Las Cruces/ Different Schools of Thought: Charter School Enrollment Rising in Region
By Lindsey Anderson
Las Cruces Sun-News
November 22, 2012
Enrollment in charter schools is rising across the nation, and educators say southern New Mexico is no exception as parents seek options and smaller class sizes.
An additional 200,000 students nationwide enrolled in charter schools for the 2011-12 school year, pushing the total number of charter students to 2 million, according to a Nov. 14 report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
- "I think that there will always be some demand for parents to have education options for their students," said Bruce Hegwer, executive director of the Albuquerque-based New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools. "And I think charter schools are definitely a viable option."
Charter schools are publicly funded, tuition-free schools authorized by local school districts or the state.
State-chartered institutions, for example, apply for and receive five-year, renewable charters from the Public Education Commission. The school then has significant freedom to organize its curriculum, control its budget and run its operations.
Though the majority of New Mexico charter schools are concentrated up north - Albuquerque alone has more than 50 - 11 charter schools are located in the southern half of the state, from Silver City to Deming to Carlsbad.
In fall 2011, about 1,500 students were enrolled in the schools, or about 1.5 percent of K-12 students in the region, according to Public Education Department data.
Those numbers are up from about 1,300 students in the 2010-11 school year.
Much of the increase comes from J. Paul Taylor Academy opening with 157 students in Las Cruces in fall 2011.
In the southeast, where most of the southern charter schools are concentrated, the percentage of students choosing such schools is higher - 2.4 percent.
Though this year's charter school enrollment numbers are lower than last year's, at 1,477 as of Sept. 13, they don't include students enrolled in the newly opened New America School-Las Cruces.
"Unique clientele'
Many charter schools serve "unique clientele," Hegwer said, like recent immigrants or students interested in the arts.
"Most of the charter schools have populations that aren't being served at traditional schools," said Irene Oliver-Lewis, founder of Alma d'arte Charter School in Las Cruces.
The art-focused school began with 124 freshmen and sophomores in 2004 and has grown to 190 students spanning all four grades.
Other charter schools focus on English language learners or bilingual education, like La Academia Dolores Huerta and the New America School.
Those emphases and specific missions are a key draw for families, parents say.
Kathleen Albers' daughter graduated from Alma d'arte in 2008, but her son attended Las Cruces High School.
Her daughter enjoyed Alma d'arte's small size and emphasis on the arts, while her son flourished at LCHS, joining the choir and the tennis team.
"Both of them really thrived in totally different environments," Albers said. "I'm just glad that the charter school was an option at the time for my daughter."
Janet Gilchrist chose Aldo Leopold Charter School in Silver City for her two sons because of the school's focus on experiential learning and critical thinking.
"It was a clear choice for my idea of a great education for my kids," she said.
Big fish, small pond
Parents often turn to charter schools for their small classroom environments and more individualized attention, said Eric Ahner, director of Aldo Leopold.
Garland Courts said he appreciated that his daughter was a "big fish in a small pond" as a 2010 Alma d'arte graduate.
"It's nice to have that alternative - small school, smaller student body," he said.
All three parents said they appreciated having another option for their families.
"It's expanding school choice for families, and, in my mind, that's the greatest thing charter schools offer families," Ahner said.
Public schools respond
There is a public perception that traditional public schools don't meet the individual needs of all students, and charter schools like Alma d'arte or the New America School serve those individuals, said LCPS Superintendent Stan Rounds.
- "The land of education in all of the United States and especially in southern New Mexico has changed," he said. "There is open competition for students."
That competition doesn't worry him, he said, because the district has seen charter school students return to traditional LCPS schools as it adds additional educational options, like alternative high school San Andres and the new Arrowhead Park Early College High School.
And the charter school La Academia Dolores Huerta often serves as a "transition point," Rounds said, helping students master English before returning to traditional schools for high school, often at San Andres.
Funding controversy
The rise of charter schools in controversial, however. The schools receive public funds and are sometimes seen as taking money away from traditional schools.
Charter schools often receive more funding per student than traditional public schools, Rounds said.
- "A disproportionate share of money per student is going to charter schools, and, as the state economy struggles, there's a lot of attention being paid to that," he said.
- Charter schools can institute a student cap that is the most profitable for the school, ensuring they get the maximum amount of public funding per student because funding is partially adjusted for school size, he said.
- But traditional public schools can't place such caps and must accept all students, regardless of what their funding ratio would be.
"It's a business decision (to institute a cap), not an education decision," he said.
To Oliver-Lewis, whether charter schools take money from traditional schools is irrelevant.
"People have to stop thinking that charter schools are different," she said. "Charter schools are still a public school. You wouldn't ask that question to Centennial High, that they're taking money away from Oņate, because they're all public schools."
Charter schools are simply an alternative, she said.
"If there wasn't a need," she said, "we wouldn't be seeing these increases of enrollment."
Southern NM Charter Schools
Anthony: Anthony Charter School, grades 7-12, 85 students
Carlsbad: Jefferson Montessori Academy, grades K-12, 164 students
Deming: Deming Cesar Chavez Charter High, grades 9-12, 138 students
Las Cruces:
* Alma d'Arte Charter High, grades 9-12, 172 students
* J. Paul Taylor Academy, grades K-7, 157 students
* La Academia Dolores Huerta, grades 6-8, 120 students
* Las Montaņas Charter School, grades 9-12, 296 students
* New America School-Las Cruces, grades 9-12, no enrollment data available
Roswell: Sidney Gutierrez Middle School, grades 6-8, 66 students
Silver City: Aldo Leopold Charter School, grades 9-12, 109 students
Socorro: Cottonwood Valley Charter School, grades K-8, 170 students
Enrollment data from Sept. 13: Public Education Department
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Washington DC/ Teacher Raises Earlier in Career Correlates to Better Student Performance
Huffington Post Report
November 21, 2012
A new study [http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/08/04/0895904811417583.abstract] has found that frontloading teacher salaries -that is, awarding larger raises early in a teacher's career and smaller raises later - are associated with better student performance in multiple grades.
To test their hypothesis that districts are likely to benefit from a front-loaded salary schedule, the study's authors - Jason A. Grissom and Katharine O. Strunk - matched compensation data to school-level student performance data on math and reading achievement tests in 4,500 districts across 28 states during the 1999-2000 school year.
They examined the relationship between salary schedule frontloading and student performance across grades and at multiple points in the achievement distribution, i.e. basic competence, proficient and advanced proficiency.
The authors controlled for differences in cost of living in various districts when looking at teacher compensation, and also controlled for the difficulty of tests and demographic characteristics on the student side.
Overall, they found that in both elementary and middle schools, districts that front-loaded teacher salaries saw higher rates of student achievement. That said, the authors go on to clarify that the nature of their data set prevents them from determining whether these higher achievement levels are actually an effect of frontloading.
According to the report, recent debate on teacher compensation has centered primarily on the use of merit pay to reward teachers for their students' test score gains. Most salary schedules are currently structured in a way that awards teachers pay increases as they gain years of experience and pursue further education, such as a master's degree or some other accumulation of credits. However, the size of the raises tends to vary considerably from district to district.
In providing a rationale for front-loaded salary schedules, the authors cite research that indicates teachers are the most important school factor in predicting student performance, and that school district success thus depends on a district's ability to maintain a high-quality teacher workforce. The authors write that providing teachers with higher pay is one means of achieving this goal.
As the National Council on Teacher Quality points out in a blog post, Grissom and Strunk also find that districts where collective bargaining is required are more likely to practice backloading - concentrating raises among veteran teachers. However, there is potential to imitate front-loaded salary schedules through loan forgiveness programs, signing bonuses and retention bonuses.
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Washington DC/ Early Math Teachers Celebrate 'Critical Thinking, Not Correct Answers'
By Julie Ewart [Director of Communications and Outreach in ED's Chicago Regional Office]
US Department of Education
November 19, 2012
With math literacy a must for most jobs in our knowledge economy, Secretary Arne Duncan has called math teachers "our nation-builders of the future." Yet, just 40 percent of 4th-graders and 35 percent of 8th-graders are proficient in math, according to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Aimed at increasing young students' proficiency in math, Chicago's Erikson Institute is transforming how teachers in pre-K through 3rd grade approach mathematics lessons through a research-based training funded by a five-year, $5 million Investing in Innovation (i3) Development grant awarded by ED in 2010. i3 "Development" grants support new and high-potential practices to improve student learning, and pairs that support with funding to evaluate the impact of the practices.
Through Erikson's Early Mathematics Education Project, teachers are trained to lead "classrooms that celebrate critical thinking, not correct answers," according to Erikson Senior Instructor Rebeca Itzkowich. For this i3 grant, teachers at eight public elementary schools in Chicago are participating in the professional development, which will ultimately support more than 4,500 students each year.
- The project's professional development includes learning labs, individualized coaching, school-based learning groups, and classroom implementation.
- Erikson's professional development model produced almost three additional months of mathematics learning during a school year, in comparison to a matched contrast group, and helped teachers narrow the math achievement gap before children entered elementary school.
These new strategies fueled a new energy around math lessons for teacher Michelle Quinton and her 2nd graders at Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary School in Chicago.
- "Students' attitudes have been extremely different. They are excited. They are verbal. They are expressing themselves in new ways. They now feel success where they hadn't before," said Quinton, who participated in Erikson training throughout the 2011-2012 school year.
Some of Quinton's new practices have more to do with what she doesn't do, than what she does. For example, when pupils struggle with problems, she often steps aside to let them work out solutions with their classmates rather giving them quick answers.
- "Kids hearing it from me doesn't always work. Kids hearing it from other kids has been a huge success," she said.
Recognizing that kids learn differently and don't respond equally well to common math processes, Erikson's training also filled teachers' "toolboxes" with multiple calculation methods for math operations.
- "For different kids, certain algorithms make more sense and are more comfortable; it's like different shoes for different people," said Itzkowich. "We all have different shortcuts to get to the same place."
While teacher training to improve instruction is the heart of the project, family help outside of school is vital. To ensure that math reinforcement was successful, Erikson took into account the realities of modern family life, said Itzkowich.
- "We had to find ways that parents felt successful supporting their kids' mathematics learning that are pleasurable and can be incorporated into their home life," she said, noting that after long days at work, "parents often have a hard enough time just making dinner, getting their kids to eat and brush their teeth."
Using items that many families already had in their homes - like beans, dice and board games such as Candy Land - Erikson faculty members provide teachers with simple games that engage young students in mathematical learning and understanding in a fun way. Teachers, in turn, shared these activities with their students and parents at "Family Game Evenings" during the school year.
- "Parents left the classrooms feeling like 'I never thought this had so much mathematical possibilities, this is fun and I can definitely do this,'" said Itzkowich.
Erikson Institute is one of 72 organizations awarded funding by ED in the first two years of the i3 program, which supports the development and scaling of ambitious, effective practices that improve student achievement.
- The program encourages school districts, nonprofit organizations and local partners with a record of achievement to work together on innovative efforts.
- Applicants must have a history of closing achievement gaps, improving student achievement, increasing high school graduation rates, and/or increasing college enrollment and completion rates.
Awards for 2012 will be announced later this year.
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Los Angeles CA/ Inexperienced Teachers More Likely to Be Assigned to Students Behind in Math
Huffington Post Report
November 19, 2012
Inexperienced teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District are more likely to be assigned to students who on average are six months behind their peers in math, a new study has found.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the study by the Strategic Data Project, which is affiliated with Harvard University's Center for Education Policy, also determined that teachers vary considerably in their effectiveness. Top educators provide their students the equivalent of eight additional months of instruction a year compared to their less effective counterparts.
The report's authors analyzed the performance of nearly one-third of the district's teachers based primarily on students' standardized math test scores from 2005 through 2011 in grades three through eight.
Among its findings were that teacher performance after two years is a solid predictor of future effectiveness.
- EdSource reports that new teachers hired through Teach for America were found to have a positive effect - equal to two months of extra instruction in math - compared with other novice teachers.
- Those hired through the district's Career Ladder program, which encourages paraprofessionals to become teachers, provide the equivalent of one month extra instruction.
- About two-thirds of Teach for America teachers, however, leave the district after their two-year commitment, while more Career Ladder teachers continue as educators.
The study also indicated the performance of math teachers improved quickly in the first five years, then leveled off, according to the L.A. Times.
Additionally, those with advanced academic degrees were no more effective than those without, though teachers pursuing such degrees are paid more by the district.
However, EdSource reports teachers with a National Board Certification - only about 4 percent of LAUSD teachers - outperform their peers by roughly two months of additional math instruction and one month of additional English language arts instruction over the course of a year.
Over the past four years, thousands of LAUSD teachers have been laid off to help close a huge budget gap. Because of seniority rules, newer teachers went first, most of them located in poorer neighborhoods. The Strategic Data Project study found that the teachers who were laid off due to budget cuts were about as effective as teachers who retained their jobs, according to EdSource.
Drew Furedi, who oversees the district's teacher training, says he's deeply concerned about some of the findings and describes the study as a call to action, the Associated Press reports.
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Columbus OH/ Pete Kaser, Preschool Teacher, Replaces Toys with Cardboard Boxes
By Katherine Bindley
Huffington Post
November 21, 2012
Children generally don't respond well to having their toys taken away, but if those toys are replaced with cardboard boxes, it turns out kids don't mind so much.
That's what Ohio preschool teacher Pete Kaser learned when he removed all the toys and learning tools from his classroom and replaced them with raw materials, such as boxes and egg cartons, NBC4 reports. [www2.nbc4i.com/news/2012/nov/16/kids-learn-cardboard-classroom-ar-1243572/]
"The children were actually not asking for their toys back or where the toys were at all, which is kind of shocking," Kaser, who teaches at Wellington in Columbus, told the Huffington Post.
Instead, the kids started exploring the materials and working together to build a variety of creations they dreamed up on their own.
- They've since created an igloo, a pirate ship, a rocket ship, a hotel and houses with makeshift kitchens.
- Subject matter from previous lessons even came into play when the children fashioned a didgeridoo out of a cardboard tube after learning about the wind instruments while studying Australia.
"I just spent so many years looking at all my teaching materials and thinking that so much of them have a preassigned value to them," Kaser said. "I wasn't getting the imagination out of the children that I wanted."
A toy phone, for example, is going to look like a toy phone and function as a toy phone to most children, Kaser explained. The same goes for a cash register, or a train. But if you ask a child what he or she sees with a cardboard box, you might get 10 different answers and thus, more creativity, he argued.
Kaser said he plans to continue with the box experiment until the children no longer show interest, but so far, he said, the students are still engaged. In addition, several of the shyer children have come out of their shells and taken to leading some of the projects.
Still, the question remains whether these students are actually learning anything, but experts say the answer is a resounding "yes."
"I think there are very general trends that lot of people in child development are thinking about, and concerned about, which is that there's more and more pressure from parents and policy makers to make preschool more and more like upper level schools," said Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley who studies child learning and development. "It's ironic because at the same time this is happening, there is more and more research showing that things like exploration and pretend play really are very powerful learning mechanisms."
According to Gopnik, pretend play helps to foster a child's ability to imagine different possibilities, which is tied to engaging in counterfactual thinking: being able to consider alternatives that aren't right there in front of you - an essential when it comes to skills, such as long-term planning.
"Imagining different things a [cardboard] box could be is really an important intellectual feat," Gopnik told HuffPost. "It's a good way to exercise that ability."
Though she wouldn't encourage teaching with cardboard boxes exclusively, Gopnik pointed to the experiment as a powerful reminder that fancy electronic learning toys aren't necessarily better than minimalist ones.
Deborah Stipek, a professor at Stanford University's School of Education, added that the children's interpersonal and problem solving skills would benefit from working with the boxes.
"It's an opportunity to collaborate and cooperate with each other and negotiate," Stipek told HuffPost. "One kid will say, 'Lets make it big' and one will say, 'Let's make it this size.' It will raise social problems that they'll have to solve, and it's good for kids to have to engage in social problem solving."
Stipek said that kids should indeed sometimes struggle with their learning tools, despite the inclination of parents to protect them from getting discouraged.
"They're going to have a plan, and a lot of their plans are not going to work out very well. They're going to have to figure out another strategy, and they're going to have to add that to their goals," Stipek added. "I suspect that if you sat in there for 10 minutes, you'd see things falling down and not holding together. You'd see the rocket ship that doesn't look like a rocket ship."
On the other hand, Stipek said, cardboard boxes can only go so far and a curriculum that includes exposure to reading, math and science is also important.
"I don't think the message is that preschool should just be cardboard boxes," Stipek said. "My guess is that in the second week, things start petering out."
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Washington DC/ FILM REVIEW of Children in Poverty: 'To Us, It's Just How We Live'
By Lesli A. Maxwell
Education Week [Edweek.org]
November 21, 2012
For all the academic and political debate over how much schools should be able to counteract poverty's impact on children, how often do we actually hear from kids themselves about what being poor does to them?
Classroom teachers see the effects of poverty on their students every day, and hear about them, too, for sure. But I'm talking about the devastating, day-in and day-out experience of growing up poor that I think even educators in schools remain somewhat shielded from.
A new Frontline documentary, "Poor Kids," by filmmaker Jezza Neumann, delivers you right into the middle of that experience, subtly, yet heartbreakingly told by three young girls and members of their families. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poor-kids/]
The film-which aired just before Thanksgiving on Nov. 20-starts off by providing all the necessary and important context for the rising rates of child poverty, unemployment, and homelessness in the United States, including the exacerbating forces of the recent economic recession. But it quickly turns to the individual stories of Kaylie, Brittany, and Jasmin.
Kaylie, who is 10, lives with her mom and her 12-year-old brother Tyler in the Quad Cities region that straddles the Illinois and Iowa border. They bounce between rental properties and dingy motel rooms as their mother struggles to keep them in one place for more than a few months. Lonely for friends her age, Kaylie strikes up a friendship with a 30-something front-desk clerk in one of the motels where the family stays, helping him with small chores around the rundown property. She tearfully gives up her dog to a shelter after stoically explaining to the camera that her family doesn't have enough money to feed her pet. When she asks her mom if she can go to school, her mother tells her "it doesn't make any sense to put you in school here," when they are about to move back to the Iowa side of the state line in a few days.
"To us, it's just how we live," says Kaylie. "You don't get to make choices in how you live."
Brittany, also 9, lives with her parents and older brother Roger, who is 14. She belongs to the "nutrition club" at school and is summoned, along with a few other classmates, on a Friday afternoon to the front office to pick up a small bundle of food for the weekend. The contents: Cheerios, a small carton of milk, and some canned food.
In one scene, she stands next to her recently laid-off Dad and asks: "When is the cable being shut off?" He tells her soon, that they owe more than $200. She follows up: "How many jobs have you applied for?"
Finally, Jasmin, 9, is living in a Salvation Army shelter with her parents and three brothers. The family lost their home when the dad's contractor business dried up. Jasmin's father found a job in a factory, but it's more than an hour away. Because they can't be left alone in the shelter, she and her brothers have to ride along every day when their mother drives him to the job.
In different, but equally poignant, ways, the children in these families articulate how they long for better lives, but how hard it will be to find their path to upward social mobility.
"If I keep missing school, then I see my future poor, on the streets, in a box...asking for money everywhere...and stealing stuff from stores," says Kaylie. "I don't want to do any of that stuff. I want to get an education and a good job."
That's a devastating observation from a 10-year-old. As new research has found, the impacts of a dysfunctional or unstable home life can also have lasting negative effects on a child's long-term learning and health.
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