Milwaukee is a city with three competitive sectors: charters, voucher schools, and a shrinking public school system. It is also one of the lowest performing cities on the NAEP, a demonstration of the inability of competition among schools to improve test scores.
So what do Wisconsin officials do in response to these dismal facts? They are expanding the charter sector. One of the beneficiaries of the plan to increase charters is the California-based charter chain called Rocketship, which cuts costs by putting kids in front of computers for part of the day, relying on inexperienced young teachers, focusing on test scores, and eliminating the arts.
The first Rocketship charter opened this fall in Milwaukee, projecting an enrollment of 485, but was able to enroll only 307 students. This means a likely shortfall for the school of about $1.4 million. Spokespersons for the school were undaunted and promised to forge ahead with their plan to open eight Rocketship charters in Milwaukee. The chain is opening in other cities as well, usually marketing to low-income families with promises of innovation and high technology.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Regarding the arts, John Merrow had nice piece on the arts on pbs news hour on Wed 27 November.
And???
Diane, you know more about NAEP than I do. I was not aware that it is possible to get an accurate summary of a city’s NAEP scores. Where is this information available?
This Milwaukee newspaper refers to the state’s NAEP scores.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/states-black-students-rank-lowest-in-reading-math-scores-b99136626z1-230903121.html
But there is no referenced to Milwaukee’s NAEP scores. I did a google search and did not find anything.
Also, my understanding is that you do not think NAEP scores are an accurate reflection of school quality. I think you’ve said the proficient level in NAEP is set quite high.
Reactions welcome.
Thank you. Happy Hannukah and Thanksgiving.
Joe Nathan,
About 18-20 cities volunteer to be assessed by NAEP. That means that the sample size from that city yields enough data to be reported in what is called TUDA–Trial Urban District Assessment. It started with five cities about a decade ago. Milwaukee has been part of TUDA the last two assessments. The scores are broken out by income, race, ethnicity, etc.
Thanks. That’s helpful. Should I contact NAEP to obtain this information?
And am I correct that you have written NAEP is, in your view, not a good way to assess public education as the proficiency levels are set too high?
Joe, the NAEP TUDA reports are on the web. Yes, it is my view that NAEP “proficiency” represents “solid academic achievement ” and should never be used as a pass-fail mark. Unless you want to fail most students.
Thank you.
Hope you have a nice Thanksgivukkah.
Thanks to Diane for sharing the information that some cities volunteered to have a large enough NAEP sample size to give a statistically defensible snapshot of how their students are doing on this test. Here’s a link to the data:
http://nationsreportcard.gov/math_2011/summary.aspx?tab_id=tab3&subtab_id=Tab_1#chart
Here’s a NAEP summary of what they found. A number of interpretations seem possible. Comments below are directly from the NAEP link listed above:
“Six districts scored higher than large city schools nationally at both grades
At grade 4, scores for Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Hillsborough County (FL), Houston, Jefferson County (KY), Miami-Dade, and San Diego were higher than for large cities nationally. At grade 8, scores for Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Hillsborough County (FL), Houston, and San Diego were higher than the scores for large cities nationally.
See interactive charts that show district comparisons for grade 4 and grade 8.
Score gaps between higher- and lower-income students persist in most districts
At grade 4, scores for lower-income students in Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Hillsborough County (FL), Houston, Miami-Dade, and New York City were higher than the score for lower-income students in large cities. The score gaps between higher- and lower-income students in Boston and Detroit were smaller than the score gap for large cities overall.
At grade 8, scores for lower-income students in Austin, Boston, Dallas, Houston, and New York City were higher than the score for lower-income students in large cities. The score gaps between higher- and lower-income students in Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Miami-Dade, and New York City were smaller than the score gap for large cities overall. (Family income level is determined by eligibility for the National School Lunch Program).”
Joe Nathan,
You find this look at NAEP TUDA 2002-2011 informative:
http://tinyurl.com/6mkqd6r
Is Rocketship yet another Gates funded charter? Carol Burris tweeted this from a speech of his….telling school leaders the “fallacies” of how school districts have dealt with tight budgets in the past. This man just infuriates me. He actually calls it harmful up to spend money on personnel, rather than software.
“Another harmful approach is to cut “anything but personnel.” Some schools cut out all instructional aids, including software, even though software can help teachers do more for students. Other schools stop buying new textbooks to save money.”
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/media-center/speeches/2010/11/bill-gates-council-of-chief-state-school-officers
Bookworm 23: here’s a little “what if” [also called counterfactual history] approach.
Bringing it home and making it personal, what if Mr. Bill “98% Satisfactory Teacher Evals” Gates had had all those wonderful teachers he’s talked about cut out of HIS school experience? You know, because it is just so wrong to avoid cutting “anything but personnel”?
He went to Lakeside School. His children go to Lakeside School.
[start quote] rigor absolutely defined my Lakeside experience. Lakeside had the kind of teachers who would come to me, even when I was getting straight A’s, and say: “When are you going to start applying yourself?” Teachers like Ann…One day, she said: “Bill, you’re just coasting. Here are my ten favorite books; read these. Here’s my college thesis; you should read it.” She challenged me to do more. I never would have come to enjoy literature as much as I do if she hadn’t pushed me. [end quote]
[start quote] The teachers here did everything to make their lessons matter….Years before other schools recognized the importance of computers, the Lakeside Mothers Club came up with the money to buy a teletype that connected over the phone lines with a GE time-sharing computer… [end quote]
[start quote] Finally, I had great relationships with my teachers here at Lakeside. Classes were small. You got to know the teachers. They got to know you. And the relationships that come from that really make a difference… [end quote]
Guess who I’m quoting? None other Mr. “Stack Ranking” Himself! About Himself! On the Unimportance, sorry, Importance of Personnel! Sorry — Teachers!
Link: http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/bill-gates-tells-us-why-his-high-school-was-a-great-learning-environment/
So let me get this straight: when it comes to him and HIS OWN CHILDREN there is one edumanagement philosophy to follow, but when it comes to OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN there is quite a different path to follow. Rheeally?
What happened to that old edufraud standby, “We want to give poor parents the same opportunity to go to an excellent school as rich parents have”?
Double talking hypocrite? I think one of those old dead Greek guys could “see” right through Mr. Rank-and-Yank:
“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.” [Homer]
😎
Unless there is an Inspector General and a careful school board, the charter will get all the money even if it doesn’t teach all the kids. They’ve been doing this at some Chicago “campuses” for years and years. Unless someone is actually counting the kids and then checking against the claims, the charters scam this bit of deregulation, too.
Perhaps they could enroll Gov. Scott Walker. He could use some further education.