Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Rhee's job uncertain as mayor's race heats up

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee (Benjamin J. Myers).













Make strong anti-bullying programs mandatory in schools

More than 40 states have some sort of law that makes bullying illegal, yet the harassment of young kids by their classmates remains common.
According to the latest U.S. government statistics, about one-third of students aged 12-18 say they are bullied in some fashion, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that statistic is low.
And here we are again, with the fallout from an egregious bullying situation in Massachusetts. Phoebe Prince, 15, took her own life in January after months of being bullied by other kids.
Now nine teens face charges for bullying her, including a group of girls charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating the girl’s civil rights. Sadly, this is just one of several suicides of young people over the past year who had been bullied by classmates.
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KIPP visitor's critique, KIPP leader's response

A reader signing in as "suegjoyce" recently posted a comment on this blog describing her visit to a KIPP middle school "in the Delta." KIPP is the Knowledge Is Power Program, the most successful charter school network in the country and the subject of my most recent book. I was pleased to see suegjoyce's comment, since I have been urging readers curious about KIPP to ignore the myths they read on the Internet and instead visit a KIPP school. The vast majority of people I have encountered online with negative opinions of KIPP give no indication that they have ever been inside one of those schools, so she was setting a good example.
She had some critical things to say. She was not specific about which KIPP middle school she visited, but only one has the word "Delta" in its title, the KIPP Delta College Preparatory School in Helena-West Helena, Ark. So I asked Scott Shirey, executive director of the KIPP schools in that area, to respond. Neither Scott nor I know how to reach suegjoyce, but if she sees this and has more to say, I would be delighted to post her thoughts prominently on the blog.
Scott broke down her post into its different parts, and commented on each. I would be very happy if more readers sent me reports of their visits to schools that we don't know enough about, either as comments here or by emailing me at mathewsj@washpost.com.
suegjoyce: “Having heard so much about the success of Kipp schools, I visited one, a middle school in the Delta. This is what I observed and was told by students and staff. First, they take all students BUT if the students do not follow the rules, they are put out. I was told that the boot rate was 41% but I have not seen any official data. The kids who flunk out and misbehave go ... guess where? ... yep, the public schools.”

Shirey: While we have had high rates of attrition in the early years, they have stabilized over time.Last year our attrition rate was 17.6 percent, down 7.6 percent from two years ago. So far we have expelled less than one percent of students who have enrolled at KIPP. Expulsion is a serious matter, and requires a formal review with the board. We have had some of our greatest success with Special Education students and low performers, many of whom have been accepted to college this year.
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Is election a referendum on Rhee?

Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's future is now officially and certifiably up in the air.
D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, who finally entered the mayoral race Tuesday, says he'll decide on appointments when -- or if -- he is elected. Developer R. Donahue Peebles, edging toward running after edging away from it, has already been all over the place on the issue. He told WTOP's Mark Plotkin within the space of a single December interview that she's in and that she's out. In an interview that same month with my colleague Bob McCartney, he said that Rhee could stay but only if she made what he called "personality adjustments."
Rhee's sole reliable supporter in the field is Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, the man who brought her to town in 2007. Rhee has frequently said that it will probably take two mayoral terms to truly overhaul the school system. That second term is now in question, and her record is likely to be a major issue in this campaign. While there is encouraging news on test scores (up) and enrollment (flat and no longer hemorrhaging), Fenty and Rhee have seen their approval ratings slide down parallel paths. People like the changes, but many apparently find the change agents themselves less appealing.
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Ed Buzz: The Nation

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