The Ethical Choice

Increased choice is desperately need for parents whose children are trapped in schools which have failed to educate their children. Why should a single mother be unable to make the same educational choices for her children that so many Members of Congress make for their own? Legislators must put their political agendas aside and make the ethical decision to promote fairness and quality in the extremely important and sensitive area of education.

Kudos to Confluence Charter Schools

Anyone who claims that charter schools are the root of the problem for failing St. Louis public schools should think again. More often than not, when the state begins to strongly support charter schools, this becomes the foundation for a better school groundwork to get settled in.
The Confluence charter schools seem to be urging their counterpart St. Louis public schools to begin a reconstruction process of their own, as Confluence is just about to open up a charter high school (Confluence Preparatory Academy) with excellent standards and goals. Confluence is focused on a steady yearly improvement of their students, regardless of ethnicity or poverty level, and has the resources to do this. Charter schools seem to have accomplished something St. Louis public schools fall short of: providing a pristine educational environment with the necessary resources to aid children from different backgrounds.
http://www.stlbeacon.org/issues_politics/education/confluence_high_school

Education Reform is a Non- Partisan Issue

Marketwatch.com reported recently that multiple groups including Democrats for Education Reform and the Reverend Al Sharpton gathered in Denver to push for education reforms on the eve of the Democrat National Convention. Many of the reforms that this organization calls for are centered on school choice and other creative ideas that have too often been labeled right wing attempts to end public schooling.

This once again shows that education reform is not a partisan issue, but an issue of concern for all Americans as we continue to see our childhood education system fall behind many of the other developed countries in the world. The reforms advocated by this group, including expanded access to charter schools and increased accountability measures, will greatly help those currently in hopeless education environments achieve their potential.

No matter who is elected to be our next President in November education should be a prominent part of their domestic agenda. Implementing reforms centered on school choice will bring our K-12 education system in line with our country’s world renowned university system.

Inequality and Test Scores

Edudiva is a great site to visit for analysis on standardized test scores. The following is from her post after the recent announcement of Missouri’s MAP scores:

Fareed Zakaria, in The Post-American World, explains the U.S. math score mediocrity.

But even if the U.S. scores in math and science fall well below leaders like Singapore and Hong Kong, the aggregate scores hide deep regional, racial, and socioeconomic variation. [...] The difference between average science scores in poor and wealthy school districts within the United States, for instance, is four to five times greater than the difference between the U.S. and Singaporean national averages. In other words, America is a large and diverse country with a real inequality problem.

This inquality is highlighted in the St. Louis County MAP scores. The 10th grade math scores ranged from 81.4 percent of a school scoring proficient or advanced at Clayton to 0 at Wellston. OK, that is pretty extreme. The top five scoring districts averaged 71.6 prof/adv.; while the bottom five districts (excluding Wellston) averaged 15.6. I excluded Wellston because it has had its accreditation stripped and students may go elsewhere. In fact several go to Clayton. The elementary math numbers aren’t any better. I chose 5th grade because I felt that gave students several years to get used to testing. The top five districts averaged 75.02 prof/adv; whereas, the bottom five averaged 18.76.

How can we fix this problem? Let’s start by analyzing our test scores like Edudiva to find out what they really indicate. Then let’s stop isolating kids in schools where they are drastically underserved and expand the choices they have.

Inadequate

‘Adequate’ is not nearly a strong or positive enough word to describe something as important as our children’s education. Yet, the St. Louis schools, along with districts in the St. Louis and St. Charles counties, all failed to make federally defined “adequate yearly progress!” This is simply unacceptable! Our children not only deserve, but desperately need educational reforms and improvements. Progress must be continually achieved.

Many other states and even surrounding counties—such as Dunklin, Jefferson, St. Clair, New Haven and Franklin school districts—have been able to obtain AYP. Proving that AYP—which includes standards to help ensure students are on grade-level in both reading and math—is definitely obtainable.

These children and the future of the St. Louis area depend on achieving educational progress. Parents and non-parents alike must look into proposed school reforms and not settle for the current inadequate status quo.

The definition of insanity

The Kansas City Star, while reporting on a local State Representative race, noted that campaign material attacked Curt Dougherty of Independence for “voting for vouchers.” Vouchers, as Dougherty notes, are prohibited by the state’s Blaine Amendment, so he couldn’t have voted for a voucher.

This is not just an attack on a particular candidate’s position: it’s just one front in the war against improvement in education. The state of education from urban to rural communities is so dire that not taking reform measures is an attack. It is, in my opinion, ethically equal to doing nothing while a child drowns. We have children who every year are damned to poverty, unable to secure jobs or a college path, and often turn to crime. Many statistics document higher incarceration rates for non-high school graduates. The scope of this problem defines us when we refuse to take measures to give less fortunate children the basic means to pursue their own American Dream, and it damns us in turn when we let the bureaucracy of education dictate what we can and can’t do to help all children get—at the very least—an accredited education.

“That has nothing to do with education money,” Dougherty said, adding that the state has approved tax credits for a wide variety of initiatives, such as automobile assembly and historic preservation.

“These people try to villainize someone with a word, such as ‘vouchers.’”

We can do it for cars, but not kids? When are we going to get over the irrational fears we’ve been fed about education reform and start trying alternatives like scholarship tax credits to see if they can work here like they work in Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona and many other states? They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, expecting different results. By that measure, we’re insane NOT to try a tax credit program for education.

Choices are Made Everywhere...I would Like Some Too!

With many political issues to face during campaigning, I am most of all focused on one's education plans. If someone feels our public education system is going great, they will never get my vote. Then, if someone admits there is a problem, I am listening. Next, if someone will fight for vouchers or education choice for children, they will usually get a check next to their name on the ballot. This is not to say this is my only concern, but one of my main ones. Schools are failing all over the country and the ones that are most affected by it are those children in lower income families or ones with special needs. These children already have disadvantages, why should the lack of educational choices make it that much worse? I am yet to see schools improving with the status quo, isn't it about time to try something new? The idea of choice has been around for many years and is being used in few cities. I understand it takes time for change, takes time for people to warm up to the idea, but that time should be now. Those cities that have forms of choice are seeing substantial improvements in education achievements from their students. Why are so many people fighting it? Some worry about the what-ifs, but what about worrying about the problems now. Doing something the same way over and over again and expecting the same results is not a smart move. Meanwhile, millions of children are losing their chances day by day to become educated and successful citizens.

In this article in the Columbia Tribune/AP, McCain makes his opinions very clear.

Jul 16, 9:45 PM EDT

McCain at NAACP pledges more education options

By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer

CINCINNATI (AP) -- John McCain told the NAACP and some skeptical black voters Wednesday that he will expand education opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to attend private school.

The likely Republican presidential nominee addressed the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

In greeting the group, McCain praised Democrat Barack Obama's historic campaign, but said the Illinois senator is wrong to oppose school vouchers for students in failing public schools. It is time, McCain said, to use vouchers and other tools like merit pay for teachers to break from conventional thinking on educational policy.

Obama, he said, has dismissed support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans.

"All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?" the Arizona senator asked. "No entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity."