Death Spiral, or Revival?

It's time to turn our attention back to the east side of the county, and Willow Run schools.

Good News
There has been a little bit of good news from WRCS over the past few months. For one thing, they officially fired their superintendent, Doris Hope-Jackson, and that frees them to move on! In addition, according to the Ypsilanti Courier, Holmes Elementary just won an award, the "2010 Robert and Patricia Muth Excellence in Leadership Award from [the] Middle Cities Education Association, a coalition of 33 urban school districts in Michigan. The annual award honors K-12 schools in Michigan's urban school systems that demonstrate leadership in school improvement, specifically improvements that reflect gains in student achievement." And WRCS actually came to agreement with its teachers' union, and the union gave up big concessions. [I'm not sure the big concessions are good news, but having an agreement certainly is.]

The Big Questions
You might recall that Willow Run was asked to file a deficit elimination plan (for I believe the third year in a row), and that the state accepted it, even though it is predicated--once again--on an increase in enrollment (50 students). For more than a decade, WRCS has lost student population every single year. Count Day is coming up this week. The number of kids that show up on Count Day determines the vast majority of the per-pupil funding for the school year for each district. Accurate projections (even if the numbers go down) are key to balancing the school district budget.

Steve Norton, of Michigan Parents for Schools, once wrote in a comment on this blog that chronically losing students leads to lack of funding which leads to losing students which creates a "death spiral" that is hard to break.

Is it possible that WRCS can push back against a more-than-decade-long trend and increase enrollment this year? We will know later this week, but my sources in the district say "I doubt it."

The Bad News
You might also remember that Willow Run High School was in the bottom 5% of high schools in the state. That's not good, but that's not the bad news part. [Well, really it is the ultimate bad news part; no school wants to be designated Persistently Lowest Achieving.] What I mean is, that's not the bad news I am discussing here. Every high school in that bottom 5% had a chance to compete for additional grant funds that would allow the district to remake the high school. There were four choices:

*turnaround model--replace the principal and 50% of the staff, change governance structure
*transformation model--replace the principal, change instructional methods
*restart model--close the school and reopen it under the guidance of a charter school operator
*close the school

Now, in fairness to Willow Run, the competition for the grants was relatively stiff. According to the Michigan Department of Education Frequently Asked Questions document, in the first round of funding, 108 schools were eligible; 84 schools applied; and only 28 schools would be funded.

But according to my sources in the district, it didn't help that Willow Run applied for a model that required the replacement of the principal, and proposed. . . keeping the principal. Does that make any sense? NO. It's not rocket science, it's grant writing. MDE says, "The award of a grant was based primarily on the merit of the grant application." Typically, you need to meet the grant requirements in order to get the grant. Or really, why bother spending all that time writing the grant?

It doesn't make me too hopeful.
Count day, later this week, will give us some more information.

Saline Non-Discrimination Policy: More News

Saline Schools Superintendent Scot Graden has a blog post that describes the recent history of the Saline Schools non-discrimination ordinance. Most usefully, it has current and proposed language, as well as information about what the bullying ordinance says.

This post also says that at the board's next meeting there will be discussion (not a vote, as previously reported) of the ordinance, and that it is scheduled as an action item (likely vote--but it could always get tabled) will occur on October 12th.

The bullying ordinance includes language about sexual orientation but not gender identity.

Of course there are concerns about safety, because hate crimes and bullying do occur based on individuals' sexual orientation.

But--just for the record: Not all bullying involves sexual orientation, or gender identity. And not all issues around sexual orientation and gender identity involve bullying.

Including this language is important as a matter of basic civil rights, fairness, and human dignity.

All meetings are held at the Liberty School Media Center, 7265 Saline-Ann Arbor Road, and start at 6:30 p.m.

More about the International Baccalaureate Program

Saline schools superintendent Scot Graden has a blog post about how the International Baccalaureate program could work for Saline. He writes that it is "set to open" in 2011. It's about time for at least a little bit of public commentary. There is also a link to the presentation that was made to the school board about the program, and a request for your comments.

From his blog:

Enrollment for each district is proportional to the percentage of students in the county.  For Saline, this means approximately 18 students in each grade, or 72 for the full program would be eligible.  The school is being designed for 9th to 12th grade students with 150 students per grade.

Don't Blame the Messenger

Last week, I came home one day and found this email message:

Ann Arbor Public Schools sent an important automated phone notification using their SchoolMessenger system. You are receiving this message because your email address was included to receive the notification.
If you missed the call, or if your phone number was not included on the notification list, you can still listen to the message. Simply follow the message link below to play the message in your web browser.

I asked my husband, "Did you listen to the message from the SchoolMessenger system?"
(And to be perfectly honest, I thought it was either a reminder about a PTO meeting, or that perhaps my child had been "absent or tardy.")

"Yes," he said. "It was a reminder about Skyline's Spirit Day. The kids are supposed to wear blue."

Really? That was the "important message?" Aren't high school kids old enough to remember their own spirit days? But. . . whatever. I don't care about it, but maybe someone else does. I don't mind the "important message system" being used for that. At least I didn't care. . . for about. . . five minutes.

That's when I opened the web site of the Ann Arbor Chronicle, and I was shocked. . . Shocked. . . SHOCKED to see Jennifer Coffman's article that said this:

AAPS, UM to Open "Lab School"

The Ann Arbor Public Schools board of education’s planning committee heard a presentation this morning on a “lab school” partnership being planned between the University of Michigan and Mitchell Elementary and Scarlett Middle schools.  The Mitchell/Scarlett/UM lab school, as it’s currently being called, has been under development for six months.

At today’s meeting, Mitchell principal Kathy Scarnecchia described the lab school as creating an integrated K-8 campus between the Mitchell and Scarlett buildings, as well as extending the function of the schools to serve as a community center for local families. She also noted that the lab school will use a year-round, extended-day academic calendar.

Had I heard of this before? No. And here is the kicker: 

The Mitchell/Scarlett/UM lab school will pilot two projects during this school year, then begin its full program in the 2011-12 school year.

So, just like the International Baccalaureate program, it's a fait accompli? Is predestination something more than Puritan theology?

Look--I'm not opposed to schools of choice. I've said before that I think Ann Arbor should have more magnet schools. I've dreamed of an elementary immersion Spanish program. . . perhaps another open school. . .  a high school arts magnet. . . something on the east side, maybe? I completely understand why Scarlett and Mitchell--both underperforming and underenrolled schools--would be targeted. I understand why schools of choice, and the money that follows them, are key. [What do you think is a top search term for this blog?]

When I was at the UM in the School of Education, reading John Dewey, the man who pioneered the "lab" school, I used to wonder why the SOE couldn't have its own lab school. (In fact, the School of Education is actually in a former Ann Arbor high school!) I get all that, but. . . But. . . BUT. . .

HEY! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! WHEN IS THERE ANY PUBLIC PROCESS? 

Is everything determined by professional staff now?

I really, really hope that significant public process comes before the "i"s are dotted and the "t"s are crossed.  Let's recall that our successful alternative schools (yes, I mean Ann Arbor Open and Community High School), in the past, have been developed through a ROBUST public process and with a GROUNDSWELL of support from parents and teachers--NOT from the top down.

Let's have some discussion: what do you think of an extended day and a year-round program? [I wouldn't send my kids to a year-round program. Would you send yours?] What do you think of sending your kids to a "lab" school? Why both Scarlett and Mitchell? Scarlett alone could accommodate between 800 and 900 students, which would be large for a K-8 program. Mitchell can accommodate over 300 students. Do we need a program for 1000-1200 students? How will this be cost-neutral? Etcetera.

Ann Arbor Administrators and School Board: I don't need to know about Spirit Week. I need to know where the schools are going.

This is the message that I should have gotten from the SchoolMessenger system.

This is a reminder that the Ann Arbor Public Schools are considering a partnership with the University of Michigan School of Education to create a "lab" school. Please come to the planning committee meeting on [DATE] or one of the three public hearings scheduled for October. You can also read the concept paper on the front page of the Ann Arbor schools web site, a2schools.org.

THAT is what we need.

P.S. A concept paper? Yeah, that would be a nice idea. I couldn't find that on the Ann Arbor schools web site either.

Weekend Open Thread

The good news is that I've got lots to write. The bad new is that I don't have time right now.

So--weekend open thread!

In particular, I am interested in how your first two weeks of school were--whether you are a student, teacher, or parent...

Is the new transportation system working for you? Are your special education students getting the services they need? Are your kids at a new school, and what do you think of it? Tell a joke if you want! I am especially fond of punny ones.

Saline Schools Non-Discrimination Policy, Part II

Thanks to Kyle Feldscher for a summary of the Saline school board policy committee meeting tonight, where they discussed the expansion of a non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Read my earlier post here. Read about tonight's meeting here.

A few thoughts.
First, thanks to AAPS board member Glenn Nelson for sharing the AAPS experience:

He said he believes it's important for the Saline board to add that language to its policy because it would contribute positively to the county’s reputation, has been beneficial in Ann Arbor and because the students from Saline are so passionate [in support of ordinance expansion]. (Annarbor.com article.)

Second, Saline school board member Chuck Lesch implied that Saline couldn't expand their policy because the state of Michigan didn't include gender identity or sexual orientation in their list of "protected classes."
The state of Michigan does not prohibit Saline (or any other public body) from adding additional classes for protection. Lots of local public bodies have expanded lists of protected classes. Think of the state's law as a floor, not a ceiling.

Third, Saline school board member Paul Hynak said that the root of the problem is bullying. I would submit that bullying and issues of sexual orientation and gender identity do intersect, but not all sexual orientation problems in schools are related to bullying, and not all bullying problems in schools are related to sexual orientation. In other words, if bullying needs to be brought under control, let us bring it under control in all cases. That's important, but it is at least partially a separate issue.

So--tomorrow night, September 14th, the full board will discuss this issue.
6:30 p.m., Liberty School media center, 7265 Saline-Ann Arbor Road--turn out to support the students and support the expansion of the non-discrimination policy!

The issue may be voted on September 28th, 6:30 p.m., Liberty School media center, 7265 Saline-Ann Arbor Road.

Support Non-Discrimination: Saline

Monday night, 9/13: Read an update here. Read below to get "the scoop."

Monday, September 13th (yes, that's tomorrow) the Saline board of education is having a policy meeting where they will be discussing expanding the school district's non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. According to the facebook invitation I got,

The Saline Board of Education is having a policy meeting to discuss whether sexual orientation and gender identity/expression should be added to the school's non-discrimination policy. The majority of the committee is reluctant to take any action, unofficially citing religious beliefs.
It is incredibly important that we support the LGBTQ and Ally youth in Saline, and create a presence at this meeting! Please help us fill the room! This is not a morality or a religious issue, it is a safety issue. (Emphases added.)

The students are especially requesting that adults show up. If you ask me, expanding non-discrimination policies is a no-brainer--of course they should be expanded. Why should we discriminate based on a group characteristic? And, as the invitation notes, it is a safety issue. LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) youth are often harassed and discriminated against. By supporting a non-discrimination policy, the board would be saying that they will not tolerate harassment, discrimination, or queer bashing.

I have personal experience of this. One of my closest friends in 9th grade had a brother who could not go to our high school, because of harassment based on his gender identity and sexual orientation. (I didn't have the words for it then. I just knew that he was a boy, but dressed like a girl, but liked boys.) So this note is for Bobby.

I find it morally reprehensible that decades later schools would dither about putting an expanded non-discrimination policy on the books.

So, here are the details:
September 13th, 5-7 p.m.
Liberty School, Room 33

7265 Saline Ann Arbor Rd

Saline, MI

And if you can't go, you should still feel free to contact the Board of Education members and let them know what you think!

---

EMU and the Native American Graves

Laura Bien of Dusty Diary has a very interesting article in ypsinews.com about Native American graves throughout Ypsilanti, and in particular on the EMU campus.

Yeah!!!

Willow Run school board fires former superintendent Doris Hope-Jackson.

Events This Week! SISS, Physicals

The Black Parents Association and the NAACP (I believe) are sponsoring a reception for the incoming SISS Director. (That is the person in charge of special education for the Ann Arbor Public Schools. The acronym stands for Student Intervention and Support Services.) You may recall that Ann Arbor had a disproportionate number of African-American special education students labeled as cognitively-impaired. (That, by the way, is not unique to Ann Arbor, and changes have been made, but that does explain the interest.)

In any case, if the intersection of special education and the achievement gap interest you, you can meet the new SISS Director, Elaine Brown, at an informal reception Wed. September 8th from 3:30-6:30pm at the David Byrd Center on Lohr Rd.

Sports Physicals: If your middle school children need sports physicals, they are being offered tonight, Tuesday 9/7 at Scarlett Middle School, and tomorrow night, Wednesday 9/8 at Slauson Middle School--both evenings they will be offered from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

A Foolish Consistency

If not for Ms. Grumet, my 10th grade English teacher, a conversation today would not have reminded me of the American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. In honor of Ms. Grumet, and of Mr. Emerson himself, here is the passage I thought of, because it covers a multitude of sins.

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. -- ` Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood .' -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self Reliance," 1841

Emerson, you know, thought a lot of himself. I shall ask you, instead, to forgive my inconsistencies.

The Post-Labor Day Start

At the end of September, 2005, Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law the requirement that Michigan schools start after Labor Day. Essentially, this was done to encourage that last week of tourism. Here are the bill details. I find it interesting that International Baccalaureate schools, and year-round schools, are exempt.

And really, I have nothing against a post-Labor Day start. I always started school after Labor Day growing up. Although--before the legislators took action--I did really enjoy it when my kids' schools started the week before Labor Day, on a Tuesday, with Friday off (that was a previous legislative attempt to encourage tourism)--that gave us a three-day week, and then a four-day week...and if the timing worked out, Rosh Hashana would be the following week and I would really get to ease my way back into the school life. Usually, I feel like a Mack Truck has hit me in early September.

So, as I said, I don't particularly mind that school starts after Labor Day, except that I've noticed that those legislators are all for local control, independent minds, etc...except when they aren't, which seems to be kind of frequent.

Anyway, I have fall plans for this blog, but in the meantime, there is the start of school, and Rosh Hashana this week. Don't expect much. (Although--expect nothing, and maybe you will be happy with what you get!)
It's also the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan, at the same time as Rosh Hashana. (I think they overlap. I wonder how many school absences there will be.)
So--a few things:
If you want to see the Ann Arbor Public Schools calendar, including the religious holidays, here is where it is.

And to my Jewish readers, Shana Tova--may you have a happy and sweet New Year.
And to my Muslim readers, Eid Mubarak--may you have a blessed festival.

By the way--if you are wondering about my son's start at college, he says, "College is fun!" (That was before classes started.) After classes started, he thanked his Community High School philosophy/English teacher, Brian Miller, for assigning Credo. Apparently, that was the first thing he was assigned in his Introduction to Ethics class.

New Kid On the Block

Welcome to Kyle Feldscher, the new K-12 annarbor.com reporter. And good luck to David Jesse, who moves on to cover higher education for annarbor.com. With EMU, U of M, and WCC, there will be plenty for him to do!

Ethics Question of the Week

Are you cheating, if you let someone else copy off of your paper? Or are only they cheating?

Books, Books, Books: Racing to the Top, Middle, Bottom

Hat Tip to Assorted Stuff, who pointed me to Diane Ravitch's column in the Washington Post, where she comments on the Race to the Top, and suggests three books about education reform, from different points of view, that people might find thought-provoking.

Here is the column.

And while we're on recommendations, maybe we should be reading Ravitch's latest book (I have not read any of these books): The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.

Jones School Documentary: Request for Help

I recently got this email, and I am excerpting it because (besides saying nice things about my blog), Charlotte Young Bowens is doing a documentary about Jones School! (Jones School was the school that is now Community High School, back when it was an elementary school. You might remember that I wrote about it earlier this year in the post A Little History.) She needs your help. If you went to Jones School, worked at Jones School, or were part of the discussions around closing Jones School, please contact Charlotte Young Bowens.

My name is Charlotte and I came across your incredible blog when I was doing some research on Jones School.  I also enjoyed your well articulated feedback about the achievement gap issues that continue to plague the Ann Arbor Public Schools featured on the Chronicle website.

I'm an Ann Arborite, born in 1967 and went through the AAPS. I was looking at some old photos, one of which featured my brother and I standing in the parking lot (perhaps just cemented) area  just outside of Jones  School. I've always loved this photo, so much so I thought as a kid I must have gone to Jones School but upon doing some research I discovered that the school had closed two years before I was born but what really struck me was this idea of Ann Arbor public schools needing to be desegregated. As a child growing up in this town, I thought, albeit naive, that Ann Arbor didn't have issues of segregation. Continued research about Jones School inspired me to start working on a short documentary about the school because I think it's an interesting story in itself, at least as a starting point for now. The more I learn the more I'm challenged to think about other themes for a documentary but I'm trying to stay focus on Jones School, it's history and then it's ultimate closure in 1965.

Overheard

New York City public school teacher to New York City (public) charter school teacher:

Public school teacher: So is the pay scale the same?
Charter school teacher: No, not at all. We work more hours for less pay.

Dog Days of August

Why are they called dog days? I have no idea--I thought maybe because of the idea that dogs lie around and don't do anything?

In any case, if August has the reputation that not much happens, that hasn't been true this past week.

Here are a few things you can read about (with my comments after each link):

Todd Roberts is leaving as Ann Arbor superintendent. He is going to be the chancellor for the North Carolina School for Science and Math.
What do I think? I think Todd Roberts did a fairly good job here--not perfect, but being a superintendent in Ann Arbor is a lot like herding cats--and I'm glad he's able to make a job choice that will allow him to spend time with his (and his wife's) parents. I think I'd prefer naming an interim superintendent in order to not rush the job search.

Race and ethnicity sagas continue.
So the "Skyline bus fight" was not deemed a hate crime after all. (You can go back to this earlier post or this one if you need to refresh your memory.) Of course the big bugaboo in the room: how can we de-escalate tensions before they start?

And although Mike Madison made a mistake, he won't be disciplined. I'm glad about that. Let us learn from our mistakes, and move on. That's what we tell students to do, and honestly? We are all still learners. We still have an achievement gap...

And a Willow Run building supervisor is suing Doris Hope-Jackson and the Willow Run school district for race discrimination and for discrimination based on the Family Medical Leave Act. (Todd LaPrairie is white, Hope-Jackson is black.) Is it true? I don't know, but at this point, let's remember that the school board is trying to dismiss Hope-Jackson, and it's tempting to believe almost anything...but, that's why we have courts and due-process hearings.

In other news...

Annarbor.com has an extensive special report on the idea of consolidating school districts. The full study (done by Michigan State University) can be found here. The net result: if all of the districts in the state were to undergo some consolidation, we could save 4% of our expenses. My feeling is, it might make sense to consolidate some districts, but not others--size matters, local control matters. Having to drive hours to a school board meeting matters. Closing down charters would probably save more, but nobody is suggesting that.
I wrote about some of the roadblocks to consolidation in this post. Here are the roadblocks:

First, the districts considering consolidation (or annexation) need to have their school boards decide it is worth pursuing.
Second, the voters in each district need to agree. Jack Lessenberry had a good essay about why the Montague and Whitehall districts (near Muskegon) voted no many years ago. And the moral is that both small and large things can deter people from voting yes. On the other hand, this seems pretty reasonable to me if a district is either merging or dissolving. The people should have a say. (Want to see what the county school district map looks like? You can find it here.)
Third, the way state law is currently written, the merged district gets the average of the per pupil allocations. And the districts don't have the same per pupil allocations.

In the article, former state superintendent Tom Watkins says that the consolidation push has to come from Lansing because local schools are "too close" to the issue. NO. That is rubbish. The consolidation push has to come from Lansing because the laws which set up the roadblocks are made in Lansing. The fact that the merged district gets the average per-pupil funding of the two districts (and not the higher per-pupil funding) is a disincentive even if the difference is $100/per pupil.

Last, but not least...

I keep seeing signs up for WISD hiring bus drivers, and I am pretty nervous that my kids' routes are going to be screwed up this fall. When I was in kindergarten, I took the bus for three days. The bus driver got lost on the way to my house all three days. After that, I walked or got a ride. I WANT kids to be comfortable using the bus.

Yeah, lazy, hazy summer...

Michigan Radio, Michigan Schools

All this week, Michigan Radio is doing a series on Paying for Michigan Schools. I'm linking to the first piece in the series. (Depending on your browser, you might need to scroll down.)

One thing I learned today: the schools and state budgets used to be on the same calendar (starting July 1), until at some point--in a sleight of hand destined to make the state budget balance--the state legislature moved the state's fiscal year to October. Of course, they could never afford to go back.

UPDATE: Here is the link to the full series.

Six Things I Learned about the College Application Process Last Year

Note: The audience here is presumed to be the parent, although the information is good for students too...

1. There is a college for everyone, whether or not you have good grades. So don't panic. That said, once you determine what your "range" school should be (e.g., you think you should be able to get into MSU), apply to more than one of them! And for every "reach" school you apply to, apply to a "safety" school. The application costs only sound like a lot when you forget how much you will pay for college. In the case of my son, that meant two reach schools, two range schools, two safeties. Verdict? Admitted to ranges and safeties; waitlisted at reaches. That made me feel that this system works. (The key, however? Correctly identifying your "range" schools.)

2. Apply early! Yes, that means October. Not only does it improve your chances of getting in to the school you want, but it also makes the rest of the year much more pleasant.

3. Your mileage may vary. If financial aid offers are important to you, then "you'd better shop around." Small schools may give more money than large schools--and this could effectively neutralize the cost of going to a small private school. Some schools--Western Michigan, Indiana come to mind--advertise that if your GPA is X and your test scores are Y, you will get Z amount of merit money. And test scores do matter when it comes to racking up financial aid. Applying to more schools means you will be able to compare more offers--you might be surprised at the variation.

4. Despite that--before you decide that you must pay for Kaplan, Princeton Review, or a private test tutor, why don't you see how your child does on the PACT and PSAT? Or even on the ACT or SAT? You can retake those tests, you know. It may be totally unnecessary to pay for any tutoring at all. In my son's case, after he took the PACT, the ACT, the PSAT and the SAT, I decided to pay for three hours of a private tutor to help with the math part of the ACT. That ended up costing a lot less than a full course, and seemed to do the trick. Most of what he learned related to how to "read" (analyze) the test questions. I also heard the tutor telling my son the same things I had said. "Take your time, don't rush through the material." Somehow, when the tutor said it, it had some weight.

5. Before your student fills out the college application, have him/her make a list of all the activities she/he has done over the years. Think broadly--tutoring a neighbor? Sunday School teacher's aide? Working at Dairy Queen? Read over the essay questions. Expect a question about diversity, and remember that that question does not have to mean racial diversity.  Sure, you can discuss the essay questions and do some editing, but don't write the damn essay--it needs to be the student's work.

6. Work with the school counselor to get the best recommendation letter possible. At Community High, the counselors ask studentss to provide names of people whom the applicant thinks would provide a well-rounded picture of him/her. The counselors then email those people asking for a few sentences about said student, and that detail becomes the backbone of the counselor's letter. I really like this approach and wish more counselors would use it, because many times, students switch counselors partway through a high school career, and the counselor doesn't know the student from Adam.

OK, I lied in the title. Here's one more thing:

7. Despite what all of those education manuals will tell you, college is not for everyone, and certainly it's not for everyone just after they graduate from high school. There are many fabulous gap year programs. (I went on one many, many years ago and boy did it open my eyes.) There is a great big world to explore. And the world still needs electricians and plumbers.

Assorted Notes

Schools of Choice
Ann Arbor has a limited schools of choice open enrollment period again. That's because they didn't have enough kids apply in round one. It is only for students entering grades K, 1, and 6. It is for select elementary schools and all of the middle schools. Find out more here. Open enrollment period closes August 12th. Other school districts have broader schools of choice options available--check with the district for details.

Saline Schools Bond Vote
The Saline Schools bond lost by 153 votes--2782 to 2629, or 51.4% to 48.6%. This proposal essentially extended a millage that would have expired (and will expire, unless something changes) in 2025, in order to qualify for federal recovery funds (ARRA). I think it was probably hard to understand that it wouldn't cost anything immediately.

In any case, a friend of mine who lives in Belleville pointed out to me that all of the local school districts are coming around and asking for funding for infrastructure and technology costs. I believe that in Belleville (Van Buren schools, which draw a small number of kids from Washtenaw County) they are building, or have built, a new high school. "Now is not the time," she said.

It's worth looking at why these proposals seem to be becoming more frequent. I'll give two reasons, and there are probably more. 1) There are some projects (technology comes to mind), where funding could come from a bond issue, or from per-pupil operating monies. Since the per-pupil operating monies keep getting cut, it's not really an option to take money for these projects from those monies, and we cannot go to local voters and ask for an increase in per-pupil funding, thanks to Proposal A. In other words, it is a function of the state school funding climate. 2) In a competitive world of school choice, and a world where we like shiny new things, school boards and administrators believe that we gain a competitive edge with new and updated schools. In other words, parents will choose to enroll their kids in a school based in part on facilities and technology.
Do you agree? 
On the one hand, I think I learned perfectly well without computers or whiteboards in my classrooms--and I expect that I am not the only voter who wonders "do we really need" this technology? Couldn't we teach without it? (The answer is clearly yes.)
On the other hand, if you expect teachers to orient their teaching around technological innovations (which, increasingly, we do)--well, I can say that there is very little that is more frustrating for a teacher than having technology not work. If we want all kids to learn computers, we need to give them computers to use. And what about having a roof that doesn't leak? Heating and cooling systems that heat and cool?

The WISD Transportation Mess:
In the end, only three districts decided to join the WISD Transportation Consolidation Plan. Yes, that is the number 3 (Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Willow Run). Yes, they originally said they needed 5, minimally. I still don't have an answer on how the math works out for that. The WISD is now advertising for school bus driver applicants. Are we going to have a major snafu come September? It does seem likely. Other districts are trying some other ideas. Dexter is going to a one-tier bus system. In that system, school times are coordinated so that you only need to drive through a neighborhood once, rather than different times for elementary/middle/high school. The tentative schedule will be to have the school day running from 8 a.m. to 2:51 p.m. Lincoln bus drivers agreed to significant concessions.


Ypsilanti Superintendent:
Ypsilanti is evaluating new superintendent Dedrick Martin. Share your opinions with the Ypsilanti school board now.

Principals:
Did anyone notice that the new Ypsilanti high school principal resigned before he started? And there are four new elementary school principals coming in to Ann Arbor. Three of them are from out of district. Do we really not have the skills and expertise in the district to hire from within?

Adequate Yearly Progress:
The state Department of Education has determined that most public schools in the county have made Adequate Yearly Progress. According to David Jesse at annarbor.com,

The schools that didn’t make AYP were Ann Arbor's Stone High School, Lincoln High School, Ypsilanti High School, Willow Run High School and Willow Run Middle School. Coming off the AYP problem school list was Ypsilanti's Adams Elementary School.

If you want to see the school-by-school details, you can find them on the state web site here.
I'm curious: those of you with fairly recent experiences at the schools that did not make AYP, have you been satisfied with your children's education? I have heard that some of these schools are "great for kids who need second and third chances" but are not doing so well with kids who don't need them. Do you agree?

If you want to look at a school district that is doing well in state rankings with limited resources (they are on the low end as far as per-pupil funding amounts), I suggest you check out the Manchester school district.

Budget and Salary Transparency Reporting:

I just noticed that the Saline and Manchester and Ypsilanti schools have Budget and Transparency Reporting up on their web sites. Look for it on their home pages, in a link. It turns out that it is a state requirement, to have this information posted on the home page of the district's web site within 30 days. When I first looked, I didn't see it on the Ann Arbor web site. When I read the state's documentation, that says it needs to be up and on the home page, I went back again. It is in the weirdest place on the AAPS web site, almost "off the page" on the far, far top right.

School Board:
If you haven't read my last post about school board elections, please do!

Just Do It: Democracy In Action

Yes folks, that's right--it is time for you to consider running for school board. 

In fact, it is almost past time!

The filing deadline for the November 2, 2010 election is 4 p.m. on Tuesday August 10th. 

Applicants for any school board position in the county file at the Election Division, Washtenaw County Clerk Office, 200 North Main Street, Ann Arbor MI.

From the County Clerk:

Local School Board candidates, Community College Trustee candidates and District Library Board candidates who wish to seek office at the November general election file an Affidavit of Identity and a nominating petition. (A $100.00 nonrefundable fee may be filed in lieu of a petition.) Withdrawal deadline elapses at 4:00 p.m. on Aug. 13. (168.303; 397.181; 389.83, 152)

So--that's how you do it. Your local school administration office, and/or the county clerk, will be happy to help you with the details. 

For instance, in Ann Arbor, there are 5 seats up for election--two 4-year positions, one 2-year term, two 1-year terms. That is more than there have been in quite a while. There are at least two open terms in Ypsilanti, and...you get the idea. I didn't check every school district, but most of them have people whose terms end in 2010. 

And this is what I've been contemplating. There were more candidates than positions every time the Ann Arbor school board had an opening this year. And yet, when there was an information session earlier this summer about becoming a board member, only people who were already on the board showed up. What is wrong with this picture?

So why is it that when there is a board opening (which we saw in several school districts this past year), there are plenty of people who submit their names to be replacements for board members who resigned. We had some outstanding candidates! Some of them were chosen, some were not. [I am not implying anything about current board members. In my opinion, there were more outstanding candidates than there were positions. Isn't that what you want to see?]

And yet, in general, school board elections are rarely contested. Is the experience of being chosen (or not) through an election so much than being chosen by the school board itself? In an election, the people choose. 

It is not necessarily the best thing for a school board to choose its colleagues. I think it probably reduces the chance of having minority opinions. Aren't school board members more likely to pick people who agree with them rather than people who don't?


Demonstrate the democratic process! File to be a school board candidate.

And I'll tell you what--to sweeten the deal--any school board candidate is welcome to post a candidate's statement on this blog--how's that for generosity?

What I'd like to see is some competition! I'd like to see competing ideologies. I'd like to see a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds. I'd like to see a variety of skill sets. I want people with finance skills; I want people with education skills; I want people with experience lobbying Lansing; I want people who know about child development. I want people who don't have a "hard" skill set, but who play well with others. I want people who care exceedingly about the education of the kids in their community. 

So--if you think that describes you, why not throw your hat in the ring?

If You Think Education Matters...

Then please remember to vote Tuesday, August 3d!
Information about the Saline Schools bond issue is here.
Information about the gubernatorial candidates is here. (Information from the League of Women Voters.)

I'm voting, in the Democratic primary, for Virg Bernero. I don't think that Dillon's really worked to support education--instead he let the Republicans set the agenda. (And he's anti-choice, too.)

Now...

The Valedictorian's Unschooling Speech

You may find it ironic that a valedictorian speaks out against schooling (I did), but it is a compelling speech. The speaker was Erica Goldson, and the speech was delivered at Coxsackie-Athens High School on June 25, 2010.

Thinking About News: Part III

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

Part III: What I found out about myself and my family, and our relationship to news and information

We always knew that news was important to us. In the past year, we've increased our donations to four local NPR stations: WEMU, WUOM, WKAR and WDET. We started subscribing to the Detroit Free Press--a paper that, it turns out, I like very much--in both its print edition and its web incarnation. We're thinking about subscribing to the New York Times. We are supporting the Ann Arbor Chronicle. We tried an annarbor.com subscription--we have let it lapse, but I might rejoin. We are still getting the Ann Arbor Journal for free. It is my 17-year-old who is saying, "We need to get the New York Times. We need a newspaper."

I really, really miss getting a Saturday paper. I've started calling the Sunday papers the "advertising injection devices." There are so many circulars in there! I think it's often half the paper, by weight.

I miss the obituaries. I do get the emailed annarbor.com obituaries, but it is not the same as the serendipity of reading an obituary about someone I've never met but did something really interesting, or the obituary that I read and thus find out that in fact, I do know the daughter (whom I only know by her married name). It's essentially a list, and if your name is John Smith, well--are you the John Smith I know?

We all spend way more time on the computer, checking numerous news sources (yes, I check annarbor.com and the Ann Arbor Chronicle just about every day), and sports blogs. Think it's so fun to have three people in a room, all on different computers? I think sharing the paper is more fun.

I don't read on the computer the same way that I read a newspaper. I picked up a New York Times at the airport, and I read all the little articles. When the Free Press comes, I read the entire sports section--even golfing! (Maybe that is a sport you are fond of playing or watching. My point is, I am not.)
Many (actually, most) of my friends seem somewhat disconnected from the local news, relying entirely on WEMU or WUOM for their local information, unless they are specifically referred to an article in the Ann Arbor Chronicle or annarbor.com.

What are the implications for the community?
This community--by which I mean Washtenaw County--has multiple news sources, but is not being well-serviced for news. I don't have the time to check a zillion different news sources.
Since I have spent most of my life in the nonprofit world, I have two things to say. First, I think most nonprofits cannot figure out the best way to get news out about their work. The venues for self-promotion are not so obvious. That is true for educational organizations too. Saline schools have multiple blogs and they have started tweeting. The Ann Arbor schools hired a journalist to write newsy pieces to distribute--to a limited audience. I believe that EMU has beefed up its public relations staff. Is this really just a way to transfer news costs from news organizations to other organizations? Are more press releases being "printed" as is? (The answers to those rhetorical questions are yes, and yes.)

Second, I realize that annarbor.com and the Ann Arbor Chronicle and the Ann Arbor Journal (all the Heritage papers) are for-profit organizations. So is the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, the New York Times, the Washington Post... you get the idea. I'm not critical of that--there are entrepreneurs in my family, too.

The question is: is news really a public service? And if it is, how do we deal with that? 

In the nonprofit world, the approach to this would probably be something along the lines of a "Community Conversation." Bring the key people together to answer the question,

What do we need in this community to be well-served by news?
How do we keep an eye on our public bodies?
How do we get there?

It's not always a successful process, but at least it sets out a vision. That is how we end up with documents like the Blueprint on Aging and the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. Some of those things actually do get implemented.

For many years (I think over 100), we didn't have to think about these questions. We relied on the Ann Arbor News. They've closed. I'm over it.

But now? We need vision(s).

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.

Thinking About News: Part I

It's been about a year since the Ann Arbor News closed. In its last few years, the News had been the subject of much disinvestment, and the paper was in a sorry state, as far as I am concerned. This post does not (directly) compare the News to the .com. Rather, it (tries to) ask and answer the questions:

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

A year of annarbor.com: What do I think so far?

This does get rather critical. So I want to state, at the outset, that I am not critiquing the work of the reporters (or "digital journalists," gag, gag). Seriously, I think that on balance their work has ranged from good to excellent. It's just that there are not enough of them. Really, what did we expect? I see that annarbor.com advertises something like 35 journalists, but my count is a little different (and based on their Contact Us web page). Eight news reporters (local, business, entertainment) and five sports reporters. With the number of changes going on in education alone, Washtenaw County should probably have several education reporters. Given that the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University are huge economic engines for this county, having one higher education reporter is not enough. I'm not even sure that there are enough sports writers--but at least the balance is a little bit closer. Every time someone goes on vacation, or there is a "special report" (for instance, David Jesse and Tina Reed did one on poverty in Washtenaw County), they get pulled off their regular beats to do that--and there are not enough general reporters to cover--or to do those special reports. Juliana Keeping, the higher education reporter, got pulled to write a story about the Washtenaw County Road Commission just the other day.

Yes, I realize that there are some "producers," "copy editors,"  "community staff" and others that do some writing, but they are not  primarily reporting. Nor should they be. Editors have different jobs.
One of the great lacks of annarbor.com is in copy editing. If I read another article where the person's name is wrong (or different in two places), where Ypsilanti is spelled wrong, where a location is misplaced...and the correction is pointed out by a commenter...what is wrong with that picture? It is completely sloppy work. That is the job of a copy editor! I sometimes wonder--does everything get copy-edited before it gets posted? (I don't think the answer is yes. But--if the answer is yes, then my opinion is that it's not done very well.)

The name and the acorn are just poor choices. I thought I would get over it, but quite honestly, I haven't. Well, logos can change over time. But the name... here is my problem. Our town, Ann Arbor, is comprised of two words, with two capital letters. There is a space between the first word and the second. Web sites typically run words all together without capitals. When you get the print version of the paper, they print it as Ann Arbor.com (yes, space, capitals). On the web site, it says ANN ARBOR.com but that won't get you to the url, which is: annarbor.com. If you should happen to find it at the end of an article, it looks like this annarborcom. 

And I noticed that when they post a link, they write it as AnnArbor.com, as in this sentence lifted from their web site:

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at...

As an editor and an English teacher, and (I guess) as a blogger, I find this stylistically confusing and wrong.  I will quote that slim classic, EB White's Elements of Style, here:

It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the  rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually  find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of  the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably  do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, to  write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him look, for the  secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature. (Emphases added.)

My point is this: choose a style that makes sense (even if it violates the rules of rhetoric) and stick with it.  I know this could be hard, because the .com at the end of Ann Arbor didn't really make sense as a name from the start.

Regarding the "hyperlocal" focus: That's all well and good, but my interests don't stop at the borders of the city. In particular, I feel keenly the loss of Michigan news. When the state's legislators are discussing education funding, I want to know what they are saying. Why should I have to visit the Lansing State Journal web site to find out?  If something important happens in Grand Rapids, might that be of interest to me? Isn't annarbor.com affiliated with MLive and Booth newspapers? Since MLive has reporters that actually cover the Capitol (including the outstanding commentator Peter Luke), and reporters that cover Grand Rapids, why not make it easy to link to their feeds?

What about the annarbor.com blogging?
I think this has been a partial success, and the part of the paper where it seems like evolution has made sense. I see that the bloggers are now a smaller part of the paper, and that's good. Some of the bloggers are very good. In addition to "lead blogger" Ed Vielmetti (from whom I have learned a lot about the FOIA process and the possibilities of blogging), I have loved reading educators Jeff Kass and Scott Dzanc Beal (who works with Dzanc Books--talk about my own need for copy editing!), and I recently linked to excellent articles by Annie Zirkel and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang. They are not the only good bloggers by any means.

I have two complaints about the blogging. First, they suffer from the same problem as some of the reporting: not enough copy-editing. Some of the bloggers are excellent writers...others are not. Copy editing (and general editing) would make a big difference. Second, if you look at the "Contact Us" page, there are many bloggers who have not blogged in months. In fact, there are bloggers still on the list who have publicly stated on their own (home) blogs that they are not going to continue contributing to annarbor.com as a blogger. That's fine--but why does annarbor.com persist in listing them? I think it is probably to make the staff list look larger. I would encourage annarbor.com to make it an accurate list of current bloggers.

How long should articles be?
My ninth grade English teacher introduced me to the (somewhat sexist) explanation, when asked that question about a required essay, "Like a woman's skirt. Long enough to cover the subject, short enough to make it interesting."  So in case you are wondering, if you have read this far into this post, we are at somewhere between 1100 and 1200 words. And you are still reading. Annarbor.com may or may not have told their reporters that they had to keep their articles short (my money is on yes, although publicly annarbor.com has said no, they haven't), but I tested a few articles out, and most of them are 300-400 words.  Articles on the Free Press web site, by comparison, tend to range from 300-600 words or more, and it's easy to go to the related articles because they are listed clearly.

On annarbor.com, that is not so true. The search function is terrible. The site now holds a large volume of material, but try to find it. Is there a way (for a non-tech savvy person, a "regular Joe") to find articles that were written within a certain date? How about for a certain subject? With a particular "tag?" Want to find related articles? For instance, suppose you know about a certain crime and you want to know if there was a follow-up article written--can you find the article? There are people who organize things like this. They are called librarians, and many of them are trained in digital media organization. If you are going to an all-digital format, that doesn't mean you don't need organized archives. You need them more than ever.

Sure, there's more to critique. I would like to see more photographs. I would like to be able get an overview of the articles that there are to read when I glance at the front page (see freep.com or nytimes.com for examples). I don't really care what the journalists look like but I would like to know if it's really just a link to an AP article, another news source, or homegrown writing. (That's still not always clear.) As far as layout, I assume it's a design that is driven by trying to sell ads, but I don't find the ads very attractive and I know I miss articles I would like to read because they are not "featured." When it comes to layout, especially, I assume that there is going to continue to be evolution. I'm told that it's still a Work In Progress.


In Part II, 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. I could have used other subjects (government, business...) but this is, after all, an education blog.

Ancient Knowledge, Modern Knowledge

You may remember that I have been following the happenings at the landslide-created Attabad Lake on the Hunza River in northern Pakistan (Gilgit-Baltistan) ever since I was introduced to them by Dave's Landslide Blog. In fact, I wrote about the dramatic occurrences, in a land far away, at the end of May.

Recently, I was very interested to read a piece in the Pamir Times about how risks increase when ancient knowledge is lost.

In their interaction with local environment, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan have been able to acquire knowledge that was embedded in the geography. It is this knowledge which enabled local communities to survive in the harshest climate and terrain of the world with meager resources. The indigenous knowledge pervades every sphere of life in the traditional society. Isolated from knowledge of the outside world, the inhabitants had to rely on indigenous knowledge, gained through experience, and perfected through trial and error.

This scribe [the piece's author, Aziaz Ali Dad] visited Ghich village in district Ghizer last year. This village faced death and destruction in a flash flood in the summer of 2006. The old people shared their knowledge about dealing with an approaching flood, landslides, formation of artificial lakes, relocation of settlements etc. Farzand Shah, a shepherd, said ‘there was no system to transfer that knowledge to the new generation.’ The local community was more vulnerable because it neither had traditional knowledge nor modern technology.  (Emphasis added.)

He continues with an example:

Most of the old settlements in Gilgit-Baltistan contain houses concentrated in the ‘kot’ or fort settlement as a safeguard against threats from nature as well as human beings. The settlement around the fort is safe from rock falling, avalanche, flood and human invasion. This pattern is visible across Gilgit-Baltistan...With the passage of time growing populations started to spread from the nucleus settlements of the fort to open areas defying the barrier between human settlement and nature. Cultural ethos also plays a crucial role in rebuilding of risks.

I think that is probably true for communities everywhere. Our educational systems don't really accommodate the transfer of traditional knowledge.

The people of Gilgit-Baltistan are minority populations in Pakistan, with their own ethnic identities and languages. One of these languages is Wakhi. Wakhi is an Indo-European language, a branch of the (south)eastern Iranian languages.

In any case...it is an ancient language that is endangered and is getting used less and less. So I find it interesting that some people are trying to use modern technology to teach this traditional knowledge. Witness this blog: Let's Learn Wakhi.

To I.B. or Not to I.B., That Is the Question

I've been reading that International Baccalaureate programs may be coming to Washtenaw County. I wrote about the programs before here.

Take, for instance, this article from Dexter's Squall newspaper, written by Brittany Martini (Squall co-editor) and featured in annarbor.com on March 13, 2010--it features the process that Dexter High School is going through in preparation for switching from a school with AP classes to a school with an IB program.

Tentatively, in the fall of 2011, juniors and seniors will have the opportunity to either enroll in International Baccalaureate classes or enter an IB program and eventually receive an IB diploma... Dexter High School currently offers Advanced Placement (AP) classes to upperclassmen, but, according to [social studies teacher Susan] Walters, there is a definite difference between the two.“In terms of students, IB classes offer an opportunity for them to earn college credit, just like AP.... Also, the more challenging and greater variety of courses we can provide for students, the richer our curriculum will be.
"Students who take individual IB classes can test for college credit; students who only take IB classes during their junior and senior years can earn enough credits to enter college with sophomore standing or close to that.”
Besides a different approach to the test, IB and AP classes differ in price as well. 
According to Pam Bunka [Fenton English teacher]... Fenton recently adopted the IB program and has seen elective enrollements fall because of this adoption...The IB test is approximately $224 dollars, which is significantly more than the AP test.”...“The IB program allows students no room for electives,” Bunka said. “The electives a student in the diploma program has to take must be IB-approved classes. This means they can not take a band class; they have to take a band theory class instead. This applies for art classes as well. A student would have to take an art theory class instead of a regular art class."...
The IB diploma program forces students to take only IB classes...Regardless of the potential benefits and drawbacks from the program, whether DHS will become an IB school is still up in the air.

 At the same time, the WISD is looking at creating an IB program in East Middle School.  [Sarcastic side notes: 1) The WISD apparently doesn't have enough to do with taking on the "countywide" transporation; and 2) isn't it so convenient that Ypsilanti happens to have an empty middle school that could be used. Oh, but "no decisions have been made." OK, sarcasm over.]
Seriously, I am open-minded about the IB program, and I don't know much about it, but I want my questions answered.

According to this June 30, 2010 article by David Jesse,

"The Washtenaw County Superintendents Association has been talking about adding an IB program at the high school level for much of the last school year.
“This spring, they voted to move ahead with the planning of a countywide magnet high school using the IB Diploma Program, beginning with a target of 150 students with a goal of up to 600 students by year four,” Allen said."

 It happens that this article sparked a lot of comments, which I will get to in a minute. My basic problem is that I still didn't know what this program is/was.  Luckily for me, the New York Times posted an article a few days later that at least explains the details. 

The lesser-known I.B., a two-year curriculum developed in the 1960s at an international school in Switzerland, first took hold in the United States in private schools. But it is now offered in more than 700 American high schools — more than 90 percent of them public schools — and almost 200 more have begun the long certification process.
Many parents, schools and students see the program as a rigorous and more internationally focused curriculum, and a way to impress college admissions officers.
To earn an I.B. diploma, students must devote their full junior and senior years to the program, which requires English and another language, math, science, social science and art, plus a course on theory of knowledge, a 4,000-word essay, oral presentations and community service. (Emphasis added.)

Translation: devoting their full junior and senior years means no electives.

According to the New York Times article, the most common opposition comes from a belief that it is too internationally-focused (follows a "United Nations agenda"),  and the cost.

Others object to its cost — the organization charges $10,000 a year per school, $141 per student and $96 per exam — and say it is neither as effective as the A.P. program nor likely to reach as many students.

 Side note: I like the idea of a United Nations agenda.

 The Times article also looks at a school implementing the program in Maine:

Because it is so rigorous, the I.B. is not for everyone. At Greely, only 21 juniors started the full program this year, and three subsequently shifted to a mix of I.B. and regular classes. But those who stayed with it seemed enthusiastic. “It’s like a little club of scholars,” said Maggie Bower, a junior.

 In the comments on the Annarbor.com article, I thought there were some really good questions, which I will aggregate here:

Will the teachers at the IB program have to move from their current school district in Washtenaw County to the ISD? Will there be countywide busing available? How will students be selected for the program, using standardized tests or recommendations and grades? And, will students who attend the program be able to play sports at their "home school" or will the IB program also offer a sports program as a comprehensive high school? Is this just another way to funnel resources to elite students? How would this compete with the new High School program the Ypsilanti district is planning for the former Ardis elementary building? Will teachers remain employees of their home districts? How will districts fund this, and what will it cost them? How is the WISD going to be held accountable to the local voters? Will this program "cream" the most motivated students from each district, leaving fewer options for those left behind? How much money for renovations to a school building, and what will that cost/where will the money come from?

And I have a few more questions:
What kind of impact would this have on electives--music, art, gym?
What kind of impact would this have on after-school activities--theater, sports?
What kind of impact will this have on smaller schools in the county--for instance, Manchester, Willow Run, Whitmore Lake--will it mean they have to cut sports programs because they don't have enough enrollment to support them? Will this support disinvestment in local schools?
How do we keep the Washtenaw Intermediate School District accountable?
Why is the IB program preferable to AP?
We already have the Early College Alliance, connected to EMU (as well as the charter school, Washtenaw Technical Middle College). With both of those, students end up with actual college credits. Why is the IB program preferable to expanding these (ECA and WTMC) programs? 

Is there anything that I missed? Add your questions below.

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.

The Long Tale: A Few Links I Missed

I posted a few links, but in the last two days I remembered (or discovered) a few more that I wanted to share.

Just for fun: Summer cartoon from the Saline Superintendent's blog.

Is there bias in foster parenting placements? By the way, I don't know the author of this blog, and I believe she lives on the East Coast, but I feel like I should know her. 

I found these two posts about families with children with special needs both moving and interesting: Annie Zirkel's post about fences here and Heather Heath Chapman's post about her sister's Asperger's Syndrome here.

Another contributor from Annarbor.com, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, has written two posts I want to share. The first one I characterize as brave because she took so much flak from the commenters. (That would be: Why Are People Not More Upset about the Achievement Gap than the Field Trip?)As for the second one--anyone with an "unusual" name can likely relate to it.

[Boy did it take a long time to find those annarbor.com posts--their search engine might be powered by Google, but it doesn't seem to work very well.]

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about branding and marketing in public versus private schools. John Sowash of the Electric Educator blog picks up on that (and links to my post). He uses a normal distribution curve (I'm referring to statistics, here) to discuss the "types" of students/families and schools, and the role of niche marketing and choice in an internet-available world. I don't agree with the entire post (especially the parts about whether online education is good), but I'm still thinking about which parts I agree with--and thinking is good, right? (And I really liked the name of the post: The Long Tail, which refers to the "tail" of a distribution curve. Because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I have named this post The Long Tale--even though this post is not really all that long.)

My friend was asking me about the School Aid Fund budget. Michigan's Children publishes Budget Basics. One came out today on school funding. Maybe it will answer some of your questions. You can get on the list to get them emailed to you.

Links to Make You Think

An analysis of special education issues in New Jersey. I know, it's not Michigan, but what I found especially interesting is just how variable the percentage of students diagnosed with special eduction needs is, state to state. Why?

From National Public Radio's On Point, a discussion of the ramifications of laying off so many teachers nationwide.

Tonight, while watching the Tigers game on the television, I saw an ad for Cornerstone Schools. I was curious, so I checked it out. Cornerstone Schools is a private school with a Christ-centered mission (their words, not mine) in Detroit. That's all well and good, but they have spun off two charter schools. Read this article, and you--like me--will likely worry about the division between church and state in charter schools. I don't really get it, and I don't really believe there's much separation going on here.

I generally like Kym Worthy, but jail time for missing parent-teacher conferences? Come on! Don't we have enough people in jail as it is? Let's start with offering more opportunities for parent-teacher conferences, okay?

And, as usual, Sharon Parks of the Michigan League for Human Services has a stellar blog post--in part about foster care--focused on the state budget. Is state government unraveling?

Why Word Choice Matters

Apparently, at the last minute, Thomas Jefferson changed a word in the Declaration of Independence. Today, we call ourselves citizens, not subjects.

According to this article in the Washington Post, the Library of Congress used spectral analysis to figure out that Jefferson made this change in word choice while the ink on the paper was not yet dry. 

Here is a description of the process they used. And here is the Library of Congress press release.


Citizens, not subjects--that has made all the difference. Happy Independence Day!