Posts Tagged ‘Education Reform’

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Truths are Subjective

Friday, July 29th, 2011

I’m simply not recognizing our own experiences in charter and alternative schools with what’s being portrayed in the latest educational documentary, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman. Their definitions of what co-location and charter schools are, for instance, are not what I’ve seen.

My daughter’s first charter school was co-located, but shared a building with another charter school; one downstairs, one upstairs. Since then, that charter has moved to its own separate campus in a building that wasn’t previously a public school, but a warehouse. My younger daughter’s current charter school is currently sharing space with a Boys and Girls Club that has previously shared space with another charter school that has moved to the building that my daughter’s first charter school was previously located. In none of my charter school experience have any of them shared or, as the film portrays, “stolen” space from other public schools.

The charter schools are also not funded by corporations, as the film states, but do seek and obtain private funds and grants. The Boards of the charters are usually business executives, but for the most part, they’re simply people who have made money and want to give back to the community. I have had my share of problems with charter Boards, but to paint them so simply as corporate-run schools is not the problem I encountered. It’s a problem that I’ve seen in all non-profits; Boards are about raising money, not the day-to-day operations.

I have also had more say and open communication with the charter schools than the public schools my daughters have attended. My younger daughter’s current charter school has a Parent Coordinator. At the former charter school, I had the Principal’s cell phone number, and every email or phone call was returned on the same day.

My youngest daughter has an IEP. To say that there are no IEP students in charter schools is simply not true. Both of my daughters’ charter schools had over 90% students that participated in the federal lunch program, again contrary to what the film says. I don’t know the exact percentage of ELL students, but I do know that again over 90% of students were Hispanic.

I’m not denying what these educators are saying has been their experience, but to say that this is everyone’s experience with charter schools is an overstatement. And to call it the “truth” shows a lack of understanding on what the word means. Our “truth” has been that the schools that utilize the “real reforms” according to the film, have been in the charter and alternative schools we’ve attended far more than in the public schools.

Here’s what I know: I know that I can feel it when I walk into a school that is a good fit for my children. I have had this experience in 4 schools so far: one was our neighborhood elementary public school, two were charter schools, and one is the arts high school; a school that is free to me as a parent, but does have an audition and application process to get in. Not all charter schools are good, but they’re not all bad, either.

When we had our first charter experience, at first, I admit, I thought it was the ultimate answer. Now I know it’s not about the type of school, it is the personnel within the schools. You have to believe in the Principal and your child’s teachers. As a parent, you have to take steps to be involved, by attending parent meetings, by getting to know the teachers, but you also have to recognize when it’s not you, it’s them.

There are no easy answers. And I don’t think that one answer will work for everyone. Parents and students need choices to find the right school for their family. The best thing about this movie is the fact that it keeps the conversation going. I hope that the reform on all levels continues and improves education for every student.

April McCaffery is the single mom to two daughters, going into 6th & 9th grade.

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Posted in April McCaffery, Charter Schools, Education Policy, Education Reform, Media, Schools | 2 Comments »

In Lieu of Homework

Friday, July 1st, 2011

One of the best things about summer, of course, is the absence of homework and monthly book reports. I used to get those “summer slide” workbooks, but by freeing ourselves of all of the recommendations, I’m finding the girls are actually learning this summer. All by themselves.

When my oldest daughter was making pancakes, she had to figure out how to measure cups and teaspoons without having those actual sizes available to her (for example, combining 1/4 and 1/2 cup of flour to get 3/4 cup). She is required to read 3 books over the summer break, but she is responsible for figuring out how much to read each day to accomplish the goal. She is also becoming more interested in current events now that I can watch the news every day because the girls aren’t buried in their homework.

My younger daughter has been reading for pleasure, finishing her Math workbook from 5th grade for her own amusement, and regularly writing in her journal.  She also makes up her own Math games. I implemented a new “earn an allowance” policy, and she figured out how much she could make for the summer if she did the highest amount possible, the minimum amount possible, and an average of the two.

I read recently in the New Yorker one writer’s belief that children’s imagination is to utilize language from which they don’t have personal experience. Summer allows them to create their own experiences when left to their own imagination.

Los Angeles Unified School District recently announced a new homework policy that limits homework effect on final grades to 10%. It recognizes that not all students have a quiet place and time every night to complete their homework. That’s not to say, that a student won’t be affected if they don’t complete their homework, but the policy forces homework to be balanced against other factors that should go in grading; quality of work, class participation, etc.

Homework is one of those areas where I think some teachers/schools rely too heavily on parental involvement. It assumes that someone is available to help from after-school to bedtime. It assumes that we have no other children that might also need our help. It assumes that we understand the assignment given and can offer a teacher’s skill level of assistance. It assumes that we understand the terminology the teacher used, even if the teaching methodologies have changed greatly since we were in school. It even assumes that the type of homework given will actually strengthen the learning process when helping me reduce a recipe might offer a greater comprehension of fractions.

During the summer is when I get to really assess what my children have actually learned. I can see it in the texts they send (I reply with any corrections in spelling), I can hear it in what they say and whether or not their vocabulary is accurate, and I even benefit from it when they help me google directions or other info.

Just like training can’t replace on the job experience, homework can’t replace the act of obtaining knowledge. It can help…but probably by only about 10%.

April McCaffery is the single mother to two daughters, going into 6th & 9th grade.

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Posted in April McCaffery, Education Policy, Education Reform, Homework, Learning Activites, Parent Perspectives | 11 Comments »

School Mission Statements: Do You Know Yours?

Sunday, April 17th, 2011

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This is part 4 of an ongoing series. Click on the links for part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Does your school have a mission satement? It probably does. If so, do you know it? Our school has been asked by the Los Angeles Unified School District to, in effect, reinvent itself. This is part of a process called Public School Choice (PSC) that is designed to help the District compete for federal Race to the Top funding. Schools on the PSC “list” are required to submit lengthy reinvention “proposals,” and the schools are also open to bids by outside groups and charter schools.

The first thing that the PSC bureau wants is for schools to come up with a mission statement. I found out that our school already has one, which was a surprise. My colleagues and I were unaware one existed. I asked teachers at other schools, and except for one, no teachers were aware of a mission statement at their school.

I wonder if professional sports teams have a mission statement. If so, I suspect they’d be pretty similar from team to team, something along the lines of “win.” What about businesses? “Profit,” I suspect. At first, to me, it seemed that a mission statement for a school was at best irrelevant, and at worst something that was a lot of work for nothing.

Our school opened in 1950, but it’s obvious that the mission statement was written within the last 20 years or so. It was pretty good, but our school’s PSC “design team” decided we could do better. We spent two months devising a mission statement for our submission, and what we came up with was a giant paragraph, with educator-themed language. It was hardly what was asked for: something parent, teacher, and student friendly. I jokingly said a good one would be: “We teach, you learn.” Of course, I didn’t mean it, but all jokes have a grain of truth to them.

As the discussion has gone on (more…)

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Posted in Steve Franklin | 6 Comments »

Starting a Parent Revolution

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

The familiar is comforting to us. We don’t fear what we have experienced before, the known.

When we as parents visit our kids’ school, its no wonder that we feel that the schools are fine. Most of us attended the same type of schools; the setting is familiar. The rooms have desks with attached chairs, notebooks, textbooks, crayons, pencils, backboards etc.– perfect images of how school was when we were kids. The way schools communicate with parents is also the same. They send us a notice on paper in our kids’ backpack or on a notebook and even that is exactly like how our parents got the notes.

What is wrong with this picture?

Our kids today have more access to information at their finger tips than we ever did, but the schools have done woefully little to keep up with the information revolution. Why are teachers still giving assignments that can be solved by one simple Google Search? We are so used to the concept of school being the same as it was in our youth that we don’t notice, don’t think about, how desperately it needs to change. I am not saying that schools should be inundated with the latest technological gadgets, but that the basic premise of our Education system needs to change.

  1. We need to meet students where they are, which is a more advanced place than we were at the same age.
  2. Parents need to be engaged and schools need to do more to engage them. This means moving beyond notices in backpacks to seeking parents’ input.
  3. We need to put the T back in the PTA or even evolve the 100+year organization.
  4. We need to move away from (more…)

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Posted in Aparna Vashisht, Education Reform, Parent Perspectives, Parent teacher communication, School Involvement, Schools | 15 Comments »

Last Hired, First Fired

Sunday, April 10th, 2011

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Things used to be more simple...

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top, along with films like Waiting for Superman, have brought the teacher hiring/firing process to the news headlines. Most school districts are bound to union contracts where layoffs are subject to seniority. It seems as this will be the focus of the battle of school reform. Union officials seem to be saying that it’s not open to negotiation until someone (i.e. the school district) comes up with a better plan. School districts say the idea is arcane, outdated, and even harmful. Who is correct?

Logic dictates that the best teachers should be the ones who have jobs. I’d hope hospitals use that paradigm. I’d hope airline pilots are chosen/kept via that idea. In many jobs, experience often means that an employee has refined his or her skills, and there is improvement over time. This may or may not be the case for teaching. In fact, it’s a definite fact. We have fantastic teachers who are brand new to the classroom, and veterans (30 years+) who are largely ineffective.

What’s the solution? Obviously, we want the best for our kids. It seems as though both sides (it’s a shame there are sides) will have to give a little. Reform is becoming more and more data-driven, and this is unlikely to change for the time being. School districts  want to use test scores as barometers of teacher effectiveness, and teachers and unions don’t (at least not for staffing decision purposes). Still no solution.

Real change, for any issue, comes through negotiation, compromise, innovation, creativity and desire. They say “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” but in

this situation, there appears to be neither. Until all schools become charters, or unions are reinvented or outlawed (see Wisconsin), or until reformers put aside selfish and/or one-sided ideas (such as

the test scores thing), there is not likely to be a change to the last hired, first fired credo. That’s too bad because the kids are the ones who lose.

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Mr. Franklin has been teaching for the Los Angeles Unified School District for eleven years. He has won District and County Teacher of the Year awards, as well as the prestigious Bank of America Community Hero award. Before teaching, he spent five years at Learning Forum, which runs summer camps world-wide that increase student academic potential.

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Posted in Steve Franklin | 5 Comments »

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