IALA

Changing Traditional Schools: Impossible, Or....

2008-04-20T20:17:41Z

Many have noted the near impossibility of changing district schools. Many have tried. Billions (literally) have been spent on the effort. Despite small and temporary changes, there is virtually nothing to show for the exertion in the past 100 years. That's why alternatives, charters, vouchers and other choice programs have arisen--or an institutional bypass, if you will.

Now, Boston with $400,000 of foundation support will expand their Pilot Schools program by reducing regulations on another series of schools. Schools will be freer to make program changes, alter staffing configuration, control staffing and determine budget allocations. This move long known in the trade as site based decision making often ends up as a tepid non-event because central offices (and often unions) will not support delegation of authority to that degree.

The only hope for new kinds of schools lies with alternatives of various kinds. However, a full blown program of the type Boston proposes has possibilities of bringing reform into a school district. Time will tell whether the bureaucracy smothers another reform.

School Choice: New Study

2008-04-20T19:48:13Z

A new study School Choice: Evidence and Recommendations by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice is a set of papers by leading scholars on the topic including the most recent information on:

-Philosophical frameworks
-Legislation
-Litigation
-Policy
-Funding of advocacy
-Working conditions
-Innovations
-Race, class and achievement
-Impact on traditional education

A good summary of the topics. The study provides hope for the future of alternatives but raises cautions.

Research on Alternative Schools

2008-04-16T20:04:30Z

The 2001 �District Survey of Alternative Schools and Programs,� conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics is the first national study of public alternative schools and programs to provide data on topics related to the availability of public alternative schools and programs, enrollment, staffing, and services. There are 10,900 public alternative schools serving at-risk students in the U.S. during 2000-2001, the latest year with available data.

The focus of the study is on alternative schools and programs that serve students who are at risk of educational failure, as indicated by poor grades, truancy, disruptive behavior, suspension, pregnancy, or similar factors associated with early withdrawal from school. The study presents a snapshot of alternative schools and programs for at-risk students during the 2000�01 school year.

Remember, this is for labeled at-risk students. There are other types of alternative schools. Furthermore, we question the emphasis on the "deficits" of the student and ought to raise questions on the deficits of a system that did not adequately respond to student needs and turned to separating students into programs serving at-risk youth.

National and State Alternative Education Conferences

2008-04-01T21:22:03Z

Mark your calendar for any of the following conferences about alternatives of interest to you or colleagues.

The Magnet Schools of American will hold its annual conference in Chattanooga, TN April 28-May 1, 2008.

The Michigan Alternative Education Organization will hold its annual conference April 30-May 2, 2008 in Kalamazoo.

The National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools will hold its annual conference May 15-18, 2008 in Paonia, Colorado.

The National Charter Schools Conference will be June 22-25, 2008 in New Orleans.

AERO will hold its 5th annual conference June 26-29, 2008 in Troy, NY.

The International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) will hold its annual conference August 11-18, 2008 in Vancouver, Canada.

The Community Day School Network (California) will hold its annual conference Jan. 11-13, 2009 in Fresno, CA.

A Second Side to the Story

2008-03-26T16:06:48Z

Many students identified as at-risk become dropouts from school. Most of the discussion about dropouts focuses on characteristics of the students with little examination of the policies and practices of schools that contribute to student failure. Those policies and practices represent the second side of the story about why so many students dropout or give up. Revision of school policies can contribute greatly to student success.

The Iowa Dept. of Education and the Iowa Association of Alternative Education created the Inventory of Policies & Practices Related to Student Failure and Dropping Out defining over 50 policies and practices that contribute to student failure. This powerful tool helps in the review of school policies and in creating new policies to increase student success. This carefully developed inventory is free and can be modified to fit local needs. Also included is a student questionnaire for their views.

Dr. Ray Morley on a recent webcast (see below) reported on this excellent tool on crucial factors impacting student dropouts and what unfortunately may result in "push outs."

Webcast: Dropout Crisis

2008-03-14T04:47:45Z

Ray Morley, long time educator on alternatives and at-risk and IALA board member presented an informative webcast March 25, 3:30-4:30 EST on Solutions to the Dropout Crisis, Policies and Practices Related to Student Failure and Dropping Out: Tools and Resources. The program was sponsored by National Dropout Prevention Center/Network at Clemson University and Penn Foster.The program was archived in its entirety on the Web site and is available in case you missed the March 25 broadcast.

Information about participating in dropout professional development opportunities is at www.dropoutprevention.org/webcast. If you have further questions, feel free to contact the National Dropout Prevention Center or 864�656�2580. Participation in their monthly webcasts is free and no registration is required.

A Curriculum for Thinking

2008-03-14T04:46:55Z

Marion Brady writes in "Cover the Material--Or Teach Students to Think?" that schools overwhelmingly teach factual material and recall, among the most primitive areas of learning. Textbooks and the conventional curricula fail in the important tasks of helping children and adults cope with complexities of modern life. Brady provides an inspiring list of how schools can use their immediate environments and issues for developing problem solving and critical, creative thinking skills, and in the process learn much of the conventional subject matter.

Brady is one of the most thoughtful and clear educators writing today. His article appeared in Educational Leadership (Feb., 2008, pp 54-67). The issue contains other thoughtful articles calling for schools to ramp up thinking skills--in my view, a terrific objective but unlikely to be achieved in today's environment.

What Doesn't Get Measured Doesn't Get Done

2008-03-14T01:50:04Z

Reassessing the Achievement Gap: Fully Measuring What Students Should Be Taught in School by Richard Rothstein, Rebecca Jacobsen and Tamara Wilder finds that important accepted goals for schools are not only not measured but students fall well short of expectations.

Of the ten major goals of schooling (basic academic skills, critical thinking and problem solving, social skills and work ethic, readiness for citizenship and community responsibility, foundation for lifelong physical and emotional health, appreciation of the arts and literature, and preparation for work) only two or three areas are systematically assessed. We're left to guess about the rest with considerable doubt about their achievement. In addition, national measures, such as they are, show the familar gap between black and white students.

This thought-provoking double-spaced 27 page report will be a foundation for an upcoming book.

Options for the High School Student

2008-03-02T20:39:27Z

Dave Lehman, former IALA board member and long-time former alternative school administrator recommends, Choices for the High School Graduate: A Survival Guide for the Information Age by Bryna Fireside. The present universal call for all students to prepare for and attend college obviously doesn't work for all students. The book helpfully and honestly points out a variety of choices students may make as part of their high school education and the options beyond high school.

It describes Earthwatch, travel, overseas, military service, special academic programs, apprenticeships, internships, volunteer work, online and distance learning, deferred admission, part-time work, trades�-a partial list of what is available in this excellent resource, which is based extensively on interviews with young people, college administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, parent/caregivers, demographers, and career specialists.

See the complete book review below.

]]> Choices for the High School Graduate: A Survival Guide for the Information Age by Bryna Fireside, 4th Edition, New York: Checkmark Books of Facts on File, Inc., 2005. Reviewed by Dave Lehman.

�College ready� is the mantra of high school reform. And clearly that is a laudable goal. We all want all of our young people, not only to graduate from high school, but to have the opportunity to go to college, and educators should make it a priority to prepare these students to have not only the academic skills, but self-confidence and personal motivation to seek a higher education. So, yes, a college education is a worthwhile and beneficial endeavor, but it is not always the right path for every high school graduate. Many high school graduates do not feel ready for college, or do not want to embark on another four years of studying right away, or don�t what they really want to do, or with the increasing costs of higher education, will need to earn money for college immediately after high school, or may not want to be saddled with payments on a heavy college loan. Choices for the High School Graduate, Fourth Edition discusses a wide range of options available to students looking for an alternative to college upon high school graduation � travel, overseas, military service, special academic programs, apprenticeships, internships, volunteer work, online and distance learning, deferred admission, part-time work, trades � is but a partial list of what is available in this excellent resource, which is based extensively on interviews with young people, college administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, parent/caregivers, demographers, and career specialists.

In the Introduction to the fully updated and revised Fourth Edition of what was originally titled, Choices: A Student Survival Guide for the 1990s published in 1989, the author - who has taught in Chicago, Baltimore, and New York City, is the parent of three high school and college graduates, each of whom chose vastly different career paths, and author of several middle grade and young adult books as well as articles for The New York Times and Seventeen � speaks particularly to high school juniors and seniors (and their parent/caregivers) , stating:
�The truth is, there is no one right way to grow up. And there is no way anyone can predict what the future holds for you�.You are lucky to be on the cutting edge of the most exciting century ever. But you have to be prepared to try more things and take more risks than others who have come before you.�

Beginning with chapters aimed at helping students think about who they are and what they want to do after high school, there is a two-part �Self-Assessment� aimed at both �general academic skills� and �personal and interpersonal attitudes and qualities� with a closing on �analyzing your answers,� as well as a section resume writing. This handy Guide includes other chapters on such topics as: �Stopping Out: Is It Right for You?,� �No More Pencils, No More Books: Work After School, or All That Glitters Is Hard to Get,� �Internships and Other Adventures: Unusual Opportunities, Unique Experiences,� �Can I Become a Real Man or Woman by Joining the Military?,� �What If College Isn�t for Me? The Uncollege Option,� with help for those planning to go directly to college after high school graduation, including how to read college guidebooks and catalogs and guidelines for college transferring, an increasingly common practice. There are such practical tools as a copy of the actual enlistment/reenlistment form required by the U.S. Armed Forces.

Then, too, there�s the chapter entitled: �Am I Having Fun Yet? Nuts and Bolts of Making the Most of Your Time Out,� with numerous ideas on �how to rent an apartment and choose housemates,� �a word about using credit cards,� �putting money aside,� �tips on banking,� as well as practical suggestions on how to make a budget, including dealing with health insurance, housing, and transportation, etc. But, what makes this a particularly useful Guide is that for every Chapter, every section of a chapter, there are mini-case studies with interviews of students involved. For example:
�I was relieved [to be finished with high school],� said SF, �and I wanted a break and wanted to learn more about the world�So during the last semester of high school, I started to do some volunteer work with Earthwatch.� After her first Earthwatch experience in the Bahamas, she was offered an unpaid staff position helping with photography, and earned the science credit she needed to graduate from high school. By the time she had competed her third Earthwatch experience SF took a job in a local coffee-shop, got an apartment, learned that it wasn�t easy to support herself, and she clearly wasn�t able to save any money for travel. After a year SF decided she still wanted to travel, to go back to school, and to learn a trade she could take with her. She enrolled in an area Massage school, graduated at the age of 19, and got her license to practice massage. After working in a local spa for awhile she was still wanting to travel and said: �I didn�t want to sit in a classroom and have a professor telling me what was happening. I felt I needed to go and see this and learn this for myself.� With a little library research, SF discovered the Friends World Program where she could travel and earn an undergraduate degree at the same time. This mini-case study ends with contact information on the Massage school and Friends World Program at Long Island University.

Choices for the High School Graduate ends with a �Final Note � For Parents Only� and begins by stating: �This is the only section in the book not directed to students. Instead it is an open letter to your parents.� And then ends with the following: �I hope this modest book will help your son or daughter make some important decisions about his or her future � and that you will find it within yourselves to support his or her choices.� The book does just that; it helps not only young people looking to learn not only about how to approach college after high school, but what other options there might be and how to access them. A must read for any high school student and his or her parent/caregivers.

Alternative Schools Help Students: Proof

2008-02-09T03:25:40Z

Most attempts to judge schools depend on test scores. Few reports cover the personal impact on students. The Iowa Association of Alternative Education has updated their Iowa Success Stories of Alternative Schools and Students which tells the moving personal stories of dozens of students. This evidence of the power of alternative educational programs to turn around the lives of students provides important data for policy makers and evaluators. The report also has other research data and statistics plus references. This valuable report is available for all to use on the IALA website which contains much other useful reports and data.

Student Centered High Schools

2008-02-07T17:55:43Z

"A school ought to be a magical place where you are queen or king, and where what you get to do is to focus on your intellect, and on what you can accomplish as a human being, and you come to understand what your life can be. That�s what school should be for children. Not a place where you go to study for a standardized test. Not a place where you go where you hear every day about the problems that you are. Not a place where you go where people tell you that you are underperforming. Not a place where you go where people tell you that you are part of some pathology.

That�s not what a school is supposed to be. School is supposed to be full of hope, and it�s a place where you go to find out how magical your mind is and how terrific it will be when you develop your mind to its full potential."

This quote by Ruth Simmons begins the report Student-Centered High Schools: Helping Schools Adapt to the Learning Needs of Adolescents. It states that schools must serve student needs for: voice, belonging, choice, freedom, imagination and success. A fine, readable 12 page report from Brown University with excellent references.

Useful Charter School Flyer

2008-02-04T19:52:56Z

The Center for Education Reform has produced a handy 4 page flyer, Charter Schools: Quality Educational Options that Improve All Schools, to explain charter schools in brief, straight forward language. It describes the role of authorizers, the difference between strong and weak charter statutes, the constitutionality of charter school laws, the rationale and accountability of charter schools and more.

Their website contains a host of other information including state by state ranking of charter school laws and other general education reform news and policy information.

Reform Must be Based on How Learning Occurs

2008-01-22T15:57:53Z

Some of the best books on brain based learning are published by the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Paris, France. One is Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science (2007). This downloadable, readable 263 page book summarizes current research from brain scientific findings for practical use in schools, early learning and lifelong learning. Its abundant bibliography and helpful footnotes generously amplify the text. Important world centers for research on learning, all initiated in the last few years include:

- International Mind, Brain and Education Society initiated at Harvard University but now independent.
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education at the University of Cambridge, UK.
- Learning Lab at the University of Aarhus, Danish University of Education, Copenhagen.

In addition, an online forum discussion enables interaction for interested people and scholars

Schools Need Autonomy

2008-01-09T12:53:25Z

One long awaited reform is greater autonomy for schools within a district. Principals and teachers say they would accept accountability if they had the authority to change their program. When decisions about a school's program, staffing and budget are made elsewhere, the principal and teachers can argue that those decisions did not meet their needs and hence accountability rests with the district.

A celebrated pending case is the Bruce Randolph School in Denver. A new principal worked collaboratively with staff to increase student learning and made progress. Now the staff wants to make more changes but continuously runs into cumbersome district and union procedures. They petitioned the district for greater leeway in decisions. The district school board unanimously agreed. Despite an urgent appeal to the teacher union, it has yet to agree to changes. Now Colorado legislators may take those decisions out of the hands of districts and unions by granting schools site authority over decisions through "innovation zones."

This cry for greater freedom by school staffs to make decisions has a long history. For a time, site based management was the reform movement. But that turned out to be hollow as districts agreed to the words but not the intent and schools still had to play, "Captain, May I."

Some districts have forged ahead with school site management. The most famous is Edmonton, Canada where all 190 schools control their budget, staffing and program. Boston has its Pilot schools, New York and Chicago are experimenting with giving successful schools autonomy. Sadly, however, there is little progress to report on this decades-old promising reform. Tradition and top-down management have fierce holds on education with few signs of changing those controls. That becomes the main drive for teachers and principals starting charter schools in states with charter school laws granting school autonomy.

When Traditional Reading Methods Don�t Work

2008-01-07T00:36:02Z

Lucille Chagnon's methods builds on the foundation of knowledge that the learner already has. This long-time reading researcher provides a process than anyone can use for teaching anyone to read. You can see these methods and excerpts from her book You, Yes You Can Teach Someone to Read: A Step by Step How-To Guide on her website. She uses a time-honored but little practiced process that encourages students to become a teacher using the principle that you learn best what you teach.