When I was in Austin last September to speak to the Texas Association of School Administrators and the Texas School Boards Association, I scheduled a visit to Eastside Memorial High School.
There I spoke to a rally of hundreds of parents, students, and teachers who were determined to save their school, which had recently been handed over to a charter chain.
After I left, there was an election, and the new school board decided to sever the connection with IDEA.
Now state and local officials are deciding what to do with Eastside.
District officials say they may close the school if they can’t find another charter to run it.
This is unbelievable.
The district doesn’t know how to run its own schools? How about some accountability at the top?
I saw a school with dedicated parents, students, teachers, and community members, eager to work together for their community public high school.
Why doesn’t AISD take responsibility for this school which is filled with so much promise and goodwill?
Why do they need to find a charter operator?
By the way, on the federal NAEP tests, Austin is one of the highest scoring urban districts in the nation.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Aside from a comment about five years of turmoil, I’m unable to find any evidence offered in the article that might explain why this school should not be run by AISD. Was it opened five years ago as a public school or as a charter school? Why was IDEA involved in the first place? What are the issues around Eastside Memorial that make it a candidate for charter school management?
I don’t have time to do the research for you, Ken, but here is one post: https://dianeravitch.net/2012/12/18/why-austin-isd-dropped-idea-charter/
Eastside Mem is a neighborhood public school in a largely Hispanic neighborhood.
The superintendent of the AISD board is a Broad Academy graduate.
Goodness, I never intended for you to do additional research. I was hoping you or someone who read this posting might have the answers on hand. Actually, I think you did – Hispanic school & Broad alum pretty much covers it.
It took me very little research to find that this school has a long history of underachievement. The latest numbers I saw were that 29% of the students were unable to graduate because they failed the statewide assessment, compared to 8% for Austin ISD.
Previously known as Johnston high school, Johnston was closed in 2008 after failing to meet state academic standards for five consecutive years. This means that there has been at least 10 years of turmoil, 5 of which involve significant effort and attention from from the district and the state to turn things around. They have been unable to despite their efforts.
This is further evidence that a top down approach to turn around a failing school simply does not work. I have heard of no case where a state or federal intervention has worked. However, there IS some evidence that charter school operators have been able to turn around some (few, but some none the less) struggling schools. In my opinion, this is largely because they have tools that public schools cannot use by law, which are the ability to select their students and the ability to kick out those students who do not perform.
And, Diane, despite your comment that “I saw a school with dedicated parents, students, teachers, and community members, eager to work together for their community public high school”, the Eastside PTA president Robin Moten has said “The district is being blamed for the failure of the students. I don’t think the community or the parents are taking the active role.”
I am NOT for making Eastside a charter school. I am for giving public schools the same tools that charter schools have to be able to turn around failing schools, and those tools specifically involve creating student accountability for their own performance. Top down does not work because it does not address the main cause of poor student performance, which is poor student effort and motivation. This is the problem we have to solve, and blaming schools, administrators, or even teachers NOT the way to solve the problem.
I don’t believe in blaming. I believe in helping people to improve.
I also don’t believe in closing a community’s public school.
When I was in Austin, I heard (and I don’t have the facts at hand) that most of the parents chose not to go to the IDEA charter that took over the Eastside school.
Hey, I am a historian of education.
Never in our history until NCLB did we close public schools because they had low test scores.
When there are problems, work to make things better.
Don’t burn the village to save it.
Thank you, Cyberike. Diane’s last two comments were enough for me, so I didn’t try to look further. Appreciate the fact you did.
Because you don’t know me, Ms. Rav, I want to make sure you understand that I think you are a force for good in public education and I am not trying to attack you. We are both doing our best to make things better.
Overnight, I had some trouble sleeping while thinking about this issue. Here is a school, Eastside, that is in a great school district, Austin ISD, that has undertaken great effort to turn things around at a troubled school and has not been successful. This is very troubling to me. While this statement might be arguable, if our best efforts from from a competent and caring administration cannot turn around a troubled school, what can?
I think the problem is that we are unable, politically, to correctly diagnose the problem. The most popular political solution is to blame teachers, with the result that even more pressure and responsibility is being placed on teachers to achieve results. Others say school administration is the problem, while others say it is poverty or poor parenting. It becomes a Mobius loop with a downward spiral.
As a teacher, my greatest frustration is that I could not make students work when they didn’t want to. The threat of failure did not faze them (by high school, students know it is a mostly empty threat anyway), parents (and parent contact) was ineffective, and a student/teacher personal connection is something for students to take advantage of. As I mentioned in my previous post, I believe it comes down to a lack of student accountability caused by a lack of consequences for their poor performance.
Until we address this issue, we are not going to be able to turn around a poor performing school.
The more research I do, the more that I become convinced that our current efforts have actually been counter productive. The more work we do for our students (as teachers and administrators) the less work they do for themselves. We can debate this, but the “every student” focus, and the focus on completion has been an abject failure. We have been sacrificing entire schools and the majority of students who want to learn (yes, it is a majority) by focusing on the poorest performers and allowing them to stay (and disrupt) the classroom.
We know these things are true: 1- kids push boundaries; 2 – kids need boundaries; 3 – you cannot please everybody all the time.
We are doing charter schools wrong, Charter schools should not be the only alternative for good students who are in a poor school and want an environment where they can learn, they should be a place designed for our unmotivated and disruptive students in an environment that can support them without damaging education for the rest.
This is a purposeful national disgrace. A similar situation exists in LAUSD at Crenshaw and Roosevelt High Schools. At Roosevelt LAUSD, then LAUSD and mayor Villaraigosa’s PLAS have totally failed and they have admitted it. Now suddenly they want to amazingly understand how to fix the school and make a whole new structure in 4 weeks designed by those who made the mess. At Crenshaw over a long period of time they have constantly changed the playing field therefore making a constant mess. Even LAUSD’s highest performing high school on API scores of 871 has a dropout rate of 34%. In 2010-11 over 102,000 students did not come to school everyday.
In the situation in Texas this is unbelievable and carefully planned to destroy that community and school for fighting back against insanity and self destruction. This is not an accident or lack of understanding on the part of the destroyers.
Here we believe as those in Texas and across the country “We have enough knowledge and background experience to do it better ourselves. We will put together a proper plan, engage the proper people, have total accountability and transparency and produce results not just on tests but citizenship, human and civil rights. We need control of our schools money and there will be full accountability for every penny.”
After all if my friend, Richard Arthur, could turn around the most criminal and violent high school in the U.S. at the time where they had constant gun fights on campus and the principal before Richard was gunned down in their office why not now? From when he took over there were not even fist fights. Over 50% dropout went to almost zero and 5-65% to college in 4 years. Then he became one of the founders of Whitney High School in Cerritos which has been one of the highest performing public high schools in the U.S. for over 25 years.
Teachers and parents. If Richard could do it you can also. We are just people after all and have not genetically changed that much in a long time. Richard is just finishing the book of his life and how he did it.
Hurrah And I like the title
Sent from my iPad
Innovative Course in Texas
Diane,
I am sending you information below about an innovative course approved by the Texas State Board of Education that I believe can benefit students at Eastside Memorial High School. This course cannot do it alone, but it contains many elements to help students to succeed in school. I have trained teachers to teach this course through many of the Educational Service Centers in Texas. I am willing to train teachers at East Side Memorial at no charge how to teach this course if the school stays open and is willing to offer it. I can also provide much more information about this course which is coordinated by the Texas Education Agency.
The Texas State Board of Education approved an innovative high school course that could become a model for high schools nationwide. Teachers of the course report that student grades in other courses are significantly improving.
The course is an elective and was approved for students in grades 10 through 12. It is called, “College Transition” PEIMS# N1290050. This course was designed by two Texas high school districts and a college. It was created especially for students who want to go to college, but it also benefits students while still in high school.
This course teaches students how to learn, critical and creative thinking skills and many non-cognitive skills such as time management and goal setting. It also seems to have a positive influence on the mindset of students.
Several researchers (including Joseph Durlak with Loyola State University and James Heckman of University of Chicago) have found that non-cognitive skills are highly correlated with school, career and life success. Durlak also found that non-cognitive skills increase standardized test scores.
I have provided training for teachers in Texas who are now teaching the “College Transition” course. I am including unsolicited comments about the course from a Dual Enrollment Biology teacher to a teacher of “College Transition” who has attended one of my trainings. The Texas Education Agency can provide more information on the essential knowledge and skills covered in the course.
Best regards,
Raymond Gerson
From: Nancy Ochoa-Garza
To: Ofelia A. Perez
Subject: Biology DE
Ms. Perez,
I don’t know who you are but I need to tell you that you are doing
a phenomenal job in your college transitions class. I have several
students in my Biology DE class who are also taking college
transitions. I gave a test out Wednesday and the results were
awesome. In the seven years I have taught Biology DE I have never
had a large number of A’s on any test much less test scores of 97
and 98. I have many times told students that they need to read
before they come to class. They need to go over their notes on a
daily basis, and they need to ask questions in class. I tell them
they should invest time everyday in reviewing material taught in
the class that day. I was very surprised with my class this time
around. I even asked if they had gotten access to a test of mine.
They were all surprised I asked. After I went over the test, I
asked people who got an A to share with the class what they did
to prepare for the test. Many of them credited the college
transition class and what they have learned. I told them to make
sure they go back to your class today and thank you for their
success. I hope they do so that you can also experience the
excitement I had yesterday and in watching their faces glow. Once
again, congratulations on doing a fantastic job. I sure hope more
students would take a college transitions class before taking
Dual Enrollment classes.
Nancy Ochoa-Garza
Sharyland High School
Science Department
Thank you so much Diane for your attention to our struggle here in Austin. I’m excited to tell you that an Eastside Memorial student, Elijah Cofield, who is the student body president, will ALSO be speaking at Save Texas Schools rally this weekend!
We MUST save EMHS from corporate reformers!
Amanda Austin, M. Ed, EIS
Concerned citizens of Texas you are in the forefront of needing to stop this insanity. Your state is being used to destroy. Now it must be used to build “Real Public Education for All.”
The entire concept of a “public school” is antithetical to freedom, except as progressivism defines freedom, which is thought control and indoctrination. In this one sector of the economy we see being played out the conflicting political ideologies of the larger American culture today. What’s so weird is that the collectivist administration in this one area (and perhaps in extra-legal drone strikes) is working hand in glove with the so called reformers, who are really the deliberate destroyers of the public school systems. Vhat a country!
I was hoping you decided to haunt someone else’s blog. Your absence was noted.
Here’s some background on the situation at Eastside:
http://socialistworker.org/2013/02/06/keep-eastside-open
Two things … You really need to get your facts straight:
1. IDEA had not taken over Eastside Memorial High School yet. IDEA was starting with an elementary school and then the board reversed its decision before IDEA ever had anything to do with Eastside.
2. It’s not the district that wants to close down the school — it’s the state.
Dear Diane, Thank you so much for sharing our story! ~~ There are many misconceptions about our school. Some created by self-serving “we can do better” groups. MOST created and broadcast by our own School District! I wish to address Five. ~~ First, “EMHS is always failing”. When EMHS was “born” in August 2008, it was already rated Academically Unacceptable (AU). That is NOT what they promised the neighborhood. It was supposed to be a fresh start. Our students and staff have lived and worked under this AU guillotine from day one. 😦 ~~ Second, “EMHS cannot fix itself.” EMHS is no longer AU. The hard-working students and staff turned the school around. Within two years, grades, test scores and graduation rates were WAY UP. And drop-out and discipline reports were way down. ~~ Their reward? Their beloved and successful Principal was replaced. And (10/20/2011) two months into the new school year the district Superintendent announced that IDEA Charter would take over their school in a year!!! ~~ Three, “The Community does not care.” Many emotionally exhausted, heart-broken students and staff left the school. Many more stayed and FOUGHT BACK. Eventually, thousands across Austin wrote, called, and protested FOR the school. As Diane said, it took an election and 14 months to cancel the IDEA plan. Now the Super is telling another story to scare us all. ~~ Four, “The TEA Commissioner will close EMHS”. But, why would he? EMHS is AA! And scores are way up. ~~ And, there is a lot going on right now in Texas education (testing, funding, etc.). He is busy. Why would he bother messing with our school??? Because the pissed off / embarrassed Super went charging over there to tell him that the new Board had messed up and EMHS was now out of compliance! ~~ Finally, Five: “Nothing at EMHS has worked./ We have tried everything.” Nearing 5 years of existence, EMHS has been subjected to 4 MAJOR restructurings by the District. IDEA is number 5. When I think of how wonderful our little campus family is and how well they are performing. I think about how glorious they might already have become. If not for the constant churning actions of their heartless (stupid?) District. ~~ Despite the District’s constant reminders to the world that EMHS is garbage. Our campus family is one of the most loving, compassionate, hard-working, and determined groups that I have ever had the honor of being a part of. ~~ Please pray for us. Thank you. Signed: Toni Rayner, EMHS mom x2.