Recap: Superintendent Candidate Jeanice Kerr Swift

The superintendent candidates have come and gone, and I find myself being slightly reluctant to post anything, because, after all--does it matter? The board will decide. But yes, it does matter--because I promised to share my research and thoughts--and because I think inasmuch as we know a person's strengths and weaknesses going forward, that is helpful. So, I'm sharing this in four parts: what I learned about the candidate from research; key links; what I experienced/noticed when I met the candidate in person; and if the candidate is hired, what we should make sure to communicate to them.

Research on Jeanice Kerr Swift

If I was looking for an exercise in frustration, then I found it! I was unable to uncover very much information about Jeanice Kerr Swift. I completely "struck out" in reaching people who knew her from her work in Colorado Springs District 11. There was a little bit on the web about two curriculum-related activities, which I linked to in a previous blog post, and not much else. 


At first I took this as a reflection on my research skills (which I generally think are pretty good), but then I realized something else. If you search my name on the web (skipping the blog-related stuff), or the name of one of our assistant superintendents (say, Alesia Flye, or the now-retired Lee Ann Dickinson-Kelley), you get information about work they have done. Try it, by searching yourself, and see what you find.

I also struck out in developing contacts in Colorado Springs. I did have several friends try for me, and the one person who found a person in D-11 was told that his contact didn't know Jeanice Kerr Swift.

My conclusion--in part, relates to her role as assistant superintendent, but the other piece is that I think she is a person who has probably done an efficient job staying in the background. 

Key Links

Here are the annarbor.com live blogs: 
Semifinalist interview
Finalist interview
90-Day Plan presentation

My original writeup about Jeanice Kerr Swift

My impressions

Jeanice obviously is very comfortable and knowledgeable in the curriculum/instruction realm and I feel comfortable that she really thinks about special education kids and at risk kids. I might disagree with her about outcomes and results. For instance, she did say “a rising tide lifts all boats” and in my experience with vulnerable kids that is not always true—the tide that lifts the majority of boats often leaves vulnerable kids behind.

She also just seemed to accept that teacher evaluation laws (that use tests of students to evaluate teachers) are coming and didn’t express any opposition to them, but I have big problems with them. She "said" she would be a big advocate in Michigan as superintendent around school funding issues, but I don't see experience in her background that makes me think she would be good at that. This is in part because I couldn't find any examples of her advocating for anything to the public or government. Maybe she has done it and I couldn't find it. (She gave an example of working with the legislature to cost out a proposal, but that was really operating in the background--I want someone who will be out front on school funding and in opposition to bad "educational reform" ideas.)

Also importantly, there were times in the interview where I thought she should know something (detailed, but not super detailed) about the Ann Arbor schools, and it made me wonder how much research she had done on the district. 

I didn’t get a sense of her administrative skills (budgeting, etc.), the 90-day plan was a puff piece (we should “DREAM!!”) and almost all of her answers had a curricular focus. If this were a curriculum job that would be great, but I don't think she demonstrated her skills in budgeting, union negotiations, etc. She relied on the word "we" far too much, as in "We did X," and it's unclear to me (in, for example, redistricting) what part was her role and what part were other people's roles.

Summary

I think there would be a very steep learning curve for her if the job were to be offered to her, and that would probably not be a good thing for the district. If the job were to be offered to her, she would need a very strong support team (more than a few parents, teachers, principals, and the board) to orient her to the district, to the media, to Michigan politics, etc. I would rather see the board reopen the search. 

What's Next With Those Superintendent Candidates?

From the Ann Arbor Public Schools: 

The Ann Arbor Public School Board of Education is pleased to welcome the two Superintendent finalists, Dr. Jeanice Swift and Dr. Brian Osborne, to Ann Arbor.
The community is invited to attend a forum with each candidate. The candidates will each start their forum with a brief introduction and there will be a Q & A for the attendees.
Dr. Jeanice Swift

• Tuesday, July 16 at 7 p.m at Skyline High School

Dr. Brian Osborne

• Wednesday, July 17 at 7 p.m. at Skyline High School

This is the opportunity for the community to meet the two candidates and ask questions as the Board of Education finalizes the selection of the next Ann Arbor Public School Superintendent of Schools. 

The public may also attend a presentation and meeting with the Board from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. at Skyline on July 16 and July 17.  

The Board will hold a meeting on Friday, July 19, 5:30 at the Balas Administration Building, 2555 S. State Street, for the purpose of making a final selection for the Superintendent position.

According to Christine Stead, school board member,

Let us know which candidate resonated the most with you and why.  We will have feedback forms for attendees at the end of each session.  We will have time to review your feedback prior to making a decision on Friday, so please come, meet our candidates, see how they engage with you and which one is a good fit for Ann Arbor and the AAPS. 

If you don't like either of them and feel the board should reopen the search, that is something you can share with the board as well.(By the way, I haven't come to that conclusion--yet--but I have had other people tell me that they have.) Email the board with feedback: boe@aaps.k12.mi.us.

How's My Research Coming?

In a nutshell--

I have plenty of information coming in from Maplewood/South Orange about their experiences with Brian Osborne. I'd say it's a mixed bag, some really good things and some not-so-good things, and I will be able to write up a post about Brian Osborne by Sunday.

From Colorado Springs, on the other hand, it's a completely different story. I have very little information. In Maplewood/South Orange I a) knew a few people who lived there already and b) there is a a robust online discussion board which facilitated me getting even more information. In Colorado Springs, I don't know anybody. And Jeanice Kerr Swift, as an assistant superintendent, has less published information about her.

So I ask you: Do you know anybody in Colorado Springs? Please put me in touch by emailing me at rlk234@gmail.com.

The Importance of Being Earnest About Vetting Superintendent Candidates

Recently, I've been forwarded a couple of articles about some spectacularly failed searches by Ray & Associates (the superintendent search firm Ann Arbor Public Schools is using), and reading these documents one cannot help but be struck by the importance of:

a) thoroughly checking up on everything that the applicants say in their applications, and not relying on a search firm to do that all for us, and

b) paying site visits to the locations where people have served before, talking to people they have worked with, and to parents, and to people who worked for them. . .

Here is some background:

1. There was a big scandal in Kentucky in 2007 when Ray & Associates conducted a search for the schools chief for the Kentucky Board of Education. They chose a woman named Barbara Erwin to be statewide schools chief, but it turned out that there were things on her resume/application that were not true, and she ended up withdrawing at the last minute. Then the school board refused to pay Ray & Associates. . .

In an article in Kentucky Schools News & Commentary: A web-based destination for aggregated news and commentary related to public school education in Kentucky and related topics, the following information is recorded: 

When the Kentucky Board of Education ratified Dr. Barbara Erwin as Kentucky's next Commissioner of Education, her previously "confidential candidate file" became a public document.Mark Hebert from WHAS got a copy a couple of weeks ago and had already prepared me for what I was going to see; a very one-sided sales job that is much more of a promotional piece than it is a critical, or balanced, look at the candidate.It accentuates the positive and eliminates the negative...  

The sum of the material paints a glowing picture of Dr. Erwin's career and credentials...
They summarized Erwin's attributes including: hiring quality people; strong interpersonal skills; work ethic; outstanding oral and written communicator; cited her numerous presentations at state and national level; keeps the board well-informed; collaborative leadership; encourages everyone to speak his or her mind; believes information is power and she gives power to everyone; passionate; and assertive. 

In fact, I couldn't find a single sentence that might give a Kentucky school board member pause.There was one sentence: "Dr. Erwin's school board was split on a number of issues and remains deeply entrenched in controversy regarding district boundaries." ...but blame is laid on the board; never Erwin. 

No wonder the Kentucky Board of Education felt secure in their choice, despite warnings from others.There is no evidence that Ray & Associates looked at the public record from newspapers or any outside sources representing the public interest. Maybe they did. Maybe they shared information verbally and privately with board members. But, it sure doesn't show up in the report. 

The Ray & Associates Website describes their process this way:

Background Investigations: Ray and Associates, Inc. makes every effort to ensure our clients that the candidates recommended for consideration are exactly who they say they are. Careful screening and background checks are essential to this process. Our firm provides our clients with detailed information on each semi-finalist in addition to all other application materials. This information relies upon many hours of research and investigation. No attempts are made to conceal anything from our clients. In fact, our clients often remark that they are very impressed with how much they actually learn about candidates before ever meeting them. 

Yesterday, Kentucky School News and Commentary spoke with Dr. Gary Ray, of Ray & Associates on the record. 

Kentucky School News and Commentary: I'm not sure if you are aware that Dr. Erwin listed some things on her resume that have not been verifiable. 

Dr Gary Ray: "I'm not sure where you get that. We had a couple questions; some people might have said that, and everything's been verified as much as possible, I mean they have been accurate, so I'd like to know a little bit more specific what you're asking about." 

KSN&C: Sure, well... 

Ray: "I mean, you know, just to make that statement wouldn't necessarily be a; that's a pretty broad statement, so I'd like to know just exactly what you're asking about."(So KSN&C listed ...Claimed to be a presenter at the 2006 Triple I ConferenceClaimed AASA Exec Board 10 yearsClaimed she was still on the Scottsdale Chamber of CommerceHas not yet explained how she received an Indiana teaching certificatebefore her IU diplomaClaims of post doctoral degrees from USC and Columbia.) 

KSN&C: Is that something you would typically do; to do degree verifications? 

Ray: "Yeah, we would be able to do that. I tell ya, the person I could have you talk with, because he has verified her resume and has done a good job in that regard, would be Dr. Don Cusmo, and if I can get your name and number, I'll just have Don call you."(We exchanged contact information) 

Ray: Have you spoken with her? 

KSN&C: I have not. I have written to her but haven't heard back yet.(We exchanges pleasantries about the time of year and how busy everyone was) 

KSN&C: Let me make you aware of another thing that concerns me, but that I also have not been able to confirm yet. One of the items she had to complete on her background check as part of her application in Kentucky was whether or not she had ever been involved in litigation. And I didn't know if you all were aware that she was sued by [a] board [member] in Arizona, but yet, she marked that she had not been [sued], on her application. 

Ray: Uh huh, well, I think there's a story that goes with that... I'm pretty comfortable that she's OK with that... 

KSN&C: So you guys are aware of that. 

Ray: "Sure. You know people can make claims all the time..." (and he told the story of a case where a reporting error got into print where a claim of a lawsuit just wasn't true.) Understand, these things, kind of, not always are on the surface, what they might appear to be." 

KSN&C: Sure. I certainly understand that and that's why it's so important to verify this stuff. This is an important position for us in Kentucky and my concern is that there appear to be a few of these and that's an uncomfortable pattern. 

Ray: "Yeah, I think you'll find when it's all done, it will shake out very well."~Is it possible the Erwin was not actually sued in Arizona? This seemed highly unlikely. The Arizona Republic made at least a half dozen references to the suit. (Emphases in purple are added.)

2. I might feel that was just one (albeit highly visible) mistake from Ray & Associates, if not for the fact that a search for "Ray & Associates" on that Kentucky News website pulls up these articles about problems in Prince Georges County, MD and Loveland, CO:

Ray & Associates Hooked up John Deasy, School Board to Investigate

Sep 13, 2008

KSN&C readers will recall that it was Ray & Associates who failed to uncover numerous fantasies on Barbara Erwin's resume during Kentucky's search for an Education Commissioner. That failure led to a refusal by the ...

Deasy has Resume Errors. Ray & Associates was on the Job.

Sep 24, 2008

It is too bad for Prince Georges County that Ray & Associates - having completed whatever research they were obliged to do for the school district - did not discover the resume errors. But they apparently didn't. As we have ...

Yet Another Unsatisfied Ray and Associates Customer - Kentucky ...

Mar 15, 2008

...but there is yet another school board out there feeling just a little burned by the advice they received from Ray & Associates - the same search firm whose assurances lead Kentucky's Board of Education down the primrose ...

3. Meanwhile, in Tacoma, Washington, their News Tribune had a March 8, 2008 article entitled, "Same Firm, but Better Results Expected." In Tacoma, at that time, as with Ann Arbor now, the superintendent had left (in Tacoma's case, it was very clear what the issue was) and because it was within the two years time frame, they got a "free" search--just like Ann Arbor. 

Here's how the article starts: 

They called consultant Jim Huge “Dr. Huge.” He isn’t They described Charlie Milligan as someone who gets involved in the community.  

He didn’t.

They told the School Board they’re “100 percent successful” in their searches. 

They aren’t. 

The record and the reputation of Ray and Associates and its headhunters are considered stellar in some school districts. In others, the company’s work led to dissatisfaction and at least one lawsuit. 

The News Tribune examined the company’s proposal to conduct a superintendent search for the Tacoma School District this year, the work it did for the district two years ago and its record with other districts, and found: 

 • The company’s application for the Tacoma job listed “Dr. Jim Huge” as the regional associate who would work on the search. Huge doesn’t have a doctorate and says he’s never claimed one. “If they did that, they were just trying to be nice to me,” he said. 

 • The confidential report prepared by the firm on Milligan before his hire two years ago said this: “When Dr. Milligan moves into a community, he moves in completely. … His visibility both in the school district and with the public makes him a very strong public relations force for the district.” His record in Tacoma was quite the opposite: He snubbed community groups, warred with the media and sparred with the teachers union. Board members cited his poor community relations when they fired him last June. 

 • Reports obtained through an open-records request showed overwhelmingly positive dossiers on four candidates for the Tacoma superintendent job in 2006. The reports, prepared by Ray and Associates, gave no mention of negative traits or criticisms on any of the applicants, including Milligan. (Emphases added.)

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2008/03/08/303552/same-firm-but-better-results-expected.html#storylink=cpy

So--lessons learned? In addition to the earlier concerns I have raised about Ray & Associates relationship to the Broad Academy, I have an even more basic concern that is raised by these reports. 

Let's make sure we have learned our lessons.

 

Let's not rely on Ray & Associates to do our vetting for us. 

Let's work to uncover both the positive and the negative about our superintendent candidates. (I am quite sure that every one of them has some negatives. Even I am not perfect...)

Let's make sure we do site visits and talk to lots of people. 

Let's make sure we read their dissertations or other publications. 

Many thanks to Sharon Simonton for her help with this research. 

After all, when you're choosing a superintendent, it's all about 

research.

Forums and Timelines: Ann Arbor's Next Superintendent?

The Ann Arbor Public Schools is invited the public to upcoming Superintendent Forums. From a2schools.org:

Wednesday, June 19: 
The Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education is hosting a series of public forums to hear from the community about key criteria they would like to see in the next Superintendent of Schools. 

> 9:00 -11:00 a.m. - Pioneer High School Cafeteria Annex

 > 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. - Ann Arbor Public Library, 4th Floor Board Room

> 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. - Skyline High School Commons 

> 7:30 -9:30 p.m. - Huron High School Cafeteria 

Please join various Trustees in conversation about these important next steps in the selection process for the next AAPS Superintendent.

Phew! Those trustees are going to be very busy on June 19, running from place to place!  If you can't make it (perhaps you will be at a very exciting rally up in Lansing on that same day? It starts at 11:30 at the Michigan Capitol Building) here are a few suggestions:

1. Write the school board: boe@aaps.k12.mi.us as a group, or individually (emails here);
2. Call one or more school board members

Choosing a superintendent does not have to be
a game of roulette!

I will admit that last time round I didn't pay enough attention to the superintendent choice process. This time, I'm going to pay a lot more attention. I think those of us who care about the schools should do our own background research into all of the semi-finalist candidates. If you are willing to help me, email me at rlk234 at gmail.com. Thanks!




[Why? Remember that Ray & Associates, the search firm the school board is using, has been associated with the Broad Foundation. Read more about why you should care about that here. We need to chart our own path.]

The board has laid out the following timeline, per annarbor.com:

The board intends to review applications for the position with Ray & Associates, the consulting firm hired to conduct the search, on June 26. That evening, the board will announce the semi-finalists for the position at its regular meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library.
Semi-finalists will visit the Ann Arbor Public Schools district for tours and interviews the week of July 7, and the week of July 14 the school board will conduct its interviews with the finalists.
Green announced her plans to retire in April. Her resignation is effective July 9.

Oh, and by the way, in case you missed it, the Board appointed David Comsa, the deputy superintendent for legal and human resources issues, to be interim superintendent. It's my understanding that he doesn't have the educational leadership credentials that would allow him to be a permanent superintendent, and perhaps that was one factor in why he was chosen. He was chosen in one round of voting. The other candidates were Randy Trent (current deputy superintendent in charge of buildings and facilities); and two principals--Gary Court and Kevin Karr. In a single round of voting, Comsa got four votes, Court got two, Karr got one.

Of Presidents and Project-Based Learning

This is a great story about how a 12-year-old girl went above and beyond with a school project, and found out that all of the U.S. presidents except one are related to a certain King John, the one who agreed to the Magna Carta. If you were wondering how project-based learning works, here is a good example. And if you are a genealogist, the cautionary tale here is that you shouldn't ignore the maternal line, even if it is harder to trace. . . apparently all the professionals had only looked at the paternal lines. . .

Charter School Studies

Here's a Washington Post article that cites and links to two studies about charter schools. Nationally, charter schools only teach about 4% of the nation's students, but everyone seems to think that number will grow.

Here's a link to two Western Michigan University/National Education Policy Center studies about both for-profit and non-profit educational management organizations for charter schools.

From that report, I got the following:

The five states with the highest numbers of schools managed by for-profit EMOs are Michigan (185), Florida (145), Arizona (99), Ohio (92) and Pennsylvania (40).

and

Overall, it concludes that 53 percent of schools run by for-profit EMOs met AYP requirements in the 2009-10 school year, while 47 percent did not.

Thinking About News: Part II

This is Part II of Thinking About News. Find Part I here. Find Part III here.

Parts I and II:

What do I think about the evolution of annarbor.com? (And yes, this gets review-y.)
Part III:

What have I learned about my own relationship to news and information?
What are the implications for the community?

This is Part II: Thinking About News

In this part, I am going to give specific examples about why the length of articles, the search function, and the capacity (aka the numbers) of the reporters are all related. I'm going to use education articles for my examples, but please don't take that as a critique of David Jesse's work. Take it as a critique of the annarbor.com organization. I could have used other subjects (government, business...) but this is, after all, an education blog.


You probably know (if you read this regularly) that I have a particular interest in the Willow Run schools. They should have everything that makes for good journalism: a series of past scandals, continuing poor graduation rates, a school board takeover on the part of activists (and a school board that is working really hard now). They are in a fight for survival, but there is hope for rebirth. In the new model of reporting, although the facts are there, the narrative gets lost. 

Let's try a search. We'll start with the term Willow Run. Here is what I get (see above):  Notice that the first article is an article about General Motors' Willow Run plant from April 25th. The next two articles are about the schools, from June 30th and June 24th.  OK, so they are all Willow Run, but obviously not ordered by date. As it happens, I want to focus on three articles that all came out the same day. I don't think I'm going to find them this way, but I know they were written a couple of weeks ago.
It turns out that they were written--all by David Jesse--on July 16th.
I saw the first one on the main news page.

Doris Hope-Jackson. Do you remember her? The last Willow Run superintendent? They are still trying to figure out a way to terminate her contract, and she has a history of litigiousness.


It was only until much, much later (because every few days I go back and take a second look at the education feed to see what I missed, and I generally have missed something) that I found that David had actually written, not one, not two, but three articles--all on the same day, all about the same location (Willow Run).
Here are the other two:

So, let's see:

The Willow Run schools are still holding hearings on Doris Hope-Jackson; they are revamping the high school to qualify for state funding (because their numbers are so dismal); and the state accepted a deficit elimination plan, which counts on increased enrollment (even though enrollment has decreased every year for more than a decade).

All of these articles are (if I recall correctly) between 300 and 400 words. Are they related? You bet. And yet even the interested observer might not find all three articles, even though they were published the same day.

Do you get the sense that they are related? Do you understand how the pieces fit together? Not from the articles. Further, I would submit that you cannot create a cogent narrative with these complicated stories if you limit yourself to 300 or 400 words.

Willow Run is a district with an interim finance director  and an acting superintendent. Who created the deficit elimination plan? The interim/acting people? Or the people before them? What do outside observers think--is the district likely to succeed?  Is there "digging" here? Is it investigative? I know that David Jesse is very knowledgeable, but I don't think he has much time for investigation because he is the only education reporter. (Yes, I do know there are some freelancers who fill in.) There are eleven school districts in the county, plus charter schools and private schools. Who has time for detailed investigation?

Even if David Jesse had the time, I don't think he could write up really good investigative work in 300 or 400 words. Wasn't that the promise of the web? You wouldn't be limited to "so many inches." Maybe with longer articles, this could have been two articles instead of three.

How likely is someone to know that all three of these things are happening at once? The way things stand now, it's not too likely for a casual reader of annarbor.com. Although there are links provided in the body of the article, there aren't "related article" links in an obvious spot.

The article about the hearings has some automatically generated "related articles."

One of them seems related...the other one? An Ann Arbor police officer whistleblower lawsuit? Just because the tag is "lawsuit?"

The other two articles did not display any "related articles" at all.

What about the "tags?" Those are supposed to link articles in some way, right? (They should work like labels work in this blog: click on the label "WISD" and you should get articles that somehow involve the WISD.)

The tags for these articles are as follows:
Deficit elimination plan article: Willow Run school board
Revamping high school plan: Willow Run school district
Hearings for Doris Hope-Jackson: Doris Hope-Jackson, lawsuit, Willow Run school district

That is, in fact, how the tags work at annarbor.com--click on Willow Run school district and you get the second and third articles, but not the first--that first article was not tagged with the school district tag.

So, here is the summary. Short articles are fine for an article about the weather. When you have a district with a) a long history of trouble among both the board and staff; b) poor student outcomes; c) decreasing enrollment; d) charter schools moving into the area; e) annual deficits f) a history of rosy projections that don't meet outcomes g)more recently, hard work on the part of staff and board to tackle the problems head-on h) employees under fire who have a history of litigiousness... then short articles don't do anyone a service. They contribute to the atomization of our understanding.  They don't support the sharing of investigative knowledge.

Journalists are taught to "tell the story." Sometimes I think, though, that we mistake who/what/why/where/when/how for the story. Those are the facts. The story is the narrative. And whether the subject is education, or government, or business, at annarbor.com you get the facts, but you often miss the story.

I need and want the trees, but I also need and want the forest.

The Online Learning Question

In my last post I expressed some concerns about online learning. John Sowash asked why, and I started to respond, but my answer got too long. Better to just put it in its own post!

He also references a post I haven't read yet, but you might want to look at:

Clayton Christenson, author of Disrupting Class, put up a new post recently in which he says that online learning is continuing to expand rapidly in the K-12 sector: http://bit.ly/bXoMeH

Regarding the role of online learning: I think it is fabulous for people who can't learn any other way--for instance, kids in northern Alaska wouldn't have good access to advanced science classes without online learning. Soldiers on duty around the world can now pursue college courses. And I imagine that online learning works really well for highly motivated students in any location. (Those students, of course, can probably learn under most conditions, so they may not be a good sample.) If you are motivated to (for example) learn Portuguese, and you live in northern Michigan, then an online course may be the best way to go (or the next best, after being an exchange student).
On the other hand--my daughter's friend had the experience this year of signing up for an online course to replace her 10th grade English class. She told my daughter she wouldn't do it again. Even though she is a high-performing student, she found that she was not motivated enough to do the work regularly.
Most of the studies of online learning, to date, have been done with highly motivated students. I predict that as you open the doors to less motivated students, you will see diminishing returns. It's a lot harder to identify, and motivate, slacker students in an online class. It may also be hard for students who find material difficult to get the additional help they need.

As for this prediction:

I believe that a hybrid model will emerge as the most effective solution. Students will go to school 2-3 days a week and work from home the other days. This will save districts a tremendous amount of money in heating, electricity, busing, and janitorial services.

From a parent's perspective: I have no doubt that there is a lot of interest on the part of school administrators for the very cost-saving reasons that you mention. Nonetheless, as the parent of three children, two of whom are teenagers, this makes me feel very queasy. Don't we already know that the most likely time for kids to get in trouble is after school, before parents are home from work? Aren't most high schools even afraid to create "open campuses" (students can leave school during open blocks) instead of "closed campuses" (students are restricted from leaving) for fear of the students getting into trouble? If I were to leave my kids home all day while I was at work, five days a week, year round, I would spend the whole day worrying about them.  How would I ensure that they were doing their work, and not (best case scenario) sleeping until noon? Worst case scenario? Alcohol, weed, sex... As far as I am concerned, that old quote, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" has a lot of currency--even though I don't believe in the devil!

And let's think about the costs to families: Am I then responsible for making sure that each child in my house has a computer? That the house has a working printer? That I have a reasonable-speed cable or DSL connection? Essentially, that is a transfer of costs to me--and that may not be feasible for poorer families.

Last, but not least, there is a philosophical question: do we want kids tied to the computer all day? I have one child who loves it, and would probably learn well that way, one child who is agnostic about it, and one child who hates time on the computer.


I'm not saying that these problems are unsolvable. I'm just saying that they haven't yet been solved.

Autism Updates

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but a facebook plea from a friend whose son has autism to "learn as much as you can" reminded me to post some of these links.
First, some analysis of the proposed changes in the new DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) to include Asperger's as part of the autism spectrum and not its own diagnosis--what does it mean?
From Nestor Lopez-Duran
From the New York Times (Roy Grinker op-ed piece)

Second,

Food and Autism
Discussion of enzyme supplementation (one theory for autism is a "leaky gut" theory). This study was plagued by small sample size, though--and statistical power can be really important. Anecdotally, several of my friends whose kids have autism have felt that diet changes have helped their kids. Do the studies measure the things that seem different to my friends?

Twins and Autism: Genetics or Environment?

Third,
The New York Times has a series of Voices on Autism
and
Last, but not least, MSU researchers are doing a comprehensive review of autism services in Michigan. They are calling it the ASD-Michigan study.

Want to know what I think? Probably the only teaching certificate area I would tell someone to get a teaching certificate in these days in Michigan are the special education specialties related to autism. That looks like a growth industry.

Thanks to Nestor Lopez-Duran (child-psych.org) and David Goodman for the links.

Desegregation Outcomes

The primary focus of the 1985 reorganization was integrating the schools--in particular, integrating the black and white populations. The Asian, Latino, and Middle Eastern populations were much smaller than they are today.
I was interested in the immediate impacts of this reoganization, but unfortunately I did not have time to dig through the microfiche and find the 1986 enrollment numbers. As a result, this post takes a much longer view of this reorganization. On the one hand, this is somewhat unfair, since the committee that developed the reorganization was only able to estimate out about five years. In taking the long view, I also need to recognize that there have been some (relatively minor, with the exception of the re-opening of Lakewood and the opening of Skyline) changes to the individual school boundaries over the years.
[By the way, his post gets a little numbers-heavy. I think the numbers tell the story, but if you don't, skip to the end. Also, for the purposes of counting here, I count Ann Arbor Open as an elementary school.]

At the time of the report (1985), the AAPS African-American population was 17% of the total schools population, and the state considered a school out of balance if the African-American population was + or - 15% points compared to the district average, which is how the state recommended a 2-32% guideline for Ann Arbor. The Committee on Excellence chose a more restrictive +/- 5-15% range.

If we look at the racial makeup of the schools today, the African-American population average is still between 12 and 27%, the goal of the committee. In September 2009 it was at 14.5%. Some individual schools are much higher or lower.  Angell School, for instance, has an African-American population of only 3.6%, and in total, the following schools fall below 12%: 9 elementary schools (give Logan a pass at 11.8%), 2 middle schools, and Community High School.

On the other end of the spectrum, Roberto Clemente's African-American population is 82.3%--but I should note that this was true back in 1984, and I guess because Clemente and Community were and are magnet schools, the committee was unable to address the numbers through redistricting--though they did say they hoped to reduce the achievement gap. (In fact, lawsuits against the schools, and Proposal 2, have limited options on this front even more.

So, aside from Clemente, the schools that are over the 27% number today comprise a much smaller number: Mitchell, Scarlett, and Stone.

[In 2002, by comparison, 8 elementary schools and Community High School were below 12% (Not including Forsythe, at 11.7%). No elementary schools were above 27%, but Scarlett, Clemente, and Stone were above 27%.]

If we look at the 2009 African-American AAPS population percentages, however, we only get part of the story. 
For while the African-American school population has shrunk slightly as a percentage of the school population, the Asian, Latino, and Middle Eastern populations have increased greatly. Where the fall 2009 headcount counts African-American students as 14.5% of the population, the Asian population comprises 14.2% of the population.
So, using a broader lens, let's take a look at Angell School again:

3.6% African American

32% Asian, 

4.2% Middle Eastern, 

5.8% Multi-ethnic, 

.3% Native American, 

.6% Other, 

4.9% Latino/Hispanic, and 

48.5% White. 

In other words--even though Angell doesn't meet the criteria of 12-27% African American, it clearly is diverse.
You might be surprised to know that the district, on average, is now 52.8% White. If I were to say that a range of 42-62% White was acceptable as a range for desegregation, these schools would be below 42% White: 7 elementary schools (at 41.9% I will give Thurston a pass), Scarlett Middle School, and Clemente and Stone high schools. These schools would be above 62%: 4 elementary schools, Forsythe Middle School, and Community High School.

And if we were to set up a committee to strive for racial balance today, we would find that the Asian AAPS population is highly concentrated in some schools, and barely present in others. Using that same 12-27% range, there are 10 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 3 high schools that that come in under 12% Asian population, and there are 5 elementary schools that are over the 27% number.

It is worth noting, however, that the 1985 reorganization had at its core, not 1, but 2 significant goals related to racial integration. One goal was "the elimination of racial isolation," which was considered an important value in and of itself. Although I hesitate to call that the "primary goal," it was in fact the driving force behind the reorganization. And although the reorganization was not, and is not, perfect--from the point of view of eliminating racial isolation, I think the work of the committee stands on its own, and 25 years later, it stands pretty well.

At the time, the Committee on Excellence of Education noted that

On a district wide basis, the academic performance of minorities lags far behind that of the majority population. Minorities are significantly overrepresented in lower curricular paths and significantly underrepresented in advanced courses of study. Disproportionately high numbers of minorities are the subject of disciplinary action. . . Measured by the critical index of progress toward educational opportunity, the Ann Arbor School District, in this regard, is in crisis.

The second goal, then, was the goal of reducing the achievement gap. Twenty-five years later. . . countless policy papers later. . . many efforts later (and whether these efforts have been wrong or inadequate--or both--we'll leave for another time). . . this goal remains elusive, and has not been achieved.

A Little History

The 1985 reorganization might have been the biggest reorganization in Ann Arbor school history, but it did not involve the first school closings. Other schools had been closed earlier, as one-room schoolhouses were phased out. Between 1960 and 1985, the Ann Arbor school board opened (I believe) nine elementary schools, and closed some others. For instance--when Lakewood opened in 1961, both Wagner and Sullivan schools closed. (One was on Wagner. The other, I believe, was on Jackson Rd.) 

In the 1960s both racial and economic imbalances were becoming more prominent in the Ann Arbor schools, and the flash point for the school district was Jones Elementary School, which was 75% black. Given the lack of fair housing laws and enforcement, and the fact that the schools were primarily neighborhood-based, the segregation is not surprising. (Now, Jones School is Community High School.) Jones School was closed in 1965, and at the time, an advisory committee recommended that no school have a population that was more than 25% black.

The discussions around desegregation continued, and continued, and continued, for the next twenty years. A 1979 committee developed a desegregation plan, and that desegregation plan was passed by the school board in 1980 but was overturned after a hotly-contested school board election. In the early 1980s, Ann Arbor had several schools that were considered by state guidelines to be "racially imbalanced" but the school board was unable to deal with the issue. For instance, Newport and Freeman schools were largely white, while Dicken and Northside were largely black. Bryant and Clinton schools were just a few blocks from each other, but Bryant was largely black and Clinton was largely white. A "Committee on Excellence" was formed, and they issued their report on August 23, 1985. At that point, 19/26 elementary schools (or 73%) did not meet the recommended range for racial composition. The report is available online through the University of Michigan library.

Although the report was "tweaked" by the school board, its major recommendations were approved:
Regarding integration:

Each building in the district shall have a student population which reflects the racial composition of the community. There shall be a black population in each building that ranges between 12% and 27% of the building enrollment. (p. 4, emphases added)

The committee noted that this range met state guidelines, but was actually more restrictive, because the state was recommending a range of 2-32% black, and the committee felt that was too wide of a range.

Supporting recommendations included closing schools to both achieve racial balance and maximize efficiencies and changing from a K-6, 7-9, 10-12 school setup to a K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 setup. In addition, they recommended that the Open School program--which had been split between two schools--be given its own home in a school that was destined to be closed.

The idea was that, in 1985, there were 26 elementary school principals overseeing schools with an average of 260 children, and that by 1986 there would be 20 principal overseeing schools with an average of 380 children, despite the fact that the schools only included grades K-5 rather than grades K-6.

It is worth noting that at the time of these discussions, the "racial balance" discussion was almost exclusively a discussion about the black and white populations. The Asian and Hispanic/Latino populations in Ann Arbor have expanded tremendously since then, but in 1984, the Asian population was highly centered on North Campus and concern was expressed that if all of the students from North Campus were sent to one school, it would create a "third world ghetto."

The report (which I found interesting) discusses a lot of the same issues we discuss today: labor relations, the racial achievement gap, ways to support low-achieving schools, student assessment, alternatives to tracking, magnet schools, the savings that would come from school closings, professional development for teachers, and more.

Given the great demand for Ann Arbor Open today, I had to laugh when I read this:

The elementary Open School Program should be housed in a single site adequate in size to accommodate all the students who wish to enroll in the program. The process of selecting students by lottery should be eliminated. (p. 29, emphases added)

Not all of the recommendations were accepted, but most of them were. One that was not was the closing of Forsythe Junior High School.

I will talk more about what happened to the schools that closed later, but the schools that closed as general program schools included: Newport, Bach, Stone, Bader, Freeman, Clinton, and Lakewood. In the late 1990s, there were some more changes, but if you've ever wondered:

• why Bryant is a K-2 school paired with Pattengill, a 3-5 school;
• why kids from Glencoe Hills get bussed to Burns Park, even though several schools are geographically closer; 
• why the Open School has its own building; 
• or why we have middle schools that are grades 6-8...

we owe that to the 1985 reorganization. 

Read more about the goals of desegregation and reducing the achievement gap and whether they worked here.

Information in this post came from the Report of the Committee on Excellence of Education (1985), as well as Ann Arbor Observer articles from March 1985, December 1985, and June 1986, and Ann Arbor District Library records.

Some Interesting Links

A tweet from DavidNGoodman (Detroit-area AP reporter) led me to this teacher blog from someone who started out in Teach For America: Not Much, Just Chillin' and to this very interesting article from the New York Times, Building A Better Teacher by Elizabeth Green. The article gives a shout-out to both the Michigan State University and University of Michigan schools of education. And I don't necessarily agree with all of the conclusions, but it is interesting to read about. The article also links to the Uncommon Schools web site (which is promotional--just a warning). I wouldn't normally link to it but I did like the teaching clips on the right hand side.

[There is a recent post on the teachers' blog Not Much, Just Chilling that talks about what this teacher gets paid as a teacher in eastern North Carolina. It struck me just how little she is getting paid, after 5 years on the job, and how low pay is in eastern North Carolina as compared to Michigan.]

Also in the New York Times, as part of a series on the impact of immigration, you can look up every school district in the country (yes, including Washtenaw County), and check out both racial/ethnic makeup and the assigned diversity index (the percent chance that two students selected randomly would belong to different ethnic/racial groups).  The key question--is diversity increasing or decreasing? The data spans 1987 to 2006, so you can really see some trends. In Washtenaw County, for 2006, Fortis Academy is #1 in diversity. Check out #2... (I had fun guessing.) I went back and looked at my hometown in a New York suburb. Racial and ethnic diversity is still every bit as low as I remembered from high school.

In graduate school in education, I often found myself disagreeing with Diane Ravitch, a leading educational thinker. So I was surprised to listen to this NPR interview with her, and find that for the most part I agreed with her. [I think she may have changed more than me. And she essentially says, "I thought this, but now I have changed my mind." Kudos to her for being willing to admit to a change of mind.]

And today, NPR has an article about the Department of Education stepping up civil rights enforcement. It's about time...

On a totally separate topic--not education, but yes, local--The Farmer's Marketer is doing a series on the various community farm/share options in the area. I tried one a few years ago but didn't like driving out to the farm every week, so I'm shopping around, and maybe you are shopping too! There are a lot more choices now.

Trimesters and Algebra

New state standards have pushed many districts into a trimester system. (The majority of Washtenaw County districts have switched over. In Ann Arbor, only Skyline has switched.) A key section of the new standards focuses on ensuring that all kids have more math.
According to the new curriculum law:

Students must complete at least Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, or an integrated sequence of this course content that consists of 3 credits, and an additional mathematics credit, such as Trigonometry, Statistics, Pre-calculus, Calculus, Applied Math, Accounting, Business Math, or a retake of Algebra II. Each pupil must successfully complete at least 1 mathematics course during his or her final year of high school enrollment. (Emphasis added.)

Math, you might say, is frequently privileged in schools. It is the driving force in Ann Arbor in middle school scheduling (your math class often determines most of your other classes). Want to see the achievement gap in action? See who is placed in which math classes in eighth grade.

And now it is the driving force in high school as well. Since math is often the subject that students have trouble with, one idea was that you could teach a standard year of math in two trimesters, and if a student was having trouble, they could repeat a class in a third trimester. And--since with trimesters there are 15 classes in the year (3 trimesters x 5 classes) instead of 14 with the semester system (2x7), this wouldn't disadvantage kids who were having trouble with math. At the same time, kids who didn't have trouble with math would get an extra elective. Prior to these standards, many (many!) kids did not take Algebra II.

At least at Skyline, that experiment has been less than successful. So many kids were having difficulty learning the math in two trimesters, in the school's second year they changed the "standard" math option to a three trimester option.

Today in my inbox, I got a link from Education Week that says that the Algebra-For-All Push Is Yielding Poor Results.

This is really a very interesting article, with a summary of a lot of different research studies, and I encourage you to read it (you might need to register at the site).  Some of the salient points:
*Misclassification of kids matters (who goes in which class)
*When you eliminate tracking, the top students don't learn as much
*However, the bottom students seem to learn more
*Simply taking algebra doesn't seem to affect the likelihood of attending college (and that is a very complicated issue--I'm sure there are lots of confounding factors there).

Side note: Is college the desired outcome here? Or learning math?

Obviously, learning math is important, but it's often not clear why, as I discuss here.
It's not just about math, though. I think we also need to ask whether the trimester system works.

Cool Early Childhood Research In Our Backyard

There was a terrific American Radioworks (Michigan Radio) story today on early childhood education. Of special interest, it features High Scope Research Center and Perry Nursery School (where a lot of the first research on preschool was done), and it also features Van Loggins, an AAPS physical education teacher at Ann Arbor Open.

The story is called Early Lessons. 
Scroll down on the Early Lessons page to: download the podcast, listen online, or read the transcript.

This is a story about special education, and it's a story about race. It's also about the power of a few people to right wrongs and make a difference in people's lives.
One of the key lessons learned--the preschool made a difference, but they don't really know why. (Theories abound.) Well, for a long time, nobody knew why aspirin reduced fever--but people knew that it did.

Another key lesson learned--there is a difference between low and high quality preschools, and currently, middle class white kids are most likely to go to the high quality preschools.