Leader or Cheater?

[LWolf]

Questions about testing, salaries and more surround region's Cesar Chavez school network
by J. Adrian Stanley

No, not Obama, lol. Lawrence Hernandez, the founder of the highly touted Cesar Chavez (charter) School Network.

It shouldn't be necessary to point this out, but I will anyway. Data can be manipulated. It IS manipulated, every day, for political purposes. Legislating high stakes for public education with data that can be manipulated is a dangerous, destructive political game. Propaganda to the contrary, Charter Schools are not "magic bullets" to "fix" education, and are MORE open to corruption and manipulation than the spurned public schools they offer "escape" from.

In the past, parents languished on waiting lists before enrolling their kids in Hernandez's schools. Regularly recognized for excellence in serving mostly low-income kids, Hernandez's schools earned a nod from President George W. Bush in 2007 for "closing the achievement gap." The Chavez network was considered innovative, even inspiring.

Is it? Here are some things to consider before enrolling your kid.

On test scores? NCLB allows "special accomodations" on standardized tests for students demonstrating a need for them. That means a need for accomodations identified on an IEP for special ed students. I guess charter schools get to be more creative about identifying the need for accomodations:

Robert Vise, PCS executive director of assessment and technology, says he stumbled upon some eyebrow-raising information regarding the 2008 Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) test scores at Pueblo's Cesar Chavez Academy. According to data Vise received from the state, more than 60 percent of the Academy's 684 third- through eighth-grade students were given special accommodations for the test, such as extra time to complete it. These accommodations normally are afforded only to children with established physical or developmental disabilities.

All 220 students in fourth and fifth grades were given special accommodations in the test's reading portion, Vise says, and all but two also received special accommodations on the math portion.

"I've never had a whole grade level at a school have accommodations," Vise says.

The figures were jarring, particularly because Vise's own records suggested a small fraction of the children had qualifying disabilities, and a significant number were actually classified as being "gifted."

Finances? Hernandez' salary is more than the Public Superintendent's in Pueblo and New York; Pueblo has 36 schools, NY more than 1500, in comparison to Hernandez' five schools. Chavez has been accused of of cutting benefits and bonuses to staff, as well as forcing staff to take furloughs without pay, to forgo raises and to attend a mandatory training meeting without pay. Meanwhile,

Hernandez has money for other needs. Like handing out gift cards and conducting raffles for cars to lure more students into his Pueblo schools before the state student head count that determines state funding to schools. He did that last year ("Life takes Visa," News, Dec. 11).

Appalled, Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, pushed through a law banning such incentives in public schools.

"It'll basically prevent any public school from bribing kids to come to their school," Merrifield says.

He also apparently has enough money in the till to pursue lawsuits against the school district for more funding, and against a community group who questioned his business practices.

This, of course, is just one group of charter schools.

If we want innovation, creativity, customization, instead of standardization, we ought to allow it in ALL public schools, accountable to school boards and the public, instead of using the myth of the "superior" charter school.

[LWolf]

1. Kick. nt

[YvonneCa]

2. Great post. I've said it before and...

I'll say it again:

Data is a tool…but only ONE tool. Anyone who has taken a class in statistics will tell you you can twist data to make a case for anything...including the case for or against charter schools. I agree data is important. Used wisely, it can inform practice and can be a diagnostic tool when encountering challenges to student learning…our goal for every child. However if, rather than being seen as one tool among many, data becomes the number one driver of every aspect of what educators do, then I think we are choosing to use data unwisely. And we do so at our peril.

THAT, in a nutshell, is the problem with the last years under NCLB…data has become the ‘be all’ and ‘end all’ in education and it has been applied unfairly to students, teachers, schools, and probably even some principals.

Teachers can use data to diagnose and support student instruction. If a student is having difficulty (in math, for example) test data will often help find the problem so the teacher can work with the student to solve it. There are two thoughts I have, though, about data for teachers (as my district relied on it heavily). One, most teachers don’t need the data to know what the problem is, although the data often confirms a problem and documents it for administration. Two, teachers are given TOO MUCH DATA to ever have time in the day to use it effectively. Teachers should be given succinct and specific data about students…detail should only be given when asked for to diagnose a particular problem.

Principals, as at-will employees, know they will be replaced if their school does not meet AYP expectations. Their goal, rightly, is to create the best school for their students possible. Data is a tool that can help them. The methods of data collection have improved greatly during my time as a teacher. Data helps educators see which students need support and then gear programs to provide that support. Educators can see which students are doing well and reward them. But educators can, similarly, view data by and about a teacher or school and use it to reward, support or punish that teacher or school.


So, as we incorporate data as a tool of public education, I hope we will use it fairly for all…students, teachers, parents, schools, and principals. AND, I hope we will use it honestly...not twist it to make a case for a particular policy, strategy or idea. That includes the case for or against charter schools.

[LWolf]

3. Your points about data are well taken.

My district is infected with the data disease; way more data than I have time to crunch, or really need. Most of it tells me what I already know.

The only data I've requested on a regular basis takes an act of district congress to get; that's data on students in my class over time.

When we've finished another round of testing, I want results that will tell me RIT and percentile, overall and for strands, for the last 3 testing sessions, with the most recent added on.

I can print up floods of pretty color graphs for each student, and for my class as a whole, for the most recent test. As a matter of fact, my inbox was flooded with reams of the stuff all year long, which I promptly shredded. Getting longitudinal data on each student in my class (on one report, not 32 separate reports) is challenging, and, by the time I get it, it's no longer useful. It can take months.

A lot of the data is useless to me. I don't care about their DIBELS fluency scores, and I wish the powers that be would quit trying to convince primary students that "fluency" = "speed." I get 6th graders that have been trained to read aloud as quickly as possible, passing over all punctuation and paragraph breaks, to try to up their "wpm." The idea that they ought to use punctuation and expression, to make meaning out of the words, is foreign to them.

It takes me all 3 years, 6th - 8th, to undo the fluency programming and get them to read as if the words meant something.




Edited to add: While you're at it, do you want to weigh in here, as well?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5848685&mesg_id=5848685

[noamnety]

4. The accusations might very well be accurate

but the author lost some credibility with the line about how some of the students may actually be gifted. It shows an offensive lack of understanding about IEPs for someone trying to pass themselves off as an authority on them in some way. Many students have IEPs and are gifted, included kids with aspergers, dyslexia, a whole range of things. I hate when people assume having an IEP means you're not intelligent, and it was irresponsible for the author to suggest it.

[LWolf]

5. Oops.

I didn't realize I neglected to paste the link until I went back to use it myself; I wanted to reread the article in light of your comments. Here is it is:

http://www.csindy.com/colorado/leader-or-cheater/Content?oid=1367318

The "suggestion" about the makeup of the class comes from Robert Vise, Pueblo City School's "executive director of assessment and technology," not the author of this piece.

As a teacher who holds extra certification for teaching the gifted, who has taught the gifted, as well as the general ed population and those with IEPs for a couple of decades, who has done staff development on how to differentiate for the gifted and taught, and modeled, how to write educational plans for the gifted in two states, I didn't interpret that statement the way you did.

There are gifted students who also have IEPs. I've taught several of them during my career. They make up a small fraction of those school's identify as gifted, just like the gifted themselves are a small fraction of the total student population.

Vise, in his position, would be looking at disaggregated data. If students both had IEPs AND were classified as "gifted," that would show up. Regardless, his point: "All 220 students in fourth and fifth grades were given special accommodations in the test's reading portion, Vise says, and all but two also received special accommodations on the math portion," we can safely say that 100% of students in two grade levels did not have IEPs, which is what legitimately provides accomodations.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. My favorite data story

One of our charters reported graduating 100% of their seniors.

The senior class had 3 students.