Ever since all five FWCS high schools got off probation, I've been waiting to see the actual results of the ECA exams that helped get them off the hook. No results have been announced by the district or their mouthpiece at the JG, so I dug around on the IDE web site and found them. And they're still pathetic. But the "improvement" required to get off probation was based on the 8th grade scores and ECA scores for "cohort" groups which obviously bears no relation to actual passing rates in the high schools, which are shown below (sorry, but for some reason making a table doesn't work):
State, FWCS, Wayne, SSHS, NSHS. Northrup, Snyder
Algebra I
63.9 (61), 36.54 (43), 29.15 (20), 28.35 (19), 32.46 (32), 33.63 (47), 36.9(47)
English 10
63.6 (63), 50.27 (52), 44.31 (38), 39.83 (53), 46.09 (48), 58.84 (61), 58.9 (57)
Last year's passing rates are shown in parentheses. Overall FWCS declined in both areas. Wayne was the only school which improved in both categories. , The algebra scores are roughly the same as Gary and Indianapolis. I'm confused how the high schools in a "high performance", "A" rated district could perform this poorly. How could they get off probation? Maybe I got the numbers wrong.
No doubt these results will be announced to the public and discussed in a press conference and an upcoming board meeting after they're done "analyzing" them, although they may turn off the TV first. That's part of their policy of "engaging the public" by telling us what they want us to hear. I'm looking forward to the meeting.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
High performance home schooling
After graduating from SSHS (without the benefit of social promotion) when that school was the academic equivalent of a Canterbury and spending decades surviving the brutality of the private sector (performance accountability and the constant threat of extinction) I lost track of the changes in the education system. I could only infer from the declining quality of our company hires that something was amiss. We adapted by hiring high school "graduates" only as temps. Permanent hires had to have two years of "college" remedial education.
After I retired and had time to wander around during the day I was puzzled by all the kids walking around during school hours. When asked why they weren't in school, the answer was usually "we're home schooled, sir". Sir? Home schooled? What's that? First of all how can anybody duplicate the services of the government education system at home? Second, why would anybody want to?
The answer to the first question became apparent through my ten year acquaintance with a home schooling family. The two kids were home schooled until they were through the equivalent of middle school and were then enrolled in a small public high school. The eldest is now a senior who will graduate at or near the top of his class.
The second question was answered the first day I set foot in my former high school.
Both papers have recently run a letter from a home schooling mother complaining about the unfairness of the the voucher law because it requires kids to spend at least a year in public school. She wants to avoid the current "poorly performing" school system, if she chooses to enroll them in a private school. Obviously this mother has not been attending FWCS board meetings or reading the JG or she would have learned from Mark GiaQuinta that we now have a "high performance" district. It just changed overnight. Or perhaps she 's spent some time in FWCS classrooms and saw something closer to the truth.
Why, she then asks, would the legislature restrict access to vouchers when the average private school spends $4500 per student versus $9900 spent by government schools? The state could save a ton of money for every voucher they give out. Obviously this mother doesn't realize that she's over-simplifying the situation. That extra money buys the government system all kind of added features. Nicer ("decent" as GiaQuinta puts it) buildings, more bureaucracy, sports programs, and teachers unions. It buys newspaper stories about home schooling run amuck so they can agitate for restrictions on home schooling which costs the taxpayers nothing. It buys Democratic legislators and lobbyists to keep that extra $4700 coming.
The Republican legislators had to offer the Democrats some kind of sop to come back from Peoria which they did by putting in some obstacles to vouchers. So there's your answer. You should at least hire some lobbyists.
After I retired and had time to wander around during the day I was puzzled by all the kids walking around during school hours. When asked why they weren't in school, the answer was usually "we're home schooled, sir". Sir? Home schooled? What's that? First of all how can anybody duplicate the services of the government education system at home? Second, why would anybody want to?
The answer to the first question became apparent through my ten year acquaintance with a home schooling family. The two kids were home schooled until they were through the equivalent of middle school and were then enrolled in a small public high school. The eldest is now a senior who will graduate at or near the top of his class.
The second question was answered the first day I set foot in my former high school.
Both papers have recently run a letter from a home schooling mother complaining about the unfairness of the the voucher law because it requires kids to spend at least a year in public school. She wants to avoid the current "poorly performing" school system, if she chooses to enroll them in a private school. Obviously this mother has not been attending FWCS board meetings or reading the JG or she would have learned from Mark GiaQuinta that we now have a "high performance" district. It just changed overnight. Or perhaps she 's spent some time in FWCS classrooms and saw something closer to the truth.
Why, she then asks, would the legislature restrict access to vouchers when the average private school spends $4500 per student versus $9900 spent by government schools? The state could save a ton of money for every voucher they give out. Obviously this mother doesn't realize that she's over-simplifying the situation. That extra money buys the government system all kind of added features. Nicer ("decent" as GiaQuinta puts it) buildings, more bureaucracy, sports programs, and teachers unions. It buys newspaper stories about home schooling run amuck so they can agitate for restrictions on home schooling which costs the taxpayers nothing. It buys Democratic legislators and lobbyists to keep that extra $4700 coming.
The Republican legislators had to offer the Democrats some kind of sop to come back from Peoria which they did by putting in some obstacles to vouchers. So there's your answer. You should at least hire some lobbyists.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Will the Feds remodel Wendy's buildings?
The JG reported that Pres. Obama may use FWCS as an example of a "high performance" school district with budget constraints that have prevented them from fixing/remodeling their aging buildings. "High performance"? Well, whatever that means, if Obama and Mark GiaQuinta say so it must be true.
Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan actually do deserve some credit in education reform. The "Race to the Top" initiative led to the revision of laws on teacher seniority, teacher evaluations and charter schools in many states, including Indiana, reforms that were panned by the GiaQuinta brothers. Proposing those reforms took some courage considering teachers' unions were Obama's biggest campaign contributors. In fact, Arne Duncan was honored with boos and jeers when he spoke about reforms at the National Education Association convention. That's the national teachers union that counts the ISTA and FWEA as affiliates. (I've only been booed by FWEA teachers at SSHS.) While we're doling out the credits we should include Tony Bennett, who held the gun to Wendy's and the FWEA's heads. Obama won't mention that.
GiaQuinta went on by whining about the age of Harrison Hill where he went to kindergarten and where I went to Jr High School before that. He might have added that Bishop Luers where he went to high school, didn't spend anything on it's building for fifty years. Somehow 90% of their kids pass the state tests every year. How does that compare to SSHS and NSHS where we spent $100 million? Oh yeah, they were almost converted to charter schools.
Whatever. The BS is never going to stop but if we can get money from the Feds, go for it.
Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan actually do deserve some credit in education reform. The "Race to the Top" initiative led to the revision of laws on teacher seniority, teacher evaluations and charter schools in many states, including Indiana, reforms that were panned by the GiaQuinta brothers. Proposing those reforms took some courage considering teachers' unions were Obama's biggest campaign contributors. In fact, Arne Duncan was honored with boos and jeers when he spoke about reforms at the National Education Association convention. That's the national teachers union that counts the ISTA and FWEA as affiliates. (I've only been booed by FWEA teachers at SSHS.) While we're doling out the credits we should include Tony Bennett, who held the gun to Wendy's and the FWEA's heads. Obama won't mention that.
GiaQuinta went on by whining about the age of Harrison Hill where he went to kindergarten and where I went to Jr High School before that. He might have added that Bishop Luers where he went to high school, didn't spend anything on it's building for fifty years. Somehow 90% of their kids pass the state tests every year. How does that compare to SSHS and NSHS where we spent $100 million? Oh yeah, they were almost converted to charter schools.
Whatever. The BS is never going to stop but if we can get money from the Feds, go for it.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Five Indiana schools face charter conversions
During a lengthy meeting Monday, the State Board of Education voted to assign turnaround operators to run one Gary high school (Roosevelt), one Indianapolis middle school and three Indianapolis high schools (Arlington, Howe and Manual). Indianapolis Washington and Broad Ripple (a magnet school) will be assigned to improvement specialists, leaving them under IPS control but subject to takeover if they don't improve. The IDE pointed out that the schools that were taken over refused to sign a memorandum of agreement for restructuring with the IDE last year. In other words they were uncooperative. Although no one said why during the meeting, it's probably because the Indianapolis teachers union wouldn't go along.
FW South Side and North Side undoubtedly would have faced the same fate if they had refused to restructure and raise their passing rates. But Wendy and FWEA (kicking and screaming) wisely went along. IPS superintendent Eugene White said Howe and Arlington were graded unfairly because they have combined with middle schools, whose scores were figured in with the high schools. He's threatened to sue the IDE, which makes it look like it's all about control instead of the kids.
At least Tony Bennett has shown that he's serious. Being willing to take over failing schools will keep some pressure on the ones that escaped takeovers. But as he said in a press conference, being able to escape for another five years by making "minuscule" improvement one year is not acceptable. PL 221 needs to be tightened to avoid backsliding. At the same time he should look at his rating system. When almost half the schools in the state get a grade of "A", he's made that meaningless.
FW South Side and North Side undoubtedly would have faced the same fate if they had refused to restructure and raise their passing rates. But Wendy and FWEA (kicking and screaming) wisely went along. IPS superintendent Eugene White said Howe and Arlington were graded unfairly because they have combined with middle schools, whose scores were figured in with the high schools. He's threatened to sue the IDE, which makes it look like it's all about control instead of the kids.
At least Tony Bennett has shown that he's serious. Being willing to take over failing schools will keep some pressure on the ones that escaped takeovers. But as he said in a press conference, being able to escape for another five years by making "minuscule" improvement one year is not acceptable. PL 221 needs to be tightened to avoid backsliding. At the same time he should look at his rating system. When almost half the schools in the state get a grade of "A", he's made that meaningless.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
No injunction against vouchers
A Marion county judge refused to issue an in junction to stop Indiana's new voucher program from going into effect this fall, saying the ISTA's case against vouchers didn't have enough merit to succeed. That meas that at least this year about 2800 students will be attending private schools with taxpayer funded scholarships. After that anything can happen in the legal system through further trials and appeals. Different judges can have different opinions. But this judge said the law was written for the benefit of students, not religious schools. He also said state scholarships to private universities would be at risk if they were unconstitutional in K-12. Next thing you know, professors at state universities will unionize to stop private college scholarships.
So far, the 2800 students who will receive scholarships this year seem like a small impact. We'll just have to wait and see how this develops as the legal challenges play out and parents become more knowledgeable on their options. But at least they have an additional option for the time being.
So far, the 2800 students who will receive scholarships this year seem like a small impact. We'll just have to wait and see how this develops as the legal challenges play out and parents become more knowledgeable on their options. But at least they have an additional option for the time being.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
NSHS, SSHS off the hook
SS and NS were among eleven of the 18 Indiana schools that were removed from probationary status by the IDE yesterday. Ironically another one was Harding, which was closed in anticipation of being taken over by the state. Six Indianapolis schools and Gary Roosevelt are still in trouble, their future to be decided by the State Board of Education at the end of August.
The "improvement" was not based on raw passing rates but on the difference between eighth grade and high school scores for the classes that took the tests in 2010 and 2011. The statewide results have not been published. so from the data given on the IDE site it's not possible to tell if test difficulty changed. But I'm sure nobody on Clinton Street cares about that.
Tony Bennett said FWCS improved by "compressing a five year improvement plan into one year". In other words they sat on their ass until he put a gun to their heads. He mentioned an incredible sense of urgency which took ten years to materialize. Well, we can't be taking FWEA out of their comfort zone just for the sake of academic improvement. Heckuva job Wendy.
The "improvement" was not based on raw passing rates but on the difference between eighth grade and high school scores for the classes that took the tests in 2010 and 2011. The statewide results have not been published. so from the data given on the IDE site it's not possible to tell if test difficulty changed. But I'm sure nobody on Clinton Street cares about that.
Tony Bennett said FWCS improved by "compressing a five year improvement plan into one year". In other words they sat on their ass until he put a gun to their heads. He mentioned an incredible sense of urgency which took ten years to materialize. Well, we can't be taking FWEA out of their comfort zone just for the sake of academic improvement. Heckuva job Wendy.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
JG proves worst schools are the best schools
In another astounding extension of apologist logic, Karen Frisco argues it's better to send your kids to a lousy school (can you say FWCS) than use a voucher to send them to a good school. Since we're now into the "growth" era, lousy schools with lousy passing rates are more likely to improve than good schools with high passing rates. Therefore, schools with more potential to "grow" are more desirable than those who don't need to "grow". Wonder which category the Ball State School of Jounalism falls into.
Who's the target audience for this kind of drivel? Five years ago an elementary school principal told me that only 6% of the families with kids in FWCS get a newspaper at home. Maybe now that it's available for free on line the readership has expanded.
Who's the target audience for this kind of drivel? Five years ago an elementary school principal told me that only 6% of the families with kids in FWCS get a newspaper at home. Maybe now that it's available for free on line the readership has expanded.
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