Holiday cheer for charter schools

The holiday season is a time for reflection and for cheer and joy and love, and a lot of things that we need to think about year round. As the season is now here and kids are out of school and teachers get a brief break, I thought I'd reflect on some of the things that I've thought about this year in the charter school world.

Charter schools are still an anomaly and while they've increased in number and the number of states that they are in, parents and often employees don't always realize the privilege it is to have a charter school. Charter school supporters need to continue to realize that charter schools still need to prove themselves. This is not a time to get comfortable. Charter schools that have relaxed need to wake up and again become part of the reform movement that they were intended to be.

Charter school leaders shouldn't be surprised that they are attacked, often for petty reasons and reasons that might be overlooked if they were a school district. Teacher unions are large and established organizations. People, in general, fear change. School districts have territories to protect. History shows us that people look at their "opponents" and seek to find the worst, while always trying to talk about the best in themselves. This is human nature. It also means that charter school leaders need to reflect on their worst, something that's difficult when everyone else is doing it too. The difference is that charter school leaders need to look at their worst so that they can improve. Without the drive for excellence, a school will always be less than mediocre.

Charter school supporters need to help each other and each others schools. We are in this together. On the other hand, it doesn't mean that if another charter school is sinking that your charter school needs to go down with the ship. Failing charter schools need to make changes, or be closed. Charter school authorizers and associations need to help develop criteria, reasonable criteria, to determine when a school should be closed and when it should be given another chance.

Many have called for more accountability for charter schools. Usually they are looking at the outliers and not the average charter school. Charter schools have accountability. Charter school leaders should call for the accountability of districts as well. All schools must strive for excellence in educating children.

On that note, charter schools ought to figure out ways to hire the best and train the best teachers available. Even great teachers can get better. Great teachers can help others get better. If your schools doesn't have to hire certified teachers, that's even more reason to make sure teachers are the best they can be. The main reason is to provide the highest quality education. The second is to continue to show that certification and union membership is not a determinant of a "highly qualified" teacher.

Charter schools seem to be building their own bureaucracy. I have a gut feeling that this won't be good for schools in the long run. There must be some real and continuing tension between the need to organize and the need to operate independently. Charter schools need to innovate and continue to have the freedom to implement existing best practices, but not settle on those practices as the final word.

In the same way, until we constitute the proper measures of a good education, charter schools must be part of the discussion. Charter schools can't just accept the measures that are given by the existing educational institutional structures. Those structures are oppressive. Unless charter schools help create the standards, they will always be shooting at someone else's target.

Charter school leaders need to continue to develop financial and administrative capacities in efficient ways. This may mean contracting with local accounting firms or other companies (full disclosure: I work for Charter School Management Corporation, which supplies such services) to ensure proper policies, procedures, practices. Charter schools must operate more efficiently with their administrative management in order to put more money into the classroom and professional development.

As charter school leaders take this holiday break, I urge them to consider these thoughts. I urget them to reflect on the future, not just of their own schools, but of the movement itself. What do we want it to be? If you don't have a destination, then you are wandering aimlessly. If you don't know what your destination is, then it's unlikely you'll get there. I hope that charter schools continue to grow and to prosper students in the new year and for years to come.

Marketing your charter school by Karin Piper

Karin graciously agreed to guest author for us. Thanks, Karin.

You’re in public education. You need not to worry about marketing your “business.” Right? Wrong!

Perhaps in the era of public school monopoly, little worry was spent on such matters. Kids would move into the zip code—and that would simply translate into business.

But as public charter schools, we’ve never really had that benefit have we?

From the first moment the conceptual proposal of the charter school application was pitched, to ten years into operations, a charter school has to be keenly aware of public image, demographic changes, and enrollment. Charter Schools are—and will forever be—schools of choice. By definition the chartered education establishment creates a mission to meet a certain demand in the community and is dependent on a continuous stream of interest which is converted to student enrollment.

So how well is your schools marketing going?

If you are a newer charter school, you already have certain things going for you: You’re the new gig in town, so there is a certain level of natural curiosity occurring locally. This inquisitiveness is likely resulting in media coverage, parent meetings that parents actually attend, and a bit of a surge on enrollment from nearby schools. Enjoy!

Should your school fall into the category of moderately established to mature, and things are going well, you have a different advantage: You no longer have to create everything from scratch and can spend your time managing over inventing. Congratulations!

However, without a well designed marketing plan your school might be missing out on opportunities and growth beyond your current reach.

A new school that is not investing in community communications might have a rough start without proper local support. And a seasoned program might be viewed as old-hat by the public as new schools open up. In either case, the lack of a deliberate marketing and communications plan can be reflected in enrollment. And that, we can agree is not good for any charter enthusiast.

The situation for your charter school might not look so dire now, but making sure that you are staying fresh and in tuned with the community you serve is never a disadvantage.

Marketing does not need to be expensive or complicated.

Here are a few tips for developing an effective marketing plan for your school:

· Create focus groups:

a. What do parents in your area look for in a school?

b. How well do you meet these needs?

c. Highlight strengths for your communications.

d. When finding flaws, consider it cheap advice and work to fix it.

· Have a simple, easy to use website

· Form a volunteer marketing committee

· Use social media

· Create brochures and staff business cards

· Hold school choice fairs

· Host a regular open house

· Meet and greet the preschool, or feeder school community

· Press releases for current events

· Local media

Karin Piper is a charter school parent, award winning author, speaker, school choice advocate and education writer. Karin provides communications and tools necessary for parents to become informed decision makers in the expanding world of education options. She also works with various organizations in engaging with surrounding communities and creating dynamic relationships with families. Visit www.theeducationchoiceexpert.com for informative seminars, trainings, and keynote speeches. Karin’s book CHARTER SCHOOLS: The Ultimate Handbook for Parents is available for purchase on Amazon now, and is an award winning finalist for USA Book News Best Books in Family & Parenting 2009.

Baloney has a first name it’s….

I bet you can finish this song from beginning to end. Most of us do it smiling with flashbacks of childhood commercials and picnic sandwiches.

Does good education have a first name? What is it?

If you are a charter educator, school leader, or satisfied consumer—you probably answered this question with the name of your charter school.

Is your school the only gig in the K-12 education field of your town? Possible, but doubtful.

A Charter Christmas Carol

(Profound apologies to Mr. Dickens)

photo credit: www.thegeminiweb.com

Early one morning, Founder Scrooge jerked awake from a bad dream to find a spirited parent hovering over his bedchamber. “What are you?” he cried. “Are you a disembodied auditor—a helicopter parent—a blot of stale mustard from the last board meeting? Speak foul spirit!”

The hovering spirit took Founder by the hand and transported him across time and place to the first year of the charter school. As they floated through unfinished classrooms crowded with eager faces, the spirit passed a small team of office staffers frantically solving problems and responding to emergencies. Founder saw himself among them, shouting, “I don’t care how, just make sure to get every student in a classroom!” “I don’t care if she’s certified—does she love kids? Does she understand the subject…then hire her!” “I don’t know if we have enough; I’ll make a spreadsheet this weekend and we can figure out the balance on Monday.” Through all the halls, there wasn’t a reporter, auditor, or state official to be found—but everywhere he looked, Founder saw fresh-faced parents, optimistic staff, and a shimmering spirit of cooperation. He saw himself lending a hand, carrying used furniture, working late and liking it.

“Tell me spirit, what happened to our joy? Where have these happy parents and joyful students gone?”

By reply the spirit touched him on the sleeve and drew him out into the night.

Scrooge awoke—or was he still dreaming?—to the sounds of hurried slurping and bitter laughter. He didn’t recognize the room, but some of the faces were familiar—though worn and hard with effort. “How are we supposed to track every student?” “I can’t believe they want more reports and we have less time to do them!” “It’s not as if they’ve ever seen the classroom; they just tell us what to do anyway.”

“What is this place?” cried the Founder. And a bulky arm came from behind him to point across the room at a printed sign, “Staff Lounge Only | No Students Allowed | No Exceptions.”

Startled, the Founder turned to see a giant spirit dressed in academic robes carrying a massive binder.

“This is the teacher’s lounge at lunch. They gather every day to solve the school’s problems and reminisce about the good old days.”

“But why are they so bitter? Is there no salary; do they have no job security?”

And from the table echoed a voice, “At least we have jobs—for what that’s worth.” And every teacher grabbed a binder, just like the Spirit’s and headed out the door.

The Founder pleaded, “Spirit, how can this be? I worked beside these teachers; we built this school by our smarts and sacrifice. How can they be so sad?”

Silently, the spirit placed his binder in Scrooge’s hands and turned soundlessly away.

The Founder gasped and dropped to his knees, stunned by the weight of the book. He lifted the cover and read the contents: 1. Policies; 2. Procedures; 3. Reporting; 4. Training; 5. CSAPS; 6. Budgeting; 7… He dropped the book in despair.

“Spirit, what is this monstrosity that burdens our teachers? Why do they carry it about?” “What about philosophy and students and esprit de corps?”

The Spirit sighed, “All those have faded away. This book of rules is on every desk, at every meeting and on the minds of all the staff.” “They have no room or time for purpose or people.”

“Who did this, spirit? Who let this happen?”

With his massive fingers the Spirit opened the cover and Scrooge read there,

“Edited by Founder Scrooge and the Board of Directors”

“Nooooo!” cried the Founder as he sank into darkness.

He gradually saw a shaft of light piercing through a cluttered warehouse. Stacks of desks and chairs stood on pallets and carts. Workers were wrapping up bins of textbooks and carting off computers and bookshelves. A mover left his cart and walked up to Scrooge. Lifting him to his feet, the Spirit of Charters Future flew Scrooge through barren walls and empty halls to a platform in the front parking lot. From a portable speaker rolled the punctuated cadence of an auctioneer’s chant. “Student desks in lots of 20.” “What am I bid for these excellent desks—only used two years.”

“Spirit, what is the meaning of this? Why are they selling the desks? How can the school run with no equipment?”

The Spirit pointed to the front doors of the school, where thick loops of chains secured the front doors, and a pink notice of foreclosure flapped in the summer’s breeze.

“Closed? Closed? How can the school be closed? What about the teachers? What about the wait list?

“Spirit, how did this happen? What can be done?”

Down a long narrow corridor the Spirit drew Scrooge to a simply meeting room. A lawyer, a reporter, two accountants, and three state officials were finishing a meeting. “I guess we saw it coming.” You could see they lost their focus.” “Once the students started leaving it didn’t take long.”

Founder sank to his knees and breathed a plea, “Spirit of Charters Future—must these things come to pass? Is there nothing we can do?” “Is there nothing we can do…?”

Founder Scrooge woke with a start to realize he was sleeping in the parking lot. Athletes were working out on the track and teachers stood chatting by the door.

“It’s not too late! I haven’t missed it! There’s still time!”

Scrooge hustled up the walk, gathering teachers and students into a swelling throng. They surged into the meeting and Scrooge took the floor.

“We have a great school, but we’ve lost our way! These students and teachers are the real story, not us and our books of rules and regulations. We can recapture our spirit! We can recover the spirit of the start!

Let’s go back to the beginning and remember why we started this school in the first place. Let’s be a school for the students again! God bless us with school choice for every one!”

And from that day till they met a final time to remember Founder Scrooge the people said, “That Scrooge—he knew what really mattered. Schools of choice and choice for all!”

Performance pay and the teaching environment

I have a question. In a commentary at the Charlotte Observer, Rachel Hunt Nilender, chair, and the Education Committee of the League of Women Voters of Charlotte Mecklenburg writes that pay for performance is not needed because the main way to encourage good teaching is by improving the work environment. Hunt Nilender emphasizes support for teachers such as training and more time for collaboration. I want to know why so many people seem to presume that because pay isn't the primary factor that it isn't a relevant factor in teacher satisfaction, especially when so many teachers complain about low salaries?

Those of us who support differentiated pay for teachers believe that all of those non-financial reasons for teaching are true. It isn't that we don't want to see those elements in the school system. We do. In fact, we believe that teachers who are good at collaboration and have a lot to contribute to their peers ought to be rewarded for those ideas and implementation strategies and tactics.

The reasons for a strategic differentiated pay system are mainly two:

1. Encourage those who want to be good teachers to be even better
2. To be fair to those teachers who display the qualities of the best teachers

Now, I should add here, that I am NOT a proponent of most of the performance pay or merit pay or pay for performance systems out there, even those proposed by Barack Obama and Arne Duncan. While I respect both of those people, they are wrong headed about pay for teachers. Almost every system out there fails because they reward the wrong things.

Many systems reward or propose to reward teachers based on student performance. The problem is that you then are not rewarding teacher performance. You have to reward teacher performance. Often the best teachers are given the most difficult students. That's just one factor that could cause a great teacher to lose in a typical pay for performance system.

Other systems reward things that are irrelevant to good teaching. For example, Denver Public Schools gives rewards for earning graduate degrees. The research shows that advanced degrees do not make better teachers.

Our proposal has always been:

1. Differentiated pay is the only fair way to pay teachers.
2. Differences between pay have to be justifiable based on something teachers control
   
3. Differences in pay need to be based on strategic goals of the school
4. Differences in pay need to be based on characteristics that are typical of great teachers
5. Differences in pay must be large enough to motivate great teachers to stay in teaching

On a side note, one could infer that I don't care a lot if a good teacher leaves the profession. This is at least partially true. The flip side of my proposal is:

1. Poor to good teachers can leave the profession or the school
2. The pay system ought to find ways to move poor teachers out of teaching
3. The pay system ought to make slightly below average teachers consider leaving teaching
4. The pay system ought to pay good teachers enough that they'll stay in the profession, but consider continuing development of their talents

It should go without saying, but some of my critics seem to need this last part. This pay system cannot be successful without a good principal, a good work environment, or reasonable ability of principals to force bad teachers out of their schools. In addition, what it takes to keep someone in teaching may depend on the subject area they teach. In other words, it's almost certain that districts and schools will need to and continue to pay science and math teachers more than those that teach other subjects.

It's also imperative that we open the teaching profession to all qualified applicants. The research clearly shows that certifcation, HQ, and other such check box factors do not guarantee nor even suggest that a person will be a better teacher. This is because in many cases it's too easy to get certification or in others because it's too difficult for an outstanding teacher to go back and get certified later in life.

A differentiated strategic pay system alone cannot fix all of the problems of education, but it can provide an integral part of the solution. So, please, answer my question, why does an emphasis on non-financial factors have to exclude consideration of the financial factors?

Base lay-offs on tenure? Now that can't be good for education

District 70 in Pueblo, Colorado estimates that it has to cut $4.9 million for 2010-11. While teacher cuts are low on the priority list, board members admit that some cuts may be necessary. That's not good, but we all know that in the current economic situation, it's a reality.

The part that surprised and disappointed me is that the board said that cuts would most likely be to newer teachers first. Really? With all the talk about data driven instruction, the district would really ignore performance and simply go with the outdated non-strategic method of lay-offs by time in job? That looks like a step backward to me. Perhaps if the new proposal in Colorado to develop a grading scale for teachers were in place, this sort of behavior would not happen.

Even though there is no formal tiered evaluation of teachers in District 70, principals have to know who their most effective and most promising teachers are. Could you imagine a football or baseball coach who just cut all of the newest players in a budget crunch? What about a dance or theater director eliminating performers based on youngest or least time in job?

Government employment and unions drive this check box mentality. Let's do what's easiest, not what's smartest. Then we wonder why our kids aren't getting educated.

Closing the achievement gap: an exercise in futitility?

Sometimes thinking about closing the "achievement gap" is enough to make one scream. You wonder what it takes. The achievement gap is the gap between academic progress of low income or ethnic minority students and largely white middle and upper income students. For years educators have been trying to figure out how to close this gap.

A couple of interesting commentaries argue for the fact that the achievement gap not only is difficult to close, but perhaps not even a valid way to measure the progress of our academic system or individual schools.

Jay Mathews of the Washington Post started it off in his column "Class Struggle." He argues that the achievement gap is pretty useless. One of the best arguments is that the achievement gap could be closed by falling scores by simply allowing higher incomes students' scores to drop. That would obviously not benefit society nor those high income kids.

Debra Viadero at the edweek blog comments on Mathews' article with some additional reflection supporting Mathews' view that we need to get the focus off of the competition between races and economic groups, at least at the local level.

It's silly to think that the gap is the biggest issue. The biggest issue is getting all of our children to do their best. I almost wrote perform their best, but I don't believe that students need to perform for anyone. They need to achieve all that they can achieve--for themselves. Somehow all students need to understand that raising the bar for themselves (not just because some school official or district official raised the bar) is important for their own success--both as a student and as an employee or business owner.

It would be terrible if all of a sudden high income students improved their performance 15% and low income students raised their scores 10% that we would see this as a bad thing. There are many factors that affect test scores (which is, unfortunately, the way we measure whether a student is successful or not). There are many factors that go into making a successful person and career. While education is part of life success, and test scores are part of education, they are not all of it. Many non-college graduates and many college graduates who were not at the top of their class have done quite well in the "real world" because of ingenuity, persistence, and passion. Inspiration to excel in life as well as in school is one way to close the real achievement gap (the gap in life success, not test score success).

We need to create environments where all students feel that they can succeed. In many ways addressing the achievement gap is sort of like me determining how I'm going to live my life by worrying about how much money Bill Gates has. If I'm worried about closing that gap rather than being concerned about maximizing my life or my career success, then I'm concerned about the wrong thing. I don't care how much money Bill Gates makes. What I care about is my life and my lifestyle. I need to set a standard that is high enough and embark on strategies and activities that will direct me to that standard. Looking at Bill Gates and worrying about him won't get me where I want to be. In the same way, educators that worry about the difference between high income students and low income students rather than setting a standard and inspiring students to meet that standard are hurting all concerned because they are spending millions tracking something that may not matter and may not be attainable. We know that students can learn regardless of social class. Now, let's work on that.

Drowning Danger for charter schools

Once a charter school begins to decline, the school will find itself in a survival crisis. Leaders must make some decisions. Often it is the very things that caused the charter school to be successful early that harm the schools continued success. Some of the decisions are:
• Continue tradition for tradition’s sake or seek to exist?
• Maintain control or allow more freedom?
• Market for additional enrollment or exist with reduced enrollment?
• Death or Renewal?
Often a school reaches this point because it has that structure of a mature school, but is still running on the founders’ energy and drive. The founder either has too much control or may have burnt out and there is no one to carry the torch. The school leadership may have settled in too much to an ordinary existence. If the founders are exercising too much control, perhaps the school isn’t open to the changes necessary to meet the needs of new parents and students. The school has lost its relevance to the very population it sought to serve.
Schools do close. Sometimes there are financial reasons, but these are often not mismanagement, but under enrollment. Schools that close often do so without much fanfare. There often isn’t a lot of trauma on the school system around the charter school. The district usually absorbs the assets and buildings are sold or if rented return to other uses. The impact is on the students, parents and employees who suddenly have to make an unwanted change. All of the promises of the charter school are gone. Dreams are gone. A good charter school’s closure is a sad thing.
On the other hand, renewing a school isn’t easy either. Leadership has to change. Leaders have to reinvigorate excitement in their staff as well as in the parent community. Parents have to be excited so that they talk to their neighbors about the school. Community members need to know about the school and be excited so they support the school.
Sometimes this means revising policies or programs to meet the needs of parents and students. If possible, a school can do an exit survey of those who are leaving or have left in the past. What about the initial phases attracted parents? What has changed?
It may mean new outreach or new ventures. Perhaps a K-6 school could start a pre-school program or an after school daycare program. In Colorado, half time programs can operate alongside a full time program.
Perhaps salaries for teachers need to be addressed. It’s also possible that it’s time to invest in additional leadership and teacher training. It may be time to analyze staff performance and determine if there are personnel that are driving students away because they don’t align with the mission or they aren’t as productive as they used to be.
The key at this point is that the school will die if something is not done. Leaders can choose to continue leading and operating as usual, but as someone once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting different results.” Leaders who want to renew their school and serve more students need to self-evaluate. This includes founders who are still involved, board members who may be too controlling or too hands off, principals who have lost ideas or lost passion. The key is that leaders need to look at the essential elements of the school, and assuming that the school has done well in the past, restore or rekindle the fire that started originally.