The end of Europe?

Cabo Da Roca, the end of Europe

That's the ominous name given to the wild, rocky coast on the westernmost end of Portugal. On another level, lots of folks here are talking about the end of Europe. While I don't believe that the end  is in sight, the standard of living here is in free-fall and millions of people are truly suffering under imposed austerity and are ready for change. Educators are a big part of the protest movement and lots of debate is taking place over the role of schooling in Portuguese society.

I know,  I'm supposed to be on vacation.  And believe me, we've been taking that seriously, enjoying great seafood, taking in the music and art, visiting Moorish castles and hitting the beaches and all that good stuff. Not to mention, getting up at 2 a.m. to watch the Spurs beat the Heat in game 1.

CGTP's Fernando Mauricio

But I'm also drawn to the complex political life of Portugal, both for its role as a brutal colonizer in Africa and for its 1974-75 "Carnation Revolution," which toppled the fascist Salazar dictatorship. The revolution helped the emerging liberation movements in Portugal's former colonies win their independence in 1975. Every country has its two sides and I like to see them both.

During a break in sightseeing, we were able to visit with Fernando Mauricio, one of the leaders of the CGTP, Portugal's largest union, which along with the smaller and not-so-militant rival UGT, is organizing for the upcoming general strike.  Fernando, who was a public school teacher before becoming a union organizer, gave us an update on the current struggle and some background on the history of the union movement here. As a young political activist in the 1960a and 70s, he spent time in prison and underground and in exile during the years of the dictatorship.

Students at Bento de Jesus Caraça High School

We also got to visit and meet with the leaders of Bento de Jesus Caraça Vocational High School, one of half a dozen public schools run by the union -- this one housed in  the union's downtown Lisbon headquarters. It's named after the revolutionary Portuguese educator who was a notable figure both in the field of popular education and in the resistance movement against Salazar dictatorship.

The classrooms are airy and inviting. The view from the classroom windows out over the Tagus River is so beautiful,  if I were a student here I'd have a tough time focusing on my lessons.

The school's curriculum, while called voc-ed, is really about educating the whole child and providing a step up towards either  university or  career. It includes a mix of technical skill-building and general core courses--science, languages, arts, social studies, etc... Assessments are mainly performance-based, although all Portuguese students must pass exit exams to graduate. Caraça represents, at least to me, a kind of mixture of John Dewey and Paulo Freire.

Caraça talked about "a school that is life" and the school's philosophy is laid out in a book presented to us, called A School For Life, which includes this statement of purpose:

"Looking at the students as a whole -- taking into consideration their personalities, backgrounds, and aspirations, and not just as recipients of knowledge or as future professionals... Our school has small clusters, which allows a human approach to all situations."

Not bad.

Replacing Smith Career & Tech H.S. with...what???

Bloomberg/Klein continue their loot/pillage/burn approach to school reform with the planned closing of the city's oldest and well-established trade and technical school. According to today's NYT, the DOE will close Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School, a 78-year-old vocational school in the South Bronx and replace it with another charter school with no record of success, this one run by indicted embezzler Richard Izquierdo Arroyo.

But the school the Department of Education plans to put in place of the program, the 18-month-old New York City Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries, has had its own issues. Its founder is facing federal charges that he embezzled from a nonprofit company. Thirty percent of the students left after the first year, as did most of the teachers. And despite its name, it has no experience running hands-on vocational programs.

What passes for "school reform" in Detroit

Testing madness

Under a new order, so-called social promotion would be prohibited for those pre-K through third-grade students now taking the assessment tests, says Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb.

"I would classify myself as a hater when it comes to social promotion," Bobb said. "And that's just why my academic team is conducting these assessments ... so we know where these children are deficient." (Detroit Free Press)

Michigan state Supt. Mike Flanagan then strips the strategy bare:

"It's shameful," an obviously frustrated Flanagan said of the practice. " 'Let's move these kids out that don't get it. ... Let's keep the kids who are fun to keep and move the rest to alternative schools!' "

Move the kids out. Where have we heard that before? Must have been New Orleans.

Oh, and while we're on the topic of Detroit's new reform strategy, don't forget the district's exciting new business partnership.

Another look at Duncan's Chicago "model"

Arne Duncan continues his tour, touting over and over again, his own Chicago miracle and threatening to withhold badly needed Stim 2 dollars from districts that don't accept the model.

That model is built on top-down mayoral control of the schools, widespread and often arbitrary school closings, mainly in black neighborhoods, and replacement with replicable, privately-managed charter schools.

There is no data to support most of Duncan's wild claims, Chicago's test scores remained flat during his term as CEO. More importantly, despite the best efforts of teachers, parents and community members, the devastating effects of Duncan/Daley's education and social policies on community life don't speak well for the model.

Examples:

• CPS and Cook County lead the nation in reported cases of gonorrhea, and has the third highest number of Chlamydia cases. Teenagers account for more than 60 percent of new cases in Chicago. Only after these grim statistics were duly reported in the media did Duncan's replacement, Roh Huberman announce a 6-school "pilot program" aimed at testing and treating kids for STDs. Since the program runs at no cost to CPS, one can only wonder why it wasn't included in Duncan's model?
  
• CPS also leads the nation in suspension rates of black, male students, a statistic that speaks for itself. Studies show a strong link between suspensions and dropouts.
  

Don't expect Duncan or Daley to take any responsibility for these numbers. You can't blame them, they will argue. How ironic, especially coming from Duncan who has now joined forces with the "no excuses" policy coalition that puts blame for low standardized test scores squarely on the shoulders of neighborhood schools.

To my way of thinking, if you want to judge or compare school systems, start with a look at the lives of the students and see how that system has helped improved the conditions of life for them--or not.

Turnarounds--more business for 'charter execs'

The turnaround model could be a road to greater growth for the charter-school movement which, after 16 years, comprises 1.4 million students in 4,600 schools — still only about 4% of all public schools. Charters, which are funded with public dollars but are typically free of school-district and teacher-union restrictions, have typically been regarded as labs of innovation (though a recent Stanford University study makes the case that charter-school quality can range greatly, from great to not so great). (Time)

A break from the past?

Obama has nominated Brenda Dann-Messier, the leader of a Rhode Island nonprofit who has a background in adult education, workforce, and literacy issues, to serve as his assistant secretary for vocational and adult education. Sean Cavanaugh at Curriculum Matters, calls Obama's pick, "something of a departure" from Bush administration policy on voc-ed.

Bush repeatedly tried to eliminate funding for the federal vocational program, arguing that it has not been successful in raising academic achievement and setting high expectations for students.