The Equity Project

The New York Times recently profiled the new hires of The Equity Project, the Washington Heights (NYC) charter school that's opening next year with teachers making $125K plus bonuses.

Most of the discussions of this school in the press and on the web has been about the salary and "all-star" quality of the teachers. I certainly don't begrudge the teachers for making the salaries they do; I think all of us wish we could make money like that as teachers. Here are the questions that I'll be interested is seeing answered as the school gets off the ground next year.

• Will these teachers, some of whom aren't currently teaching in urban schools, be ready for the different challenges that they will face in this school? I think even the best teachers may not be ready to face the challenge of entire classes of kids way behind grade level if they haven't done it before. I hope, for their sake and the sake of the kids, that they're up for it.
• Will a staffing model that requires teachers to take on additional adminstrative burdens during or after their teaching day be successful? Can amazing teachers continue to be amazing when not fully focused on their classes? Will they be able to do everything that's being asked of them? Just paying them more doesn't give these teachers more hours in their already busy days. How many balls will be dropped as teachers try to balance their teaching and administrative duties (and personal lives)? I like that the administrators in my school make sure that we don't have too many extra burdens that take away from our teaching and work with kids.

I hope this school is successful ; I'd love to visit in a few years to see some amazing teaching.

Newsweek Rankings

The Newsweek ranking of top high schools is out, for what it's worth.

The top three Massachusetts schools (and the only 3 in the top 100) are all charter schools:

• #23 Sturgis Charter High School
• #84 MATCH Charter School
• #93 Mystic Valley Regional Charter School

Response to Menino Charter School Shift

The intial internet reponse to Mayor Menino's shift on charter schools is pretty harsh, but not from the usual sources. Typically, calls for more charter schools get out a fair mix of charter supporters and naysayers. This time, though, the response has been mainly anti-mayor, with only a little serious discussion of the merits of his proposal.

Here are the major lines of attack I'm seeing after perusing the web:

1. The mayor is doing this purely for political reasons. He's responding to positions taken by Yoon and Flaherty earlier in the week.
2. The mayor is a flip-flopper.
3. This isn't a serious proposal; he has no power to change state law and has no intention of actually pushing this idea. We're supposed to forget about this by 2010.
4. Why would new schools under the Boston School Committee do any better than the schools currently under their jurisdiction?
5. If the mayor is the incumbent and he's all about education, how come he's only taking this position after 16 year?

I think his biggest mistake is this quote: “The status quo doesn’t work in education.” The mayor's going to be regretting that one for a long time. Flaherty and Yoon will surely jump all over it, since they're campaigning on the fact that Menino has been around too long. Now, it seems like he's admitting that his tenure has not done enough for the schools.

I'm not sure who the mayor is trying to reach with a proposal that seems like either a more restrictive form of charter schools or a less restrictive form of pilot schools. It seems a little like Governor Patrick's Readiness Schools: a political calculation that admits the need for school choice but doesn't run the risk of losing teachers unions support by supporting existing, non-unionized charter schools.

In this case, it seems like none of the vested interest groups are particularly impressed. It's clear from Richard Stutman's quote in the Herald that the BTU is opposed. Supporters of lifting the charter school cap will be unimpressed by the "in-district" limitations.

From my point of view, it seems silly to try another type of school choice when we have a well-tested model just itching to expand and a copy-cat model that's been less successful.

UPDATE: The Globe article, an update on the orginal boston.com posting, includes quotes that echo some of the comments above. I find it interesting that Menino wants to allow the lowest performing schools in BPS to be turned into charter schools. I wonder which schools will be tapped for this program if it ever happens? A charter school in the building that currently houses Mildred Avenue Middle School would be awesome, though you know that will never happen. To echo Jim Stergios in the Globe article, why doesn't Menino move ahead with a plan to turn low perfoming school in BPS into Horace Mann charter schools?

Mayoral Candidate Tom Menino

In a shocker, Mayor Menino reversed his long-standing opposition to charter schools in a speech today. You can find coverage at the Globe and at bostonherald.com.

Some choice bits are reprinted below.

From The Globe:

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has for years expressed deep reservations about charter schools, abruptly shifted course today and said he is eager to open new ones in Boston to help transform the city's poorly performing schools.

In a speech to hundreds of chief executives, Menino said he would file state legislation that would allow the city to create "in-district" charter schools.

Unlike traditional charter schools, which Menino has argued drain money from traditional public schools, these charter schools would be established and controlled solely by the Boston School Committee. In a point sure to spark opposition from organized labor, the schools would not need to be unionized,
although the teachers could vote to form a union. Menino said the schools would
also have more flexible work hours and rules, in an attempt to attract better
teachers and tailor the school day to students' needs.

If the bill does not pass by the end of this legislative session -- July 31, 2010 -- Menino said he would call for lifting the overall cap on charter schools.

"The status quo won't work," Menino told a luncheon at the Boston Harbor Hotel of the Boston College Chief Executives' Club. "We've got to make real changes."

Observers said Menino's position represents a sharp reversal.

"I thought the ideas were good and a bit surprising," said former Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, who helped write the 1993 Education Reform Act that paved the way for the state’s first charter schools. "The mayor has been a long-time, major opponent of charter schools and I think this is an exciting propositon -- both the in-district charters and the affirmative commitment, if he can't get that legislation through, to eliminate the cap."

Menino's embrace of charter schools comes after his rivals in the mayor's race, City Councilors Michael F. Flaherty and Sam Yoon, released plans earlier this week that expressed support for more charter schools in Boston.

"Politically, it's extraordinary for the mayor of the city of Boston to come out for charter schools like this," Birmingham said.

From the Herald:

Mayor Thomas M. Menino proposed merit pay for teachers and in-district charter schools to boost student performance, but the teacher’s union is skeptical.

“The status quo doesn’t work in education,” Menino said following a speech to a group of business leaders at a Boston College Citizen Seminar today. “We want to raise underperforming schools, but we can’t get it done on pilot schools and advanced placement because of arbitration. Give me a break.”

In a plan short on details, Menino said he will seek legislative approval to authorize city-run charter schools free from union rules on hiring, budgeting and length of the school day. While the staff can unionize, he said, union approval will not be required to create the schools. If the legislation is not adopted on Beacon Hill, the mayor said will lift the cap on charter schools.

Menino did not know how much the schools would cost, or how many would be
created. But he said the Obama administration is making $5 billion available under a competitive grant program through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act that could fund the idea.

(Richard) Stutman (BTU President) also noted that the union continues to oppose charter schools. “We already have well-functioning schools in the city of Boston and we are not against talking about improving those schools,” he said. “But we oppose charter schools.”

Mayoral Candidate Sam Yoon

Last week, the Roslindale Transcript carried a column from Sam Yoon blasting the BPS five-zone proposal and Mayor Menino, and laying out his position on education. He's supporting a number of positions, including one on charter schools:

"Create “Smart Caps” on charter schools. If we’re going to be innovative about education in Boston, we need to encourage the innovators who have a proven record of success. We have some of the country’s best model charter schools. Keeping a lid on them makes no sense. We should lift the cap for successful pilot and charter schools."

Later this week, Yoon going to run with this "Smart Cap" proposal as seen in this press release on his campaign website:

Yoon Proposes “Smart Caps” on Charter Schools
Calls for Increase in Funding Limits for Effective Schools
June 8, 2009

BOSTON- City Councilor-at-Large and mayoral candidate Sam Yoon will propose legislation on Wednesday that would lift the funding cap on high-performing charter schools in Boston.

“We need fresh and innovative thinking for our public schools, which is why I’m calling for ‘smart caps,’” said Yoon. “We have a faltering education system, but many of our charter schools have a proven record of success in closing the achievement gap. By increasing funding for our top charter schools, we can substantially improve the quality of Boston’s public education.”

Yoon’s proposal calls for a “smart cap,” which raises the spending limits on those charter schools that have a proven, multi-year record of high achievement. The state currently limits spending on charter schools to 9% of a school district’s budget. At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Yoon will submit a home-rule petition that calls on the state legislature to increase limits on high-performing schools to 20%.

A smart cap would allow successful charter schools to accommodate more students by expanding their campuses and hiring additional teachers. Certain schools are already inundated with more applicants than they have seats. Last year, the Edward W. Brooke Charter School in Roslindale received 1,100 student applications for only 100 openings.

Yoon said the popularity and success of some charter schools should send a message to lawmakers.

“The need for more quality choice is clear,” said Yoon. “If charter schools are successful we should allow them to replicate their success.”

Update:
You can watch Yoon discuss his position on a Smart Cap with Jon Keller of WBZ here. The part on charter schools is about 6 minutes into the 8 minute piece.

Mayoral Candidate Michael Flaherty

Mayoral candidates are starting to take positions on education, in general, and charter schools, specifically.

Michael Flaherty's position was outlined in the Globe today. He also opposes the five-zone proposal and supports charter school expansion.

On charter schools, the article says,

"Flaherty's support for more charter schools also runs counter to the position of Menino, who has long argued that the funding formula for charters is unfair. For each student who attends a charter school, a portion of state aid gets redirected from the city school system to the charter school. Boston is near the state's maximum limit of allowed in the city, and Flaherty said the city needs to convince the Legislature that it should raise the limit."*

More from Flaherty can be found at his campaign website in his education policy paper. The charter school position is copied below in it's entirety.

"Certainly, there are conflicting opinions as to what is the best strategy to ensure that our children receive a strong and quality education. But we all lose if we can’t come together to agree that no one approach works for every student. While the idea of school choice is often talked about, we shortchange that discussion when we can’t commit ourselves to the belief that real school choice can only happen when we allow money to follow the child. Michael supports continued investment in our city’s charter schools because he recognizes the valuable learning opportunities they provide to Boston’s students.

Many critics of charter schools have charged that the success in charter schools has more to do with demographics than curriculum design and implementation. However, a breakthrough January 2009 study by The Boston Foundation debunked the myth that high student performanceat charter schools is a result of student “pedigree” and not innovative teaching practices. The study controlled for the intangible factors of parent involvement and student motivation by tracking the MCAS scores over time of two groups of charter school applicants who either enrolled at a charter or attended BPS. The results revealed that the charter school students outperformed the BPS students, particularly in middle school math. Advocates for charter schools believe this study highlights that the curriculums and policies of charter schools – not student demographics – are the reason for high student performance at charters.

Many charter schools, including our own MATCH, the Neighborhood House Charter School and the national KIPPS schools have strong records of success. Ignoring the successes of these charter schools handicaps our ability to improve the quality of education available to Boston students. The city of Boston must work with the State Legislature to raise the current cap on charter schools so that underperforming districts such as BPS have the opportunity to expand parents’ choice of quality public schools."

The Globe's Scott Lehigh was high on Flaherty's education position (and not much else) in his column last week.

"Flaherty's support for more charter schools also runs counter to the position of Menino, who has long argued that the funding formula for charters is unfair. For each student who attends a charter school, a portion of state aid gets redirected from the city school system to the charter school.

Boston is near the state's maximum limit of allowed in the city, and Flaherty said the city needs to convince the Legislature that it should raise the limit."

*Note: The portion of aid that is redirected is the per pupil allotment that is attached to every student. Since BPS no longer is educating charter school students, their funding no longer goes to BPS. In fact, BPS gets partially "reimbursed" for 3 years after a student leaves the district and moved to a charter school."

Valedictorians

Congrats to the graduates of 2009! The valedictorians of the Boston charter schools were listed in the Globe on Sunday.

• Academy of the Pacific Rim: Sabrina Hansen, Tufts University
• Boston Collegiate: Laura Saniuk-Heinig, Cornell University
• City on a Hill: Tiffany Egbuonu, Bryn Mawr College
• Health Career Academy: Melissa Rocha, University of Rochester
• MATCH: Sabbanie Montfleury, Boston College

Codman Academy was noticeably absent from the list. If anyone knows why, I'd love to hear about it.