Photo courtesy of Jeremy M. Lange; The New York Times

Dear Friend of MeckEd,

At last Tuesday’s CMS school board meeting there was a powerful and passionate presentation from a small group of teachers participating in the Talent Effectiveness Project teacher working groups.  The energy, enthusiasm and professionalism of the teachers was encouraging, and will serve as a guidepost for professional development and school improvement efforts in CMS.  I strongly encourage you to view their presentation and become inspired by their work.

Read the February 22nd e-Newsletter

President Barack Obama, in his recent State of the Union address, urged every state to set the dropout age at 18. The administration recognizes that allowing students as young as 16 to make that life-compromising decision is a policy that makes little sense. In a globally competitive world, pursuing advanced training beyond high school is no longer optional as it was for previous generations.

North Carolina education leaders have sought to increase the dropout age from 16 before, and should try again. It would send another signal to students, parents and others about the critical importance of staying in school and graduating. While this effort is significant, no one should believe that simply changing the state’s compulsory attendance age is sufficient.

Far more important than requiring students by law to stay in school is ensuring that school is a place they want to be, and helping young people understand that education is something they need. Schools must be engaging and challenging at the same time that they are supportive and personalized. In a word, they must be excellent.

Students must see the relevance in what they’re being asked to learn, and they must have opportunities to make connections with the real world they enter upon graduation. In this ever-changing economy, we must prepare our students for jobs that don’t even exist today, and we will do this only by developing new opportunities for students that reflect 21^st century realities. The latest dropout data for North Carolina, released earlier this month by the State Board of Education, provide fresh evidence that these kinds of educational opportunities are helping keep students in school. The dropout rate for Guilford County Schools has continued to improve and remains below that of all other urban districts in the state.

But focusing on the dropout rate doesn’t tell the whole story. While a student staying in school is certainly critical, those same numbers don’t tell us whether that student graduated, or was well prepared to tackle college classes, advanced training, or an entry level job. Those numbers don’t tell us whether a student demonstrates perseverance, knows how to use new information technologies well, or works collaboratively as a member of a high-functioning team in an environment characterized by constant change.

To prepare students for college and/or the career of their choice, Guilford County Schools (GCS) has focused on reshaping its traditional, comprehensive high schools and on opening different avenues to spur greater student success and engagement, including early/middle colleges, academies, and a new service-learning initiative. The district’s eighth early/middle college opened this school year and focuses on health sciences, and the newest early/middle college, to open this fall, will emphasize science, engineering, technology and mathematics.

The state’s graduation data provide evidence that these innovative approaches are making a real difference. In the 2010-11 school year, eight schools in GCS – all non-traditional high schools – achieved a 100 percent graduation rate, and nearly all non-traditional high schools had graduation rates above 95 percent. Overall, the district’s graduation rate has risen every year since 2006 and remains above the state average.

Not only are our schools working hard to keep students in school by keeping them engaged and well supported, they’re making sure that students understand there is no alternative to graduating and that learning is a life-long endeavor.

The kinds of results we are seeing in GCS are the sum of many parts – from hard-working educators to a supportive community united by a vision of educational excellence for all students. While GCS acknowledges the district’s low dropout numbers, we celebrate the thousands of students each year who walk across the stage, receive their high school diploma and enter the next phase with the confidence and skills to succeed and make a difference.

Ultimately, it comes down to setting high expectations and making sure that students are empowered with the skills, knowledge and strength of character to reach them. In this equation, age doesn’t matter nearly as much as the level of educational excellence our students receive.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The push to split the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District into three parts is once again gaining ground.

Tom Davis says the CMS system is broken.

“Supersize this, supersize that, all of a sudden your quality starts suffering because you’re trying to do too much, ”he said.

That’s why he is leading the group called SPARK, which stands for Strategic Partners for Accountability and Reform of Key educational performances.

Simply put, they want to break the district up into three different school districts–one for the north, one in the middle and a third in the south.

“You’ve got one central office covering 500 square miles with 18,000 employees,” Davis said.

The group says the district is mismanaged and money is misspent, but not everyone agrees.

“I think by breaking up our district, I don’t see how that would help,” said Bill Anderson, Executive Director of Meck Ed.

Meck Ed is a non-profit, non-partisan watchdog group in Charlotte.

“I also think it’s very important that we think about the big picture, the long term picture in Charlotte. One of the great things when we recruit new businesses to town is that we are a consolidated school district,” Anderson added.

But he says he understands what’s at the heart of SPARKS push.

“I think people want to make sure they’re voice is being heard, they’re children are being taken care of.  As a former principal, parents are not objective about their own children, nor should they be,” Anderson said.

SPARK wants to petition the state legislature.

Related Article: Sparking the Idea of Splitting Up CMS

Dear Friend of MeckEd,

Over the last week, there has been much discussion about two groups, SMART and SPARK, who are petitioning to break up CMS into smaller districts. In other local news, County Commissioner Harold Cogdell indicated county commissioners are reluctant to grant across-the-board three percent raises to all CMS employees and are interested in knowing where CMS stands with regard to a performance-based compensation plan. For the record, the commissioners approved across-the-board raises for all Mecklenburg County in fiscal year 2011. Cogdell: County Can’t Pay For CMS Raises

Read complete February 15th e-Newsletter

Too much of the public is missing from public education.

As a people, we recognize the economic value of education, but we under-invest in our schools, both financially and in terms of civic capital. With America’s students and schools facing unprecedented needs, and education budgets under enormous pressure, it is time to drastically ramp up civic investment in public education.

Our public school system — one of the great achievements of American democracy — is not just a service for the public to consume. It is a lifelong compact among Americans to continually renew our nation’s future, to be actively supported by all citizens, whether or not they have children of school age. It is vital to ensure a populace with the knowledge and skills to succeed in, and create, good jobs. Indeed, Americans view education as a core value as well as a key service, according to research by pollster Celinda Lake. So, what does civic investment mean, and why is it so important today?

“Take an informed interest, put in time, and get political,” the National Commission on Civic Investment in Public Education declared this year. It is essential for the American people to better understand the economic and civic costs of educational failure. While there are multiple challenges to creating an equitable system of quality public education, it will not be realized without the vigilant, knowledgeable and active support of the American people. They must demand and expect three things: educational excellence; accountability of elected officials and school leaders for quality education; and adequate financial resources for public schools.

Begin by being well-informed about what public education is — and is not — doing for our young people and our country. Citizens should learn what contributes to, and what hinders, a high-quality public education. They should carefully scrutinize candidates and education ballot initiatives and vote for ones that support and promote quality public schools. Civic investment means attending school board meetings and education budget hearings, and peppering elected officials — in person and in writing — with key questions: How do you plan to provide adequate funding for public schools? How do you support the goal of college-and career-readiness for every student? What do you think are the best ways to evaluate school and student performance?

This is already happening in some communities. But in a nation with more than 50 million K-12 students and 14,000 school districts, this kind of civic activity is essential for every community.

Active citizenship is critical because of the profound connections among education, the economy and our collective well-being. Poorly educated individuals fall behind in our society. Poorly educated nations fall behind in the world.

The corollary, as we see in many East Asian and Northern European countries, is that investment in education pays high dividends. As former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise said: “The best economic stimulus is a high school diploma.” An educated population means more rewarding, high-paying jobs, which pump money into the economy and build community strength.

Instead, we risk a vicious cycle of declining educational outcomes and declining economic fortunes. U.S. schoolchildren have fallen behind their counterparts in too many countries on too many indicators — math and science performance, timely high school graduation, knowledge of history and the arts, and in college readiness and matriculation.

At the same time, our economy has been stalled or going in reverse for too many Americans for too many years. The litany of economic problems is also familiar: anemic growth, joblessness, stagnant wages, too little productive investment, growing poverty, economic insecurity and rising inequality. The best long-term jobs and growth strategy requires that citizens speak out often, loudly and insistently for quality public education.

If we leave these educational and economic circumstances unchallenged, we will disenfranchise millions of children from the American dream, dilute our democracy and compromise our nation’s future.

It won’t be easy. State education budgets are being hit harder this year than at any time since the recession began in 2008. At least 46 states are reducing services, hitting children and the most vulnerable especially hard, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Thirty-seven of these states are cutting their K-12 education budgets this year — at a time when 1 in 5 children lives in poverty, 1 in 10 is without health insurance, and national school enrollment is up by a quarter-million.

The state funding crunch is likely to be made worse by the federal government’s fiscal problems and demands for budget cuts. The United States needs to get its fiscal house in order, but all budget cuts are not equal. Slashing education funding is a cut that just keeps on cutting. Educational opportunities denied mean foregone skills and knowledge, poorer career and life outcomes, and a weaker economy and nation for us all. If we choose not to properly educate our young people, we will suffer the consequences for generations.

Civic investment — being well-informed, voting, and keeping the pressure on officials to support quality education — is the alternative to public passivity. If we recognize that educational opportunity and success are foundations for a strong democracy and a thriving economy, we need to be engaged trustees of that most American of institutions: our public schools.

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Duncan started a busy day at Boston University where he discussed Race to the Top with Mass., Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester, superintendents, union presidents, and others. The Secretary then stopeed by J.F. Kennedy Elementary to visit Boston Public Schools’ Parent University. Following the visit, Duncan updated his Twitter account saying:

Later, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) joined Arne for the Emerson town hall and a meeting with college presidents on keeping college affordable for America’s middle class. The meeting on college affordability follows on the heels of President Obama’s recently introduced Blueprint for College Affordability. “[W]e’ve got to have an economy in which every American has access to a world-class higher education,” President Obama explained when he unveiled the blueprint. “This country has always made a commitment to put a good education within the reach of all who are willing to work for it, and that’s part of what helped to create this economic miracle and build the largest middle class in history,” he said.

Following his visit to Emerson, Duncan gave a speech at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education’s Askwith Forum, entitled “Fighting the Wrong Education Battles.”  Duncan encouraged education advocates to “seek common ground—knowing that it will both take you outside of your comfort zone and require tough-minded collaboration.” He said that we need to “stop defending the status quo when it hurts children. Let’s wage the right education battles. Together, let’s work collectively to advance achievement and a love of learning in America.”

Read the entire speech here.

Dear Friend of MeckEd,

It is that time of year again when budget talks have begun. CMS has evaluated its current budget and is formulating its budget request for the upcoming school year. In the next couple of weeks I will be making several presentations at local schools to engage parents and community members in the discussion around the 2012-13 CMS budget as part of MeckEd’s mission to inform and educate the community. I encourage you to attend one of our upcoming budget presentations.

Read the complete February 8th e-Newsletter

Education has been in the headlines frequently over the past week. President Obama touched on several education topics in his State of the Union Address, and Governor Bev Perdue, who has been pushing to temporarily restore three-quarters of the one-cent sales tax to prevent deep education budget cuts, announced she will not be seeking reelection. Her decision has many wondering how this will affect North Carolina’s public schools. Perdue’s Education Record Shows Three Years of Improvement

Read the complete February 1st e-Newsletter

Read the latest For Your Consideration

I once worked for CMS Superintendent John Murphy who encouraged his principals to go out and beg, borrow and steal good ideas from other school leaders.  While Dr. Murphy was a maverick and not always loved by all, he instilled in many of us a desire to learn from others who might be implementing innovative strategies to increase student achievement.  After reading Kay McSpadden’s January 7^th editorial about Finland’s stellar educational reform efforts and State Board of Education Member John Tate’s recent white paper on Finland’s measurable and long-term success, I am convinced there are several obvious lessons for the citizens of Mecklenburg County to heed as we move forward with a newly elected school board and with hiring a new superintendent.

A historical perspective is in order here. In the 1970s, Finland realized it was almost solely reliant upon its timber industry, which would not be enough to achieve true economic independence.  They figured the most lucrative and sustainable way for the country to get ahead economically was to invest heavily in their people, namely the education of their children, from birth to college graduation. Their results over the past forty years are stellar and cannot be disputed.  Finland now has an incredibly well-educated and highly trained workforce that fuels an economic engine that is the envy of many nations. In fact, Finland has ranked four times in the last decade as having the world’s most competitive economy, and their 15-year-olds have the top PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores in the world! How did they do it?

Lesson one: It takes time and a commitment of resources to truly turn around struggling schools.  It has taken the Finns more than 40 years to get where they are today.  Are we willing to forgo our American desire for instant gratification and reliance on the next political leader or superintendent to be our latest savior? I think not. In Finland, there are currently eight different political parties reflecting multiple political persuasions, but as a people, they are solidly united in their commitment to do right by ALL their children. Are we?

Lesson two is valuing our educators and treating teachers professionally.  After some 40 years of sustained effort and systemic improvement, Finland now recruits only the best and brightest college students to join its teaching force. Today, universities only accept 1 in 10 applicants to their highly selective teacher education programs. Once accepted, these future teachers undergo a challenging five-to six-year year course of study that, in the end, results in a master’s degree.  Once these rookie teachers leave the university, they are not thrown into the classroom to sink or swim alone, but rather they participate in a clinical year in the field with a seasoned mentor. Pay is another stark contrast among teachers in Finland and those here in the U.S.  If we were to compare 15-year teacher veterans in the U.S. with their counterparts in Finland, the Finns earn 102 percent of the average university graduate wage, whereas their American counterparts are earning a mere 65 percent. Ouch!

Lesson three is a decentralization of the curriculum. There is almost a complete decentralization of governance in the schools. In fact, the state only provides brief curriculum guides; the schools operate truly autonomously.  Teachers are provided adequate time to plan and collaborate with their peers, and it is estimated that the actual teaching load approximates to 60 to 80 percent of their American counterparts.  It appears the Finns pay their teachers well, hold them to high standards and they deliver.  Their teachers deliver a well-educated professional worker who will be a long-term taxpayer and independent countryman.  It should also be noted that their country is basically void of crime and corruption.

If we choose to borrow or steal some of these practices from the Finns, are we guaranteed to achieve the same results?  The answer is no.  If we continue along the same path of providing inadequate resources—hoping for quick fixes and undervaluing our teachers—should we expect different outcomes?  No.

While it has taken Finland almost four decades to climb to the academic heights they now have reached, we must look back to one of the most important first steps they took – elevating educational professionals through compensation, training and empowerment.  These are tools we can utilize here and now.  Let’s encourage CMS leaders to cultivate and allocate the finances to do so.

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