25 Years of Chartering: Looking Back to Lead Forward

Ember Reichgott Junge James N. Goenner, Ph.D.

Looking Back to Lead Forward 25 Years of Chartering

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Goals for Today

KIDS!!!

Reflect on the Charter Idea

Discuss What’s Working & What Isn’t

Learn & Grow Together

Have Fun!

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The Ideals of Public Education

•  All children should have access to a quality education regardless of family income.

•  All children should be prepared for happy and productive lives.

•  All children should be taught the rights and duties of citizenship.

•  Good schools help foster strong and cohesive communities.

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A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform

“The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and as a people.”

April 26, 1983

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How Did People Respond?

•  Some ignored it. Some condemned it. Others embraced it and initiated reforms.

•  Reforms included:

ü Demonstration projects to spread best practices

ü Restructuring and retooling

ü Mandates and regulation

ü  Threats and exhortation

ü More $$$$$$$

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What are the Lessons to be Learned?

1.  The pace of change in education is very slow. 2.  The educational crisis threatening our children and

our country has not been enough to cause dramatic improvements.

3.  Having a vision for educational excellence is not enough.

4.  Don’t put all your reform efforts into one basket. 5.  If student performance is going to significantly

improve, the educational system has to be redesigned.

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Who Has the Authority to Redesign the Educational System

in Your State?

The Governor and the Legislature

The exclusive franchise guarantees the district will always receive:

“This is a system that can take its customers for granted.”

Albert Shanker, American Federation of Teachers

Thereby providing adults with their:

Students and Funding

Jobs and Incomes

The Idea Behind Chartering… What’s the Problem with the System?

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“It’s unproductive and unfair to put people under incentives that are not aligned with the mission they have been given to perform. That leads to blaming the people for failures that are the fault of the system… We should stop blaming people. We should fix the system.”

Ted Kolderie The States Will Have to Withdraw the Exclusive


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People need compelling reasons and opportunities to take on the challenges associated with fundamental change. When people decide to change because it’s in their own interest, it’s more likely to be meaningful and lasting.

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The Idea Behind Chartering

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States should… 1.  Withdraw the exclusive geographic franchises given to school districts.

2.  Create ways to establish new public schools that create competition for existing schools and empower parents with choice.

These new public schools should… 1.  Be authorized by an entity that oversees and holds them accountable,

but unlike a school district does not own or operate the school.

2.  Be freed from unnecessary rules and regulations, in exchange for producing results.

3.  Be dually accountable: to the marketplace of parental choice and to the standards of the public interest.

CHARTER SCHOOLS

A strategy to improve public education and change its paradigm

by enabling the dynamics of choice and innovation.

What are the Lessons to be Learned?

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Lessons

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•  Front-Load: Complexity Is Deceiving

•  Start With the End in Mind

•  One Size Does Not Fit All

•  Opportunity to Align Goals, Standards, Assessment and Evaluation

•  Results Matter

•  Challenge of Rapid Growth

•  Closing a School Is the Ultimate Test

•  Surgical Strikes Are Better than Nuclear Bombs

•  America Is the Real Experiment

“When I go slow, I go fast.” — Chinese Proverb

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Paradigms Don’t Change Without Challenge

•  Political •  Media •  Legal •  Regulatory

•  Operational

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Changing the Paradigm

In Theory, Law, Policy, and Practice

v  From an “era of assignment” to an “era of choice”

ü  Removed the district’s exclusive franchise

ü  Funded students, not schools

ü  Created schools without boundaries

ü  Made schools dually accountability

ü  Empowered educators and families

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The Evolution of American Industry

1776–TODAY Dramatic change in every major industry imaginable … with the exception of schools.

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It’s Hard to Translate Ideas into Action

Policymakers often become frustrated with the complexity of translating ideas into legislation, and legislation into action.

•  Cohen (1982): “Intentions are an inconsistent guide to results.”

•  Elmore (1980): “The implementation problem” and the need for “foresight – reasoning through implementation problems before policy decisions are firmly made.”

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“Instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success. Instead of funding the status quo, we only invest in reform —

reform that raises student achievement; inspires students to excel in math and science; and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans, from rural communities to the inner city. In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education. And in this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential.”

— President Barack Obama

State of the Union Address 1/27/2010

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“ “ “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

Albert Einstein

“Public schools are the backbone of this country, . . . and as long as I am superintendent, charter schools will not be welcome in Detroit.” Detroit Superintendent Connie Calloway, Ph.D.,

as reported by the Detroit Federation of Teachers, June 11, 2007

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Lack of Public Understanding

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•  In a Gallup survey: •  39% believed charter schools are public schools •  50% believed charter schools were allowed to teach religion

•  60% believed charter schools can charge tuition •  58% believed charter schools can select students based on their abilities

•  Researcher Rick Hess wrote: “Fifteen years [into the charter movement], what most Americans ‘know’ about charters is factually incorrect. It’s not just that people are unsure or randomly incorrect—it’s that they are systematically incorrect in ways that paint charters in the worst possible light.”

•  These numbers are not an accident. Even in states where charter schools excel, the public thinks they excel because they’re private schools taking away money. Is it any wonder, then, that elected officials are able to impose caps, bar access to facilities and deny charter schools equal funding?

Reforming Education

Student Learning

Divergent Roads

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“ Charter schools are here. That's yesterday's argument. We're having the wrong discussion. We need to have a larger discussion about education. I'm open to good education for all kids.” — Heaster Wheeler, Executive Director of the Detroit Branch NAACP (as quoted in the Detroit Free Press, September 11, 2009)

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“It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.” — Winston Churchill

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Gallup, 2014

Of 12 professions, Teachers least likely to agree:

“My opinion seems to matter at work.”

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High-Performing Organizations

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•  Accept Owners •  Motivate •  Innovate •  Assess

Performance •  Share Purpose

•  Avoid Insularity •  Collaborate •  Function as

Learners

•  Lead Effectively

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Support for Teacher-Powered Schools

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21st Century Learning

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Innovation: Personalized Learning

+ Autonomy: Teacher-Powered Schools

= Results

“The call and need of a new era is for greatness. It’s for fulfillment, passionate execution and significant contribution.” — Dr. Stephen Covey, The 8th Habit

Changing the Paradigm:

“Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.”

-Dr. Stephen Covey The 8th Habit

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“If you do not change, you can become extinct.”

Who Moved My Cheese? “ “

THANK YOU!

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