Archive for December, 2009

The best and worst of our charter school experience

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

I was beyond thrilled when my older daughter got into the charter school of our choice. This particular school has been featured on Oprah, 60 Minutes, PBS, and countless articles as a pillar of what the best of charter schools can offer.

 
Unlike public schools, this school had longer hours. Instead of an 8-2 day, my daughter was in school from 7:25 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. While this sounds like a lot for a 5th grader, it allowed more time in the class for teachers to work with the students, she had Art, P.E., Technology, and Music as part of her school time (instead of carting kids around to after-school programs), and even time for recess and lunch.
I fell in love with the school on the very first day. Their rules were strict, but the teachers and the principal were extremely compassionate and positive. They believed in every student’s ability to succeed.
 
 
My daughter went from an average student to a straight A student. After she got used to having 2 hours of homework a night, she rarely needed help (but knew it was just a phone call away, as the teachers were required to be available by cell until 8 pm). Instead of a PTA, we had breakfast with the Principal one Saturday a month. Everyone contributed, and we all had an equal voice. We could ask any and every question, and through those meetings, new concepts were implemented. For example, after the Principal heard many parents voice their concerns, he included information on the weekly newsletter about cognitive and physical development at our student’s age. I had never before felt like I had such a partner in my child’s education.
 
Then the dream turned into a nightmare.
 
 
With less than 2 months left in the school year, I learned that the Principal was leaving, and with him 2/3 of the teachers. After a few parents heard this, we started asking questions and set up a meeting with the President of the Board of Directors and the new Principal.
 
 
Unfortunately, the Board was disbanding and a new Board (with members yet to be named) would be in place before the new school year. The outgoing Board really wasn’t concerned with our issues. Because it’s a charter school, there was already a long waiting list of students and parents ready and willing to take our place. Our voice was completely powerless.
 
For those reasons, and other personal reasons, we decided to leave at the end of the school year.
 
 
I remain eternally grateful for that dream year. Being back in public school, I’m frustrated again with the “system.” Too many students, too few teachers, too little time. Students that fall behind may never catch up. I do not have the same access to the Principal and the teachers that I did at the charter school. They have half of their PTA meetings during the workday so I am unable to attend. For every problem encountered, there is no solution: just the mantra “no money, no time” as an answer.
 
 
My daughter is doing fine. That year grounded her, and she knows how to take responsibility for her own success. She is motivated to do well so that she can attend the high school she wants to attend. I still feel confident that we made the right decision to leave the charter school because it was simply not the same school anymore.
 
On the other hand, my younger daughter’s public school feels like home. We have a great Principal and other staff members that keep the children motivated with positive reinforcements. The PTA meets on weeknights, offers child care, and is an open forum for everyone. Parents are welcome to help in a variety of ways, and such assistance is genuinely appreciated. While the school still encounters many of the same problems of lacking money, time and resources, everyone is willing to at least consider options for resolution that will benefit all of the students.
 
 
The LA Times recently ran an article on the accountability of charter schools. While I understand that the freedom of being a charter means they don’t have to teach to the test, I would strongly recommend that any parent investigating a charter to learn as much as possible about the Board of Directors, and the employee retention record. I found out too late that this particular charter school had been through 3 principals in as many years, had a fairly uninvolved Board, and some staff members that didn’t share the passion and commitment that the teachers had for the school.
 
 
When we first started there, I claimed that charter schools were the answer. Now I know that it’s all about the people.
 
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April McCaffery is an LA Single Parenting Examiner, an LA Moms contributor, and her personal blog is It’s All About Balance.

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Is a Private School the Right School For Your Child?

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
 
 
Since charter schools are modeled after private schools, in many ways they are similar in terms of pro and con arguments. But, there are some significant differences between the two.
 
The most glaringly obvious difference is tuition. All public schools, whether regular, charter, or magnet are paid for by tax dollars. Private schools charge tuition to parents. Many people believe that because the parents are paying for their children’s education, that private schools must have more money than public schools. That is not necessarily the case. Karen Arnold, from San Jose, CA, taught at a parochial school for 9 years and has recently moved to a public school. Says Mrs. Arnold “The public school I work for has had its budget cut back considerably in the last couple years, and it is still not as frugal with resources as the private school was. At the private school, we used to have to ask parents to donate school supplies. We even asked parents to send us paper that they were going to throw away that was only used on one side so we could use the other side.” 
 
Even affluent private schools that charge a high tuition often don’t have resources to deal with “exceptional” kids on either end of the spectrum. Unless you have chosen a private school specifically for the gifted or the educationally challenged, most private schools aren’t equipped to meet those extraordinary needs, whereas public schools usually are. Likewise, most private schools don’t have access to staff to meet specialized needs that “normal” learners may need at various points in time, such as psychologists, speech pathologists, etc.
 
Like charter schools, private schools are independently run businesses that are not part of a school district. While charter schools have more latitude for setting curriculum than schools within a district do, private schools have even greater freedom. Since charter schools use public funding, there are still restrictions on topics, such as religion, that private schools are not hampered by. Says Mrs. Arnold “Many parents choose to send their kids to Catholic school because morality and religion are taught, giving the kids a solid foundation in the parents’ value system.” Karen Piovarcsik, who taught at a private school for 8 years before moving to public says “My private school wasn’t religious, but we still focused heavily on character building, manners and morals. That would never be allowed in today’s public schools.”
 
It is generally believed that private schools offer a better overall education because private school API scores tend to be higher, as are graduation rates and college acceptance rates. But advocates of public schools note that most of the time, private school students are from more affluent neighborhoods with better schools. They claim that when you compare apples to apples (meaning taking out the scores from schools with a disadvantaged student population), the results are equivalent.
 
Adversaries of public schools argue that since private schools aren’t required to hire credentialed teachers, the quality of teachers can be poor. Mrs. Piovarcsik counters that argument by saying “Teaching is an innate quality. You are either a good teacher or you aren’t. A credential will help make a good teacher even better, but if someone isn’t naturally a good teacher, a credential isn’t going to make them one.” In a previous article, Mr. Franklin was discussing the pro’s to public schools and said “Make no mistake that ‘qualified’ does not necessarily mean excellent educator, but it can't hurt to insist that teachers be fully trained in the subjects they teach.”
 
Like charter schools, private schools are not part of a union and tend to offer lower wages, fewer benefits, and less job security, making it difficult for private schools to attract good teachers. Says Mrs. Piovarcsik “I loved my job at the private school, and I went to public solely for the money and benefits.” Mrs. Arnold counters the argument “I don’t think that is necessarily true. Private school wages are getting better. And, there are many reasons why good teachers want to stay at private schools that go beyond money. The why varies from person to person. In my case, the private school was walking distance from my home. My children were attending the same school, so we were on the exact same schedule. The values I was teaching were in line with my own.” Like charter schools, many teachers find teaching at a private school more fulfilling because they have more control over curriculum, teaching style, and don’t have to focus primarily on teaching to the test.
 
Parents will often opt for a private school in hopes of smaller class sizes, wanting their child to get more individual attention from the teacher. While class sizes are usually smaller in private schools, you will have to verify that with the individual school. Usually, the overall school size is also smaller in private than public. Says Mrs. Arnold, “At the Catholic school, everyone in the entire school knew one another, in every grade level. At the public school, people only get to know the people in their classes, which makes the overall environment less nurturing.”
 
Another pro-private school argument is that private schools do not have to deal with disruptive children. While regular public schools are basically stuck with unruly students, private schools can easily expel them, making the overall educational experience better for the rest of the students. But, Mrs. Piovarcsik warns, “If a private school needs the money, they won’t necessarily get rid of a troublesome child.”
 
Finally, many believe that by putting their children in private school, they are protecting their kids from “bad elements”. This may be true to a certain extent, depending on what you are trying to protect them from. For example, if you live in an area plagued by gang violence, statistically speaking, your child will be less likely to encounter gangs in a private school.. However, if you are trying to protect your child from something like drugs, the statistics for drug use are the same across the board for “bad”, “good”, public and private schools alike. At my public middle school, I had a good friend. For high school, her parents sent her to an exclusive private school in an effort to “protect” her. At this school, she befriended a famous child star. Dazzled by being friends with a celebrity, she went along with anything the star wanted to do, including drug use. I honestly believe that my friend would have never gotten into drugs if she were interacting with “regular” kids. I lost touch with her. A few years later, the star’s stint at a drug rehab facility was on the cover of every tabloid. I wondered if my friend was in rehab with her.  
 
How do you decide if a private school is right for your child? Like charter schools, you need to investigate every school in the area (and if considering boarding schools, outside the area). Find out what sort of curriculum and teaching styles are used and decide if that is a good match for your child’s interests and learning style, as well as a good match for your values. If you find a school that is appealing, do some research to make sure that it offers a good quality of education. Like charter schools, quality of education varies wildly from school to school and you can’t assume it is a good school. Distance is another consideration. If you are trying to “protect” your child, take a few minutes to identify exactly what you are trying to protect them from. Take a realistic look at the risks of the public schools versus the risks at your chosen private. While the risks may be different, there are still risks to consider at private schools, too. For example, will your child be bullied, teased or shunned for not being as wealthy as some of the other kids?
 
If the tuition costs are not affordable for you, check to see if the school can help you locate scholarships and other financial aid. Most will.
 
Finally, remember that the school you choose is not obligated to accept your child. Some private schools have rigorous entrance requirements and your child may have to undergo testing or other types of screening. Also, make sure your child wants to go to the school. My brother-in-law enrolled his pre-teen son in a private school. A couple weeks later, the boy decided he hated the school and insisted on going to the public school. The private school refused to reimburse the very expensive tuition for the semester.
 
More to come: Home schooling
 
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Christi Grab is contributing editor and writer for Parentella. She is a native of Southern California. After graduating from San Diego State University, she went on to be a successful business woman. In April of 2007, she and her husband decided to put their careers on hold and travel the world for two years. Ms. Grab has recently returned from her travels and is currently writing a book about their adventure. For more information on the trip, visit http://kosmos.liveflux.net/blog.

 

 

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Sparkle and Shine Christmas Tree

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Making fun Christmas crafts doesn’t require a million craft supplies or expensive embellishments . Instead use what you have like recycled boxes, buttons, glitter and plain old markers!  The fun of art is in the creating, so when you work with your children leave boundaries loose , let them run with the materials and if they have a “better way” listen and follow if you can.  This craft was not going to have glitter but when my son asked , how could I ignore that request. We decided together that the glitter were the lights and sequins the ornaments!  Here are the easy instructions!

1. Gather your materials. You will need a cereal box, some green markers ( we grabbed every shade we had), scissors, while glue, glitter and sequins ( or buttons).

2. Start by drawing a Christmas tree on the inside of the cereal box .

3. Have your child color the tree. One tip for those ” I’m done” preschoolers, by using a number of different green markers , they color more of the project since they have more colors to do.

4. Next add a number of drops of glue.

5. Add the glitter. A tip for this step is to shake the excess onto a scrap piece of paper that you can then fold and pour back into the glitter container.

6. After shaking the excess off, add more glue.

7. Add your sequins. Great fine motor skills workout putting those tiny sequins on!

8. Let dry and cut out.

I chose this book Where, Oh Where, Is Santa Claus by Lisa Wheeler because it’s a great book about team work, and arctic animals as well as the jolly old man Santa! The text is rhyming, and you can’t help but almost sing the words as you read it. The reindeer are ready but where is Santa? All sorts of animals like polar bears and seals search for Santa in the snow and it takes all of them to save him and Christmas!  A cute Christmas book that works for anyone who celebrates Santa.

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Is A Charter School The Right School For Your Child?

Monday, December 7th, 2009

In my last post “What, Exactly, Is a Charter School?”, I stated that charter schools are an extremely complex and controversial topic, then went on to explain why they are complex. In this post, we will explore why they are controversial, and how to decide if a charter school is right for your child.

Before we get into the controversy, here is a summary of what we have discussed so far:

* Charter schools are independent from a school district and are run like a private business.
* Charter schools all have special curriculum and/or teaching techniques that differentiate them from a regular public school. Every charter school is unique.
* Charter school formats are experimental, so some schools provide excellent education, and some do not.
* Charter schools are not necessarily local to you, and your child may have to commute.
* Charter schools choose students based on a lottery, not admission criteria, so some children will have an easier time getting into a charter than a magnet (or vice versa).

There are four aspects of charters that garner controversy. The first is that charter schools are allowed to be for profit. The second is that the people who found charter schools are not required to have to have an educational background. The third is that charter school teachers are rarely part of a union. And, last but not least, in some states charter school teachers do not have to be credentialed.

We’ll start with the credentials. After the “No Child Left Behind” legislation was enacted in 2002, most states began to require that charters have credentialed teachers for core academic courses, though not all. For the few states that allow non-credentialed teachers for core subjects, other requirements are in place, such as an extensive real world work experience in the subject they are teaching. Many states do still allow non-core courses, such as physical education or music, to be taught by non-credentialed teachers in a charter school. You will have to check your state guidelines.

Next is the unions. Adversaries of charter schools believe that hiring non-union employees dis-empowers the teachers by taking away job protections like seniority and tenure, and also cheapens the labor pool. A perfect example of how teachers are disempowered is this article. I interviewed 5 charter school teachers, but only one, Ms. Mohr, was willing to go allow me to use their name. The other four basically said “I am an at will employee and if I say something controversial, I can get fired.” The fear of a good teacher being fired solely for saying something controversial is the very reason unions demanded tenure in the first place.

Adversaries claim that good teachers tend to leave charters to go to union jobs that provide job security, and usually better pay and better benefits. Says another teacher who asked to be anonymous “I am a great teacher. I have worked for a charter school for 10 years but now that there is a recession, I worry about being laid off. If I worked for a union school, I wouldn’t be as fearful. I am currently applying for union jobs and will take the first one that comes up.”

Advocates of charter schools argue that unions protect all teachers equally, and some teachers shouldn’t be protected. For example, not having tenure ensures quality of teaching. If a charter teacher isn’t effectively reaching students, they can be let go. Trying to get rid of a bad tenured teacher is difficult. When I was in high school, I had a teacher who was in his 70’s and completely senile. In years past, he had been an excellent teacher, but he no longer had the mental capacity to teach. Unfortunately, because he was tenured, the school could not get rid of him.

As for pay and benefits, charter schools often offer teachers bonuses for performance. Says Ms. Mohr “I make more money at my charter school than I would in the Los Angeles Unified School District union. I may make a lower base salary, but because I am a good teacher, I get generous bonuses. In most traditional schools, tenured teachers make the same amount of money no matter what, so they have no external incentive to provide a quality education.”

Advocates also say that good teachers stay at charters because they enjoy a freedom in curriculum and teaching style that district schools do not offer. Karen Piovarcsik, a first grade teacher at Alta Murrieta elementary school (regular public school) in Murrieta, CA, says “Right now, our district is so concerned about API scores that our time gets

dominated by English and math, and we don’t have as much time for the other subjects as we would like. Regular public schools, at least in our district, aren’t offering as well rounded of an education as they used to”. Since charter schools can offer a more diversified curriculum, teachers may find charters to be a more fulfilling place to work.

The remaining two controversial items are tied to one another. Adversaries of charter schools believe that allowing for profit and people without educational backgrounds to found schools are both tragic flaws in the system. A teacher who did not want to be

named explained to me that they have seen several charter schools opened by people who had a business background, not an educational background. While the founders had good intentions and good theories on paper, they simply did not have the experience needed to

know what works in the classroom. While these business people did a good job in efficiently running a profitable business, the quality of education wasn’t necessarily good.

As we noted in the last article, advocates claim that by using the private business model, money is better managed and, even with a profit, more money still makes it to the classroom because there are not as many bureaucrats to pay. To be fair, most charters are not for profit and most are founded by professional educators, so for most schools, both of these arguments are moot.

Given all the information we have discussed, how does a parent decide if a charter school is right for their child? The only way to know is to do research. Find out about every charter school that is available in your area. Some schools are ideal fits for certain students. For example, if your child gets bored sitting through a traditional class, he may be happier in an individual study charter. If your child particularly enjoys a certain subject, there may be a charter that focuses heavily on the subject.

If you find a school whose teaching method/curriculum will appeal to your child’s personal preferences, do some research on the school to find out about the quality of education it offers. Remember that API scores are only one measuring tool, and as Mr. Franklin and Mr. Sherman explained in previous articles, don’t necessarily reflect the quality of education. Other barometers include attendance rates and level of PTA activity. In high school, also consider drop-out rates and the percentage of students that go on to universities.

If you find a school that you like, make sure to consider distance. As we discussed in a previous article, there are some downsides to not choosing a nearby school. If the distance is not going to be a barrier, send in an application.

If you find multiple schools that work for your child, it may be a good idea to apply to them all. With the lottery system, there is no way of knowing if your child will be accepted or not, and the more applications you have out, the better your odds of acceptance into a charter school. Also, be warned that some charters have very involved applications.

More to come! Private schools and home schooling

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Christi Grab is contributing editor and writer for Parentella. She is a native of Southern California. After graduating from San Diego State University, she went on to be a successful business woman. In April of 2007, she and her husband decided to put their careers on hold and travel the world for two years. Ms. Grab has recently returned from her travels and is currently writing a book about their adventure. For more information on the trip, visit http://kosmos.liveflux.net/blog.

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My most memorable teacher

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

As the holidays are upon us, it seems fitting to do a classic school essay. No, it’s not What I Want for Christmas, but close! It’s the teacher who most inspired me.

I spent the majority of my scholastic career in honors/advanced/AP classes. I think this trend started in junior high (as they called it back then) and continued through my senior year. However, I never felt like I belonged there.

Friends that were in general classes would make a few comments about how I should know about this or the other thing since I was an Honors student. They didn’t believe any worries I had about passing tests.
Friends that were in the Honors classes seemed to get it so much quicker than I did. They would quote authors and books that I had never heard of. They didn’t seem worried about any tests or assignments.
My senior year, I was panicking about passing my AP test for English. English was my favorite subject. I loved to read, I loved to write, but there was still so much I didn’t know. The students around me seemed so much smarter.

One day, I told my fears to my AP English teacher. I still remember the confused look on her face. “Why would you be worried? You’re doing fine.” I finally confessed to her, “yes, but I don’t belong here.”
“Well, of course you do!” she responded. “You’re here, aren’t you?”

That stopped me in my tracks. After so many years of thinking, this year they’re going to find me out, it had never happened. Every year, I had been welcomed back into those Honors classes. I may not have been the absolute smartest girl in the class, but I was still there. Every year.

And while I didn’t get the highest score, I did indeed pass that AP test.

15 years later, that teacher and I spoke again at a reunion. And I told her how I remembered that story, had repeated it to many others. And she said she’s told every class of hers since about that conversation.
Happy Holidays to all the memorable teachers, and all the students that work hard to improve their skills every day!

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April McCaffery is the LA Single Parenting Examiner, an LA Moms contributor, and writes her personal blog, It’s All About Balance.

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