This Voter Measure Wasn’t Just About School Funding. It Was About Segregation and Racism in a White, Wealthy Dallas Enclave.

This from Slate:

[A recent] Tuesday was Election Day in Dallas, and one of the most contentious issues citywide involved an ostensibly boring topic: school bonds. Things got particularly heated in the wealthy enclave of Highland Park, where the vote over a $361 million bond has provoked a big debate over the future of Dallas. It wasn’t just about the enormous price tag on the bond package, which supporters said was necessary to raze and rebuild three of the 7,000-student district’s elementary schools, renovate a fourth, and buy land to add a fifth elementary school to the at-capacity district, as well as renovating the schools for the upper grades.

At the moment, Highland Park’s popular schools are perilously overcrowded, with many classes in the district exceeding the state limit for number of students per class. The new construction, in addition to adding more classrooms, would preserve much-needed green space and bring more parking to the landlocked schools, as well as update their technological infrastructure. (Two of the elementary schools were built in the 1920s, another in 1949. The fourth was built in 1914 and reopened in 1951. So—a long time ago.)

The bond passed by 10 points—55 to 45 percent, a difference of about 800 votes. But a dark specter loomed over the run-up to the vote, and what appeared to be these totally reasonable expansion proposals.

According to anonymous emails that circulated in advance of the election, if the bond passed and the schools increased in size, Section 8 housing could spring up in the sliver of Dallas that’s part of the Highland Park Independent School District. And if that happens (spoiler alert: it won’t), who even knows what type of riffraff will crawl into the high-performing, affluent, and overwhelmingly white, schools: “non-English-speaking” students from all over Latin America, Middle Eastern refugees, assorted other low-income scum. As one of the emails put it, “Diversity is an innocuous sounding method of diluting excellence.”

“What has captured people’s attention is that the Highland Park School District overlays Highland Park,” Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, told me, “but it extends just a little bit into Dallas, so the scare tactic is that in that little bit of Dallas, there will be low-income apartments with all kinds of people we don’t know, including potentially Syrian jihadis, people crawling out of Mexico across the border all the way to Dallas with their automatic weapons slung over their shoulders, going into those apartments and sending their kids into these schools. This is ludicrous on its face, but in a campaign it raises all sorts of concerns about the dilution of the Highland Park School District.”

To understand the context of this bond election requires some background on Highland Park and University Park (where SMU and the George W. Bush Library are located), the two adjacent minicities within Dallas that are collectively known as the Park Cities. The Park Cities are two things above all else: rich and white. Really, really white: As of the last census, Highland Park, the more exclusive of the Park Cities, was 94 percent white and .5 percent black. The city surrounding it, meanwhile, is 42 percent Hispanic and 25 percent black. As for Highland Park, well, it welcomed its first black homeowner in 2003. (It is worth clicking on this link just for the incredible lede from one local article marking the milestone: “Guess who’s coming to dinner … and staying for a while?”)

Illustrious residents of Highland Park, where the average home sale in 2013 was $1.65 million, include Ross Perot Jr., Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, real estate developer Harlan Crow (a prominent Marco Rubio supporter who owns two original paintings by Adolf Hitler and a signed copy of Mein Kampf), and Gold’s Gym and Omni Hotels founder Robert Rowling, another heavy-hitting Republican donor. These last two residents are not outliers in this extremely Republican area. From a Mother Jones piece on the inner-city garden suburb:

Among the two-dozen zip codes that donated the most money to candidates and political parties [in 2010], 75205 [Highland Park] gave the highest share—77 percent—to Republicans. … It also gave Republicans more hard cash, $2.4 million, than all but four other zips nationwide.

The Park Cities are superattractive to the super-rich because, while wealthy and elitist, they’re not suburbs in the traditional sense. They’re smack in the middle of the city, just three miles north of downtown Dallas (and for any non-Texans out there, that’s nothing), surrounded on all four sides by the big, dirty, diverse city.

“If you look at a map of Dallas, the Park Cities are cut right out of the middle,” Jillson, the SMU professor, told me. They were part of Dallas’ “first wave of suburbanization, a move out away from the center of the city with all of its diverse population, to provide a near-in exclusive bigger-lot kind of platting for the elite.”

“Highland Park is kind of like a castle with a moat,” said Michael Phillips, the author of White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841–2001. “The Park Cities were where the wealthiest of Dallas retreated in the beginning of the 20^th century, when you saw the first actual immigration in Dallas. It wasn’t at all comparable to what you have in the Northeast, but for the first time you begin to have a noticeable Jewish population, Italian residents, Eastern Europeans. This was 20 years before the Ku Klux Klan took over the city, and all that nativist anxiety was just beginning to brew when Highland Park was founded” in 1907.

Another big attraction of the Park Cities has always been its separate-but-superior school district, which is 85 percent white, 6 percent Asian, 4 percent Hispanic, 2 percent multirace, and 3 percent other and consists of four (possibly soon-to-be five) elementary schools, one intermediate school, one middle school, and one high school. Highland Park High School has an estimable 99 percent graduation rate. And, not coincidentally, while 130,780 out of the 159,487 students in Dallas Independent School District qualified as economically disadvantaged in the 2013–14 school year, zero of the 7,012 students in HPISD did.

But, as Countess LuAnn de Lesseps is fond of singing, “Money Can’t Buy You Class.”

In 2005, Highland Park High School was written up the Dallas Morning News for a storied dress-up tradition known as “Thug Day”:

Students … dressed as gang members, rap stars, maids and yard workers this month during homecoming week—a tradition one Dallas civil-rights leader says is racially insensitive.

On senior Thug Day, students wore Afro wigs, fake gold teeth and baggy jeans. On Fiesta Day, which was to honor Hispanic heritage, one student brought a leaf blower to school.

Highland Park students are still making headlines for racist antics; the lead singer in the shocking University of Oklahoma fraternity chant that provoked worldwide outrage earlier this year was a graduate of Highland Park High School.

But if Highland Park largely remains, according to White Metropolis, "a refuge from an increasingly diverse city," the Dallas that surrounds the Park Cities on all four sides is changing at a dizzying pace. The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. Between 2000 and 2010, the Asian population of the metroplex and near-in suburbs more than doubled; it’s no accident of history that Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for his clock-bomb in Irving, about a 20-minute drive from central Dallas.

All these demographic drifts came to the forefront of the vote over school-improvement costs.

The anti-bond emails did a fine job of ratcheting up fears of the certain apocalypse that would follow the bond’s passage: “Most people think the bond is just about building new schools but there is MUCH more to it, including section 8 housing” [emphasis theirs]. What follows is a complicated scheme in which the already overcrowded schools of HPISD become bigger, poorer, and—scariest of all—darker. And you’ll never guess who is ultimately engineering this takeover: Barack Obama himself! “The Obama administration is determined to move low-income families into affluent cities and suburbs at virtually any cost,” reads one email.

Foundations for the Future, the pro-bond political action committee—yes, a PAC for a school-bond election—debunked these claims not with ridicule but with the logic of the market.

Affordable housing is typically built where land costs between $10-20 per square foot. In HPISD, land costs more than $100 per square foot. No government subsidies can make it profitable to pay the high land costs notable in HPISD, construct housing, and then rent to low-income tenants. There are no Section 8 apartments in Texas on land that costs even a quarter of what the North Park Gardens is worth.

So don’t fear jihadis taking over our elementary schools; it’s economic forces that will keep our kids safe!

Despite the scare tactics, the bond was always likely to pass because, as Phillips put it, “The people in Highland Park tend to be very pragmatic, and they want the best schools for their kids. The behavior of their kids in these schools may show a lack of sophistication in some ways, but everyone there is very commercially oriented, very bottom line-oriented.”

Jillson at SMU agreed. Texas historically underfunds its public schools—“they were 49^th in the nation in per-capita student funding in 2012, and while it’s kicked up a little bit to 38^th, that’s sort of its natural position,” just a hair above the Deep South—and the parents of HPISD knew that the district needed the money: “The wealthier the district, the more likely you are to be sure your schools have everything, and a bond is an opportunity to do that without having your excess funds creamed off for other districts.”

Laura Moser, a writer for Slate's Schooled project, has written for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Washingtonian.

Hiren Desai to join Fayette County Public Schools

Caulk Building FCPS Team

Nice catch.

This from FCPS (via press release):

A top Kentucky Department of Education official with 18 years of experience in state government will be joining the Fayette County Public Schools leadership team, Superintendent Manny Caulk announced today.

Hiren Desai

Hiren Desai, the state education department’s Associate Commissioner for the Office of Administration and Support since 2009, has been selected as the Fayette County Public Schools Senior Director of Administrative Services.

“Hiren is a rock star,” Caulk said. “The experiences and talent he brings to our district are a direct match for our targeted areas of improvement.”

At the Kentucky Department of Education, Desai provided oversight, direction and support for the financial and physical resources of KDE and school districts. In his new role, he will oversee the departments of financial services, budget and staffing, human resources and Munis technology for FCPS and report directly to the superintendent.

“These are areas in which we need real leadership in order to restore public confidence in the district,” Caulk said. “I’m thrilled Hiren has agreed to be a part of transforming our school district into a world class system of great schools.”

For the past six years, Desai has had oversight over the human resources functions for approximately 1,100 employees and an annual statewide K-12 budget of nearly $5 billion. He has helped lead the state department through a number of challenges, including navigating through 13 statewide budget cuts while rolling out massive changes to instruction and accountability.

“We had to take a measured approach to budget reductions, while simultaneously reallocating funding for new initiatives,” Desai said. “We accomplished that in a fiscally responsible manner that had minimal impact to students, teachers, and principals, by doing more with less, and building strategic plans around key priorities, such as increasing graduation rates and improving college and career readiness.”

In addition to his work at KDE, Desai has also held legal and management positions in the state Finance and Administration Cabinet, the Governor’s Office for Technology, and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Notable among Desai’s many accomplishments is his work on the Governor’s 2008 Taskforce on Government e-Transparency, which led to the creation of “Open Door,” a website where members of the public can track government spending. He is also the 2014 recipient of the Bill Stilwell Award for his advocacy in obtaining additional state funding to expand educational technology for students in the Commonwealth.

Originally born in Zimbabwe, Desai is a naturalized American of Asian descent who moved to Lexington in 1990, at the age of 16, to attend the University of Kentucky. He majored in finance and management and holds both a Bachelor’s of Business Administration and a juris doctor degree from UK. Desai is fluent in English and Gujarati and conversant in Hindi and Ndebele.

“If we are going to prepare students for a global society, we have to broaden the way we think about diversity,” Caulk said. “Hiren is a global citizen. His grandparents are from Asia, his wife is from England and he and his parents are from Africa. All of those experiences and perspectives will enrich our team and accelerate our work for students.”

Desai said he was attracted to Caulk’s vision of establishing the Fayette County Public Schools not just as the top school district in Kentucky, but as a globally competitive school district that leads the nation.

“This goal is readily achievable with the significant talent and resources we have,” Desai said. “Fayette County is my home and I want our community to be the best it possibly can.”

Customer service, professionalism, responsiveness, fairness and consistency are among the expectations Desai outlined for himself and his team.

“I’m excited to join FCPS and help the entire team and community partners in moving the district forward,” Desai said. “I want every student in Fayette County to be able to compete at a global level.  We want to equip them to work and compete anywhere.”

Desai will officially assume his duties on January 4, 2016. His annual salary, based on education and years of experience, will be roughly $140,000.

What If Charters Were Also Subject to Recalls?

This from Ohio's Plunderbund:

In a flood of news stories during the last year, we’ve learned that as many as 16 million autos may be subject to recall due to defective air bags supplied by the Takata Corporation.  After reading this and other stories about recalls in the automotive manufacturing and parts sector, including a huge mess with storied German automaker Volkswagen, where more than 8 million vehicles in Europe alone are subject to recall, that got me thinking on the topic of other headlines detailing problems recently in another industry.

Here are some examples of problems in that other, non-automotive, non-manufacturing industry:

• A record 17 industry locations in one city – Columbus – closed in just one year.
• One of the industry’s treasurers embezzled nearly $500,000 from several locations, earning a two-year prison sentence.
• An executive in the industry, operating under a phony consulting contract, also embezzled about a half-million dollars, while employee salaries had to be cut in an economy move.
• In Cleveland, five industry executives were charged with stealing nearly $2 million in a scheme that saw the creation of five shell companies to receive public funds. Even the board chairman, who owned the building in which the industry operated, was part of the fraud that was detailed in a 32-count indictment.
• Three industry treasurers were singled out several years ago for their responsibility with more than $1 million in “questionable spending,” according to audit findings.
• A national chain appeared to be spending more on lease payments for its sites than on employee salaries and benefits, a practice that raised eyebrows both inside and outside the industry. And, oh, the lease payments were owed to the parent company, which happened to own the buildings in which the industry conducted its business.
• Several industry locations in Ohio, part of a national chain with extensive international ties, were served with search warrants by the FBI last year, and the public is still waiting to find out the particulars of the federal investigation.

And yes, there’s much, much more. You can check this site for a recent chronology of even more problems in this industry.

Excuse me, which industry?

The envelope, please.

We are, of course, talking about the Ohio charter school industry, an enterprise that has been called the Wild, Wild West by some of its proponents and the Dark Side by others who work in this murky environment also known as charterworld.

The scope of theft and corruption in charter schools has so alarmed various groups that several studies have examined the extent of the problem and concluded that this industry presents a high risk for fraud and abuse of public funds.

But whatever words are used to describe it, the industry’s operation is clearly defective in design, as these stories amply demonstrate. The examples show how systemic the extent of charter school failure and fraud have been in Ohio, and, for that matter, other states as well.

If the charter school industry were a manufacturing enterprise, its defective design would have been so apparent that it would have been recalled like Takata,  Volkswagen, or any other entity that produces something that might blow up or otherwise harm the buyer.

In this case, the buyer or purveyor of this industry is the state legislature, a public body that funds and promotes this defective design, a model for the privatization of a public function that contains a faulty mechanism for oversight and monitoring, and no means for a feedback loop that can assist with corrections to improve the operation.

By contrast, public school boards – elected bodies – do that, as they hire the superintendent and treasurer, and provide feedback in the form of annual evaluations and reviews. But as we’ve seen before, the treasurers tend to be hand-picked by the school developer or operator, and the needed review mechanism is all too often absent – as the stories in the links clearly show.

One other small thing: every once in a while, qualified voters show up to further review and evaluate the operation. The process is called an election.

Indeed, if the charter school industry operated in the manufacturing or consumer products sector, there would be cries for a widespread recall of its product. But the product of this industry is supposedly another form of “public” education, a service that the public pays for but has no input in the result or an opportunity to vote for or against the directors of the operation – the board of education.

Remember though, it’s about “choice,” as we are told again and again.

That’s what school privatization is all about. Sure, we’ll take those public funds the corporatists say, but don’t bother asking us about how we do business. We’re a private corporation, and the information you’re asking for is proprietary. Besides, we own the equipment, furniture and other assets.

If there are those who might be skeptical about the analogy to product recalls like those for Takata and Volkswagen, consider the recent actions of the Washington Supreme Court.  According to the Washington Post:

Washington state’s Supreme Court has become the first in the nation to decide that taxpayer-funded charter schools are unconstitutional, reasoning that charters are not truly public schools because they aren’t governed by elected boards and therefore not accountable to voters.

To its credit, the Washington Supreme Court identified one major defect in the design of these schools. So when an appellate court spends a year examining the charter school model and concludes that such entities aren’t public and therefore are unconstitutional, that’s equivalent to a recall.

Sadly, the much touted HB2, the so-called major charter school reform law, still comes up short in addressing major defects in charter school design. The legislature is out to lunch on further needed reforms – or, better yet, junking the model entirely because of its inherent, faulty design. But when you look at campaign contributions, the charter school industry has picked up the tab for that perpetual legislative lunch – and dinner.

It’s great to know that when it comes to defective products, we don’t have to wait for Congress to act. Instead, we have a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to look out for our interests. Just ask Takata and Volkswagen about that.

And in Ohio, when we have an industry that is prone to waste, fraud and abuse,  can anyone recollect – or is the better word choice recall – who is watching out for us?

Anyone?

Denis Smith is a retired school administrator and a former consultant in the Ohio Department of Education’s charter school office.

Prichard meeting focuses on increasing student achievement, closing gaps

"We've significantly increased achievement for all student groups 

across the state of Kentucky since the 1990's

 but the gap in achievement between different populations 

of students has also widened significantly."

--Brigitte Blom Ramsey, executive director of the Prichard Committee. 

This from the Prichard Committee (via press release):

Increasing the academic achievement of all students and closing the performance gaps that persist between student groups was the focus of the recent fall meeting of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

The two-day meeting in Louisville included presentations by national scholars, Kentucky educators, students and committee members who encouraged the statewide advocacy group to sustain and build on its commitment to ensuring a quality education for every Kentuckian.

Ronald F. Ferguson

Dr. Ronald F. Ferguson of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Kennedy School of Government spoke of the need to strike a balance between student outcomes that can be measured by testing and characteristics he described as "agency-related factors," such as persistence, future orientation and conscientiousness. 

Teaching has a profound influence on both of these, he said, and "all ages and stages" of a student's educational progression are important. "There is no throw-away period." In addressing the importance of early childhood education, Ferguson encouraged the committee members to saturate their communities with parenting information and supports and to "help make life the program." 

Student Susie Smith, a member of the committee's Student Voice Team, said in response to a question that two things schools could do to address achievement gaps are to make sure students master skills at the appropriate age and to guard against separating or setting different performance expectations based on race. 

Ferguson recommended that the study group the committee has [impaneled] to address closing the achievement gaps to find a way to institutionalize attention to the issue - to "look at the numbers and not blink." He also emphasized the importance of ensuring that educators working to close achievement gaps are equipped with the information and resources they need to do so. 

Floyd County education leaders shared their story of the positive impact of setting high expectations for students. Once the subject of a state takeover, the school district is now one of the highest performing in the state, with test scores that rank near the top statewide.

Superintendent Henry Webb told the committee that the district refuses to use excuses and "takes kids where they are" to work for higher achievement. School board member Jeff Stumbo said the district set a goal to be in the top 50 when its performance was rated at 145^th. "Now we're in the top 12." 

Betsy Layne High School principal Cassandra Akers credited a great team of teachers and cited expanded advanced placement and dual credit programs as examples of progress. She said the school also has created transitional/development classes for students who fall short of benchmarks as they enter high school.  

Lieutenant Governor Crit Luallen applauded the committee as having been the "constant through the years in education" with its advocacy work and urged the committee to renew its commitment to "holding the ground we've already gained" as it works with legislative and executive branch leaders. 

Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt, noting that he had held the position for less than three weeks, said he hopes to generate "Kentucky fatigue" across the nation as people get tired of hearing about the state's educational progress. He emphasized the importance of addressing the "opportunity gap" to give students what they need to close the achievement gap. 

Looking ahead, Pruitt said areas that he expects the state department to address will include improving student performance in middle school math, early learning and the accountability system that he said is too hard for people to understand. 

A panel of educators and advocates provided a review of the reform that began in the 1980s as well as the strengths and challenges of Kentucky's education system. 

Prichard Committee board member Helen Mountjoy noted that the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act contained messages still relevant today about the importance of closing achievement gaps and setting high expectations for all students. Deborah Walker, president and CEO of the Collaborative for Teaching and Learning, said she believes that notions of a systemic approach to educational improvement and setting high expectations had taken root in Kentucky. Teacher leadership was among the areas in need of more attention, she added. 

Teachers are sharing their expertise at greater levels than ever, but barriers persist to realizing the full potential of the intellectual capital that can be found in Kentucky classrooms today, said Brad Clark, director of the Hope Street Group teacher fellows program.

Veeko Lucas, a former classroom teacher and a senior effectiveness coach for The New Teacher Project, emphasized the importance of putting lessons before students that are aligned with high academic standards and include the materials students need. 

Education advocate and former principal Dewey Hensley and Boone County Superintendent Randy Poe emphasized the importance of quality teaching and the need for school leaders to ensure that all students have access to quality teaching every year. 

"We've significantly increased achievement for all student groups across the state of Kentucky since the 1990's but the gap in achievement between different populations of students has also widened significantly. At this moment in the Committee's history we are celebrating our progress as a state and redoubling our efforts to ensure all children, regardless of background and geography, learn deeply, achieve at high levels and have access to the quality of life that so many of us enjoy," said Brigitte Blom Ramsey, executive director of the Prichard Committee. 

At the 2015 Lilly Conference at Miami University

Listen to Dr. Dorie Combs on the Tommy Tucker radio show on WWL here:

http://media.wwl.com/a/109445927/9-24-7am-tommy-common-core.htm#.Vgh9kCbsXLA.email

Ky Governor-elect Matt Bevin One on One

This from Bill Goodman at KET's One on One:

When multiple polls showed that this year’s race for governor was essentially tied or that Democrat Jack Conway was slightly ahead, Matt Bevin knew better.

The Republican had spent much of the last two years traveling 95,000 miles around the state, campaigning first for the U.S. Senate and then for governor. In doing so, Bevin says he discovered the true pulse of Kentuckians in ways that no telephone surveys could reveal.

“I was listening to the people themselves, hearing their concerns, hearing their excitement, [and] understanding the latent, pent-up demand for something different,” Bevin says. “So it was clear to me that we were going to win.”

(Education chatter begins at 22:22.)

Now as governor-elect, Bevin and his transition team are preparing the first Republican administration to oversee the commonwealth in eight years. He appeared on KET’s One to One with Bill Goodman to discuss his victory and his plans for governing.

Transition Process Started Early
 
Bevin says his nearly 85,000-vote win doesn’t represent a mandate so much as it is a “cry for help” from citizens who desperately want to be heard by their elected leaders. But he realizes there are still many Kentuckians skeptical of his credentials and his policy plans.

“What I would tell folks is be patient, watch, and see what we do,” says Bevin. “My intent is to govern well for the people of Kentucky, regardless of their party, for Republicans and Democrats and independents alike. I intend to govern for all of us.”

His preparations for governing started well before the votes were counted on Election Day. Bevin says a small transition team held weekly meetings for several months to lay the groundwork should the Republican win the governor’s office. He says a larger team is now meeting daily to make sure the administration will be ready to take office on December 8.

The transition team is taking applications at bevintransition.com for the 800 or more jobs that will be available in the Bevin administration. But the Republican says he may hire fewer people if the work can be accomplished with less staff. He says he wants applicants who are committed to public service, have high integrity and good character, and are competent.

“I’m not looking to hand out favors to people,” Bevin says. “I’m looking to do as much as we possibly can, with as little of the taxpayers’ money as is necessary, and to do it with people of the kind of character that are going to make Kentucky the greatest version of itself in the years ahead.”

Pensions, Schools, and Health Care
 
Bevin’s team will face a number of hard realities when he takes office in less than a month. They’ll have to quickly prepare a new biennial budget for the commonwealth that begins to address the billions in unfunded liabilities in the state employee and teacher retirement systems.

“Everybody wants to assume that there’s some previously undiscovered magic pot of money, a dedicated revenue source,” Bevin says. “It doesn’t work that way.”

Instead Bevin says finding money for the pensions will have to come from across-the-board belt-tightening and eliminating waste in government agency budgets. He also wants to sell excess state inventory and property, and generate income by leasing highway rest stops and weigh stations to private companies that will operate gas or food service businesses there.

As for public education, Bevin says he will push for charter schools, and for outcomes-based funding for colleges and universities. He also wants to bring new energy and attention to vocational training opportunities within the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

Bevin declined to reveal any specific plans for Kynect, the state health exchange, or the Medicaid system that Gov. Beshear expanded to include people at 138 percent of the federal poverty rate. During the campaign Bevin said he doubted the state could afford the programs and pledged to abolish Kynect and revamp the Medicaid program. He now says he understands such decisions will affect Kentucky families and that he’s empathetic with the plight of those who lack good health insurance.

“What I want to do is ensure that we take care of people to the best degree that we can, everybody in Kentucky,” says Bevin. “But at the end of the day, we’re only able to do that if we can afford to actually do what we’re committing to. If we promise something to somebody and we don’t have the ability to pay for it, we’re lying to them. … That, to me, is wrong.”

Staying Grounded While in High Office
 
After traveling those 95,000 miles around the commonwealth, Bevin says he is energized by the people he has met and by the sights and smells of the Kentucky landscape. He says the process of campaigning affirmed in him a desire to be a public servant.

“This is something that I feel that I’m being obedient to – that this is a task before me that I’m supposed to be doing to the best of my ability,” Bevin says.

Bevin says being a husband and a father grounds him. He says he and his wife, Glenna, will work hard to protect the innocence and joy of their nine children as they enter public life. He says the experience is already providing teachable moments for his kids.

And should he need any further grounding during his time as the state’s highest public official, Bevin can always turn to his mother. His parents attended the election-night party in Louisville, and at the height of the victory celebration Bevin’s mother reminded the governor-elect of his humble beginnings on a New Hampshire farm.

“She looked at me [and] said, ‘I liked it better when you were the president of the 4-H Club,’” Bevin says with a laugh. “I think she meant that in a good way.”

What schools can do to reduce the opportunity gap

Rich engagement through applying knowledge generates opportunities 

to learn and experiences on which a child can build. But when a student 

lacks those experiences and it is not addressed in the classroom, then an

 opportunity gap is created which leads to a greater gap in achievement. 

--Stephen Pruitt

Here's a nice article from Commissioner Pruitt. But unfortunately, his title oversells. A more accurate title might be, "What schools can do to reduce the opportunity gap."

Pruitt accurately calls the opportunity gap the root of the achievement gap. But he defines it in terms only applicable to schools. On one hand, this is to be expected. He is the Education Commissioner, not the president of everything. But this singular focus misinforms. The reader is left to conclude that eliminating unequal opportunities within schools is sufficient to overcome the larger inequities in the lives of our students which manifest themselves outside of school. The Commissioner might consider placing what it is school must do within the larger context of what society must also do.

Pruitt states that "a ton of quality education research" exists showing that students rise to "rigorous opportunities to learn." He credits dedicated and passionate teachers, while cautioning us not to "mistake a child’s lack of preparedness for lack of ability," and he even makes a rigor-rigor mortis joke. He champions interesting instructional practices and decries "drill and kill" as the worst thing schools do. Failure to hold students to a high standard contributes to the opportunity gap, he says.


He's right.

Then somehow he equates the use of worksheets with rigorous instruction. I haven't heard anyone suggest that worksheets were an example of rigorous instruction in a long time. Still, the best thing schools can do is assure high quality instruction in every school. But if we did that, there would still be an achievement gap: between students who come from peaceful homes and those who live with violence; students who are well cared for, and those who are hungry; those who live with highly-educated parents and those with illiterate parents...  But all kids would be better off, and the whatever gaps existed would show up higher on the achievement scale.

Schools must do all they can do. But it does teachers no favor to infer that their efforts are sufficient alone. Closing the achievement gap requires a comprehensive set of solutions, and many of them exist outside of the school.

This from the Commissioner's Comments:

Eliminating the Opportunity Gap

There are a lot of dedicated and passionate people working to educate our children in the Commonwealth. Education is not an easy job, at times I would say it is one of the toughest jobs around. Kids come to us with a diversity of needs, even greater than the diversity we see in our classrooms. Yet, educators rise to that challenge each day to try to level the playing field for all our students.

Despite the improvement we have seen, we, as a state, still have a lot of work to do. We have a significant achievement gap that needs to be addressed. In this blog, I’d like to look at a root cause of the achievement gap – something I call the opportunity gap.

There is a ton of quality education research that shows that students presented with rigorous opportunities to learn rise to the occasion. While our intentions may be good, sometimes students are not afforded those opportunities for one reason or another, none of which serves the child. We may mistake a child’s lack of preparedness for lack of ability. We confuse course content and course names. And too often, our attempt at rigor gives way to an educational rigor mortis.

Our students come to us at many different levels of preparedness and sometimes that is mistaken for ability. One example is mathematics. Math and science actually are two subjects that we have convinced ourselves we can get better at by doing less. Nationally, struggling math students often are given less math content over a longer period of time. What they wind up doing is more “drill and kill” to prepare for tests. That, in my opinion, is the worst thing to do. Experience shows time and time again that struggling students excel when presented with challenging and interest-driven projects or instruction. We often take this approach with our advanced students. But we must challenge our less advanced students as well. We can narrow the opportunity gap and help close the achievement gap by ensuring that every student is provided with a rich learning environment.

On the issue of content vs. course names, we turn once again to mathematics. In several national studies, we discovered that a course named Algebra I contained content as vast as the number of schools in which it was taught. Even across states with the same standards, course content varies widely. We tend to have Algebra I, Algebra I lite, and Algebra I low carb. Well, this type of low carb is not healthy and diminishes students’ opportunities to learn. To be clear, I am not saying that every course should be the same. In fact, quality standards-based education is big on standards and short on standardization. Teachers should have the freedom to meet students where they are and engage their interest, but also hold them to a high standard. When this doesn’t happen, in my opinion, it is a major contributor to the opportunity gap.

Finally, the idea of rigor must be part of this discussion. The research on how students learn has made clear that worksheets don’t stimulate learning and development. So-called rigor often leads to apathy and a lack of motivation – you might call it rigor mortis – when a child is disconnected from his or her learning. Rich engagement through applying knowledge generates opportunities to learn and experiences on which a child can build. But when a student lacks those experiences and it is not addressed in the classroom, then an opportunity gap is created which leads to a greater gap in achievement. So, I think a key way to close the opportunity gap is with quality instruction.

To ensure all students have the same opportunities, it will take all of us in the education community working together to make a difference for our children. I am excited about the challenge and for what we can do for the children of the Commonwealth to eliminate the educational opportunity gap and close the achievement gap once and for all.

JCPS board members want to track why teachers are leaving

Growing Concerns over School Discipline 

This from WDRB (Video):

After a WDRB News investigation found teachers walking out of JCPS classrooms and saying they don’t feel safe, the school board discussed the issue Monday night.

Some board members say those claims are troubling and question why the district isn’t keeping better track of the reasons teachers are leaving.

Dozens of JCPS teachers from different schools contacted WDRB saying students are verbally, emotionally and sometimes physically abusing other students, teachers and staff.

Some teachers say the situation has gotten so bad they're resigning. Since the start of the 2015-16 school year, 72 teachers have resigned. That's an increase from 62 teachers during the same time frame last year.

Superintendent Donna Hargens says the district doesn't keep a record of why teachers resigned before their contracts expire. Board members are questioning if that should change.

“I think it's important that we know why teachers are leaving our district -- whether they're retiring or they're retiring under duress or some other reason," board member Chris Brady said. “Obviously, it takes quite a bit of money and training be able to get folks used to your system so we want to be able to keep them as long as we can and I think this is beneficial if we collect that data."

Lisa Willner, another board member, calls it a cause for concern that teachers are leaving mid-year, pointing out that it's very disruptive for students.

She says the issues in the classroom that are making it so people don't feel safe, should be addressed immediately.

Superintendent Responds to Discipline Concerns

Hargens: JCPS takes safety in schools seriously

This from JCPS Superintendent Donna Hargens in the Courier-Journal:

One of the greatest benefits provided by public schools is the rich, diverse experience that students gain in an environment where each individual child is expected to grow academically and achieve certain standards.

Jefferson County Public Schools operates on the foundational understanding that every child matters. That means JCPS must provide both the class time and the additional supports every student needs to succeed in school and graduate prepared to reach his or her full potential and contribute to our society throughout life.

It also means that teachers, counselors and administrators in our schools teach both academics, but also soft skills, such as how to get along, work in a team, respond productively to stress and disappointment, and celebrate successes appropriately. Behavioral lessons are critical to the success of every student, and to the safety of our schools, which is JCPS’s highest priority.

We know that students and teachers can focus on learning only when they feel safe.

JCPS has many programs and resources in place to proactively guide student behavior and to respond when students make poor behavior choices that might endanger safety. I want to share this information with the community to correct any misperception that may exist about how seriously we take safety in our schools, and to underscore JCPS’ commitment to creating a safe environment in which both teachers and students can perform at their best.

Training and education:
Several times each year, JCPS provides training for teachers and staff in a variety of areas to build their capacity for working successfully with students, mitigate misbehavior and to integrate behavioral instruction into curriculum.

This training includes classroom management, cultural competency, de-escalation techniques and restorative practices. We have begun implementation of Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports, an evidence-based framework that emphasizes use of the most positive approach to addressing problem behaviors. Professional Learning Communities are groups of teacher leaders who put their training to work in discussing solutions to behavior issues, such as moving a student to a new classroom or providing additional training.

The JCPS choice system, which offers a wide range of magnet and optional programs to engage students and tap into their interests and learning styles, is also an important part of this element. A student who is excited about coming to school is likely to behave well.

And this year, JCPS began a Compassionate Schools Project pilot program in three schools, incorporating lessons about empathy and mindful decision-making into traditional school curriculum.
Environmental design:

Signs and fencing, controlling access to schools by keeping doors locked and requiring visitors to sign in and wear badges, and surveillance elements such as adequate lighting, unobstructed windows and video cameras are among the measures JCPS implements in this category.

Systems and policies:
This element includes procedures, integrated systems that support security, and safety personnel, including the JCPS Security team, School Resource Officers (in-school professionals with law enforcement authority), mental health counselors, Student Response Teams and coaches, and PBIS coaches.

The JCPS Code of Conduct, read and acknowledged by every student and parent or guardian, sets out student and expectations and consequences by grade level and severity. The goal is to ensure proportionate consequences for inappropriate or unsafe behavior, and to correct or teach replacement behavior while minimizing lost time for learning. Certain dangerous behaviors result in suspension or referral to an alternative school at a minimum.

Under this Board-sanctioned Code, no one is permitted to choose a different response for the sake of appearances. So far in 2015, student suspensions are up about 8 percent, while the total days of suspension are down about 5 percent. JCPS suspends students when warranted, but also works to minimize lost class time for learning.

JCPS operates three Success Pathways schools, alternative schools with tighter controls, a higher staff-to-student ratio and extra supports. Students with problem behavior issues assigned to one of these schools have an opportunity to learn replacement behaviors and appropriate responses in an environment where they are not a danger to themselves or others. When they meet certain requirements, we celebrate with these students as they are paired with a mentor and return to their chosen school. Students in these schools are held to the same behavior and academic standards as students at every other school in JCPS, in keeping with our standard that students can be proficient at every JCPS school.

Teachers’ safety perception:
Each year, JCPS conducts an anonymous survey of parents and staff that includes questions about safety. The responses indicate that JCPS is doing the right things to ensure safety. The spring 2015 Comprehensive School Survey found that more than 92 percent of teachers feel safe and secure at their schools. The survey results, both district-wide and by individual school, are on the JCPS website.

Teaching is not an easy job. It requires a commitment to the success of each child in your care. I have tremendous admiration for the nearly 6,500 teachers at JCPS who make that commitment every day.

Community role:

The root causes of student behavior develop both within and far beyond the walls of JCPS buildings. They include culture, family life, physical and mental health, and the level to which a student’s physical and emotional needs are met. JCPS central staff, administrators, teachers and support personnel are constantly working to learn, model, teach and support successful behavior.

Parents, employers and other members of the community serve as role models for student behavior as well. Let’s work together to ensure that what students learn in school reinforces what they should be learning elsewhere in their lives: the importance of taking responsibility for our behavior and holding ourselves accountable for its impact.