ABQ/ APS Breaks Ground on New Facilities for South Valley Academy Charter School
KOAT-TV, Channel 7 Report
Associated Press
October 30, 2012
Albuquerque Public Schools started the process of constructing a new school building from scratch recently.
Tuesday was the groundbreaking ceremony for permanent facilities at the South Valley Academy Charter School.
The $7.2 million project will include a 10-classroom building, three science labs, a greenhouse, a library and computer rooms.
Construction is expected to finish by next fall.
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Santa Fe/ EDITORIAL: Hooked on Books Sets an Example
ABQ Journal Staff
October 31, 2012
Students at the Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences are setting a wonderful - and effective - example for both their peers and the rest of us.
Their public service project, "Hooked on Books," has lured hundreds of students into loving to read. Monday, Hooked on Books organizers learned they'd received recognition - and a $1,000 award - from the Pearson Foundation and PeaceJam, an education program based around Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
The Hooked on Books kids will spend the money on yet more books, which they have distributed to all sorts of unlikely places where other kids often find themselves waiting, including hospital emergency rooms and urgent care clinics - and the Motor Vehicle Department.
But that's not all the students in the Arts & Sciences after-school group Youth United have done to encourage their peers to improve their reading skills and learn to love books.
They have found myriad ways to connect kids and books.
For example, the group reached out to prison inmates, helping them record a book so their kids could read along with the parent's voice.
Youth United organized a summer camp based around phonics and aimed at encouraging bad readers. For some members of the group, that was a personal mission - because they'd been bad readers, too.
This isn't the first time the group has gotten recognition - and funding - for Hooked on Books, either.
At one point, they decided to organize reading contests for really cool prizes, including iPads and Kindle reading tablets, even a free trip to the Los Angeles premiere of "The Hunger Games."
Youth United persuaded the national nonprofit program of Albertson's grocery chain to pay for it, with a $10,000 grant.
Youth United members say they were inspired to act by New Mexico's dismal literacy rates, as well as, in some cases, their own difficulties. They've made a huge difference.
Participants in the summer camp who were often behind in school and in danger of being held back and often came from families that spoke only Spanish improved an average of one year in their reading skills by the end of the program. And that's just one example.
This success - and the creativity behind its innovative solutions to a very real social problem - has set a standard for public-service-minded students and their elders.
Let's hope Hooked on Books continues to help struggling readers - and inspire others to address the challenges they see around them with action.
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Milwaukee WI/ School Report Cards Give Milwaukee Schools Look at Student Growth
By Erin Richards
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
[Huffington Post]
October 30, 2012
More than 70% are new immigrants and learning to speak English, so results from the state exam taken at the beginning of third grade reflect a young class's bumpy first attempts at understanding literacy in a new language.
But by fourth and fifth grade? ALBA is rocking it, according to new state-issued school report cards that for the first time bring public attention to schools helping kids make faster-than-average academic progress from one year to the next.
The new calculations for growth in reading and math are not a perfect science, but they are a welcomed point of data for many urban schools serving large populations of low-income and/or minority students who walk in the door behind-grade level.
A Journal Sentinel analysis of the new data illuminates how some schools are helping kids make impressive gains from year to year, even if overall achievement remains low.
"It's really good to see a measure now for reading growth with our kids," said Brenda Martinez, who helped start ALBA, a nonunion Milwaukee Public Schools charter school at 1712 S. 32nd St. "That's a place where we gained a lot of points."
The new growth measure is important because achievement scores on a standardized test such as the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination generally move in predictable directions based on a school's demographics:
- Scores tend to rise as schools become whiter and more affluent;
- scores tend to fall as schools serve greater numbers of students of color, with disabilities and from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Consider Hayes Bilingual School, a traditional K-5 in MPS. The school, at 2431 S. 10th St., is more than 97% Hispanic and more than 98% low-income.
- Its overall reading achievement score on the new report card is 8.6 out of 50, far below the state average elementary school reading score of 28.5.
- It was ranked "meets few expectations" on its new report card.
But among elementary schools in the Milwaukee area with poverty rates of 90% or more, Hayes had one of the highest growth scores in reading, meaning it propelled more kids toward proficiency from third to fourth grade and then fourth to fifth grade than the average elementary school in the state. The measurements are based on fall 2010 and fall 2011 WKCE test scores.
Principal Yolanda Hernandez-Garcia said the school is eager to boost that overall report card score of 62.2 out of 100; they're less than a point away from being in the "meets expectations" category. But she said she was pleased students who stayed with them over two or three years were showing improvement.
The new report cards released by the Department of Public Instruction this month are part of Wisconsin's new accountability system for public schools. They aim to raise expectations and also give a more nuanced picture of school performance. They take the place of requirements under No Child Left Behind that judged schools almost entirely on achievement, or what percentage of students scored proficient or advanced in reading and math each year, with a goal of 100% proficiency.
The difference between achievement and growth could be illustrated by two aerobics classes: one filled with mostly athletic types, the other with those who are mostly overweight and out-of-shape.
Initial measurements would suggest one class is much healthier than the other. That's the snapshot-in-time fall WKCE test score.
Changes in a year
But measurements taken a year later for regular attendees might show some dramatic, Biggest Loser-style improvement for the overweight class. The athletic class would still be fit, but few may have dropped much weight. The same is true in schools: high-achieving students tend to gain few points over a single year of growth.
Capturing that movement is the new WKCE growth score. Schools get credit in the calculation for moving more kids into the proficient and advanced range; they lose credit if kids fell behind over that time.
The measure has limitations. Growth on the WKCE cannot be calculated at the high school level because the state exam is only administered once, in 10th grade. There are also better tests and better statistical analyses for measuring student progress over time.
No growth measure for the high schools on the new report cards means more emphasis is placed on overall achievement. So schools that receive many freshmen performing behind grade level will continue to look lousy, because those underperforming freshmen tend to also score poorly on the state test at the beginning of 10th grade.
That's the case with Community High School, a small charter school within the MPS family. Its new report card score is 27.7 out of 100, or "fails to meet expectations."
But on a different progress test that all MPS schools administer three times a year at all grade levels, Community, 6700 N. 80th St., is showing more growth in reading and math from ninth to 12th grades than other high schools in the system.
"We're moving a lot of kids from fifth to 10th grade," Community High School teacher Jason O'Brien said. "We are improving their literacy and it's at a greater pace than other high schools are."
Politically, O'Brien acknowledges it's tough. If a school doesn't have students performing on grade level, some are reluctant to think it's a good school, no matter how much growth, positive attendance rates or positive school culture it embodies.
But for O'Brien and others, even the conversation about growth is a start, whether it's a part of the new report cards or from a different test.
"At least now we can say, 'Look, we're doing this,' " O'Brien said.
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Denver CO/ Absence Notification Only Part of Complex School Info Systems
By Jason Pohl
The Denver Post
October 29, 2012
School districts looking to improve efficiency and manage tight budgets are on a quest to streamline management of data about everything from student finances to grades - and even notification of parents and guardians when their student isn't in class.
But after 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway didn't make it to school Oct. 5, questions have popped up about protocols for reporting thousands of absent Colorado kids to parents daily.
Witt Elementary School called the girl's mother and left a message, following protocol for Jefferson County Public Schools.
The mother, who worked night shifts, slept through the call and became aware that her daughter was missing only late in the afternoon.
By the time the message was received, Jessica was gone. Her body was found Oct. 10 near Pattridge Park Open Space in Arvada.
Jeffco uses a tiered system of notification. There are automated alerts for high school students, and secretaries typically call the number on file for absent elementary students.
"Our experience is that elementary parents like the personal contact from the school," said Lynn Setzer, school district spokeswoman.
Large-scale information systems have become a standard in a culture with mega-districts that manage tens of thousands of students daily, Setzer said. The systems, she said, ease the strains on school staff and help districts operate efficiently.
About 5 percent to 10 percent of the 85,000 county students are absent each day, Setzer said. Individual calls would be nearly impossible, which is where comprehensive student-information systems step in.
Jefferson County schools uses SchoolMessenger to send alerts on topics ranging from absences to emergencies by text message, e-mail or voice mail. No changes have been made since Jessica disappeared Oct. 5, though Setzer said "much discussion" is expected.
Most districts in the U.S. use online information systems.
One of the most common systems is Infinite Campus, which manages information for about 5 million students in 43 states, including Colorado.
Jefferson County schools uses the program but opted out of automated absence notification.
Setzer said the district already had SchoolMessenger when the district switched to Infinite Campus.
"We're very happy with SchoolMessenger," she said.
Denver Public Schools has used Infinite Campus for eight years, streamlining information including enrollment status, grades and automated parental notification for emergencies or absences.
The parents and guardians of all students - preschool to 12th grade - receive automated alerts, with special measures taken to notify parents in special circumstances, said spokeswoman Kristy Armstrong.
DPS teachers take attendance and record absences online, which quickly relays alerts to parents.
"It's up to parents how much they want to be notified and how many people they want to add," she said.
Started in 1993 by Charlie Kratsch, Minneapolis-based Infinite Campus' system provides access to nearly all student-centered resources.
"It just dawned on me that information in real time like that is not only an accountability system," Kratsch said, "but it's also, if done right, a safety system."
Kratsch recalled an incident early in his career in which a young student didn't make it to school during a bad snowstorm. After leaders grew concerned, an official went out only to find the kid walking along the road after missing the school bus.
If notifications go out in a timely manner, Kratsch said, those types of cases can be avoided.
Infinite Campus and Pearson School Systems dominate the information-system market. The services operate in a similar way to Blackboard and Aeries student-information systems, which many Colorado colleges use.
Kratsch said the cost of these systems varies widely and is often based on how many students are enrolled. Often, he said, rates average between $3 and $8 per student per year.
Though he said technology systems can solve many problems in the learning environment, he did not criticize Jeffco's protocols, noting that no computer program can manage everything.
"That's an unrealistic expectation," he said. "Technology can only get you so far."
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New York NY/ OPINION: Bubbles on the Brain
Betsy Corcoran [Corcoran is co-founder of EdSurge, source of news and reviews on education technology for both educators and entrepreneurs]
Wall Street Journal
October 30, 2012
Uh-oh. Even though the economy is still ping-ponging its way toward recovery, we're already hearing the ominous "B" word: Could we already be seeing signs of an investment bubble in what has historically been a tough market, namely education?
- "Digital learning may be getting too popular among some entrepreneurs and investors," warned longtime writer Frank Catalano in GeekWire. "K-12 and other education segments are now being chased by a mob of investment capitalists," he added.
- Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist with Union Square Ventures, agrees that a crowd is gathering. "I certainly believe that lots of entrepreneurs and investors think there's a lot of money to be made in the intersection of education and technology," Wilson said, speaking at the EdStartup 101 MOOC recently (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV3SKcJD9rw&noredirect=1).
But does that spell b-u-b-b-l-e?
You've got to love the question - and love the fact that people are vaulting eagerly into the debate, adjectives blazing. Why? Because the fact that we're already having this kind of debate may indeed save education from getting trampled by those infected with gold-rush fever - and leave enough room for real innovation.
I've spent decades covering the emergence of just about every technology-driven industry - from personal computers to steel mini-mills, nanotech to biotechnology and now education. Through my work at EdSurge, I've seen "mission-driven" innovators, and those seeking the next gold rush.
Telling them apart is crucial, though tricky. (And watch out: they can morph.) From a distance, those drawn to mission-driven sectors and gold rushes look similar. The players are young, and work with feverish intensity. They declare success, early and loudly. And they live for the promise of what they will do, overlooking the problems snapping at their ankles.
But, broadly speaking, one creates innovations; the other stirs - or worse, drains - the pot. So who has the upper hand now?
Numbers are a big signal - and ed tech is look troubling. At the height of the dot-com boom in 1999, 106 education technology (K-16, as well as corporate and test prep) companies were funded, according to investment firm GSV Advisors. Last year, we surpassed that peak, funding 127 ed tech companies - including 48 in the K-12 sector.
This year's tally will surely be higher. EdSurge has already reported close to 100 ed tech financings this year. (Since we include both small angel rounds and larger secondary rounds, we might be capturing more deals than GSV, but I'd wager that their numbers will show more activity, too.)
There's no question that the spurt of ed tech companies in 1999 was a bubble, shiny and fragile (and puffed up by the overall dot-com bubble machine). A year earlier, a mere 11 ed tech companies were funded, reports GSV Partners. And within a decade, a whopping 75 percent of those 1999 ed tech companies had had a Humpty Dumpty-like fall.
Look closer, however, and you will see that, even a decade later, the market those companies was chasing was - all things considered - pretty darn small: Simba Information reports that in 2009, U.S. K-12 schools spent about $8.1 billion on instructional materials.
- About half of that money went to three big companies - Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt, Pearson, and McGraw-Hill - leaving the market for "digital courseware" (again in 2009) to amount to a bit more than $500 million.
- That has made for slim pickings for the more than 100 K-12 ed tech venture companies started between 2001 and 2009 (not to mention any older hangers-on).
And that's where the differences between now and 1999 begin.
For starters, the market for ed tech companies is genuinely growing.
- States are exploring moving to 1:1 computer: student ratios (Idaho just followed Maine's lead).
- Other states are changing their rules to let districts buy digital materials with traditional textbook funds.
- The State Educational Technology Directors Association recently recommended that states and districts commit to shifting from print to digital instruction materials with the goal of "completing the transition" within five years.
- Then there's the Common Core - the new education standards that most states will be implementing. These will require new materials, curriculum and, yes, tools, to support teachers.
Equally important, many of the people running ed tech companies are - at least for now - classic mission-driven people.
- For instance, not every Teach For America volunteer continues to teach in the classroom after their two years.
- But their desire to improve education and children's lives is still strong.
- Many are starting education technology companies (including the likes of Grockit, Clever, Kickboard and many others). Even one of EdSurge's co-founders was a TFA-er.
People in mission-inspired industries pursue a goal that is bigger than they are - and, if you pull them aside at the end of a long day, they will probably confess that they don't know if what they are building will succeed. They are "innovators," in the way that business school professor Clayton Christensen described: Taking ideas from other fields or industries and applying them, with a twist, in a new environment. They trust their instincts and look for evidence and, at the end of the day, believe deeply in the promise of their mission.
Mission-driven innovators pour their efforts into building, testing and rebuilding their products. They're cheap when it comes to marketing; they believe their best sales force consists of happy customers.
Gold-rush companies, by contrast, are copycats, or if you want to put it more politely, "fast followers." Someone else has demonstrated that there's a market or demand for an idea - possibly too broadly conceived, as in 1999, when anything "digital" seemed promising.
But the gold diggers are primarily seeking customers. Their marketing dollars often outweigh - and sometimes by a large share - their development costs. Sales, not innovation, is king.
Do mission-driven innovators "know" what they're doing will work? Nope. It's a work in progress - and they know it. The minute they do demonstrate compelling effectiveness, though, the gates threaten to swing open to the gold-rush-style imitators.
And therein lies the challenge - and perhaps the saving grace - of education.
Unlike just about every other industry on the planet, we're not entirely sure what constitutes "success" in education.
- Do we want kids to score better on tests?
- Memorize facts? Pass algebra? Go to college?
- Get jobs? Have happy and fulfilling lives?
Follow their passions and learn independently? The answer is, "Yes, and ..."
What do we know works in schools?
- We know "great teachers" make a difference.
- We know that children's basic needs must be met in order for them to be "ready to learn."
- We're increasingly convinced that students' "mind-set" matters: They have to believe that they can learn, and have the grit and determination to persevere through inevitable setbacks.
We also know that there are not enough dollars in school budgets to deliver those things for all students. And every other industry on the planet, when confronted with the need to do more with less, has turned to technology for leverage.
Ed tech innovators are waist deep trying to figure out how to build tools that will provide leverage to teachers. What makes it tough is that the target ("success") keeps shifting - and except in very rare instances, the technology on its own isn't enough.
We need teachers. How well they wield technology makes all the difference.
The more closely entrepreneurs work with teachers, the more likely they are to build products - and processes - that genuinely support learning. There will surely be a lot of start-ups - a "hypercompetitive" lot, as Fred Wilson suggests. But as long as we remember that it takes both the tool and the teacher to create success, the mission-driven innovators will outnumber the market-driven copycats. And innovation will outshine the bubbles.
