"Any Time, Any Place, Any Way, Any Pace!" (Digital Learning Model)

Schools of Choice bill coming

Legislature likely to get proposal this week as foes from Detroit, suburbs gear for fight

By CECIL ANGEL FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

   An education reform package that includes mandatory Schools of Choice and cyber schools could be introduced in the state Legislature as early as Wednesday, the chairman of the state Senate Education Committee said.

   “It’s a good possibility on Wednesday, the 24th, we’ll have part of the package ready for introduction,” said state Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township.

   The education package also addresses charter school caps and school aid. The package is part of Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed “Any Time, Any Place, Any Way, Any Pace” public school learning model.

   Education Committee hearings on the package will begin Sept. 7, Pavlov said.

   Mandatory Schools of Choice is emerging as the most controversial part of the education package.

   Opposition is strong in the heavily Republican Grosse Pointes. In heavily Democratic Detroit, three legislators have said they are opposed to state-mandated Schools of Choice because, they said, it will negatively impact Detroit Public Schools.

   “I don’t want the state to help usher children from one community to another at the expense of the community where they are,” said state Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, whose district includes the Grosse Pointes and part of Detroit.

   State Sen. Coleman A. Young II, D-Detroit, said every proposal out of Lansing that was supposed to help DPS has hurt it. He cited the 1999 state takeover that was supposed to improve the district academically.

   At the time, the district had 180,000 students, a $93-million fund balance and a $1.5-billion bond project. Under state control, DPS wound up with a $200-million deficit, he said.

   “I don’t think the state should be imposing another mandate on the city or any other city,” Young said.

   State Rep. Lisa Howze, D-Detroit, said mandatory Schools of Choice “would further impact DPS’s ability to stabilize.”

   Last week, the Grosse Pointe Woods City Council passed a resolution against mandated Schools of Choice.

   The Grosse Pointe Woods-based Michigan Communities For Local Control has set up a Web site at www.miclc.com   and is contacting other school districts to build opposition.

   Peter Spadafore, assistant director of government relations for the Michigan Association of School Boards, said the MASB has been talking with the Snyder administration and legislators about the bill.

   Based on the ongoing discussion, the bill likely will include “universal choice K-12 up to capacity. The problem is how to define capacity,” he said.

   Spadafore said the MASB is opposed to mandatory Schools of Choice. “We feel that decision should be made by the local school district,” he said. “By mandating Schools of Choice, it’s just a solution looking for a problem.”

21st Century Digital Learning Environments & Studios (2)

No News Here

Detroit education in spotlight

During 2-hour live MSNBC show, experts discuss expectations, problems in schools

By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

   The tone was optimistic and the interaction spirited Sunday as MSNBC presented a national show about public education live from Detroit.

   About 400 metro Detroiters gathered at the Detroit School of Arts in the city’s cultural center for the two-hour broadcast of “A Stronger America: Making the Grade.”

   The discussion, sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, took place within the Detroit Public Schools district that has drawn national attention during the past few years as the city experienced historic reform efforts and state intervention because of low test scores, high deficits and school closures. Panelist Wes Moore, best-selling author of “The Other Wes Moore” and a U.S. Army veteran, said the most nefarious gap in America is “the expectation gap.”

   The need to raise educational expectations became an often repeated theme for the afternoon.

   A panel of experts from around the country, flanked on stage by local parents and politicians, took on the huge topic of American education’s problems. Panelists included DPS emergency manager Roy Roberts, Telemundo anchorman José Díaz and comedian and filmmaker Robert Townsend, who recently released “In the Hive,” a movie about an alternative school in North Carolina.

   Led by MSNBC anchorwoman Tamron Hall and Jeff Johnson, contributor to Grio   .com  , the panel took questions on everything from early childhood education, higher education and teacher accountability to parental involvement.

   Panelist Ben Chavis, former director of the high-performing American Indian Public Charter School in California, fired up the energy in the conversation when he said the documented disparity between test scores and graduation rates by race — known as the achievement gap — is “BS.”

   “There’s no achievement gap in America,” he said. “There’s a preparedness gap.”

   The discussion turned to teachers, and Nefertari Nkenge, a 15-year teacher in New York and native Detroiter, moved Hall and others to a standing ovation with a passionate plea.

   “I want respect for teachers!” she said.

   At the end of the discussion, audience members said they hoped America learned something.

   “I hope that this is a catalyst,” said Lakshmi Ramachandran, a recent Northwestern University graduate who will teach this fall at Winans Academy charter school as part of Teach for America. “To encourage more conversation, encourage more action.”

   • CONTACT CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY:

   313-223-4537 OR CPRATT@FREEPRESS.COM  

Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Roy Roberts participates in “A Stronger America: Making the Grade.” Journalist Jeff Johnson, left, and author Wes Moore were panelists, too.

SUSAN TUSA/Detroit Free Press

Models our Practice (Real-world Learning by Doing!)

Sunday: August 14, 2011 12:00PM to 2:00PM (Channel #4 MSNBC A Stronger America: "Making the Grade")

Clickondetroit.com
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/28851709/index.html

Turn! Turn! Turn! (To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven)

Educators push for more online options

By LORI HIGGINS FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

   The Michigan Department of Education isn’t waiting for the Legislature to increase online options for students.

   The department released guidelines last month that allow more middle school students to take all classes online and some districts to open more virtual charter schools, among other changes that expand online options.

   The new guidelines are in response to Gov. Rick Snyder’s push for the Legislature to remove rules that cap some online enrollment. Although the MDE has the power to give districts flexibility, the Legislature would need to act to completely remove restrictions. “We agree with the governor that this is a good thing for students,” said Barb Fardell, a manager in the state Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation.

   Online education already is big in the state. The Michigan Virtual High School expanded to nearly 15,000 courses taken from just 100 a decade ago.

   Kimberley McLaren-Kennedy, 17, of West Bloomfield began taking all online classes this year at Avondale Academy in Auburn Hills. She has become a believer in online education.

   “It’ll work for students who have the motivation in themselves and the discipline,” she said. “But if they’re lazy, I don’t think it will work for them.”

KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press

   Kimberley McLaren-Kennedy, 17, of West Bloomfield takes all her classes online.

For students in need of options, online is a relief

New class guidelines expected to be a help

By LORI HIGGINS FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

   Allison Williams couldn’t make it through class without having an anxiety attack — a condition so severe she was in danger of dropping out of high school. But two years ago, the Shelby Township teen signed up for a program that allowed her to take her classes online.

   “It was the only way I was able to graduate,” said Williams, 17, who said the cause of the attacks has remained a mystery. The attacks all but disappeared after she began taking classes online from home. This spring, she graduated from Avondale Academy, an alternative school in the Avondale School District.

   The district is one of 171 — out of the 800 districts and charter schools in the state — that already provide expanded options for middle and high school students to take many or all classes online.

   New guidelines are going to make it easier for far more Michigan students to take all or most of their classes online — a response to Gov. Rick Snyder’s push for greater online educational opportunities.

   State law limits students to two online classes a semester, and the districts and charter schools that allow students to take more operate under special waivers from the Michigan Department of Education.

   But those waivers are limited, in most cases only allowing 25% of a school’s population to take all or most classes online. And since 2009, districts that wanted to offer online classes beyond the state limit have had to work through the Genesee Intermediate School District.

   The new guidelines issued July 7 by the MDE allow districts to apply for the waivers. Also new: The state’s 57 intermediate school districts can create virtual charter schools for up to 10% of students who reside in their geographic boundaries. Middle school students would be able to take all or most of their classes online. Districts would be able to offer courses in which 50% of the instruction is online. The process for applying for the waivers would be quicker.

   The MDE already has received a half-dozen applications from districts since the guidelines were issued last month. More applications are on the way, state officials said.

   “We want educators to have the flexibility to reach every student as we reinvent our education system that will allow students to learn any time, any place, any way, and at any pace,” said State Superintendent Mike Flanagan, who, by law, has the authority to issue the waivers.

   In April, Snyder called on the Legislature to remove existing enrollment caps on virtual schools and proposed every child in Michigan who needs — or wants — to take up to two hours of daily online education should be able to receive it.

   Snyder said school districts that embrace online learning, among other alternative methods, make the education system more cost-efficient.

   The Legislature has yet to respond to the proposal, and its action would be necessary to completely remove the existing restrictions and make the waivers unnecessary.

   Michigan falling behind?

   Michigan has a history of leadership in online education, but some people said they fear the state is losing its position as a top player.

   In the late 1990s, the state created the Lansing-based Michigan Virtual University, a nonprofit that runs the Michigan Virtual High School. It hosts online courses for students, teachers and administrators at the K-12 and higher education levels.

   In 2006, graduation requirements were changed to mandate that students take at least one online class or have an online education experience. And in 2009, news laws were enacted allowing for the creation of two K-12 virtual charter schools that teach students from across the state.

   Michael Van Beek, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank in Midland, said that despite that early leadership, Michigan is slipping behind other states because of the legislative restrictions.

   “It’s based on this old model of how learning happened when a kid was sitting in a particular seat,” said Van Beek, whose policy center issued a report earlier this year on virtual learning. “Students can learn in a variety of different environments.”

   Van Beek said online learning can be a cost-saver for districts , but only in cases where a student is taking a course a district isn’t already offering in a traditional classroom or a course that has been eliminated in the past and is no longer available any other way.

   He said Michigan should be like other states that have more open access to online education.

   Popularity of online programs

   Online programs have been a boon for students across Michigan.

   The Genesee Intermediate School District reports it had 14,447 courses taken in 2010. The ISD works with nine online providers to offer a range of classes for students.

   Some students are gifted and want to take additional coursework. Some students are behind and need to make up credits. In some cases, students take courses not offered by their school or courses that wouldn’t otherwise fit into their schedules. There are students facing pregnancy, illnesses, expulsions or who have difficulty succeeding in a traditional classroom.

   “Any number of real-life situations in children’s lives may cause them to have to be 100% away from the building,” said Beverly Knox-Pipes, assistant superintendent for technology and media services for the Genesee ISD.

   But she said online learning is not the complete answer.

   “Just putting a kid online doesn’t ensure success,” she said.

   The success of the existing programs that operate under state waivers succeed, for the most part, said Barb Fardell, a manager in the state Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation.

   For Kimberley McLaren-Kennedy, 17, a student at Avondale Academy, online classes provide a rare convenience. Not many teachers in a typical classroom will stop and repeat what they’ve said multiple times for students, she said.

   But with online lectures: “You can rewind and listen to what the teacher is saying as many times as you want to.”

   • CONTACT LORI HIGGINS: 313-222-6651 OR LHIGGINS@FREEPRESS.COM  

KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press

   Kimberley McLaren-Kennedy, 17, is a student at Avondale Academy, where she takes all her classes online. “You can rewind and listen to what the teacher is saying as many times as you want to,” she said.

21st Century Digital Learning Environments & Studios (1)

Just one example of an universally organic pedagogical learning environment

Flashpoint (Doug Ross0 6-17-11

http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/28561728/index.html

The Detroit Shapers of Things to Come

The GELT-ART of the LINCHPIN!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.




LINCHPIN by Seth Godin





A linchpin, as Seth describes it, is somebody in an organization who is indispensable, who cannot be replaced—her role is just far too unique and valuable. And then he goes on to say, well, seriously folks, you need to be one of these people, you really do. To not be one is economic and career suicide. 

No surprises there—that’s exactly what one would expect Seth to say. But here’s where it gets interesting. 

In his best-known book, Purple Cow, Seth’s message was, “Everyone’s a marketer now.” In All Marketers Are Liars, his message was, “Everyone’s a storyteller now.” InTribes, his message was, “Everyone’s a leader now.” 

And from Linchpin? 

"Everyone’s an artist now." 

By Seth’s definition, an artist is not just some person who messes around with paint and brushes, an artist is somebody who does (and I LOVE this term) “emotional work.” 

Work that you put your heart and soul into. Work that matters. Work that you gladly sacrifice all other alternatives for. As a working artist and cartoonist myself, I know exactly what he means. It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it. 

The only people who have a hope of becoming linchpins in any organization, who have any hope of changing anything for the better in real terms, are those who have the capacity to do “emotional work” at a high level—to be true artists at whatever they set their minds on doing. The guys who just plod around the office corridors, just turning up for their paycheck.... Well, those guys don’t have a prayer, poor things. The world is just too interesting and competitive now. 

And Seth then challenges us, the readers, to become linchpins ourselves. To make the leap. To become artists. To do emotional work, whatever the sacrifice may be. It’s our choice, and it’s our burden. Seth won’t be there to catch us if we fall, but to become the people we need to be eventually, well, we probably wouldn’t want him to, anyway. 

Congratulations, Seth. You have penned a real gem of a book here. Rock on. 

--Hugh MacLeod

AMC Conference 6-24-2011 (The Detroit Media Economy Collaborative's Youth Network)

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

WISDOM Underlined!

ROY ROBERTS ON DPS FUTURE

Every job, contract on line

He’s ready to trim — starting at the top

   Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Roy Roberts marched across his private conference room Wednesday morning and pointed to a whiteboard where he had drawn in black marker a chart showing the new top hierarchy for the school district.

   It had only seven jobs, down from the current 30.

   But we ain’t seen nothing yet.

   Roberts, the former General Motors executive who has been with DPS for only five weeks, said he expects to make massive employee cuts. He also plans to cancel and rebid every major contract in an effort to eliminate a $227-million deficit and run the city schools like a business — a business that will pay dividends to the community by successfully educating its children.

   Roberts, who said his prime mission is to fully educate children, said the district will keep only the number of employees it can afford, including all 4,400 teaching positions.

   “We’re the biggest employer in town. We need to figure out an organization structure,” he said in an exclusive interview. “We’re going to go through and say what’s needed in every functional area and every job under that functional area. And we’re going to put a name on every job. And when we run out of jobs, those left over are excess people.”

   Regarding contracts with DPS, he said, “a lot of people had set up a little industry inside of this company. We’re going to stop it. We’re going to take every contract, every major contract that is in here, and we’re going to cancel it and ask people to keep working with us for 60 days. And we’re going to bid it. That’s the only way we’ll get the best price.”

   New statewide district

   The revelations came two days after Roberts joined Gov. Rick Snyder in announcing that some of Detroit’s worst-performing schools would be assigned to a special statewide district to help them improve. Roberts praised Snyder for understanding that Detroit is the state’s largest city and for helping people understand that Michigan cannot succeed without Detroit succeeding.

   “I was a county commissioner, city commissioner and I’ve been a Democrat all my life,” Roberts said, “and a Republican called me and said, ‘Michigan runs through Detroit, and if I don’t help get Detroit on the right track, then I can’t reinvent Michigan. And the biggest single problem I have in Detroit is the Detroit public school system.’ … Every time we talked, it was about educating the kids first.”

   Snyder also announced that Eastern Michigan University had signed on as a partner in the agreement to create the Education Achievement System because the agreement needed two government entities to create a statewide one. Responding to immediate pronouncements from some EMU faculty that they would not teach in city schools as a show of support for DPS unions, Roberts said no one has asked them to.

   “Eastern was selected because of its long history of being a great teaching school,” Roberts said. “I haven’t heard one person, including the governor or anyone else, suggest that Eastern Michigan would have people in Detroit. There was no expectation for them to do that. But we would welcome their help.”

   Unlike former emergency financial manager Robert Bobb, who spent a great deal of time rooting out corruption as he fought to change academics, Roberts said he would not be looking for criminals with DPS. He said his staff would certainly pursue prosecution of anything that comes up, but the primary focus will be on creating an accountable system that educates children, pays its bills and supports teachers, whom he said had been “castigated” in recent years.

   ‘You still need the teachers’

   Detroit Federation of Teachers President Keith Johnson said Roberts broke the news over dinner Sunday night that he didn’t plan to lay off any teachers.

   “He said he didn’t see the need to alter our collective bargaining contract because he recognizes that’s not the problem,” Johnson said. “You still need the teachers because he’s budgeting for 68,000 students.”

   Johnson said that the decision now means class sizes would be about 17-25 in kindergarten through third grade, 30 students in fourth and fifth grade and 35 students in sixth through 12th grade. He said that projections of 60 students per class, which made national news, “were never going to happen.”

   Roberts said the Legislature has given him more tools than Bobb had. He can cancel union contracts and doesn’t have to work with the school board, “not because they’re bad people but because it’s a bad process.”

   And he said he’s operating on a stopwatch, not a calendar .

   “I know how to do this. I have people who know how to do this. None of us woke up this morning and said, ‘I think I’ll change today.’ People change because there are external stimuli. I’m going to provide the stimuli. This is not rocket science, and I’m not a rocket scientist. This is having a reasonable degree of intellect and the guts to get it done. You’ve got to call it.”

   A personal matter

   Roberts said his decisions, whether about personnel or finances, are all to make academics easier. For him, he said, it’s personal.

   “I was one of those kids once,” he said. “My wife was one of those kids. I was raised in public schools in Muskegon. My father had a third-grade education. We were on welfare from time to time. We didn’t have books in our home because we couldn’t afford it. … And somewhere along the way, I got the bug for education. Education is what turns dreams into reality and if I can help a youngster get that same bug, then I’ll get my reward in heaven.”

   • CONTACT ROCHELLE RILEY: RRILEY99   @FREEPRESS.COM  

ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press

   Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Roy Roberts said the primary focus will be on education, rather than corruption.

DPS EAS (Burp!)

EMU staff: We won’t work in Detroit

Union leaders wary of plan for new district

By DAVID JESSE and CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

   As Eastern Michigan University’s Board of Regents voted Tuesday to take part in a new school district to reform Michigan’s worst performing schools, faculty leaders promised not to do any work in Detroit that might help bust union contracts.

   Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Roy Roberts would lead the new district , called the Education Achievement System, or EAS. And he has the power to nullify or change union contracts — a sore point.

   EMU President Susan Martin said no faculty would be assigned to any work in a school in Detroit. But union leaders were skeptical, saying Monday’s announcements appeared to pledge faculty involvement to help turn around Michigan’s failing schools, starting with 34 DPS schools.

   The new district idea resembles others created to deal with failing or troubled school districts. One of its key tenets is to increase money spent on classroom instruction from 55% to 95% of a school’s budget.

   It’s unlikely the EAS will be able to reach that goal, predicted Mike Griffith, a senior analyst at the Education Commission of the States. He said the national average is 65%.

   “There are things you need in a school — administrators, lunchroom staff, secretaries. … Those come to more than 5%.”

Emergency manager Roy Roberts

EMU faculty to respect union deals

Promise comes as board OKs DPS plan

By DAVID JESSE and CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITERS

   Eastern Michigan University faculty members are promising not to do any work that might help bust existing public school teacher contracts, possibly crimping plans to use the faculty in a new statewide school district run by the university and the Detroit Public Schools.

   “We won’t have our membership involved in breaking union contracts,” said Howard Bunsis, the treasurer of the EMU faculty union.

   Gov. Rick Snyder announced a plan to create an Educational Achievement System, which would take in Michigan’s failing public schools, possibly starting with 34 DPS schools in about a year.

   At issue is the power of DPS emergency manager Roy Roberts, who would also be chairman of the new district’s governing authority. As a governor-appointed emergency manager, Roberts has the legal power to end or modify DPS union contracts and to negotiate contracts for the new district.

   A key ingredient of Snyder’s plan would be EMU’s willingness to move faculty from its college of education into struggling public schools to help train teachers and to work in other ways. Roberts said he was particularly interested in using faculty and their expertise to help students with special needs.

   EMU’s union leadership balked at the Board of Regents meeting Tuesday. Despite the protests, the regents approved the agreement to take part in the new district.

   The role of outside union members in a district run by a leader with legal powers to cancel contracts is but one gray detail that needs to be worked out. Some parts of the plan might need legislative approval and others are still in the planning phase.

   Louisiana’s example

   The Michigan district would be a new animal but based on an existing structure in Louisiana, which took in New Orleans Public Schools following Hurricane Katrina.

   A major difference between Michigan’s EAS and Louisiana’s Recovery School District is that the RSD transformed most of its New Orleans schools into independently-run charter schools.

   Chartering would be a possible course for Michigan’s future EAS schools. A school that shows adequate progress in five years may seek approval to become a charter school, return to its original school district or remain under the jurisdiction of the EAS.

   Some performance indicators are positive for New Orleans . The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University studied 44 New Orleans charter schools’ test scores from 2005-06 to 2009-10. It concluded that the RSD charter schools were making gains in reading and math at a faster pace than others.

   Sen. Phil Pavlov, a Republican from St. Clair, said he’s working on draft legislation to help solidify the EAS.

   “I’m working on legislation to require the highest level of accountability and transparency,” Pavlov said.

   He predicted that the earliest the legislation would be introduced is late July.

   Communication worries

   EMU faculty members didn’t learn about the EAS until Monday morning from a news release, union President Susan Moeller said at the Tuesday meeting.

   “I am not here to debate whether the EAS is a good idea or not for Detroit. What I want to bring to your attention is that, again, President (Susan) Martin has ignored the faculty and violated the contract. …

   “Faculty need to be involved in the development and discussion of what is going to happen with this plan. They are the experts, and it cannot succeed without them.

   “There still has been no communication from President Martin or the dean of the (college of education) to the (college of education) faculty regarding what this agreement is all about.”

   The EMU faculty union wasn’t the only one to complain about lack of information before Snyder announced the plan on Monday. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, sent out a critical news release.

   “We are troubled at the lack of teacher and school employee voice in the current plan, especially in light of the hard work Detroit’s education unions and school district have already done in collaborating to develop and implement workable solutions for the city’s schools.”

   EMU President Martin said no faculty would be assigned to any work in a school in Detroit.

   “This is an opportunity. We certainly hope that faculty would be willing to work in some of these struggling schools,” she told the Free Press.

   Martin also said there was no intent to bust the teachers union or to exclude the faculty union from the process.

   “This came together very quickly. We certainly want to work with the faculty union going forward on how we can take advantage of this opportunity.”