– Not a dime for Kentucky because we don’t have any
Down Houston, Texas, way, they just got a huge influx of money, $10 million worth, from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. The cash will double the number of Knowledge is Power Program charter school seats in the city. That money will enable the KIPP schools, as they are known, to raise an additional $60 million more in bond money despite the currently very tight financial markets.
Why is Gates doing this? Vicki Phillips, director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says, “…charter schools have proven to be extremely effective at improving access to quality education.”
The Houston Chronicle adds that charters “…have gained popularity with their long school days, Saturday classes and track record of enrolling low-income, minority students in college.”
Meanwhile, Kentucky won’t get a dime from Gates for charter schools because our state doesn’t allow them.
Houston’s KIPP charters are now so popular that it will take a $70 million building campaign to house the additional 11,000 plus students who want into a Houston KIPP school but cannot be accommodated in the current facilities.
Why do Kentucky kids continue to miss out on the important public school option of charter schools while kids in Houston and in 39 states across the nation, especially low-income and minority students, are reaping major benefits?
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Quote of the day: If it moves, tax it ... even if it's health insurance
"If you have insurance, you get taxed. If you don't have insurance, you get taxed. If you need a life-saving medical device, you get taxed. If you need prescription medicines, you get taxed."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on the Senate Democrats' health care bill
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on the Senate Democrats' health care bill
Charter high schools showing dramatic graduation results
Far too many Kentucky kids are mired today in high schools that are not meeting their needs. These students often lose hope and often drop out. In some of the state’s most challenging high schools, the situation is so bad that studies by Johns Hopkins University actually label the schools as “dropout factories.”
Meanwhile, charter high schools in other states are starting to turn in remarkably good results. These charters are still public high schools, but they are freed from a lot of the red tape that often prevents regular high schools from succeeding with today’s students.
A recent example of the power of charter high schools comes from Providence, Rhode Island. The Providence Journal’s news blog reports two inner city charter high schools named Times2 Academy and Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy “maxed” their graduation rates at 100 percent in the latest Rhode Island state report. That exceeds the rate at the city's most competitive secondary school and even surpassed performance at the suburban Barrington High School.
How did they do it? Smaller classes, individual attention and flexible schedules that allow kids to work and still study effectively seem to be part of the answer. But the real key is that without a lot of red tape restrictions, both of the Providence charter high schools are free to do whatever creative things they need to in order to accommodate their customers – the students.
Unfortunately for us, charter schools can only be created when the state specifically allows them, and that is a law Kentucky currently lacks.
However, at least two charter school bills are already pre-filed for the 2010 legislative session, and people who never knew the term before are now talking about charter schools frequently. For the sake of our kids, let’s hope the legislature votes in 2010 to give them the sort of advantage that kids in Providence already enjoy.
Meanwhile, charter high schools in other states are starting to turn in remarkably good results. These charters are still public high schools, but they are freed from a lot of the red tape that often prevents regular high schools from succeeding with today’s students.
A recent example of the power of charter high schools comes from Providence, Rhode Island. The Providence Journal’s news blog reports two inner city charter high schools named Times2 Academy and Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy “maxed” their graduation rates at 100 percent in the latest Rhode Island state report. That exceeds the rate at the city's most competitive secondary school and even surpassed performance at the suburban Barrington High School.
How did they do it? Smaller classes, individual attention and flexible schedules that allow kids to work and still study effectively seem to be part of the answer. But the real key is that without a lot of red tape restrictions, both of the Providence charter high schools are free to do whatever creative things they need to in order to accommodate their customers – the students.
Unfortunately for us, charter schools can only be created when the state specifically allows them, and that is a law Kentucky currently lacks.
However, at least two charter school bills are already pre-filed for the 2010 legislative session, and people who never knew the term before are now talking about charter schools frequently. For the sake of our kids, let’s hope the legislature votes in 2010 to give them the sort of advantage that kids in Providence already enjoy.
What happens when states get more honest graduation rate reports?
We’ve discussed inaccurate graduation rate reporting in Kentucky many times such as here and here.
According to the latest Kentucky Department of Education nonacademic report, covering the Class of 2008, Kentucky supposedly graduated 84.52 percent of its high school students. Keep that figure in mind.
Well, the fact is that the formula used to fabricate that number was officially audited in 2006 and found unreliable. The real graduation rate in Kentucky is much lower.
How much lower?
We really won’t know for sure until the department gets its troubled Infinite Campus student tracking system up and on line for four years, perhaps around 2013 or so.
But the state of Oregon just got more honest with its citizens, and here is what the Oregonian says happened. The newspaper says that once more accurate reporting was conducted, “…only 68 percent of the class graduated within four years -- starkly lower than the 84 percent graduation rate the state reported for the same class just two months ago, based on its previous, looser definition.”
Hmmm – 84 percent – why does that number sound familiar?
So, what happened in Oregon might be the kind of number change that will happen here once honesty finally overcomes an unfortunate tendency in our education circles to fool us with figures.
According to the latest Kentucky Department of Education nonacademic report, covering the Class of 2008, Kentucky supposedly graduated 84.52 percent of its high school students. Keep that figure in mind.
Well, the fact is that the formula used to fabricate that number was officially audited in 2006 and found unreliable. The real graduation rate in Kentucky is much lower.
How much lower?
We really won’t know for sure until the department gets its troubled Infinite Campus student tracking system up and on line for four years, perhaps around 2013 or so.
But the state of Oregon just got more honest with its citizens, and here is what the Oregonian says happened. The newspaper says that once more accurate reporting was conducted, “…only 68 percent of the class graduated within four years -- starkly lower than the 84 percent graduation rate the state reported for the same class just two months ago, based on its previous, looser definition.”
Hmmm – 84 percent – why does that number sound familiar?
So, what happened in Oregon might be the kind of number change that will happen here once honesty finally overcomes an unfortunate tendency in our education circles to fool us with figures.
'Tis the season to be free
Kentuckians stood their ground and won against the governor's "holiday tree." What other Grinch-like policies with far-greater consequence would change with the same kind of vocal involvement of a passionate citizenry?
Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon column.
Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon column.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Washington forgot to ask if you have the money
Washington prints money. Oops, you can't. That's a problem.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rammed H.R. 3962, "The Affordable Health Care of America Act," through the House. The bill will spend a lot of your money.
The estimated cost for H.R. 3962 for the average family is over $15,000. Do you have the money to pay? Will you go to jail because you just can’t pay for their mandates?
Washington's politicians claim health care reform is an emergency.
The only emergency is that we have a Congress that creates 2,000-plus page bills, doesn’t allow anyone time to read or understand them and then forces votes. Talk about negligence.
This legislation will impact every Kentuckian. Don't you wish you had someone with real courage and ability to challenge this approach?
There is a reason the politicians are not being transparent, don’t want citizens to know, understand or analyze their mammoth "emergency" bill full of shenanigans.
Enough of their games. It's your money, not theirs. It's time they understand that!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The naked truth
The transparency train has left the station with a few lawmakers, but more are needed before Kentucky catches up with other states.
Click here to listen to the 90-second audio commentary.
Click here to listen to the 90-second audio commentary.
Kentucky ‘s legislature drives us to a top-15 ranking
No, it’s not a positive ranking like John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats. It's the PEW Center on the States ranking of states in fiscal peril.
What it shows: Kentucky is one of the 15 states most at risk!
The ranking is based on several factors, including loss of state revenue, size of budget gaps, unemployment and foreclosure rates, poor money management practices and state laws governing passage of budgets.
What an opportunity for our legislators to jump Kentucky up in the rankings with a new budget session approaching.
Maybe we can hit the top 10 by growing the unfunded liabilities created by the very sweet health-and-pension packages for legislators and state workers, growing the size of the state workforce, building more new arenas around the state, not legislating our state's rights to slow crushing federal mandates, and hitting small businesses with more taxes.
Business as usual would accomplish much of this. Easy.
Just think of the budget gaps those proven practices could create.
Watch out, California. Kentucky's on the move!
What do NAEP scores for learning disabled students really show?
– Quick answer – no-one is really sure
Over at the Prichard Blog they are happy about a simplistic comparison of the performance of Kentucky’s students with learning disabilities on the federal government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests.
Let’s temper that enthusiasm a bit.
As recently reported in Education Week (subscription), the people running the NAEP are uncomfortable about the way they test these kids and how many of them get excluded from the tests. The governing board that oversees the NAEP has been uncomfortable for a decade, ever since I pointed out issues about uneven exclusion rates from state to state on the NAEP 1998 reading assessment.
Right now, no one knows how a number of factors might be impacting the validity of the scores for these special kids, not even the people running the NAEP program.
So, approach those NAEP learning disabled scores with caution – the people running the program do.
Over at the Prichard Blog they are happy about a simplistic comparison of the performance of Kentucky’s students with learning disabilities on the federal government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests.
Let’s temper that enthusiasm a bit.
As recently reported in Education Week (subscription), the people running the NAEP are uncomfortable about the way they test these kids and how many of them get excluded from the tests. The governing board that oversees the NAEP has been uncomfortable for a decade, ever since I pointed out issues about uneven exclusion rates from state to state on the NAEP 1998 reading assessment.
Right now, no one knows how a number of factors might be impacting the validity of the scores for these special kids, not even the people running the NAEP program.
So, approach those NAEP learning disabled scores with caution – the people running the program do.
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