Job Opening: Basis Schools

May 13, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Vice President Growth: BASIS Educational Group

BASIS Educational Group seeks a Vice President for Growth who will bear primarily responsibility for the implementation of BASIS School’s growth plan. BASIS Educational Group is the Educational Management Organization for BASIS School, Inc., the charter holder for the nationally recognized college preparatory schools, BASIS Tucson and BASIS Scottsdale and for the new BASIS Oro Valley school scheduled to open in August of 2010.

 

BASIS Tucson, the charter group’s flagship campus, has consistently ranked in both the Newsweek and US News lists of the best high schools in America. Now, BASIS is embarking on an expansion aimed to make the schools a national presence within the next five years.

 

The Vice President for Growth will be the lead staff person responsible for implementing and coordinating all the elements of the BASIS replication plan. He/she will be responsible for coordinating all relevant applications for new schools and will be responsible for creating a positive recruiting environment in the relevant market areas as well as assuring that a suitable physical plant is ready for occupancy on opening day at all sites. He/she will support student recruiting efforts and will also assist with staff recruiting efforts for new schools as he/she becomes more familiar with the “BASIS model.”

 

Specific responsibilities of the position include:

1.    Evaluating potential locations;

2.    Field testing potential school sites;

3.    Coordinating media relations in new markets;

4.    Coordinating with local BASIS booster groups;

5.    Managing Charter Board relations for replication efforts;

6.    Applying for and managing federal start up funding;

7.    Refining the BASIS building prototype with the BASIS architect;

8.    Consulting with Challenge Foundation Properties (CFP) on the choice of specific building sites;

9.    Coordinating with CFP on construction and financing of buildings.

 

The Vice President for Growth will work out of BASIS Educational Group’s office in Scottsdale, AZ. Salary is negotiable based on experience and knowledge related to the position. Please communicate your interest to Michael Block, Chairman, BASIS Educational Group, at mblock@basiseducation.net

3 Comments | charter schools | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

DC NAEP Scores-Where is the Death Spiral?

May 13, 2010

 

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

No one seems to be taking much note of it, but some Washington DC has some very favorable trends in their NAEP scores.

To be sure, the District’s scores still reflect widespread academic failure on an inexcusable level for a district blowing through $20k per child per year. The positive trend predates Michelle Rhee’s tenure, which is good, as I think we are likely to see further (badly needed) progress. It is still too early to judge whether Rhee will accelerate this rate of progress, but I’d be willing to bet she will.

If you go to the NAEP page for DC and look at the 4th grade reading scores, you will find that the catastrophically low score of 188 in 1992 fell to an even more pathetic 179 in 1994.   That’s almost a grade level drop from an already low base. A score of 179 makes me wonder what the score would be if we simply gave every child in DC a library card and hoped for the best. Mind you, that wouldn’t work well either, but it couldn’t work that much worse than DCPS circa 1994. Since 1994, however, scores have climbed 23 points. The percentage scoring basic or better increased from 24% in 1994 to 44% in 2009. Math improvement has also been impressive and shows the same trend- progress after the mid 1990s.

One blindingly obvious cause for the improvement: the 100 charter schools operating in the district educating over 30,000 children. DC’s charter law passed in 1996 (near the bottom of DC performance) and the opening of schools has been very strong. In 1996-7, DCPS had 78,648 students enrolled. In 2007-08 it had dropped to 58,191.

This is no doubt why DCPS spending per pupil has spiralled to such absurdly high levels. No on apparently thought that it might be appropriate to cut the budget for a district that is 20,000 fewer students, but I digress. DC’s scores still stink, but in the progress department they have clobbered all states other than Delaware and Florida.

I’m not willing to celebrate a district that spends over $20k per student per year and has 56% of 4th graders illiterate. I am however willing to celebrate progress, and DC has momentum. If they would like to accelerate that progress, parental choice policies that would be helpful would be to reverse the shameful decision of the NEA robots majority of the Democratic caucus to kill the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. The program merits not only renewal but a large expansion.

In addition, DC should institute a McKay Scholarship program with children with disabilities, if they would like to stop paying for the 5th homes and country club memberships of the attorneys endlessly battering DCPS on failure to provide FAPE under IDEA. Both the kids and the district budget would win big from such a program.

The enemies of parental choice have always painted the nightmare scenario of an academic death spiral for the children “left behind” in the district. Perhaps these same folks would like to explain to us now how it is that DCPS lost a quarter of their students since the mid 1990s and watched their reading scores improve by 23 points. Where is the death spiral? Oh, I mean in DCPS scores.  The death spiral for the credibility of choice opponents is impossible to miss.

Leave a Comment » | charter schools, competitive effects, vouchers | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

NYT on Hedge Fund Charter School Supporters

May 10, 2010

 

"I'm shocked, SHOCKED to learn there is gambling in this casino!"

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Must read piece on Joe Williams and Democrats for Education Reform– unintentionally hilarious as the UFT buffoon tries to raise suspicion that DFER supporters are somehow up to no good trying to fill their pockets with public education dollars.

Riiiiiiiight, because a teacher union would NEVER do that….

2 Comments | charter schools | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Illinois House Votes Down Vouchers-For Now…

May 6, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

The Illinois House voted down vouchers yesterday after a furious lobbying effort by teacher unions. The Chicago Tribune relates dramatic details of the debate:

“Think back to why you ran for office,” said sponsoring Rep. Kevin Joyce, D-Chicago. “Was it for a pension? I doubt it. Was it to protect the leadership of a union? I doubt that. Actually in all cases, I believe each and every one of us here got involved to try and make a difference in the lives of our fellow man.”

Joyce could muster only 48 of the 60 votes needed to pass a bill that would have allowed students to get vouchers worth about $3,700 to switch to private or parochial schools beginning in fall 2011.

Joyce said the bill would have passed if it had not faced the union opposition. The bill got support from 26 Republicans and 22 Democrats, fewer votes than Joyce had expected from his fellow Democrats.

Fighting back tears during the lengthy debate, Rep. Suzanne Bassi, R-Palatine, called on fellow lawmakers to “search your souls” to support the measure because “we have failed these kids in the inner-city schools.”

“I’m pleading with you,” said Rep. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago, who represents an area with four public schools where students would have been eligible for vouchers. “I’m begging you. Help me help kids in my district.”

Illinois choice advocates should keep their heads up: your day will come.  A quick look at Illinois NAEP scores reveals abysmal performance for African Americans, Hispanics, children with disabilities, free and reduced lunch eligible kids and ELL students.  Illinois kids need a great deal of K-12 reform  with expanded parental choice contributing to an overall improvement strategy.

Sun Tzu wrote that a victorious general wins and then seeks battle, while a defeated army seeks battle and then seeks victory. Senator Meeks has seized the moral high ground. Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t win every battle, but he ultimately won his war because he held this same sort of moral high ground. The teacher union thugs in Illinois want to keep disadvantaged children in failing schools because they put the state funding in their pockets. Illinois reform advocates need to not only give these children options to go elsewhere, but they need to force public school improvement in every possible way.

If Senator Meeks and his allies will keep a relentless focus on justice and literacy, there will be no question of whether they will win, only one of when their victory will finally occur.

11 Comments | politics, vouchers | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

We’ll have what Florida is Having

April 29, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Today is the final day of session in Arizona, and I am thrilled to say that it looks like major pieces of the Florida reform cocktail will be passing. These include grading schools A-F based on student test scores and growth, alternative teacher certification, 3rd grade social promotion curtailment, expanding sources for charter school authorization, and increasing the size, transparency and accountability for our scholarship tax credit program. Arizona lawmakers also passed a provision specifying that school districts cannot use length of service as the sole criteria when laying off teachers during a reduction in force.

Governor Bush and Patricia Levesque spent their valuable time here in Arizona last October in a series of events, and Patricia came back a few months ago to do followup meetings with key players. Key philanthropic leaders stepped up to the plate with both their money and their personal time. Governor Brewer and her staff prioritized Florida reforms in her State of the State address, and the Chairmen of the Senate and House Education committees, Senator John Huppenthal and Rep. Rich Crandall, personally introduced the centerpiece bills. Many of the bills gathered strong bipartisan support.

We have many miles to go in Arizona. Our NAEP scores have been below the national average 36 out of the last 36 exams. We aim to change that, and we know it isn’t going to happen overnight, and that much hard work lies ahead. We’ve taken the first steps to turning our illiteracy crisis around, and I am enormously grateful to all of the many people who helped make this happen!

1 Comment | instructional reform | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Escaping from ‘Awaiting Moderation’ Purgatory

April 21, 2010

end-wall-st-bull-collapsed-slide

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Greg’s post on the UFT elicited a unintentionally humorous response from my Sith Apprentice, Darth Leo, about how “Democracy flows in the life blood” of the teacher union. I asked Leo whether his union would support school districts holding school board and bond elections on the uniform November date. After all, it wouldn’t do to have someone taking advantage of notoriously low turnout affairs and riding on a high horse about “democracy” at the same time.

Leo, like any good egocentric New Yorker began to instantly conflate the goings on in NYC with the interests of the known universe.  New Yorkers can be such hicks. Anyhoo, I wrote a response to Leo in this exchange, which he has left “awaiting moderation” for two days. Since Leo seems too distracted to moderate his blog, I’ll post the comment myself:

Leo-

I have no dog in the mayoral control hunt. Whether or not I would support a move to mayoral control would depend upon the circumstances involved. Mayors are elected officials, even in NYC, so it seems obvious that there is a clear opportunity for the voters to express their displeasure at the ballot box if they wish.

You however are avoiding the broader question by obsessing over your parochial NYC concerns. Speaking only for yourself, shouldn’t someone who claims to have democracy flowing in the life blood of their organization be willing to state that maximizing voter turnout in school district elections is a good idea?

If you want to wrap yourself in the flag of democracy, shouldn’t you practice it? Instead, what I see is an organization supporting hundreds of school board candidates and bond elections every year in embarrassingly low turnout elections held on irregular election dates blowing hot air about “democracy.”

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

5 Comments | teacher union | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Sun Devils Crushed by Number Six Finish in Playboy Party Rankings

April 19, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

It was bad enough when Arizona scored second to the bottom in the K-12 Race to the Top competition, but Arizona State University officials and students reacted with dismay, shock and outrage as Playboy Magazine named another university “Top Party School.”  The University of Texas at Austin took first place, and ASU placed a shocking sixth place.

“I’m stunned…I really just don’t know what to say,” stated Justin Bongwater, an ASU 8th year sophomore. “I mean sixth place? SIXTH *#@&*!@# PLACE?!? Dude, that just can’t be right. We threw everything we had into this ranking! EVERYTHING!!!! Rock bottom admission standards! Embarrassingly low graduation rates! Hell, the mayor of Tempe bragged that we have the highest beer consumption rates in the world!  A MAYOR said that dude! If the government said it, it has to be true!”

Campus officials promised to redouble their efforts by expanding recruiting among students from the Midwest who like beer, sunshine and universities that do not require the SAT exam. Privately, they admitted that they thought that last year’s Daily Show video should have sealed the competition, and that it may have caused some complacency on campus. “When you get called the ‘Harvard of Date Rape’ you might tend to coast a bit,” a highly placed source explained.

University of Texas roving ambassador Matthew McConaughey will accept the award in a public ceremony at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills Friday night.

8 Comments | higher education | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Charlie Crist Vetoes Tenure Bill

April 15, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Florida Governor Crist vetoed a tenure reform bill despite the fact that he endorsed it publicly on multiple occasions.

22 Comments | teacher quality, teacher union | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Memories of the Way We Were

April 15, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Today is tax day, and if you are like me, it is your favorite day to throw a fit about paying them. It’s worth keeping in mind that about half of your state budget winds up going to K-12, and that those K-12 budgets are incredibly bloated by historic standards.

So we used to employ 2.36 teachers for every non-teacher in American public schools. Today, it is close to 1 to 1.

We must be packing students into classrooms like sardines in order to afford this vast legion of non-teachers! Except, um, not so much. That ratio fell despite hiring far more teachers per pupil. And thus we move from an inflation adjusted spending per pupil total of $2,377 in 1950 to over $12,000 per pupil today.

Jay and Greg noted in Education Myths that the notion of a lost golden age of public education is a myth. At least, that is, in terms of academic achievement (best we can tell, it has been flat). In terms of efficiency however, there was a golden age, and it has indeed been lost.

2 Comments | money myth | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

Hey, Ed Schools, Leave Those Kids Alone!

April 12, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Interesting piece by Jay Schalin on an internal study by the University of North Carolina on teacher preparation. Part of the UNC study involved a comparison of the value added scores of UNC ed school grads compared to those of Teach for America teachers. Money quote:

In some cases, the Teach for America participants’ results were quite dramatic. For instance, middle school math students with Teach for America teachers tested as if they had an additional 90 days of instruction—when the entire school year is only 180 days of instruction.

Let’s just say if Ed Schools were publicly traded companies, I’d raise billions in a hedge fund to short their stock.

5 Comments | instructional reform | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

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