David Safier

by David Safier

Education Week (subscription only) has an article about the Say Yes to Education initiative in New York state. The way it's being implemented in Syracuse, NY, goes beyond tutoring and guaranteed college tuition to offer a wide array of services and programs designed to alleviate many of the hurdles poverty puts in front of children. Before looking at the program, let's look at some results since the program began in 2008.

Since the initiative began in the 2008-09 school year, the 9th grade dropout rate has fallen by nearly half, to 281 students; high school graduation rates have risen 10 percent, to 55 percent in 2011; and college certification and degree earning grew by a third, from 451 students to 579 in 2012.

Juvenile crime rates have fallen as well, from 580 arrests per year to 398. None of these results are spectacular — these kids won't enter college and adulthood with the same skills set as kids from higher income areas — but the results are more significant than what you see with most programs. Of course, it's not cheap. But then again, the Bill Gates Foundation spent more than $150 million to get Common Core up and running, with the idea that if we tell kids we want them to learn more, they will. Gates can see problems like malaria in third world countries, but the successful American businessman doesn't want to admit our economic system, which fits him like a pair of $10,000 leather gloves, grinds others down and dumps innocent children into a nearly inescapable cycle of poverty. That money could be far better spent by putting kids into the mental and physical condition they need to succeed in school. Hell, with the Gates Foundation's enormous endowment, it doesn't have to choose. It could fund both programs without breaking a sweat.

by David Safier Family income affects student achievement. That's as close to an established fact as you get in education. Not only in the U.S. but all over the world, there's a direct correlation between family income and student test scores. But that doesn't explain why it's true. Certainly, lots of factors come into play. … Read more

by David Safier Mix together the conservatives' pet stories about all the job openings our welfare-addled poor won't get off their lazy butts to take with low-wage workers' demands for a $15 an hour minimum wage and you get the Vail School District bus driver shortage story in today's Star. Vail School District is 10 … Read more

by David Safier

The NY Times has a good article about a phenomenon many of us have known about for years: the high teacher turnover rate at charter schools. The burnout rate is legendary. Teachers stick around two, three, maybe five years, then they're gone — and usually not to another school. Gone from the profession. And we're not just talking about low rent, fly-by-night charters here. The turnover rate is high at some of the most respected charters.

It's true, lots of teachers at traditional public schools leave after a few years. Teaching can be pretty miserable if you don't like what you're doing, and it's unbearable if students don't like what you're doing either. But most teachers stick around at least ten years, time enough to know what they're doing, or they stay until retirement. Not so at charters.

Why the high turnover rate? One reason is, charter school teachers are often worked like dogs. Many of them are required to spend long hours at school, often they're required to be available by email or phone until 9pm, and sometimes the school year is weeks longer. With no union protection, working conditions are what the school says they are. Young teachers can sustain that kind of frantic pace for few years, but eventually it wears them down. And if a teacher gets married and has kids, that kind of enforced devotion to the school can be impossible to maintain. Charter school teachers often say, "It's either the teaching or my husband/wife and my kids. I can't do both."

Another reason could be, there's less incentive to stay. Many charter teachers are underpaid, though at some charters, teachers earn as much or more than traditional public school teachers. But often the rest of the package is less attractive. And tenure is virtually nonexistent, meaning teachers know they could be let go in June without being given a reason. In fact, some charters make a rule of getting rid of teachers on a regular basis. Turnover is part of their educational strategy.

The big question is, what does this do to the children?