Challenging the IFF Report’s Legitimacy and Rejecting Its Recommendations

By Guest Contributor, on August 23rd, 2012

The Ward 5 Quality Schools Community Engagement Meeting and the IFF Report: Why Community Meetings Must Challenge the IFF Report’s Legitimacy and Reject Its Recommendations Written by Erich Martel, cross-posted from DCPS Watch. Erich Martel is a Retired DCPS High School Teacher (Cardozo, Wilson, Phelps)

Quality Schools Community Engagement meeting held in Ward 5. Participants were divided into small groups and not allowed to include a statement voicing their concerns about the Illinois Facilities Fund Report.

On July 31, 2012, I attended the Ward 5 Quality Schools Community Engagement Meeting, one of five ward meetings. It was initiated by the DME (Deputy Mayor of Education) to address the recommendations of the IFF (Illinois Facilities Fund) report, which recommends the closure, “turnaround” or “transfer to charter operators” of 37 DCPS schools, including five in Ward 5.

Before and during the Ward 5 meeting, the DME, DME staff and Public Agenda facilitator insisted that the meetings were not about the IFF report, but only to solicit the public’s ideas about school quality. In discussion group #3, efforts to include a statement opposing the IFF report were opposed by the DME staffer and the Public Agenda facilitator. Their response was to minimize the importance of the IFF report and to assure us that our concerns would be best addressed by describing the elements of “quality” that we want to see in our schools. The other part of their strategy was to split the participants into multiple groups, have them spend the entire time discussing, making long lists, then putting colored stickies on our preferences, and, finally, reports from each group to the whole group. No time was allotted for the whole group to vote on the recommendations.

This two-part strategy (divide participants into small groups; focus discussion on broad generalities, instead of the real issue) is designed to isolate concerned parents and community members in small groups and limit discussion to an agenda that avoids the most important issues.

The resulting lists of “qualities” will be attached to the DME’s recommendations, in his report. He will write that every quality criterion can be met by closure, turnaround, or transfer to charter operators, the IFF report’s recommendations. In the meantime, while the DME is diverting parents and residents’ concerns into make-believe discussions about school quality, the Public Charter School Board has initiated a speeded-up process for “experienced charter operators” to open new charters in DC by August 2013 and the DCPS Chancellor is seeking charter authority to cover up her and Rhee’s failed reform policies. Both charter initiatives have the full support of Mayor Gray and DME Wright.

The evidence (with links) supporting this analysis is below, followed by suggestions for moving forward. Statements or documents by the Mayor, the DME, the DCPS Chancellor and the Public Charter School Board all show that each one is seeking to increase “the number of high quality public charter school seats.” In fact, OSSE’s plan to water down graduation requirements may be part of their effort to attract charter high schools.

Evidence: The five “quality school community engagement meetings” are really about the IFF report

In written responses to the Council’ oversight questions, this past February, the DME wrote: “DME is beginning a process of community engagement based on the IFF report data. This engagement will begin in April 2012 and last through the fall. DME is working with DCPS, PCSB, and community members to hold facilitated conversations in each of the ‘Top 10’ neighborhood clusters as identified in the IFF report.”

The DME’s statement clearly means “public engagement” on the subject of the “IFF report data.” His next and final sentence attempts to shift focus away from the IFF report to something vague and undefined, “quality schools”:

“An integral part of these community conversations will be soliciting feedback from communities about their vision for quality schools.” (Office of the DME Performance Oversight Questions, 2/9/2012, p.12: http://www.dccouncil.us/files/user_uploads/budget_responses/fy11_12_agencyperformance_depmayorforeducation_responses.pdf )

Making “quality schools” an “integral part of these community conversations” does not negate the previous sentences’ focus on IFF data. More importantly, “feedback” can only be solicited for information already reported to those expected to give feedback. The community had information on the IFF report’s recommendations and its newly invented category, “performing seats,” after the report was posted in January. That is the only information which ward residents could study and then give knowledgeable “feedback.” The DME provided no information on the subject of a “vision for quality schools,” on which the community could give knowledgeable “feedback.”

. . . → Read More: Challenging the IFF Report’s Legitimacy and Rejecting Its Recommendations

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School Closings and the Displacement Equation

By Liane Scott, on February 10th, 2012

The administration of Mayor Vincent Gray recently commissioned a study of DC schools by the Illinois Facility Fund (IFF) which was paid for by the Walton Foundation (Wal-Mart) and several other interests heavily invested in charter schools. The study divided DC schools into 4 tiers (Tier 1 being the highest “performing” and Tier 4 being the “lowest performing”). The methodology used to rank the schools into Tiers was by looking at Standardized Test Score Results (DCCAS).

Eliminating poor performing seats poses no threat to children. Only to seats.

Overall the study offers 5 recommendations: Fill seats in Tier 1 Schools. Sustain the performing capacity of Tier 1 schools. Invest in facilities and programs to accelerate performance in Tier 2 schools. Monitor Tier 3 schools. Close or Turnaround Tier 4 DCPS Schools. Close Tier 4 charter schools and replace them with high-performing publicly-funded charter schools.

If you believe that test scores are the only thing that determines whether or not a school is worthy then using them as the sole criteria in the IFF’s study won’t bother you. If, on the other hand, you view a school as an integral part of the community and for that reason should be supported, then you might have hoped the study might look into why so many DC schools are failing academically. Despite the firing of hundreds of teachers from DCPS, academic performance has failed to improve by more than a few points. It would have been nice if the issue was that simple. Closing more than 20 public schools during the Fenty Administration may have increased class sizes and saved the city money but the achievement gap between white students and black students is wider than it’s ever been. Following the recommendations of the IFF study may increase the number of publicly-funded charter schools but as there’s no real evidence that charter schools are actually doing better academically than DC’s public schools, it hardly seems like a recommendation designed to improve the schools.

Please note. I’m aware that the mainstream media has suggested that the publicly-funded charter schools are in fact doing better academically than the traditional public schools but test scores just don’t bear that out. If you doubt this, please research it for yourself. Great Schools is one source for test scores and academic rankings. You might start there. I site them also because they’re rankings take more into account than academics. According to their site, the top-ranked DC schools are all traditional public schools. Although their rankings are hardly conclusive, I’m reasonably certain that they’ve been replicated by other reputable sources. So, if in fact, the best schools in DC are traditional public schools, why would the Illinois Facilities Fund recommend that DC’s “Tier 4” schools be replaced by publicly-funded charter schools? Wouldn’t it make more sense to suggest that these low-ranking schools, which are mostly in Wards 7 & 8, be encouraged to emulate the successful public schools west of the Anacostia River? The cynic in me believes with all sincerity that the real reason behind the IFF’s recommendation that DC’s public schools be replaced by charters has something to do with the fact that the Illinois Facilities Fund is a non-profit lender that lends mainly to charter schools not only in Illinois but soon across the whole of the United States. Increasing the number of charter schools in DC may not improve the academic performance of DC’s student population. It’s not likely to reduce the achievement gap between our white and black students but it may very well help to increase the bottom line of the Illinois Facilities Fund (which given it’s emerging status as a national entity would prefer to be referred to as the IFF).

I’m also confused by the Gray Administration’s confidence in the study, not because of what appears to be a clear conflict of interest, but because the recommendations don’t seem to align with the purpose of the study itself. According to the Washington Post, Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright’s reason for commissioning the study was, “to identify communities in greatest need of more education options.” The report recommends that the communities in greatest need of more education options either close their schools or replace them with charters. I don’t see how closing schools will provide the communities in Wards 7 & 8 with more educational opportunities. Isn’t that a direct contradiction of the purpose of the study? Presumably more charter schools will increase education options but if you’re . . . → Read More: School Closings and the Displacement Equation

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Who’s In The Frame? A Closer Look at School Closings and the Mainstream Media

By Liane Scott, on January 18th, 2012

Imagine every news story that you read, hear or watch is a painting hanging on an art gallery wall. Just as the artist determines not only the main subject matter of the painting but everything else that gets included on the canvas, it is the producer of the news story who decides what issue to cover, what “facts” should be included, whose opinion will be voiced and whose opinion will be ignored. In other words, it is the reporter or journalist who decides what’s inside the frame and what gets left out. Deciding what issues to cover and what angle or perspective to use is called framing. How a reporter frames a story is guided by many factors including, but not limited to, the reporter’s experience of the world and the assumptions they’ve made about the issue in question.

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander & DCPS School’s Chancellor Kaya Henderson listening intently (or not) to the River Terrace Community as they plead for their school.

Let’s take a specific example, local mainstream news reporting on proposed school closings in DCPS. In this article by Washington Post education reporter Bill Turque School Closings Unlikely to be Widespread, the assumption that school closings will have a positive impact on DCPS is not obvious, but it’s there. Turque trusts just two sources–School’s Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright. As city officials who have a budget to balance, they may prioritize the alleged cost-effectiveness of closing schools over providing a world-class education to the city’s children but that possibility is never explored. The parents who may be forced to uproot their children from one school and bus them to a location outside of their neighborhoods are not included. And why should they be? After all, closings are unlikely to be widespread. The title of the article itself suggests that only a relatively few families will be inconvenienced and that their loss is acceptable in the face of the positive gains that may or may not be achieved throughout the system as a whole. Also left out of the frame are the teachers and the students themselves, who may not agree with Kaya Henderson’s definition of an under-enrolled school, especially if that definition means an increase in the size of their classes. Members of the community at large aren’t likely to be considered at all by mainstream news sources covering education issues but that doesn’t meant they are not impacted when a community’s school is torn down in lieu of luxury condos. To his credit, Turque does mention one school community–River Terrace, whose elementary school is scheduled for closure next year, but he says nothing about how the school’s closing might impact the River Terrace community. Of course, including all of those voices might take too much time. No doubt he has a deadline to adhere to. He may also have constraints on the number of words he’s allowed in his column. On the other hand, if he really wanted to include the voices of the River Terrace school community in his article, he could have simply provided a link to his previous article River Terrace Pleads for its School. In this article, River Terrace parents, students and community members are quoted but not until the end of the article. Also, Turque points out the official estimate of $800,000 in savings should the school be closed, adding in his own words, “no small matter given the city’s fiscal straits.” If Turque were committed to giving equal weight to both sides of this issue, he might have countered with Kaya Henderson’s statement “If every community had this level of engagement, DCPS would be the best school district in the country,” which surely suggests that $800,000 is no savings at all if the result is a lower level of community engagement. So, let’s review. Turque’s trusted sources are known to believe in the efficacy of school closings, otherwise they wouldn’t have closed schools in the past and they wouldn’t be advocating for more closings now. Any sources that just might believe that closing schools will not improve DCPS are not in the frame. Fortunately, we have a frame of our own to fill. On January 12, 2011, over 200 members of the River Terrace Community attended a public hearing regarding the proposed closing of their elementary school. Over 40 parents, teachers, students and members of the community testified. The video below is just a small portion of that hearing in which . . . → Read More: Who’s In The Frame? A Closer Look at School Closings and the Mainstream Media

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