Assigned Reading

In his ProJo letter, former teacher Fred Sculco of Westerly takes NEARI executive director Bob Walsh to task. He criticizes Mr. Walsh for refusing to sign on the state’s RTTT federal funding grant application. While I typically enjoy a fellow teacher’s challenge of the union’s leadership, the conclusion to Mr. Sculco’s letter left me speechless.

We desperately need access to $100 million in free federal funds.

Free federal funds? The money, of course, was taken from the states through federal income taxes. So it’s sophomoric to claim a return of these funds is “free” money.

But more frustrating is that Mr. Sculco appears oblivious to the federal mandates that will be attached to the grant funding. Local schools will be forced to cede more control to federal authorities, who know little about the communities and what their children need. These educrats believe their one-size-fits-all solutions will save public education everywhere. No Child Left Behind has done little to improve schools, and many leaders are already making its funeral arrangements. Yet these federal bureaucrats think their next idea will be the solution.

Requesting federal education funds is about as free as asking Don Corleone for a favor. Payback is very expensive.

Congratulations to Cranston Schools Superintendent Peter Nero and Police Chief Marco Palombo. These two leaders worked together to address the problem of drugs at Cranston High School West.

According to the Providence Journal, an undercover investigation led to the arrest of 23 individuals. Most disturbing is that only 3 were students.

Let’s hope they throw the book at these drug pushers, whose charges including preying on the kids at Cranston West:

Arrested were Eric Jacques, 18, of 3 Western Hills Lane, who was taken into custody twice in two months, Ryan York, 22, and Kerri York, 24, both of 34 Grantland Rd., Richard Hogan, 19, and Jerry Gomez, 21, both of 64 Sherwood St., Kyle Ivone, 19, of 106 Bateman Ave., Jason Shamsi, 22, of 24 Sherwood St., Alberto Delgado, 20, of 42 Fernbrook Court, Mitchell Baldwinn, 20, of 19 Rosana Ave., Rumford, Gage Cate, 18, of 42 Blue Gentian Rd., Kauri Lynn Roderick, 18, of 32 Orchard Drive, Hope, David Ranieri, 19, of 2 Fountain Drive, Johnston, Ruben Cadet, 23, of 75 Clemence St., and Carl Heinz Pierre, 22, of 97 Warren Ave.

An Illinois teacher has decided to eat school lunch everyday and blog about her experiences. She must be a brave soul. My only thought? The school lunches in her Illinois community look a heck of a lot better than what my kids are served. (h/t Core Knowledge)

My concerns about RTTT funding are mirrored by those of Robert Holland, expressed in an opinion piece in Friday’s Providence Journal. The feds are using the RTTT initiative to bride states into giving up local control in favor of a national curriculum.

Even charter schools, which RTTT supposedly encourages, will lose the autonomy that has made them successful.

School reformers have cheered the Obama administration for using RttT to pressure states to be more receptive to independently managed charter schools and use student test scores in evaluating teachers. But if the feds are calling the shots via standards-setting and enforcement, charter schools will be accountable not to local parents but to Washington power brokers, and teachers will teach to tests manipulated by national special interests and be held accountable for results having nothing to do with academic excellence.

Centralizing educational decision-making in Washington will spell disaster, further politicizing our schools. If Rhode Island was in better financial shape, it could chose, like Alaska and Texas, to forego RTTT funding and its accompanying mandates. Instead, our state will take the bribe, and hope the federal government can have greater success. Don’t hold your breath.

The teachers’ unions have expressed concerns about Commissioner Gist’s application for federal Race to the Top funding. I side with the NEARI and most RIFT affiliates, and would not sign on to the application, although probably for some different reasons.

The unions are critical of Gist’s plan to use standardized testing as the most significant factor in evaluating teachers. I am equally critical. Gist’s plan is the final straw in a plan to take away local control of public schools. RIDE defines the learning objectives for all students, designs tests to monitor these objectives, and now hopes to have the most significant role in determining which teachers stay and which will be replaced.

Why on Earth would a local district turn over such power to state government? The simple answer is cash. The state, over the past several years, has defunded local education; now it offers these financially desperate cities and towns federal money if they sign over more power to the state.

The federal bureaucrats are ponying up the money to only a handful of states which agree, not surprisingly, to mandates. The feds increase their power as well.

Those on the right seen so interested in slamming teachers’ unions that they will support anything the unions oppose. But do Republicans and conservatives really want state and federal education departments to have more power in their local school districts? Anyone familiar with federal special education laws knows what happens when big government gets too involved.

The increase in charter schools outlined in the application is a good idea. But it’s precisely the autonomy of charters that have allowed for greater success. Many charters are free of union entanglement and bureaucratic oversight.

Gist is allowing teams of community members, or “share-holders” at six consistently failing schools to overhaul their schools, to turn them into charters, or even to shut them down. Gist is taking the power out of the hands of bureaucrats and unions, and returning it to the parents, teachers, students, and other communities members. This is a great plan.

But the RTTT application, and its attempts to tie teacher evaluations to state testing results, is usurping power from the districts. It won’t help individual school communities to grow. It’s selling the future for cash now. And I’m afraid it’s selling souls to the devil. There will be no turning back.

Note: The grant application was submitted today. The commissioner’s website, however, has yet to provide the application online. The site says, simply, “under construction”.

Today the American Library Association announced the winners of the most coveted awards in children’s literature.

The Newbery Award was presented to Rebecca Stead for When You Reach Me, published by Random House. Four other books received honorable mentions. The Newbery Award honors the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Jerry Pinkney was awarded his (surprisingly) first Caldecott Medal for The Lion and the Mouse, which he wrote as well as illustrated. Two other books received honorable mentions. The Caldecott honors the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Additional awards were presented, and can be found on the American Library Association website.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has ranked Rhode Island 37th in charter school “friendliness”. The Alliance compares RI laws to a model law it has developed. Only 39 states and the District of Columbia were ranked. The remaining 11 states have no charter laws.

Massachusetts ranked 6, and Connecticut 22.

This is why education bureaucrats drive me crazy. Today Commissioner Deborah Gist announced that five schools in Providence have been performing so poorly for so long that the Department of Education is stepping in. Radical change is being mandated that could result in the closing of these schools. And how does Superintendent Tom Brady respond?

The groundwork is laid for accelerated reform. The Providence Public School District has set the course for dramatic change and has already made important strides. The push by federal and state authorities to aggressively implement reform at our lowest-performing schools will allow us to marshal the collective will and the resources to bring about change that will dramatically improve the quality of education that our students receive.

What? My best translation: We have utterly failed, but offer no apology, and are pleased that someone else will now be making the decisions.

Superintendent Frances Gallo of Central Falls, whose high school is the six poorly performing school targeted by the commissioner, spoke in similar purple prose.

The Central Falls School system looks forward with great anticipation to the reforming opportunities ahead. The climate is one of enthusiastic anticipation among our dedicated teachers whose desire to embrace this work exceeds expectation. Our collective work will remove any remaining barriers and accelerate personalized instruction and family engagement in order to galvanize our students toward high academic achievement and strong personal success.

Blah, blah, blah. If the climate is one of enthusiasm and dedication, then why, Dr. Gallo, has the school been failing for so long?

Forgive me for the cynicism. But Perhaps the school reform models should include replacing the top dogs, those who have been responsible for these failing schools.

It has been promised for some time, but today Commissioner Deborah Gist and RIDE announced intervention in six schools that have been consistently low-achieving. These schools are:

• Charlotte Woods Elementary School, Providence
• Central Falls Senior High School, Central Falls
• Feinstein High School, Providence
• Lillian Feinstein Elementary School, Providence
• Roger Williams Middle School, Providence
• William B. Cooley, Sr., Health & Science Technology High School, Providence

Teams of “stakeholders”, including teachers, parents, students and other community members, will determine a course of action for reform. Make no mistake, change will be swift and significant. These teams will be required to choose one of four reform models that could result in the replacement of principals and at least half of teachers, or even the reopening of schools as charters. Reform models for each of these schools must be determined within 45 days.

This transition will be tough for many involved, but will be fascinating to watch. If all goes as planned, bureaucrats and union leaders will take a back seat to the “stakeholders” as they decide what is best for their kids.

Last week Providence officials announced an end to block scheduling at Hope High School, the centerpiece of reform that significantly improved education for some of the city’s poorest students. The city, they said, couldn’t afford the necessary investment.

Today, the Providence Journal reports the city has allocated $112,000 to restore the Henry Bowen Anthony Fountain. This fountain is located at the head of Blackstone Boulevard in the affluent East Side neighborhood, with the extravagant homes of some of Providence’s wealthiest residents.

Thankfully, the Boulevard residents can pay the hefty tuitions of the nearby Lincoln School, Moses Brown or Wheeler for their children’s education, rather than send them to Hope High.