Column debunks myths about charter schools
”The closest Newark Charter comes to cherry-picking is the self selection factor of parents wanting their children to attend the school”
Very true but parents aren’t too concerned with the charter school law that is fractured and discriminatory. It’s really not their fault because they just want the best for their children. Charters are public schools but yet the law allows them a bit of private status. Charter’s cry poor-mouth re: capital funding but when the call for addressing admission preferences is made, you’d think it was a federal offense for demanding equal public school access. Charter school parents are good people caught in the crossfire of reestablishing “fair and equitable education”.
My children attend M.O.T. Charter. When I pick them up three days a week from after school activities, it looks like a regular dismissal because so many children are participating. The special events involving parents are endless. My wife finds herself communicating almost daily with other parents to make sure all homework assignments are coming home, We have a nightly fight to make sure homework is done and projects are progressing on schedule. Let’s not demonize charter schools because many of them succeed. Lets learn from their success.
And what would public schools look like without parents like you that are so engaged their child’s education?
I say, blame public school teachers for lack of parental engagement all you want but it is the leadership of the school districts and the state legislators who fail to address irresponsible parents. Teachers are just that! Not social workers and have not been trained in “crisis intervention” for parent and student. Leaving a child in the car while running into Wawa is an unthinkable crime. But neglect the educational support needs of one’s child is, “there is nothing we can do legally”.
Perhaps parents want their child in a school where other parents have the same values. After-all, children without parents engaged are often the most troubled and academic challenged that slows the pace of learning for other children. Also, holds teachers back from maintaining a teaching pace to ensure students exceed expectation. We should never accept meeting the standards because charter parents will tell you it’s about exceeding them.
If we had stronger laws holding parents accountable would we need charters? If we had a governor was more psychologically adept he could understand the fibers within the complexity of sociology wrapped into education in that holding teachers for the failure of society is wrongheaded. Public school teachers and their formal training have not keep pace with social meltdown. Why is there such a culture shock for new young teachers entering the classrooms for the first time? Jack put down your Wall Street Journal and political aspirations and engage as the public servant you should be. We’d be better off with Dr. Phil as secretary of education than a three-year gym teachers who has been run through the Rodel Frankenstein factory!
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Don’t forget that education reform is part of the ALEC platform and so we do see a uniform set of policy legislation across the country. It was also a shock to see our DEPTA buying into the Rodel /Vision election tactics this year.
Look at what is happening with Washington’s State PTA,and legislature:
http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/more-on-the-wspta-convention-oops-the-new-teacher-evaluation-system-would-not-impact-charter-schools/
“It seems that in their zeal to promote charter schools, these same individuals who were giving impassioned speeches on how charter schools would provide equity to our students during the WSPTA convention, forgot about the other component of ed reform that they championed through Olympia and hailed as an advance in terms of educating our children, teacher evaluations based on “student growth data” (test scores).
……Charter schools are not bound by the new TPEP (Teacher Principal Evaluation Pilot) law that affects all public school teachers and principals in Washington. This new law is extensive and prescribes strict conditions by which teachers and principals will be judged.
…..Charter schools are completely exempt from all of this! And charter schools, if enacted, will drain resources away from K-12 no matter how you slice it. So people should be aware that, if they want this new evaluation system to result in improvement to teaching and learning, they should be prepared for devoting resources to it. And, if they believe in it, they should not be allowing schools to come into our system that can’t show they have anything close to this sort of framework required of their teachers and administrators. Charter schools, in fact, are exempt from any sort of accountability measures that the State requires for our public schools. They are public schools only in the sense that they USE public dollars to operate.”
” We’re supposed to accept the research that says high income % is a determiner of academic success and therefore make schools more socio-economically balanced (I agree), but the research that shows parental involvement and elimination of classroom distractions are key determiners of student success are “nice to haves” but not required. Okay.”. I editorialized my own comment somewhat, but the essence is there. Instead of ignoring the research/problem or retrofitting the educational system to deal with lack of parental involvement, why don’t we change the law to demand more from parents? You get what you expect.
Pencadermom, Lowery’s condition on NCS is unfair as it should be part of the law or DE DOE conditions for all charter schools. But one thing for sure is, parents can do a better job of connecting with parents.
LOL . . . “Our school is full of affluent white kids – we have no idea how they got there.”
I guess it doesn’t count as cherry-picking if you stand under the right tree.
My wife finds herself communicating almost daily with other parents to make sure all homework assignments are coming home
LOL again… why aren’t teachers using their online tools for this which have been purchased for them by the taxpayers and they have been trained on? (this is a universal problem and not just with charters).
“LOL . . . “Our school is full of affluent white kids – we have no idea how they got there.”
Who said that?? My kids are not affluent, but you can continue to put them in whatever box you want that serves your argument. Pretty judgemental in my opinion. I guess it’s easier to cast charter parents as the villians for taking advantage of the choices available and for being involved school parents, than to actually demand this of every parent.
What’s wrong with Dr. Phil?? Something might actually get done!! And he won’t worry about being politically correct in telling anyone how he feels!
You don’t force teachers to use it, you persuade them it is in their interest. Building administrators should encourage it as a best practice.
Remember, all teachers are already “using HAC” – that’s how they generate report cards. They’re just posting the assignments late (after the due dates). And they are not using the HAC document attachment feature that lets them attach handouts and instructions right to the assignment.
Now that teachers are being held accountable for student performance, I would think they would look for any way possible to help make sure homework gets done to reinforce daily lessons. But so far they don’t see it that way.
Schoolnotes and similar sites are a good second choice, but teachers already have to enter every assignment in their gradebook (HAC) anyway, so why keep two sets of books for student assignments?
Just learn to enter the assignment in HAC (gradebook) before it is due instead of after, and BAM you get instant and effective parent (and student) communication. Why they won’t do this is one of the great mysteries of public education.
For parents, HAC is one-stop shopping that lets you view assignments from all classes on a one page grid, complete with due dates, point weightings, and past grades. That’s a lot easier than going to five or six individual teacher sites (SchoolNotes, Edline, Google, or whatever) and plowing through their oddly formatted narratives to figure out what the work is.
I say force them to use it, not persuade them.
, teachers can write a lot more than just the assignment, giving links to helpful websites, notice of a field trip, whatever. Most write in paragraph form.
As a parent, I will tell you what I like/don’t like about HAC, and like/don’t like about schoolnotes.
HAC, like you said, very easy to get to (when I remember my password)and seems easier if, like you said, the teachers already have to put in assignments anyway!
What I don’t like, and might be wrong, there is either none, or not very much, room to write actual notes, in paragraph form or bullet points, or something, just about info. they want to give to parents. (ew bad sentence but you get what I’m saying)
Schoolnotes, don’t need to remember any ‘sign- on name’ and ‘password’ , especially if you are not home where it is taped to your desk
dislike: it is a little more time consuming scrolling through each teacher.. but just thought of this as I was writing. You actually don’t have to do that at all. I am signed up to get an email from every teacher every time they make a change to schoolnotes, so there you go, schoolnotes wins with me. If I get busy and don’t think to go onto the site, it doesn’t matter, I get an email.
I think it is great that you are working on that. Do you suggest it at board meetings or how does that work?
Do you suggest it at board meetings or how does that work?
You have no idea. I have made presentations at every level from teaching teams, to the principal, the District, and to the Department of Education. Haven’t made it to a board meeting yet, but have spoken to individual board members.
The District put up the most fierce resistance, deploying top brass to shut down the topic. Everybody else’s eyes glazed over, no intellectual interest could be detected.
“My kids are not affluent”
Half of Delaware’s schoolchildren are considered low-income. If you are not on their side of the line, you are affluent.
“Half of Delaware’s schoolchildren are considered low-income. If you are not on their side of the line, you are affluent.” – I have a lot of respect for your most of your comments Mike but that doesn’t really make sense. nothing in-between? look up the definition.
And you choice your kids so do you make sure you check up on the stats on a yearly basis just to make sure your schools poverty level isn’t down? Just saying, we are just parents on here just trying to get the best education for our kids, just like you. The words just might not always come out perfect (which is what I hate about blogs, facebook, texting, etc).
not very much, room to write actual notes
True but you can attach documents. There are several other features I wish HAC had. But the vendor Sungard has a policy of not responding to parent communications (I tried). HAC isn’t perfect but it is good enough and every teacher is already using it.
I am signed up to get an email from every teacher every time they make a change to schoolnotes
HAC has this feature too but I don’t think they have bothered to activate it or document it for parents.
Anyway, who wants a flood of emails telling you about assignments AFTER the due date?
You have to put a
or a 
or an ”lol” or whatever just to help your meaning come across. Or…………pause 
OMG LMAO brb 
smh – (don’t know what that one means, I see kids write it)
Pencadermom and Mike:
From a parent perspective I like the idea of using the software you mentioned to communicate with teachers.
What are your thoughts about the implications it has for kids to learn to be responsible for their work?
In which grades is the software used and what is the intent?
Thanks
“nothing in-between?”
That’s the problem – there is not as much in between as there used to be. When you are in the top 50%, that’s a pretty good definition of affluence.
But let’s reason this through.
The median household income in Delaware is around $60K. Now if you make the median, you might not consider yourself affluent.
But consider: To be one of those low-income students who make up half our school population, you have to qualify for free or reduced lunch. The eligibility guidelines for FRL are around $41K for reduced, $29K for free.
So compared to the 50% low-income students, if your family makes only the median income, yes you are affluent.
“What are your thoughts about the implications it has for kids to learn to be responsible for their work?”
I think it was Pandora who said: “Looking up your homework on HAC *IS* taking responsibility. ”
I’ll let an award-winning teacher explain further.
“In which grades is the software used and what is the intent?”
It seems to be different for every district. Red Clay is 4th; Christina is 6th. I don’t know the others. Basically it is when you start getting letter grades and calculating course grades as a percentage.
I wrote a rather elaborate post on the intent of HAC last January.
Thanks Mike. I will read both links later.
My kids’s school does not use any of these and I want to get some more info before I bring it up.
My kids have to write down their homework in a notebook and keep track of it as in the “old days”. I like them to be responsible for that, rather than just logging in and check what they have to do. In the future (in college for instance) they might not have the help of these features.
Are there options for communication between parent and teacher only, student and teacher only, and student to self only?
Newark, I don’t know much about HAC but schoolnotes you can email the teacher right from their schoolnotes page. My kids have never used it as a tool to come home and ‘look up’ their homework. They only use it as a ‘back-up’, if they think they mis-wrote the assignment or don’t really understand what they wrote. They really don’t use schoolnotes that much. I use it a lot, to clarify an assignment, or to get notice about an upcoming test. Easier to read than their sloppy notes in their agenda book, and so I can make sure they are studying in time for a test
“My kids have to write down their homework in a notebook and keep track of it as in the “old days”. I like them to be responsible for that, rather than just logging in and check what they have to do. In the future (in college for instance) they might not have the help of these features.”
@Newark…Recently, I attended a meeting at the high school my son will be attending next year and the overwhelming suggestion by the staff and the students there was “buy and agenda and use it”. When asked about the schools use of HAC, they said they use it to update grades, but not for assignments. Since my son has used an agenda all along at NCS, that isn’t a new thing for him, but was hoping for more to be available online.
Yes, I forgot to say my FRL numbers were for a family of 4. Here’s the link to the actual numbers.
“hey want them to learn to be responsible and write it down.”
In the end it depends on the school’s attitude toward the role of homework (and class assignments too). There are a lot of teachers who seem to delight in the morality play of giving zeros for not having your work done on time. I’m not sure that makes a big impression on students other than to make them give up – especially for at-risk kids.
First of all, if the work isn’t done, the student doesn’t learn the material. Eventually the teachers will catch on this will come back to bite them once Component 5 finally comes online, and they will suddenly become full of creative ideas to help students get their work done.
Secondly, grade penalties will blow big holes in averages for students who want to apply for merit-based programs and are otherwise capable.
The penalty for not doing your homework should be that you have to do your homework.
I just learned that at Dickinson, if you don’t do your homework you are assigned to “Fifth Block,” which is an after-school period where you get help to complete your homework and you ride home on the late bus.
I am blinded by the obvious common sense of it. This is why Dickinson will go far, among many other reasons.
@ Mike O – that sounds like a great idea at Dickinson, but I wonder if some will rail against it on some Constitutional grounds.
Pencadermom:
Thanks for the response.
How do schools deal with children from families that do not have a computer at home or internet connection? I am afraid that the resort to these technologies will move from computers and internet being supporting tools to becoming necessary and this will widen the gap between “affluent”
and low-income students.
PS
Regarding the use of the term affluent. The term is relative and who is affluent depends on your referential. Having been raised in what was then a developing country I saw levels of poverty that are not common in the US. I would have then probably even qualified some low-income families as affluent.
So I can understand Mike’s point that from the stand-point of low-income families any household that has the average level of wealth is considered affluent.
In his initial comment Mike did not say that all children are from affluent families he was commenting on the statement “schools are full of affluent white kids”
“How do schools deal with children from families that do not have a computer at home or internet connection?”- I have no idea. On the news the other night, they were talking about kids bringing their laptops and phones to school to use in the classroom. I asked my husband ‘how can any kid without computer access ever make it in school anymore?’
And if you are a kid who needs to use the public library, there is a good chance you are a kid who doesn’t have a ride to the public library.
Mike
I agree with you, but your commment is about the appropriate response to a missed assignement.
You can and should still teach kids on how to be responsible for setting up their own calendar.
I like pencadermom’s suggestion that you use this a back up and still make kids responsible for keeping track of their obligations. It is an essential skill for their lives where they will not be able to go to a site where they bosses or landlords will tell them about due dates.
Or kids might want to avoid the walk to the public library…
But even if they could go to the library it is important that the parents or guardians also access the information.
he was commenting on the statement “schools are full of affluent white kids”
No, that was me paraphrasing the LTE writer on cherrypicking.
How do schools deal with children from families that do not have a computer at home or internet connection?
With a multi-pronged approach, none of which we are really pursuing right now.
First of all, nobody is going to take away the agenda notebooks and pencils .
Secondly, in this age it is entirely possible to add an interface to online systems that lets parents retrieve basic information via a touch-tone telephone or text messages (“Press 1 to hear tonight’s homework.”) etc.
Even among low-income families who don’t have computers or Internet, a lot of them have telephones or text-capable cell phones. DDOE should insist Sungard build this feature into HAC, or DDOE should abandon HAC and build a parent portal themselves with this feature.
Comcast also offers $9.99 Internet access and a computer to families on FRL – with the catch that you can’t owe money to Comcast, which a lot of low-income families do.
Other schools are planning to offer public facilities for parents to come and use Internet connected computers. Most districts have already committed to increasing HAC usage and offering increased access.
The digital divide should not become the universal excuse to hold up progress.
Very true, Pencadermom. Add to that that the computers available at school are used a LOT for testing, and these students lose that option, as well. I have made our home computers available to high poverty kids, complete with pick-up and drop off.
The problem with poverty is that it’s mostly hidden from our eyes. People like us have to actively seek it out. I’ve come to refer to this group (warning: Paul Fussell alert) as Bottom – Out of Sight.
But… if you do seek out this group you will find that most love their kids, most care about their children’s education, and most do not have the resources, education and finances (we take for granted) to effectively advocate for their child. Dismissing this group as not caring may make us feel superior, but it won’t solve what is going on.
Mike:
I do not know much about this but would it be possible (technically and financially) to allow internet access to school websites for free?
Would it be possible to set up a plan with verizon and comcast for instance where they would allow low-income families to have internet access to specific addresses for free and allow them to pay the small fee that you mentioned to have broader internet access.
Students could then borrow laptops or get a refurbished computer from their schools and use it at home.
Good thinking Newark but it is not feasible for too many reasons to list. It would be cool though if some foundation could pay off people’s back Comcast bills so they could then hook up with the $9.99 Internet.
@Mike- sorry- but I feel compelled to address your affluent comments. The definition of of affluent is generously supplied with money, property, or possessions; prosperous or rich. I know alot of people who do not meet federal poverty levels (family of 4 $23050) or even the FRL numbers (for a family 4- free $29055, reduced $41348). They are far from affluent. They are the struggling middle class. It is not even remotely possible to group everyone as either poverty level or affluent. Come on even the government knows the difference.
I appreciate the comments by each parent, I would like your comments on the role of the school, district and state PTA?
As an example, should the school/district PTA address areas of concern to the Board? Should the state PTA like education associations attend legislative meetings and voice their opinions and make recommendations?
@Jack- That’s an interesting question. I think in some cases the PTA does have a really good understanding of what is going on and what the schools needs are. But on the other hand is it better to leave the politics to the administration and allow the PTA to have it’s efforts conncentrated on the children and activities of the school? I’ve been involved with only 3 PTA’s and one was litterally 6 people! We didn’t really have enough people to make all of the things we wanted to do possible (let alone take on other issues) and the other 2 PTA’s were large and had alot of people involved. I guess it would really be dependent on how strong the PTA is.