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| Their competition done and trophies awaiting presentation, some FIRSTers relax with a line dance |
Many of the small schools that we invested in did not improve students’ achievement in any significant way. These tended to be schools that did not take radical steps to change the culture, such as allowing the principal to pick the team of teachers or change the curriculum. We had less success trying to change an existing school than helping to create a new school.
He goes on to state:
But a few of the schools that we funded achieved something amazing. They replaced schools with low expectations and low results with ones that have high expectations and high results. Almost all of these schools are charter schools that have significantly longer school days than other schools. The hope and promise of our traditional school districts lies with their ability to replicate the strategies and results of the schools that have done “something amazing” in high poverty communities.
That is the foundation upon which the Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund is based. We have learned from the work of the Gates Foundation and will invest in schools that have relentless leaders with autonomy and accountability for the programs, people and budgets in their building. We know that we need to increase our capacity within the schools and have already brought in proven national leaders like First Things First and the Institute for Student Achievement. We are courting Teach for America to return to our region as a source of teachers from a pool of some of the best and brightest college grads from around the nation. Finally, we are investing strategically in clusters of schools representing all three counties so that we can collaborate and compete to improve student achievement in the most dramatic ways.
But these are just some pieces of the puzzle. And while gains are made in some areas, we fall short of the finish line in others. When new principals were brought on last year to lead three failing Detroit public high schools whose teaching staffs had been reconstituted in keeping with No Child Left Behind, they soon learned that they would only be able to hire teachers from the very same schools that had been reconstituted. So teachers were rotated from one school to another, with the expectation of different results.
Principals must be able to hire the very best teachers for kids who need them the most. Our school leaders and teachers can accomplish that within the context of their collective bargaining agreement in ways that are consistent with measurable improvements in student achievement. But if they are unable to change, as Bill Gates has learned, they may be soon be replaced by schools whose leaders are able to cross that hurdle in order to do something amazing.
Michael Tenbush, United Way for Southeastern Michigan
By RANDAL YAKEY
Of The Oakland Press
PONTIAC — An opportunity for a partial or fully paid college education for students of the Pontiac school district is at hand.
Now, it’s up to the surrounding community to help them seize that opportunity.
State Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, told a community forum Monday at City Hall that all the kids who work hard and graduate will be eligible for part or all of their college education to be paid for through the Promise Zone program.
But it won’t be easy.
So, Melton has called upon businesses, educators and citizens to donate time and money to a cause that will benefit the entire Pontiac community.
“We need to tap into our faith-based community,” Melton said. We need to tap into our business community like The Palace of Auburn Hills.”
Melton said he believes the $750,000 to get the program started can be raised and that he has already been getting “generous donations,” but there is still much to be done.
The Michigan Promise Zone Act allows communities to create funding mechanisms to increase college education opportunities for graduates of Michigan’s K-12 school system by providing free college tuition to in-state schools.
Up to 10 Promise Zones will be authorized throughout the state in areas that have a combination of low rates of educational attainment and high rates of poverty and unemployment. Funds must be raised by the community for two years before a percentage of growth in state education tax dollars will be added to the pot to provide scholarships to Pontiac students.
Under the plan, the school board would create a Promise Zone Authority board and appoint nine of the 11 members. The other two would be appointed by the speaker of the House and the leader of the Senate majority. The authority would cover full tuition to any public school in Michigan and a capped amount to any more expensive private Michigan college.
“The business community will benefit because now you have a higher density of post secondary educated kids who they are able to hire,” said Melton. “People always ask me to bring jobs to our community. Well, who are they going to hire? Let’s make sure we are preparing our kids for the jobs in the new economy.”
The Promise Zone Authority board would set the criteria for the scholarships and would be responsible for raising money in the private sector to fund them. No school board members would be on the authority.
In the third year, after two years of fund raising, the state would authorize the district to keep a percentage of funds generated by property tax growth to put toward scholarships. Children in all the cities and townships in the district would benefit, not just those who live in Pontiac. And the fund would reap revenue from growth in property taxes from all the entities in the school district.
Pontiac school district graduates, whether low-income or not, will be eligible for funds that make up the difference between what a student can obtain in scholarships and grants and the full tuition at a public Michigan college or university or a similar capped amount for a private college.
FYI
Call Melton’s office at (888) MELTON-4 or e-mail timmelton@house.mi.gov.
FI3T Project PIs Meeting
March 16., 2009
5:00 – 7:00 pm
SOE Conference Room 251
University of Michigan-Dearborn
AGENDA
1.0 Welcome
2.0 Winter Activities
2.1 Student Attendance
2.2 Parent Involvement
2.3 Corporate Partners
2.4 Winter PI Meetings
3.0 Summer Camp
3.1 Schedule
3.2 The Henry Ford Museum visit
4.0 Second Cohort Preparation
5.0 Others
6.0 Adjourn
FI3T Project PIs Meeting
March 16, 2009
5:00 – 7:00 pm
SOE Conference Room 251
University of Michigan-Dearborn
AGENDA
1.0 Welcome
Attendees: Margret Hoft, Mesut Duran, Brahim Medjahed, Elsayed Orady, Caroline Beyer, Shedrick Ward, Sharon Holloway, Silas Willams, Ermelda Polk, Mark Jenness
2.0 Winter Activities
2.1 Student Attendance
· Joshua Brandly & Antonio Dudet are not returning. Ebony Ellis’s case is not clear. SAMPI will prepare an exit interview form and conduct interviews with not returning students.
2.2 Parent Involvement (differed)
2.3 Corporate Partners (differed)
2.4 Winter PI Meetings
· Scheduled for April 20 from 5-7 in SOE Conference Room 251.
3.0 Summer Camp
3.1 Schedule
· The first week (4 days) of the Summer camp is tentatively scheduled for the week of June 15 and the second week of the camp will be held in the last week of August (week of 24, 4 days).
· Dr. Duran will start a VLT discussion on this issue to finalize decisions for this matter. Students will be informed about the summer camp schedule by March 28 workshop.
3.2 Structure
· The structure of the summer camp will be discussed in detail at the upcoming PI meeting but it will involve a whole-group trip to the
4.0 Second Cohort Preparation
4.1 Pontiac Schools
· Due to plan for mass teacher layoffs at the Pontiac Schools at the end of the school year, the second cohort of the program will involve DPS only.
4.2 DPS
· DPS will identify 16 new teachers and financially support them to participate in a series of IT/STEM workshops that will be offered during the weeks of June 22 & 29 (tentative).
· Ideally, new teachers will be recruited from the current teachers’ schools to develop better connection and collaboration between the current teachers and the new teachers.
· Teacher Info page will be revised accordingly and posted on the VLT for questions and comments and later will be distributed to the prospective new teachers.
· Each STEM area will offer 2 half-day (4 hour each) workshop to the new coming teachers in team teaching format—Current content faculty and K-12 teacher teaching their related workshop together (knowledge transfer from current lead teachers to new teachers in training)
· At the end of the workshop series, in collaboration with current teachers, the project will identify and invite 4-5 new teachers to participate in the second cohort.
5.0 Others
· Cohort one summary package for Year 1 should be prepared and distributed to DPS administrators
· Interviews with students, faculty, and teachers for the Year 1 activities will be conducted by the Evaluation team.
· Student work displays (out put) in the school and on campus are needed by the Evaluation team.
6.0 Adjourn
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 11, 2009; A01
President Obama sharply criticized the nation's public schools yesterday, calling for changes that would reward good teachers and replace bad ones, increase spending, and establish uniform academic achievement standards in American education.
In a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Obama called on teachers unions, state officials and parents to end the "relative decline of American education," which he said "is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy and unacceptable for our children." The speech, delivered in a venue meant to underscore the changing demographics of the nation's public education system and its long-term priorities, sought to bring a bipartisan approach to education reform by spreading blame across party lines for recent failures.
"For decades, Washington has been trapped in the same stale debates that have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our educational decline," Obama said. "Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance."
Obama's speech, his first as president devoted to education, struck a tone of urgency at a time when public education is slated to receive about $100 billion in new federal money under the recently passed economic stimulus package. The money may give Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, more influence in reshaping a public education system traditionally guided by state governments and local school districts.
"The resources come with a bow tied around them that says 'Reform,' " Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, said in a telephone interview. "Our basic premise is that the status quo and political constituencies can no longer determine how we proceed on public education reform in this country."
Although Obama proposed many of the ideas on the campaign trail, he used the speech to link those prescriptions to the future success of the ailing U.S. economy. He encouraged experimentation in the public school system, including proposals to extend the school day -- to bring the United States in line with some Asian countries whose students are scoring higher on tests -- and to eliminate limits on the number of charter schools.
"A number of these things are simply encouragements to the states on matters that the federal government has little authority over," said Jack Jennings, president of the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy. "But with this stimulus money comes the ability to talk more about these issues. And that is very powerful in itself."
The president signaled a willingness to take on influential Democratic constituencies, including teachers unions, which have been skeptical of merit-pay proposals. He said he intends to treat teachers "like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountable."
Good teachers will receive pay raises if students succeed, Obama said, and will "be asked to accept more responsibility for lifting up their schools." But, he said, states and school districts must be "taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom."
"If a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching," he said. "I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences."
Obama's support for ideas such as merit pay and toughened accountability for teachers is similar in tone to proposals placed on the table by D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee in contract negotiations with the Washington Teachers' Union.
Rhee, a Democrat, said last year that voting for Obama was "a very hard decision" because of the party's traditional reluctance to take on influential teachers unions. A spokeswoman said last night that Rhee had no immediate comment on the president's speech.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union with more than 1 million members, said in a statement that "as with any public policy, the devil is in the details. And it is important that teachers' voices are heard as we implement the president's vision."
Obama's call for states to adopt uniform academic achievement standards is likely to anger conservatives, who generally favor giving local school districts the authority to design curriculum and grading criteria. To make his point, the president said: "Today's system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success means fourth-grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming -- and getting the same grade."
To encourage classroom innovation, Obama said, he wants the District and the 26 states that now limit the number of permitted charter schools to lift those caps. Such schools, founded by parents, teachers and civic groups, receive public money but are allowed to experiment broadly with curriculum. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says 365,000 students are on waiting lists for charter schools.
Obama chose to deliver his remarks at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, senior administration officials said, to emphasize the growing proportion of Latinos entering the public school system. He said a quarter of kindergartners in public schools are Latino, adding that they "are less likely to be enrolled in early education programs than anyone else." He said the stimulus plan includes $5 billion to expand the Early Head Start and Head Start programs.
The president also noted that Latino students are "dropping out faster than just about anyone else," a national problem that cuts across ethnic lines. He noted that "just 2,000 high schools in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles and Philadelphia produce over 50 percent of America's dropouts."
Regarding higher education, Obama said he plans to expand several federal grant programs, including increasing the maximum amount of a Pell grant and allowing it to rise with inflation, and ending "wasteful student loan subsidies." The goal, he said, is to make college "affordable for 7 million more students."
"So, yes, we need more money. Yes, we need more reform. Yes, we need to hold ourselves accountable for every dollar we spend," Obama said. "But there is one more ingredient I want to talk about. The bottom line is that no government policies will make any difference unless we also hold ourselves more accountable as parents."
President Obama says the decline of education is "unacceptable for our children."
Please join
STATE REPRESENTATIVE TIM MELTON
& THE PONTIAC SCHOOL BOARD
For a town hall meeting to discuss the
"Promise Zone"
and find out how you can get involved.
Monday, March 16
6 p.m.
Pontiac City Hall
(Council Chambers)
47450 Woodward Ave., Pontiac
"Promise Zone" legislation was recently enacted that gives
our community the opportunity to provide FREE college
education to ALL students that live and attend school in
the Pontiac School District.
"The Oakland Ministerial Fellowship, as a faith-based group,
support the Pontiac Promise Zone district."
- Bishop Robert Simmons of Living Word Ministries
An organization targets children in a 24-block area of Harlem, assisting more than 7,400 children and 4,100 adults.
Geoffrey Canada is the man behind what The New York Times Magazine calls "one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time." He is the president and CEO of Harlem's Children Zone (HCZ), a project that targets children in Central Harlem and follows them from birth to college.