Leigh McGuigan joins CPS

It was announced last week that Leigh McGuigan left her position in Cleveland's Office of New and Innovative Schools to take a position as special assistant under CPS CEO Ron Huberman. What does this mean for Chicago?

We know that McGuigan has done extensive work in Cleveland based around evaluation and metrics. She designed a "value-added" score that was adopted as part of Ohio's school report cards. By taking the students' academic starting point into consideration, her new metric could take some of the pressure off CPS’ reliance on standardized state tests to show that students are learning. Chicago has been considering such a metric, but educators, and the charter sector in particular, still need to weigh in on the outcomes they’re expected to live up to.

As part of Cleveland's academic infrastructure, McGuigan did a lot of work with assessment and evaluation as well as helping schools first develop, then reach, explicit goals. Knowing all this, it won't surprise anyone to hear that McGuigan’s publishing history focuses on teacher efficacy and standardized testing.

What does it mean for the charter sector’s hard and costly choices around facilities planning, the ugly battles over school closings, miscommunication about charters, or the uneven tug of war for resources between pensions and pencils? We’ll have to wait and see

One of the advantages of a school system that includes charter schools is the ability for charters to employ different, innovative techniques in the classroom and feed those practices into the larger system. There’s a lot happening in CPS these days, to put it bluntly, and there’s still a lot left to do. Welcome to the big game, Ms. McGuigan.

The Burnham 2.0 Plan

The Burnham Group recently released a report entitled Burnham 2.0, which focuses on specific categories of educational reform in Illinois. This report has the near-term goal of strengthening the Illinois Race to the Top application.

Burnham 2.0 calls for student outcomes to be the basis upon which all Illinois schools are judged. Notable is the urging for school growth to become a metric for determining school success. The Burnham Group fully recognizes the need to boost the performance of weak schools and states that school success needs to be defined more fully, that the State Board of Education should improve a teacher assessment program as well as evaluation of instruction, and that operational and instructional be the basis of decisions regarding our state’s educational system.

The 22 page report was signed by several names in the educational arena, including Ron Huberman, State Representative Roger Eddy, Miguel Delvalle and myself.

The release of this report is cause for celebration. While we all come from greatly varied political backgrounds and leanings, our belief in educational reform and our passion for giving Illinois students the best possible future brought us together for this cause. We all believe education needs to have the student at its center.

-Sylvia Ewing

Race to the Top

Race to the Top is, in short, a $4.35 billion dollar fund that’s part of the Federal Stimulus package, which is itself designed to bring unprecedented levels of federal funding to certain states to improve student achievement and close achievement gaps. Through Race to the Top, Illinois has a historic and potentially groundbreaking opportunity to use this one-time federal money to implement high impact reforms.

INCS stands ready to work with the state to help get a winning application for Illinois and bring much needed funds to our state. To that end, we’ve identified four key areas that the Department of Education should look at when it comes to charter public schools. Illinois has done well in some of these areas, and in others, there is room for Illinois to improve upon for a winning application.

1. Authorizing

Illinois has, in statute, the basics for authorizing and outlines the role of school districts as authorizers. We currently have a task force, commissioned by the general assembly, which will review the need for and capacity of creating a new and independent charter school authorizer for the state. Illinois has only one active authorizer at the moment – the Chicago Public Schools. We do not have consistent authorizing practices across the state as the majority of the districts are not serving as authorizers of charters and therefore not creating the in-house expertise on charter school authorizing essential to the creation and oversight of charter schools.

To improve Illinois’ Race to the Top application as it relates to charter public schools, a state-wide approach to authorizing that will share the best practice in the creation, oversight and re-authorizing or closing of charter schools would put Illinois at the top of the class when it comes to charter school authorizing. We hope the recommendations put forth by the task force at the end of this year and any subsequent action taken by the General Assembly will accomplish that end.

2. Caps

Both President Obama and Secretary Duncan have commented publicly about the need to lift charter school caps. INCS is proud that Illinois was the first state, under the leadership Sen. Lightford, Senator Steans and Representative Mitchell to heed that call and double the number of charters available in Illinois. We certainly think Illinois should tout that achievement in its Race to the Top application.

3. Funding Equity

According to the Race to the Top application draft, the D.O.E will be looking at the extent to which the State's charter schools receive equitable funding compared to traditional public schools, and a commensurate share of local, State, and Federal program and revenue sources.

The reality is that we just do not have this information. There is a general perception by our charter operators that charters receive less funding than traditional schools. We need access to the data from all districts that authorize charter schools to truly know. More importantly, the onus is on Illinois to prove in its application that charters are funded fairly.

This leads to my final point. Often, the funding equation does not factor in one of the biggest expenses charter schools face – facilities funding.

4. Facilities Access

The D.O.E. will examine the extent to which the state provides charter schools with equitable access to facilities by providing them with facilities funding, assistance with facilities acquisition, access to public facilities, the ability to share in bonds and mill levies, and/or other supports

This past legislative session, $173 million was allocated to school districts and charter schools for facilities. Part of that funding went to the United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) to build new charter school facilities that would help alleviate overcrowding. There were also other dollars set for charter school facilities in Rockford and other charter schools, including ASPIRA, this past year. This facilities funding allocation will help some with the Illinois application, but it does not go far enough.

Even though we’ve had this one-time allotment of funds for charter facilities, they are just that — a one-time allotment. Prior to this session there have not been state funds allocated for charter public school buildings. Currently, a vacuum exists in the charter law to address the facilities needs of charter public schools. That issue left unresolved would dock points from the Illinois Race to the Top application.

With respect to charter schools, Illinois does not have all of the winning pieces in place to secure top marks on the charter section of Race to the Top. It is the hope that with improvement of these four key issues , Illinois will not only have a stronger application, but stronger supports for charter schools that have already shown to be quality public schools.

-Carlos Perez

Enrolling Your Child in a Charter Public School

Over the summer, INCS receives many phone calls from parents searching for charter school information and who are interested in enrolling their children in a charter school for the fall. Fall is the best time to start looking into charter schools for the next school year, particularly for families that have children that will be entering high school in a year. Many charter schools hold open houses and info sessions during the fall for students to come and explore what their school has to offer. You can take a look at INCS’ 2008 Charter School Profiles for contact information to each charter school to arrange a visit yourself, or to simply contact the school for more information. Be on the lookout for our new 2009 Charter School Profiles which are currently being updated!

More and more parents are taking a second look at what charter public schools have to offer and are excited by what they see. Thanks to these and many other charter advocates that are spreading the word on charter public schools, the charter public school community in Illinois has grown tremendously in the past few years! The strength in the charter school community can be measured by our success this year in increasing the charter school cap in Illinois from 60 to 120. Our voice can only get stronger with your continued support and involvement in the charter public school movement. Keep spreading your charter school stories to other families so they, too, can learn about the difference charter schools have been making in Illinois and how they can also be a part of the Illinois charter school movement through INCS!

More time in the classroom?

This week’s announcement by former Chicago politicos Barak Obama and Arnie Duncan that American schools should add more class time to the schedule has brought a lot of attention to charter schools. KIPP, the Knowledge is Power Program system of schools, has been especially singled out by the press for their long class hours and extended schedule.

KIPP has 87 campuses in 19 states across America. Chicago is home to KIPP Ascend Charter School, and it serves grades 5-8 in the Lawndale neighborhood. Students there spend around 70% more time in the classroom than their CPS counterparts and have an 80% rate of college enrollment. Don’t let that number be misleading: though there are nearly 16,000 KIPP students nationally in 2009, the 80% applies to all alumni who graduate the program, which has existed since 1994. That percentage is far and above the schools’ surrounding communities. Clearly, the system is doing something right.

Additionally, Stanford economist Caroline Hoxby’s recent study of New York charter schools brought light to a previous study in Chicago that came to the same conclusion: charter schools outperform public schools. She notes a direct correlation to a student’s time in a charter school to their academic performance, such that a student when stays in the charter system from K-12 will perform better than a student who attends, say, from 5-12.

Charter schools are truly unique entities that deserve a chance to show the American educational system what, exactly, they’re capable of doing. Though it isn’t easy to pick just one reason they succeed, the Obama/Duncan call to action is a step in the right direction. Just ask someone from KIPP.

-Jim Publicover

Ron Huberman talks to District 299

INCS today held its first District 299 meeting of the 2009-2010 school year, hosted by LEARN Charter School. And it was the hottest ticket in town. CEO of Chicago Public Schools Ron Huberman came to discuss with the charter sector CPS’ plans for improving facilities access, increasing per pupil funding, changing the ways in which the district holds charter schools accountable, and making all schools safer.

Huberman delivered a 30 minute presentation to a large crowd of nearly 100 charter school leaders, board members, and teachers, representing 24 charter school organizations across Chicago. It was a lively and interactive discussion which showed how well informed Huberman is and how thoughtful and passionate charter leaders are as well.

Mr. Huberman spent much of his time reviewing the “report card” that CPS will release in the next 4 -6 months which will provide parents reliable information about how every public school is performing. And school leaders agreed to the need for clarity and accountability while offering several refinements to the process.

Huberman reiterated his goal of collecting accurate student data, and assured schools that he did not want to catch any schools off guard with his new accountability plan.

Huberman quickly touched upon his plan to strategically address facilities access for charter schools, sharing that schools performing well may be put ahead those not doing as well. Also announced to pleasant surprise were plans to increase the general education per pupil funding for charters.

This was the most important meeting of the year to date. Continuing this important collaboration will be vital to improving our city’s schools.

-Marvin Smith

How to measure success

The political arena surrounding education is often charged, and recent headlines, like the exit of Josh Edelman from CPS or the talk that there will be A-F report cards for all public schools in Chicago, only reinforce this notion. With all the changes and questions about how to measure charter schools’ impact, what’s going to come next? I find it helpful to look at the big picture in times like these, in order to maintain perspective.

News from New York State is certainly encouraging — a recent report by Stanford economist Carline Hoxby shows just how much can be achieved when you combine the charter school model with supportive policies and an engaged and thoughtful authorizer. The study How New York City’s Charters Affect Achievement followed students who got into a charter public school and compared the group to those who, like so many in Chicago, were on a waiting list. The results are certainly encouraging: students at charter public schools outperform students at traditional district schools in math and English, and they make greater annual academic gains. Also, just as in Chicago, charter students are more likely to graduate (by a rate of 7% here in Chicago and 28% in New York). In light of these results, charter schools and their proponents should be proud that we helped more students reach high academic standards.

Operational elements are largely credited for the study’s findings. New York’s charter schools are notable for their data-driven instruction, extended day and year, flexible curriculum, parental involvement, and merit pay for teachers. These findings show that charter schools can inspire achievement in urban areas. Like Chicago, New York has a waiting list of students who wish to attend a charter public school, but, with the recent doubling of the charter school cap in Illinois, more students will have a chance for success at a charter school here. You can visit the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools to find out more about charter schools’ operational differences.

A human element I feel is linked to school success is leadership. In another look at the big picture, The Principal Story by Chicago Filmmakers’ Todd Lending and David Mrazek aired on PBS stations last week. It shows just how important having the right person in this tough job is. For example, charter schools give leaders the authority and autonomy they need at the school level to make decisions that matter. The charter model lends a more strength to the crucial task of school leadership. You can visit The Wallace Foundation for clips of the documentary and educational resources that go along with the film.

While the road is rocky at times, charter public schools are headed in the right direction. We are helping students reach their full potential, and that can only be counted as a success.

Sylvia Ewing
INCS Interim Executive Director