From the editor
News last week that Colorado suffered a huge increase in the number children living in poverty between 2000 and 2006 is sobering indeed. The 73 percent jump was the largest of any state in the country.
It’s tempting to bloviate about causes and to prattle on about possible solutions. For the moment, though, we should ponder the consequences of these numbers:
- 180,000 Colorado children from 0-18 live in poverty, 15.7 percent of all children in that age range.
- 82,000 children in Colorado live in extreme poverty – which is 50 percent of the Federal Poverty Level or $7,000 per year for a single mom and her child. In fact, the percentage of children living in extreme poverty had a faster rate of growth (116 percent) than any other group of poor children in the state. The largest numbers of these children are under the age of five.
It’s hard to know how dire these numbers are for our education system without a bit more context. We know that poverty is an accurate proxy for low achievement in school. The new numbers from the Colorado Children’s Campaign don’t tell us much about duration of poverty, only its prevalence and intensity. Families that end up poor for a limited amount of time may not suffer the same ill effects from the experience as families who remain mired in poverty for generations.
But some of the anecdotal evidence in the 2008 KidsCount in Colorado report isn’t terribly encouraging from an education perspective. For example, the increase in poverty can’t be attributed to an increase in immigrants, because the proportion of children living in immigrant families has held constant since 2000 while the number of poor kids has skyrocketed.
This strikes me as bad news because many immigrants are upwardly mobile, despite what the xenophobes would have you believe. So, the study’s conclusion is that the boost in poor kids is most likely caused by:
•The ethnic and racial make-up of the state’s population;
• The number of students who drop out of high school, or who do not
acquire enough education to earn a good living;
• The number of children living in single-parent households, as well as the
number of children born to teen mothers; and
• The availability of well-paying jobs for low-skilled workers.
This suggests that kids who became poor this decade did so because of deeply rooted societal challenges. They are likely to remain poor for a long time; and that means their chance of succeeding in school is mediocre at best.
We all spend a lot of time bemoaning the state of student achievement in Colorado. This new report brings home the important fact that in some ways schools have little to do with the achievement issue. Schools can do a lot to ameliorate the effects of poverty on achievement, and should be held accountable for doing so. But they can’t work miracles across the board. If an increasing proportion of our students enter school far behind, the schools are going to suffer for it.
If these figures are accurate, and researchers have correctly posited the root causes, then we can expect student achievement in Colorado to decline markedly in coming years.
But the article in this newsletter about West Denver Prep highlights, for the last time this year, the commendable work one school is doing to prove that what I just wrote doesn’t have to be true.
West Denver Prep: redefining what’s possible
By Chris Gibbons
It is always impossible until it is done. I used this Nelson Mandela quote to both introduce and close the school year at West Denver Prep. High standards have become an overused educational cliché. To us, they mean blowing the doors off students’ expectations of themselves, while providing the kind of support and accountability that allows every student, at the end of the year, to review their accomplishments with pride and the confidence that they can accomplish any goal they set and then strive toward.
West Denver Prep has received significant recognition during this school year, including our rank as the middle school with the highest growth percentiles on the new DPS performance framework, regular features in the local press, and a monthly spot in this newsletter. But to be perfectly frank, I often respond to this recognition with considerable surprise and occasional disappointment.
Please don’t misunderstand this last statement. Our teachers are among the most talented and hardest working professionals I have ever met. Our students have made extraordinary gains academically and personally thanks to their courage, resilience, and focus on the dream of a college education. Our families have engaged, supported, volunteered, and committed immensely on behalf of their kids. Each and every one of these people has my utmost respect and deserves every bit of recognition.
But here’s the problem: what all these people achieved, by working hard and posting one year of strong growth among a group of historically underserved students, shouldn’t be so noteworthy -- it should be the standard. Easily clearing a bar is less of an accomplishment when the bar is low.
Our students are those who have been least well-served by the traditional system. They entered school most in need of an outstanding education; many of them are low-income, many are of color. They should all have as commonplace the greatest opportunities, the most resources, and a system of strong schools committed to strong academic and personal gains.
We have increasing examples of just such schools. Across the country, strong urban charter schools are providing this education, many in small clusters. Those who get into such schools are succeeding. We hope to count West Denver Prep among those schools as we grow and sustain our work. And we are committed to participating in a broader, systematic solution.
In December of 2007, after considerable reflection, our Board of Trustees voted to begin the expansion to a second middle school, and our proposal is pending before DPS. The vision here is to build a second small middle school of the same academic program and standards, followed by a high school to serve graduates of both middle schools and create a pathway to college for 1,000 students at a time in southwest Denver.
Growth is always a challenging venture, and ours is no exception. Sustaining a tight school culture and cultivating high-quality leadership across multiple sites is probably the single greatest barrier to great schools. We’re well aware of the challenge and we believe we are up to it.
New opportunities are forthcoming to sustain our existing school as well. Building a sustainable organization that supports such regular academic progress remains a constant challenge. Our students need broad skills of self-advocacy in addition to strong academic skills to remain on a path toward college.
And, we must identify and successfully place our students in great high school programs if they are to effectively make use of the progress they have made here. The road to college is a long one – and it is only upon completion of a college degree for each and every one of our students when we will feel that the impossible has finally been done.
Every student, parent, and teacher at West Denver Prep has much to be proud of. Many of our kids would tell you of accomplishing what seemed impossible early in the year – the homework, the RAP tests, the projects, the longer days, the longer year.
Now this year is done and celebrated; and the next year begins in just a short 9 weeks with an entirely new process of challenges and opportunities. We have come very far; yet we have so much more to accomplish before the hard, yet not impossible, work of education reform is done.
Chris Gibbons is head of school at West Denver Preparatory Charter School
Ed News highlights
Dividing ProComp cash fuels contract feud
By Barry Bortnick
A voter-approved mill levy in 2005 gave officials with Denver Public Schools and local teachers something most districts and unions rarely see: a cash cow that has pumped $50 million into Denver’s educational system.
Unfortunately, the school district and the union are currently at odds over how best to share the loot. That difference of opinion has led to a five-month-long contract fight, a teacher sick-out and a potential strike should mediation not lead to an amicable settlement before the school year begins in late August.
The major issue involves a fairly new pay system known as ProComp. Funded by a mill levy that provides about $25 million a year, ProComp acts like a complicated payment matrix and trust fund. It allocates money for teacher salaries, and pays for step increases based on such things as years of service or advanced degrees.
ProComp money is also doled out for bonuses given to teachers who work in lower-income schools, or for those who take on hard to fill positions in the areas of math and science.
Pitched to voters as a “revolutionary” compensation method that would reward teachers for professional accomplishments and instructional goals, the idea found a welcome home with voters. The measure passed in November of 2005 with 58 percent of voters supporting it.
Here comes the judge: Aurora gets serious about truancy
By Rebecca Jones
AURORA -- The middle school student stammered sheepishly when the judge pressed her about why she hadn’t returned to class for the rest of the day after her last court appearance, which had concluded by mid-morning.
“I was sick that day,” the teen-ager offered, in obvious hopes of averting Arapahoe District Magistrate Rebecca Moss’s growing displeasure.
Since January, Moss’s courtroom has been part of a pilot program launched by Aurora Public Schools to curb the district’s truancy rate, which currently hovers around 15 percent. At two schools – Kenton Elementary and South Middle – district anti-truancy specialists are experimenting with “expedited intervention,” doing everything in their power to work with students deemed habitually truant, to remove all the obstacles to them being in class.
The district assigns case managers, gets at-risk students assistance with transportation, family counseling, mental health care, you name it. That’s the carrot.
But for those who still miss school excessively, Judge Moss is the stick.
Blog highlights
Why is Colorado No. 1 in child poverty increase?
Monday, June 16, 2008
Written by: Captain Haddock
The Colorado Children’s Campaign’s released its annual KidsCount report last week, and the news was shocking enough to merit a front-page spread in the Post and even an article in the New York Times. It seems that the number of children living in poverty in Colorado jumped faster than in any other state over the past few years. In fact, Colorado’s increase of 73 percent dwarfed the next highest state, New Hampshire, which had 50 percent.
Not only are more kids living in poverty now than in 2000, but more live at extreme levels of poverty (50 percent of the federal poverty level or lower), and the trends hold across ethnic lines.
So, once we have prepared our fingers for pointing, where shall we aim them? Colorado’s dismal performance seems to be a result of a combination of increased child care expenses, a tough economy, and a school system, on average, that is struggling to rise out of mediocrity. Our state has also seen fairly dramatic increase in the number of immigrant families, who are likely to be poorer, although the ratio of immigrant to non-immigrant families has stayed roughly constant.
Our high child poverty rates should be cause for alarm, as they foretell economic and social woes in years to come. As these children grow into adults, they will be statistically more likely to commit crimes, less likely to attend college, more likely to require more expensive health care, and less likely to hold high-paying jobs.
And what to do about it all? While some of our state’s economic woes are our own fault (see my frequent punching-bag TABOR, along with other financial missteps), I suspect much of the problem is tied to bigger trends, such as increases in the cost of living for working people.
I say we start with those things we know work to help bring kids out of poverty – education and child care. Both should be accessible to all children, no matter what job their parents happen to hold.
Psychological torture produces no teachable momentsFriday, June 13, 2008
Written by: Alan Gottlieb
Psychological torture is spreading from the cells of Abu Ghraib and Gitmo to the classrooms of at least one affluent suburban high school.
It’s hard to reach any other conclusion after reading about administrators at El Camino High School in suburban San Diego, who decided it would be nifty to create a “teachable moment” by fooling students into believing several of their classmates had died in drunken driving accidents over the weekend. Har dee har har.
This may sound like an idea incubated in the hormone-heated mind of middle school boys. But school administrators did this in cahoots with the highway patrol. You’d think a group of adults who make their living working with adolescents might suspect such a prank would create mass hysteria. But no.
I was going to write something humorous and pithy about this. But it’s flat out not funny. Heads should roll. Shame, shame, shame.
LA schools want to copy charter successes. And Denver…?
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Written by: Uncle Charley
In the ongoing debate about charter school performance, another piece of evidence emerges today from Los Angeles (H/T Joanne Jacobs). Here are the key findings of the peer-reviewed report:
1. Charter schools in LAUSD outperform traditional public schools on a variety of student achievement measures.
2. Charter schools in LAUSD are more likely than traditional public schools to improve their Academic Performance Index (API) at a faster rate.
3. API for African American students is higher in charter schools in LAUSD than in traditional public schools. API results for other traditionally disadvantaged groups are higher at the middle and high school levels, but not at the elementary level.
4. Charter middle schools in LAUSD consistently outperform traditional public schools.
5. Median API scores increase as charter schools in LAUSD mature. In 2006 - 2007, young charter schools in LAUSD had strong results increasing student achievement.
This is good news about the promise of school choice expansion, especially in urban settings. The L.A. Times story gave a hint of other promising news:
Ramon C. Cortines, L.A. Unified’s newly appointed senior deputy superintendent, said the report pointed to how traditional schools could learn from charters — a strikingly different attitude from that typically expressed by district officials.
“I think that what it says is that they have some best practices, and those should be replicated in the district in all schools,” he said. “I would say the same about islands of excellence in the Unified district. . . . We need to each learn from each other.”
Are Los Angeles district officials truly committed to copying and pursuing best practices in their successful charter schools? Can they do so without stepping on the prerogative of parents who want to choose the charter option? Can iron truly sharpen iron in this context? It’s encouraging to see at least lip-service given in this case, but it would be even better to see follow-through.
And what about Denver? Seeing the administrator’s quote in the L.A. Times reminded me of a story last fall in the Rocky Mountain News, highlighting a charter school success story in our own backyard, with a sobering side note:
Yet not a single principal from a DPS neighborhood school has come to visit West Denver Prep or, for that matter, the nearby KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy, a charter school serving a similarly high-poverty population with similarly successful results.
It remains my contention that the overall high performance and competitive threat of charter schools has made some limited inroads. But there still is not enough incentive in the current system for a true cross-pollination of best practices.
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