Good news on alternative teacher certification

Men and women certified through the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) are now allowed to teach in Oklahoma public schools.

Strange bedfellows

In a perceptive new blog post, David Blatt at the Oklahoma Policy Institute points out that on educational issues in Oklahoma, "old assumptions and old alliances seem to be breaking down."

So what's going on here? At its essence, these battles represent a profound frustration and disappointment in the poor performance of public schools in low-income, disproportionately-minority urban neighborhoods and a belief that poor families deserve a wider array of choices for their children. In Oklahoma and around the country, African-American political and civic leaders, along with some liberal education reform advocates, have become vocal supporters of expanding the choices available to low-income parents through charter schools, and in some cases, private school vouchers. ...

Not too long ago, the education debate at the Capitol did not extend to much more than funding, teacher pay and class sizes. As the debate has broadened to include such issues as charter schools, testing, merit pay and tenure, new perspectives, new alliances, and new conflicts have emerged.

The facts about school choice

The Alliance for School Choice has just released an excellent set of fact sheets.

Not as good as you think

Citing a new study by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, Thomas Friedman writes in The New York Times about "how far we have fallen behind in K-12 education and how much it is costing us."

There are millions of kids who are in modern suburban schools "who don't realize how far behind they are," said Matt Miller, one of the authors. "They are being prepared for $12-an-hour jobs -- not $40 to $50 an hour."

OCPA has previously pointed out that suburban students aren't doing as well as they may think.

School choice: A weapon in the war on poverty

"What is needed to liberate families from the stain of poverty is individual educational empowerment in the form of universal school choice," Phillip W. Smith writes in the Muskogee Phoenix:

School choice would be the first effective shot fired in the war on poverty. Health, education, crime and economics would all radically change in our poorest neighborhoods if we were to advance true school choice. We need a government dedicated not to "programs" but rather to individual empowerment.

Virtual choices

"Oklahoma students looking for alternatives to get their high school diplomas now have options of online and university-run schools to complete their education," Jennifer Griswold reported yesterday in The Oklahoman ('High school students have online options for diplomas').

Administrators with Oklahoma Virtual High School and University of Oklahoma High School report a steady increase in student enrollment during the past several years.

The growth is expected to continue through the next decade, said Jeff Elliott, president of the Oklahoma City-based company that runs Oklahoma Virtual High School. ...

Oklahoma Virtual High School is run by Advanced Academics, which is owned by DeVry Inc. The company is a partner with school districts and offers students an alternative to the traditional high school classroom.

Company representatives work with school districts to meet their needs by offering classes or programs they don’t have the resources or staff to offer on-site, said Elliott.

Hmmm. The government gives tax dollars to a private school on a per-student basis. Sounds suspiciously like ... well, you know. And it would be quite the outrage if it weren't for the fact that public dollars are already flowing to private schools all the time.

Don't trouble me with evidence, I have 'no doubt'

In her latest column, state Superintendent Sandy Garrett announced that Oklahoma school districts are starting to receive the first round of the so-called stimulus dollars for reading and math instruction -- nearly $130 million, with a like amount forthcoming in the fall. She wrote:

Like most Oklahomans, I am concerned about our nation's economy and about the debt that could be passed on to our children's children. Yet, I have no doubt about the positive affect [sic] of investing in Oklahoma's boys and girls and their future.

No doubt? Honestly? Shouldn't this graphic give you at least some doubt? Indeed, wouldn't it make more sense to say, "I have no doubt that the positive effects will be slim or none"?

From homeschooling to Harvard Law

In a recent interview, homeschool graduate Lindsay See said homeschooling has prepared her well for the Harvard Law School:

Classes are challenging, and I certainly spend a lot of time studying, but I've also felt really comfortable with just the level of work that's required here. ... Even with the great students here at Harvard, not everyone is used to the amount of work that we have here. But I found, thanks to my homeschooling and college background, the transition to law school just really wasn't that new for me. And mostly I think that's because homeschooling taught me how to teach myself and also how to take responsibility for my own schedule.

Charter schools as civil rights issue

As state Rep. Jabar Shumate (D-Tulsa) never tires of repeating, providing educational opportunity for all children is the civil rights issue of our time. Click here to watch Rep. Shumate discuss his bill allowing Oklahoma's tribal governments to sponsor charter schools.

Juan Williams outraged over end of DC voucher program

National Public Radio Sr. Correspondent and Fox News Contributor Juan Williams is angry over the Obama Administration's decision to "hollow out" the generous District of Columbia school voucher program, which has enabled 1,714 children to escape DC's failed school system.

Williams, a liberal political commentator, writes that he finds himself "in a fury":

The cause of my upset is watching the key civil rights issue of this generation — improving big city public school education — get tossed overboard by political gamesmanship. If there is one goal that deserves to be held above day-to-day partisanship and pettiness of ordinary politics it is the effort to end the scandalous poor level of academic achievement and abysmally high drop-out rates for America’s black and Hispanic students.

Initial indications from President Obama and Arne Duncan, his Secretary of Education, were that the voucher program, which expires in 2010, had a chance to continue. Instead, Secretary Duncan withdrew awards for 200 students entering the program this fall.

His rationale is that if the program does not win new funding from Congress then those students might have to go back to public school in a year.

He does not want to give the students a chance for a year in a better school? That does not make sense if the students and their families want that life-line of hope. It does not make sense if there is a real chance that the program might win new funding as parents, educators and politicians rally to undo the “bigotry of low expectations” and open doors of opportunity — wherever they exist — for more low-income students.

The program made a difference: Students who were in the voucher program from the beginning had, after three years, a 19-month advantage in reading over their public-school counterparts.

Williams seems most appalled by the hypocrisy of the public officials who are killing this successful voucher program:

Of course, Secretary Duncan has said he decided not to live in Washington, D.C. because he did not want his children to go to public schools there. And President Obama, who has no choice but to live in the White House, does not send his two daughters to D.C. public schools, either. They attend a private school, Sidwell Friends, along with two students who got there because of the voucher program.

This reckless dismantling of the D.C. voucher program... does not speak well of the promise of President Obama to be the “Education President,’ who once seemed primed to stand up for all children who want to learn and especially minority children.

And its time for all of us to get outraged about this sin against our children.

Objectivity-strapped reporting

"Cash-strapped school districts in three rural Oklahoma counties are eagerly awaiting the outcome of a tax case tied up for years in the court system that could result in millions of dollars for schools," the Associated Press reports.

Notice the decidedly non-objective modifier "cash-strapped" to describe these school districts in Grant, Woods, and Beckham counties. Is the reporter perchance referring to the Wakita school district, which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Public Education Finances 2006, spends $17,053 per pupil? I'm thinking Holland Hall and Casady -- to say nothing of several inner-city private schools -- would love to be that cash-strapped.

Or perhaps the reporter is referring to the Freedom school district, which spends a mere $13,833 per pupil? Or is it Waynoka ($10,423), Medford ($9,336), Deer Creek-Lamont ($9,039), or Erick ($9,038)?

No word yet from the AP on the cash-strapped-ness of the consumers and ratepayers also impacted by the court case.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but ...

This according to a new book forthcoming next month from NYU Press. According to the publisher,

This is how many young people of color call attention to the kind of public education they are receiving. ... By showing that young people are deeply committed to education but often critical of the kind of education they are receiving, this book highlights the dishonesty of public claims that they do not value education. Ultimately, these powerful student voices remind us of the ways we have shirked our public responsibility to create excellent schools. True school reform requires no less than a new civil rights movement, where adults join with young people to ensure an equal education for each and every student.

Horace Mann prophecy watch

Horace Mann, generally regarded as the father of America's current public school system, once prophesied: "Let the Common School ... be worked with the efficiency of which it is susceptible, and nine tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete; the long catalogue of human ills would be abridged."

It hasn't quite worked out that way, of course. Not only have the crimes not become obsolete, they are now occurring in the schools themselves. Of course, the schools hire security guards to help alleviate the problem, but -- whoops! -- sometimes the security guards are child molesters. Hate it when that happens.

As the Tulsa World's Andrea Eger reports,

A security guard who pleaded no contest this week to molesting a girl he met at Hale High School worked more extensively at Tulsa Public Schools than officials reported after his arrest.

Tracy Richard Sullins, 49, is in the Tulsa jail awaiting sentencing on one count of lewd molestation, a felony.

In 2007, Tulsa school officials said Sullins was a security guard who had substituted for only a day or two at two or three Tulsa schools in 2006, but on Friday, they reported that he began working for the district in 1999.

School officials said he was the lead guard at Hale High School between 2004 and 2005. The only other schools they knew he worked at are Byrd Middle School and Edison Preparatory School, said Tami Marler, a spokeswoman for the district. ...

Det. Jim Murray, with the Diamond, Mo., police, said Sullins was as bold as any Internet predator he has encountered.

Sullins reportedly had more than 700 addresses for female juveniles in his e-mail account and more than 200 instant messaging contacts.

"I didn't realize the kind of monster we were dealing with until we got the forensic report back on his computer," Murray said. "He bragged about making girls his prostitutes."

Murray also said that unlike what was initially reported, Sullins had more than a few days of access to girls in local schools.