No Safe Passage... Guzzardi kicks off campaign... The face of poverty in Chicago

No Safe Passage for Javier

A 14-year-old boy was shot in the back outside a Chicago high school in the city's Ashburn neighborhood Thursday night after his mother said he denied having gang ties when confronted by a group of boys with a gun. Carmelita Rice told police her son, Javier Cameron, was passing by outside Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy around 7:45 p.m. Thursday to walk two girls home.  -- Huff Post Chicago

Guzzardi Campaign Kick-off

Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown calls it "the race to watch" in Chicago and he's right on.

Will Guzzardi is up against the bloated power of Chicago's Democratic Party Machine. He's taking on pension grabber, Toni Berrios, the daughter of corrupt Party boss Joe Berrios.  He's also got Boss Madigan reportedly pressuring local pols to stay away from his campaign. But Guzzardi has shown he is a fighter, having come within 150 votes of knocking off Berrios in the last election. This time around, he's gained some campaign experience, broadened his base and has an army of young activists working the neighborhoods. He also got strong support from City Council's Progressive Caucus members like Scott Waguespack and John Arena who spoke at his campaign kick-off last night in Logan Square.

If Guzzardi can knock off Berrios in the 39th legislative election, things will be looking even worse for Rahm & Co. in the next mayor's race.

The face of poverty in Chicago

This study really caught my eye as I have been doing a lot of work recently in a predominantly African-American and low-income Chicago southern suburb. Lots of transplanted kids and families from Chicago's demolished public housing. More families with out-of-work parents in the wake of deindustrialization and economic crisis.

The numbers are from a recent study by the Social IMPACT Research Center, a program of the Chicago-based social service and advocacy non-profit Heartland Alliance. The study found a 50/50 split between low-income people who live in the city and in the suburbs, compared to a 66/34 split in 1990.

New Report Rips Race To Top

President Barack Obama's signature education initiative, the Race to the Top competition, is "impossible" at best and damaging at worst, argues a new, Broader Bolder (EPI) report. The authors's critique is strong but they are also little too diplomatic for my tastes, trying to find the bright side of RTTT and appealing to Obama to think about his personal "legacy." Good luck on that one.

Quote of the day

It comes from O2COOL exec Keith Jaffee whose company donated some 33,000 hand-held fans for distribution to Chicago's overheated students, victims of 100 degree temps and Rahm's longer-school-day dogma. Instead of closing schools or dismissing kids early, the mayor had some 17,000 hand-held fans distributed to kids in schools with no A/C. Shortly after the fans were distributed at Smyser Elementary School, where only the upper grades have air conditioning, a 6-year-old’s hair got caught in her fan and her teacher had to cut it out,

The quote:

“It was done with no connection to the mayor,” Jaffee said. “We had merchandise that we wanted to donate. It was a hot couple of days. … (So) we were like, ‘What the heck, let's just give it to the schools.'

Jaffee is also on the board of the International Housewares Assoc. and was formerly CEO of Focus Products Group International, LLC

The Tribune reports that Emanuel's campaign fund has accepted $35,000 in recent years from people tied to O2COOL, which provided the fans. In January, Linda Usher, an O2COOL executive, donated $5,000 to Chicago for Rahm Emanuel.

BBA study shows market-driven reform is a bust

"Most of the students who would have attended the closed (NYC) high schools were not admitted to the smaller schools but went to other large comprehensive high schools, "which consequently became academically overwhelmed, making them additional targets for closure.'" -- Broader, Bolder Study

I got my copy of the BBA study yesterday, hot off the press. It won't be available on-line until April 18.

"You need to read this," NYU prof, Pedro Noguera, a speaker at the Reframing Reform Conference, said, as he handed me a copy of, "Market-oriented education reforms' rhetoric trumps reality."  So I did. Anything about trumping reality, especially early on a Monday morning, will catch my attention. Pedro was right. It was worth the read.

For those of you who aren't avid readers of ed research, here's the gist of it. The corporate-style reforms which have become the new status quo in urban districts under mayoral control like Chicago, New York, and D.C. "have delivered few benefits and in some cases harm the students they purport to help, while drawing attention and resources away from policies with real promise..."

Among the key findings:

• Test scores increased less, and achievement gaps grew more in "reform" cities than in other urban districts.
• Reported successes for targeted students evaporated upon closer examination.
• Test-based accountability prompted churn that thinned the ranks of experienced teachers, but not necessarily bad teachers. 
• School closures did not send students to better schools or save school districts money.
• Charter schools further disrupted the districts while providing mixed benefits, particularly for the highest-needs students. 
• Emphasis on the widely touted market-oriented reforms drew attention and resources from initiatives with greater promise.
• The reforms missed a critical factor driving achievement gaps: the influence of poverty on academic performance. 

For those of you who follow this blog, none of this will come as a surprise. The findings are pretty much in sync and reaffirm reports from our CReATE group in Chicago, and The National Education Policy Center (NEPC). But nevertheless, this BBA report is significant in its scope, currency, and because of the access the group has to policy makers. After all, Arne Duncan himself, was one of the signers of BBA's founding statement. 

Of course, it's questionable what effect, if any, the mounds of education research have when weighted against the policy agendas and big money of the corporate reformers and power philanthropists. But we have to believe that the truth will set us free. Right?

Valerie Strauss at the Answer Sheet has more on the BBA study in today's Washington Post. 

Noguera: School reform is community reform

BBA's project in Newark

In the new issue of Kappan, Pedro Noguera describes the theory and practice behind a Broader, Bolder Approach (BBA) initiative in Newark which links community-based reform with the anti-poverty struggle. BBA has been working in seven schools in Newark's Central Ward (six kindergarten through 8th-grade schools and one large comprehensive high school).

According to Noguera, they have introduced school-based interventions in response to the issues and challenges presented in this high-poverty area. Through these interventions, social services, and a concerted effort to increase civic engagement, BBA is working to ensure that environmental hardships related to poverty don't undermine efforts to transform schools. With funding from the Ford, Victoria, and Prudential foundations, the BBA effort commenced two years before the $100-million donation from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg came to Newark.

BBA's approach has critics and opponents, writes Noguera including an unusual combination of prominent public figures like former chancellor of New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, former House Republican leader Newt Gingrich, and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton. They argue in support of the principles of NCLB, such as standards-based reform and accountability through high-stakes testing. The also  charge that shift the focus of school reform toward reducing poverty or improving the health and welfare of children is using poverty as "an excuse."  Despite its critics, writes Noguera, the BBA strategy is moving forward and gaining momentum as an array of stakeholders across the country agree to support it.

While expecting a single school to counter the effects of poverty on its own is unrealistic, a small but growing number of American schools are finding ways to reduce some of the effects. Mitigation is not the same as solving a problem, but it’s nonetheless an important strategy for schools to employ.

Read Noguera's entire Kappan article here:  http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/3/8.full.pdf+html

Broader and Bolder...

The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education campaign (BBA), has announced it is preparing for new debates around re-authorization of "No Child Left Behind" (the Elementary and Secondary Education Act). NCLB has continued to be in force despite the clear lack of improved student outcomes and the law's expiration four years ago. Whether Congress engages this year in the long-overdue reauthorization process or again defers action, BBA says it will be a vocal participant in the debate.

BBA also announced the appointment of Elaine Weiss as its National Coordinator.

Ms. Weiss will be a regular spokesperson for BBA, will be our leading public advocate, and will direct public forums and media events that advance the campaign agenda. Elaine Weiss comes to BBA from the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she served as project manager for Pew's Partnership for America’s Economic Success campaign. Ms. Weiss is an attorney, a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School, and will receive a Ph.D. in public policy from the George Washington University in May, 2011. She is a member of the Center for Disease Control's task force on child abuse, and has served as volunteer counsel for clients at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.

In my mailbox

To: Supporters of the campaign for a Broader, Bolder Approach to Education (BBA).
From: BBA Co-Chairs Helen Ladd, Pedro Noguera, and Tom Payzant
Date: August 4, 2010
Re:      
     Job Search for BBA Coordinator;
     Civil Rights Groups Criticize Administration Policy
     Media Coverage of BBA Newark Pilot Site
 
1. We have now secured funding from several foundations that permits us to hire a full time national coordinator for the BBA campaign. By filling this position, we hope to expand our efforts to persuade policymakers that education improvement must be complemented by improvements in the socioeconomic conditions impeding children's ability to benefit from what schools can offer (particularly the lack of high-quality early childhood services, limited access to routine and preventive health care, and the unavailability of high-quality programs for out-of-school time); and that schools accountability for providing a quality education cannot be defined primarily by standardized tests of basic skills, but most include a holistic qualitative review of schools' resources and outcomes.

A job description for this new position is now on our website at: http://www.boldapproach.org/BBA%20Job%20Description%20announcement%200810.pdf
If you know of anyone who would be suitable for this position, please urge him or her to apply, and let us know of your recommendation as well.

2. An important statement was issued last week by a coalition of civil rights organizations, criticizing Administration education policies for failing to provide sufficient resources (opportunities to learn) to schools serving disadvantaged children, while demanding that these schools perform at high levels. The statement calls attention to the Administration's shifting of funds from formula grants to competitive grants that benefit only a minority of children whose schools are in need of additional resources, while allowing the majority of disadvantaged children to languish in schools that have insufficient resources.

The statement also critiques other aspects of the Administration's education policy, and aligns itself with BBA's call for schools that are rooted in their communities and provide "wraparound services."
Until now, the civil rights groups have been hesitant to publicly criticize the Administration's education policies, despite private misgivings. The significance of this new statement is that the groups have apparently given up hope that private discussions alone can dissuade the Administration from its present course.

The civil rights groups that sponsored this statement include: Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law, National Action Network, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., National Council for Educating Black Children, National Urban League, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Schott Foundation for Public Education.

The civil rights group's statement can be found at: http://www.otlcampaign.org/sites/default/files/resources/CivilRights%20framework-FINAL7-25-10.pdf

3. Another important statement was also issued last week by a coalition of community organizations in minority and low-income communities, pulled together by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. This statement also denounces the Administration's education program, focusing on the failure of the Administration's school turnaround strategies to involve parents and other community representatives in decisions about drastic measures to turn around schools deemed to be low performing. The statement observes that the Administration's policies are "both time-tested and flawed." It insists that low-performance is not solely attributable to school quality, because "both internal and external obstacles" contribute to this low performance: "The Administration's interventions lay the burden of failure on the schools themselves, and do not encourage an analysis of other factors that may be contributing to poor performance." The coalition's statement can be found at: http://www.ceps-ourschools.org/pdfs/Communities_Left_Behind.pdf
The combination of BBA, the civil rights statement, and the Annenberg statement can add new momentum to efforts to chart a more reasonable framework for the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act over the next year.

4. For over a year, BBA Co-chair Pedro Noguera has led an effort to demonstrate, in a pilot project in Newark, NJ., that BBA principles can be effective. An article in the New York Times recently described this effort. In the long run, we hope to establish a few more pilot projects along these lines, in other cities and in other parts of the country. The Times article is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/education/26newark.html

A NEW VISION FOR SCHOOL REFORM

Pedro Noguera is guest editor at The Nation, for the magazine's special issue on education. His editorial offers a sharp critique of current administration policies as well as a way out.

Before his election President Obama carved out what many regarded as a more progressive and enlightened position on education reform. Recognizing that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) had become widely unpopular because of its overemphasis on standardized tests, he declared, "Don't tell us that the only way to teach a child is to spend too much of the year preparing him to fill out a few bubbles in a standardized test." He pledged to lead the nation in a different direction. We are still waiting for a change of course...

READ THE REST HERE.

Punching a marshmallow

I just listened to the most incredible discussion on KCRW Public Radio. It was ostensibly a debate about Race-To-The-Top between Arne Duncan's PR guy, Peter Cunningham and former NYT ed writer and current leader of the Broader, Bolder Approach (BBA) Richard Rothstein.

But there was no debate. The articulate Rothstein did a great job in exposing RTTT's use of testing; its narrowing of the curriculum to a focus on math and reading to the exclusion of everything else; its forcing states to allow more charter schools while ignoring the research giving no credence to that approach. RTTT is in many ways worse than NCLB. And on it went.

When it came Cunningham's chance to respond, he could do little but agree with each and every one of Rothstein's points. Not even a minimal defense of RTTT on principle. Yes, he said, Rothstein is right. Our testing mania is doing all the negative things Rothstein claims. But since testing is the name of the game unfortunately, we are going to continue to rely on standardized testing and in fact do more of it, and with national standards to boot. Yes, Rothstein is right about charters. We know there are lots of bad charters, no better than the schools they were supposed to replace. But we are going to mandate more anyway. Yes, Rothstein is right about our narrowing of the curriculum. Maybe we can undo it in the future. And so it went.

Like trying to punch a marshmallow.

What they say vs. what they do

The road to NCLB re-authorization

EPI's Richard Rothstein, one of the leaders of the Broader Bolder Approach (BBA), lays out the big conundrum that is the Obama administration's approach to NCLB authorization. In his attempt to give Obama and Arne Duncan the benefit of the doubt, Rothstein pulls up every critical quote and campaign statement denouncing the school-blaming, testing-madness that is NCLB.

He [Duncan] has criticized NCLB's requirement that, rather than improve schools where test scores are inadequate, students are instead told to transfer out. In his September speech calling for re-authorization, Duncan charged that the NCLB system is “not education" but “game-playing tied to bad tests with the wrong goals...But the conversion of America's schools into testing factories has now made NCLB so unpopular that the law's name, again in Duncan's words, has become "toxic."

And on and on...

"If Duncan sticks to these principles," says Rothstein, "the worst of NCLB will be behind us, although designing a new federal education policy will take us well beyond 2010."

But in practice, he writes, Duncan is taking "the wrong approach."

If standardized test-based accountability is doing the damage that Duncan has identified, it makes no sense to exacerbate that damage by continuing to rely on these tests to monitor progress. Such reliance will make it even harder to rescue American education in the future.

The latest on BBA

I was beginning to wonder when and if the Broader Bolder Approach (BBA) group was going to gather some momentum. But now they seem to be on the move and fighting for a seat at an education policy table thus far dominated by conservative opponent Education Equity Project (EEP). That group, led by N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg, Al Sharpton, and Newt Gingrich, favors privatization and wants even greater emphasis on standardized testing. Until now, they have had the closest ties with Ed Sec. Arne Duncan and the greatest influence on DOE policy initiatives like Race To The Top.

A update issued today by co-chairs Co-Chairs Helen Ladd, Pedro Noguera, Tom Payzant, details BBA's early progress. It includes the BBA report, issued in June, which maintains that the burden of school reform cannot be shouldered by schools alone and that test scores alone cannot represent a true measure of school success or failure. BBA calls for a policy approach with combines school improvement with improvements in family living conditions, including early childhood care and education, health, and out-of-school time. Duncan and his staff received a briefing on the report and asked BBA leaders to follow it up with specific recommendations.

According to the latest update, BBA has responded to the request with specifics on improvement of tests and their use and on how Race To The Top funds should be used to improve schools and the lives of children. Recently, BBA Accountability committee members Linda Darling-Hammond, Dennis Van Roekel, Richard Rothstein, and Diane Ravitch promoted the BBA report at the National Journal's web site.

It's not just about testing

"There’s more to good education than math and reading scores," says Rich Rothstein, in an Edweek commentary well worth the read. Rothstein is one of the voices calling for a Broader, Bolder Approach to education. Here, he finds some areas of common ground with Barack Obama around testing issues and critique of NCLB. He also makes the case that neither schools nor teachers should be held accountable for scores alone.

Quotables

It's an illusion

The stark conclusion: Nothing that Paul Vallas or Arne Duncan did in the last 15 years has had any significant effect on the number of CPS students who can read and write acceptably and do arithmetic, fractions and elementary algebra easily. It's all an illusion. (Bill Sweetland, Huffington)

Duncan on the education business

Q & A with the Chicago Tribune:

Q Why include business in the policy debate about public education? A We all need to work together on this stuff, business leaders and educators. Everyone's mutual interests are absolutely aligned.
Q Business leaders want reform but don't want to pay for it, right?
A No; there's been unbelievable generosity, not just in resources but in ideas. We've had a great relationship with the Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable. I've met with a number of CEOs.

Disconnected youth

The costs of leaving six million young adults completely out of the economy and bereft of hope are going to be dangerously high. Everyone recognizes that this population is inevitably a source of crime. Currently, New York State has 60,000 people incarcerated and 23,000 on parole and the fifth highest recidivism rate in the country. It destroys individuals, their victims, and their families (David Jones, President and CEO, Community Service Society of New York).

The Broader, Bolder Report

As the battle around NCLB re-authorization heats up, the question remains of whether there will be substantial changes made in the old test-and-punish law or simply a cosmetic name change.

A new report from the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education (BBA) Campaign makes a strong case for making substantial changes. For example, it calls for using multiple measures and better tests when it comes to assessing kids, teachers, and schools. BBA wants the feds to rely more on the an expanded National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) and test kids on a broader range of academic subjects, including the arts, physical health and fitness, citizenship habits, and other necessary knowledge and skills.

Barack Obama appears to generally favor the BBA line on testing--which would be a significant break from the Bush/NCLB era. At a town hall meeting in Green Bay earlier this month Obama reiterated his call from last year’s campaign:

“If all we're doing is testing and then teaching to the test, that doesn't assure that we're actually improving educational outcomes. We do need to have accountability, however. We do need to measure progress with our kids. Maybe it's just one standardized test, plus portfolios of work that kids are doing, plus observing the classroom.”

In another major break from the NCLB approach and from the line of the more conservative think tankers, BBA's report continues to make their case that schools alone, can't be expected to overcome the effects of poverty and historic racial discrimination on the so-called achievement gap.

Ironically, conservatives at the Fordham Institute claim they find the BBA approach, "eminently sensible". But Fordham's Mike Petrilli only tips his hat to the report after mistakenly claiming that BBA has moved away from its previous focus on economic and social equity issues. Writes Petrilli:

That's a big surprise, for in the past this coalition has appeared eager to refight old battles about whether schools can be expected to help poor kids reach high standards.

Petrilli had better read the report more carefully. BBA still appears to be fighting the "old battle" which the report's authors call the "fundamental challenge facing America's education policymakers." Amen!

I wasn't invited

No, I wasn't even asked to give my suggestions when the most powerful philanthro-capitalists gathered in N.Y. May 5th for a secret meeting about the current global financial meltdown. All of my favorites were there, including, Bill, Oprah, Warren, Mike and Eli. According to one report, each billionaire was given 15 minutes to deliver a presentation on how they saw the future global economic climate, the future priorities for philanthropy, and what they felt the elite group should do. I'm glad I wasn't there. I mean, what can you say in 15 minutes?

Illinois Senate passes school-closing bill 53-0-5

They passed a modified version of Cynthia Soto's bill that creates a Chicago Education Facilities Task Force to review the city’s school closing and construction policies and recommend new rules to govern facility decisions by Chicago Public Schools leaders. The vote was a real blow to CPS chief Huberman and Mayor Daley who each sent troops to Springfield to lobby against the bill. Don Moore, one of the bill’s architects and executive director of Designs for Change, said he expects the House to accept the Senate’s changes soon, possibly by next week. The governor would then have 60 days to sign or veto the bill.

BBA vs. EEP

Diane Ravitch responds to Deb Meier at Bridging Differences:

You are right to take issue with Brooks for treating the "miracle school" as a vindication of Joel Klein and Al Sharpton's Education Equality Project. EEP insists that schools alone—with no support from other institutions—can close the achievement gap. This is claptrap. The Broader Bolder Agenda (which we both signed) has steadfastly maintained that the gap won't close without addressing the need of children for improvements in health care and the well-being of their families. The Harlem Children's Zone was created to address these needs, and to place schooling in the context of families and communities.

Weekend Reads

Harlem school's successes were "no miracle" says Noguera

Posting as a guest on Gotham Schools, Pedro Noguera counter punches with NYT's conservative columnist David Brooks , "The Harlem Miracle," and makes mincemeat out of his arguments. Brooks had claimed that the jump in test scores at the Promise Academy school within the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) had "completely eliminated the black-white achievement gap," a affirmation of Joel Klein's conservative "no excuses" faction (EEP).

In fact, argues Noguera, who co-directs the Broader and Bolder Approach (BBA) policy coalition, the gains made by children at the school and within Geoffrey Canada's HCZ are attributable to a combination of quality education and a focus on their social and emotional needs.

The Promise Academy, praised by David Brooks, is a wonderful school, but it is not unique and hardly a “miracle.” There are several schools in Harlem and other parts of New York where poor children are achieving at high levels. Many of these are charter schools, but some are public and private schools. In most cases, these schools succeed not because they impart middle class values, (there is very little evidence that the middle class is the only group that values hard work and courteous behavior) but because of high academic expectations and a clear, coherent approach to educating children. Most importantly, these schools succeed because they also address social, health and psychological needs of the children and families they serve.

BTW, what happened to the giant EEP rally?

Organizers didn't say which five cities were going to be part of the education tour. Sharpton energized the crowd, leading a few hundred drizzle-kissed onlookers in the familiar chant: "No justice! No Peace!" (Daily News)

Brother Fred writes:

What if the Education Equality Project bunch call a rally and nobody shows? Rotherham predicted 40,000. Oops.

The boundaries of school reform

James Forman, Jr. reviews two book and reflects on KIPP and the Harlem Children's Zone

Before KIPP, there was Harlem’s Central Park East, which flourished under Deborah Meier’s leadership in the 1980s and 1990s. For many years, Central Park East was the icon of “what works” in inner-city education, and Meier’s account of the school in The Power of Their Ideas remains one of the wisest books ever written about teaching. But Central Park East did not revolutionize education, because efforts to transplant what worked there into schools with different cultures and less-skilled educators often failed. (Boston Review).

Poverty's fallout

New study confirms damaging effects on brain development

Yesterday's WaPo reports on the latest research showing the damaging effects of poverty on childrens' cognitive development and especially on "working memory." The new studies provide more and deeper understanding of why poor kids tend to lag behind on standardized tests and why conditions in the community may have a greater impact on measurable learning outcomes than anything that happens in the classroom.

The findings indicate that education standards and other government policies that aim to improve poor children's performance in school should consider the stress they are experiencing at home, Evans said. "It's not just 'Read to our kids and take them to the library,' " he said. "We need to take into account that chronic stress takes a toll not only on their health, but it may take a toll on their cognitive functioning."

American Prospect and Matt Yglesias picked up the story. Dana Goldstein at Prospect writes:

All this suggests that the coalition of education experts that calls itself the Broader, Bolder Approach was barking up the right tree during election season, when it formed to discuss how poverty and inequality deplete student academic achievement. It was another education reform effort, however -- the Education Equality Project -- that created the bigger media splash.

But Goldstein doesn't quite get why BBA and EEP just can't get along.

There is no reason, of course, why a societal approach to alleviating poverty can't go hand in hand with support for charter schools and greater innovation in how to recruit, train, and pay teachers.

That systhesis between school improvement and improving the lives of children at home is exactly what BBA's Richard Rothstein, Pedro Noguera and others have been arguing for. But EEP leaders continue to play the one-note of testing madness begun under NCLB and won't move from their "no excuses" "work harder" arguments.

Broader, Bolder forum in D.C.

New Directions in Accountability Policy for Education

Thursday, February 26, 3-5 PM
[RSVP below]

With the controversy surrounding No Child Left Behind, there is hunger in the policy community for a viable alternative to make schools and other institutions of youth development accountable for delivering high-quality education. But when it comes to accountability, many people know what they are against; few know what they are for.

At this forum, leaders of the campaign for A Broader Bolder Approach to Education (BBA) will present and discuss proposals for new accountability systems, recommended for consideration to the Obama administration and state governments.

Presenters will include these BBA leaders:

• Christopher Cross, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (1989-91)
• Daniel Koretz, author of Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us
• Susan B. Neuman, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (2001-03)
• Tom Payzant, BBA co-chair, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (1993-1995)
• Diane Ravitch (via video), former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education (1991-1993)
• Richard Rothstein, author of Grading Education, Getting Accountability Right
• Robert Schwarz, Academic Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and founding president, Achieve
• Warren Simmons, Executive Director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform

DATE: Thursday, February 26, 2009, from 3:00-5:00 PM

PLACE: Economic Policy Institute, 1333 H Street, NW, East Tower, Suite 300, Washington, DC (near McPherson Square Metro and Metro Center)

RSVP: Space is limited, so please click here to reserve your seat today.

Co-chairs of A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education
Helen F. Ladd (Duke University)
Pedro Noguera (New York University)
Tom Payzant (Harvard Graduate School of Education)

Why we should feed hungry kids

It boosts test scores (thank goodness), say Harvard researchers:

"In terms of producing good outcomes for kids, it's hard to find a better investment than the school breakfast program," says J. Larry Brown, visiting scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health and senior author of the November report, "Impact of School Breakfast on Children's Health and Learning."The study cites the far-ranging benefits of having students show up for classes with their bellies full: increased attendance, standardized test scores, and grades; decreased classroom disruptions and trips to the school nurse.

I wonder how much that study cost?

Some summit…

I just finished reading U.S.News’ account of their summit on “The Future of High School Reform.” Here’s the story’s lead:

“In October, a panel of experts discussed the future of high school reform at the first U.S. News and Intel education summit held at the National Press Club in Washington. Led by moderator Andrew Rotherham, cofounder of the Education Sector think tank and author of the Eduwonk blog, the panleists (their spelling-MK) discussed everything from the impact of charter schools to the future of No Child Left Behind.”

Leaving aside for a moment, the question of the expertise of the panelists (expert usually = white, male, teacher-free & politically aligned), the words No Child Left Behind are never uttered by any of them. Strange.

Also left out of the discussion is any mention of real-life, out of school conditions of students and their families, or the vast inequities in funding and educational programs and resources between inner-city high schools and those in wealthy communities.

******

In a side bar, there’s an interview with N.Y. Chancellor Joel Klein who is smart enough to mention NCLB (he wants even more testing) and pay some lip service to the lives of urban kids (“urban cities are not working, and they're particularly not working for kids that grew up in poverty, kids of color, recent immigrants”). But he takes no responsibility on himself or his boss, Mayor Bloomberg, for the “not working part” and seems stuck in the business rhetoric of the Ownership Society. He even refers to school dollars as, “R&D money” and “ our venture capital.”

Let’s not forget, that the very kids Klein mentions, ie. recent immigrants, are the ones being systematically excluded from many of the new charter schools he raves about.