Monday, July 4, 2011

ISTA gets religion

Well, actually it's the religion they've always had, namely keeping union teaching jobs. Claiming that because the vast majority of private schools where vouchers could be used are religious schools, the union says the voucher law is unconstitutional. Wasn't that issue settled by the Supreme Court a few years ago, saying that vouchers were constitutional if the kids were not given religious instruction? Well no matter, there was no way the ISTA was going to let this pass. The IDE said they expected the suit.

The biggest use of vouchers and the biggest impact on school budgets by far would be in urban areas where government schools are uniformly failing and where they are uniformly resistant to change because of resistance from teachers' unions. Their tenacity in holding on to their jobs traps kids without means in failing urban government schools. The "common schools" provided per the Indiana constitution are interpreted by the ISTA as government run and union dominated are common indeed.

All the reforms passed by the legislature are long term efforts, even without court challenges and delaying tactics. A far quicker tool for change is the strict enforcement of PL221 to take over schools in their sixth year of academic probation. No dumbing down the tests to get them off the hook. No second chances if they don't make it by year six. When they've had five years to change and did nothing until the fifth year they deserve no more time and no more sympathy.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's necessarily unconstitutional because vouchers are open to any private school who wants them. It just so happens that many private schools are relgious too. I do wonder though if those students who use vouchers will have to be in religion classes in elementary school. From a logistical perspective it would be a little challenging to find another class for elem. students go to. More than likely I think parents who opt for vouchers probably don't mind the religious classes.

I noticed that you often talk about the state needing to intervene much more quickly in "failing" schools. One of the biggest issues I see is in finding quality leadership for these schools. There doesn't seem to be enough dynamic leadership to go around. I can tell you that the state doesn't have anyone who can do the job either, otherwise, they would already have those leaders in the schools.

When the state sent in a consultant, who had many educational accomplishments to brag about, to help my elementary school improve reading instruction, it was useless. The woman came 4 times and didn't provide any new ideas. We already were doing fantastic with instruction. What she couldn't advise us on was how to combat behavior issues and outside influences so that reading instruction could be more effective. The issue is so much more complicated than the public realizes.

What I think needs to happen is that teachers in "failing" schools organize themselves to solve their own problems within the school. No changes will be effective if the teachers do not buy in to the change. And then administration needs to support them in their efforts. I know, this is a bit unrealistic and probably won't ever happen in a public school.

I think vouchers will help a few good students escape the classrooms where the teacher only deals with discipline issues.

Anonymous said...

Evert,

Are the schools failing because they are poorly run or because of the types of students that they are forced to try to educate? How can a teacher educate a child that is absent a couple of times a week or doesn't value what is being taught? Please Evert tell me how to get through to these kids. You are the answer man what can we do to make uninspired students want to learn? Help me Evert because we are waiting for you and your BFF Mark GiaQuinta.

Phil Marx said...

Anonymous #2:

What's needed is an honest and frank approach. Something the politicians that run things lack the courage to implement.

I would love to see the test scores correlated with attendance rates and other behavioral tendancies of the students. Then we could actually begin to dissect, understand, and truly address the problems. Instead, people like GiaQuinta and Robinson want to lie, saying there is no discipline problem.

Can't solve a problem if you won't admit you have a problem. And that's where we're at today with so many issues - including our failing schools.

Code Blue Schools said...

I have always believe it has to start in K-3. Without that the middle schools and high schools don't have much chance to improve, even if the state takes them over. But it's not even clear what's possible in K-3. We need to get to around 80% literacy at the end of the third grqade to compete with suburban schools. I agree the best ideas will come from the teachers and pricipals in the schools but they're limited in what they can do without external support and they can't be constrained by union contractual terms.

After a certain point it becomes apparent you can't reach every student. We need more flexibility and alternatives for dealing with kids who can't succeed in a traditional classroom. I read that EACS was setting up a program for those kinds of kids.

Like Phil said, the district strategy is denial. The hoopla at the public recent hearings, for example, was deplorable. These hearing were necessary to decide whether schools are taken over by the state but the atmosphere was like a carnival.

Anonymous said...

Evert,

Don't you get it? FWCS cannot compete with the suburban schools because of the lack of parent participation in their child's education. Too many FWCS parents believe that their job is to have children and that society should raise them. Why do you think we have free lunches in the summer and have activity busses for students involved in after school activities? Parents cannot feed or transport their children. Until parents are held to some type of standards nothing will change.

Code Blue Schools said...

You're probably right. Urban government schools have taken on the role of the child welfare system and I don't think it's possible to redefine their mission.

If I was going to take over a school, it would be an elementary school (after that it's too late).
and like anon suggested, I would give the the staff a free hand to try what ever they though it would take to get the reading scores up. Demonstrate what's possible and at what cost.

That experiment might also prove it's not possible.

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