Designing dream schools

Principals are described as lead designers of  "a dream school house"  in a presentation Superintendent Heath Morrison made to the school board Tuesday. He talked about the growing  competition from charter, private, online and magnet schools,  which can pull students away from traditional neighborhood schools.

"The iceberg is straight ahead,"  says one slide,  illustrated with a graphic of the Titanic.  "Do we continue on our same path with the same result?"


Plans handed down from central offices are part of the old path,  Morrison said.  "I believe that transformation and reform happens best when it happens at the schoolhouse."
 
Morrison talked a lot about finding ways to make each school  "a school of choice" that offers high-quality teaching, programs and schedules that suit the needs of the community.  Board member Ericka Ellis-Stewart suggested he consider a different label,  given the baggage that "choice" carries in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools  (the post-desegregation assignment plan that debuted in 2002 was called "the choice plan.")

There aren't a lot of specifics yet.  Morrison said he and principals will be hashing those out during the summer leadership institute and in the coming school year.  But there was some interesting discussion of the strategy.

A couple of board members asked how far the district would go in backing up a principal with a bold vision for change.  Morrison waved a caution flag.  If the vision is only the principal's,  he said,  it's going to fall apart when that principal leaves.  Any plan for change needs to come from the whole school community, he said.  And that means reaching beyond the handful of parents who may be regulars at the PTA meetings:  "It can't be a neighborhood school of choice if you haven't involved the neighborhood."

Any plan that's based on reports of success elsewhere will require in-depth research to make sure that model really works,  he added.  "I want to reward boldness,"  he said,  "but it's a calculated boldness.  You have to do your homework."

Morrison talked about helping each school market itself,  but added that  "I don't want our principals to be used car salesmen."

Also at Tuesday's meeting,  the school board approved this $36 million plan for Title I spending in 2013-14  (read more about the plan here).  It calls for supporting 1,800 Bright Beginnings prekindergarten students,  well under the current total of 3,000.  Deputy Superintendent Ann Clark says that's not a cutback;  it's just because Title I money only pays for part of the program.

References to FOCUS schools may also prove confusing.  In this context,  it's a state label for schools with weaknesses in test scores or graduation rates,  which qualifies those schools for help from academic coaching teams.   The CMS  "FOCUS school"  program,  which provided extra money and supplies to high poverty schools,  has been phased out,  officials said.

The list of Title I schools targeted for special aid also notes that Sterling,  Windsor Park and Allenbrook elementary schools have been named  "reward schools," a state designation based on high performance or growth.  I asked Clark what kind of reward they get.

If you have any familiarity with the way these things work,  you won't be surprised at the answer:  None.

No squawks about CMS

I thoroughly enjoyed "Charlotte Squawks,"  the ninth annual musical lampoon of our area's characters,  institutions and foibles. But something feels amiss.

There are spoofs of Congress and the N.C. General Assembly.  Mayor Anthony Foxx makes frequent appearances,  and Pat McCrory's dance number is inspired.  Mecklenburg County gets three whole songs,  for the county commission,  County Manager Harry Jones'  departure and the revaluation flub.  Even the Observer's paywall got a poke,  to the tune of  "Skyfall."

"Pat McCrory" shows his "Governor Style"

But there's nary a peep about Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools,  one of our largest public institutions.

I could claim it's because the cast hasn't found lookalikes for Superintendent Heath Morrison or school board Chair Mary McCray.  But the truth is,  this crew just isn't very funny.

It wasn't long ago that the district's leaders provided regular fodder for skewering.  Remember when the board was regularly described as divided and dysfunctional?  When national consultants used videos of CMS board meetings as examples of chaotic governance?  When protesters were getting hauled out of board meetings in handcuffs?

If you don't like the current board's direction,  it's probably not much consolation that they're working more cohesively.  But it's got to be a good thing for the community when the folks in charge of educating children behave like grown-ups.

Of course,  reporters take a perverse pride in covering the wackiest characters in town.  I admit to feeling some nostalgia for the days when a new superintendent took office and promptly tried to ban a children's book about gay penguins.

Collins

Since I saw only the dress rehearsal,  I checked with founder/producer Mike Collins to see whether things might change before the show ends on June 21.  The musical numbers are set,  he said,  but a satirical newscast is updated daily.

"If they do anything funny or absurd or worth making fun of, that will find its way into the news,"  Collins added helpfully.

Well, I can always hope for a good laugh.  But we might have to settle for a leadership team that seems to have gone sane.

  

CMS shakeup afoot

Superintendent Heath Morrison is reorganizing his administration,  but his office says he won't be ready to announce any changes until at least next week.

Morrison

The timing makes sense,  as he wraps up his first year with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.  When Morrison made his first round of appointments last summer,  I voiced surprise that he hadn't brought anyone from his previous district in Reno, Nev.  He said he told his top people he wanted them to stay in place for at least a year to help the new superintendent with the transition.  After that, he said, he'd consider hiring them.  That told me Morrison,  who is nothing if not methodical,  was looking ahead to a second stage of filling out his leadership team in Charlotte.

The Wake County school board's delay in hiring a superintendent leaves a lingering question mark for CMS,  with Deputy Superintendent Ann Clark as one of three Wake finalists.  Clark played a key role in Morrison's first year,  but he's clearly prepared to fill the gap if she gets the job.  And he's been holding off on hiring a chief academic officer,  a post he calls crucial to the district's long-term success,  while letting Clark oversee academics.

I wouldn't be surprised to see changes in the administrative zones that schools report to.  CMS currently has six:  The Project LIFT zone,  encompassing the West Charlotte High feeder area;  two others that oversee all other schools with poverty levels of 75 percent or higher;  and three that split the lower-poverty schools geographically.  Two of the zone superintendent posts are vacant,  and superintendents tend to like to line up schools by their own method.

Let me know what you hear about the changes,  and what you'd like to see happen to make central offices work effectively for schools,  employees and taxpayers.

March. Clap. Repeat.

I got an early start on graduation season last weekend,  when I attended my niece's commencement from Carmel High School in suburban Indianapolis.

I'm always fascinated by the creative tensions that underlie such ceremonies.  School officials try to enforce decorum,  while a few students plot pranks and some families just can't help whooping it up.

I admit to feeling sympathy with the dignified and the defiant.  I behaved at my own graduation and my son's.  But when I read the letter from Carmel High urging students and families to refrain from bringing balloons,  beach balls,  bubbles and noisemakers,  my first thought was, "Bubbles?  Now that would be fun ..."

1,200 grads equals one huge crowd

Carmel is a huge school,  with almost 1,200 graduates.  The families have evolved their own method for working around the "please hold your applause" issue:  A single clap after each name is called. I can't say I love the Carmel clap  --  it feels a bit dismissive or sarcastic,  and it's still a whole lot of palm-smacking.  But it's interesting.

Today kicks off a five-day stretch of graduation ceremonies for Charlotte-Mecklenburg's big high schools. I will duly pass along the warning:  Do not bring in flowers, duffel bags, fanny packs, backpacks, gifts, balloons, air horns or noisemakers.  Expect to go through a metal detector.

If you experience anything inspiring, quirky, entertaining or noteworthy,  please share.

And above all:  Congratulations to the Class of 2013,  and to the teachers,  mentors and family who got them to this point.

Can you pass the national exams?

Dang it, I still don't know if I'm as smart as a fifth-grader.

Practice versions of new English and math tests,  designed to provide a consistent measure of whether students are meeting national Common Core standards,  were recently posted by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.  I tried my hand at the fifth-grade math exam -- partly to see how rusty my skills had gotten and partly to see what online testing is all about.

I found the online format a bit random:  Sometimes you typed in numbers,  sometimes you clicked and dragged them from columns.  It took a bit of figuring out,  but didn't seem terribly daunting.  But it was such a letdown when I finished,  clicked submit and didn't get a report on what was right and wrong.  A spokesman for the consortium said the scoring rubrics won't be finished until later this summer.

Of course,  the purpose of posting the tests is to let teachers,  parents and other concerned people get a feel for what's on the horizon.  Plans call for North Carolina students to start taking the national online tests in 2014.  A big part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools budget is geared toward building the capacity for all schools to do online exams.

But now there's a twist:  Even though North Carolina is among 26 states that make up the Smarter Balanced Consortium,  officials say it's unclear whether the state will spend the money to actually buy the exams. "NC has not made a decision about Smarter Balanced yet. We anticipate making a decision (really our state Board of Education will make a decision) in 2014,"  said Vanessa Jeter, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

The Common Core movement has proven controversial in many states.  N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory and Lt. Gov. Dan Forest recently added their voices to those raising questions,  saying they want to know more about the Common Core and the state's testing regimen.

Today Show and CMS spin

Devonshire Elementary got a nice moment of national recognition on the Today Show this morning, but it's too bad NBC education correspondent Rehema Ellis didn't double-check her numbers.

Ellis

I suspected that might be an issue when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools  emailed an announcement Wednesday saying the east Charlotte school would be featured as a success story in a series on poverty, race and education. That wasn't a shock;  from what I know,  Principal Suzanne Gimenez and her crew have worked hard to make some genuine academic gains over the last five years.

But the numbers in the CMS announcement were incredible. Literally.

"Since a turnaround effort began five years ago,  achievement at Devonshire,  which has more than 95 percent of students who are economically disadvantaged,  has soared.  In 2008,  only 68.4 percent of students were at or above Level III,"  wrote CMS spokeswoman Tahira Stalberte,  referring to the state exam rating that's considered passing.  "Today,  94.8 percent of students are at or above Level III."

If that were true,  I'd have done a front-page story,  as I did with Windsor Park Elementary,  which topped CMS'  high-poverty schools with a 2012 pass rate of 82 percent.  But the state's school report cards show that Devonshire had pass rates of 54.9 percent in reading,  90.5 percent in math and 64.4 percent in fifth-grade science,  for an overall composite of 71.4 percent.

When I asked Stalberte about that,  she sent out a correction:  "The numbers (listed) are the proficiency composites for fifth-grade math,  not the overall proficiency at Devonshire Elementary."

In 2008,  Devonshire's overall proficiency rate was 42.9 percent.  But as I recently told a group of Davidson College students embarking on summer internships with local education groups,  any report that touts big gains since 2008 should set BS detectors pinging.  That's because North Carolina students had one chance to pass or fail the exams in 2008;  starting the next year,  first-time flunkers got a second shot. The result of the rule change was not trivial,  especially at struggling schools.  In 2009,  Devonshire's overall pass rate was 55.1 percent after the first test and 64.2 percent after the retests,  according to CMS reports at the time.

This morning's report featured good interviews with Devonshire faculty and families. Especially touching was a segment in which a student got teary at hearing his father say he's proud of his academic success.

But the numbers?  "The school went from 40 percent to 93 percent of the students performing at grade level," Ellis reported, introducing a whole new set of numbers that don't seem to connect with reality.

CMS leaders and advocates often bemoan the gap between the district's glowing national reputation and local perceptions.  No doubt that's partly because local critics and,  yes,  reporters sometimes latch onto the negatives.  But it's also partly because national reporters,  researchers and advocacy groups sometimes promote an oversimplified view of CMS.  They may not be aware of the testing change that made all sorts of reforms look successful  --  and the new administration has shown no inclination to distance itself from the  "big gains since 2008"  game.

Educators,  students and parents who are working to break the links between poverty and failure deserve our respect and attention.  But no one should fudge numbers to give it to them.

"That's a phenomenal change in that school,"  Matt Lauer said at the end of the segment.  You might even say it's incredible.

Charlotte's Guckian has governor's ear

Eric Guckian, who has spent almost five years in charge of Charlotte's New Leaders principal recruitment program, has taken on an even more challenging task.  He's Gov. Pat McCrory's new senior education adviser,  at a time when game-changing education proposals are flying around Raleigh like Frisbees at a beach party.

Guckian (goo-CAN) got the job in May,  while I was on vacation.  He had met McCrory during his stint as Charlotte mayor,  but Guckian said the connection was made by John Lassiter,  a key member of the McCrory team and a board member of New Leaders.

"I'm a plumber's kid,"  Guckian said.  "When the governor calls, that's not a call you get every day."

When I finally caught up with Guckian late last week,  he wasn't ready to stake out positions on some of the more controversial issues in play,  such as vouchers for private school tuition and revising teacher pay.  So far he's talking about broad themes such as efficiency,  innovation,  workforce development and accountability. "We're still crafting an overall education agenda,"  he said.

McCrory doesn't have children.  But between Guickian and Lassiter,  a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools parent and school board member,  he'll surely get a deep knowledge of local issues. 

"If you want to know what I care about,  it's our highest-need kids in North Carolina,"  Guckian said.  That passion and knowledge comes not just from his work with New Leaders  (formerly New Leaders for New Schools)  and Teach For America,  but from his time as a Shamrock Gardens Elementary School parent.  Shamrock,  a high-poverty school in east Charlotte,  has spent years working to improve its academic performance and win the confidence of middle-class families who had avoided the school.

"You don't just flip a switch with this stuff,"  he said.  "It is really hard work."

Guckian will work with the newly revived Education Cabinet,  made up of officials who oversee prekindergarten programs, K-12 education, community colleges and the university system.  One of the governor's goals is building stronger connections between all the levels of education that get young people ready for successful adult lives,  he said.

New Leaders will celebrate Guckian's work at a reception next week.  They'll also have a retirement  send-off for Steve Hall,  a former CMS principal who led the aspiring principals program.