Op-Ed: Need Education Reform to Move Missouri Forward

In today's Springfield News Leader, Joe Knodell, a retired superintendent and a consultant for the Missouri Education Reform Roundtable Foundation, spells out the need for education reform and gives praise to the big steps taken in this past legislative session. He feels the 2009 session will hopefully be the beginning of education reform ideas to become reality. Missouri falls behind the other states in several educational testing areas, and this evidence may be the reason legislators are finally trying to change.

The best indicator that the legislature is ready to act was the passage in the last session of Senate Bill 291. Among other things, the bill calls for a study on open enrollment by the Joint Committee on Education. SB 291 also included measures involving charter schools, teaching standards, transparency, virtual schools and a parents' bill of rights . All should move us in the right direction.

Sen. Rob Mayer of Dexter introduced a bill on open enrollment that received a considerable amount of support in the Senate. But senators decided to study the matter first and reconsider the matter next year. Sen. Mayer, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee, should be commended for his forward thinking.

We live in a world where kids know more about technology than most adults and many teachers. We cannot continue to educate children the way we were educated years ago. We must use the technology that is available and encourage talented people to become teachers. A well- educated work force is the key to prosperity. Kudos to our legislators who grasp this fact.

Charter School Students in MO Doing Better than Others

A recent report done by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Standford University found that Missouri charter schools are, on average, doing better than their peers at traditional public schools. From this national study, only 5 states show higher learning gains for charter school students, and Missouri is one of them.
Missouri charter schools are doing well and the children there are outperforming other students, yet we still only have charter schools in St. Louis and Kansas City. It is reports like these that should force these restrictions to be lifted and allow charter schools to go state wide.
This results are posted in the Kansas City Star.

“The results in the CREDO report are clearly encouraging for Missouri charters, though there are areas for improvement,” said Aaron North, executive director of the Missouri Charter Public School Association.

“Charter schools are not an experiment or a passing trend. They educate 31 percent of all public school students in Kansas City and 26 percent in St. Louis.”

Charter schools are helping thousands of children throughout Missouri get a better education, what would happen if thousands more could???

Milwaukee School Choice Program Under Attack!

School choice gives parents and children the right to chose where they attend school. With so many failing public schools, it gives thousands of children a chance. In some cases, the public school may not be failing, but is not the right fit for that child. Children from more successful families may have the luxury of attending a private school. Sadly, not all children can afford the top of the line luxury schools. In Milwaukee, a hugely successful voucher program has granted thousands of lower income families rights to chose their schools. Unfortunately, now they want to cut the number of students that can have a choice. Where is the sense in that? A successful program where the kids are achieving an excellent education, laying the groundwork for the rest of their lives, and the state might decrease the children they allow to use it? It is not more expensive for a child to attend another school...the money follows the child, money that would have been at one school or another. Why would someone want to take this opportunity away from children???

Chicago Tribune: Milwaukee school choice numbers may drop

Associated Press

9:13 PM CDT, June 11, 2009

MADISON, Wis. - Assembly Democrats want to lower by 3,000 the number of students who can participate in the Milwaukee school choice program.

Democrats voted Thursday night in a closed door meeting to lower the cap on the program from 22,500 to 19,500 over the next two years. The current lid was agreed to in 2006 by Gov. Jim Doyle and Republican lawmakers.

But now Democrats, many of whom want to do away with the program, are in control of the Assembly.

Under school choice, students from low-income families can attend private schools at state expense.

The enrollment change was added to the state budget that will be debated by the Assembly on Friday. It must also pass the Senate and be signed by Doyle to become law.

School Choice Movement Faces Strong Opposition

The school choice movement is running into new obstacles, despite it's proven success. Reading the USA Today blog, I came upon an editorial that describes the downfalls with the current administration and it's stances on school choice. The Obama administration will allow the children currently in the DC Scholarship program to continue through graduation, it will not let more children grow and succeed in it.
School Choice Movement Faces Strong Opposition

So it was curious that when President Obama recently allowed 1,716 of Washington's neediest schoolchildren to keep, until graduation, the vouchers they use to escape their failed public schools for higher-quality private ones, he also closed the program to new applicants. All this occurred as the Education Department reported that voucher participants show superior skills in reading, safety and orderliness. The news was buried in an impenetrable study released without a news conference.

Why the ambivalence? Because teacher unions, fearing loss of jobs, have pushed most Democrats to oppose vouchers and other options that invite competition for public schools. Put another way, they oppose giving poor parents the same choice that the president himself — along with his chief of staff and some 35% of Democrats in Congress — have made in sending their children to private schools.

Vouchers have improved the math and reading of inner-city children from Dayton, Ohio, to Charlotte, N.C., various studies show. The Washington vouchers improved the reading of girls and younger kids by about half a school year, though results for other groups were iffier. Yet opposition is so fierce that few voucher experiments survive past the seedling stage.

So school choice is in fact helping these children learn better...given them a better shot at being productive and successful citizens. So why stop it? Teacher unions?

As an Education Department spokesman says, "The unions are not happy." But 20 million low-income school kids need a chance to succeed. School choice is the most effective way to give it to them.

Op-ed In Springfield News Leader

"Missouri Needs Education Reform Now", an opinion piece in the Springfield News Leader, once again shows the urgent need to reform education in Missouri! This is written by Joe Knodell, the state coordinator for the Missouri Education Reform Council:

The state legislature is currently considering school reform issues such as open enrollment and the expansion of charter schools. Performance pay, or merit pay as it is sometimes called, is in the mix, as well.

Missouri is behind many of our neighboring states when it comes to implementing school reform. I could list the statistics that show Missouri lags behind in student achievement and how the USA stacks up against other developed countries in math and science -- but these facts have been in front of us and in the media for quite some time.

We have a new president who advocates reform and is promoting performance pay and charter schools. Time will tell whether President Obama will match the rhetoric with results. New Secretary of Education Arne Duncan also has the credentials of a reformer because of his past work in Chicago.

With all of the momentum for school reform going forward, why is it so hard to pass legislation addressing our failing schools and the need to increase student achievement? Lawmakers from other states that have enacted education reform, including Arkansas and Iowa, can testify that it was not easy. Teachers' unions and the education establishment as a whole do not embrace reform and usually oppose it vigorously. That means state legislators and governors have to enact the needed reforms in spite of the intense lobbying efforts of educators and their organizations. This takes a great deal of intestinal fortitude. Governmental leaders have to look beyond the self interests of the education community and do what is best for students and parents. Whether this can be done in Missouri remains to be seen.

Why does the education community oppose reform? As with any endeavor, there are exceptions to the rule: There are many forward-looking teachers and administrators who understand that the status quo in education is not good enough. They are willing to try new ideas that have proven successful in other states.

But other groups remain opposed to such reforms. Teachers' unions are against the idea of performance pay because they prefer that all teachers make the same salary, no matter the quality of their work. To some, "accountability" is a bad word.

Administrator organizations oppose reforms because they fear the unknown. They wonder if a new charter school, for instance, would hurt their enrollment.

The next couple of months will show Missourians how serious lawmakers are about changing the way our educational system works. Will they send the message that we must do better? Or will legislators bow to the pressure from the establishment and do nothing?

We shall see.

US Chess Tournament Begins

The US Chess Championship begins today. Excitement all over St. Louis and the Central West End as the players begin playing today. The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis is where the games will take place, and where the players will show their moves.
Preceding the start of the games were great events st SLUMA; Wednesday evening was the Marcel Duchamp Art and Chess show and Thursday evening was an amazing reception outside SLUMA where the drawing of the colors took place, with red and white wine glasses set up on a chess board. An incredibly talented teenager will be competing in the tournament (although he refrained from picking up a wine glass). Mayor Francis Slay and Lt. Governor Kinder welcomed the players and the crowd during the opening remarks.
The next week and a half will surely be exhilarating to watch!
Visit http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/ for live coverage of the tournament.

Caroline Hoxby Speaking at SLU about Charter Schools

Caroline Hoxby, a charter school scholar, will present on the Promise of Charter Schools.
The Show Me Institute is sponsoring this event; the fourth speakers series hosted at St. Louis University. It will take place at the John Cook School of Business Anheuser-Busch Auditorium: 3674 Lindell Boulevard.
There is a reception at 5:30 and the presentation at 6pm.

Click here to see event details from the Show Me Institute.