Despite the Segregationist Supreme Court Majority

New issue of The Integration Report from the Civil Rights Project, now at UCLA:

The Integration Report, issue 3
February 11, 2008

The previous issue of The Integration Report focused on the importance of maintaining desegregation plans in light of the June 2007 Seattle/Louisville decision that limited the use of race in student assignment plans. One of the two school districts involved in that case, Jefferson County, KY, released a proposal for a temporary assignment plan last week that seeks to preserve the school system’s racial diversity. Jefferson County, a metropolitan district that includes the city of Louisville, provides a possible model for other districts looking for strategies to sustain racial integration in their schools.

The Jefferson County school district recently outlined system-wide goals that will guide current and future student assignments. These goals include: diversity, quality, choice, predictability, stability, and equity.1 Using geography instead of race, school officials grouped clusters of elementary schools together and established a school-level guideline of between 15 and 50% of students from certain geographic areas. These targeted residential areas serve students with income and parent education levels below the district average, as well as a racial composition of at least 45% of students of color.2 Importantly, the criteria for defining geographic areas broadens the district’s original conception of diversity to include socio-economic status, educational attainment of parents, and the consideration of all racial categories, instead of the former two-race distinction between African American and white students. . . . .

Brits Offer Window on National Curriculum Problems

As the growth model/national curriculum wing of the ed industry edits pitches for the next Administration, it may be worth considering Britain's experience with a national curriuclum in a realm much smaller and much less heterogenous. A clip from a really fine piece in the Guardian:

The national curriculum is 20 years old. Do we still need it? A new inquiry plans to investigate. Janet Murray reports

Tuesday February 12, 2008

The national curriculum, 20 years old this year, is to come under the scrutiny of a comprehensive inquiry announced last week by the commons select committee on children, schools and family. There have been several reviews on specific issues, most notably the Nuffield review of 14-19 education in 2003, and, more recently, the key stage 3 and primary reviews, but none took a broad overview.

This inquiry will ask the big questions. It will consider whether there should be a national curriculum at all, how it might be improved, and how well it fits in with other policies and strategies. Certain issues have been highlighted for discussion, such as the impact of testing and assessment regimes and the implications of personalised learning.

News of the inquiry has largely been welcomed by educationists but, with a new secondary curriculum due to come into force in autumn, some people question its timing.

The problem, says Mick Brookes, the general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), has been a one-size-fits-all approach that has hampered creativity in the classroom. Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), adds: "There is much of merit in the national curriculum, but the major problem faced by teachers is that it is inflexible and overcrowded."

And with teachers under increasing pressure to "teach to the test", children are missing out on vital parts of their education, such as art, music and outdoor education, says John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers (NUT). "At the moment, testing seems to be the only way of gathering evidence of children's progress." . . . .

U. S. Military: Be All That You Can Be--But Without an Education

The thinly-disguised racism and classism that characterizes today's "scientifically-based" education testing movement offers a steady stream of desperate dropouts, pushouts, and squeakers-by for military recruiters to pick from. Now in a moment of rare candor, the military actually tells us why it is against the new G.I. Bill being proposed in Congress. From Inside Higher Ed:

While momentum is growing in Congress to pass a new GI Bill, adding education benefits for a generation of veterans serving in Iraq, the Pentagon and Bush administration are opposed. The reason? The Boston Globe reported that it is fear that better education benefits would discourage those who have the option to leave from re-enlisting. The Globe quoted Robert Clarke, assistant director of accessions policy at the Department of Defense, as saying that “the incentive to serve and leave” might with better education benefits “outweigh the incentive to have them stay.”

TFA Becomes Part of Spellings' Echo Chamber

The Teach-for-awhile-liberal-resume-builders of America have wisdom to spare after their many weeks in the classroom. But, then, that's more than the Secretary has.

From the Houston Chronicle:

The teachers' ideas would have been blasphemous in some circles: Test students more. Start an alternative union.

The sounding board was U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who met with teachers and alumni of Teach for America on Friday in Houston. The program sends recent college graduates into the nation's toughest schools for two-year teaching stints.

"I knew we could learn something from these teachers," Spellings said, nudging a staff member. . . .

New Jersey's Middle School Slurry

Take one of the best public elementary state school systems in the nation. Remove its rich curriculum ingredients and double the amounts of math and phonics. Add teachers and children and place in pressure cooker over high heat. Stand back and assure the audience we are going to enjoy something great in five years.

This is the recipe repeated in every state of the Union with the Bush-Paige-Spellings cookbook, and now everyone is wondering why our 8th graders resemble tasteless vanilla paste. What chefs we are.

From the AtlanticCity.com:

TRENTON - The state Department of Education has nine years of test results for eighth-graders - and they're nothing to get excited about.

The test, called the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment, or GEPA, has been administered since 1999, and results over time show little progress. The statewide math passing rate has improved 7 percent, to a still disappointing 68.4 percent. The language arts passing rate actually has dropped a few points from 77.3 percent to 73.7 percent.

The state DOE on Wednesday released the results of the 2007 state tests in grades three through eight and 11. The results show gains are being maintained in elementary school, but passing rates drop off in the middle grades and are holding about even in high school. "We are encouraged by the progress in elementary school," Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said Wednesday. "But there are issues at the high school level. Working with students who are well below grade level is a difficult task, and high school test performance over time is also relatively flat."

Davy was especially pleased with improvements in the elementary level passing rate for special education students, as well as minority children, most of whom live in the state's poorest districts. But they are still passing at a far lower rate than the general student population, and the minimum passing rate required to meet federal No Child Left Behind regulations increases this year. But Davy said a new secondary school-reform initiative will have to begin with the middle school curriculum. Test results show a substantial drop in passing rates starting in sixth grade.

While test results improve a bit in high school, there is concern that many struggling students already have dropped out, mentally if not physically. "You can't go through grades six through eight without continuing to develop, then expect to get to high school and have them fix it all," she said. Deputy Commissioner Willa Spicer said the improvements at the elementary level show that better instruction in the classroom generates better test results, and that improvement now must expand to the middle schools. . . .

Check results. If ingredients are unrecognizable or if a significant portion has cooked away, don't worry. Return remaining mixture to pressure cooker and add four more years of heat. We are going to have something delicious, I assure you.

Five Years Hence

Britain began their testing orgy five years before us Yanks, under the leadership, by the way, of Sir Michael Barber, who now runs the Bloomberg-Klein little shop of testing horrors. From the Independent:

The first significant and independent study of Britain's primary schools since the 1967 Plowden Report has exposed just how widespread the culture of testing has become within our education system. The Primary Review, overseen by the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, found that primary school children in England were subjected to far more assessment than their peers in other developed countries. According to the report, external testing in England takes place more frequently, begins at a younger age, and covers more subjects than testing in schools overseas. It is also a more "high stakes" system than any other comparable educational system, which means that the fortunes of schools are heavily bound up with how pupils perform in their assessment tests.

This is unlikely to surprise parents, who have long been complaining that their school-age children seem to be on a never-ending treadmill of assessments and exams. There are nationwide statutory tests for children at ages seven and 11. At secondary school, this is followed by further tests at age 14, and then GCSEs and A-levels at 16-plus. It is little wonder that there has been a considerable backlash against compulsory testing.

Some national testing is, of course, necessary. And, as the report shows, all developed countries have some system for measuring attainment before pupils sit major public exams in their teens. Schools must be held to account. If pupils are not progressing as well as those elsewhere, this must be brought to light. Too often in the past, failure was concealed by insufficient assessment.

But the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. Many teachers find themselves doing little else than priming and preparing pupils for the next round of tests. This stifles creativity and is a terrible way to engender a love of learning among children. The system is also counter-productive from an educational perspective. Pupils are increasingly being "taught to the test". They become adept at jumping through hoops but not at thinking for themselves. As an Ofsted report on maths teaching in secondary schools put it: "Although students are able to pass the examinations, they are not able to apply their knowledge independently to new contexts, and they are not well prepared for further study."

At the heart of the problem is the fact that our testing culture appears to be politically, rather than educationally, driven. Government ministers like tests and the constant stream of results they produce because it enables them, in their dealings with the media, to point to rising educational standards. The publishing of school "league tables" is another political, rather than educational, tool. These exist so that ministers can claim credit for schools "moving up" the tables. But these ranking tables merely force teachers and headteachers to concentrate on tests to the detriment of other aspects of school life. The testing culture is thus a product of two of this Government's greatest vices: an obsession with presentation and an instinct towards top-down control.

Just because other countries do things differently does not make it right that we should emulate them. But the evidence suggests many other nations are doing a better job of educating young people than us. According to latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Britain has been slipping down the international table for quality of learning in maths and reading. Complacency is entirely inappropriate.

Teachers are against constant testing. Parents are dissatisfied with the pressure it puts on pupils. Examiners are also unhappy. Ken Boston, the chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has suggested moving towards a sampling system. The only players still clinging to the wreckage of the present testing arrangements are ministers. It is time for them to let go.

Presidential Candidates' Question # 3: Environment

Question for all the candidates:

While there is no doubt that schools at all levels should provide children and adults with the skills to "compete in the global economy," there is even a more compelling and immediate need to prepare children and adults to "cooperate in the global ecology." Troubling, irrefutable scientific evidence tells us that unless the global warming problem is solved, all the economic preparedness that we can muster will be for naught as coastal cities go under water and large numbers of animal species go extinct and large portions of the earth become uninhabitable. Ecological science, lifestyle awareness, and environmental career goal setting must begin in early childhood and remain a prominent priority through high school if civilization is going to solve the problem of climate change before we pass the tipping point of no return.

What will your administration do in terms of specific initiatives to give "cooperation in the global ecology" the same educational priority as "competition in the global economy"?

More Details on Dallas Charter School Fraud

From Dallas Morning News:

The former superintendent of a Dallas charter school that collapsed in bankruptcy filed for personal bankruptcy herself shortly after she left the school in 2006, court records show.

Delores Beall, who ran Lynacre Academy, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in July 2006 with nearly $200,000 in outstanding debt, including mortgages and credit card payments, according to bankruptcy filings.

The case is still open.

Ms. Beall opened the charter school in southwest Dallas in 1999 and ran it until 2006.

After leaving her position as school superintendent, she filed for bankruptcy in federal court. Then, she filed a lawsuit in state district court against a Lynacre staff member and school board members. The suit alleges that she was fired for no reason and is owed back pay because school officials broke her employment contract.

School officials filed counterclaims accusing her of fraud and failing to fulfill her duties as superintendent. That case was moved to federal court last year in connection with her bankruptcy proceedings.

Ms. Beall has not spoken publicly since Lynacre Academy closed its doors last Friday because of insolvency. She has not responded to requests for interviews. Billy D. Price, her bankruptcy attorney, did not respond to phone messages Thursday.

"There was some very bad mismanagement that went on," said Shari Bruce, the board's president.

The dispute between Ms. Beall and Lynacre board members centers on $750,000 that the school owes the state for inflating attendance figures during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years. . . .

Dallas Charter Closes: Students Hurt, Teachers Hurt, Taxpayers Left Holding Empty Bag

More fiasco reported by Dallas Morning News:

By KAREN AYRES SMITH / The Dallas Morning News
kayres@dallasnews.com
No one knows how much of the $750,000 that a defunct Dallas charter school owes Texas taxpayers will be recovered, state education officials said Wednesday.

When Lynacre Academy shut its doors Friday, school leaders had been in talks with the Texas Education Agency for two years about returning money that the state awarded the school based on inflated attendance figures in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 academic years.

TEA Commissioner Robert Scott said it's not uncommon for schools to overestimate attendance figures before a school year begins. But most districts settle up with the state the following summer and return the state funds they received for students who never attended school.

Lynacre Academy filed for bankruptcy before paying its debt. So, TEA is now one of several creditors lined up looking for its money.

"I don't have a clear picture of what their financial assets are," Mr. Scott said. "We will do whatever we can to recoup the taxpayers' money, but I can't be sure what we'll be able to get."

The school filed for bankruptcy amid ongoing talks about repaying the TEA debt. Agency and school officials said the attendance reporting problems could partly be the result of failing to properly report absences.

A bankruptcy judge ruled last week that the state agency could begin recouping the debt by limiting its payments to the school.

Shari Bruce, the school board's president, said it would have been impossible for the district to pay teacher salaries and other operating expenses without receiving its usual state payment.

Ms. Bruce said school board members had still hoped they could work out a long-term payment plan with the state when they decided to start classes this school year.

"Needless to say, I'm beginning to think that maybe at the beginning of this year we should have given up," she said. "It seems like a lot of teachers have been hurt and a lot of students have been hurt. It's a very hard situation."

Lynacre's unexpected closing last week sent 73 students in search of new schools.

TEA and school officials had met several times to discuss how the school could retire its hefty debt. Part of those discussions focused on the school's plans to sell more than 200 acres near Henderson in East Texas.

The school sold the property in May, but David Anderson, a TEA lawyer, said the state never received any funds.

Ms. Bruce said the school sold the property for $330,000 and needed the money to run its everyday operations and summer school, and to pay off other debtors.

"We had hoped to pay them some of that, but due to the pressing financial situation, we did not," Ms. Bruce said.

As school board president, Ms. Bruce said, she felt bad about not being able to pay the debt. She had hoped to build enrollment enough to make the school financially stable and pay off its creditors.

Mr. Scott said charter school directors often lack experience in overseeing a school's finances, which has caused significant problems in some schools.

The state authorized charter schools more than a decade ago to offer an innovative and competitive alternative to traditional public schools.

But the promise has not been kept by some of the companies that operate charters. . . .

Presidential Candidates' Question # 2: Charter School Privatization

Thank you for taking my question.

When Eli Broad and Bill Gates announced last year that they would inject $60,000,000 to "force education to the forefront of the 2008 presidential campaign," their Strong American Schools program was launched. Some prefer to call their effort Strong-Arming American Schools, since their money appears directed toward remaking public education by turning schools into charter schools, which operate as non-profit and for-profit corporate entities funded by public dollars but without local school board oversight and without the benefits and salaries of teachers in the regular public schools. Recently, for instance, Eli Broad gave $12,000,000 to spread charter schools in L.A.

There are huge sums of corporate money, venture capital (with tax credits), and foundation grants going to fund charter school startups acoss the country. Even the U. S. Department of Education has earmarked $273,000,000 for charter schools in next year's budget. What they all have in common is less public oversight and control by locally-elected school boards, fewer benefits and less job security for teachers, fewer services for special needs children, even more focus on test scores, and less adequate facilities for drama, sports, and other school activities.

The one big advantage of charter schools? They are cheaper, about 20 cents on the dollar cheaper.

Now here is my question, and thank you for your patience. Given the fact that charter schools give up so much in return for the promise of corporte efficiency, and given the fact that the research consisently shows their academic achievement based on test scores no better, and sometimes worse, than the regular public schools, is 20 cents on the dollar enough to recommend them for the urban children, urban parents, and urban teachers who already have been shortchanged ever since slavery?

What is your position on charter schools, and what will you do to make sure that public schools in urban and poor areas aren't replaced by this new efficiency model of corporate schools and year-round test preparation? And would you send your own children or grandchildren to one of these schools?