We are America

I'm back from a brief hiatus (spent visiting graduate schools and agonizing over the decision) and I'm excited about the huge pro-immigrant rallies taking place around the country. This Washington Post article seems to be pretty typical of the positive coverage that the rallies are getting in the national media. The bit about the shift on the part of organizers to include more American flags and less Mexican flags was particularly interesting to me. Even though many Americans seem to sympathize with immigrants families and reject harsh measures (the article says that three-fifths of the population wants to provide immigrants that have lived here for some time with a path to citizenship), there is still a lot of xenophobia, and the imagery of an "immigrant invasion" is all over in places like Fox News (during a 30 minute show that I saw last week, Sean Hannity showed a tape of Mexicans streaming across the border 15 or 20 times).

So although I think it is great that immigrants are standing up to the digusting and hateful bill passed in the house, I also think that a lot of commentators are going a little too far with their predictions that these rallies are the start of an immigrant/Latino political movement. Most of the immigrant parents in the night ESL classes at the school went to the rally in downtown New York yesterday (article here), but from what I can tell most of the immigrants around here are just plain scared of what is going to happen. And while the rallies are big enough that they can go without worrying about being deported, I just don't see the accompanying political consciousness that would turn these rallies into a powerful movement, at least in my little part of New York (it could be very different in a city with a more homogeneous immigrant population). I want to hear what my kids are thinking about all this (the youth movement is the most exciting part of this), and hopefully I'll report back with some interesting findings.

Grouchy on vouchers this morning

Until now I was under the impression that Margaret Spellings was staying out of the voucher fray. But apparently she has been "sent by Bush" to "up the ante" in the "school choice battle" in New York.

Voucher proponents, like the New York Sun, love to conflate vouchers with charter schools as one big "school choice" movement. (Actually, their opponents do too.) This is useful when you either want to use one to build support for the other, or use one to do away with the other. But "school choice" is an outdated concept. Vouchers and charters have become two totally different "movements." Yes, there is some overlap, but it is mainly at the extremes, as charters have become much more mainstream.

In other bad journalism news, the headline of a somewhat anti-charter school piece in today's New York Times reads "Public vs. Private Schools: A New Debate." The print version of the headline is "Public vs. Charter Schools." Not sure which is worse -- the Times thinking that charter schools are not public schools or the Times thinking that they are private schools. And "a new debate?" As a colleague pointed out, the facilities issue is hardly a new debate.

Reaping what you sow

In this post a few weeks ago, I talked about Platform Learning's latest attempts to bribe students to join their SES sessions and predicted its failure. More than a few of the kids in my after school program signed up for Platform for the pizza party, but after two days in SES, they refused to go back (to be fair, the attendance is also lower in my program during the days when we run SES). Platform, instead of improving programming or attempting to get feedback from these kids, went after us because we let our kids come back to the program on those days after getting the ok from their parents. One of our coordinators was yelled at by a Platform representative, and the principal had to get involved. And this is after Newton Learning pulled out of the school because they couldn't get any kids to stay in their program (after bribing them with money). It's a mess and it is too bad that a lot of kids are not going to tutoring that could help them, but I can't say that these for-profit companies don't deserve it.

Sonny gets sonnier day by day

Update on this story: GA Gov Sonny Perdue's gonna sign that bible thumping bill into law.

Most inadvertently disgusting headline ever

The award has to go to this story.

BTW, I have one afloat in each of my two pools.

Students walk out

Chris is going to post more about this later, but I just wanted to say how much I love this story. It appeals to the youth leader in me, it appeals to the social studies teacher in me. And I love the quotes from Villairagosa and other officials -- they're old fogey hypocrites and they know it!

Update: In their own words.

Moskowitz Moskowitz Moskowitz

Damn, this event is getting a TON of press! I wasn't surprised to see it here, but when I saw it just now in a teaser for the 11:00 news (during a really awesome episode of LOST, by the way) I couldn't believe it. Is it just the Moskowitz factor? Or do they know something about the media that I don't know?

"We're losing control"

I've been meaning to blog about the how the 37.5 minutes of extra tutoring has been going at my school since my initial reactions about how crazy it was. It hasn't gotten any better. The time between when the kids are dismissed and 37.5 minutes later is absolute chaos most days at my school. I'm not sure how many kids are actually in the tutoring sessions since there seem to be so many wandering the halls. The administrators are in the halls everyday trying to get everyone into a room, but by the time this actually happens 15 or 20 minutes have gone by with no work being done. The kids who do go to tutoring complain that they aren't being helped, and every time I walk by classrooms nothing much seems to be happening.

A really troubling aspect is how the chaos caused by the extra tutoring sessions is limiting the ability of the school to protect its students. The security guards are outside watching the students that are supposed to go home, leaving the inside of the school to the troublemakers. No suprise that there has been a big increase in fights during that time. One of my kids got punched in the face the other day when he tried to stop a bigger kid from stealing his friend's IPod. In the buildup to another fight later on that week during the 37.5 minutes, I went looking for security and couldn't find anyone. The principal has recently been coming to the cafeteria (where the after school kids meet and where most of the fights have been taking place) to get a handle on the situation.

A dean told me that she thinks the extra tutoring will be gone by next year. She seems more exhausted than normal these days and told me that the staff is losing control of the school. I know that the craziness has something to do with the state math tests and the fact that a lot of kids are tired of school around this time of year, but the connection between the chaos in the school and the start of the 37.5 minutes seems too obvious to ignore. The system clearly isn't working here - kids that need help but don't want to stay are leaving and disrupting the tutoring sessions for those that do stay. There isn't enough security to control the complicated dismissal process or to prevent fights during it. The whole thing doesn't seem very well thought out, and it is unfortunate that something that the kids really need (extra help) really isn't helping anyone at all.

Platform Learning is at it again

After the Times and Post disclosed on March 8 that some tutoring companies (notably Platform Learning and Newton Learning) were paying off principals and teachers (and in some cases kids) in some schools in NYC to increase SES attendance, there was a lot of buzz around my school. A lot of the teachers (some who worked for those companies) expressed their misgivings with programs that basically bribe kids to come to tutoring. And it seemed like the DOE wasn't happy these practices, even though they weren't technically illegal.

Anyway, Platform announced a pizza party and a raffle for an IPod yesterday for kids that actually attend the program (very few have been coming), and a bunch of kids signed up. I think it sends the wrong message when companies pay kids to come to their program. Most kids at my school need individual help, and they know it. Whenever I can sit down with a kid one-on-one to work on something after school, almost every kid responds well and works hard to understand their homework, including the kids that teachers have written off. The fact that kids need to be bribed to attend free tutoring shows that SES isn't teaching the kids anything. A number of kids in my program signed up for Newton Learning at the beginning of the year to win $100, but stopped going after a few sessions because it was so boring. And this is going to happen to Platform in a few weeks. Policymakers really need to sit down and think about changing how SES is run (more oversight of these companies would be a great start) because what is happening now just isn't working.

We heart Bill Richardson

As part of the School of Bloggers' ongoing campaign to express our love for Bill Richardson and our hope to see him in the White House, I submit this for you to think about. He's right on early childhood education, he's right on the environment, and now he's right on charter schools.

UFT Charter High School

The "EIA" divulges more about SUNY's approval of a UFT charter high school and gives props to the union. Keep reading down to Leo Casey's response. He makes a good point at the end about Bloomy and Klein's push to lift the charter cap. (He also makes a good point about the charter schools I work with.)

Buffalo blues

More "Teachers vs. Kids" language in this Buffalo News editorial on the recent movement in the health insurance quandary the Buffalo school district's in with its teachers. (Previous post, with interesting comments, here.)

Also, if you haven't had enough of Buffalo, check out this review of a new book on abortion battles in Buffalo from the most recent The Nation. I know the guy who wrote it! (The review, not the book.)

A revelation

Since the School of Bloggers are facing a possible move to Minneapolis, I of course immediately went to look at the charter schools there. Warm-blooded southerner that I am, I was not expecting to find much to like about Minnesota. I was shocked to find out how COOL the charters are there! Look at this one! And this one! There are two charters for the Hmong community and at least two for American Indian students.

Why are charters so cool in Minneapolis? Turns out there's a reason.

Unscrupulous SES companies

Tutoring companies in NYC have engaged in a number of improper activities while trying to enroll poor students in Supplemental Educational Services (SES) programs, according to this NY Times article. I have no idea if some of the more aggressive companies working at my school have done anything like the examples in the article (both Newton Learning and Platform Learning are mentioned specifically in the city's report and are particularly aggressive in going after students and parents), but the atmosphere that these companies create in the school really poisons the whole process. A lot of parents have no idea what is going on and often don't know what they are signing, but they are really pressured by representatives of these companies at parent-teacher conferences and other school events to sign their kids up for SES.

Even though the recruiting efforts were stepped up this year, there hasn't been much difference in the numbers of kids enrolled in SES programs (it is still pathetically low). Most of my kids that signed up for other programs stopped going a long time ago, and it seems like the only ones that are really benefiting already have good tests scores and involved parents. If most parents don't understand the programs they are enrolling their kids in, how can schools expect struggling and disruptive kids to take it upon themselves to show up for tutoring on their own initiative? SES programs, at least at my school, are not serving the kids that need the most help.
I don't know what the solution is since the 37.5 extra minutes a day has been a nightmare so far at my school (more on this in the next post). The problems with SES can't all be blamed on tutoring companies, but I believe that a lot of them do start there.

Victory (Kind of) at last for Immigrant Parents

Yesterday, Bloomberg and the City Council agreed to expand translation services to immigrant parents (Newsday article here, and DOE press release on the deal here). The increase in funds ($2 million will be added to the $10 million the city already spends) to Bloomy's Translation and Interpretation Unit will allow more school documents to be translated. The deal sidesteps a threat by the City Council to override Bloomberg's recent veto of the Education Equity Act, which would have mandated more comprehensive translation services in schools.

It will be hard to tell anytime soon if the extra money will change much in the schools and as the Newsday article points out, the provision that says services will be available to "the extent practicable" is worrying because schools may simply choose not provide the services since it often isn't practical for schools without resources to provide translation services to parents in a number of languages. Still, it is encouraging that something was done to reach out to immigrant parents and not treat them as second-class citizens simply because they haven't learned English yet. If these parents can become more involved in their children's education, I think the benefits to schools and communities will outweigh the costs of increased services. Language access doesn't guarantee parent involvement, but it is a good first step.

Update on the Education Equity Act

The Daily News reported on Tuesday that council members may be working on a compromise to increase translation services for immigrant parents in NYC schools. The City Council passed the Education Equity Act late last year, and Bloomy vetoed it, saying the bill would violate state law. Let's hope they come up with something soon - I spent last Thursday translating for dozens of Spanish-speaking parents at parent-teacher conferences in an ESL class, and most of the parents told me or the teacher that it was the first time they had been able to communicate with their children's teacher. Is it any wonder that most of the school's parents didn't bother to show up for the conferences?

Charters and segregation

Meanwhile, in other charter news, a new report has come out about how charter schools do nothing to desegregate schools in Michigan. From the co-director of the study's policy center:

"Parents are moving their students from racially segregated (traditionally public) schools to racially segregated charters."

There was another big study by these people a few years ago on the same topic.

My question is, were charter schools ever intended to be forces of racial desegregation? Yes, they should (and do) integrate students economically, but is it such a bad thing if minority parents decide to send their children to schools where the other students look like them?

I keep thinking of an article by Lisa Delpit where she discusses her own daughter's move from a private school in which she is the only black student to a largely black charter school. The effect on her daughter's self esteem was significant, and startling to Delpit. Charter schools are schools of choice -- parents choose to send their children there for any number of reasons. Is that really segregation?

I'm also thinking about the two charter schools I work with -- one had a Latina founding principal, and a large proportion of the faculty and staff there are Latino. At an event last night, graduates of the school greeted many of the parents at the door in Spanish, with kisses on the cheek. Is it any wonder that Latino parents would want to send their children there, and that 60% of the students are Latino?

At the other school, a large proportion of the faculty and staff are black. The school song is an African folk tune, and the school's culture feels distinctly black. Is it any wonder that black parents would want to send their children there, and that 90% of the students are black?

Finally, being a white woman I'm not sure if I should be offended by the idea of the "peer effect" for race. The Harvard Civil Rights Project makes the case that segregation is an evil in itself, but I'm not sure if I buy it, especially in the case of charter schools.

Touché

Eduwonk's guest blogger this week gets at the one thing that irritates my conscience when I advocate for charter schools.

The good book(s)

Bible thumping in my home state. From the Economist:

Bible Study

A bill that would allow for Bible classes in public schools was approved by a 50-1 margin by state senators on February 3rd. Regina Thomas, a Democrat from Savannah, was the lone dissenter. State Republicans had been trying to pass a version of the bill since 2000. The version that passed, sponsored by Tommie Williams, the majority leader, requires the state board of education to approve two new elective high-school courses (which are not required for graduation): one on the Old Testament and one on the New. The bill also requires that the Bible be used as a textbook.

A version of the bill sponsored by three Democratic members would have created only one course and would not have required the use of the Bible, but lack of support forced the sponsors to vote for Mr Williams’s bill. Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, observed that it was better to be seen “running and hiding in the rest room” than be accused of voting against the Bible. A spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, meanwhile, promised to watch the bill closely.

Meanwhile, in the "Humanities and the Social Studies" course I'm taking right now, we recently did a model lesson on the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Koran. (Students are required to know something about these books for the Regents.) We used literary analysis techniques to compare excerpts from the three books relating to certain topics (food, women, holy war, etc.). The lesson had its limitations, but it seemed like an interesting way to approach what is required material -- it completely steered clear from theology. (Though, even in my masters' level class of adults, it was not possible for everyone to look at the material objectively.)

The point is, holy texts do have a place in the high school classroom. But do they really need their own elective? Why single out the Old Testament and the New Testament for their own separate electives? This is a purely political bill that is meant to separate the bible-lovers from the god-haters in an election year (see the political scientist's comment).

My unending quest to find new sources of procrastination

Check out the blogs I have recently added to the sidebar:

Your Mama's Mad Tedious indulges my love of teacher narratives and Chris's obsession with baseball.

A History Teacher is my new eGuru.

Life in the Mobile Learning Cottage is written by a history/literature teacher who shares my fear of other people's vomit.