Strike highlights split over poverty's role in learning (continued)...
HEAVY HOMEWORK, EXACTING STANDARDS
Reformers respond that kids need help now and can't wait until society finds the will or the means to fight a new war on poverty.
Their overhaul agenda does cost money. Districts that embark on reform may spend heavily to develop new standardized tests to measure teacher efficacy. They may also hire private managers to run schools deemed in need of an overhaul.
Philanthropies such as the Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation have invested hundreds of millions in priorities of the reform agenda, such as charter schools and new teacher evaluation systems.
In Chicago the district has turned over a dozen low-performing schools to nonprofit turnaround specialist AUSL, or Academy for Urban School Leadership. Before making such a handoff, the district spends up to $500,000 renovating the school with fresh paint, new athletic fields, and science and computer labs to send students and parents a signal that they're making a fresh start, district officials said.
The district also funds an extra assistant principal position for a year, at cost of $140,000. And it pays AUSL an annual management fee of $420 to $500 per student.
Officials say targeted spending like this, meant to raise achievement in a specific school, is more feasible than a diffuse commitment to help kids everywhere overcome the challenges of poverty -- especially in a struggling district like Chicago, which faces a $3 billion deficit over three years.
As proof that poverty is not insurmountable, reformers point to the stellar test scores posted by hundreds of "no excuses" charter schools nationwide.
Charter networks like KIPP, Achievement First, Yes Prep and Noble hold their students, mostly poor and minority, to exacting standards: They have heavy homework loads, extended school days, and rigorous behavior codes that may lead to disciplinary action for infractions such as failing to sit up straight.
From the first day, teachers -- who tend to be non-union -- emphasize that they expect students to excel and go to college. A great many do.
Union leaders point out that many charters don't achieve that level of success -- and in fact post worse scores than neighborhood schools -- and note that only highly motivated kids can stick with such a strenuous program. Teachers fear the emergence of a two-tier system in which the best students go to charters while traditional public schools are stuck with the rest.
Yet fans of charters say the fact that not every student can handle a rigorous school is no reason to deny the option to those who can.
"For certain poor kids, this is a great solution -- and there aren't a lot of other solutions out there," said Paul Tough, who has written extensively about education, including the just-released book "How Children Succeed."
Chicago school officials agree; their 2013 budget ramps up spending on charters by $76 million.
OPTING FOR BEST OF BOTH
The debate over how to boost achievement for poor kids is emotional and often nasty; it rages on Twitter and in blog posts and in rival reports that seek to build up or tear down the near-mythical status of top "no excuses" charter schools.
Behind the sharp rhetoric, however, the two sides may not be as far apart as they seem.
Consider Spark Academy, an elementary school in Newark, New Jersey, affiliated with the KIPP network of charter schools.
Teacher expectations are set so high, kids learn to identify themselves by what year they'll be graduating from college. But it's not all "no excuses."
The school, with just over 400 students, employs two full-time social workers and a dean whose sole job is to get students the help they need so they can focus on academics, whether it's grief counseling, medical treatment or a safe place to sleep, said Ryan Hill, executive director of KIPP's New Jersey network.
"The camp that says none of this stuff matters," Hill said, "is as wrong as those who say we can't make a difference with these kids."
(Editing by Jonathan Weber and Prudence Crowther)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/14/us-strike-poverty-idUSBRE88D1JD20120914
