initiative, while many Democrats and the teachers unions, strong supporters of candidate Obama in 2008, oppose them, including:

• Alternative teacher licensure - allowing non-traditional candidates like mid-career professionals alternative paths becoming licensed teachers
• Pay for performance - linking teacher pay to student performance, even more than Minnesota's current, optional Q Comp program

Conservatives generally and the Pawlenty administration in particular have been advocating for these types of reforms since at least the late 1990s. From the nation's first charter school laws to replacing the process-oriented Profile of Learning with knowledge-based academic standards, to Q Comp, Minnesota has often led the way in education reform, rather than let itself be dragged by Washington, D.C. educrats to improving its public school system.

There is no reason for Minnesota to wait for yet another federal subsidy before implementing more nation- and world-leading education reforms. According to the U.S. and state constitutions, education is a function of the various states, not the federal government. With the right leadership, Minnesota can close the achievement gap, lower costs, and put more control of the schools in the hands of local school boards and parents. That would be change we could all believe in.

NEA: tell us how you really feel

In stark contrast to National Education Association (NEA) affiliate Education Minnesota's touchy-feely, warm-fuzzy, "it's for the children" public persona, the NEA's retiring general counsel made it perfectly clear in July that the NEA is a powerful union first, last, and always.

Neal McClusky of the Cato Institute provides this transcript of Bob Chanin's "salty valedictory" (McClusky's words; I really wish I had thought of the description). You can see and hear Chanin for yourself on YouTube (fast-forward to around 16 minutes, about halfway).

Chanin also plainly says what he thinks of all of you conservatives, even those of you with children enrolled in public schools and who support public schools and the teachers unions with tax dollars (via union dues extracted from teacher salaries). His speech got thunderous applause and a standing ovation from NEA delegates.

Why are these conservative and right-wing bastards picking on NEA and its affiliates? I will tell you why: It is the price we pay for success. NEA and its affiliates have been singled out because they are the most effective unions in the United States. And they are the nation’s leading advocates for public education and the type of liberal social and economic agenda that these groups find unacceptable….

At first glance, some of you may find these attacks troubling. But you would be wrong. They are, in fact, really a good thing. When I first came to NEA in the early ’60s it had few enemies, and was almost never criticized, attacked, or even mentioned in the media. This was because no one really gave a damn about what NEA did, or what NEA said. It was the proverbial sleeping giant: a conservative, apolitical, do-nothing organization.

But then, NEA began to change. It embraced collective bargaining. It supported teacher strikes. It established a political action committee. It spoke out for affirmative action, and it defended gay and lesbian rights. What NEA said and did began to matter. And the more we said and did, the more we pissed people off. And, in turn, the more enemies we made.

So the bad news, or depending on your point of view, the good news, is that NEA and its affiliates will continue to be attacked by conservative and right-wing groups as long as we continue to be effective advocates for public education, for education employees, and for human and civil rights.

And that brings me to my final, and most important point. Which is why, at least in my opinion, NEA and its affiliates are such effective advocates. Despite what some among us would like to believe, it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children. And it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power. And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year because they believe that we are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.

This is not to say that the concern of NEA and its affiliates with closing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality, and the like are unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary, these are the goals that guide the work we do. But they need not and must not be achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights, and collective bargaining. That simply is too high a price to pay!

When all is said and done, NEA and its affiliates must never lose sight of the fact that they are unions, and what unions do first and foremost is represent their members.

Unalottment: don't let this crisis go to waste

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." —Rahm Emmanuel, Obama White House Chief of Staff

In his July unalottment, Tim Pawlenty has an opportunity to put a nice bow on the signature education reforms of his two terms as Minnesota's governor. Although Pawlenty has been reluctant to cut education funding at all this biennium, holding education (mostly the teachers union) harmless will be problematic given that K-12 education consumes 39.1% of the state's $35 billion budget.

As detailed in an e-mail to supporters and their 2010-2011 budget recommendations, EdWatch sees unalottment as Pawlenty's opportunity to cut education programs that are ineffective and "undermine parental authority and autonomy."

Among the items on the EdWatch hit list are some programs that EdWatch has opposed for years:

Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) (Current: $51,850,000, Governor: $44,745,000, EdWatch: $0) - EdWatch reports that ECFE, "according to the Legislative Auditor, shows no evidence of developmental gains for children and only some increase in parental feelings of effectiveness."

Head Start (Current: $40,200,000, Governor: $40,200,000, EdWatch: $0) - This program is widely assumed to be effective, but EdWatch claims that "More than 600 studies show the lack of effectiveness of this program, there are several studies showing emotional harm to participants, and Minnesota already received $189.5 million in federal funds over the last two federal fiscal years for this."

International Baccalaureate (IB) - EdWatch would cut $2.7 million for IB tests and programs. It has long maintained that Advanced Placement (AP) programs are "locally controlled, prepare students better for college, comport with MN academic standards, and are far less expensive." In fact, some school districts have passed in adding IB course in favor of AP for these same reasons.

Kindergarten Readiness Assessment and Intervention Program (Current: $573,000, Governor: $574,000, EdWatch: $0) - According to EdWatch, this assessment "uses very vague and subjective criteria based on very vague, subjective, and politically correct outcomes, The Early Childhood Indicators of Progress. This ridiculous assessment gives fuel to the Nanny State falsely claiming that 50% of Minnesota children are not ready for kindergarten."

The EdWatch recommendations include a total of eight education items and eight health and human services items that are education-related. Governor Pawlenty and Education Commissioner Alice Seagren should seriously consider these proposed cuts as they work through unalottment.

John McCain on school choice

Education is the civil rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained. But what is the value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them. Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have that choice and their children will have that opportunity.

Senator Obama wants our schools to answer to unions and entrenched bureaucracies. I want schools to answer to parents and students. And when I’m President, they will.

—John McCain, acceptance speech for the Republican nomination for President, September 4, 2008

Minnesota Education Reform News (1999-2008)

I have shut down Minnesota Education Reform News, the web site that existed at various URLs and on various web platforms since about 1999. I will continue to maintain this blog, but my main blog has been and will be North Star Liberty. Thanks to everyone for your support, particularly of my popular articles on integrated math.

If you have any bookmarks that point to scholarsnotebook.info, they will no longer work.

Regards,

Matt Abe

P.S. A side effect of this is that the URL is incorrect in the banner at the top of this blog. I will correct it soon.

Merry Christmas from Scholar the Owl

Thanks to all of you who read Scholar's Notebook now and then, subscribe to our RSS feed, or just find us by entering "integrated math" into Google. I have gone from continual blogging during the Profile of Learning repeal battle with my friends at EdWatch (who are still doing yeoman's work for freedom, by the way), to joining Cheri Pierson Yecke in the academic standards battle, to raising awareness about integrated math. Now other projects and raising teenage children has taken more of my time, but I am no less committed to knowledge-based curricula and local control of education than I was on day 1.

Through it all, I have learned a lot from many of you smart, good people who are so selflessly dedicated to preserving this country's founding principles of freedom. You are the bedrock of our nation.

Although my posts have been infrequent, I will continue to blog at this location until further notice, as well as on "my other blog," North Star Liberty, and operate my old Minnesota Education Reform News web site. Keep the faith, have yourself a merry little Christmas, and have a happy 2008.

Matt Abe, a.k.a., Scholar the Owl