New Orleans hosts ‘A’ level educational conference

24th October 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

Educational experts from all over the United States descended on New Orleans on October 8, 2011, calling the Crescent City “Ground Zero in battle for Educational Reform.”

Sponsored by Oxford American Magazine and Entergy Corp., the conference attendees were all a buzz about the recent testing successes in New Orleans. The numbers that came out shortly after the conference’s completion seemed to back up the enthusiasm. The mainly Charterized Recovery School District had an eight percentage point increase in students that graduated high school. That 57 percent still ranked below the 70 percent figure for the whole state, but was a drastic increase since 2006.

The achievement gap also seemed to be narrowing. LEAP test results this spring showed that 53 percent of African-American youngsters in New Orleans scored at grade level or better on state tests, compared with 51 percent of Black students across Louisiana. Just four years ago, only 32 percent of Black students in New Orleans had achieved grade level, compared with 43 percent statewide.

One of the organizers of the event on October 8 was Patty Riddle­barger, Director of Corp­orate Social Responsibility at Entergy Corp. As she explained in an interview with The Louisiana Weekly, “Our hope was to bring together educators, parents, school officials and administrators for a discussion that examined where we have been, where we are and where we hope to be.”

“Those in attendance,” Riddle­barger observed, “were in agreement that the dialog was excellent and that continued dialog and open/ honest discussion is key to continuing the momentum and the progress that has been established. We were tremendously pleased with the result and have agreed to bring the group together again for further discussion as the work continues.”

And much of that discussion, she maintained, had to do with the new Charter Structure of Reformed Public Education in New Orleans. “Post-Katrina New Orleans has been the site of what is being called (according to Michael Stone of New Schools for New Orleans) the most significant transformation of an inner-city public education system in the history of public education.”

“Pre-Katrina more than 70 percent of public schools were academically failing and families who could not afford private school had no options. Today fewer than 30 percent of public schools are academically failing—which is still not acceptable, but it represents an unprecedented rate of improvement in a span of just five years. Academic proficiency has increased from 35 percent to 56 percent — but that is still far from where we need to be.”

Still, Riddlebarger also noted that the challenges of the new Charter system, and how to solve them, were also matters under discussion. “Among the negatives: a complex system makes it harder to parents to navigate the system and inequities result because not all parents are equipped and able to sort through the options and find the best solutions for their children. There are also concerns about waste and inefficiency — particularly with regard to transportation which in the existing system can cost schools seven — 10 percent of their budgets — funds which could be spent on educational resources, not to mention added traffic congestion and environmental concerns such as greenhouse gas emissions. Other significant challenges in the new system are focused on the need for charter schools to do a better job of addressing the needs of those children who require special education.”

Key factors in the transformation, she explained, have included the state takeover of public schools and the establishment of the Recovery School District, an in­flux of capital from government, private foundations and corporate funders and an influx of human capital and organizations such as Teach for America, New Schools for New Orleans, KIPP schools and others.

The charter supporters were not without their critics at the conference. “Although educators had many positive comments about the New Orleans model,” Ridder­barger recollected, “much discussion focused on challenges that remain.”

For example, considerable conversation revolved around the fact that “the academic gains experienced are largely at the elementary- and middle-school level. Although there are pockets of excellence, many public high schools—traditional and charter continue to struggle with academic achievement and high numbers of dropouts.”

“Everyone was in agreement that the goal is to have high-quality public schools available in EVERY neighborhood and we are far from there yet. Parents are frustrated by wasted resources, time, and quality-of-life issues associated with transporting children from one end of the city to the other to attend school.”

“Despite significant improvements in quality and choices available for families, the complexity of the existing system results in significant inequities for children whose parents are not well-educated and lack sufficient resources and time to navigate lotteries, applications and other requirements to get their children into their school of choice.”

“There was discussion about what education can learn from the technology sector in terms of prototyping and redesign, constantly seeking to improve.

Although everyone agreed that redesign in pursuit of improvements is positive, the stakes are much higher in education—lives, livelihoods and the future of children is at stake. Some redesigns work, others don’t—but what parent is willing for his child to be a guinea pig?”

“Other topics included the pros and cons of high-stakes testing, rote learning and teaching to the test and whether this focus diminishes other skills such as innovation, creativity, reasoning and self-expression.”

The Symposium began with a session entitled “Teachers, Techies and Chefs.”

“The session examined lessons from the world of technology and the restaurant industry that can be applied to education reform,” explained Riddleberger. “In the case of technology, parallels were drawn from the constant push to design and redesign products to better meet consumer needs. The product cycle is compressed so that a new product is often followed by a new, improved version in an average of 18 months. This contrasts sharply to traditional educational systems where the pace is glacial. By the time change and reforms can be implemented, a generation of kids can be lost.”

“So there was a lot discussion about how to compress the time lag, while at the same time protecting children and their families from dud ideas and concepts that don’t work.

Dr. Patricia Crisp with the U.S. Department of Education gave the key note address, which focused on global competition, the lag between U.S. students and their global counterparts and the administration’s plan to close the gap.

She stated that one generation ago Americans were more likely than citizens of any other nation to have a college education. Today the U.S. is tied for 9th in college graduation rates. “The nations that are beating the U.S. in education today will beat the U.S. in the world economy tomorrow,” said Crisp.

The U.S. dept of education has set a goal to lead the world once again in college graduation by 2020.

In order to achieve the goal, the U.S. will need to improve graduation rates by 50 percent in the next decade. Among the tools to get us there she described: The need to do a better job of recruiting, training and retaining teachers the need for continued investment in education such as Race to the Top grants designed to reward excellence and innovation in education the need to work collaboratively with other agencies and organizations to remove societal barriers to education.

The afternoon session focused on the insights of the leaders of many of the organizations in education at the forefront of the reform movement: Teach for America, New Schools for New Orleans, City Year Louisiana, Communities in Schools, Artists Corps, Playworks of New Orleans, the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Other organizations in attendance included Agenda for Children, Children’s Defense Fund, First Line Schools and ReNEW charter schools. The discussion provided each panelist an opportunity to discuss the role of their organization in the education system and discuss the challenges the system faces.

“Much of this discussion,” Riddlebarger recounted, “centered on societal issues that serve as obstacles to academic success—extreme poverty, violence, family instability, poor health, pregnancy, drug and substance abuse. Other key points of discussion included the need to instill in every citizen a shared sense of responsibility and appreciation of the societal benefit of ensuring that a high-quality public education is available in EVERY neighborhood and for EVERY child—regardless of whether or not YOUR child attends public school.”

“The key takeaway from this session: Until the public makes the connection between quality of life and excellent schools for ALL children, we still have a long way to go.”

This article was originally published in the October 24, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper