Monday, November 15, 2010

Entropy, Architecture and Schools

So I read this op-ed in the Globe today and it got under my skin. But rather than go on the offensive and try to refute the subtle digs at charter schools or poke holes in her argument, I thought I'd take a different tack. 


In her essay, Ms. Yearwood argues that she chooses to teach in a district school because it lacks
"'good' teachers, rigorous curricula, strict and consistently enforced codes of discipline, high expectations, and a host of other attributes needed for academic success."  She feels that she needs to stay behind to fight the good fight for the kids who don't get these things, which "are all the characteristics the education experts and pundits agree that the public school, where I chose to teach, lacks." 

So here's my question: why doesn't her school have those attributes of successful schooling?  The easy answer is entropy.  The universe, as we all know, tends towards disorder. This is the concept of entropy. So how does this relate to schools?  Well, it's a lot harder to keep a school orderly than to keep it in disorder.  But there are schools that establish order.  So, how come it isn't possible at English High?
 
I am going to argue that the issue isn't teachers, administrators, kids or parents, in isolation.  The problem is a lack of will to enforce order upon the school by the group working in collaboration.
 
Here's an imperfect metaphor - building an orderly school is like building a building with the following parts:
 
Administrators - architects
Teachers - contractors
Parents - suppliers
Students - building materials

Just as building materials will never assemble themselves without a contractor and architect, so too will students fail to learn without their teachers and administrators.  This is the core tragedy of the battles between administrators and teachers in district schools.    If architects and contractors aren't on the same page, there are bound to be a lot of wasted materials and a lot of structurally unsound buildings.  The same is true if you swap administrators for architects, teachers for contractors and students for materials.  I don't buy the fact that issue is the kids; rather the adults need to get their issues figured out if a school will be orderly.  When the battles are over money, it's awfully hard to get the adults in the same room to figure out how to make the house get built even if the end goal is the same. 

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Essential "Stuff"

I visited Pierce Middle School in Milton yesterday.  Every classroom and some common spaces are equipped with SMART boards.  On the other hand, I tried to set up a visit to the Curley K-8 in Boston.  Though it was a no-go, I learned that their teachers and staff don't have voicemail.  Don't know if this is true across the district, but I imagine it hamstrings the teachers in communicating with parents in a major way!

At Brooke, we don't have SMART boards, but we do have voicemail (and laptops, individual phones (classroom and/or office), and easy access to many supplies, photocopies, etc. 

Here's what I'm wondering.  If you were to start up a school right now, what would be the top 10 supplies/technology necessary to allow you or your teachers to be productive?

Revving the Engine

It's been over a year since I've blogged and in the interim, there's been a new addition to family.  Now, I'm getting the itch to get back to it.  I can't promise I'll be able to find the time, but we'll see!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Roslindale Mom Investigates School Options

A newish blog called Braving the BPS Lottery, written by a Roslindale mom, is tackling the drama of figuring out how to pick a public school in Boston for her little one. Geeky Mom, as she refers to herself, is exploring different options, including, it seems, charter schools. The writing is solid, and I'm guessing it will be interesting to follow the process from the perspective of a parent. She also does a nice job of keeping a calendar of upcoming events for those parents starting to investigate and enroll kids in schools. You can find the blog here.

RadioBoston Talks Charters

RadioBoston, the weekly WBUR show, featured the charter school debate as their main piece yesterday (with a nice piece on Camp Harbor View, where a number of my studens went this summer, to wrap up the hour). Not much new for those in the know, but a good overview of the arguments on both sides for newbies. A couple of quick thoughts:

No appearance by BTU president Richard Stutman. He declined to appear, which is odd since he normally takes any chance to attack charter schools. I'm curious if anyone knows why he would have sat this one out.

While there was lots of support from Paul Grogan of the Boston Foundation, and Mitchell Chester from the DESE, there was very thin coverage of actual charter schools. There was a small bit on Edward W. Brooke Charter School in Roslindale, including a short interview with guestblogger Kimberly Steadman, and a teacher. However, there was no appearance by Jim Peyser, who is leading the ballot initiative to lift the cap, Marc Kenan, from the Charter School Association, or any other actual charter schools.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Candidate Analysis

The September 22nd primary is coming up fast, so it seems like a good time to see where the candidates for Mayor and City Councillor sit in regards to charter schools.

Mayoral Race

The incumbent, Mayor Tom Menino, is proposing an expansion of charter schools that would be run by the Boston Schools Committee. His plan allows the BSC to take over the lowest performing schools in the district and convert them to charter schools with new leadership and no unionized teachers.

Sam Yoon supports lifting the cap under a proposal that he refers to as a "smart cap." This model, which he pushed before Gov. Deval Patrick picked up the idea, would only allow high achieving schools to replicate.

Michael Flaherty supports lifting the charter school cap, among many other school reform ideas. Flaherty references the Harvard charter/pilot school study in this campaign literature.

Kevin McCrea does not support lifting the cap on charter schools.

City Councillor At Large

There are a lot of candidates, so I'll group them by their positions, or lack thereof:

Supports Expansion
John Connolly (Incumbent)
Robert Fortes
Sean Ryan - also supports vouchers

Supports
Ego Ezedi
Hiep Nguyen

No Comment
Felix G. Arroyo
Doug Bennett
Tomas Gonzalez
Tito Jackson
Andrew Kenneally
Stephen Murphy
Ayanna Pressley
Jean-Claude Sanon
Bill Trabucco
Scotland Willis

Kennedy to be Honored (Perhaps)

Health Careers Academy, a Boston Horace Mann charter school, will be renamed after Senator Kennedy, pending approval by the state Board of Ed.