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SCHOOL REFORM STALLS: State Control, 'Priority Schools" On Agenda

June 3, 2013       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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A massive school restructuring plan as outlined by Gov. Rick Snyder under House Bill 5923 is stalled in the Legislature and likely will not be reintroduced.

That bill essentially would have allowed privatization of all schools through businesses, cities and NGOs (non-governmental organizations).

The governor and his education allies have indicated their goal is challenging the status quo in Michigan education and offering parents alternatives to the present system.

Incremental changes in the way schools operate are being put into effect administratively.

The main way the state injects change is by seizing control of schools considered "failing" because of low achievement by students.

Schools are placed under the supervision of the State School Reform/Redesign Office as a result of being identified as the lowest achieving five percent of schools in the state.

The Michigan education community was "advised" by Michelle Rhee, former head of the District of Columbia schools, recently at the Mackinac Policy Conference of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Michigan's education reform initiatives the last two years including creation of the Education Achievement Authority overseeing 15 low-performing schools in Detroit, were applauded by Rhee.

She encouraged lawmakers to implement the Common Core standards and make education improvement a bipartisan issue.

Rhee said political leaders often are ready to create policies for other children they would never accept for their own offspring.

"If you have your kid tucked away in a private school, you can't deny the same access to other people's children," she said.

"I believe public education is supposed to be the great equalizer in our country -- so every single kid can have an equal shot in life," Rhee said. "That is not the reality for the vast majority of kids living in inner cities. If you live in Bloomfield Hills and Detroit, you are getting two wildly different educational experiences. That's an injustice."

Governor Snyder's April 2011 Education Message called for a "reinvention" of public education based on the followings concepts:

  • Our education system must position our children to compete globally in a knowledge-based economy.

  • Michigan's education system must be reshaped so that all students learn at high levels and are fully prepared to enter the work force or attend college. They must think and act innovatively, demonstrate high performance, and meet the highest expectations.

  • Our education system must evolve from one that served us well in the past to one that embraces the challenges and opportunities of the new century.

  • In order to create dynamic, performance-based school districts in Michigan we need to challenge the status quo.

  • Charter schools play an important role by offering an alternative education option to parents and students, particularly in our struggling districts.

  • [Direct] limited taxpayer dollars toward smart, research-based efforts proven to help all students perform at dramatically higher academic levels.

    In addition to these concepts, the Governor proposed and the Legislature acted on a wide range of other issues, including:

  • Teacher tenure.

  • Expanded pre-K funding.

  • Performance based funding.

  • Teacher assessments.

  • Lifting charter schools caps.

    Michigan's approved ESEA flexibility proposal would designates the lowest achieving five percent of schools as Priority Schools.

    The goals of the Reform/Redesign Office are:

    Establish policies and procedures for rapid turnaround in Priority schools. Coordinate reform efforts for Priority schools across the Department of Education to ensure thorough integration of activities and monitoring of schools.

  • Strengthen teacher effectiveness in Priority schools.

  • Develop policies and strategies to support effective school leaders in Priority schools, including principals and teacher leaders.

  • Identify, advocate and recommend policies that ensure the reallocation of academic and financial resources to support the implementation of school plans.

  • Identify and develop tools and resources to ensure schools implement effective school redesign plans.

    There is strong interest in creating residential public schools for urban at risk children (actually submitted by Democrats for Education Reform) and for a military/public safety training residential public school focused on African American males.

    Among ideas that have arisen to challenge the status quo:

  • Single gender schools.

  • Residential public schools for at risk children.

  • Provide for new forms of public school governance.

  • Permit tuition-paying international pupils.

  • Permit municipal authorities to establish public municipal schools as a more efficient way to exercise governmental powers.

  • Permit cultural institution-sponsored schools (similar to the existing Henry Ford Academy).

  • Expand options for selective enrollment for specially designated schools with unique missions (traditional school districts already create selective or 'exam' schools).

  • Allow online academies (separate from cyberschools) intended to 'accelerate the state's ability to respond to current and emerging educational demands' with mentors required for each at-risk pupil and allowing migrant, homebound and hospitalized pupils to participate.

  • Allow coordination of services with workforce development entities, labor organizations, etc.
  • Authorize a 'globally competitive school' for innovative, specialized learning environment for highly motivated pupils who have a genuine interest in the curriculum of the school designed for performance 'at an educational level equal to or exceeding the highest-performing students in the world.'

  • Authorize an 'international cultural school' with a curriculum focused on the culture and people of 1 or more areas of the world. (Requires agreement between the superintendent of public instruction and the minister of education of another nation or province). Allows dual enrollment and dual diplomas on successful completion of the required curriculum. No state funds for pupils from other nations.

    Michigan Education Board President John Austin has charged H.B. 5923: "If implemented, it could erode or destroy completely our current public schools and education system."

    Another school leader called the proposal "un-American."

    The Legislature may want to consider some of the reform concepts in separate stand alone bills, reform backers say.

    ###

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    Dave Rogers

    Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
    respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
    (Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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