Meghan On Question 2 – Edition 5, Special Education

Students with special education needs are also afforded a free and appropriate public education. That should mean that charter schools provide special education services. Except that they don't always.They provide some, in most cases, but aren't providing the comprehensive services that would meet the needs of all students. They can still be admitted via lottery, but then asked to leave when the school gets the money and the kid is failing.

My first problem is not meeting the needs of all students. The second problem is that with the exclusion of students with disabilities from these schools.

Everyone benefits from inclusive environments. The students and staff at the charters miss out on fabulous classmates and families. Further, many students with disabilities struggle on standardized test measures (MCAS, PARCC), bringing the building or districts' average lower. Yes, these students may be presenting lower on standardized testing, but they are making progress based on their previous abilities. When talking about school A vs. school B's MCAS scores, the percentage of students with disabilities isn't considered. It becomes simplified as A is higher than B, without consideration that A is apples, and B is bananas. Both fruits, entirely different parameters for success.

Summary: Charter schools don't meet the needs of all children. We can't compare the success of charter schools to the success of tradition schools because they don't serve the same populations. Increasing the number of charter schools creates a two-tiered education system.

Meghan On Question 2 – Edition 4, Discipline

Welcome back, friends. If you know my practice as a school psychologist, you know I love three groups: culturally/linguistically diverse students and families, families and children from low income backgrounds, and kids with big behaviors.

I want to take a moment to talk about where behaviors come from, and what behaviors look like in the public schools. In a public school behavior looks like refusing to work, isolating yourself from peers, crying quietly, crying loudly, cursing, slamming items, leaving the classroom, leaving the school, throwing things, hitting self, hitting peers, hitting staff, biting, spitting, hair pulling, head butting, etc. Once behavior gets to a certain point we need to reevaluate what the least restrictive environment (LRE) is for a child. Right up to the hitting, we should be able to manage things in the general education setting. Even when we get to the physical aggression, I think we can work it out in most cases.

Including the behaviors described, I've never met a child that liked to misbehave or to be punished. Every child likes to get attention, be loved, valued, and often to earn praise to develop a sense of value. The kids that are displaying these behaviors often don't know how to get the positive forms of attention. Students may come from homes where the only way to get attention is to act up, or they don't see studentship behaviors modeled. If we teach these kids clear expectations, teach the skills to make other choices, and positively reinforce good choices for everyone these kids can be successful. There is no question that positive reinforcement works.

We established in post two, that every child has the right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), provided by the local education authority (LEA/school district). Even kids with big behavior have a right to FAPE.  Kids with behavioral needs, for myriad reasons, show up frequently in urban/low income settings. Charter schools also like to show up in urban/low income settings.
But charter schools do not like working with kids with big behavior, even though they still like to take that sweet district money.

There is story after story after story about the over disciplining of students at charter schools. These students are disproportionately boys of color. Once these students are excluded (read: kicked out) of these schools they comeback to their public school. The money doesn't.

To recap:
1. Charter schools disportunately punish students, particularly students of color.
2 These kids get the added joy of being kicked out of school, are welcomed back to their public schools
3. Charter keeps the tax payer's money.

I'm still looking for a winner on this one... oh wait, its the charter school's bottom line.

Meghan On Question 2 – Edition 3, Oversight

Welcome back! Today we will start talking about why I think Question 2 isn't the solution to our public education issues. This is point one of four+ that cover my concerns. After covering question two, I'll talk more about alternatives I believe can work.

We've established that charter schools are public schools, with some public money and some private money. We also know that charter schools apply to the state, and then are reviewed on a five year cycle.

Screen grab from http://www.doe.mass.edu/charter/guides/AcctGuide.pdf

Reviewing the DESE accountability documents we can find that a site visit will be completed

"Typically 2- 3 times during a charter term" aka two or three time per five years. That means for 94% of the charter term (47/50 months), charters are not expected to have state oversight, despite having state and city money. 

Let me tell you about the oversight we in our traditional public school system have. Every month, the school committee meets and discusses what is working and what is not. At any time, they can call a department head to speak on progress or issues. A parent just needs to call, and off we go. Every 10 years, we are reviewed by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and every five years between we complete a self-study. The NEASC process is... in depth. I worked on a self-study year, and spent approximately 12 hours as one of over 100 staff members preparing information. State oversight is also more frequent. I can't remember the last year someone from the state didn't stop in our district; sometimes to see awesome work, sometimes to review progress. I can guarantee our oversight from the city and the state is far more than 3% of a five year period.

In my last post I alluded to outside money getting involved in public education. Having more money for computers, or to paint the classrooms, its great. When we have donors, without experience as educators, making recommendations or worse controlling the school, there can be a serious problem. I've heard it said that education is the hardest job that everyone thinks they can do. Being able to fund a charter school does not make you qualified to be an educator. With the introduction of charter schools, we have people like Elon Musk of SpaceX or Bill and Melinda Gates funding or creating their own schools. 

You want to offer a Montessori program to a community? Great! You want a school to focus on project based learning? Wonderful! You are interested in creating a farm school that helps kids think about the wider applications of their learning? Super! Absolutely, start a charter, meet the needs of all learners. 

I can't believe sending tax money, with minimal oversight, to be directed by non-educators will solve the problems we are facing. 

Next time we will talk about discipline at charter schools vs. traditional public schools.

Meghan On Question 2 – Edition 2, What is a public school? What is a charter school?

Today we will start on some definitions, and a general over-view. I’ll start opinion next post.

In the United States, every child is entitled to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). I think this is something we can all enthusiastically get behind! We want education to be the silver bullet that gives all students the skills for an equal playing field. Students attend their local public school, perhaps the one closest to their home or per district designation. Students are enrolled in charter schools largely by lottery.

FAPE is wonderful in theory but not happening effectively in practice. The root of this issue often lies in funding. We don’t have a comprehensive funding system for education in the US. The responsibility for educating students falls to the local education authority (LEA), with funding from the town/city/regional school district. This leads to some systemic issues, particularly because we fund based on property taxes. Low income areas often have lower home values, resulting in lower property taxes and subsequently less money to fund schools. 

There are alternative routes to fund public schools.You can apply to the state for a “circuit breaker” to cover special education costs that exceed the district’s budget. Your town can vote for a proposition 2½ override (Mass.gov, 2016) to increase funding. This is exceedingly rare. We then have crumbling infrastructure, teachers leaving for better supported districts, little access to resources, and fewer students finding success at school. I entirely understand why families would look for relief, to private schools, religious schools, or charter schools.  

Charter schools are technically public schools, in so much that they receive state funding. Let us start with the state definition:

Charter schools are independent public schools that operate under five
year charters granted by the Commonwealth's Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education. The increased freedom available to charter schools coupled with
increased accountability, infuses all aspects of the Massachusetts Department
of Elementary and Secondary Education's oversight of charter schools, beginning
with the rigorous application process that groups must go through to receive a
charter. Once the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has awarded a
charter, the new charter school has the freedom to organize around a core
mission, curriculum, theme, or teaching method. It is allowed to control its
own budget and hire (and fire) teachers and staff. In return for this freedom,
a charter school must demonstrate good results within five years or risk losing
its charter. (MA DESE, 2016)

This allows for an arts academy or a science institute to be developed in an area that has seen diminishing test scores and graduation rates. These groups, as noted above, are independent public schools. They can, however, be funded by outside groups. For example, the most famous is KIPP charter network, which is funded by many outside backers, including the Walton family. This does, in some cases, mean non-educators are overseeing and controlling education. It also means that private money has entered the education system. 

That’s enough for today, next time we will discuss oversight further.

Citations:

http://www.mass.gov/dor/docs/dls/publ/misc/levylimits.pdf

http://www.doe.mass.edu/charter/

Meghan On Question 2 – Edition 1, Introduction

Massachusetts is facing a ballot question in November on the future of charter schools. A "yes" vote supports this proposal to authorize up to 12 new charter schools or enrollment expansions in existing charter schools by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education per year. A "no" vote opposes this proposal to authorize up to 12 new charter schools or enrollment expansions in existing charter schools (Ballotpedia, 2016). 

As an educator and as a psychologist, I believe the answer to this ballot question must be “no”. I will publish to this blog a series on why I believe this to be necessary. I stand for an education system that meets the needs of all learners, that holds every staff member and student to high standards, and produces measurable results. I do not believe question two is the way to achieve this goal. Please join me as I explain further.

Citations:

https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts_Authorization_of_Additional_Charter_Schools_and_Charter_School_Expansion,_Question_2_(2016)