issue: Education

Osborne and Langhorne for The Washington Post, “Who is Lewis Ferebee, D.C.’s New Chancellor?”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

After 11 years of centralization, Lewis D. Ferebee, the choice of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to be the next D.C. schools chancellor (subject to confirmation by the D.C. Council), will bring a fresh perspective to D.C. Public Schools. As superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools, his signature strategy was empowering principals and teachers.

Tall and bespectacled, Ferebee is an affable, soft-spoken leader with an easy smile and a low-key manner. A former public school teacher and assistant principal in his native North Carolina, he says his leadership journey began when, at 25, a superintendent asked him to become principal of his worst elementary school. “He gave me the keys and said, ‘Lewis, you have carte blanche authority. If anybody comes to you about a decision you made, have them come to me.’ ”

That autonomy was the key to his success, Ferebee says. “At the end of the day, if principals feel handcuffed, if teachers feel handcuffed, you’re stifling their creativity. Your best teachers are your most innovative and creative teachers, and they know their learners. So when you don’t give them the full opportunity to make informed decisions about what they know, you’re limiting the opportunity for them to be successful.”

Continue reading at The Washington Post.

Bellwether Education Partners’ Eight Cities: Exploring Urban America’s Most Successful Education Reform Efforts

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

As a strong proponent of 21st century school systems, Reinventing America’s Schools would like to highlight Bellwether Education Partners’ Eight Cities, a project that attempts to answer the question: “How do you build a continuously improving system of schools?”

The Eight Cities website, https://www.eightcities.org, profiles urban districts that have managed to get “more students into better schools, faster,” by implementing some combination of school-level autonomy, partnerships with charter schools, replacement of chronically failing schools, systemwide school performance frameworks, public-school choice, and strategies to recruit and develop talented teachers and principals.

Local context matters, and each of the eight cities profiled (Oakland, Chicago, Newark, Camden, New York City, Denver, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans) followed a unique path. And sadly, politics occasionally stopped progress in its tracks. But these cities not only grew the number of high performing schools at a faster pace than other areas, they also created education systems that continuously improved.

Their leaders shared some central beliefs, according to Bellwether:

  • Schools are the unit of change
  • Families should be able to choose what’s best for their children among a diverse array of high-performing schools
  • Systems should be responsive to the needs and desire of the communities they serve
  • Those overseeing schools should ensure that they don’t fall below a minimum quality bar

The big takeaway from Bellwether’s project is that systemic change that benefits all students is possible, even in the largest and most politically charged environments. We encourage you to explore Eight Cities and learn more about the nation’s most successful urban education reforms.

Welcome to Washington D.C., Dr. Ferebee!

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

This week, Mayor Muriel Bowser named Dr. Lewis Ferebee as the next chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools.

We at the Progressive Policy Institute have had the privilege and pleasure of working with Dr. Ferebee on several occasions. When working on his book, Reinventing America’s Schools Project Director David Osborne interviewed Dr. Ferebee, and Dr. Ferebee recently joined us as a panelist for our 21st century school system workshops in Baton Rouge and Memphis.

For the last five years, Dr. Ferebee’s work as superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools has served as an inspiration for those dedicated to empowering educators, expanding options for families and students, and closing the achievement gap. Throughout his tenure as superintendent, Dr. Ferebee pushed decision-making authority down to the schools and championed innovation. He ended the acrimony between the district and the city’s charter schools; created 20 “innovation network schools,” with full autonomy and accountability; expanded decision-making authority for all other district schools; created exciting new choices for families; and supported the implementation of a unified enrollment system for most district, innovation, and charter schools, to give all families an equal shot at quality schools. This fall voters rewarded his leadership by passing a $272 million tax package, the first in a decade.

Welcome to Washington D.C., Dr. Ferebee! We at the Progressive Policy Institute are excited to see what you and your staff can do to increase the number of quality public schools in D.C., particularly in the city’s poorest wards, where they are so desperately needed.

Osborne on The Report Card, “More Charters, or More Chartering?”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Reinventing America’s Schools Project Director David Osborne appeared on the  The Report Card, American Enterprise Institute’s education podcast hosted by Nat Malkus.

On this episode, Malkus and Osborne discuss the history of charter schools and the future of chartering. They also highlight some of the lessons learned and challenges faced by charter proponents over the last two decades.
Listen to the episode on The Report Card’s website.

America’s Resilient Center and the Road to 2020 – Results from a New National Survey

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) today released a national opinion survey that highlights the surprising resilience of America’s pragmatic political center two years into Donald Trump’s deeply polarizing presidency. The poll reinforces a key takeaway from the 2018 midterm elections: Suburban voters – especially women – are repelled by the president’s racial and cultural demagoguery and are moving away from a Trump-dominated GOP.

“Our poll suggests that Donald Trump’s election in 2016 is more likely to be an aberration than any permanent shift in America’s political course,” said Anne Kim, PPI Director of Social and Domestic Policy and PPI President Will Marshall. “The defection of suburban voters creates a political landscape that favors Democrats in 2020 – if they stick to the ‘big tent’ approach that proved so effective in the midterm.”

The poll conducted by Pete Brodnitz at Expedition Strategies contains findings about what’s top of mind for voters, their ideological outlook and leanings, and their views on health care, trade, growth and inequality, the role of government, monopoly and competition, and other contentious issues.

“The agenda that could help Democrats sustain a governing majority, our poll suggests, is one that is progressive yet pragmatic—one that’s optimistic, aspirational and respects Americans’ beliefs in individual initiative and self-determination; one that broadens Americans’ opportunities for success in the private sector and strengthens the nation’s global economic role; one that demands more from business but doesn’t cross the line into stifling growth; and one that adopts a practical approach to big challenges such as immigration reform and climate change,” write Kim and Marshall.

“For Democrats to maintain and expand this near-majority advantage, they must craft a broadly appealing agenda that brings or keeps independents and less committed partisans—the majority of whom call themselves ‘moderate’—under the tent.”

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Ritz for Forbes, “Victorious Democrats Should Thank Young Voters By Funding America’s Future”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

On Tuesday, Democrats won control of the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures across the country thanks to record-breaking turnout among young voters. Now it is time for newly elected Democrats to stand up for the interests of their constituents by supporting an economic agenda that funds America’s future.

The reckless policies of the current administration, and many of its predecessors, have slashed critical public investments that most benefit young Americans while simultaneously burying them and future generations under a mountain of debt. In a recent report, the Progressive Policy Institute documents these trends and explores how these reckless policies could drain America’s economic strength and seriously harm young Americans for decades if no action is taken to change course.

Continue reading at Forbes.

Langhorne for Forbes, “The ‘Dating App’ That Helps Teachers Find A Best-Fit School”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

After two years of teaching pre-kindergarten, Cristina Guadalupe was ready to transition to the elementary level. Dedicated to working with low-income students, she began applying to schools in underserved communities across Camden, New Jersey. She sent out application after application but heard nothing back.

“Each application took me hours to complete, and I couldn’t even be sure someone read it. It was getting hard to stay hopeful,” she says.

Then, she found Selected.

Launched in 2016, Selected is a hiring tool for schools, but Waine Tam, the app’s developer and company’s CEO, describes it as a “dating app for teachers and schools.”

Teachers fill out a profile where they relay their qualifications and experience. Then, they answer questions about desired school culture and pedagogical preferences.

 

Continue reading at Forbes.

Ben Ritz Discusses New PPI Report on Two Radio Interviews

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Director of PPI’s Center for Funding America’s Future, Ben Ritz, participated in two radio interviews this week to discuss his new report, Defunding America’s Future: The Squeeze on Public Investment in the United States. The report explains how short-sighted fiscal policy is undermining critical investments in education, infrastructure and scientific research that are integral to the long-term health of our economy. Read the full report here.

The first interview was on Facing the Future with host Chase Hagaman, which airs on New Hampshire’s WKXL radio station. Listen to the WKXL interview here.

The second interview was on Reality Check with host Charles Ellison, which airs on Philadelphia’s WURD radio station. Listen to the WURD interview here.

Langhorne for The 74, “From Troubled School to Turnaround to Texas ‘Teaching Lab'”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

“Good morning, scholars!” principal-in-training Jackie Navar yells, kicking off the community meeting at Ogden Elementary School, part of the 78207 zip code on San Antonio’s struggling West Side.

Hundreds of children echo Navar’s salutations.

“What’s a college-ready word for ‘good’?” Navar asks the room. Hands shoot up into the air: “Amazing.” “Fantastic.” “Great.”

“Excellent. Here’s a new one for you — ‘phenomenal.’ Can we all say that together?”

At Ogden, each school day begins with breakfast followed by community meetings like this one. Preschoolers eat in their classrooms, kindergartners through third-graders in the cafeteria, fourth- and fifth-graders in the gym, and sixth-graders upstairs. Ninety-eight percent of Ogden’s 650 students qualify as economically disadvantaged, and every one receives a free school breakfast.

“The community meeting helps our scholars start the day with a positive mindset,” says Tim Saintsing, executive director of teaching and learning labs at Relay Graduate School of Education, which was brought in to run the school after years of poor performance. “It lets students and staff reflect on our core values and our sense of self as a school. It gives us a chance to celebrate our successes and discuss our challenges.”

Today, a first- and second-grade class are being honored with attendance awards. As a prize, the students get to sing their homeroom chants, and then, in what’s known as a “thunder clap,” the room simultaneously brings their hands together once — loudly — in their honor.

“Remember,” Navar yells across the cafeteria, “If you miss school, you…”

“Miss out!” the kids shout back in unison.

It’s a vastly different atmosphere from the Ogden Elementary of 2016.

Continue reading at The 74.

Press Release: New PPI Report Explores Why Suburban America Needs Charter Schools Too

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

WASHINGTON—Despite dramatically improving academic achievement and performance in America’s urban areas, public charter schools have had difficulty expanding into the country’s more affluent suburban communities. A new report released today by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) investigates why.

Authored by PPI education analyst Emily Langhorne, the report analyzes the performance of existing suburban charter schools, explores how charter schools can benefit suburban students, and highlights why charter schools are struggling to expand into the suburbs.

“The spread of charter schools in suburban areas can create tremendous opportunities for families dissatisfied with the traditional neighborhood schools, whose children might do better in a system that offered a variety of educational models, specialized curriculum, and personalized learning,” writes Langhorne.

“In a thriving charter sector, one finds Montessori programs and other project-based models, dual-language immersion schools, schools that use computer-based learning in creative ways, competency-based schools, Waldorf schools, early college high schools, arts-focused schools, STEM schools, and more.”

However, three major factors are preventing schools like these from expanding into suburban areas, according to the report. These include: political barriers erected in states by teachers unions, who feel as though charters are in direct competition with local school districts; the overestimation of local public schools by suburbanites, despite evidence that suburban students are falling behind on international tests when compared to their socio-economic peers in other countries; and widespread charter school myths, misconceptions, and misinformation.

“Unfortunately, Americans overall—especially those who have been exposed to charters only through media coverage—still don’t understand how charter schools can benefit their communities because they don’t have a clear picture of what charter schools are,” Langhorne says. “Because of this lack of experience, upscale, suburban families have become susceptible to the well-trodden myths about the supposed dangers of public charters.”

For charter schools to take root in suburban areas, Langhorne argues, the narrative around them needs to change from one centered on creating options for low-income families to one that emphasizes creating innovative schools for all kids.

“The priorities of charter school parents in the suburbs are not the same as those in urban areas. For suburban parents, public charter schools aren’t usually a means to escape failing public schools; they’re an alternative to an education system that is not innovative, engaging, or specialized. Appealing to such parents means placing less emphasis on test scores and more on curriculum, less talk about failing schools and more about different learning models.”

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Why Suburban Districts Need Public Charter Schools Too

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

On November 8, 2016, while the rest of the world anxiously awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, a subset of voters with a keen interest in education had their eyes on Massachusetts. This was the day Bay Staters would vote on Ballot Question 2, a proposal to raise the state’s cap on public charter schools by up to 12 new schools per year.

Massachusetts is home to some of the highest performing charter schools in the country, with especially impressive gains at schools serving urban, low-income and minority students. In Boston, one of the eight districts in the state to have reached its cap on charter schools, students at charters learn the equivalent of an extra year of math and reading each year, when compared to their peers with similar demographics and past test scores at the city’s traditional public schools.1The local school district, Boston Public Schools (BPS), enrolls about 53,000 students in a city of about 77,000 students. Currently, public charters enroll only about 10,000 students, but there are more than 32,000 children on waitlists for these schools.

 

Osborne and Langhorne for The 74, “Where Politics Make Charters Difficult, 9 Tips for How Urban Districts Can Create Charter-like Schools – and Improve Their Success”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Over the past 15 years, the fastest improvement in urban public education has come from cities that have embraced charter schools’ formula for success — autonomy, choice, diversity of school designs, and real accountability for performance. To compete, many districts have recently tried to spur charterlike innovation and increase student achievement by granting their school leaders more autonomy.

District-run autonomous schools are a hybrid model, a halfway point between charters and traditional public schools. They’re operated by district employees, but they can opt out of many district policies and — in some cities — union contracts.

Our recent analysis of state exam scores from 2015 and 2016 in Boston, Memphis, Denver, and Los Angeles showed that public charter schools outperformed both traditional public and in-district autonomous schools on standardized tests in three of the four cities studied. In the one exception, Memphis, the district concentrated its best principals and teachers in, and provided extra funding and support to, its autonomous iZone schools.

However, when the political landscape makes chartering difficult, in-district autonomous models may be the second-best option. Districts can increase the success of these schools if they heed these nine lessons learned by the four cities in our study.

 

Continue reading at The 74.

Langhorne for Forbes, “An Unlikely Alliance: Here’s What Can Happen If Teachers Unions Embrace Charter Schools”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

For the past six months, education experts have speculated at length about the role of teachers unions after the Supreme Court decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Some argue that the inability to charge all teachers agency fees, even if they don’t join the union, will force the unions to focus more on the needs of teachers and less on influencing election results. Others suggest that to attract new members the unions will need to highlight and increase the professional development opportunities– continuing education, technology training, leadership conferences, etc.– that they offer.

While the loss of agency fees may hurt teachers unions in the short term, it clearly presents an opportunity for them to reinvent themselves, to evolve and find their place in 21st century education systems.

In Minnesota, two local union leaders have spent the better part of the last decade doing just that. In 2011, Louise Sundin and Lynn Nordgren helped form The Minnesota Guild of Public Charter Schools, a union-backed charter school authorizer created to oversee schools that promote teacher leadership and professionalism.

Continue reading at Forbes.

The Progressive Choice: Creating 21st Century School Systems

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Progressives have long understood that access to a quality education is the one factor that consistently and permanently changes the trajectory of a life. As such, creating a strong public school system has been at the epicenter of our decades-long struggle to promote equal rights and equal opportunity for all.

For many of America’s families of color, a public school education has historically been the path to the middle class. Unfortunately, America’s public education system is stagnant. Scores on the most widely respected test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), have been flat for a decade. Without transformation, our school districts will be unable to prepare students for the demands of the future, and our kids won’t be productive in tomorrow’s global workforce. As President Barack Obama said, “In a global economy, where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a prerequisite.”

It’s a prerequisite we’re not close to attaining. America’s public education system continues to function like one designed for the industrial era. While other industries have adapted to the Information Age and the global marketplace, most of America’s school districts remain trapped in a structural model of centralized decision making and top-down bureaucracy.

 

Kim for Washington Monthly, “Degrees of Separation”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Geography is a barrier to higher education for tens of millions of rural Americans. A few states have hit on an innovative solution.

fter graduating from her rural Pennsylvania high school in 2005, Tesla Rae Moore did what many, perhaps most American high school seniors today expect to do: she left home for college with her sights set on a four-year degree. But when she was a sophomore in nursing school at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, the unexpected intervened: she became pregnant with her son.

“It was a high-risk pregnancy, and I decided to stop the program,” she said. Moore returned to her hometown of Kane, a community of about 3,500 nestled at the edge of the Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania. At first just intending to take a break, she ended up dropping out. “I was going to go back, and then it was just one of those things,” she said. “Life happened.”

Moore didn’t lose her desire to return to school; she just couldn’t figure out how to make it work as the years went by and her family grew. “I’m a single mom, and the only income earner, so I couldn’t quit my job to go to school,” she said. “And if I took classes all day, I’d have to work at night, and who would take care of the kids?” Given her work and family obligations, Moore couldn’t fit in college unless she could attend classes nearby. But getting to Pitt-Bradford, the nearest four-year school, required a round-trip commute of an hour and a half. The nearest community college, in Butler County, was a two-hour drive each way. Moore didn’t have that kind of time to spare. Online-only classes might have been a solution, but Moore felt she needed more structure to succeed. “Especially for somebody that’s been out of school, it takes a lot of discipline,” she said.

A surprising number of Americans face the same problem Moore did. According to the Urban Institute, nearly one in five American adults—as many as forty-one million people—lives twenty-five miles or more from the nearest college or university, or in areas where a single community college is the only source of broad-access public higher education within that distance. Three million of the Americans in these so-called “higher education deserts” lack broadband internet, as well.

Continue reading at Washington Monthly.

Kim for Inside Higher Ed, “Higher Ed Solutions for Rural Students”

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

More states should consider creating rural higher education centers, writes Anne Kim, and colleges should embrace such centers as a way to help more students succeed.

Career Tech Academy at Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (Credit: Inside Higher Ed)

After graduating from her rural Pennsylvania high school in 2005, Tesla Rae Moore did what most American high school seniors today expect to do: she left home for college with her sights on a four-year degree. But when she was a sophomore in nursing school at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, the unexpected intervened: she became pregnant with her son.

“It was a high-risk pregnancy, and I decided to stop the program,” she said. Moore returned to her hometown of Kane, a community of about 3,500 in northwestern Pennsylvania. At first intending just to take a break, she ended up dropping out. “I was going to go back, and then it was just one of those things,” she said. “Life happened.”

Moore didn’t lose her desire to return to college; she just couldn’t figure out how to make it work. As a single mom, she couldn’t quit her job. Moreover, getting to Pitt-Bradford, the nearest four-year institution, required a ninety-minute round-trip commute. The closest two-year college, in Butler County, was a two-hour drive each way. Online-only classes might have been a solution, but Moore felt she needed more structure to succeed. “Especially for somebody that’s been out of school, it takes a lot of discipline,” she said.

Continue reading at Inside Higher Ed.