Are private high schools better than public high schools?

The private school versus public school issue is a conundrum for many parents. In a study released today by the Center on Education Policy, substantial doubt was cast upon decades of research on the advantages of private schools. “Contrary to popular belief, we can find no evidence that private schools actually increase student performance,” said Jack Jennings, the center’s president and a former House staffer, in a press release. “Instead, it appears that private schools simply have higher percentages of students who would perform well in any environment based on their previous performance and background.”

To view the full report and other materials pertaining to it, click here.

This study, based on an analysis of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988-2000, finds that students attending independent private high schools, most types of parochial high schools, and public high schools of choice performed no better on achievement tests in math, reading, science, and history than students attending traditional public high schools. In addition, students attending any type of private high school were no more likely to attend college than those attending traditional public high schools. The report also finds that young adults who had attended any type of private high school were no more likely to enjoy job satisfaction or to be engaged in civic activities at age 26 than those who had attended traditional public high schools.

“Parents assume that private schools will improve the academic preparation of their children,” said Harold Wenglinsky, author of the study. “But the higher performance at private schools is more likely a reflection of the collective resources and support that these parents bring to the school than to factors intrinsic to the school setting.”

This report does note two exceptions to its main findings. First, it finds that students who attended independent private high schools had higher SAT scores than public school students, gaining an advantage in efforts to enroll at elite colleges. Second, the report indicates that students attending some private Catholic schools run by holy orders (such as Jesuit schools) instead of a diocese did see some positive academic effects. However, there are very few of these schools nationwide, as most Catholic schools are operated by their diocese.

The Center on Education Policy is a national, independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. The Center helps Americans better understand the role of public education in a democracy and the need to improve the academic quality of public schools. The Center does not represent any special interests. Instead, it tries to help citizens make sense of the conflicting opinions and perceptions about public education and create the conditions that will lead to better public schools.

Goodbye textbooks?

What if Napster stocked textbooks? In this video (click here), engineering professor Richard Baraniuk talks about his vision for Connexions, an open-source system that lets teachers share digital texts and course materials, modify them and give them to their students — all free, thanks to Creative Commons licensing.

Baraniuk has a giant vision: to create a free global online education system that puts the power of creation and collaboration in the hands of teachers worldwide. He’s realizing that vision with Connexions, a website that allows teachers to quickly “create, rip, mix and burn” coursework — without fear of copyright violations.

Connexions’ open-source system cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share course materials, modify existing work and disseminate it to their students — all for free, thanks to Creative Commons licensing. Baraniuk envisions Connexions as a repository where the most up-to-date material can be shared and reviewed (it’s far more efficient than waiting for a textbook to be printed); it could become a powerful force in leveling the education playing field. Currently encompassing hundreds of online courses and used by a million people worldwide, Baraniuk’s virtual educational system is revolutionizing the way people teach and learn.

School Committee policies on-line

Several years ago, the School Committee talked of the prospect of getting its 3 inch thick policy manual online so that citizens in the community could have easy access to this information. At the beginning, technological limitations prevented an easy transition from paper to Web. With the easing of technology restrictions, budget constraints got in the way. Quotes from professional agencies came in too high and made the project cost prohibitive.

Enter Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin, Massachusetts. School Committee member Cora Armenio happens work there under a federal grant that resides at the school. She checked with the powers that be at Tri-County, advised them of our plight, and received an offer from the Computer Information Services (CIS) class there to take on the task.

On Wednesday, June 4, 2007, the students at the school presented the fruits of their labor. For two months, Kim Zogalis’ ninth-grade CIS class at Tri-County converted Microsoft Word documents into Web-ready versions, created links to state laws and worked with computer programming languages such as JavaScript to make the “e-Manual” searchable.  You can view the on-line manual by clicking here.

The project was a win-win for the School Committee and the Tri-County school. The students gained real-world experience and community service credits, while the Town of Franklin saved thousands of dollars and gained unfettered access to the policies and procedures in effect in the Franklin schools.

Heartfelt thanks go out to the students and staff at Tri-County. We appreciate the opportunity to have engaged in this partnership, and hope to have the opportunity to work with them again.

The Milford Daily News did a story on the e-Manual project which can be viewed by clicking here.

Charter School LEP/SPED enrollment data

MA charter schools enroll a statistically significant smaller percentage of special needs and LEP students than their sending districts according to a study just released jointly by the MA Association of School Superintendents and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

As noted in the Executive Summary of the report, Massachusetts has one of the most liberal charter school policies in the United States. As public schools, Massachusetts charter schools are obligated by law to indiscriminately educate all students, regardless of race, religion, nationality, and learning level. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, charter schools appear to disproportionately enroll certain types of students, as compared with the school districts the charter school serves. In particular, Special Education (SPED) and Limited English Proficient (LEP) students are underrepresented in the charter school system.

Utilizing Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) data for school years 2004-2005, 2005-2006, and 2006-2007, a statistical analysis was performed to test the null hypothesis that charter schools enroll a proportional number of SPED and LEP students compared to their students’ sending district(s).

The results showed a strong bias within charter schools against the enrollment of SPED, and especially LEP students. The percentage of charter schools where the null hypothesis was rejected varied from 22% – 25% for SPED and from 82% – 88% for LEP over the three year period analyzed. From the perspective of SPED, the schools where the null hypothesis was rejected were serving 33% of the overall population in 2004 and almost 45% in 2006.

While it is certainly possible that this degree of under-representation was achieved through chance, the analysis shows that this is statistically unlikely. The results raise questions about whether SPED and LEP students have equal opportunities to enroll in charter schools. This study does not address why some charter schools do not have proportionate numbers of SPED and LEP students. However, this study does acknowledge that disproportionate SPED and LEP charter school populations have implications in key areas including school district finances and student achievement pursuits. Furthermore, the potential social and ethical implications are explored.

Click here to see a copy of the complete report.

Why I believe in public education

In the April issue of the Central Office Update, Superintendent Wayne Ogden included a short essay that came across his desk as he was pondering the local budget dilemma. It bears repeating here:

In 1832, Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to assess the notion that our democracy was a beacon for the world. His astute observations remain a classic guide to America’s success.

American prosperity, he concluded, was founded on several conditions unique to this society.

First, we did not let class determine a person’s stature. A ruffian with a good idea and a work ethic could exchange places with a son of wealth who felt innovative thought and labor were beneath a gentleman’s dignity.

Second, movement within the country was unfettered. This lack of internal passports, documents common in eighteenth century Europe, was essential to the vibrancy found in American society. Regardless of their station, Americans could go where opportunity beckoned.

Third, our system of public education, raucous as it was, provided the skills and knowledge that our citizens could employ to take advantage of a classless and mobile society. Unlike old Europe, we did not fear an educated proletariat.

Despite our flawed application of these principles, opportunity, mobility and education remain the pillars supporting American democracy, and education makes the others worthwhile. In the truest sense, we do not pay taxes to support the education of our individual children, we pay taxes to support the role public education plays in civilizing and enriching our society.

Writing today, de Tocqueville might note the erosion of our public schools and the roles played in that by racism, failed discipline, missing parents, rote teaching and testing gone berserk. But, he would be confident in our defense of public education. He would argue that it was not within the American character to shrink in the face of challenge. He would expect that we would tax ourselves sufficiently to provide for the common educational good.

He would not be surprised when we raised the station of our teachers. He would anticipate our solution of the dropout problem and our reinstitution of discipline and mutual respect in our schools. He would expect that we would use tests surgically to expand an improved curriculum.

de Tocqueville loved an America whose citizens cared little for self-pity but cared much about bringing in the harvest.

That is why I support public education for it may well produce our most important harvest.

That is why I do not support any “choice” that would further impoverish our public school system, that, however unintentional, could result in a few fleeing the problems that affect the many, that could create educational slums to warehouse an overwhelmingly poor and minority population. That would not be the America that enthralled de Tocqueville. That might be a fatal harvest.

I am sure that those who disagree with me are acting out of the courage of their convictions. I would ask, however, that they also have the courage of the consequences of their convictions.

I have no children in our schools and I have reached an age when it is tempting to leave the driving to someone else. On the other hand, I remain a passenger on our national bus and I would like to ensure the driver knows the route.

Public education is one of the bedrock guarantees that America will continue down freedom’s road.

You can view the full essay by clicking here. The author, Jon Samuels, is a Board Member Public Education Partners, Aiken, South Carolina and a founding partner of Synergem Emergency Services , L.L.C. He is also affiliated with the Public Education Network, whose mission is to build public demand and mobilize resources for quality public education for all children through a national constituency of local education funds and individuals.

Teacher’s tough grading upheld in Louisiana

Tough graders got a lift this week, when a jury found in favor of a teacher who refused to change the D’s and F’s she doled out to her students. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the West Feliciana Parish school system must pay more than $1.4 million to an English teacher who was suspended and demoted after refusing to change the low grades she gave to 70 percent of her students, a federal jury has found. The jury of four men and five women deliberated almost four hours before finding that the school board, superintendent and the principal at West Feliciana High School had harassed Paula Payne, violated her First Amendment rights and retaliated against her.

School system administrators said they never asked her to change any grades. The Superintendent said the teacher was suspended for five days in November 2004 because she refused to meet with administrators unless a Louisiana Education Association representative was there.

Until she resigned in 2005, the teacher (whose last name happened to be “Payne”) taught English at the school in St. Francisville, where students called her class the “House of Payne.” In the first six weeks of the fall 2004 semester, court documents show, she gave 70 percent of the school’s 180 sophomores a ‘D’ or an ‘F’ in English II. The low scores conflicted with those same students’ grades in other subjects as well as English grades for freshmen, juniors and seniors.

Payne now teaches English to inmates at Dixon Correctional Center.

Lawsuit against Lexington schools dismissed

A federal judge in Massachusetts threw out a lawsuit filed by Lexington parents who objected to discussions of gay couples in their children’s classrooms.

The case and issues which arose highlight some of the sensitive issues that school committees face.

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf said federal courts have decided in other cases that the constitutional right of parents to raise their children does not include the right to restrict what a public school may teach them. Wolf said those earlier rulings also have held that teachings that contradict a parent’s religious beliefs do not violate their First Amendment right to exercise their religion.

In his decision, the judge stated:

In essence, under the Constitution public schools are entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy. Diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly evident that our diversity includes differences in sexual orientation. Our nation’s history includes a fundamental commitment to promoting mutual respect among citizens in our diverse nation that is manifest in the First Amendment’s prohibitions on establishing an official religion and restricting the free exercise of religious beliefs on which plaintiffs base some of their federal claims. Our history also includes instances of individual and official discrimination against gays and lesbians, among others. It is reasonable for public educators to teach elementary school students about individuals with different sexual orientations and about various forms of families, including those with same-sex parents, in an effort to eradicate the effects of past discrimination, to reduce the risk of future discrimination and, in the process, to reaffirm our nation’s constitutional commitment to promoting mutual respect among members of our diverse society. In addition, it is reasonable for those educators to find that teaching young children to understand and respect differences in sexual orientation will contribute to an academic environment in which students who are gay, lesbian, or the children of same-sex parents will be comfortable and, therefore, better able to learn.

The facts underlying the case involve parents who sued after their 5-year-old son brought home a book from kindergarten that depicted a gay family. Another Lexington couple joined the suit after a second-grade teacher read to the class a fairy tale that tells the story of two princes falling in love. Both couples claimed Lexington school officials violated their parental rights to teach their own morals to their children. They said they did not want to dictate curriculum but wanted to be told ahead of time when gay couples were being discussed so they could remove their young children from classrooms.

You may recall that this case involved a father who was arrested for trespassing as reported in the Boston Globe. He went to the school to object to the book and met with school officials. The meeting ended with the father’s arrest after he refused to leave the school.

Massachusetts law prohibits discrimination in public schools based on sex or sexual orientation. It also requires that public school curricula encourage respect for all individuals regardless of, among other things, sexual orientation. Pursuant to these directives, the Massachusetts Department of Education has issued standards which encourage instruction for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students concerning different types of people and families.

The families assert that the defendants’ conduct violates their rights under the United States Constitution to raise their children and to the free exercise of their religion. They also contend that the defendants have violated the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including the statute that requires that parents be given notice and an opportunity to exempt their children from any curriculum that “primarily involves human sexual education or human sexuality issues.” M.G.L. c. 71, § 32A.

For a copy of the full decision, click here.

The power of one

TIME magazine has introduced a new section covering people and organizations making a difference in the lives of others. Called The Power of One, the first story for this section was written by Caroline Kennedy and discusses a dedicated and compassionate New York City school principal and graduate of the NYC Leadership Academy. It’s a tribute to public education and it is a story worth viewing. You can view it by clicking here.

When Verone Kennedy was in 11th grade, an art teacher, told him he had an aptitude for sketching and painting. He began spending time in her classroom, working on his portfolio. By the end of the year, he began to believe for the first time that he was good at something. He went to college, worked as an urban park ranger, and then became a teacher. He advanced to become a Principal in a school in one of the poorest and most isolated areas of Crown Heights, New York. He instituted many programs and because of his leadership, the school is safe, attendance is high, and a sense of community is growing. That seed grew because someone expressed an interest in Verone when he was young. That teacher made a difference in his life and has affected many others.

As the TIME article noted, Kennedy credits his team of veteran educators, young teachers, Teach for America recruits and a parent coordinator. “No one can work in isolation,” he says. “My job is to get voices from the community and to keep the team motivated. I see our work like a chessboard. Each child is our king. We have to work to protect him and checkmate the forces of failure. This world is so harsh to children. I see myself as the keeper of the dream that is in every child, and I know we can succeed. That is my blessed hope.”

Seeing this piece reminded me of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech, and how it is viewed as a turning point for many Americans to whom the torch has been passed. The political career of JFK inspired a generation of Americans to believe in the power of government and to share the conviction that government can truly be a noble profession. In that vein, it reminds us that there is nothing more important than how we raise and educate our children.

It also serves as a reminder that for all its ills, government remains a place where we can truly and uniquely make a difference. JFK believed in the power of words to lead, inspire, and bring about change in the world. Many of us who participate in public service may play only a small part, but one must never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. It’s the only thing that ever has.

The article also included some online resources for those who would like to lend a hand in the public school system. You can view them by clicking here.

Calls to action on education

There is a great article from this week’s TIME magazine that contains some visionary ideas for education — some good, some not so good. It came on the same day that a column appeared in the Boston Globe about issues facing Needham High. In the case of NHS, the principal was forced to defend his decision to stop publishing the high school student honor roll in a local newspaper.

These stories appeared in the same week that a blue-ribbon panel called the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce issued a blistering report on the state of education in the United States. The executive summary of the report is available by clicking here. The full report is available on Amazon.

According to the report, if Americans want to maintain their customary high standard of living in today’s global economy, we’ve got to rethink almost every aspect of our education system, including when kids finish high school and who runs our schools. The commission of heavyweights included four former cabinet secretaries, the president of the American Manufacturers Association, the chancellor of the California State University system, executives from Viacom Inc. and Lucent Technologies, and other government and education leaders.

Entitled Tough Choices or Tough Times, the report also cites studies showing that the U.S. share of the world’s college-educated workers has shrunk from 30% to 15% in recent decades and that, even after all the outsourcing of the past decade, some 20% of U.S. jobs remain vulnerable to automation or offshoring to educated workers overseas.

As School Committee members, we pay particular attention to Step 5 of the executive summary pp. 17-19) which talks about the roll of school boards and the structure of schools. The recommendation would give individual schools the autonomy to run their own building operations as small corporations. The National School Board Association has reacted by saying:

This report covers a wide swath of territory and asks readers to assume a great leap of faith in adopting its recommendations. But should the American public build a new K-12 system on a leap of faith, given that many of the report’s recommendations are not supported by current data? While the report is provocative and groundbreaking, the National School Boards Association questions how much ground we can afford to break on what is currently working in an effort to fix what is not.

In particular, the NSBA noted that a community working with its local school board and superintendent is the way to enact changes to improve the education for all children in that community. The idea of giving individual schools the autonomy to run their own building operations may sound attractive, but is irresponsible without an adequate analysis of the time, skill, and resources that would need to be expended by building administrators. How many more administrators will each school have to hire to manage bus contracts, run the breakfast and lunch programs, or renovate and maintain their facilities?

Further, placing the authority and control at the school level, as the report recommends, removes the school system leadership that results in efficient operations, a shared vision, and a clear accountability system on which parents and community members depend to deliver outcomes.

Not to be outdone in the wake of earth-shattering education news, the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education called for an end to MCAS. As reported in the Boston Globe, Massachusetts should scrap the 10th-grade MCAS tests and instead require sophomores to pass a tougher battery of tests that would give them entry to a public college or university in the state. Driscoll is promoting the change and a slew of others as part of his work on a national commission proposing an overhaul of the nation’s education system, state by state, by 2021.

Stay tuned!