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West Virginia Left Unranked in New Charter School Laws Report
State Stands to Lose Up to $75 Million in Race to the Top Support
Unless Charter Legislation Passes
Washington, DC – West Virginia remains one of 11 states without a charter school law. As such, it stands to lose up to $75 million in federal assistance under the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top grant competition, according to a report released today by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools entitled “How State Charter Laws Rank Against The New Model Public Charter School Law.”
The report finds 11 states risk losing Race to the Top awards because they have not enacted public charter school laws: Alabama, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia. It also finds that 13 states fail to meet a key test of the Race to the Top guidelines because they continue to place restrictive caps on charter school growth.
According to the lead author of the report, Alliance Vice President for Policy Todd Ziebarth, these 24 states are closed to new high-quality charters and should be disqualified from the Race to the Top competition until they significantly improve their laws: “No matter how strong its policies in other areas, a state that refuses to pass a charter law – or that maintains a restrictive cap on charter schools – is a state that is missing a key building block of reform.”
The report is the first-ever ranking of all state charter school laws that is based on the full range of values in the public charter school movement: quality and accountability, funding equity, facilities support, autonomy, and growth and choice. It assesses the strengths of each state’s charter school law against the 20 essential components of a strong law contained in the new model public charter school law released by the Alliance in June 2009. Grading each state law against each component – a total of 800 separate ratings – the Alliance ranks each law from strongest to weakest.
“State legislation really sets the bar for the charter school movement,” explained National Alliance President and CEO Nelson Smith. “When states combine equitable resources, real autonomy, and tough accountability, charter schools flourish and meet the high expectations of parents and policymakers. These new rankings not only show which states are making the grade, but also show how they do it: by paying attention to specific issues that are crucial to school and student success.”
As states prepare applications for the federal Race to the Top grant program, the rankings provide clear indications of which states need to strengthen laws, and how, in order to be considered for grant awards.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan commented, "It's very important to have better, clearer charter laws – laws that enable innovation, promote transparency about how charter schools perform and how they are held accountable, and provide fair access to public funds and facilities. We're encouraged that the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools supports creation of better charter school laws as models of learning, and we encourage authorizers to hold charters accountable for student performance.”
For this analysis, the Alliance weighted each of the 20 essential components from the Alliance’s model law on a scale of “1” to “4.” Then the Alliance rated each state’s performance on each component on a scale of “0” to “4.” To obtain each state’s grade, the Alliance multiplied the weight and rank for each component, then added up the scores for each of the 20 components. The highest score possible was 208.
The “Top 10” states that are creating the strongest policy environments for public charter schools to succeed are: Minnesota (152), D.C. (131), California (130), Georgia (130), Colorado (128), Massachusetts (125), Utah (123), New York (121), Louisiana (120), and Arizona (120).
About the Alliance: The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (http://www.publiccharters.org) is the national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the charter school movement. The Alliance works to increase the number of high performing charter schools available to all families, particularly low-income and minority families who currently do not have access to quality public schools. The Alliance provides assistance to state charter school associations and resource centers, develops and advocates for improved public policies, and serves as the united voice for this large and diverse movement. Over 1.5 million students attend more than 4,900 charter schools in 39 states and the District of Columbia.
When West Virginians for Education Reform (WVER) began the conversation about public charter schools in our state, our message was quite clear- public charter schools are not a silver bullet, 100% solution for public education. Chartering legislation can, however, create the opportunity for 100 1% solutions to be developed in the areas of curriculum, scheduling, school governance, finances and staffing.
Rather than, as Ms. Hale, current president of the West Virginia unit of the American Federation of Teachers, comments in a recent editorial, “blinding us from our more pressing problems”, a strong public charter school bill can usher in a new way of delivering and thinking about public education, including new structures of governance and accountability. By reserving most authority to the school site, public charter schools can be responsive to the needs of students and families in ways that elude our current, centrally-managed schools.
Further, the traditional one-size-fits-all labor contract is a bad fit for these nimble new enterprises. Not only does it impose common hours, wages, and work rules on all sites, no matter the differences in mission or student population, it also substantially strips the school leader and trustees of the authority needed to manage in the midst of budget uncertainty (our state’s recent $100 million budget shortfall and declining lottery revenues) and public education’s constantly changing needs.
To those bound by traditional thinking, this new model presents a threat to
teachers, rather than an opportunity. In the traditional district structure, teachers
are thought to have a voice in district affairs through a centrally negotiated
agreement between the teacher association and the school district. The contract provides job security, usually based on seniority, with wages reflecting seniority plus
academic credits or coursework. In charter schools, “teacher voice” means that teachers – in partnership with students, parents, administrators, and the school’s board members – actually exert meaningful direction of their own professional lives. On a day-to-day basis, they shape important decisions about working conditions in their buildings – including the mission, curriculum and instruction, programs and services, schedules,
budgeting, and staffing – to advance student results. In many charter schools, teachers even serve as voting members of the fiduciary boards of the schools, actively taking responsibility for the most vital decisions impacting the school sites.
Many charter schools have been started by teachers. Since the inception of the
charter school movement three decades ago, teachers have led the way in deep
collaboration with parents and others. Charter schools should be the kind of places
where talented young teachers feel they can build a fulfilling career, where
exemplary veteran teachers will want to blaze a new path and where the traditional role of teacher-as-employee is turned upside down..
The potential was underscored by the finding from Public Agenda’s survey of teachers in 2003. The question to a national sample of teachers was: "How interested would
you be in working in a charter school run and managed by teachers?" The question asked respondents to affirm an interest in coming into the charter sector in order to express their interest in teacher professional practice. Still, the interest is quite revealing: 58 percent of teachers said they would be somewhat or very interested; 65 percent of the under-five-year teachers and 50 percent of the over-20-year teachers.
Since teacher associations are committed to serving the interests of teachers, they should applaud and support these new kinds of work environments in which teachers as leaders and professionals can create their own solutions to teacher recruitment, qualifications and salaries. With public charter schools, we might, at long last try approaching teachers as professionals; leaving it to them, to figure out how the job can best be done.
Direct Action To Influence the Culture of Public Education
The domain of culture in public education can only be influenced through direct action. There are three key ways to focus action in this domain: guiding ideas, new organizational arrangements, and new methods and tools.
Guiding Ideas- West Virginians for Educational Reform (WVER) believe that schools do not have a performance problem, but rather a design problem, that requires new and different types of schools and schooling. Any efforts along these lines should have as their number one objective the motivation of the student and teacher.
New Organizational Arrangements- are necessary in these new schools:
Staffing: Deciding on staffing patterns which best meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of students
Budget: A school has total discretion to spend in the manner that provides the best programs and services to students and their families.
Curriculum and Assessment: Schools have the freedom to structure their curriculum and assessment practices to best meet students’ learning needs.
Governance and Policies: Schools should have the freedom to create their own governance structure that has increased decision making powers over budget approval, principal selection and firing, and programs and policies.
School Calendar: Schools should have the freedom to organize the school schedule in ways that maximize learning time for students and planning time for faculty.
New Methods and Tools- are required to allow these types of schools to be created. Innovation Zone Schools and WVER’s proposed Innovation Zone II and Public Charter Schools legislation can be first steps. We hope that you will join us for the journey in 2010.
SURVEY: WEST VIRGINIANS OVERWHELMINGLY FAVOR MORE PUBLIC SCHOOL OPTIONS
VotersFavorPublicCharterSchool Attributes and Believe MorePublic School Options Will Improve Public School System
Charleston, WV – Nearly nine in 10 West Virginia voters (86 percent) favor providing students and parents with more public school options according to a public opinion survey released today by West Virginians for Education Reform (WVER). The survey also found that, by a more than five to one margin, West Virginia voters believe that providing more options would improve (55 percent) the public school system rather than harm (11 percent) it.
The public opinion survey lent further credibility to efforts by West Virginians to bring more public school choices, including public charter schools – independent, innovative public schools that are held accountable for improved student achievement – to West Virginia.
Currently, West Virginia is one of only 11 states in the nation that does not allow public charter schools to be created. This leaves parents with only two options: traditional public schools and private schools for those families who can afford them.
The survey also found that West Virginians support many of the attributes of public charter schools that differentiate them from traditional public schools, including: providing a more structured learning environment, more student discipline, and requiring more parental involvement (94 percent); holding students, teachers, and parents accountable for improving student achievement (90 percent); and allowing schools to make quick, effective changes to improve student achievement (87 percent).
“A clear majority of West Virginia voters want to have more public school choices so that more families, particularly those that cannot afford private schools, can have a real choice in where their children go to school,” said Ben Adams, a student leader of West Virginians for Education Reform. “With thousands of families looking for more public school options and with the millions of dollars that could flow to our state through the federal Race to the Top Fund; the time has come for West Virginia to pass public charter school legislation.”
An effort to pass a public charter school law in West Virginia, Senate Bill (SB) 758, entitled “West Virginia Charter School Act of 2009,” and sponsored by State Senator Erik Wells (D – Kanawha), passed the Senate Education Committee earlier this year before dying in the Senate Finance Committee. WVER, fighting for West Virginian families, plans to put charter school legislation back on the table in the 2010 Regular Session.
“This survey clearly demonstrates that West Virginians want to see a thriving public school system and one way to do that is by providing the classroom teachers with control of their career and students a chance to improve their education opportunities that can be found in public charter schools,” Wells said.
The survey of 502 registered West Virginia voters was conducted in November by the Glover Park Group, a strategic communications firm based in Washington, DC on behalf of West Virginians for Education Reform and funded by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
A press conference detailing this information will be on December 7, 2009 at 10:00am in the Senate Reception Room (249)-West Wing.
About West Virginians for Education Reform
West Virginians for Education Reform’s (WVER) mission is to promote and encourage innovation, change and choice in the public education system in West Virginia. WVER was established in 2009 to encourage innovation, change and choice in the West Virginia public education system. The WVER is a group of students, teachers, parents, business people and community leaders that are dedicated to provide every West Virginia student with the best possible education. Visit WVER at www.wvedreform.com.
Mark Bugher: West Virginia Must Embrace Education Reform
I recently was invited to attend a presentation in Washington, D.C., by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of its 2009 education “Leaders and Laggards” report to the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. This report was a cooperative effort of the U.S. Chamber, the Center for American Progress, and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. The report is a state-by-state “report card” on education innovation. Education innovation is described by the report as “Discarding policies that no longer serve students while creating opportunities for smart, entrepreneurial problem-solvers to help children learn.”
The report graded state schools on seven criteria: school management, finance, hiring and evaluation of staff, removing ineffective teachers, data collection, pipeline to post-secondary education, and technology. West Virginia received an overall grade of D+, however ranked first in the nation on technology, measured by student per Internet connected computer. No state received an overall grade higher than a C+, and although West Virginia was ranked in the bottom quarter of states, there were 11 states ranked below us. The states of Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas ranked overall the highest, and Kansas, Montana, and Nebraska were at the bottom of the rankings.
More important than the rankings however are the findings of the report. Some of the more important issues that were identified included: rigid educational bureaucracies impede quality schooling; state financing systems are opaque, inefficient, and undermine innovation; the teacher pipeline fails to provide a diverse pool of high quality teachers; teacher evaluations are not based on performance; major barriers exist to removing ineffective teachers; the outcome of technology spending is unknown; and state data systems provide limited information on school operations and outcomes.
The report provides some general recommendations that states should consider.
The first recommendation is that states provide more flexibility to local schools which could empower schools and principals, allow for rethinking the school day and calendar, develop student based funding policies, and reinvent education management.
The report also calls for holding individuals and organizations in education more accountable for performance, and reforming teacher pay, rewarding teachers whose performance improves student achievement.
Capacity building in the school system is also recommended by providing teachers with focused professional development on key topics such as the use of data and technology, researching and developing promising instructional practices and school models, and supporting innovative schools and programs.
Another key component of the report recommends an end to the monopoly of the local school system, adopting charter school legislation and alternative certification of non-traditional teachers, such as those with a business background.
The business community, as well as parents should be vitally interested in this report and its findings. The business community for the most part is buying the product our education system is delivering, and with a national high school graduation rate of only 73%, and nearly 40% of high school graduates needing remedial training to do college level work, something is obviously wrong with the system.
The report concludes that “even as businesses have revolutionized their practices, student achievement has remained stagnant and our K-12 schools have stayed remarkably unchanged – preserving, as if in amber, the routines, culture, and operations of a 1930s manufacturing plant.” As parents and business people, we must insist on literally reinventing our education system. The entire report is available online at http://www.uschamber.org/reportcard.
Mark Bugher is president and chief executive office of the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce.
