After a series of exposes on Eclectablog about poor conditions of teaching and learning in Governor Rick Snyder’s so-called Education Achievement Authority for failing schools, the Michigan State Department of Education terminated an exclusivity agreement with EAA.
This leaves open the possibility that the state education department might try some evidence-based practices–like smaller classes, experienced teachers, wraparound services–to support the state’s low performing schools instead of clustering them in a district with large classes and inexperienced teachers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Can you define wrap around services?
Wraparound services include medical care, after school programs, social worker, summer programs, tutoring, psychologist, etc.
I keep hope alive, but doing this would be right. Something not in Rick’s playbook.
“This leaves open the possibility that the state education department might try some evidence-based practices–like smaller classes, experienced teachers, wraparound services–to support the state’s low performing schools instead of clustering them in a district with large classes and inexperienced teachers.”
He was to negate the criticism in an election year.
GOOOOOOOOOOOL! Team Ravich 1 Deformers 0!
Well, several pieces of good news today. Hope it continues.
I was raised in Michigan, went through elementary and high school in Lansing and got my degrees from the U of M, a GREAT school.
Things in Michigan have deteriorated markedly in the last decades there. Sad. Michigan is still “home” to me even though most of my adult life has been now in Indiana.
I’m curious why supporters of public school privatization were lobbying for the EXPANSION of the EAA as late as yesterday, and one of them was a state lawmaker.
“Yesterday, EAA Chancellor John Covington and Republican Chair of the House Education Committee Rep. Lisa Lyons appeared on the Current State program to discuss the Education Achievement Authority. In clear defensive mode, both of them sought to characterize anyone who opposes the EAA as the only solution to the intractable problems facing the Detroit Public School system as “defending the status quo” and being “outright criminal”.”
Was Lyons unaware that a termination agreement notice had been delivered weeks ago to the superintendent?
I wrote about their “appearance” on the NPR radio show here:
EAA Chief & GOP sponsor of expansion bill: “Opponents will stop at nothing to maintain status quo, are ‘criminal’.”
Since the State Department of Education is pitching this as something to “give them more options” and not as any loss of love for the EAA, Lyons would probably not have changed her stance. She appears to be in the camp that says “Do SOMETHING different, even if it’s worse”. Anyone who disagrees with that is characterized by her as “supporting the status quo.”
As Ed Committee chair, she seems to have a lot invested in passing this bill and doesn’t appear interested in evolving her position as new information becomes available. It’s a childish and ignorant approach in my book.
Thank you Chris for all your efforts and loong nights!!
Mr. Chris Savage that is. He single-handedly interviewed and then transcribed interview after interview of teachers and students. They’re still calling him. He was relentless. He deserves most of the credit.
Here is another EAA story: A TFA teacher was teaching a HS senior ELA class. She asked students to write a 2-3 page essay on some subject. The students repeatedly told her that her assignment was impossible. She cajoled them, oh you can do it. I believe in you, etc. Finally the students told her, no, no, we can’t do it, we’ve never written an essay of this type that short. She was schooled.
Thank you eclectablog and all the teachers who spoke out! Also, thank you to the staff of Eastern Mich Univ. who also put up a fight.
They are asking those who can to be at Eastern Michigan University tomorrow at 10 am.
This is a good piece on a charter school in Detroit where the teachers joined a union.
Last February teachers, counselors and social workers at Cesar Chavez Academy (CCA), voted to join a union by an overwhelming margin. The union victory came just weeks after Governor Snyder signed “right-to-work” legislation – a major setback for unions in Michigan. CCA, Detroit’s largest charter school with four campuses that together serves about 2,000 K-12 students, became the city’s first unionized charter school. School employees said they were relieved and hopeful for a fair collective-bargaining-agreement after a hard-fought campaign to be legally recognized by administrators as bargaining partners.
“But teachers and staff members said The Leona Group, the for-profit education company that operates CCA under a charter from Saginaw Valley State University, has not bargained in good faith as required by law. The Michigan Alliance of Charter School Teachers & Staff has filed charges against the Leona Group alleging over two dozen violations of the National Labor Relations Act. Talks on a contract between the union and the Leona Group continue unresolved.”
The Leona Group is a for-profit charter management company that also operates schools in Ohio.
Can you imagine? A charter school named for Cesar Chavez is vehemently opposed to collective bargaining, is (allegedly) violating labor law and is run by a for-profit operator using public funds.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing THAT story made into a feel-good ed reform movie anytime soon 🙂
LOL. The young woman who was instrumental in forming that union is the little sister of a friend of mine. I’ll be interviewing her and writing about this story as soon as the EAA dust settles : )
Great! I’m sure Leona is using every trick in the book to destroy the union. They love it when staff quit and turnover until the union weakens to only a few members.
I heard this news on the radio while driving home! I couldn’t believe it! It seems likely that this blog and eclectablog discussions contributed to the decision. It’s truly good news for a change.
Again, a small bit of hopeful news. Diane is right about wrap around services, although they are not likely to be funded in Michigan until the economy REALLY begins to recover, and even then, the ethos of the state is probably to stingy to approve because of the irresponsibility so frequently associated with poverty.
I have a story to tell you about the Leona Group. They run charter schools here in Arizona too. Quite a while back, my husband taught at a charter school here in Tucson run by Leona. It was a school set up for a group of kids who had gone through drug rehab together. My husband, with only one other teacher, improved the school to a point where enrollment was increasing and Leona finally was paying attention to it. They came in to improve the facilities. Many of the kids smoked cigarettes and Leona was planning on allowing them to smoke on the back patio . When my husband pointed out to them that that would be illegal, suddenly his evaluations where changed. They had been very happy with him before. After all, enrollment was increasing, which meant more money for them. They even started planting false statements about him (eg. leaving the class unattended.) This story is an example of why teachers need due process. Teachers sometimes have to stand up for what is right, and if that effects the bottom line, charters don’t like it.
This is a little good news and I find it encouraging. However, this move by State Superintendent Mike Flanagan does not end the EAA or prevent it from expanding. It only provides other options for “failing” schools. This makes me suspicious because of the timing regarding a possible vote on HB 4369 which would allow for the EAA to expand to 50 schools. That legislation could still pass and schools can still be placed in the EAA which would allow expansion and solve the EAA’s financial problems.
I like the idea of other options but I sense a cynical political move here. I can see HB 4369 passing and legislators saying “Well, the EAA can expand but there are other options….”
Stay vigilant! And thank you to Chris Savage for your work in exposing the EAA.
Steve, please cross-post this comment at my site. It’s important and spot on.
Posted on the Spin, Baby, Spin article from today.
Thanks for all you do.
What do you think if this take on it? http://www.democracy-tree.com/eaa-gone-hydra-beast-heads/
I saw Flanagan in an interview on Michgan Matters or something and he stated that he does not want to put more schools into the EAA. I think they know the press is so bad that they really can’t back it anymore. I wonder about the rest of the schools. Hopefully the people are better organized and putting up a fight.
Thanks, Janine, for the excellent link. I’m indeed sobered up, but note that the governor has a 62% disapproval rating on his education policies.
This is weak play, from a weak posture. Reporter Amy Hardin observes,
” Expect to see legislation, probably already being crafted, that will act as a substitute for the EAA bill. It will give sweeping authority to the state superintendent to play chess with local school districts that are in the bottom 5 percent. It may be held back until say, after the first Tuesday in November, but it will occur.”
That depends on what happens on the first Tuesday in November.
Outstanding. So happy to hear the news. Thank you for the great interviews and efforts to publicize the truth. I do agree that this was done with reelection in mind for the comeback gov, it is evident that the gov has no love for public education.
RESEARCH-BACKED STRATEGIES: I’ve been searching the Michigan Department of Education web site, including school improvement planning docs, etc. Here is vital research the dept. almost totally ignores: improving student access to books (recreational reading) throughout the year–and summer–will reduce 2/3 of the reaching achievement gap many experience by 9th grade. The “summer slide,” as it’s often called, is something educators have been aware of for decades.
Yet when I mentioned this research to a School Improvement specialist assigned to one of my schools, she seemed unaware of it. I sent her some data and asked to meet with her to discuss it. She refused to answer my email. But later she donated a couple of books to the school library.