Because of the failure of the FWCS high schools to improve ISTEP passing rates for several years, the State of Indiana has contracted a group from Cambridge University (that's what I'm told, although Cambridge Mass. would make more sense) to assess the situation at North Side and South Side high schools (how did Wayne get left out?) and find out what's wrong. It's not really that complicated. The high schools are stuck with kids from our middle schools, half of whom are socially promoted through to the 9th grade every year. No significant improvement in the high schools is possible until the product of the middle schools improves, and that has to start in the elementary schools.
You might feel sorry for the high school principals, who are caught in the middle, knowing there is not much they can do. You might, except they will never tell the public or our clueless school board members what's really going on in their buildings. It's all happy talk and pablum for public consumption. Let's see if the Cambridge group catches on.
(The JG confirmed today that they're from Cambridge Mass.)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Still no "WOW" day at FWCS
The spring test scores were no better than the fall test scores, so the JG chimed in with an editorial about the need for pre-school programs to help disadvantaged kids catch up. Apparently full day kindergarten, the previous solution, hasn't done the trick, although now that we have it, it's here to stay, whether it helps or not. Maybe pre-school is the answer. Maybe those of us who have books at home should adopt all the kids from homes without books. We appear to care more about these kids than their parents do.
What's obvious is that FWCS can't improve their scores. But they never seem to be able to just come out and say that because they can't admit that they're going down the same track as every other urban district. That eventually means declining resources and declining enrollment. So when they come up with another building remodeling proposal, what's in it for the taxpayers? Nothing. Many of their buildings will eventually be empty. As the inevitable happens, all that can be justified is keeping the buildings we have viable.
What's obvious is that FWCS can't improve their scores. But they never seem to be able to just come out and say that because they can't admit that they're going down the same track as every other urban district. That eventually means declining resources and declining enrollment. So when they come up with another building remodeling proposal, what's in it for the taxpayers? Nothing. Many of their buildings will eventually be empty. As the inevitable happens, all that can be justified is keeping the buildings we have viable.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
"Race To the Top" Grants Mean Teacher Merit Pay
To be eligible for billions in Federal money under the Obama "Race to the Top" initiative for public schools, states must not prohibit merit pay systems for teachers. Indiana's legislature repealed its prohibition of teacher merit pay (and did not set a limit on charter schools pushed for by the Democrats) but individual districts like FWCS have union contracts which don't allow the use of standardized test scores in teacher evaluations. Teachers don't want pay tied to raw test scores, which is understandable. But there are ways to tie salaries to improvements in test scores.
Although the state is now in compliance, presumably FWCS as a district will be ineligible for federal money unless they change their stance. With contract talks coming up let's see how they react. I predict they'll react along the lines of the Washington, DC union , which voted down the offer of six figure teacher salaries based on objective evaluations to preserve their seniority system.
Although the state is now in compliance, presumably FWCS as a district will be ineligible for federal money unless they change their stance. With contract talks coming up let's see how they react. I predict they'll react along the lines of the Washington, DC union , which voted down the offer of six figure teacher salaries based on objective evaluations to preserve their seniority system.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Our "humble" public schools
In a column in the JG, John Ellis laments the callous actions of the Governor and the Republican legislators in "trying to destroy our public schools". Well, if they're trying to destroy the "public schools as we know them" as Mitch Daniels said, we should cheer them on. According to Ellis, the "humble" public school is one of mankind's great inventions. Except the humble public school doesn't exist. The "public" schools don't belong to the public. They belong to an arrogant government run bureaucracy in bed with the teachers' unions and the Democratic Party.
Who is John Ellis? He's the head of the Indiana school superintendents' association. He's a lobbyist. Why do our "humble" public schools and their "humble" superintendents need a lobbyist? To get more money from the taxpayers wallets for preserving the education establishment and the status quo. And in picking Mr. Ellis the superintendents couldn't couldn't have made a better choice. Having seen him in action in front of the house budget committee, I can say he represents the arrogance of the education bureaucracy quite well.
Who is John Ellis? He's the head of the Indiana school superintendents' association. He's a lobbyist. Why do our "humble" public schools and their "humble" superintendents need a lobbyist? To get more money from the taxpayers wallets for preserving the education establishment and the status quo. And in picking Mr. Ellis the superintendents couldn't couldn't have made a better choice. Having seen him in action in front of the house budget committee, I can say he represents the arrogance of the education bureaucracy quite well.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
South Bend public schools "fail at everything"
According to an editorial in the JG this morning, Mishawaka Democratic state representative Craig Fry lashed out at the South Bend school district, which did better under the new state budget than Mishawaka because of the influence of Democratic house majority leader Pat Bauer of South Bend. Image that. What does a state Democratic representative know about the condition of our public schools besides how much the teachers union contributed to his campaign?
Fry reportedly said "they fail at everything. Their school board is a disaster, it's an embarrassment and it goes right down the line." Now wait a minute! FWCS ISTEP passing rates are only about 5% better than South Bend's. Should we infer that our school board is only 5% less of an embarrassment than theirs? Of course not. He means 5% on average. While some of our board members are a total embarrassment, the others even it out. Sort of like the schools north of Coliseum Boulevard making up for the ones on my side of town.
Fry reportedly said "they fail at everything. Their school board is a disaster, it's an embarrassment and it goes right down the line." Now wait a minute! FWCS ISTEP passing rates are only about 5% better than South Bend's. Should we infer that our school board is only 5% less of an embarrassment than theirs? Of course not. He means 5% on average. While some of our board members are a total embarrassment, the others even it out. Sort of like the schools north of Coliseum Boulevard making up for the ones on my side of town.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Arne Duncan wimps out
Obama's secretary of education, Arne Duncan, former superintendent of Chicago's public schools was interviewed by Diane Rheem on WBOI (Public Radio) this morning. For one hour we got nothing but political blather and dancing around the issues from the man who's supposed to turn our public schools around.
Indiana school superintendents, including Eugene White of Indianapolis have cited No Child Left Behind and PL 217, which allows Indiana teachers to unionize, as the two biggest obstacles to improving Indiana's public schools, especially the urban public schools which are in dire need of change. But Arne never once mentioned the dominance of public education by teacher's unions. Perhaps that's because those unions gave $500 million to Obama's campaign. Teachers' unions are the number one obstacle to change in public education. If your district is doing well and doesn't need to change, unions are not a problem. If your district, like FWCS, is sinking, you'll have to vote with your feet if you can afford it. Like GM and the UAW, the end result is just a matter of time.
When asked why charter schools could succeed in urban areas where traditional public schools failed, he wouldn't say it's because charter school teachers are not unionized. He talked about excellent data bases on students and teachers in California, which couldn't be merged to evaluate teacher performance based on student improvement. He complained that in California, as in most places, 10% of teachers are excellent, 10% are incompetent and the rest are in between. But there was no way to know in which category a teacher fell. That's because teachers and their unions adamantly oppose any evaluation system. And if they lost that battle, their union would still protect the incompetent teachers from dismissal. Apparently, teachers, like the children of Lake Wobegon, are all above average.
Then he said we are in a new age where dropouts and even kids without a post secondary no longer have manufacturing jobs as an avenue to make a decent living. So do you think Arne and Barack are going to change that? No way!
Their approach is to hold out stimulus money as bait to get public schools to do the right thing. If you've ever owned a boat, you've heard it described as a hole in the water to throw your money into. If you don't own a boat, you can throw your money onto the hole in Washington D.C. and the one on South Clinton street.
Indiana school superintendents, including Eugene White of Indianapolis have cited No Child Left Behind and PL 217, which allows Indiana teachers to unionize, as the two biggest obstacles to improving Indiana's public schools, especially the urban public schools which are in dire need of change. But Arne never once mentioned the dominance of public education by teacher's unions. Perhaps that's because those unions gave $500 million to Obama's campaign. Teachers' unions are the number one obstacle to change in public education. If your district is doing well and doesn't need to change, unions are not a problem. If your district, like FWCS, is sinking, you'll have to vote with your feet if you can afford it. Like GM and the UAW, the end result is just a matter of time.
When asked why charter schools could succeed in urban areas where traditional public schools failed, he wouldn't say it's because charter school teachers are not unionized. He talked about excellent data bases on students and teachers in California, which couldn't be merged to evaluate teacher performance based on student improvement. He complained that in California, as in most places, 10% of teachers are excellent, 10% are incompetent and the rest are in between. But there was no way to know in which category a teacher fell. That's because teachers and their unions adamantly oppose any evaluation system. And if they lost that battle, their union would still protect the incompetent teachers from dismissal. Apparently, teachers, like the children of Lake Wobegon, are all above average.
Then he said we are in a new age where dropouts and even kids without a post secondary no longer have manufacturing jobs as an avenue to make a decent living. So do you think Arne and Barack are going to change that? No way!
Their approach is to hold out stimulus money as bait to get public schools to do the right thing. If you've ever owned a boat, you've heard it described as a hole in the water to throw your money into. If you don't own a boat, you can throw your money onto the hole in Washington D.C. and the one on South Clinton street.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
What's Karen Francisco smoking?
Anyone who doubts the need for a massive sewer project hasn't read Ms. Francisco's piece on FWCS in Sunday's JG Perspective. Rolling your pant legs up won't be enough. You'll have to take them off to keep them out of the new level of bullshit Ms. Francisco reaches. Only at the end , when we hear that Wendy, excuse me, I mean Dr. Robinson, could serve in the Obama administration, does it make any sense. As Henny Youngman would have said, "Barack, take my superintendent, please." Maybe then we can find someone who can actually get the test scores up.
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