Accountability?
This headline in the DC Examiner this morning caught my eye: “To save D.C. school vouchers, senators want accountability.” Well that sounds good- right? Yes, sure, we want ALL our schools to be accountable. So of course my next question was: “what about the (complete lack of) accountability in the DC public schools?” Humm… any of you guys want to give me an answer on that one? Accountability goes both ways.
Fortunately, the reporter gets it, and from the very beginning, she acknowledges that:
The call for more data to determine student success gets at the heart of the school choice debate: What determines the viability of a school: parental standards or government standards?
Sadly, it seems most politicians have lost all trust in the human race and our ability to do anything without the wise and wonderful hand of government telling us what to do and helping to make sure we know exactly how to live our lives.
I am ALL for accountability- especially when it comes to spending of taxpayer dollars. It is a good thing- but it must also be balanced. As we’ve argued here before- what should our education dollars be funding- education or schools? If we believe that education is the goal- let’s put accountability back in the hands of consumers. If parents have the ability to take their child out of a failing school- isn’t that accountability? If a parent has no options- and a school is failing their child- isn’t that a lack of accountability? Simply providing test scores and statistics to a government bureaucracy does not make a school accountable- does it?
Senator Dick Durbin and his cronies want us to believe that they are really looking out for the best interest of students with their empty talk about accountability for voucher students, when they have shown little genuine concern about the accountability of the DC public schools that are consistently failing students. Sure- maybe they have the enrollment numbers, the test scores, the drop-out rates- but when those public schools are consistently performing the worst in the entire nation- is there any real accountability?
I know that by now I shouldn’t be surprised, and that perhaps I shouldn’t let it get to me as much as it does, but our kids deserve better.
Monday morning education news
Hope everyone had a great weekend. While some Virginia students are already headed back to school, we’re still about a week away for most families. So as we enjoy the final days of summer, here are a couple quick headlines to start the morning.
- Philadelphia Magazine: Is This the Best School In Philadelphia?: Cynics say urban education is hopeless. With some old-fashioned ideas, North Philly’s KIPP School is proving them wrong.
- iSurf Hopkins: School choice would bring quality – and accountability
- Hartford Courant: School Year Begins Today: Amid Hopes for More Success
- NOLA.com: State: 19 seek charter schools
- WNED-AM 970 News: Hoyt Calls on Paterson to Push School Reform
- Jacksonville.com: Duval charter schools give students new outlooks
“Charters need accountability? They supply it”
Charter schools are one piece of the puzzle when it comes to comprehensive education reform and school choice. Here, the Redding Record Searchlight takes a look at charters and the issue of accountability.
…charters have a built-in accountability. Parents choose to send their children to a particular school for a unique reason. That decision often involves long morning drives and an extra commitment of time, as many charters demand heavy parental involvement. If the school is not accomplishing the mission, the students will go elsewhere.
What’s more, even a handful of alternatives – and charters serve only a small fraction of public school students – makes every school more accountable. Track meets and spelling bees can motivate students to do their best, but competition for students can motivate educators themselves.
Are charters perfect? No. And with fewer regulations governing the startup schools, parents must pay extra attention to weighing whether their children are getting the education they need.
But should districts be shutting down more of what are already the most accountable schools? That just doesn’t add up.
School Choice Virginia Board Member Keith West Discusses Charter Schools
Last week, we noted the controversy in Richmond surrounding the proposal to open a charter elementary school in Richmond City.
In Sunday’s Richmond Times Dispatch, School Choice Virginia Board member Keith West gives us more insight on the situation in his column, “Original Contract Created a Charter School in Name Only.”
To my surprise and to its credit, the School Board of Richmond voted in May to approve an application for a charter elementary school to be located in the vacant Patrick Henry school building.
I was surprised because the groups opposed to charters are powerful and waged an all-out campaign against it. Board members had to make tough decisions, knowing they would be alienating voters either way. I believe we made the right choice, because the parents of Richmond need more choices for their children’s education.
He continues:
The very point of a charter school is to end up with something different. Even in a district with the highest-performing public schools, there might be a need for charter. No school can be all things to all people.
Exactly.
Finally, Keith asks:
But there is more than one way of doing things, and without experimentation, there will be no progress. The School Board on this point needs to make a leap of faith. We must assume competence given no evidence to the contrary.
The leap is not actually that great. The teachers will all be certified and the curriculum will be state-approved. Most important, the parents will be involved. Is there any stronger accountability than concerned parents?
Accountability. Parental involvement. And a chance for success. Don’t we owe Virginia’s students that chance?
Time for some outside the box thinking?
When an investment doesn’t produce results, perhaps it is time for some outside the box thinking.
That’s what is happening in Connecticut, where frustrated taxpayers are increasingly concerned about the ever-increasing investment in public schools that does not seem to producing the desired results.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Connecticut Faces a School Tax Revolt“:
Over the past two and a half decades, the student population in Connecticut has increased only 10%. Yet the cost of schooling more than doubled — to $8.8 billion in 2006, up from $3.4 billion in 1981.
And the results?
The National Assessment of Educational Progress puts eighth-grade proficiency figures in the state at 37% for reading, 35% for math, 33% for science and 53% for writing.
This is causing citizens and elected leaders to come up with some creative ideas to try and reform the educational system.
In Chester, First Selectman (Mayor) Tom Marsh proposes to pay students not to attend public school. He wants to give $1,500 a year to families who send a child to vocational school, $3,000 to families who homeschool, and to put $5,000 in a college scholarship fund for anyone transferring to a private high school.Mr. Marsh also wants to give a full two-year community college scholarship worth $5,000 to students who graduate from public high school in three years. “If we can persuade families to consider options outside the system,” he says, “we have the potential to save significantly long term.”
We’ve said it before, the more educational choices available to parents and families, the better. Now we just have to wait and see what happens…
Not so surprising news: Transparency in education helps parents
As leaders look at ways improve education in Australia, education the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Julia Gillard met with Joel Klein, Chancellor of NY City public schools (and co-chair of the Education Equality Project).
They agree that transparency and providing parents with detailed information about schools (including results!) is a good thing, and will help parents to make better informed decisions about their children’s education.
In “School choice is ‘guesswork’: Julia Gillard,” The Weekend Australian interviews Ms. Gillard, who admits, “I do think transparency of information in and of itself will spur people to do better and they will all want to be seen to be doing better.”
Ms Gillard called on the states and territories to agree to greater transparency of school results and features. Inspired by the changes made in New York City by the education chancellor Joel Klein, Ms Gillard is proposing schools make public as much information as they can, from the qualifications of their teachers to comparing their students’ performance and improvement against groups of similar schools.
One of the features of the New York system is that schools consistently failing to meet benchmarks are closed, giving parents confidence that their child’s school is meeting expected standards.
Asked whether parents could have the same confidence in Australian schools, Ms Gillard agreed they could not. “I’m not sure that is the case at the moment. Perhaps as worrying as that statement is, from the point of view of being the federal Education Minister, I couldn’t tell because the amount of information that’s available doesn’t enable me to make that judgment in a meaningful way,” she said.
