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OCCASIONAL Letter to Friends of The Center for Education Reform No. 105

The OCCASIONAL Letter to Friends of The Center for Education Reform
No. 105
AUGUST 2013

National Exposure

All Good News Isn’t Good News. Thanks to the ever-thoughtful Claudio Sanchez at National Public Radio, the public was treated to both sides of the debate over how research should be considered in evaluating the effectiveness of school reform. With CREDO’s study on 26 states having been released for the National Charter School Conference, many rushed to applaud the findings, which suggested, in part, that charters had made progress over time in selected states. The complex and rather lengthy report – which few, it seems, bothered to read – revealed a number of contradictions including who was included in the study and how students were evaluated (not specific students over time but a hodge-podge of state aggregated data, individual data, and comparisons with composite students). That elicited concern from many researchers including Stanford-based Economist Caroline Hoxby who said: “the difficulty is that [CREDO] simply refuses to use the reliable and scientific method of comparing students who apply to attend the charter school and are ‘lotteried-in’ and those who apply but are ‘lotteried-out.’ This is the only scientific method of assessing charter schools, and it is exactly akin to any other randomized controlled trial. What CREDO does is make very crude comparisons across charter and non-charter students. Researchers have been telling CREDO for years that its comparisons are not apples-to-apples and are unscientific, but the organization is pretty much deaf to the research community.” NPR reports here.

Capitol Cocktails. A great assembly of practitioners, thinkers, school network, government and foundation leaders convened in Washington for CER’s 20th Anniversary kick-off reception. Countless substantive conversations between enthused colleagues and friends filled the room as those in attendance were treated to an unbeatable view of the Capitol. President Jeanne Allen made the formal announcement that the baton for leading the organization will soon be passed to veteran staffers Kara Kerwin and Alison Consoletti Zgainer, while “assuring” those in attendance, “…I’m not going anywhere. I have many books to write, and I have every email you’ve ever sent me.” Not to mention that Allen will continue advising the team and be pursuing new and additional ways to ensure the proliferation of sound education reform. Read more about the very bright future of CER at https://staging.edreform.com/2013/07/kara-kerwin-named-president-the-center-for-education-reform-effective-november-1/

Introducing Education Reform “U”: Ever wondered how school choice came to Milwaukee and just couldn’t figure out where to start without flipping through complete books? How about the dialogue that led to final negotiations on Ohio’s charter school law? Maybe you’re curious about how to build a grassroots group. Looking at the strategic planning documents and even logo development of a state group would help you. Or you might just want to understand who was there before you were born, doing the work that gave charters the ability to start, schools the right to hire people outside of contracts and standards the chance to be accepted as education vernacular. These are just but a handful of the resources you’ll find when you enroll in Education Reform University, an unprecedented effort by CER to catalogue the informal and unofficial foundation of the US Education reform movement since 1990. Phase 1 is nearing completion as thousands of resources are meticulously loaded and catalogued in the massive EdReform U database. Phase II will involve MOOC-like training modules for reformers. Phase III? Well let’s just say it will be possible someday for you to have a real education school degree with reform at its core! Check it out, and let us know what you think!

State Focus

NC – A Tale of Two Issues. “…it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” This second line from Dickens sums up the this summer in the North Carolina state house, where we can celebrate the passage of an opportunity scholarship program while also mourning the tragedy of the dismantling of the charter school law.

After the election of 2012 put an outspoken edreformer in the Governor’s mansion, CER’s team testified, wrote issue briefs and worked with lawmakers to advise and develop a bold agenda to finally bring opportunity scholarships to the Tarheel State. We also counseled charter leaders that changes to the existing charter law should take a back seat to this arguably more important effort that had yet to win favor there. Afterall, while the charter law needs the kind of improvement that can ensure the proliferation of more great charter choices for kids, no legislative action was needed at this time, particularly since one small provision in the state’s charter law permitting universities to authorize charters had never been realized under previous, anti-charter leaders. Most agreed that a new state board was poised to be able to fix overregulation and burdensome processes not codified in law but set in place by the old anti-reform guard on the state board — without new legislation. Or so we thought.

But with a disjointed charter sector vying for relevancy in the eyes of their state movement, some proceeded (off the radar) to shore up control of chartering process within the state. A few powerful, well-intentioned charter leaders, thinking they were safeguarding the chartering process against future challenges, dealt a huge blow to the future of charters, despite our 11th hour counsel to save the debate until another time, when they could learn more about the important role multiple authorizers. Instead, they stripped NC of a future of multiple authorizing which in other states has been the most successful avenue for creating plentiful, high quality choices.

At the same time, critical deliberations on school vouchers were on fire following months of deliberation, and major negotiations were under way to keep the majority focused on ensuring great new opportunities for kids. With nearly 100,000 parents and students rallying behind it, opportunity scholarships, which will provide for nearly 2,000 poor children to attend the school of their choice initially and growing year by year, are now part of the state’s education fabric — a big win for NC’s families.

Like we said, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Out and About

Truly Excellent Schools. When EdReform pioneer Linda Brown called Jeanne Allen to keynote the annual teacher/leader summit of this 10 year-old initiative to build excellent schools, it didn’t take very long to say yes. After all, there are few initiatives that are actually running today with such success that were started by the same people who were there at the proverbial Independence Hall-like creation of the modern reform movement!

Accelerating Leadership. Allen also flew to Chicago to address the Ryan fellows at Accelerate Institute, which is another step in building excellent leaders. Born out of the Alain Locke Charter school network and now devoted to helping both charter and catholic school principals succeed, Accelerate’s annual program immerses the fellows them in leadership modules essential for success, helps place them in internships and prepares them to be principals of existing schools, all while giving them valuable lessons in school reform. The gray matter in the room was thick and robust. There is no question that Accelerate and Building Excellent Schools are among those who understand that cultivating people will ensure good policy in the long run.

Virginia Should Be For Charters, not just lovers. The Governor’s summit in Virginia gave CER EVP and incoming president Kara Kerwin an opportunity to shoot straight with the assembled lawmakers and citizens, who have been unable to grasp the importance, it would seem, of having a truly robust charter school law that removes the exclusive franchise of delivering public education from school districts and empowers families with real choice, while improving all schools. Without mincing words, Kerwin shot holes in the conventional wisdom that Virginia’s constitution prohibits the adoption of multiple authorizers and implored people to seek better ways and input to get the charter party going in the Commonwealth.

Want CER’s leaders to address your gatherings? Write Patrick Burke, Communications Associate— Patrick@staging.edreform.com

Notes & Asides

People are policy…And so we were sad to bid farewell to our Digital Communications guru Michelle Tigani this summer, whose rise at CER is emblematic of how we grow the reform movement. Michelle came to us fresh out of education school, and we quickly worked to dispel all the things she learned by introducing her to writing for the Media Bullpen. Her understanding and appreciation of CER’s mission and the issues we embrace quickly helped her rise in the ranks and after two years, she was managing our whole digital and social media portfolio. But love is stronger than work, and she’s off to NC to be with a significant other. All is not lost however; our colleagues at Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina snatched her up to do their communications work. And that makes us happy.

Wanted. We still need to replace Michelle, and have other openings too. Visit our site for more information.

We’re Spreading the News. The Chairman of the Board will be with us in spirit as his Ratpack’s one of a kind, little town blues takes over the Washington Hilton on October 9th and gives reformers a space to entertain, celebrate and converse with one another over how our past 20 years have gone and what’s next on the Horizon. CER at 20: Don’t miss it. Sign up now to get your spot.