Last night was a great event.  I wish we could do more of those.  Special thanks to the folks who were able to put it together.  I think I left at about 11:30 PM so lots of people to talk to with lots of great ideas.

If you are one who needs a campaign sign please let me know.  Second batch of them came in last night.  So I have a few more.  I didn't go the route to litter the streets with them so maybe I will have to rethink that one if I ever run again.

Postcards and letters go out at the end of the week.  1500 postcards to community.  Got to get at least one person to vote on that one I would think.

So tonight was the Forest PTO meeting and I got an opportunity to listen to Superintendent Sicoli.  This being the first time I got to listen/meet with him outside of the normal board room I found him very likeable.  (While proofing this I want everyone to know - what I have seen of Dr. Sicoli so far - good guy!)  There were several questions that came up during the process and one of them was in regards to mobility, school size and Dr. Sicoli shared an interesting stat.  I have to dig into the stats and see if I can verify this one - but there is absolutely no reason not to believe this one.

If you tear back the stats and take out students who have not been enrolled in the district for the past three years.  Each and every school at all levels of AYP measurement would have passed.  Every school.  Every level.  Again, no reason not to believe it.

So what does this tell you?  Mobility is issue #1.  I'm pretty sure this isn't going to shock many people.  This won't shock teachers, administration or parents.  So what do we do about it?  We cannot stop people from moving.

Elementary schools.  Lets start our focus there.  This one will cost some money but I really think we need to rethink our traditional grade level.  In particular for students who enroll mid-year.  Let's asses the students and their current level and lets create some classroom to help these students.  Focused specifically on the areas of need.  If the student tests high - then send them to the normal grade level.  Otherwise, lets do a little clustering and design some programs to help these students.  Win win for the students and the district.

Oh, one other items shared.  Early results from a neighboring school looking at all-day vs half-day K.  Remove the mobility factor and compare.  Achievement gap is nearly gone.  We have the solutions.  Lets get a way to fund them and start to rock and roll.  This is a great district and we should be darn proud of it.

So this is an e-mail I sent to all of the board members right before the decision to close Sunny Hollow, Pilgram and Sandburg.  The concern was that the district was dividing the district based on race and social-economic status and may cause flight on the east side of the district.  After that I will post the response from the board at the time.  Then I'll follow up with another post on what it actually is now after the October 2009 data has been released:

E-mail to school board - December 30th, 2008

Has anyone run the numbers of students of disability and minority who will be attending the new neighborhood schools?  I'm just curious because the numbers to me seem to put the new Robbinsdale Middle School and Robbinsdale Cooper High School not into balance at all.

Hopefully these numbers are not new to you but since I never sat down and did the math until now they are to me.  These results of the new schools are downright scary.  The problem with providing straight percentage numbers like Wold did is that one can do anything they want with percentages to make them appear and fit whatever cause they are trying to get.

Now we get to tricky math.  Using the past performance numbers from the 2008 state testing we look to see how the students will fair in their new schools.  Now I accept that students will move and using last year numbers without knowing the exact breakdown is unfair but does give us a starting point for the discussion - we see that students bound for the top set of schools on average passed the reading/math exams at about a 62% rate and students in the bottom half passed the exams at a 76% rate.  Now, historically we have seen that students of special education and minority are less likely to pass the exams then other students so this split may very well go up.  Time will only tell.

So I guess all I'm saying is that I hope someone sat down and did this math.  Now I'm sure this will all fall into the vast void of rhetoric and pissed off e-mails and all of this typing was for waste.  But if it did not hopefully you found some of this information helpful because our next step is not to find transition plans but rather to deal with the old problem that will soon become the new big problem - closing the achievement gap for minority students.

Reply from board:

Looked at this closely. I would love to talk with you about it in the next few weeks. One point, the demographics you look at are more balanced in 7 of the 8 elementary schools than they were this year. That said, you are absolutely right that the achievement gap is a top priority. How about we a take a week or two to recover and then talk, call me or e-mail me, perhaps we can get a cup of coffee or talk on the phone. Thanks!!!!

Today

Any now today.  So the demographics based on numbers put us at a 65% to 44% split over the next 5 years of incoming students to RMS and PMS.

So if we break those numbers down today based on the numbers presented by the district in October of 2009 we see that the numbers have split even more.

Forest, Lakeview, Meadow Lake and Northport are 65.9% minority students vs Neill, Noble, SEE and Zachary come in at 41.0%.  If you throw RSI students into the mix as they will be attending PMS that drives the number down to 36.5%.  We have a 30% gap between middle schools over the next 5 years!

So what does this mean?  Does it mean all schools on the east side are doomed for failure?  No!  We have some great schools on both side of the tracks.  Unfortunately for the district minority, special ed and free and reduced lunch students have performed worse than caucasian students.  This puts schools at risk of AYP/Title One issues.  Ultimately, in my mind it means that we cannot and should not treat Zachary the same as Northport.  We may need different programs/ideas for one set of schools compared to another.

So what are my thoughts on solving this, the achievement gap be it social-economic or anything else.  These are in no particular order just things we should do:

1. Peer review.  Non-tenure teachers are encouraged to do it.  We should encourage it with all teachers.  There is absolutely no encouragement right now.  Seeing others is a great way to learn new ideas, validate ideas you have are working, etc.

2. Academy classes.  We need to ensure its going to be used in the classroom.  We cannot "require" teachers to take tests or anything but report back on what they learned and how they can improve their classroom with it.

3. QComp - need to get it done.  There are ton of really nice benefits in there from a learning perspective and it gives teachers incentives.  All around good.

4. Tie bonuses for superintendent and principals to AYP results.  Yep, they get bonuses now and teachers don't.  So if you are going to give them bonuses let's hold them accountable.

5. Simplify the discipline process for teachers.  This is a union controlled issue that they need to realize isn't good for them right now.  If there is a perception that it takes 5+ years to get rid of a bad teacher than that is a public concerns issue.

6. Uniforms in K-5.  You heard it - we should implement a mandatory uniform policy across all elementary schools.  Start there and you will see issues decrease as they get older and move to secondary schools.

7. RSI - open it up to everyone.  We have buildings laying around and a waiting list a mile long.  As long as we have more than 20 people on the waiting list we should create a class for it.  It is a successful programs because it fosters parent involvement.  My stipulation for opening it up like that.  All families have to give a certain number of community services hours back to the school.  (This one might be legally difficult but I'm sure we can find a way to make it work.)  Same deal as before, you don't get to join the program unless you can prove you are good enough.  Might even draw some people to the district increasing our numbers.

8. Community involvement.  We need to come up with programs that get parents in the seats, out in the community, with their school.  I don't know what it is off the top of my head but I think everyone gets the idea.

Well, those are it.  Lots of ideas - sure there are some lemons in there but we cannot identify them if we don't start the conversation.

DJ

So I got an interesting e-mail today (actually went to all of the candidates - would love to see every other candidate to state their preference as well but that won't happen) that made an argument that Robbinsdale Area Schools should sell Pilgrim Lane to Beacon Academy.

I thought about just posting my reply but I will explain my position a little more here.  First, let me be very clear, I suppose the divesture of extra buildings.  If they are old and not being used we should get rid of them.  If we don't - why in the world did we shuffle all of those kids!

So onto the heart of the e-mail.  Should we sell to Beacon academy?  I remember one of the board members (cannot remember which one - I think I know who but don't want to post the name as I'm not 100% sure) saying that Beacon "steals" children from Robbinsdale.  First, I think we should stop using this type of language in the public.  All it does is simply energize those who believe the district is bad.  Second, the students are not being stolen.  Parents made a decision.  What we should do instead of name calling is work with charter schools to find out why parents are leaving.  Charter schools have the same state and national requirements as do the "traditional" public school. 

(I'm going to talk about Beacon specifically here only because that was the school identified in the e-mail message.)

So should we be afraid?  No.  First, charter schools are not the savior to public education.  They face the same challenges as Robbinsdale.  If you look at Beacon you will immediately notice that they did not pass AYP and in 8th graders Robbinsdale students actually tested better in the Meets or Exceeds MCA standards in both reading and math.  (8th grade selected as Beacon is K-8 school.)  Second, charter schools increase competition with the local neighbor.  Research shows that local school typically make changes to offer more programs and they improve communication with parents.

Robbinsdale should not be afraid of a charter school.  Robbinsdale should work specifically with Beacon (since they are in-boundary and want Pilgrim-Lane) to ask parents why they choose Beacon but more specifically ask why where they believe Robbinsdale is failing.  There had to be some reason they selected Beacon over Robbinsdale.  This is a win-win for Robbinsdale and Beacon.  First, they will not grow large enough to take significant numbers from Robbinsdale.  You could make it part of the lease/sale agreement.  For Beacon, it is in their best interest to be friends with the larger neighbor.  For Robbinsdale, the insight would be absolutely invaluable.

Let's not be afraid of them.  We have nothing to worry about except for Robbinsdale getting better.

[Edit] 

A few things I want to be clear about.  Tests are a good thing for determining the overall health/success of the school district.  Second, my argument simply is that our current system does a poor job of delineating the value of the tests.  We either go one of two routes.  We test less or we test a lot more.  I know you may say this sounds like it contradicts the argument below.  The argument I make is that students don't understand the value of the exam.  So either we create massive consequences for the exam (high stakes exams) or we par down a little bit and using high stakes exams every odd year or something.  Lastly, I would actually love to see local districts be able to add/customize exams with additional curriculum.  But that is for another day.

[/Edit]

So this is a position that will go into the face of many of those who clamor for accountability.  The argument is that if we test students they will be better prepared for the real world, we can hold teachers accountable and weed out the bad ones.  Here is the problem - they don't work.  Why don't they work.  It's a ton of reasons but I'll go ahead and bore you with just a few of the details.

Too Many Tests

That is right - we have to many tests.  So here is the catch 22 of accountability crowd.  They are that we need more district decision making, less federal/state decision making.  But on the other hand, they want some serious tests to hold the kids accountable.  Can we have too many tests.  Let's take a peek back at 2008.  The test calendar hasn't been posted yet because the team of employees needed to coordinate all of them hasn't been able to finish the calendar.

In 2008 there were nearly 50 test dates scheduled for RAS students.  Folks, that means that nearly 30% of the instruction days in the district there is a federal or state mandated test occurring.  Not only do we test kids over and over again but we are doing it at every grade level.  The problem is when we test kids over the top like this we lose the value in testing.  If students are tested 4 different times each and every year kids don't care anymore.  If I take one test over 4 years and I need it to graduate I'll care.  If I'm taking test number 18 over 4 years I don't care anymore.

Tests are testing the right stuff.well not really

Here is the problem.  What we test doesn't always line up with what is being taught in the classroom.  So the question is: is the stuff on the test represent what we want kids to know or is what is being taught in the classroom what we want.

• What you say - the tests are asking the right questions?  Yep, the problem is tests are being created/built at a state/federal level but the curriculum is being built at the local level.  They are never going to match up.  Some will tell us to look at Europe where they have standardized exit exams for graduation and how successful it is.  John Bishop does some great research of the connection of Curriculum Based Exit Exams (CBEEs) and how they are incredibly powerful at holding people accountable.  But as Bishop will even admit the United States cannot use CBEEs because we don't mandate curriculum at the federal level.  In Germany, they have a powerful set of exams that do wonders with students, but they also create/build all of the curriculum at the federal level.  We are a different world.  This of course doesn't even get into the problems tests do not take into account the heterogeneous nature of the United States compared to other nations.

So we need to make a decision.  Either the feds make curriculum decisions and we test from the federal level or we allow curriculum decisions at the local level and drop this testing system we currently have.

Well - I could go on and on and with different stats about the number of tests today increase drop out rates but I'll move onto a different issue now.

So one of the common themes you will hear during the election process is let's have a sense of fiscal responsibility.  But what does that mean?  They will want to make you believe the district is wasting money at every turn.  That the district has tons of cash laying around but it is wasted on cupcakes at meetings and high contracts to administration.

So where do we start?  Well, first it's important to remember that the vast majority of the money is spent on salaries of teachers.  How much, nearly 85% on salaries and benefits (like health insurance, etc.).  So just saying we need to be more "responsible" and cut doesn't exactly work.  Cuts in many cases equals people.  But are all people needed?  Well, that is what needs to be determined.  So where does the "extra" money go?  Well don't forget about the team of people needed to coordinate the test schedule but more on that later.

So a little history on how teachers are paid.  Everything is done as part of the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement).  The teachers union and district get together and try to determine what is a good wage for teachers.  That system is based on steps and lanes.

[side note - unions]

So before you immediately complain that unions are the evil of all problems in the district lets take a peek at a couple of stats.  First, numerous studies have found that districts that pay employees with union negotiated CBA's score 2.5 to 3.3% on achievement tests.  The flip side is that these districts are more expensive to run and have less individualized teacher/student time.  More on this later but before we get all hotty about unions and thing I'm in their pocket.

[end that side note]

So what can we do to become more fiscally responsible in terms of salary since that is where the vast majority of money is going.

First, we need to get some changes at the federal/state level.  If you are going to mandate we test these kids 50 times a year and its going to require use to hire three people full time to run test scores, manage the test process - then you better pay for it.  You cannot mandate it and then ignore the financial cost behind it.  So either we get rid of the mandates or pay for them by those mandating them.  Simple as that.

Second, its time to look at the step/lane system and find a new solution.  The problem with what we have is there no reward for new teachers.  Those with the most energy to bring are those who cannot be rewarded.  We give bonuses to the Superintendent, Principals and Executive Directors - why not the teacher who is there on the day-to-day basis.

Third, fix health insurance.  There is a problem today and it needs to be fixed.  I don't care what you think your fix is but she's broken.  When I left the district the family plan was $900 out of pocket per month and that was after the district put their $550 per month.  Today that number is well over $1300 for an employee.  The district is spending a ton of money on health insurance - fix it one way or another.  The state is looking at pooling all of the teachers together into one big program so they can drive down premiums by bulk purchase.  If this is the best solutions - which is the best I've heard so far - then do it.

Well - next post is in-depth about testing and why we need to get rid of them.