Monthly Archives: September 2009

Voice of School Choice

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Family experiences are at the heart of school choice. Our blog will periodically spotlight stories from Ohio families who experience school choice programs firsthand.

 

Seanette is a mom in Cleveland whose daughter attends private school thanks to the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program. CSTP is the state’s oldest voucher program and serves around 6,000 students from low-income families annually.  

 

Seanette’s story:

 

I like the Cleveland Scholarship because it challenges our kids physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually – it challenges them in every way. The scholarship gives them a wide variety of opportunities and prepares them for the world and the future. It’s a great, great opportunity.

 

It takes a strain off me to know I can send my child to a great school. I feel safe leaving my child at this school, which is a wonderful feeling.

 

In Kellisa’s public school, she was doing advanced work but she was still bored to tears. She was slipping through the cracks. I started to look at other options like private school, but there was no way that my husband and I could afford to pay the tuition.

 

I was so happy when the principal at her new school called and told me about the Cleveland Scholarship. I enrolled her right away and now I see such a difference. She is taking Latin classes, playing the cello, and learning science – she loves it! The school has a friendly environment and is in line with our family values and faith. Kellisa has homework now, and she has questions about her work. She says learning is fun now.  I love seeing her working to understand new things – her brain is working!

 

 

Leaving Education to Chance

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Great blog post this weekend over at State of Ohio Education, the blog established by current and former state board of education members Susan Haverkos and Colleen Grady on why the cap on the number of EdChoice Scholarships could leave some families out in the cold.

 

“The funding level could create a large gap between supply and demand. If the EdChoice voucher program is oversubscribed, vouchers will be distributed through a lottery.”

 

Read the whole post here.

 

The lottery scenario is becoming more and more of a possibility as the number of students using EdChoice approaches the 14,000 maximum. This year, 88,000 students are eligible for 2,000-3,000 remaining seats. Typically, well over 4,000 students apply for a scholarship.

 

Ergo, this cap is likely to prevent thousands of families who lose the lottery from moving their kids from low-rated public schools to the private schools of their choice.

 

With all that’s at stake for each child, can we can afford to leave these kids’ future to chance?

 

- Sarah Pechan

Humpty Dumpty and All the Kings Men

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Two lists emerged this week regarding school building achievement and the education that our children receive. The timing of the release of each list for this week was probably a fluke or an ironic twist of fate.

 

The first inauspicious list was released by the Ohio Department of Education. This release listed the 207 failing public school buildings that have been in academic watch or academic emergency for two of the past three years leaving 88,000 students eligible to apply in February for the EdChoice Scholarship and to enroll in private schools.  This is an increase from the 199 schools that received a similar designation last year.

 

In direct contrast to the first release, the U.S. Department of Education released a list of schools designated as Blue Ribbon Schools. The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that are either academically superior or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement for disadvantaged students. Ohio has 19 schools this year that have received this distinguished honor.

Last year, 12 Ohio schools were dubbed Blue Ribbon Schools.

 

Furthermore, the Blue Ribbon Schools Program does more than just list the names of high achieving schools.  The program also attempts to distribute information about how these schools, both public and private, manage to become marks of excellence and offers a collection of best practices for other schools and state education agencies to use.  This program has existed since 1982 and despite its existence the number of poor schools has exponentially increased instead of decreased. What does this mean?

 

Instead of using what works, there seems to be a tendency for low-performing schools to either (1) ignore that information, (2) dissect the information into something unrecognizable and then implement parts and pieces that are unusable unless related to the whole, (3) keep doing what has been done in the past hoping for change, and (4) throw away all that is old for the new, which only serves to further destabilize an unstable system.

 

On one of my living room walls there are three pictures of nursery rhymes:  Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffet, and Humpty Dumpty.  In all these stories there is the image of someone falling and/or failing.  Perhaps ironically too, there is only one letter difference between the words falling and failing.  Our public educational system manages effortlessly to do both.

 

Two lists emerged this week that are seemingly diametrically opposed when in actuality they should work hand in hand.  The question is, will the 207 failing schools look to the blue ribbon schools for viable education solutions to turn their schools around or will they continue to be like the kings men in Humpty Dumpty and fail to fix that which is broken?

 

Tisha Brady

 

 

 

EdChoice Eligibility Update: New List of Low-rated Schools Released Today

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The new EdChoice eligible student list was released by ODE today (see here). 88,000 students in 207 low-rated public schools are now eligible to apply for an EdChoice Scholarship.

 

At the SCO office, several families have been calling our office weekly for the last month, eagerly anticipating the news about whether their children might be eligible for the private school scholarship.

 

These Ohio families feel their children are being left behind and are thrilled for this new opportunity. We wish no children were in low-rated schools, but until that day, EdChoice continues as a desperately-needed lifeline.

 

- Sarah Pechan

 

New Tax Credit Scholarship Created for Indiana Families

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While Ohio is a national leader in school choice and our families have three voucher programs in place among other options, our neighbors to the west are just getting started.

 

This summer, Indiana’s state government created their first state scholarship program: an education scholarship tax credit. This program allows businesses and individuals to receive tax credits for donations they make toward private school scholarships for low-income students in grades K-12.

 

Indiana is home to the nation’s newest tax credit program, but it isn’t the first.

 

Our neighbor to the east, Pennsylvania, has an incredibly vibrant tax credit program that started in 2001 and now serves more than 40,000 students. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and Rhode Island also have tax credit scholarships of their own. Nationwide, more than 100,000 kids benefit. A great overview on tax credit scholarships is available from the Alliance for School Choice (here).

 

In discussions of education reform, we hear a lot about wanting the best for low-income kids. These tax credit scholarship programs let people put their money where their mouth is.

 

Especially during these tighter economic times for families, these programs make a tremendous positive difference.

 

- Sarah Pechan

Access to Educational Opportunities

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Accountability, standardized testing, measures, scores, education reform, “Race to the Top”…  ask a child what these mean and you’ll probably get the same blank stare and confused “What?” that my son gave me. 

Often in educational discourse, we talk incessantly about the student, around the student, and at the student.  We talk to the teachers, to the school boards, to the community, to the parent sometimes, but it is a rare moment when someone speaks directly to the children.

Amidst much fuel and fury, President Obama delivered what actually turned out to be a not so controversial back to school speech.  He spoke of the need for studying hard, setting goals, accepting personal responsibility, and getting “serious this year”.   Back to school themes that many students are familiar with and yet this time it was different.   It was personal.

As much as the conversation was about a child’s personal responsibility to obtain an education, it was far more.  It was a conversation that sought to nurture the soul of children.  It was a conversation of hope, self belief and the ever eternal quest of self-realization. 

He talked to them about finding and developing their talent and overcoming overwhelming obstacles. Unlike many previous presidents, he has firsthand knowledge of poverty, single parenting, lack of focus in school, working hard and grabbing at second and third chances to turn your life around.

Although he stated, “Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you, because here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future,” unfortunately for many students where they are right now will determine where they end up. Their futures have already been predetermined by virtue of living in areas where the schools are failing, are often in economically depressed areas and the access to opportunities are near nigh impossible.

These children are in desperate need of options now.  Although the president’s “Race to the Top” is headed in the right direction, by encouraging innovative schools, quality charter schools and the promotion of merit pay, it does not go far enough.  For these children all options must be made available and that means vouchers have to be a part of the solution.  To deny a child a scholarship that will help to nurture his abilities, is to deny that child his future.  For these children no stone should be unturned and no opportunity should be denied.

In order for President Obama to call upon students to “… set your own goals for your education — and do everything you can to meet them,”he must provide children every and all opportunities to do so. If we are to nurture and encourage children to find their dreams through education, they must first have access to all educational opportunities.  Only then can they become a great writer or the next inventor or the next politician.  Only then will they be able to fulfill their goals.

 

Tisha Brady

School Choice Tops in Cleveland Public Schools

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In a school district that struggles to overcome a lot of obstacles and inertia, school choice in Cleveland is a point of light.

 

An article by Thomas Ott in this week’s Cleveland Plain Dealer highlights the student achievement successes of public choice schools in the mayoral-led Cleveland school district. District CEO Eugene Sanders has long promoted innovation in Cleveland and has said that he wants half of the district schools to become choice schools.

 

And it’s working.

 

Sans student admission standards, these public schools are pushing themselves to reach all students and teach them effectively. Among notable success factors:

 

  • High expectations: “Failure is not an option; neither is mediocrity”
  • Outside-the-box initiative: “We need entrepreneurial educators. We need people who are willing to take risks”
  • Support from the teacher unions: “I think we can be innovative in every school”
  • Individual attention: “Principal: I can be on top of every kid’s academic program”

 

Kudos to district CEO Eugene Sanders and the school leaders, teachers, and staff who create and foster these pockets of excellence. When innovation contributes to effectiveness, kids can begin building for a bright future. And when kids win, we all win.

 

- Sarah Pechan

Back to School with Scholarships

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Nearly 2 million students across Ohio have headed back to school. Around 20,000 of these precious little Buckeyes are attending local private schools thanks to tax-funded scholarships they receive from the state of Ohio.

 

Families always tell us how excited they are to choose where their children go to school, rather than relying on default options.

 

“I feel like I’ve won the lottery!”

- Rose, grandmother from Lorain

 

“EdChoice has empowered me to sustain that my children will have a strong foundation on which to build their lives. It has opened a door of opportunity for a community of children whose parents may not be as successful as they want to be, but they work hard everyday trying to get there!”

- Angelnique, parent from Dayton

 

Maddeningly, some parents who applied for an EdChoice Scholarship and enrolled their children in private school didn’t find out if they actually received their scholarship until school was back in session.

 

Imagine applying for a scholarship back in April and not knowing until the first day of school if your application was successful. Parents are usually notified in July (which is late enough). How can parents plan for back-to-school – transportation arrangements, preparation, soccer practice, and school uniforms – when they still don’t know if the scholarship came through to cover the tuition payments?

 

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has done a great job from day one ensuring that the EdChoice application process is short, simple, and hassle free. They receive high marks both from parents and private school on their unusually-responsive communication and professionalism. This year, however, with all the state budget confusion, the scholarship notification process clearly slipped down the list of priorities.

 

More than 13,000 students applied for EdChoice back in April – how many of these families were willing to hold out hope this long? And how many simply assumed they weren’t awarded the scholarship and returned to public school? We won’t know the effect of this delay until later this year, but it clearly may have been a tremendous deterrent.

 

The scholarship process needs to be family-friendly. Still, thousands of new families sign up every year. With rave reviews from parents, ODE, state legislators, parents, school leaders, and community leaders who promote and run Ohio’s scholarship programs can know their impact will last a lifetime.

 

- Sarah Pechan