My Texas School Plan - An Open Letter to the Candidates From Both Parties, Part 2

In the public interest and courtesy to all of the candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, State Senator, and State Representative, I present the Texas Model Education and Ensured Economic Prosperity Plan.  Feel free to discuss and use as if it is your own. 

1. Significantly increase the quality of candidates attempting to enter the teaching profession.  How?
A. Increase ACT / SAT score requirements to enter state college of education programs.  
B. Increase Alternative Certification Program entrance GPA requirements or require a minimum GRE score to be accepted into the program.

2. Significantly increase the quality of teacher training and preparation. How? Teacher preparation programs should focus on both content and pedagogical knowledge.  
A. Which means that a potential math teacher should graduate from a college of education with a major in the content, a minor in pedagogy, and a full semester of student teaching.
B. A graduate from an Alternative Certification Program (ACP) should have a degree related to the content area (a prerequisite) and the equivalent of 18 hours of pedagogy course work.  The student teaching for the ACP candidate can be covered through supported and mentored classroom teaching while in the ACP program.

3. Pay teachers a professional salary.  This goes hand-in-hand with increasing the quality of the candidate pool for teaching.  The more a candidate brings to the table, the more options she has.  If teacher salaries are not comparable to the professional salaries of those with a similar education then the best candidates will continue to shun education careers for better economic options.  So here is your professional salary scale for teachers.
A.  $45,000 minimum salary for starting teachers.
B.  $65,000 minimum salary for a core content teacher with 5-years experience, and 3-years in the same district, and multiple certifications (example: K-8 reading and ESL certifications).
C.  $75,000 minimum salary for a core content teacher with 10-years experience, and 5-years in the same district, and multiple certifications, and a Master’s degree.
D.  $85,000 minimum salary for a core content teacher with 15-years experience, and 8-years in the same district, and multiple certifications, and a Doctorate degree.

4. Extend teacher contracts to 200 days. Do this concurrently with the increase in minimum teacher salaries. Use the extra 20 days for training and extended teaching options for struggling students. 

5. Have clear, deep curriculum standards that schools are required to teach. How? We are close to this in Texas.  The TEKS are a good start. They are just too broad. Narrow the overall focus and increase the emphasis on critical thinking.

6. Mandate a maximum 21:1 student/teacher ratio in grade K-6 core content courses.  Mandate a maximum 24:1 student/teacher ratio in grade 7-11 STAAR/EOC courses.

7. Increase the number of hours and days students devote to academics and school. How?  This is easier to do than you might think, it just requires two simple (on paper) changes.

A.  Move all athletic based extra-curricular activities to outside the school day.  This ensures that all students engaged in athletics will receive an extra 45 to 90 minutes of academic instruction in either core content, fine arts, foreign language or career based classes, EVERY DAY.

B.  Move all EOC / STAAR tests to May.  This will encourage (force) schools to teach the content deeper into the year.

C.  Mandatory (in lieu of retention) 3 to 5-week summer school session for all students who failed either a STAAR/EOC test or a core content course.

8. Increase the stakes on the high school exit exams. How? Now everyone immediately thinks this is about increasing punitive measures and consequences.  That is the novice move.  If bigger sticks were the answer, we wouldn’t have our current agenda driven “Failing Schools” problem.  No, we want carrots, BIG FREAKIN’ CARROTS.

A.  We still keep some floor performance requirements.  The diploma should guarantee a level of basic skills.  Right now there are 5 EOC tests. I would prefer seven: two tests for English - ELA 2 and ELA 3; two tests for math - Algebra 1 and either Geometry or Algebra II (student choice); two tests for science - Biology and either Chemistry or Physics (student choice); one test for Social Studies - U.S. History To graduate the student must score at least 60% on 4 of the 7 tests. 

B. We add a performance bonus for a defined level of commended results that could work something like this. For every test the student scores at least an 85% on there is an automatic scholarship that is awarded to the student, redeemable at any state institution (2-year or 4-year) during the freshman and sophomore years.  Prorate the scholarship amount based on need, for example:

a. Student qualifies for free lunch - $2,000 per exam, which represents a potential scholarship amount of $14,000.

b. Student qualifies for reduced lunch - $1,000 per exam, which represents a potential scholarship amount of $7,000.

c. Student not eligible for free/reduced lunch - $500 per exam, which represents a potential scholarship amount of $3,500

Now all students have a significant incentive to take higher-level courses and perform in those courses. And if parents want to opt out their students from testing, they can do so for the advanced tests, but at a potential economic loss (reduced scholarship eligibility).

Accountability still in place but success is driven through the positives of earned scholarships and extended learning opportunities for struggling students. Not school sanctions and mandatory student retention.

9. Implement the following Superintendent Salary Schedule:
A.  District with fewer than 500 students, Superintendent salary no higher than 1.5 times the average teacher salary in the district.
B.  District with 501 – 1,000 students, Superintendent salary no more than 2 times the average teacher salary in the district.
C.  District with 1,001 – 5,000 students, Superintendent salary no more than 2.5 times the average teacher salary in the district.
D.  District with 5,001 – 15,000 students, Superintendent salary no more than 3 times the average teacher salary in the district.
E.  District with 15,001 – 30,000 students, Superintendent salary no more than 3.5 times the average teacher salary in the district.
F.  District with 30,001 – 70,000 students, Superintendent salary no more than 4 times the average teacher salary in the district.
G.  District with more than 70,00 students, Superintendent salary no more than 5 times the average teacher salary in the district.

10. Make charter schools subject to the same teacher pay, class ratio and superintendent pay standards as traditional public school districts.

Think about this plan overnight because tomorrow we tackle the big problem, how to pay for this ambitious plan.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: NAESP National Conference; Kentucky Association of School Administrators Leadership Institute; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Writes... Pretty Lies and Powerful Truths - Part 5

In response to the 10/31/2012 post, “Pretty Lies and Powerful Truths – Part 3,” a reader writes:

SC,

In reference to the quote in the post, “The monthly diatribes against school choice, vouchers, and charter schools, however, are the weakest part of the blog.”

I felt the same way and did not bother to write.  I was turned off also but just decided to put up with the insults to get the information I needed to be a better principal. 

SC Response

If you were insulted, I can assure you that was never the intent.  The intent was to stake a position and defend it.  In fact, I saw the posts in question as an invitation to either improve upon and/or refute the argument.  Personally, the issues I have with poor performing charter schools are the same issues that I have with poor performing traditional schools. They waste public resources and under serve children who can least afford to be underserved. I have no issue with performing charter schools, because they are public schools.  I just understand that the charter school and the traditional school don’t play by exactly the same rule (advantages and disadvantages for both sides) so the solutions developed for one aren’t always applicable for the other.

Second, the blog does cover a wide range of topics and perspectives, from classroom issues, to campus issues, to boardroom issues to political issues. For me, I see the common thread as leadership.  I always wanted to know that those above me were thinking and had a plan.  That made it easier for me focus on leading my little part of the world.  I will be honest, when you pull back the curtain in most districts, there is no plan and there is no consideration of the big picture. So my hope is that the exploration of topics across the spectrum validates that there are thinking, purposeful leaders at all levels.  At least it does for me.

Third, we will continue to tackle the issue of vouchers.  They are on the political agenda and they will impact public schools.  To ignore that fact, would be to say that the layperson has a better understanding of what is best for schools than the education professional.  For me, nothing is further from the truth.

Finally, I am glad that at times you find that the blog is useful in your role as a campus leader.  That is why the blog was born.  Eight years ago there was a group of principals tasked with near impossible improvement mandates.  They were spread across the state and they only had each other as a support network. The informal communication web that they shared morphed into the near daily posts that you now receive today. The majority of those principals were successful and have since become Assistant Superintendents and Superintendents, hence the expansion of topics.

Thanks for sticking with us.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

A LYSer Submits... The Hidden Agenda of Choice

A LYSer submits the following:

It can be argued that a significant number of charter schools are not truly open enrollment campuses.  This fact is more than just academic, what this means is that on a daily basis many charters violate the ban against “separate but equal.” Schools like KIPP maintain a facade of open enrollment, but they maintain soft (but real) requirements of continued attendance of the child and regular participation by the parent.  Such requirements would be deemed unconstitutional for a traditional public school. 

Charters get to do this because they operate “outside the bureaucratic entanglement of government bodies.”  That sounds reasonable and even innovative. However, if advocates of charter schools are saying that the reason traditional public schools can’t effectively operate is due to unnecessary bureaucracy, the simple fix is to decrease the bureaucratic entanglements placed upon traditional public schools, not to create an entirely separate school system.

What is conveniently forgotten is that many of these “bureaucratic entanglements” are the manifestation of civil and constitutional rights. And there is the rub, civil and constitutional rights bind states, but not parents.  By putting the onus of “separate but equal” on the backs of parents via the vehicle of “school choice” (charters and vouchers), those pesky civil and constitutional rights are nicely sidestepped.

On the issue of vouchers, they are a method to include parochial and private schools on the “school choice” bus. The logical conclusion of this “school choice” agenda is to once again create a “separate but equal” school system.  But in this enlightened era, parents now drive segregation and discrimination, through a mechanism created by the state.  A slick and tidy sidestep, don’t you think? 

The "school choice" agenda should be admired for its duplicitous simplicity.

Step one: Convince the country that public schools are “failing.”

Step two: Demand “school choice” to save students from “failing” schools. 

Step three: Recreate separate but equal, through parent demand.

Fifty years ago, the battle for equality and civil rights in our schools made a significant leap forward.  Now I watch as those victories are being systematically dismantled on a daily basis.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

The Superintendent's Corner - A Thought Experiment With Vouchers and Charters

Below is a submission from a LYS Superintendent:

For the record I don’t have a problem with the idea of vouchers.  My problem is that I can’t think of a way to do them in an equitable manner that will also be efficient.  Giving a flat $5,000 voucher to each child, which is one plan I have seen, certainly seems equitable in so much as it is certainly equal.  But there are at least two problems with this voucher plan. One, $5,000 is nowhere near enough money to educate a child.  Where would the remainder of the money come from? This is not an issue for the affluent of course, but it is for the non-affluent.  The issue of adequacy would have to be addressed, as the amount of money needed to educate a child is probably closer to $10,000.  But just for the sake of a gedankenexperimentieren let’s pretend the funding is adequate, simply removing that variable.  We will also ignore the fact, for the sake of simplicity, that some children (special needs, English language learners) are more expensive to educate.  With the givens, would our current education funding problems be solved?

Of course this thought experiment must immediately include charter schools as it seems the idea of charters and vouchers come as an entangled pair.  Before you get angry, I don’t have a problem with the idea of charter schools as long as the charters play by the same rules as traditional public schools (they don’t, but that’s another gedankenexperimentieren, and we don’t want to over-complicate the one we have already started).  Once we introduce the idea of charter schools, we virtually eliminate the rural school factor.  The reason is most rural schools don’t serve enough students to support a local charter, which most, by design, are operated for profit.  It may be possible to have regional charter schools in rural areas, but the issue of busing across distances again chews into profits.  Also, the rural market would likely be hard to crack because the local public school in a rural community is the heart and soul of that community.  We have to keep in mind that the majority of districts in the state are either rural or semi-rural.  This brings to us a disturbing question: if charter schools are not likely to be successful in rural areas, and rural areas are the home of most of the school districts, who are charter schools designed to serve and benefit?

The answer is charter schools are most likely to thrive in more densely populated areas, such as larger cities.  With a higher population density there are more students to compete for and distance is much less of a factor.  So now our gedankenexperimentieren has taken us to adequate vouchers ($10,000 range), traditional public schools, and charters in densely populated areas.  This already seems inequitable, because if charters are so great, rural areas, will not receive their benefit.  Nevertheless, let’s explore what happens in the scenario of traditional public schools and charter schools operating in densely populated areas, ignoring the nagging rural issue.

Let’s say I operate a traditional public school with 1,000 children.  The local charter comes to town and takes 200 children away.  My traditional public school still has 800 children to educate and it has 20% less revenue.  That may not seem like such a big deal to you but let’s look deeper.  The traditional public school still has the same amount of property to maintain.  The electric bill and other utility bills will not go down significantly.  Perhaps the school can shed some teachers, but not likely in direct proportion to the number of students who left.  For example, let’s say I started with 100 3rd graders with 4 teachers at a ratio of 25:1.  If enrollment declines by 20% I now have 80, 3rd graders.  If I drop my teachers by 25%, which is very close to the 20% decline in enrollment, I now have 3 teachers for 80 children, almost 27:1, which of course is not likely to work.  I will keep the 4 teachers for the 80 children and will have classes at 20:1.

By shuffling personnel throughout my school I may be able to let some employees go, but almost certainly not 20%.  The charter school that has 200 students does not have this problem.  The charter school has a building that holds 200 students and a faculty adequate for the 200, and once it is full the charter simply stops enrollment, an option the traditional public school does not have.  

So as children begin to shift from traditional public schools to charters, the traditional public school is almost certain to become less efficient as seen from the example above.  The traditional public school can’t be closed as it is serving the majority of the students in the area and almost certainly is serving the hardest to teach students in the area.  Having lost 20% of its students and revenue, and by not being able to shed 20% of its overhead cost, the variable that we held constant, adequacy, begins to destabilize. The state has two options: one, it can ignore the adequacy issue and say tough luck; or two, it can give more money to the traditional public school in order to absorb the overhead.  If the state takes option 1, a lawsuit is sure to follow.  If the state takes option 2, the funding is no longer equitable and court action is sure to follow.  Regardless of the option the state takes, it has violated the Constitution of the State of Texas by creating a school system that is less efficient.   

And so we see that funding schools by vouchers, even adequate vouchers, is likely to be degenerative.  The introduction of the voucher, entangled with for-profit charter schools introduces unconstitutional inefficiencies into the state school system.  This inefficiency attacks the very adequacy we held constant, destabilizing adequacy. If the destabilized adequacy is not addressed, the state is back in court, the same situation it is in now. If the adequacy is addressed, the issue of equity is raised, and the state is back in court. And for its efforts, the state has violated its Constitution and created a system that is less efficient, a choice that is likely to land the state . . . back in court.  Clearly vouchers will not solve the problem of educating children in Texas, but there is political hay to be made with vouchers and charter schools.  Hmmm.....

Mike Seabolt

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Upcoming Presentations: Sunray ISD Staff Kickoff, Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

A Reader Writes... Consolidation - Part 2

In response to the 4/24/2012 post, “The Superintendent’s Corner: Consolidation,” a reader writes:

SC,

I grow weary of the leadership in Texas, and a majority of politicians, touting the saving of money by consolidating small school districts while they continue to provide the means to create small charter schools. If there is an economic disadvantage to small districts, why would you continue to create small districts? There is never a mention of consolidating small inefficient charter schools.

SC Response

An excellent observation and one that Dr. Mike Seabolt and I have been discussing recently.  There have been two major thrusts of our rhetoric.

1. As you reference, if small is monetarily inefficient is one setting, the same holds true in similar settings.  From a policy standpoint either small is good, small is neutral, or small is bad.  Make the choice, set a direction and go forward.  Unfortunately, this is seemingly beyond our current political leadership.

2. The far right has both made political hay and justified their defunding of public education with the idea that school districts are top heavy with overpaid administrators, facts be damned.  However, the worst offenders, in terms of the number of administrators versus the number of certified teachers have been charter schools. And the worst offenders, in terms of the amount of administrator salary per student, have been charter schools.  Yet these offending charters (note: Not All Charters) essentially get a free pass from the far right. Could it be that there is some sort of anti-public school agenda in play?

Understand that this is not an anti-charter school position.  This is the recognition that those who want to dismantle public education have no problem playing fast and loose with the facts.  And even when their arguments make sense they will abandon that logic at any time it is contrary to their agenda.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: Bushland ISD Staff Kickoff, Canadian ISD Staff Kickoff, Highland Park ISD Staff Kickoff, Sunray ISD Staff Kickoff, Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of May 6, 2012

Recently, I was talking with some school leaders and our conversation turned to bootleg technology.  The concern of the group was that many teachers seemed to be missing the point. The point being that bootleg technology isn’t there as a substitute for something we already do, it should be used to enhance and supplement classroom activities.  The best example being when these campus administrators would visit a classroom and observe students simply reading text on an e-reader, instead of using the e-reader to take better notes, or to chat with other students about the ideas they are exploring, or to do some other exciting thing.

I think their concerns are both valid and invalid at the same time.  The concerns are valid because low rigor / relevance activities with bootleg technology seem to be a significant waste of opportunity.  And if this is always the case, that would be correct.  However, during the course of the day, there are numerous peaks and valleys in the rigor / relevance of instructional activities.  The presence of bootleg technology does not and will not change this.  Also, the use of bootleg technology is in its infancy.  Just like the requirement of learning to crawl, before you walk, before you jog, before you run – for most teachers, the embedded use of bootleg technology in the classroom will progress thru stages.  

As school leaders, what we have to remind ourselves is that the early rewards of bootleg technology use may seem inconsequential next to the initial risks and investment it took to get it into our schools. But the power and promise of bootleg technology is that of compound interest, not flashy nor overly complicated, simply relentless and ever expanding.

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter.  If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us.  To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of May 6, 2012.

1. Leadership 101: "Awareness" is not "implementation"

2. School districts need to do a better job of informing employees about school funding issues. Many teachers still don't understand. (ByDrJerryRBurkett)

3. "Austerity" is a word said mainly by people with a full stomach. (By @BorowitzReport)

4. Teachers will take an interest in school funding when their job is affected. Meanwhile, they still vote against their own self-interest. (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

5. You don't "program" your way out of instructional issues. You "practice" your way out of them.

6. If as a profession we don't vote, and vote for those who support public education, we only have ourselves to blame.

7. Texas pays Pearson $468,000,000 for 5 year contract. (By @symphily)

8. Reviewing some stats that show that Charter Schools perform worse than traditional schools. Study didn't address the fact that the student populations aren't the same.

9. We just discovered the Fundamental 5 through #schoolchange.  So great! (By @CoopArtistsInst)

10. Found out that for today, our book “The Fundamental 5” (by Cain and Laird) is the 3rd best-selling education theory book on Kindle!!! Thank you LYS Nation!

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A Reader Writes... (Vouchers - It's Only Choice - Part 1)

In response to the 5/19/11 post “Vouchers - It's Only Choice,” a reader writes:

Interesting commentary…

SC Response

There is no question that I am a school reformer. But I am not in the camp that now labels themselves as such. I believe we have a duty to the taxpayer to efficiently and effectively use their funds. I believe we have a duty to our country to educate all children to the highest level within our means. I believe we have a duty to our staff to put them in the best possible situation to be successful. I believe we should diligently look for ways to improve the delivery of instruction. I believe the model for education designed for previous generations may not be the best model for this generation.

That being said, I think the solutions that will address my beliefs won’t be found hidden within political agendas and corporate earnings reports. At one time I worked with (not for) a major national reform initiative. Their belief system was a follows, “There are some great charter schools, so all charter schools are great. There are some bad traditional public schools, so all traditional public schools are bad.”

When I pointed out that by their logic, I could state, “There are some bad charter schools, so all charter schools are bad. There are some great traditional public schools, so all traditional public schools are great.” Their response was, “You are being contrary. Everyone knows that is not true. Public schools are beyond repair.”

Needless to say, it did not take long for us to part company.

Here is what I know:

1. There are some great charter schools. What they do well should be studied and replicated. There are some bad charter schools. They should be closed down.

2. There are some great traditional public schools. What they do well should be studied and replicated. There are some bad traditional public schools. They should be closed down.

3. With charter schools, there is an inverse relationship between quality of service provided to students and profit motive of the charter holder.

4. Vouchers are simply a tool to further the agenda of those who want to dismantle public schools. The fact that some good, but misguided, people think that they are a good idea does not change this fact.

5. Unions play right into the hands of the anti-school faction by fighting for every hill. When the teacher sound bites are all about adults, the general public believes that we have abandoned educating students as our mission.

I don’t know what the education environment will look like in ten to fifteen years. But I do know that if it is in the hands of the private and corporate sectors the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” will only grow. That is not what I believe in.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t

Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

A Reader Submits... The Urban School Myth

A LYS Reader submits…

"In my career I can now say I have worked in just about every type of school in Texas. I have worked in 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, and 5A schools. I have worked in schools that served a wealthy population, and I have worked in schools that are 90% low SES. I have worked in suburban schools, rural schools, and urban schools. These schools have been spread around north Texas, east Texas, and south Texas. That leaves only west Texas that I have yet to experience, but I have about 10 to 15 years to go, so I will probably make it there too.

I was somewhat worried when I went to my first urban school, having spent my career up to that point in rural and suburban schools. You drive to work the first day and see the gang graffiti and you are worried. You see the kids walk in the first day with their hard appearance and you are more worried. And then the myth starts to unravel.

The verdict: Kids are kids everywhere, period. Urban students certainly have a lot to overcome, but when it comes to culture, music, and dreams, I have found kids everywhere remarkably similar. I have found very few kids anywhere that I can’t talk to, relate to, and get through to. Yet urban schools are the proverbial “tough nut” to crack. Why?

Certainly attendance is a tougher issue in urban schools, but not tremendously so. Other than attendance, urban schools have few problems that Foundation Trinity can’t cure. Other than attendance, I have not found the issues in low SES urban schools to be tremendously tougher than low SES suburban or rural schools, regardless of school size.

So why the “urban myth”? That is, most people I meet are convinced beyond a doubt that urban schools are tougher places to succeed in than other schools. I propose the urban myth of schools exists as a convenient excuse for leaders and teachers who can’t get the job done. Get a good curriculum, teach it using high yield instructional strategies, keep the game honest with common assessments, and urban students will do just fine.

There is one caveat: You have to truly care about the kids. Low SES students will write adults off quickly if they sense the adults don’t care. Unfortunately, my experience in urban schools is that too many adults don’t truly care about the kids that poison the well for the rest of us . Of course this is true in every low SES school I have worked in, regardless of size. I suspect urban districts get the “tough” title due to the huge number of kids they fail to adequately educate. A 2A low SES school doesn’t fail enough kids to cause an outcry. Sort of like killing: when does murder turn into genocide; one death, ten deaths, ten thousand deaths? How many low SES kids have to be under educated before we point a finger and say that’s wrong? Fifty is not enough, but five thousand in a concentrated area causes a noticeable problem for society. Are the fifty any less of a travesty?

So there it is. Give a damn, teach your kids, seek ways to make kids succeed, and I bet you the urban myth will vanish."

SC Response
There is an essential truth at the center of the myth and it is not the kids, as you have observed. The truth to the myth is scale. And the issue of scale works both ways. Let’s take scale as it is generally considered, “Big.” As you increase in size, you increase not only the number of problems that you deal with, but as those problems interact with each other you magnify their effect and complexity. Yes, the campus may have more staff, but personnel equations are linear. Complexity equations are exponential. What occurs at your typical, large urban school is that the adults are attempting to manage complex exponential systems with antiquated linear practices. When the inevitable failure occurs, institutional myopia focuses on the “obvious” problem – students. This makes about as much sense as blaming the piece of paper when I can’t solve a calculus problem using only algebra strategies.

Scale also causes issues when it is, “Small.” Most small urban schools were once large. But for any number of reasons, the bulk of the student population has moved to other schools. Instead of recognizing the reality of the current situation and changing, the school stubbornly clings to the big school model, trying to be everything to everyone. This quickly turns into being “nothing to nobody.” Sadly, the more eminent this particular fate, the more desperate the adult battle becomes to not change.

For the small urban school model, take a look at the truly successful charter schools (and there are a number of them). What the good and great charters understand is something that escapes the typical educator. It is this, “Know your niche, exploit your niche, be expert in your niche, but most importantly, ignore anything that is not your niche.” This is how you make small urban schools work and work exceedingly well.

I believe the issues of scale are leadership issues. To expect teachers to rise up and overcome every issue the machine throws at them is a fool’s dream. You can not spend all day, everyday in the classroom, teaching at full speed and have the time to come up with the big and mid-sized picture solutions to system problems. That is the responsibility of leadership. And when leadership does not engage at full speed and with conviction, the urban school myth becomes ever more entrenched.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Update From the World Tour

The LYS World Tour completed another stop yesterday at the Texas Charter School Conference. As is almost always the case, it was standing room only to hear about the beliefs, practices, and strategies that are becoming routine on the typical LYS campus. The very large audience of mostly new faces and a few LYS regulars spent a productive hour listening, learning and brainstorming with their neighbors. We actually ran out of time and I had to stop in mid-sentence to release the room.

And yes, I nailed every single element of the Fundamental Five.

LYS Nation, you keep pushing the envelope and I’ll keep telling your story. New readers, buckle up because you are in for a heck of a ride.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Schaper Wisdom Commentary)

In response to "Schaper’s Wisdom," a reader writes:

“Having served six years in the charter school system working with students seriously at-risk of never achieving high school graduation with a diploma or G.E.D. because history has not been fair to them in and out of the classroom, I have come to look at NCLB with a certain relational resolve that says, "If No Child Left Behind is to be successful, we must Know the Child being Left Behind before they are left behind."

1. This forces us to be proactive earlier and with greater diligence to student learning needs, styles and goals.

2. Whenever we get the students, we must assess not only their content knowledge, but their skill knowledge for learning. Understanding their capacity to learn is one thing, empowering that capacity to its fullest is critical.

3. Lastly, if there isn't a serious effort to connect student-learner and instructional learner in a shared learning experience, success will be difficult. Connecting early builds opportunities for life-long learning success in and out of the classroom.”

SC Response
I can’t argue with the writer and the resolve he talks about is a great kick off discussion for the start of every school.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Charter School Accountability

I recently saw a headline where charter school advocates were again complaining about accountability measures. It was the usual complaints – it’s not fair, it’s tough, our kids are different (to be fair, after re-reading this opening statement, their complaints are not much different from those of the typical, regular school educator).

Here is my opinion on charter school accountability, based on my experience working with, observing, visiting and assessing over 100 of them.

First. This pattern was discovered when I led a team that conducted a state-wide review of charter schools about 6 years ago. There is an inverse relationship between profit motive and service to students. This makes sense. We didn’t get in this business to get rich. Public education isn’t funded at a get rich level. So to make a significant profit, you have to cut somewhere. The worst abusers are the for-profit charters that are masquerading as non-profits. There is a special ring of hell for those operators. On the other hand, true non-profit charters do some amazing things for students. One of my favorites is Yes! Preparatory Academy, in Houston. They served as one of my state-wide model schools when I was the State Director for Innovative School Redesign.

Second. Charters exist to either be more efficient, more effective, or more innovative than regular schools. If you can’t do one of those three things, you shouldn’t be allowed to exist. That is the business you volunteered for. Produce or get out. And if you fail, you can still hold your head high, because you demonstrated that a specific model or plan doesn’t work. That is valuable information. If you succeed, then you have discovered a better way to teach kids. And that is information that the entire profession needs to pay attention to and learn from.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…