The White House has signed on to a plan that would not only sustain, but modestly expand the nation's only federally funded school voucher program.  In a deal announced by House Speaker John Boehner and Senator Joe Lieberman, the Obama Administration has agreed not only to continue funding, but to permit approximately 85 additional children to enter the program.
 
Funding for year just ended was secured through a political maneuver in which Mr. Boehner insisted that a bill reauthorizing the program for an additional five years be inserted into the major congressional spending bill.  The deal to fund the program in 2012-13 came just days after a key Senate sub-committee had proposed reducing funding for the program.  President Obama's budget request for the coming fiscal year contained no funding for the program.

The DC Opportunity Scholarship Program is currently funded through a tripartite, $60 million package in which a third of the total is allocated to the scholarships program, a third flows to District charter schools, and a third is received by the District's "traditional" public schools.  The scholarships, which are awarded to children hailing from economically disadvantaged families, are used to help children from low-income families enroll in local private and religious schools.

After the announcement of the agreement, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was quick to issue a statement in which he clarified that there was "absolutely no change in policy" with respect to the Administration's view of the program.  Posting in the U.S. Department of Education's Homeroom blog, Mr. Duncan wrote:

House Committee on Education and the Workforce chair John Kline also issued a statement following the announcement of the agreement in which he commented: "I am relieved the Obama administration agreed not to eliminate funding for this invaluable program and will instead work with Congress to ensure the program is expanded as directed by current law."

The agreement will bring the total number of students served by the program to 1,700.

Faced with a looming deficit and uncertainty over the contours of next year's state budget, the Los Angeles Unified School District has adopted a policy that may result in as many as five school days being lopped off the district's 2012-13 calendar.  The policy reflects an eleventh hour deal between the nation's second largest school district and the local teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, forestalling the issuance of final layoff notices to thousands of teachers.  In return, teacher pay may be reduced by the approximate equivalent of 10 work days, or 5 percent, contingent upon actual revenue figures.
 
While the arrangement exposes teachers to possible financial hardship, students are likely to become the biggest losers, as this Los Angeles Times headline story reports.  The article cites several studies whose findings support the common sense notion that additional days of instruction bolster student achievement, while fewer days in the classroom hurt it. 
 
The newly adopted policy is regarded by many as an instance of adults protecting their interests at the expense of the children they serve.  As the article notes, "The salary cuts that result are temporary; they expire after one year and must be renegotiated every year."  Moreover, "...teachers avoid making permanent concessions on pension or health benefits. L.A. Unified employees still pay no monthly premiums for health insurance for themselves or family members. And teachers still receive raises based on experience or additional education."
 
"These are tough times," commented Education Trust-West executive director Arun Ramanathan, who added, "but districts have an obligation to prioritize the needs of their students."

The existing collective bargaining agreement between the LAUSD and UTLA maintains a "last-in, first-out" policy for determining layoffs, as required by state law.  A better option, according to Hoover Institution economist of education Eric Hanushek, would be one permitting districts to lay off those teachers found to be most ineffective.  Such policy is driven by the notion that elevating the quality of teachers across the board compensates, at least in part, for corresponding increases in class size.
 
Whether, and to what extent Los Angeles and other California school districts will act to shorten the school year will be determined by actual revenue figures and the fate of Governor Brown's proposed tax package to be placed before voters this November.  Should voters reject the tax hikes, it is estimated that cuts amounting to fifteen days of instruction will be necessitated in public school districts throughout the state.  New state legislation permits school districts to provide as few as 160 annual days of instruction in both 2012-13 and 2013-14.
 
While it is unclear what the voters will decide in November, this month's primary elections saw residents of two cities take local action on pension reform.  As this New York Times article relates, voters in San Diego and San Jose passed ballot measures (by impressive majorities) curtailing public employee benefits.  According to the paper, "unions in both cities vowed to block the cuts in court, but the ease with which the measures passed is expected to embolden other financially strained cities and states to follow their lead."

Where in the World is A.J. Duffy?
 
After six tumultuous years at the helm of United Teachers Los Angeles, former union president A.J. Duffy is back in the classroom at Phoenix Continuation High School.  Is he happy to be there?  According to a recent piece penned by L.A. Times columnist Jim Newton, not really.  The often bombastic ex-boss, who prefers to go by "Duffy," puts on a game face when asked, and says he loves being in the classroom and working with special needs students, in particular.  But as Mr. Newton tells it following an interview with Duffy, even as he, "...talks about how happy he is, it's fairly clear that he's not. He was a high-roller for six years, and he isn't anymore. He misses it. A lot."

Contentious as always, Duffy characterizes the LAUSD's administration as being "stuck on stupid," and criticizes philanthropists Eli Broad and Bill and Melinda Gates for leading education in the wrong direction.  Interestingly, after completing two terms as UTLA's president, Duffy has devoted considerable energy to founding a charter school he describes as a "fusion of union and charter."  Apple Academy Charter Public Schools will open in August with two campuses enrolling children in grades K-5.  It had been Duffy's hope to work full time as the organization's CEO, a position that remains unsupported by current enrollment and revenue projections.
 
The home page of Duffy's personal website confirms Mr. Newton's assessment with the following revelation: "I will be happy at Phoenix but I want to contribute more in the field of school reform.  I will consider any job opportunity whether full or part time to continue working with others to transform public education, charter or otherwise, that will help create quality education and collaboration between teachers and management."


Is Your Organization Planning an Event?
 
If you are affiliated with an nonprofit organization that's in the process of planning a conference, seminar, institute, workshop, or professional-development program, the good folks at Education Week want to help you get the word out.  EdWeek will list your organization's event in its 2012 Fall Calendar of Events, a print supplement that will be inserted into the August 22, 2012 edition of its widely read periodical, at no cost to you.  To qualify for inclusion, events must take place between September 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013, must be regional, national, or international in scope, and must be of significant interest to K-12 educators and others concerned about schools.  Event information can be submitted, here, and complete submission guidelines can be viewed, here.  The deadline for the submission of information is June 30. 

Education Week also maintains a helpful online calendar, which can be found, here.


Caveat Emptor

Who better to offer cautionary advice about the pitfalls of testing than an accomplished designer of tests?  Dr. Jim Angermeyr fits the bill when it comes to credentials, having developed value-added assessment tests when he worked at the Northwest Evaluation Association, and then having overseen the implementation of such assessment instruments as director of research and evaluation for the Bloomington (MN) Public Schools.  On the verge of his retirement, Dr. Angermeyr offered his personal assessment in a Minneapolis Post interview.  A number of his remarks were noteworthy.
 
On No Child Left Behind:


On the intended purpose of the tests he helped develop:
 

On standards:
 

I wonder whether Dr. Angermeyr has read NAIS President Patrick F. Bassett's wonderful article, "Testing, Accountability, and Independence"?  If he hasn't, and you haven't...you should!


Confidence in Public Education Hits All-Time Low
 
A recently conducted Gallup Poll has found that confidence in U.S. public schools has reached a new low.  The polling organization's "Confidence in Institutions" survey asked a sample of respondents to indicate various levels of confidence in the military, banks, Congress, the church and organized religion, small business, the presidency, television news, public schools, and other entities.  Only 29 percent of respondents expressed "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the public schools, down from 33 percent in Gallup's 2007 and 2008 polls.

In case you're wondering which institution was accorded the highest degree of confidence...it was the military (75 percent).  And the loser?  Congress received a paltry 13 percent confidence rating.

One caveat to bear in mind when considering such polls is that respondents often express considerably greater satisfaction when asked about their particular school than when queried about schools in general.

On June 30, Sister Patricia Supple, CSJ, will retire after providing 22 years of distinguished service as Federal and State Programs Director at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Department of Catholic Schools.  Thanks to her unshakable devotion to children and their families, her spirited and tireless leadership, tenacity and faith, the lives of countless numbers of young people have been uplifted and enriched.  

"Sister Pat's" legacy extends well beyond the L.A. Archdiocese.  She is acknowledged as an esteemed private school leader at both the state and federal levels, having chaired the California Private School Advisory Committee, been a founding member of the California Department of Education's ESEA Private School Work Group, served on the state's Title I Committee of Practitioners, and rendering service for five years as the sole private school representative on the prestigious national Title I Independent Review Panel.
 
Anyone that has had the privilege of working with Sister Patricia is certain to respect, admire and love her.  She is devoted to the welfare and education of children, first and foremost, regardless of the type of school they happen to attend.  Her professional commitment is, and has always been to see that the law is understood and implemented as intended.  She has been of inestimable counsel as a mentor, colleague, and friend to a great many, this writer included.
 
At it's May 24, 2012 meeting, CAPSO's board of directors honored Sr. Patricia, and thanked her for her many indispensable contributions to California's private school community.  (The photo accompanying this article shows CAPSO President Dr. Jerry Haddock presenting Sister Patricia with a token of the organization's appreciation for her service.)  As she embarks upon the next stage in her life's journey, we wish her continued health, vigor, and ongoing involvement in causes, pursuits and activities that will reward her with the happiness and fulfillment her life's work has provided for so many others.

 

I know I do.

The recent bullying of 68 year-old bus monitor Karen Klein by a group of middle school students in upstate New York - a shameful assault that was captured on a cell phone camera and quickly "went viral" after being posted on YouTube - has produced shock waves that are rippling throughout the nation.  If you haven't seen the disturbing 10 minute video, it can be viewed here.  (Warning: contains considerable profanity.)
 
As of this writing, approximately $600,000 dollars in donations intended for the benefit of Ms. Klein have been received by an online site established to assist the abused senior.  Southwest Airlines has offered to fly Ms. Klein and nine companions of her choosing, to Disneyland.  These are wonderful gestures that will, undoubtedly, provide comfort to the victim and help assuage a collective sense of guilt and remorse over what she endured.  But if we think that providing various forms of restitution will make the underlying problem go away, I'm afraid we are living in Fantasyland.
 
In this particular instance, the abusing students hail from Greece, New York, a town with a population of 96,000, located on the northwest outskirts of Rochester.  They attend Athena Middle School, whose racial/ethnic composition is 80 percent white, 11 percent black, 6 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian.  The community is decidedly middle-class and could be a proxy for much of suburban America.  As is true throughout the nation, the Greece Central School District has recognized the challenges posed by bullying, and has adopted programs and policies intended to curtail its manifestations, on and off campus.  Greece, New York, could be any one of countless communities in California.  What happened there can, and most likely does happen here. 

In some respects, the school bus incident reflects enduring human weaknesses and social tendencies.  As an undergraduate, I considered a career in clinical psychology and recall having helped a faculty member conduct a controversial experiment designed to investigate what was called the "risky shift" phenomenon.  Bearing some similarity to the even more controversial obedience to authority experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram at Yale University, our experiment involved what the naive subjects believed to be the administration of electric shocks of varying intensity.  One version of the experiment involved two subjects, while a second version involved five.  In every iteration, I was always one of the subjects.  None of the other students knew I was working with the experimenter, who would draw a name out of a hat that invariably turned out to be mine.  I was dispatched to another room in which I could neither be seen, nor heard by the others.  The unsuspecting students were instructed that they were to present me with various spatial relation problems with varying point values.  If I could obtain a certain score within a fixed amount of time, the group would win a monetary prize.  The subjects were also told that an electrode would be attached to one of my index fingers, and that they were to administer shocks of varying intensity - to be determined at their discretion - every time I gave a wrong answer.  (Each of the unsuspecting subjects was shocked - at a low, but, nevertheless, unpleasant level - for referential purposes.)  In responding to the questions, I followed a protocol that ensured that the prize was never won, and produced frustration among the subjects.  What we found was that groups consistently administered significantly stronger shocks than individuals.

It makes sense.  When responsibility is diffused among members of a group, and when guilt and shame are shared, inhibition abates and the tolerance for risk increases.  Groups behave differently than individuals, and mob behavior seldom bears positive connotations.  This is nothing new, and neither is bullying.
 
What is new is the apparent widespread erosion of simple manners.  My wife, who makes the 20-mile commute to her downtown Los Angeles place of employment via bus and subway, often laments what she perceives as a complete absence of consideration displayed by young riders who fail to relinquish their seats for elderly, infirm, or pregnant fellow passengers.  I have had occasion to take the same bus and subway route twice during the course of the past couple of months and, sadly, can provide first-hand confirmation of her observations.  (Every so often, she tells me that she actually saw a young person give up his or her seat...but it's the exception rather than the rule.)
 
I confess that when I was a middle school student I, too, used foul language.  But its use was restricted to communications with peers, and occurred outside the earshot of parents, teachers and other adults.  If we slipped up, we felt ashamed.  While other factors were at play, I believe the norms of the day required a default position of respect for one's elders, and for age, in general.  The disappearance of such norms comes is not devoid of collateral damage, for failure to respect elders entails failure to appreciate their wisdom, the upshot being that a less considerate generation is likely to be dumber when it comes to the things that really matter in life.
 
Then again, one can hardly speak of wisdom while pointing fingers in a single direction, or without acknowledging the existence of many exemplary young people.  But if too many of our youth are wanting for manners, those of us who are no longer young must be coming up short in the modeling and teaching department. Perhaps the Greece, New York bus incident will provide us with a wake up call prompting renewed reflection and discussion on the importance of education for character.  Thomas Lickona puts it so well in writing: "Manners are minor morals. They are the everyday ways we respect other people and facilitate social relations. They make up the moral fabric of our shared lives." 
 
The Viennese psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl taught that there are but two meaningful categories of people: the decent and the indecent.  No matter what their particular faith orientations, educational philosophies, curricula and methods of instruction, each of our schools has an obligation to partner with parents in the shaping of decent human beings.  Can anything be more important?

Ron Reynolds  

The next edition of the CAPSO Midweek E-Mailer will be published on August 22, 2012. 

Have a good summer, everyone!