Promising Practices and Unfinished Business: Fostering Equity and Excellence for Black and Latino Males | Annenberg Institute for School Reform

Promising Practices and Unfinished Business: Fostering Equity and Excellence for Black and Latino Males | Annenberg Institute for School Reform:

Promising Practices and Unfinished Business: Fostering Equity and Excellence for Black and Latino Males

Disparities in educational access, opportunity, and achievement between Black and Latino males and their peers have been the focus of education reform initiatives for decades. A new report from the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University (AISR),commissioned by Boston Public Schools, offers findings and recommendations that aim to help BPS become the first district in the nation to succeed in eliminating these gaps for all students.

Promising Practices and Unfinished Business: Fostering Equity and Excellence for Black and Latino Males summarizes the findings and recommendations from the second phase of a groundbreaking study examining factors impacting low academic performance for Black and Latino males.  The first phase of the report found that Black and Latino males had inequitable access to more rigorous programs in schools, contributing in part to significant opportunity and achievement gaps for this population.
The new study offers detailed case studies that suggest a more intentional approach to supporting Black and Latino male students could significantly strengthen outcomes.

Both phases of the report, commissioned by Boston Public Schools and conducted by the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University (AISR), with generous support from the Barr Foundation, represent the most comprehensive body of work in the country aimed at closing those gaps for Black and Latino males.

  #path2equityBOS

Media Coverage:

> Report: Boston Lacks 'Cultural Competence' In Teaching Blakc, Latino Males, WBUR Learning Lab (4/7/15)
> Boston teachers urged to discuss race, gender, Boston Globe (4/7/15)
> Boston schools failing black and Latino males, CommonWealth Magazine (4/7/15)
> Boston Public Schools releases second phase of Study of Black and Latino Males
   Finds "Promising Practices" exist whilemore intentional, system-wide support is needed

Report Downloads:

Full report

Executive Summary

Promising Practices and Unfinished Business: Fostering Equity and Excellence for Black and Latino Males | Annenberg Institute for School Reform:

Approaches to Education Reform: Privatizing Poverty | educarenow

Approaches to Education Reform: Privatizing Poverty | educarenow:

Approaches to Education Reform: Privatizing Poverty

Part of the sordid side of our American history includes Native American boarding schools.  In the 18th and 19th century, these schools were established as a means of assimilating Native Americans into white culture.  As Wikipedia tells it, “Children were usually immersed in European-American culture through appearance changes with haircuts, were forbidden to speak their Native languages, and traditional names were replaced by new European-American names (in order to both ‘civilize’ and ‘Christianize’). The experience of the schools was often harsh, especially for the younger children who were separated from their families. In numerous ways, they were encouraged or forced to abandon their Native American identities and cultures.” (Emphasis added)

The assumption was that these children had to be separated from their parents, from their history, from the context of their support system of religion and culture in order to properly assimilate to white standards of “success.” And this needed to happen because all of the Native American cultural characteristics were of a lower standard than the dominant white culture. in 1892, Army officer Richard Pratt said, “A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one…In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”

With the passage of time, it’s a little easier to see the racism, arrogance and violence inherent in this idea. And I know it seems like ancient history, but it isn’t.  The numbers of native Americans in boarding schools peaked in the 1970’s.  Not really that long ago.

The framing assumptions underlying this movement were that of the deficit model.  That is, by standards of the dominant white culture, these Native Americans just weren’t “measuring up.”

Is this beginning to sound familiar?

The problem with  history is that it always replicates itself now, albeit in somewhat differently nuanced and forms.

And that bring us to a brand new, shockingly contemporary version of the above in Phil Powers’ recent editorial in The Bridge, “Could A Boarding School Model Work in Detroit?”

Powers gives an overview:

“I had thought boarding schools for poor and vulnerable children did not exist until I learned of something called the SEED Foundation in Washington, D.C., which does just that. …

Children are chosen for admission by lottery, which means their participation is Approaches to Education Reform: Privatizing Poverty | educarenow:

The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015—Concerns:

The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015—Concerns

APRIL 8, 2015 BY NANCY BAILEY LEAVE A COMMENT

Bloggers are describing their interpretation of The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015. I wanted to add my concerns. Here is the summary of the Act. Here is the long version.

First, I am not a fan of what states and even the local school districts have done to public schools. So I don’t get too excited about eliminating the federal part of the equation. Arne Duncan and Co. are not the only drivers of draconian school reform.

Governors signed off on Common Core State Standards, and most states have backed terrible high-stakes testing regimens. Many states adore charter schools. Children in the early grades are pushed harder than ever before to achieve. And students with disabilities are losing services like nobody’s business. You can argue they are forced to behave this way, but I don’t buy it.

So what does it really matter if you kick Arne out of the house when the whole family is dysfunctional?

Also, the federal government, if it worked right, should be there to fill in gaps and assist states and local education associations. The three, in my opinion, should work together for the betterment of our public schools. Unfortunately, this is but a dream at this point. The Act might look like something for everyone, but I don’t see where it is all that different from NCLB.

I also am not entirely convinced by this Act that the federal government is taking a back seat to education.

I will write about what concerns me the most.

• High-Stakes Testing
• Common Core State Standards
• Literacy
• Special Education
• English Language Learners
• Schools of Education
• Privacy Rights
• Charter Schools

High-Stakes Testing

States get to develop accountability systems, but it seems clear that they will still do a lot of testing. States would have the option of using one big summative test or lots of smaller test essentially combined to reflect a single summative assessment. Will states continue to throw tests at kindergarten and the early grades? And will they still tie teachers to the test scores? They can if they want.

They still talk a lot about data. And consider that states must include graduation rates, which likely means they will continue to make students take the test to prove they are The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015—Concerns:

HEMLOCK ON THE ROCKS: Getting rid of the losers, like teachers who are “old and costly” and kids who are not “champions” | New Politics

HEMLOCK ON THE ROCKS: Getting rid of the losers, like teachers who are “old and costly” and kids who are not “champions” | New Politics:

Getting rid of the losers, like teachers who are “old and costly” and kids who are not “champions” | New Politics

            A headline in a recent news story about Los Angeles teachers, calling the district's teaching force "old and costly," is a companion piece to the New York Times front page article about the Success Academy chain headed by Eva Moskowitz.  Taken together these explain why teachers unions are being attacked so viciously and why the unions need to change gears and direction now.
 Once again, the Chicago Teachers Union leads the way in its new contract demands.
            The Right and many liberals insist that improving teacher quality is the best way to end poverty. This line of reasoning is based on the assumption that governments are powerless - or ought not - interfere with the "right" to make profit in any way possible, including or especially in situations of dire emergency and human disaster, as Naomi Klein explains.
Having succeeded in firing all of New Orlean's teachers, mainly African American, after Katrina, to create the first all-charter school district in the nation, education "reformers" in both parties have gone after career teachers elsewhere. The aim, as this news article shows, is to eliminate experienced teachers who cost more. In so doing teaching is destroyed as a career and profession. To make that happen in a way that is seemingly objective, the project to marketize education, uses scores from standardized tests to evaluate teachers, tweaked to allow for differences in students' characteristics in what is called "value added measures."
            We should have no illusions that these reforms will help all students achieve, the rhetoric that's used to defend marketization and testing.  In fact, the goal is to "blow up" (Chester Finn's term) the system of public education created at the turn of the last century. From neoliberalism's stand point, the system was not sufficiently Darwinian because of increased economic competition. The sorting of those who deserve good jobs and those who don't has to begin in kindergarten. Parents who are desperate to make sure that their children will be among "the haves" with access to the rapidly diminishing number of good jobs the global economy offers submit their children to many practices that advantaged parents may not be willing to permit.
            I want to caution that how kids learn and should be taught is not universal. I think that some white progressives are too quick to dismiss differences in teaching and learning that are related to cultural expectations, and I urge that we acknowledge that good teachers and parents can disagree about what works for kids, as older kids will disagree among themselves. There are, however, certain ground rules we have to insist upon, like behaviors that show we respect one another. As a teacher and teacher educator I think that respect is clearly missing in Success Academy's practice of shaming low achievers by posting their scores to be seen by classmates and making their lives "misery." I would urge parents not to send their children to a school that uses these practices. Respect is also missing in classrooms making poor kids of color obedient to teachers' control of every bodily function, as occurs in prisons - preparation for what awaits students who don't respond positively enough to the tactics of "champion" teachers who follow this prescription for good teaching.

            

Older teachers are often not considered "champions" because they have ideas borne of experience and education about how schools should operate, how they and students should be supported. They want wages sufficient to support a family and working conditions that allow them to spend time with their own children. They are "costly" not only in salary but in their potential, in their unions, collectively to challenge the authoritarianism that pervades schools.
            An essential aspect of persuading parents to see alternatives to the dog-eat-dog competition to which they are told they must submit their children is for unions to do as the Chicago Teachers Union has in its latest contract proposals. The union is HEMLOCK ON THE ROCKS: Getting rid of the losers, like teachers who are “old and costly” and kids who are not “champions” | New Politics:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst sue to join union without paying for political activities - LA Times

Teachers sue to join union without paying for political activities - LA Times:

Teachers sue to join union without paying for political activities

 An advocacy group has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop teachers unions in California from using member dues for political purposes unless individual instructors provide their permission.

The effort, if successful, could weaken the influence of these unions by limiting their spending.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court by StudentsFirst, a Sacramento-based organization that has opposed candidates and measures backed by teachers unions nationwide, while also working to pass laws that curtail union power.

In the suit, four teachers, including two from the Los Angeles Unified School District, assert that union rules and state laws violate their 1st Amendment rights to free speech because they cannot belong to the union unless they allow a portion of their dues to be spent on political activity. The teachers claim they should be able to join without subsidizing viewpoints they may oppose.

“As part of protecting the right to free speech,” the 1st Amendment does not permit forcing an individual “to subsidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support,” the suit states.

The defendants are the two largest teachers unions in the country as well as the two largest in California. Also being sued are two union locals where three of the teachers work, including United Teachers Los Angeles. The suit also names the superintendents of L.A. Unified, West Contra Costa Unified and Arcadia Unified school districts.

Union leaders characterized the legal action as an attempt to limit what labor can accomplish against well-funded business interests and other opponents by cutting off funding.

“This lawsuit is attempting to use the 1st Amendment to stifle speech, not enhance it,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement.

In California, although teachers are not compelled to join a union, they must pay a portion of membership dues as “agency fees” to cover their estimated share of costs when the union negotiates contract terms on their behalf.

The remaining portion, which the plaintiffs pegged at 30% to 40%, can be spent on political activities. Union leaders pointed out that contributing this portion is optional.

The California Teaches Assn. “doesn’t require anyone to join the union or spend any dues money to support political candidates,” said the group's president, Dean E. Vogel. “Those who want to opt out of spending dues money on political candidates simply have to check a box on a CTA membership form. Educators can also decline union membership and opt out of paying for any issue not related to union representation.”

The lawsuit, however, asserts that opting out and therefore declining to join the union means giving up advantages of union membership.

“Resigning union membership has significant adverse consequences for a teacher,” the complaint said. Union members, for example, have access to insurance and disability Teachers sue to join union without paying for political activities - LA Times:

 Beware of AstroTurf Ed Reformers 

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

 Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

Other Astroturf lobbying groups

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

 Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better) 

No Limits for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust

Portfolio holdings of Super Investors - DATAROMA - Value investing:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust

Period: Q4 2014
Portfolio date: 31 Dec 2014
No. of stocks: 19
Portfolio value: $19,996,418,000

• Holdings
• Activity
• Buys
• Sells
• History

	Stock	% of portfolio	Shares	Recent activity	Reported Price*
hist	BRK.B - Berkshire Hathaway CL B	59.04	78,625,314	Reduce 5.98%	$150.15
hist	CNI - Canadian Natl Railway Co.	5.90	17,126,874		$68.91
hist	CAT - Caterpillar Inc.	5.15	11,260,857		$91.53
hist	WMT - Wal-Mart Stores	4.98	11,603,000		$85.88
hist	WM - Waste Management Inc.	4.78	18,633,672		$51.32
hist	TV - Grupo Televisa SA	2.88	16,879,103		$34.06
hist	KOF - Coca-Cola FEMSA S A CV	2.69	6,214,719		$86.52
hist	FDX - FedEx Corp.	2.63	3,024,999		$173.66
hist	UPS - United Parcel Service	2.52	4,525,329	Buy	$111.17
hist	ECL - Ecolab Inc.	2.28	4,366,425		$104.52
hist	CCI - Crown Castle International Corp.	2.10	5,332,900		$78.70
hist	BP - BP plc	1.41	7,405,614		$38.12
hist	WBA - Walgreens Boots Alliance	1.32	3,475,398	Buy	$76.20
hist	LBTYK - Liberty Global Inc. C	0.85	3,532,529		$48.31
hist	AN - AutoNation Inc.	0.57	1,898,716		$60.41
hist	LBTYA - Liberty Global Inc.	0.53	2,119,515		$50.20
hist	RSG - Republic Services	0.27	1,350,000		$40.25
hist	ARCO - Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc.	0.08	3,060,500		$5.41
hist	DMND - Diamond Foods Inc.	0.00	10,412	Buy	$28.24

* Reported Price is the price of the security as of the portfolio date. This value is significant in that it indicates the portfolio manager's confidence in the stock at that price and suggests at least some level of undervaluation or margin of safety.

Sector % analysis

Financials	59.04
Industrials	15.35
Services	10.24
Consumer Staples	6.30
Materials	3.69
Consumer Goods	2.69
Technology	2.10
Consumer Discretionary	0.57

Portfolio holdings of Super Investors - DATAROMA - Value investing:

Disclosure differs for charter schools run by for-profit firms | The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer

Disclosure differs for charter schools run by for-profit firms | The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer:

Disclosure differs for charter schools run by for-profit firms

N.C. law doesn’t require schools run by management firms to account for all taxpayer dollars

Public school districts must account for every dollar they spend. Charter schools operated by for-profit companies often do not have to.

Charters can keep salaries of supervisors, academic consultants, back-office staff – sometimes even school administrators – secret and still abide by North Carolina’s public records law despite being funded by tax dollars. These positions are often considered employees of the management company instead of the school, and therefore not subject to disclosure.

These companies also are not required to disclose how much profit they’re making while running schools with public money. The discrepancy has frustrated traditional public school district advocates in North Carolina who consider this a double standard. In other states, that lack of transparency has contributed to abuse.

“Our budget is 3 inches thick, and you all get a copy of it,” said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board member Rhonda Lennon. “Why is there so much difference if we’re all funded by tax dollars?”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article17402048.html#storylink=cpy

Six private charter school management firms currently oversee millions in state dollars for public education in North Carolina.

The structure of these schools has benefits. The financial backing a company provides offers stability, and management organizations bring refined curriculums and training programs, said Eddie Goodall, executive director of the Charlotte-based North Carolina Public Charter Schools Association. They also often have strong records of academic performance.

But other states with longer charter school track records have had problems. In many cases, the lack of transparency at their management companies has made it more difficult to detect issues. Among the examples:

▪ The founder of Bay City Academy in Michigan was convicted of three counts last month related to tax fraud for shuffling money intended for the charter school through his management business and personal accounts to avoid taxes.

▪ A charter school in Washington, D.C., had its charter revoked in Februaryafter authorities accused it of improperly shifting public money to the management company. D.C. charter school officials said they had a hard time obtaining financial records from the company. Earlier, D.C. officialshad accused another management company of receiving exorbitantly high prices for services at several charter schools.

▪ In New York, the Office of the State Comptroller sought to get informationfrom National Heritage Academies after saying state officials couldn’t determine how $10 million in taxpayer money was being used. The company refused to provide full financial reports. New York no longer allows new charter schools to contract with for-profit companies.

“Transparency is a serious issue,” said Gary Miron, a professor at Western Michigan University who has studied charter schools extensively. In Michigan, nearly 80 percent of charter schools are run by for-profit management companies. “Transparency laws would help, but they must invade the proprietary space of (management companies) because of the public need to know.”

‘Competitive disadvantage’

Charter school advocates say that as long as students receive a quality education, it doesn’t matter what type of organization runs the school. Company executives say the fees are needed to recoup substantial startup costs. Every school that a charter management company builds is one less that taxpayers fund in the public school system. The state doesn’t provide money for charter school buildings.

Management executives say that information such as profit margins and central office staff salaries are trade secrets that need to be private.

“It becomes a competitive disadvantage,” said Doug Haynes, president of Mastermind Prep and administrator of Rocky Mount Prep. A lawyerDisclosure differs for charter schools run by for-profit firms | The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer:

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article17402048.html#storylink=

Students wetting their pants at Success Academy charter schools - Business Insider

Students wetting their pants at Success Academy charter schools - Business Insider:

In NYC's top charter schools, students are reportedly so scared to take a break they wet their pants

Students at New York City's largest and arguably most powerful charter school system are reportedly facing a serious problem — wetting their pants during tests.

A recent New York Times story on Success Academy — a polarizing charter school network with 35 locations in the city — reports several instances of students who relieved themselves at their desk, rather than a school bathroom.

"Former staff members described students in third grade and above wetting themselves during practice tests, either because teachers did not allow them to go to the restroom ... or because the students themselves felt so much pressure that they did not want to lose time on the test," The Times reports.

One former teacher told The Times that she heard a Success Academy vice principal from another school "praise the dedication of a child who had wet his pants rather than take a break."

Additionally, two former staff members at another Success Academy school told The Times "that they recalled having to go to the supply closet to get extra underwear and sweatpants, which were always on hand, for students who had wet themselves."

Eva Moskowitz, the founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, disputed these reports, telling The Times that students are allowed to go to the bathroom during practice tests even though doing so isn't encouraged. These policies are in place, she explained to The Times, "to mimic the environment of the actual test."

"We have plenty of kids who don't always prepare adequately ... very occasionally there are accidents, and we get that it's uncomfortable for the student," Moskowitz told The Times.

The Success Academy CEO also attributed the "accidents" to "the challenges of sharing space in public school buildings, which meant the restrooms were sometimes several floors away," The Times reports.

In a statement sent to Business Insider, a Success Academy spokesperson said, "Success Academy has students go to bathroom before a test, just the way parents do before a long road trip. Sometimes, as happens at schools across America, kids have accidents."

The New York Times is not the first to report this problem.

In spring 2013, a commenter on a website on Success Academy Cobble Hill, who described themselves as a parent of a former first grade student, wrote that their child developed problems with going to the bathroom at the charter school:

We were hoping for academic rigor. Instead we found a school that was overly strict, cold, and insensitive to the overall needs of the young children entrusted in their care. My son

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/students-wetting-pants-success-academy-charter-schools-2015-4#ixzz3Wk8nOAXJ