If you can't beat them, join them

MinnPost is reporting that the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) may soon be establishing its own Charter Schools, or at least what they would have us believe are true alternatives.

Forget falling enrollment, a yawning achievement gap and draconian budgetary realities for the moment, because Minneapolis Public Schools may be on the brink of the biggest challenge to confront the district in years.

In coming weeks, school board members are poised to vote on proposals to create two schools that would operate largely outside the district bureaucracy.

One, a K-12 science program to open in 2011, would be operated by a nonprofit charter management organization headquartered in Chicago. The other, a K-5 French immersion school to open this fall, would be run by the teachers who staff it.

Both would be located on the city's North Side, long home to some of the district's poorest-performing schools.

At a minimum, this is good news in that they're at least considering trying something else.  It would also be good news for the North Side, which the MPS has largely abandoned rather than fix.

But in the end it must fail because in doesn't address the core problem(s) in the beginning.  The MPS is not suffering for a lack of science programs.  And whether you believe in the Language Immersion concept or not, can we not all agree that French is the wrong language for it?

As to the management, one, the Immersion school, would be run by its teachers.  Isn't that the number one problem with all of our public schools, that the teachers, via their unions, are running the show?  No doubt these teachers at these new programs will be fully licensed union employees, at the same or better pay, probably working the same convenient hours, 9 months a year.  No doubt all the buildings, grounds, food service, and transportation will also be left in the hands of the existing bureaucracy and unions.

The other school would be run by an outside agency, an out of town agency?  It's hard to be optimistic here, either.  I suspect we're not dealing with Marva Collins in Chicago.  Regardless, wouldn't remote management in effect empower the local power structure? 

At least some at MPS are willing to try something, their appointment of another status quo Superintendent notwithstanding.  If nothing else, by taking some of the more challenging schools "off the books" they might finally see an increase in their test scores and graduation rates.  It's called addition by subtraction.

Comments

[Hiram]

To begin with, I think we should ask ourselves, what are the advantages, both perceived and real, of charter schools?

I might note also, just in passing, the choice of language is not always the determining factor in parents' decision to send kids to a language immersion school. French is probably not as useful a language as Spanish, but it's a whole lot better than Mandarin Chinese.

As for the appointment of a status quo superintendent, Minneapolis, unlike Robbinsdale, made the decision to go with an insider and not use an outside consultant. Whether this is a good or bad decision remains to be seen, but one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that whatever the MPLS board had decided to do in this regard, it would have been criticized for it.

[J. Ewing]

Actually, French makes a lot of sense, considering that many Somalis speak French, and live on the North Side. As for the rest of it, I think you're right that they're grasping at straws. If they really knew how to run a school, or were willing to turn one over to someone that did, they could have done it long ago.

The only question is whether they actually think this will help-- in essence admitting they don't know-- or whether this is a sly means of attempting to persuade people they are "making progress." Faced with a choice between incompetence and devious cleverness, I tend to believe in incompetence.

[Hiram]

Generally, native speakers of a language don't go to that language's immersion school.

[CDO]

Let me see if I understand this. School districts are suffering flat and/or reduced funding. Test scores and graduation rates are abysmal so the best soluton is to experiment with opening charter schoold run by the district? The mind boggles.

[Hiram]

I don't think opening charter schools are necessarily the best idea, but they are one idea. Not everything a school district does needs to address every problem a school district has. What Minneapolis is tossing is a bit of outside the box thinking, but it is something that has been discussed before. I am not saying it's the right way to go necessarily, but I think Minneapolis, and Robbinsdale should give careful consideration to the advantages and disadvantages of the charter school model. It's something to think about.

[The Big Stink]

This is not a solution. It is a diversion. It is a way for them to throw themselves a rope while they drown in their own incompetence. This is not innovation - it is re-packaging.

The real solutions won't even be debated, because of political influences. Again - nothing changes until the system implodes and the voters finally figure out the endgame has nothing to do with actually educating their kids. Every solution they throw out for debate is merely another modification to the Titanic.

But, as long as they keep the public engaged in debating the merits of faux solutions, they keep the wolves from their doors. What's really instructive is how many will engage the debate and be unaware they're being "played" in the process.

[Hiram]

"This is not a solution. It is a diversion."

It's at least a partial solution to one problem raised by CDO, flat funding. And I think it is innovative, and not re-packaging to the extent it offers a service, French language immersion, if that's what's being offered, that the district did not offer before.

The Titanic didn't have enough lifeboats, but that isn't why it sank. While I would suggest that the Titanic and other ships needed better engineering and design, lifeboats were never a viable solution to trans-oceanic travel.

[anonymous]

I can get on board with this variety of charter school before the fully independent type. My biggest reservation is the lack of experience in start-ups, and here that appears to be addressed. I'm familiar with charters where inexperienced administrators/executives were unable to guide the place through the first few years and the school flopped. In this model, maybe they'll make it. We all seem to agree that good teachers make or break a school, and I imagine this will attract some very good ones.

As far as the subjects--I don't think you can go too far wrong with a math/science focus. And language immersion is useful as a way of learning, regardless of the language itself. I've never heard of any Somali speaking French, though, nor is North their geographic home (Cedar Riverside/Seward, rather).

Overall, I applaud Mpls schools for trying something bold. Incremental change brings incremental results. For districts that are so entirely failing all their students (as seems to be the case in North), reinventing the wheel doesn't seem to be such a bad idea.

--Annie

[The Big Stink]

How many generations of inner city kids have to fail before they quit tinkering on the margins and actually consider the unthinkable: Give the parents the money and let them choose where to send their own kids!!!???

[anonymous]

Stink. Here's the thing about vouchers--the free market doesn't work how you think it does.
I lived in NMpls for years (did you?). Good neighbors, rotten schools. You know what else was rotten? The stores. I couldn't buy fresh vegetables anywhere. I could get twinkies and corn chips and Dr. Pepper, but not a bunch of bananas. I had the money in my pocket, the will to feed my family well, but it's easier and more profitable for the powers of capitalism to just keep selling crap with high margins.

I suspect other families knew that healthy food was better, but they didn't have a critical mass such that an entrepeneur came in and opened a store. Oh, wait one DID. Kowalski's came in for a few years, couldn't make a go of it, and shut down.

Why wouldn't the exact.same.thing. happen with schools? You and I might compare and shop around and find a fantastic school, but some kids who have parents who are poorly educated/working 4 jobs/don't speak English would be at the mercy of the mini-marts of education. Maybe it would work, but it's entirely possible that shady businessmen would open shady schools and happily take the parents' vouchers for fun and profit.

--Annie

[J. Ewing]

Annie, you seem to be under some kind of illusion that vouchers would eliminate public education, and that's exactly wrong. Most public education supporters claim that the public schools are superior to what the free market would offer, or that public schools are "competitive." If we really give vouchers to every parent, and let them choose ANY school-- i.e. a "universal" voucher-- then we've covered all the bases. Those parents that want something better can find a private, entrepreneurial school to suit them, and entrepreneurs will flock to those areas in which the public schools are not serving the need. The public schools will be there for those parents too busy to make a different decision-- a very, very tiny percentage-- or who actively prefer what the public schools offer. As a result, the entire school "system" serves parents better and, over time, at lower cost. What's wrong with that?

I'm echoing BS's question, of how many more children are we going to destroy before we recognize that our education system is grossly immoral, stupid, and borderline criminal?

[Hiram]

"If we really give vouchers to every parent, and let them choose ANY school-- i.e. a "universal" voucher-- then we've covered all the bases."

If private schools are required to take all students, how are they different from public schools? How long do you think they could last as private schools?

[anonymous]

No, I'm not under that illusion at all, J. My point is that the same kids who are ill-served by public schools will be MORE ill-served when there's a profit motive involved. Or else entirely ignored.

The food analogy is entirely valid. Plenty of people can't get good food with capitalism--because they're poor, perhaps illiterate, maybe don't have transportation. Those familes will also be denied good education with capitalism, for those same reasons. I don't think just the "too busy" descriptor fits--it will be worst for people who are, for whatever reason, disenfranchised. And I suspect it will be far more than a "very, very tiny percentage". An astonishing percentage of kids in poverty arrive at kinder with no pre-literacy skills whatsoever--those families won't magically engage in education because they have a fistful of vouchers.

Meanwhile the public schools will have the same issues they've always had, since our "fix" is to throw vouchers at the problem. So after vouchers come marching to town, what do we know will change for those people? Nothing.

Why don't I think good education corporations will go into NMpls with their "A" game? The same reason good food corporations don't go there. It's not convenient or profitable. It's easier to sell an organic education to the upper middle class folks in Wayzata. But NMpls has a captive market for purveyers of Twinkies and educational snake oil.

--Annie

[The Big Stink]

Annie: Somewhere along your path you were inculcated with the notion that life ought to be fair. If you believe that, then you're setting yourself up for a lifetime of disappointment. The fact is, there is no system that is idiot proof - public or private. If you find fault with every scenario, you will be paralyzed from change.

The way I read your thinking, the only solution is to throw more money at public education - but to do it with a free-market ethos. Sorry, it won't work. The public education model is so antithetical to actual competition that it will do back-flips to avoid ACTUAL competition. Monopolies can do that!

What you have to realize is nothing is going to change in the short term. Education is the last refuge of our legislative scoundrels. They are a one-note samba of education "reform" without ever reforming.

BTW: My wife and I lived in Mpls until our son was five (10 years, total, in Mpls). We moved to the burbs specifically because the families did nothing to improve their own station in life and poisoned the well for those of us who walked a straight path.

[anonymous]

I wish we could have a civilized discussion without your patronizing asides. I'm not inculcated, I'm not under any illusions. I'm simply someone with a different perspective on this issue than yours. That doesn't make me an idiot or an idealist. I often disagree with Speed, but I find that he is intellectually curious and civilized. Take a lesson from him.

A little debate tip here--stop ending every statement with a cynical "but it'll never actually HAPPEN" comment. You diminish your own arguments. Why on earth should anyone consider your ideas if you yourself don't think they'll either happen or matter? If we all focused on things that are ambitious but attainable, I think we'd serve ourselves and our society better.

My solution is not to throw more money at the problem. My solution is to identify the discrete problems and then look to best practices in education to see what creates proven results--some may cost a lot, some may be free, some may save money. But the point isn't to create cheapest education, it's to create an excellent system for educating children.

--Annie

[J. Ewing]

"...those families won't magically engage in education because they have a fistful of vouchers"

So, it's "those" families we're worried about? Tell me, did your family, or anyone you know personally, move to the suburbs to find "good schools" for their kids? Did anyone you know personally NOT want their kids to get a good education, or is it only "those people"? The world is full of people who have the means to choose a better education and did so-- anybody that's ever bought a house where there are "good schools." But "those people" do not have the means to choose, and a voucher would GIVE them that choice. They WOULD become more involved in education with a "fistful of vouchers" because they would at last have the opportunity to make a choice that would make a difference. Being trapped in poverty in N. Mpls, with exactly one public school to attend and having it failing my kid on all fronts would induce discouragement and non-participation from ANYBODY. Give them a choice, and watch what happens. "Those people" are just like the rest of us, but with less money. We can fix that, and it won't cost us a dime. Why would you deny anyone the same educational opportunity you had?

[The Big Stink]

J: I'm one of "those people." My wife and I escaped North Mpls so our kids wouldn't have to go to school in a dysfunctional system. "Those people" aren't trapped by circumstance as much as they are by geography. And, the gatekeepers aren't going to let them escape!

[anonymous]

Well, yes. I do know of and personally know families who either aren't capable of, or aren't willing to, engage in their child's education. Issues like language barriers, mental illness, poverty, and cultural traditions stand in the way. Vouchers simply will not change that.

And in fact, we already *have* a de facto voucher system in place for those who want to get their children out of the worst schools. You're familiar, perhaps, with "The Choice Is Yours"? Several kids in my child's class have enrolled from NMpls, as I suspect families like mine and J's would have done, had the program been available at that time. So those families who are engaged and want to enroll out already can.

--Annie

[The Big Stink]

Why not a more universal program of "The Choice Is Yours?" - One that would allow a parent to choose, say, Benilde? Maybe the value of the voucher wouldn't cover the full cost, but let's say the parents agree to volunteer as coaches, or tutors, etc., to make up the differences (a very common arrangement). Should that be allowed?

[Speed Gibson]

Is this like snowplowing? If we divided Camden (N Mpls above Lowry), giving pieces to the surrounding districts (BC, 281, St. Louis Park, Columbia Heights, ...) I have to believe those streets would suddenly get plowed in 1 day instead of 3 days.

This is sort of what "Choice is yours" is about, but I'm saying redraw the boundaries so these new districts have access to the tremendous cash flowing in MPS now, far more than any other district in Minnesota. No wonder they call it a Special School District, not an ISD.