Blog Launch Redux
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DPS board member Jeannie Kaplan, right, and board President Mary Seawell at a board meeting. <em>EdNews</em> file photo |
Blog Launch for Kaplan for Kids
Fifty seven charter schools (57), seventy five percent (75%) housed in taxpayer owned or leased facilities. Fifty two percent (52%) of taxpayer approved new schools money going to two Charter Management Organizations (CMOs). Forty percent (40%) of schools non-union. These are the outcomes Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg must be looking at when he repeatedly declares education reform is a success in Denver. He certainly can’t be looking at the academic outcomes.
My name is Jeannie Kaplan. I had the honor and privilege of serving on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education for 8 years, from 2005 through November 2013. Michael Bennet was superintendent, having been selected in June of 2005. Mr. Bennet served until January 2009 when he was selected to be the junior Senator from Colorado. His replacement was and continues to be Tom Boasberg, Michael’s childhood friend and former DPS Chief Operating Officer.
I believe today as I did when I first ran for the school board that public education is a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy. I am starting a blog to explore and hopefully shed some light on the complicated issues challenging public education today. I am going to be writing about my passion, public education, with a focus on Denver Public Schools. I will try to provide a voice for a side of this debate that is often overlooked by the main stream media.
After 10 years of leadership from Mr. Bennet and Mr. Boasberg here are some facts about public education in Denver:
CORPORATE REFORM IN DENVER:
The national corporate reform movement has two primary tenets: getting rid of a unionized work force and encouraging the proliferation of privatized charter schools. DPS has been fairly successful forcing this national model into neighborhood after neighborhood in spite of much opposition. The national movement has other goals – such as pushing for “choice” in schools, using high stakes testing to evaluate teachers, deprofessionalizing educators, talking about accountability while holding few administrators accountable. However, if you have followed this movement, getting rid of unions and viewing charters as the ultimate solution for public education continue to be the driving forces. Forget about poverty. Forget about the ability to speak English. Forget about an enriching curriculum. Forget about small class size, although this precept is slowly beginning to creep back into the conversation.
The national corporate reform movement has two primary tenets: getting rid of a unionized work force and encouraging the proliferation of privatized charter schools. DPS has been fairly successful forcing this national model into neighborhood after neighborhood in spite of much opposition. The national movement has other goals – such as pushing for “choice” in schools, using high stakes testing to evaluate teachers, deprofessionalizing educators, talking about accountability while holding few administrators accountable. However, if you have followed this movement, getting rid of unions and viewing charters as the ultimate solution for public education continue to be the driving forces. Forget about poverty. Forget about the ability to speak English. Forget about an enriching curriculum. Forget about small class size, although this precept is slowly beginning to creep back into the conversation.
The academic mantra of the corporate reformers focuses on things such as test scores (student proficiencies and growth), achievement gaps, graduation rates, remediation, college readiness. Let us look at how Denver Public Schools is doing regarding these data points after 10 years down this reform path.
ACADEMIC OUTCOMES:
Proficiencies across the district in 2013 are:
reading 54%
writing 42%
math 46%
Standardized test increases in Denver have been so minimal – less than 2% per year per subject – that Blog Launch Redux | Kaplan for Kids:
Proficiencies across the district in 2013 are:
reading 54%
writing 42%
math 46%
Standardized test increases in Denver have been so minimal – less than 2% per year per subject – that Blog Launch Redux | Kaplan for Kids: