How Do We Know A School System Is Improving?

Hugh Bailey, assistant editorial page editor of the Connecticut Post, writes that public education is loaded with miracle myths. He argues education leaders take too much latitude in ascribing success. Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas certainly has his supporters and detractors from his body of work prior to Bridgeport in Philadelphia, Chicago and New Orleans. It raises a question: what standards must be used to gauge education success? From Bailey’s column:

More than a decade into the nationwide school reform craze, it ought to be clear there are no saviors. There is no knight arriving on his white horse, as Mayor Bill Finch put it during a rally in Vallas’ support.

Yet this is the essence of the pro-Vallas argument. Only a superstar can save the city. Bridgeport needs its knight, and the clearly written state law should be no impediment to letting him work his magic. The post-Vallas disasters in Chicago and Philadelphia schools, which ought to say something about the durability of these efforts, apparently don’t figure into this thinking.

Entire column here.

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11 comments

  1. More on Vallas (link found on Diane Ravitch’s blog):
    “During Paul Vallas’ time a RSD superintendent (2007-2011), every annual state audit evidenced issues of fiscal irresponsibility and corruption. Here are some “fiscal blunder” highlights:

    Report ZF65 from the ISIS/HR payroll system showed that the system calculated that former employees had been overpaid a total of $427,695 as of September 30, 2007.

    [In 2007] RSD could not confirm eligibility for 51 approved applications for free or reduced price meals for 70 students but did not reduce or terminate program benefits for these students. The employee who performed the verifications reported that he was not adequately trained to evaluate the compliance requirements.

    And some more awful handling of federal aid to RSD, chiefly during Vallas’ tenure.” (see link for link)
    deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/rsds-watered-down-incremental-miracle-and-continued-fiscal-embarrassment/

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  2. Ravitch is on a roll–here’s another one:
    dianeravitch.net/2013/07/06/george-schmidt-dont-believe-the-vallas-hype/
    George Schmidt was a high school teacher in Chicago who was fired by Paul Vallas for releasing the contents of a standardized test that he was required to administer to his students. Here he responds to a post called “In Defense of Paul Vallas,” written by Diane Fager, who was on Vallas staff in Chicago.

    Schmidt writes:
    Diane Fager’s versions of the wonders of the Paul Vallas record typifies the way in which Vallas has always tried to manipulate the media. He does it by working directly himself or through surrogates, often former subordinates like Fager. When I read the original anonymous testimonial, I thought it came from Cozette Buckney; Phil Hansen is no longer available to sing Vallas’s praises because he’s dead … The Vallas fan club has been around (and usually well compensated) for a long long time.

    One of the wonderful things about the educational leadership career of Paul Vallas was how intensely he worked the press.

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  3. George Schmidt’s gift to Bridgeport:
    Anyway, we’ve reprinted some of those old articles at
    www .substancenews.net
    this week just so readers in 2013 could note had people been paying attention to the accuracy of the facts in 2002 (and before, as we published them in Substance), maybe Philadelphia, New Orleans, and now Bridgeport would not have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) on the Vallas Hoax.
    www .substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4370

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  4. *** You can measure possible success years after the fact and with something to compare to, no; past, present and future! *** DID VALLAS RECEIVE THE SAME “WARM” WELCOME AND “COOPERATION” FROM THE SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN NEW ORLEANS, PHILLY AND CHICAGO THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO HIM IN BPT I WONDER; AND HOW MUCH TIME DID HE SPEND IN COURT AWAY FROM THE JOB HE WAS HIRED TO DO? *** SEEMS HEADED TOWARDS FAILURE REGARDLESS OF ANY GOOD OR BAD IDEAS ‘CAUSE THE MORE CHANGE WE SEEK, THE MORE THINGS STAY THE SAME! ***

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  5. Comment left on blog re: education “reform” … see Chile and take a peek into the future for American cities and wherever there are poor people who are easier to manipulate.

    The privatization of schools, as Vallas and Duncan have been promoting, is no “fix” for public education. It is a boon for profiteers and elites. Look at what Milton Friedman’s neo-liberal privatization of public education model did to Chile. Students there have been protesting and demanding free public schools because, 30 years after privatization, “… socioeconomic background is still a determinant of educational outcomes … which adds to schooling and geographic segregation … Neoliberal policies have been unable to overcome inequalities; rather, they have intensified them”
    academia.edu/1836169/Neoliberal_Education_and_Student_Movements_in_Chile_Inequalities_and_malaise

    As an educator who spent most of my career teaching unfettered in private schools, I was very fortunate to have had so much laterality in my classroom. I’ve spent the better part of the last two decades working with public school teachers though and I have nothing but respect for those teachers, who are constantly facing constraining demands imposed by non-educators who know nothing about children, learning and teaching. If anyone has failed it’s the politicians and their lackeys who use telling educators how to do their jobs and teacher-bashing as ways to divert attention away from dealing with the primary issue so many public school teachers encounter, children in poverty.

    The sad truth is that politicians know very well that their demands on public school teachers are ridiculous, which is precisely why they created charter schools and don’t impose the same rules there. This alone tells us that charters are pampered darlings because they are a means to an end, the privatization of public education, a la Milton Friedman’s failed neo-liberal model implemented in Chile.

    Originates here:
    dianeravitch.net/2013/07/06/george-schmidt-dont-believe-the-vallas-hype/

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  6. Tom Mulligan had an OP-ED article in the CT Post this Sunday (as well as Hugh Bailey). Mulligan listed some 18 points he finds favorable as a BOE member he sees Vallas responsible for. Will you be putting that on OIB later, Lennie?

    My own support of Paul Vallas as a school system leader has been his ability to size up much of the sickness and inefficiency in the Public Schools and begin changes towards outcomes and means provided in the five-year plan he announced over one year ago. He also secured funding that appears more stable and plans for spending those funds that should prove to be more efficient than previous administrations.

    As Mulligan says, Vallas came into a system with no approved budget and an apparent $12 Million deficit. He worked his way towards a balanced budget for his first six months in town, 2012, and has apparently kept that on track for 2013 as well. Readers please refer to the Bridgeport Public School site that has posted bi-monthly reports this year that have balanced each time and as of April, 2013 showed how any variances noted would be handled. That’s a real reform in Bridgeport. Hugh Bailey should acknowledge and applaud it (or perhaps find reason to discredit it if that is where “the truth” lies for him). But it is a major change in terms of “Bridgeport accountability.” In fact linking those words together seems like a de facto oxymoron. Time will tell.

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  7. With all due respect Mr. Lee, it is obvious to me you are an “outsider” when it comes to education in BPT. Mr. Vallas, while he has made changes, some of those changes will come back to bite BPT. His changes to the fiscal plan for BPT has been viewed totally through the eyes of finance–not through the perspective of helping children achieve.
    Example–while he did get rid of staff from the central office, not all of that was good. I, for one, think getting rid of the 3 assistant supers was a good thing, yet not some of the department heads and some of the staff that worked throughout the district. (since Vallas has taken over, how many new staff members has he brought on board in another capacity with just a title change–you would be amazed the number sneaking in the back door!)
    Some department heads had a high level of training that was brought to the schools. Now, there is no one to contact to get a question answered. In the field of special education with both federal and state mandates this was a big mistake. The amount of due process hearings will increase. Unless, Commissioner Pryor, intervenes and has the CSDE ignore the complaints, BPT will be in hearings more than ever before. But who got hurt here, the students. As you say Mr. Marshal, Time will tell.
    It’s my understanding, the “NEW” books are not paid for and won’t be for some time. Not good purchasing what you can’t afford to pay for. Tine will Tell
    Do you know that subs are now a thing of the past? A teachers’ absence is now a problem for the colleagues — Each classroom teacher takes 4-5 students. The students sit in an area designed for small group instruction and the teacher is left lecturing the homeroom and the extra students doing dittos for the day.(It has been known to put 6th graders in a kindergarten room-just for supervision.) Take this and times it by 5/6 and that is the number of classrooms not having proper instruction for that day. So Mr. Marshall, do you approve this way of reducing the overall budget?

    The issue of outsiders having “opinions” raises my blood pressure. I wish outsiders would spend a day in a school BEFORE they sing the praise of Paul Vallas.

    Visit a school–spend a whole day, on multiple days, and then let us hear from you.

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    1. JML … take this person, who portrays the situation accurately as only those with boots on the ground know, up on their offer.

      Finally, you will have a bird’s-eye view and a dog and pony show orchestrated by V simply won’t do. Volunteer for a week and spend time in classrooms, cafeteria, nurse’s office, library, SpEd Resource center … maybe you could stay after and help the kids with their projects, homework, reading, etc.

      Take the challenge. People are telling you over and over again. Don’t support from a tower. Get in the thick of things and get dirty!

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      1. Gemmie, thank you for raising some concerns about statements that have been made, by me and perhaps others.
        I notice I am an “outsider” in your words. In my mind I am a citizen who votes, pays taxes and attempts to inform myself about problems, issues and concerns in the community. I read the local papers such as they are today, attend meetings, read and write on this blog mainly although the CT Post has published one or more pieces.
        I look at finance, yes, because if that resource does not support whatever plan you have in mind, it will fail. And financial understanding is important. You tell us the “NEW books” are not paid for, I believe. What I understand is part of the five-year plan was an agreement with a publisher to supply books immediately to the system, and backups or additionals in future years as needed for a set price annually for a five-year period. To my mind that said Bridgeport students, all of them, would be getting the materials to be on the same curriculum pages in 2013 and system cash flow would fund this over the 60-month period. That sounded like a good thing to me. How about you? Would you have added 20% per year each year for five years, another alternative? Which one gets closer to helping more kids achieve earlier and faster?
        I have mentored a young man while he was in Roosevelt and now at Central Magnet so I have some idea of the ups and downs faced by students. We talk a lot about his school experience and he is wiser about what is going on around him than many of the adults with whom he associates in the wider community. I am happy to know some of the changes make sense to you and to some others. I would expect so.
        I understand teacher absenteeism is a real problem in Bridgeport. Do I understand there are some three weeks of annual sick leave by contract? That seems certainly a ‘rich’ benefit for those working 180 days per year! When a large percentage of teachers are absent, especially around vacation days or weekends, it is an unusual problem. I think it is one that should be raised at BOE meetings or in their Finance group and the full extent of it become discussed. (Kind of like the public safety pension transfer to the State plan that allows overtime to be a part of the retirement income formula … and then City overtime rises over $5 Million more than was substantially budgeted. Is anyone surprised?)
        Time will tell.

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  8. You know if a school system is improving based on outcome-based results. Namely, is it meeting its objectives, are the results improving, and is its relative standing with other school systems improving. Outcome-based results include such factors as graduation rates, testing results, dropout rates and school safety and security. Many other factors are important as well, including being able to attract and retain qualified teachers, parental involvement and operating within an affordable and sustainable budget.

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  9. *** IN BPT NO CHANGE IS GOOD CHANGE FOR THOSE WHO ARE SET IN THEIR WAYS, LIVE OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS AND DO NOT HAVE KIDS IN CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, DO NOT VOTE OR PAY CITY TAXES! *** FOR THE REST IT’S POLITICS, BENJAMINS AND POWER. ***

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