CER NEWSWIRE
Vol. 4, No. 6
February 12, 2002

URBAN TROUBLES

*  Philadelphia observers aren't quite sure what direction the new School Reform Commission is headed in its efforts to revamp the school system - up to now, progress seems slow and plodding. This is especially true given the near daily attacks against proposals that would allow either non-profit or for-profit community groups and charter school organizations to run schools. But the opponents are calling in their heavy artillery. Just this week the area's Congressman, Chaka Fattah, told the school system's new leaders that Edison Schools is suspect and shouldn't be a major player. Congressman Fattah used information supplied by the Council of Great City Schools and other well-known reform opponents to make his case, which in our view is itself a little suspect.

* A fracas in Prince George's County, MD appears to have been temporarily resolved by the unusual intercession of the state superintendent, who reinstated Iris Metts, the county's superintendent, after the local school board improperly dismissed her. The Prince George's County district's problems are a case-in-point of how politics will tend to trump education, a problem that gets worse the larger and more disadvantaged the district. The districts in need of the most help tend to be the most susceptible to the political failures which prevent them from getting the help they need. And who suffers while the adults squabble? The children. And as reported in this week's Washington Post, they know it:

Sally Traore, a junior, can't be bothered with the status of Metts's job.

To her, what matters is how the protracted battle between Metts and the school board is affecting the Prince George's school system's already beleaguered reputation.

Even more, Traore worries that the power struggle over county schools has taken the focus off classroom instruction and hurt her chances of getting a top-notch education.

"I'm smart, but the competition is tough," said Traore, 17. "If I'm going to get into a good college, I have to learn more than what they are teaching me here."

* CHARTERS: Cyber Cynicism- The North Carolina State Board of Education appears to have thumbed its nose at a money-back guarantee that was offered to the board by the founder of a proposed Cyber-charter school. The New Connections Academy made the offer after the school's impact on the system was apparently questioned. Because the school planned to open and eventually expand to 1,200 students, the state board raised concerns, not about the educational value of the school (it appears) but whether or not new people not currently getting a public education would be drawn to it. Wasn't that what schools were supposed to be about? See http://www.newsobserver.com/

Charter schools in INDIANA aren't even open yet and already there are individuals seeking to deny them resources that would naturally flow to them once children choose to enroll. As reported before in the CER Newswire, not only are superintendents seeking funding changes, but the state announced that it will not provide any funding for charters until the January after the schools have started. For example, if a charter school opens in September, it would have to be privately funded to survive that long. The irony is that the same people who oppose private involvement in education are pushing it forward.

While crisscrossing the country on charter visits, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige showed his commitment to educational alternatives and excellent schools. Last week Paige went to TENNESSEE where he encouraged legislators to jump on the charter bandwagon. He also visited Houston, where he toured the Yes College Preparatory School, and St. Paul (MN), where he addressed parents and local leaders at the Academia Cesar Chavez charter school. This last visit was none-too-soon, as opponents there are pressing to reverse the charter trend that started in the land of 10,000 Lakes. The unions have proclaimed a dismantling of charter school as part of their legislative agenda (see CER Newswire January 22, 2002, for more), and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper has gotten into the act with a series of misleading and error-laden reports on charter schools.

The following quote was found to be "Worth Repeating" this week, from the February 11, 2002 issue of the Education Intelligence Agency's report: 

"I've never seen two more arrogant people. Their attitude was: ' We call our own shots and you're powerless against us and you'd better not take us on because we're the 800-pound gorilla,'" reported Minnesota Gov. Jesse Venture, discussing a meeting he had last year with the then-co-presidents of Education Minnesota, the state's teacher and staff union.

* MEDIA: Gearing up for next week's U.S. Supreme Court hearing on the Cleveland Scholarship program, the media are showing their strong biases. This week, a New York Times article discussed the program using prominent references to the religious symbols in the featured school. In a similar article, Education Week used two photographs that were Cleveland-related, neither showing any learning going but on but instead focusing on crucifixes and religious statues. Meanwhile, in that city and scores of others like it, most of the children attending Catholic schools do so not because they are Catholic, but because they are safe and secure places of rigorous learning. Balance, please!

* CLASS SIZE STUDY SHOWS NO LINK TO PERFORMANCE: The latest installment of the CSR Research Consortium's study of California's effort to improve academic performance through class size reduction is out. According to the report, the class size reduction effort has demonstrated "no strong relationship...between achievement and CSR." The report's authors pose several explanations for their results, including the possibility that CSR exacerbated teacher shortages, or that various other reform initiatives produced the academic improvements in California between 1997 and 2001.

Participation in California's CSR program is voluntary for the state's school districts. Participating districts receive $850 for each K-3 student enrolled in a class of 20 or fewer children. The consortium, composed of the American Institutes for Research (AIR), the RAND Corporation, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), WestEd, and EdSource, will issue its final CSR report in June of 2002. For more, go to: http://www.classize.org/press/index-01.htm.

* UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 7-9, Nashville, TN: The 11th Annual Core Knowledge Conference. For more information, call (800) 238-3233. Website: http://www.coreknowledge.org.

March 23, New York City, NY: Third Annual New York Charter Schools Conference. Sponsored by the New York Charter Schools Association (serves charter school operators, 518.465.4400) and the New York Charter School Resource Center (serves charter school planners, 888.343.6907).

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The CER Newswire may be redistributed in its entirety with proper attribution. The CER Newswire is published by The Center for Education Reform, the nation's leading authority on school reform. CER is dedicated to making schools better for America's children by improving educational access and excellence for all. CER works with parents, teachers and policymakers to advance meaningful education improvement initiatives.

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