Helpling with homework and attending the PTA is no longer the only part parents must play in their children's academic lives. They must also help in shaping their curricula -- and must have the tools and support to do so. (Photo courtesy of needsfoundation.org)

What’s happening today in the dropout nation:

1. The Dallas Morning News takes a look at the school district’s dropout factories — many of which are home to largely black and Latino students — and dissects why turning around their performance is so difficult. One reason that can easily be mentioned: The lack of community leadership, especially from black and Latino leaders. EducationNews’ Jimmy Kilpatrick (hat tip to him) rightly asks this question of the city’s (and the nation’s) black political leaders (and it goes for Latino and white leaders as well): “Where is the… outrage?
2. Speaking of the lack of leadership on school reform among the nation’s black politicians, Jennifer Medina profiles New York State Sen.  Bill Perkins, who has proven to be the biggest foe against the expansion (and existence) of charter schools in Empire Land. Sadly, he ignores the benefits charters are bringing to students who live in his Harlem-centered district. Lovely. As Harlem Children’s Zone boss Geoffrey Canada points out, Perkins’ problem seems to be that most of the operators of charters are from outside the community. Well, Mr. Perkins, how about demanding more from the black leaders and middle class residents in your own community instead of piling on people who are willing to help children who aren’t their own by birth. Really. When you ask that question and demand more, then come back with your criticisms. Or as Twitter participant Clifton Whitley writes: “why doesn’t he protest failing public schools?”
3. Another area in which “leaders” are failing to take the lead: Saving the urban private and parochial schools — including Catholic schools — that have served many a poor urban child well over the past few decades. I look further at the need for school reformers — especially centrist Democrats — to embrace vouchers alongside charter schools in order to expand choice and high quality instruction for the poorest children in my latest report for The American Spectator. Also, check out my report from December about the efforts by the Archdiocese of Washington to maintain its mission of educating poor and middle class families, Catholic and (more often) non-Catholic alike.
4. Michael Shaughnessy interviews Rick Hess about the fostering “greenfield” approaches to education reform that move away from traditional school district systems and the underlying infrastructure (teachers unions, best practices) that come with it. Interesting read.
5. The Journal: Technological Horizons in Education reviews the Obama administration’s plans for the use of technology in education.We know what Tom Vander Ark thinks. I’m still thinking this through: The report is correct in arguing that American public education is in need of an overhaul to fit the needs of the 21st century. I’m all for expanded use of technology in schools in innovative ways, but I also think that technology is no more a lone silver bullet that charters, vouchers or shutting down poor performing schools. Ultimately, it comes down to great teaching and active engagement of children in learning. What are your thoughts?
6. In Kentucky, the state lower house passed a bill that would require students to stay in school until age 18. This is all well and good. Perhaps the legislature will also get around to passing a law allowing for the authorization of charter schools, which could help improve the quality of education for students.
7. Off the beaten track: Math can be found in interesting places. Even in one of my five all-time favorite books (along with Anne of Windy Poplars, Parliament of Whores, A Tale of a Tub, and Homicide: Life in the Killing Streets), Alice in Wonderland, according to the New York Times.

Check out the Dropout Nation Podcast this evening; it will be on the next steps President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan should take with Race to the Top and school reform. Also, read the report this week on the alarming dropout and lack of on-track graduation among male students in Chicago’s public schools (and elsewhere).

And now, for your Sunday pleasure, one of my favorite songs, Come Fly With Me in live form by Sinatra himself:

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On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I comb through school desegregation efforts in this past century to show how school reformers can foster new leaders from the most-unlikely of men and women. For school reformers inside the Beltway and elsewhere, fostering these “impromptu leaders” from outside education through use of technology and by getting together with them can help make reform efforts sustainable.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod or MP3 player. Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, Podcast Alley, the Education Podcast Network and Zune Marketplace.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Keep up with up-to-the-minute happenings by subscribing to Dropout Nation’s Twtter feed. Here are some of yesterday’s tweets:

• RT @Eduflack: Bill would strip powers from local school councils http://bit.ly/cK33yY This suggests that perhaps Chicago should go all… #
• charter or fully consolidate mayoral control. #
• RT @oklahomanews: In OK, plan may expand #charterschools http://bit.ly/9pO5gg Mayors of Tulsa, OK City/indian tribes may get auth. #edreform #
• RT @bigswifty: To testing critics who criticize it on basis of some cheating http://nyti.ms/96HsJj Do we ban grades 2? http://bit.ly/9UbtXV #
• @bigswifty The answer to your question is “yes.” It’s not as if #FairTest care about rigor, standards or accountability. in reply to bigswifty #
• @KevinCarey focuses on Trinity Washington University and its mission of serving poor black/minority women on a modest budget #highered #
• U.S. News & World Report also gets a mention in Carey’s post. Just not a positive one. #
• RT @meristemstudio: RT @UrbanEducation: I invite ALL educators, parents to participate in #BlackEd on Thurs. @9pm. #edreform #

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You seen the bird. Do what he says.

Keep up with up-to-the-minute happenings by subscribing to Dropout Nation’s Twtter feed. Here are some of yesterday’s tweets:

• RT @Edubeat @HarvardResearch: Few experts see benefits of performance pay plans http://ow.ly/15TRk #edreform As Jason Kamras points out… #
• Few studies on performance pay and few initiatives have been of any large scale. Most are also watered-down. So the “experts” honestly… #
• Have little on which to base positions. It’s like asking astronomers circa Gallileo era about whether or not the sun rotates around the moon #
• Ask the experts about #meritpay #performancepay when DC, NY, LAUnified engages in a major — and truly well-designed — performance pay plan #
• RT @CharterInsights: Stimulus only delays the pain: The federal gov. put our nation deep in debt http://bit.ly/axbAbN #ARRA #RttT #
• A possible lesson for #edreform out of the debacle at MySpace: RT @mathewi: “turnarounds never really turn.” http://bit.ly/anIL1M [via @om] #
• Or the Smarick argument in tech form. #
• RT @Trace_Urdan @gothamschools @jenny8lee: South African mom to daughter: “Education is the husband who will never let you down.” at #TED #
• RT @ACRIBlog: Charter Schools/Civil Rights: Civil rights industry types worry about the wrong thing, http://bit.ly/aGFOUu #edreform #
• MOre lessons for #edreform #schoolturnarounds from the private-sector: “The Myth of the Silver-Bullet CEO” http://bit.ly/9jWZvg #
• It’s not just about hiring a #MichelleRhee #JoelKlein. There must also be strong political support, talented admins, willingness to change. #
• Or else school district #edreform will fail (see Indianapolis Public Schools/Miami/San Francisco) #
• RT @ELWATERS @EdEquality @gnaeyaert: Ouch!! New study finds MI earns D- grade for policies on teacher quality, http://ow.ly/166oK #edreform #
• RT @Edubeat @EdEquality: RT @charteralliance: Education Week: Concerns Raised About Impact of Stimulus on Equity: http://bit.ly/ajvHKa #
• This, of course, doesn’t include the complaints about #RttT and its focus on #CharterSchools The next stimulus bill will be interesting. #
• Can a reform-minded administration continue its reform and still satisfy key constituencies who oppose elements of the plans? #
• G.W. Bush had similar problems w/#NoChild among conservative “leave us alone” elements and moderate Republicans in suburbia. #
• But it took six years for Bush II to feel the wrath because GOP had election victories. Obama is not so lucky. #
• RT @Harvard_Ed_Pub: Audio Excerpt: Inside Urban Charter Schools by Kay Merseth : Education Next: http://bit.ly/bMEKNp #edreform #
• @avalonsensei Last I checked, nearly all public charter schools accept all students via lottery. The lottery exists because the schools are. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei small in size. There are very few selective charters. So, in essence, charters accept all students (even if not everyone… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei attends them. By the way, magnet schools w/in districts and selective publics such as Stuyvesant High and Murray Bergtraum… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei (the latter of which I attended in my freshman year of HS) are selective and don’t allow all students either. Even worse, in in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei the case of magnet schools (unlike Stuy, which is test-based/purely meritocratic), the kids either have to be on a certain… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Track (which is often dependent on whether teachers/guidance counselors favor the kid) or through political will (which… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei favors wealthier parents). Compared to current trad. public ed tracking/pol. meddling… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei I’ll take the charters w/lotteries any day. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei But magnets rarely work as an integration tool. More often than not, in most parts of the country, they become similar… #
• @avalonsensei to selective public schools (and in Indianapolis, for example, they are all one in the same). In fact, if you look at in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei The charter school stats for 2008-09, whites make up just a third of charter school students (versus 54 percent of trad… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei public schools) while blacks, Latinos and other minorities make up the rest. If anything, charters on a macro… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei are more integrated than traditional public schools. As for the special ed issue: Most charters are too small to accomodate… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Those populations. Remember, your average charter is about 300-400 students; they don’t have access to all the pools of public in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei dollars (facilities, for example, which they pay for through fundraising and loans), and have only been around for two decades in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei If anything, in many large urban cities, parents w/special ed students choose the trad. system because they have the infra- in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei structure available. Charters are working on this (in Indiana, the charter school association and Ball State have formed a in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei consortium for this very purpose). AS for parental commitment: Well, I believe parents must do their part. AS much as… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei I criticize traditional school districts for their mistreatment of parents, I also think that parents must be active… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Beyond field trips/homework. Education, in reality, needs to be so individualized for every student (especially SPED), that… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei parental involvement in curricula, etc. is paramount to academic success. Great teachers can improve academic learning, but in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Great teachers=active parents equals even greater likelihood of success. Again, your experience suggests sometihng different, in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei But experience w/o data is meaningless. If I based my views on ed just on my experiences, I’d have a more pessimistic view of in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei education systems in general, public or private. And, by the way, since magnets and selective schools don’t accept every child in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei (and they are public schools that are part of trad. districts), don’t they violate your view that all public schools should… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Accept kids no matter their circumstances? in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei I think “public education” should be the system of publicly funding the education of a child, no matter where he or she goes in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Be it trad. public, charter, private, parochial or homeschool. Or as I call it, the Hollywood model. Traditional in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei districts would be relegated to handling transportation, school lunch, those things they are (somewhat) good at. The same way in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Warner Bros. /Universal handles distribution of films. The schools would handle the actual education, the same way… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei a Joel Silver handles production. The teachers would be treated like directors a la Warchowski/Hughes Brothers, as the in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei true professionals they should be. And parents would have choice, supported by grassroots groups who can give guidance… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei There wouldn’t be one option, but many options. Because not every kid is the same and not every school can educate every child in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei My goal is to expand all the options for every child to get the best education possible. The current system doesn’t do that… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei It segments kids based on “ability” when those things can change (IQ, for example, is influenced by environment, not by birth) in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei It does well educating maybe 40 percent of students, but as seen in college remediation rates/H.S. grad rates, it is failing in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei To live up to the concept that every child should get a great education at a great school. in reply to avalonsensei #
• EdSector’s Manwaring wonders if new round of adequacy lawsuits is coming: http://bit.ly/bW6gtP The answer is yes… #
• At Nov.’s Schott Foundation conference, ED’s Civil Rights Czar (and former EdTrust exec) Russlyn Ali made it clear that will happen. #
• So did Pa. Congressman Chaka Fattah. Expect Obama administration to be heavily involved in those next round of suits. #

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Photo courtesy of Fallbrook Bonsall Village News

A few things to ponder as the snow melts:

1. When will Centrist and left-leaning Democrat school reformers not named Anthony Williams or Marion Barry embrace vouchers as zealously as they support charter schools? After all, both promote choice and improved educational opportunities for poor students — and place public dollars into private hands. And given the research gleaned from the pioneering Milwaukee voucher program, the effectiveness of vouchers is no less proven than that of charters.
2. Will Denver’s Tom Boasberg be the next crusading reform-minded superintendent in the Michelle Rhee-Joel Klein mold? Reed Hunt’s protege-turned telecom executive-turned school official  is already striking a blow against forced placement of laggard teachers. But can he advance the district’s performance pay plan and take it up several notches to make it truly effective in driving teacher effectiveness?
3. Which state will be the next battleground over teachers pensions and retiree benefits? National Education Association affiliates in Vermont, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are already battling to stave off increases in contributions and retirement ages. Could it be Indiana — home to the collapse of the NEA’s Indiana affiliate (and where Gov. Mitch Daniels and Superintendent Tony Bennett are already already advancing a series of reforms)? Or is it nearby Illinois, home to the nation’s biggest teacher pension deficit? Or maybe, Utah?
4. What is the next step in the debate over charter schools and segregation? It is well-known that Richard Kahlenberg and company are displeased with the role of charters in President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top reforms and likely even more displeased by its role in his proposed reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act and the 2010-2011 budget. Will the reports released by the Civil Rights Project and EPIC be followed up by missives from a few members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other key players on the Hill?
5. How will Randi Weingarten react to the move by the Houston Independent School District to fully tie student test scores to teacher evaluations? Given her pronounced support last month for such measurements, will she end up siding largely with the district and telling her local to just water it down a little? Or will she back the local’s effort to ditch altogether. Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee are definitely watching this one. So is the NEA and the school reform movement.
6. And yes, I had to add a sixth: Who will succeed Jack Jennings as head of the Center for Education Policy? More importantly, will it release another report on high school exit exams? The second answer is clearly more apparent than the first.

More burning questions later this week.

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Photo courtesy of the New York Daily News

Dear Gary Orfield:

As someone who grew up in one of the better (of the admittedly abysmal) urban neighborhoods in America, I can tell you that many parents care greatly about the quality of education for their children. So when they see opportunities to escape woeful public schools — as in the case of Virginia Walden-Ford as a most-famous example — they will take it quickly.

This is the chief reason (along with the restrictions on the location, growth and even demographics placed by state legislators at the behest of teachers unions and suburban districts) why America’s public charter schools are mostly black and Latino, generally attended by they poor, and largely in big cities. It is also why there are some 39,000 New York City children waiting for seats in charters and why President Barack Obama is pushing states to end restrictions on their growth.

In some ways, this lack of diversity also explains the success many charters have had in bolstering the academic achievement of their largely at-risk student populations. Besides the attention given to kids in their mostly-small settings, the opportunity for children to see peers of their own race and color succeed academically — a reality that happens far too infrequently in traditional public schools — gives these children the sense of pride they need in order to succeed in school and in life. Certainly, we may all believe in a color-blind society, but most of us don’t think that the melting pot and racial pride are mutually exclusive.

When the cvil rights activists of five decades ago used to talk about “separate and unequal”, they were talking about a lack of equal funding for schools, the restrictions on black children to attend any kind of school they wanted — majority white or otherwise — and ultimately, fulfill their academic and economic destinies without barriers codified into law. Most of those racial barriers have been brought down (although some of the issues of funding still do exist, partly because of the neglect of “broken windows” by generations of big-city leaders, along with their economic decisions  to grant tax abatements and other deals that have reduced much-needed tax revenue). But the political and political barriers — including woeful public school bureaucracies; gamesmanship by districts with Title I funding; and zoning and “magnet school” policies that favor wealthier families — still exist.

These, along with the sclerosis within public education systems makes it more critical than ever to give poor urban families as many choices as possible to escape the worst traditional schools. They don’t care about the segregation they knowledgeably choose; their concern is about the quality of education for the children they love. They truly understand that for which Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were fighting. Choices of great schools, traditional, charter or private, both in their neighborhoods and outside of them without restriction.

In other words: Urban parents don’t care about so-called civil rights activists who work in ivory towers, live in suburbs, release reports on “segregation” just in time for Black History Month (wink, nudge), and avoid the worst American public education offers on a daily basis.

And Mr. Orfield (and you too, Richard Kahlenberg), they mean you.

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