Missouri's Education...Worse than I Thought

As a mother of young children, it is impossible for me to stay away from the depressing news of the failures of many of Missouri schools. Being that my children are not yet in school, I may be a little naive on all the facts. I am sure, like many other parents, reading about the lack of education in some of the bigger cities brings a sense of sadness for all those parents. Yet, not living there, I have felt a little secure in my bubble outside the cities. Even though I have always known things could be better here, I never knew how bad they really were. Reading the Missouri Policitical News Service, I came across an op-ed written by Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield, titled "Who Needs Help; K-12 Education in Missouri". Some new facts that may surprise you are: Fact: Most minority students do not go to school in the metro areas. Only 30% of black students go to school in St. Louis or Kansas City. Fact: Most poor performing minority students do not live in Metro areas. 67% of black students testing basic or below go to school outside Kansas City and St. Louis City. Fact: A small percentage of poor performers live in metro areas. Only 10% of all students testing basic or below go to school in Kansas City and St. Louis. Fact: Most poor performing students don’t live in metro areas and are white. Almost 70% of children testing basic or below and living outside St. Louis and Kansas City are white. What does this data mean? That solving the minority, metro problem will only affect less than 6% of students in Missouri. Solving the education problem will require an expanded focus on all schools from the bad to the great. Many minority children do poorly outside the metro areas. Almost half of white students need help. So much emphasis has been placed on the metro areas and not enough on areas outside the cities. While I know it is important for those cities to improve, I also agree with Dr. Sinquefield that the entire state needs improvement. This news definitely gives me the feeling my little bubble has popped and I hope, for the sake of my children and the rest of the children, things are done to improve education for all.

You Read my Mind!

I was on Missouri Political News Service (MOPNS) today and saw this article defending charter schools and Kenny Hulshof's education plan for Kansas City and St. Louis schools.  It is indeed great to see someone like the Children's Education Council of Missouri promote charter school expansion as a means of education reform in Missouri.  Charter schools provide much needed choice and alternatives to the failing schools in St. Louis and Kansas City.

I am glad that Mr. Simms took the time to fully and accurately explain charters.  Many in the public who rail against charters do not realize that charter schools ARE public schools and often do as well, or better, than traditional district counterparts with much less funding.  They should be expanded into other areas besides St. Louis and Kansas City.  

Hopefully Jay Nixon will get a clue and realize that what parents across the state, especially in KC and St. Louis, need are more education options for their children.  Thanks to Kenny Hulshof for being an advocate for expanding charter schools.           

Breakfast of Champions

When going down the cereal isle at any grocery store there are hundreds
of different brands to choose from. Why are these companies always
coming out with new flavors, improved ingredients and tempting aesthetic
gimmicks? The answer: COMPETITION. This same marketplace philosophy of
improvement though choice MUST be applied to St. Louis schools. With
parental choice options public schools will be forced to finally begin
must-needed system-wide revamping to maintain students. Private schools
will also be motivated for high-quality achievement in order to entice
local families. With a school choice model, children win. They would
no longer be stuck in failing schools. Some try to argue that school
choice will hurt public schools-which is simply not true! Great schools
will not be affected. (Aren't there still Cheerios and Wheaties?) It
is only the schools that are currently unacceptable that will be forced
to improve. Though the future of our children is obviously an extremely
more important and sensitive subject than breakfast food, today's
economy forces even the most passionate institutions to face this
market-driven society. The bottom-line is: our children deserve a
first-rate education and this is possible using school choice!

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.