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It would be interesting to know how the turnover compares to turnover in the district as a whole. Also, wasn't there some sort of contract signed by teachers agreeing to work at the ALA's?
Yes, there was a 3 year contract. But the ALA's were so bad, teachers wanted out. Some even sued to get out. The ALA's are not what Central Admin. makes them out to be. It will be very interesting to see how many teachers opt to stay now.
What were the consequences of breaking the contract? It would also be interesting to see one of these contracts- not the contract for anyone in particular, but just the standard form of the contract. Because if the America's Choice program cost over $3M, there must be a good amount of material and skills to learn, making turnover a real problem.
Parent engagement is such a focus now in PPS. It would be interesting to compare attendance at PSCC and PTO meetings for ALAs and non-ALA schools. The A+ reports to the community gives us the ability to compare attendance and grades, and principal stability, and the (questionable) numbers on disciplinary actions. It has been noted in articles the local print media has done on charter schools that a certain level of parent participation is required. Show me an engaged parent and I will show you, if not a successful student, at least a well-behaved student in most cases. It was not surprising to me that the turnover numbers noted in Joe Smydo's article for Colfax were the lowest in the district among ALAs. From my limited observation from a distance, Colfax parents are engaged. At least their presence at every type of parent meeting indicates an above average parent participation rate.
fixit, you ask a good question regarding parent engagement at the ALA's. When the district published its strategic plan, PURE Reform asked whether the parent engagement strategies at the ALA's were working. We were told that they were in the process of evaluating these strategies. That was 3 months ago.
"Parent engagement" only works if the parents' concerns and comments are actually taken into consideration.
Colfax has parent engagement because it has enough parents who know how to "work the system." Parents who demand certain things and threaten to remove their kids or tell everyone how bad the school is if those things don't happen...
Basically, to get parents engaged at that level, you need enough money in a 2-parent family that one parent doesn't work full-time or has a very flexible schedule or a single parent family with enough money to provide the same flexibility.
But the district doesn't really want *that* either. They want parents to show up and do what they're told.
Hats off to Joe S of the P-G for doing some real research on this article about our schools and the district. Well done. I badger the media plenty -- and I also like to give the folks props when I see good work too.
Three cheers.
Now, the real question isn't the paid staff. Rather, what about the students. People have a way of voting with their feet.
8 comments:
It would be interesting to know how the turnover compares to turnover in the district as a whole. Also, wasn't there some sort of contract signed by teachers agreeing to work at the ALA's?
Yes, there was a 3 year contract. But the ALA's were so bad, teachers wanted out. Some even sued to get out. The ALA's are not what Central Admin. makes them out to be. It will be very interesting to see how many teachers opt to stay now.
What were the consequences of breaking the contract? It would also be interesting to see one of these contracts- not the contract for anyone in particular, but just the standard form of the contract. Because if the America's Choice program cost over $3M, there must be a good amount of material and skills to learn, making turnover a real problem.
Parent engagement is such a focus now in PPS. It would be interesting to compare attendance at PSCC and PTO meetings for ALAs and non-ALA schools. The A+ reports to the community gives us the ability to compare attendance and grades, and principal stability, and the (questionable) numbers on disciplinary actions. It has been noted in articles the local print media has done on charter schools that a certain level of parent participation is required. Show me an engaged parent and I will show you, if not a successful student, at least a well-behaved student in most cases. It was not surprising to me that the turnover numbers noted in Joe Smydo's article for Colfax were the lowest in the district among ALAs. From my limited observation from a distance, Colfax parents are engaged. At least their presence at every type of parent meeting indicates an above average parent participation rate.
fixit, you ask a good question regarding parent engagement at the ALA's. When the district published its strategic plan, PURE Reform asked whether the parent engagement strategies at the ALA's were working. We were told that they were in the process of evaluating these strategies. That was 3 months ago.
"Parent engagement" only works if the parents' concerns and comments are actually taken into consideration.
Colfax has parent engagement because it has enough parents who know how to "work the system." Parents who demand certain things and threaten to remove their kids or tell everyone how bad the school is if those things don't happen...
Basically, to get parents engaged at that level, you need enough money in a 2-parent family that one parent doesn't work full-time or has a very flexible schedule or a single parent family with enough money to provide the same flexibility.
But the district doesn't really want *that* either. They want parents to show up and do what they're told.
They already have all the answers, parents just get in the way.
Hats off to Joe S of the P-G for doing some real research on this article about our schools and the district. Well done. I badger the media plenty -- and I also like to give the folks props when I see good work too.
Three cheers.
Now, the real question isn't the paid staff. Rather, what about the students. People have a way of voting with their feet.
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