LFA's Education Week blog, Transforming Learning, will explore how to transform public education to support student achievement for lifelong success in the global community.
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Brookings Institution recently unveiled the Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI). Its goal is to provide an “informative and consumer-relevant measure of the degree of choice and competition within the geographical boundaries of large school districts.”
This index considers this choice and competition a positive – the nation’s 25 largest school districts are given a letter grade, with an “A” representing the highest “quality” of choice, as determined by the developers’ framework of 13 categories, including the proportion of students enrolled in nontraditional public schools, the mechanism used to assign students to schools, and information available on-line regarding school performance and how to use the choice process.
As far as I can tell, only one of these 13 categories is a measure of quality – and it’s a reflection of the average public (traditional/charter/magnet) school within a district, weighted by the number of students enrolled at the school. While the developers do express concern over the quality of options available to parents, this measure did not appear to greatly impact rankings. For example, Chicago ranked second in the choice index. Yet it was tied for 23 out of 25 when it came to school quality.
It’s a common frustration I have in arguments over school choice policy. Often, it seems the ultimate goal is ensuring choice, with quality concerns to be resolved by market forces. My view: If the options parents have aren’t high quality, how much does choice really matter?
Take New York City, which was the highest-ranked district in this index, in part because of its mechanism for assigning students to ...
Recently I was looking through old paper files in the Learning First Alliance (LFA) office and happened upon a successful grant application that LFA had received some years ago to gather, record, and disseminate the knowledge, skills, and approaches successful school districts use to ensure their students achieve to their highest abilities. The project resulted in a publication called Beyond Islands of Excellence that, indeed did chronicle what goes into an effective public school system and profiled districts whose students had benefited from their wise, effective leadership. I was struck by how much the scope of work described in the successful grant application articulated the concepts and big ideas that LFA organizations and their leaders still work diligently to implement today. ...
Last week I had the interesting and mostly pleasant experience of attending two events showcasing issues in public preK-12 education on the same day: one sponsored by the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW), the education arm of the United States Chamber of Commerce, and the second hosted by the National Association for Elementary School Principals (NAESP) honoring America’s National Distinguished Principals. As one would expect, the two organizations have very different perspectives on the status of public schools and the people who work in them.
With the exception of Steve Brill’s closing luncheon speech, the ICW meeting was generally balanced and featured interesting panel discussions around the event’s theme, “Race to the Top: Are We There Yet?” (Never mind that we’re barely a year into the competitive, federally funded, state administered large scale initiative. It’s lucky the first checks are in the mail much less that we’re “there”, wherever that might be.) A couple of the panelists, Dan Cruce from the Delaware Department of Education and Pat Forgione from ETS in particular, provided reality based presentations on state department collaborations that work towards effective change management. ...
We’ve been hearing a lot recently about the “new normal” - the need to do more with less. And across the country, districts are doing it. They are cutting waste, becoming more efficient in a number of ways.
While educators can be loath to admit it, according to American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) founder and chairman Jack Grayson, there is a great deal of waste in education. At the APQC Global Education Roundtables yesterday, he shared a list of over 180 examples of waste he has come across in working with school districts.
Of course, some of the “waste” in the system (which Grayson defines as “anything that adds cost without adding value”) neither can nor should be easily eliminated, fiscally. For example, he lists “inadequate professional development” as waste. The best way to address that situation: Assess staff needs and find meaningful professional development experiences that meet them. Ideally, there is no reduction in the budget, just a more effective use of what is there. But things like “food spoilage” (another example) are clearly a fiscal waste…Schools and districts throw money away when disposing of ...
If the mainstream press reporting on public schools wasn’t important, I wouldn’t be writing this blog post. But, the fact is that the general public gets its information about public education (and private education) from the mainstream press both in print and online, so how our work is depicted is key to the support we get from the public we serve. Last week, Jay Matthews, the education reporter/columnist for my home town newspaper, The Washington Post, not only misrepresented how successful school districts operate, he also got his facts wrong. ...
In 2001, The Learning First Alliance wrote a report titled “Every Child Learning: Safe and Supportive Schools – A Summary,” which advocated for systemic approaches to supporting positive behavior in our nation’s schools. The Alliance argued for school-wide approaches to improving school climate, safety and discipline: “In a safe and supportive learning community, civility, order, and decorum are the norms and antisocial behaviors such as bullying and taunting are clearly unacceptable.” Ten years later, schools across the nation continually contend with the harsh and terrifying realities of bullying and the sad reality is that we still have a long way to go when it comes to ensuring a safe and supportive environment for our nation’s children. Fortunately, recent attention to the issue suggests that we are all beginning to take important steps in the right direction. ...
The American Prospect recently featured an article by Sharon Lerner that details an exemplary pioneering effort to combat racial segregation in schools in Omaha, Nebraska, called the Learning Community. It pools resources and allows student movement to help make schools more socioeconomically diverse. But while Lerner argues that this “radical experiment” could serve to be a national model, local resistance may be indicative of potential animosity to similar efforts in other places. If better racial integration in schools is a focus we want to make to improve public education (and I think it should be), this situation provides a prime example of why appropriate legislation, funding, and winning hearts and minds are all integral to success. ...
Recently, NPR did a special series on violence among youth in Chicago. Schools and students all over the country—especially in urban areas—deal with the everyday-threat of violence. Clearly, this omnipresent factor can take a huge toll on public schools.
Mayor-elect of Rahm Emanuel says the violence in the city is unacceptable, and he has promised to hire a thousand new police officers as part of his crime policy. One article quotes him stating, "My goal for the four years, and the measurement of my progress, will be whether that child can be thinking of their studies, and not their safety."
Already the city—relying on schools and police—is implementing intensive efforts to try to combat what some consider an epidemic of youth violence in Chicago—efforts that may provide good models for other cities and school districts facing these problems. ...
February is National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month, so I wanted to discuss school-based health centers (SBHCs) as beneficial models for communities nation-wide. The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care explains that SBHCs are comprised of partnerships between schools and local health care organizations to deliver health care (physical and mental) to students on a school campus. Currently, schools with SBHCs predominantly serve low-income students who historically experience health care disparities (although even schools with different student demographics could benefit from the SBHC model.) And while SBHCs serve the student and faculty population at the school where they are housed, many also open their doors to students from other schools, as well as to other members of the community. SBHCs can be funded from both government (local, state, and federal) and private groups, depending on the model each community develops. Currently, there are more than 1,900 SBHCs in 48 states and territories.
There are many compelling benefits to SBHCs. Besides providing care for populations that otherwise might not receive it, research indicates they increase school attendance and academic performance, decrease school drop-out rates, and ...
As we all know, the current economic climate is challenging. And schools and their districts are among those struggling. Funding is being cut as demands on schools are increasing. So of course, districts are looking to save money anywhere they can.
One potential starting place: cutting energy costs. And one potential model for doing so: Virginia's York County School Division.
Over the past 12 years, York County has developed a comprehensive, three-pronged strategy to managing energy. It includes not only high-reward (but high-cost) activities such as building, renovating and replacing using energy-efficient equipment, but focus on controlling systems and energy education.
Since the middle of 2004, this strategy has saved the district over two million dollars. It has had positive environmental impacts as well--the energy savings are equivalent to removing 2,115 cars from the road. The district has been recognized for the program by everyone from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO International). And imitation is the sincerest form of flattery--the district knows of several schools built using the same technology as in York after visits to their schools.
We recently talked to Doug Meade, the district's Director of Information Technology, and Mark Tschirhart, Associate Director for Capital Plans and Projects, to learn more about the program.
The Background
Public School Insights: Tell me about your district.
Meade: We're a district of about 12,600 students. We have 19 academic facilities—four high schools, four middle schools, ten elementary schools and one charter high school. And we have two administrative locations.
Tschirhart: We have about 1.8 million square feet in total.
Meade: That is important, because for a district three times our size, the $2 million we have saved may not seem like a lot, but it's quite a bit for us.
Public School Insights: Why did the York County School Division decide to start a comprehensive energy management program?
Meade: One theme will run throughout this interview: When we take any particular tact toward energy conservation, it's because it saves money. That's the driving force behind our energy conservation efforts.
Tschirhart: Back in 1997, our former chief operations officer looked at our energy consumption. He wondered if there was a way we could cut those costs. So we ...
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