Dispatch From Barcelona

Last month I was sitting in a restaurant in the Eixample neighborhood of Barcelona, eating lunch, when a very old man began tapping me on the shoulder.

It was mid-afternoon, on a Saturday, and I was there on vacation with Maureen. The old man was at the table to our left, grinning and holding up an engraved pewter disk about three inches around. He was nattily dressed in suspenders, pressed slacks and a crisp white shirt. He said something that I didn't understand--in Catalan, I'm guessing--before the woman sitting across from him spoke. "It's his medal, from the government," she said. "He's 102 years old."

Travel is all about experiencing differences. But not all differences are the same.

The first are the most obvious kind: unique things that you can experience nowhere else. Like the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's famed unfinished masterpiece. As much as travel books like to tout "hidden" aspects of cities and off-the-beaten-path attractions, sometimes you need to choke on a little tour bus exhaust and stand in line for an hour behind loud people wearing fanny packs because the path is beaten the way it's beaten for a reason. It's fascinating to walk through a grand cathedral mid-construction, particularly one as wildly artistic as this. We saw much of the Gaudi there is to see, all of it worthwhile (although the audio guide in Casa Battlo is absurdly enthusiastic, constantly referring to Gaudi as "history's greatest natural artist" or something along those lines). 

One thing puzzles me, though--Gaudi was of the Modernisme movement, a sort of Catalan Art Nouveau. People love it, just like everyone seems to like the wrought iron Metro signs in Paris and the Mucha posters that are all over Prague. Listening to a concert in Barcelona's jewel box of a music hall, the Palau de La Musica Catalana, is about as close as you can come to experiencing full synaesthetic overload without the help of highly illegal drugs. Why, then, don't people build Art Nouveau buildings now? It's not like the techniques are unknown. Yet the Gaudis are surrounded by blocks of nice but pedestrian buildings and nobody is making a new Casa Battlo. Are the forces of architectural fashion really so strong?

The second kind of differences are things that could be the same, but aren't. For example, at one point the little toes on Maureen's feet began to hurt--a new pair of sandals weren't entirely broken in. So we looked for a drug store. If we'd been here in DC, we'd have surely ended up in a CVS, i.e. the Worst Place In The Entire World. CVS is an affront to all that's good and decent, choked with sickening neon light, garish bags of poisonous food and a customer service experience that seems specifically designed to suck away your faith in humanity, bit by bit. But they've got a lock on the market and spread like fungus. (When the Dupont Circle art movie theater shut down last year--not the greatest place to see a movie, but still--it was replaced by a CVS even though there's another one, and I'm not exaggerating here, 100 yards away.) And the same is pretty much true everywhere, just substitute Duane Reade if you're in New York, etc.

Anyway, we walked around until we saw a green cross, the standard European sign for drug store. It was small, maybe one-fifth the size of a CVS. The decor was tasteful, the people behind the counter friendly and professional, and instead of Band-Aids we found a small tin of intricately wrought foam, fabric and adhesive bandages specifically designed for one and only one purpose: to alleviate sandal-induced pain on the outside of women's little toes. There's no good reason such a store couldn't exist in America. It just doesn't, because of various regulatory or business-related circumstances that could change. The world doesn't have to be the way it is, and sometimes it's the smallest things that make that most clear. 

The third kind of differences are those you don't see at all, because they don't exist. Barcelona is unique and interesting; that's why it's worth crossing an ocean to see. We spent two days driving through the Catalan hills, mostly looking at monasteries, some tucked away in high crags and others built in out-of-the-way valleys were monks still spend their hours in silent contemplation, pacing under curtains of stone. The city itself is, as Colm Toibin has written, "the only city in the world which was powerful during the fourteenth century and not afterwards." So the historic center is full of Gothic buildings and narrow passages that have been used for more or less the same purposes for the last six hundred years. There are beaches and stadia and museums and lots of restaurants that don't start filling up until near midnight. The wine is cheap and there's a certain appealing quality to everything that flows from an unusually rich culture that's maintained pride and identity despite centuries of waxing and waning subjugation. 

But no matter where you go people like to sit down with their families to relax and talk and eat on a mild weekend afternoon. 102 years old, and the man got up that morning, put on a good set of clothes, and headed out into the world for a walk and some wine and a good meal. The woman was his daughter and they were laughing and talking when we left. He was glad to be alive and wanted everyone, including the perfect stranger from another country sitting at the next table over, to know. 

Should New Era of Transparency Apply to Union Finances?

In theory, the new stimulus funding will have a new level of fiscal transparency that will tell us where and how the money was spent. Time will tell whether this actually happens and whether we will learn about how the funding was used. Given that we will not know a lot about how the base funding may have been reallocated, it will be difficult know how the stimulus funds were really used. But at least in theory, we will know more about how this funding is used than prior federal investments. Perhaps it is time to shed a little more light on how union funding is used. As union dues go up, what is the additional funding being spent on? Does the public have a right to know? Are union dues going up to compenate for all of the teachers that are being lost to job cuts, or are unions increasing salaries and expanding their influence. It would be interesting to know. (here)

My New Address

As some QuickandtheEd readers know, I started yesterday as executive director of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, a consortium of 85 highly diverse independent schools educating 34,700 students in the Washington, D.C., region. I'll be leading a team that produces data and sponsors programs for AISGW schools on a wide range of topics, builds professional networks, and is a highly regarded voice for independent education and a source of expertise on independent school issues in the Washington region and beyond. Among other things, it's an opportunity to learn a lot about the day-to-day workings of schools.

In September, I'll begin writing the “Washington View” column for Kappan magazine on a wide range of federal and national issues, focusing on school reform. I've signed up to write a couple of longer national policy pieces. And I hope to continue to contribute to the good work of Education Sector.

Launching and leading the organization has been a tremendous experience. I’ve learned an immense amount. I’m more than a little proud of what our team has accomplished. And I leave the organization knowing that it's in good hands. There is a tremendous need for the independent analysis that Education Sector has brought to the education debate.

Here's my new contact information, and I looking forward to staying in touch.

Thomas Toch
Executive Director
Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington
P.O. Box 9956
Washington, DC 20016
ttoch@aisgw.org
o) 202-625-9223
c) 202-487-5941

California will issue IOUs starting tomorrow, but schools will get more of them

The California budget has been at impasse for the last month and the state is about to start issuing IOUs instead of paying its bills. The Democrat controlled legislature wanted to solve a $24 billion budget problem with roughly 2/3 cuts and 1/3 new revenues (tax increases and fees) and the governor and minority legislative Republicans want an all cuts solution including the elimination of the state’s welfare program. The two sides have been at impasse for weeks, but the clock keeps ticking. And, a failed effort yesterday was the last day to come up with a solution without having to start to issue IOUs. So the state will start issuing IOUs later this week.

While the state’s budget is a disaster, there is a ray of sunshine for schools in all of the bad news. Yesterday was the last day of the fiscal year, and the legislature and governor had planned to reduce funding for schools for the 2008-09 fiscal year by $3.3 billion. Because these reductions were not made in the 2008-09 fiscal year, schools get to keep the money. It gets better. The state’s constitution provides a minimum funding guarantee referred to as Proposition 98. The minimum guarantee for each year, takes the prior years funding level and adjusts it for growth in the economy and number of students. So, the fact that the state did not cut funding for 2008-09 means that the state’s funding obligations for future years will also be higher. Of course the cuts to school budgets will have to be paid with IOUs, but that is a technical detail. For once, it appears that Sacramento’s dysfunction has actually benefited schools. Of course, finding a budget solution was hard enough with education being cut. Now it will be almost impossible. Health, social services and prisons were big losers last night because they will likely need to be cut even further to make up failure of the education cuts. But expect fewer lay offs in the schools this next year because of last nights stalemate. I am sure that California educators will keep their head low on this one, but it seems that they will have something to quietly celebrate this 4th of July.

Update: The Governor has declared a state of emergency, called a special session and proposed to suspend the constitutional school funding guarantee for 2009-10. This guarantee has only been suspended one other time and it did not go well ending in a lawsuit that eventually settled between Schawarzenegger and the teacher union.

Teachers Unions Don't Matter

Some say. Others argue that unions matter more than ever, not just for job security but also to push necessary reforms. Our survey last year showed a mix of opinions on the role of unions in improving public schools. Now we're digging in deeper with a small group of public school teachers from around the country--Mass, Minnesota, NYC, California and Florida--to hear their thoughts on unions and reform.

Online discussion starts tomorrow morning and continues through Thursday.

Questions are already coming in! Post yours here.

Higher Education Accountability Systems

In 2008 and 2009, Education Sector conducted a comprehensive analysis of higher education accountability systems in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. We analyzed thousands of documents, Web sites, policies, and laws attempting to answer two questions:
1. What information do states collect on their higher education institutions?
2. How does the state use that information to improve its colleges and universities?

Based on this research, we graded every state accountability system in 15 categories. Some categories, including student learning outcomes, productivity, faculty scholarship, student engagement, and affordability, focus on the information states gather about various means and ends of higher education. Other categories, including governance, funding, and public information, focus on the ways states use information to hold institutions accountable for quality and results. To be clear, we did not evaluate state results in various higher education outcomes, but rather the breadth, accuracy, and strength of their systems designed to hold institutions accountable for results.

In each category, states were graded on a three-level scale. States with particularly well-developed measurement and reporting instruments earned a "best practice" rating. Others, with less complete efforts, received a rating of "in progress." States where little is being done, or vital elements are missing, garnered a "needs improvement" rating. The interactive map below has grades for every state in selected categories. Mouse over the states to see how they stack up*.




Grades were based on a range of factors, including accuracy, timeliness, comparability, and breadth of information. States received more credit for information reported consistently by all institutions than for information reported idiosyncratically by only a few. Because accountability must be transparent to be meaningful, we considered only publicly available information. Each state was given the chance to comment on our reviews, and about half took the opportunity to point out things we had missed, comment on our findings, or ask questions about our analysis.

Every effort was made to grade states consistently and fairly. But on some level, however, the grades represent the subjective judgment of the authors. The grades should be seen as tools for improvement. Even states that receive "best practice" ratings have room to learn from the innovations and experiences of their peers.

The report's main page is available here. It has a larger version of the interactive map and links to a summary document of our grading system and the grades in each of our categories, individual summaries for every state, and separate reports for each of our 15 categories. We released a report in December highlighting best practices and explaining why state accountability systems matter.

*Many thanks to Abdul Kargbo for putting together this map. Thanks also to Renee Rybak, Robin Smiles, and the entire ES communications team who helped put this project together.

Advertising Reform

I finally opened my copy of Diplomas Count, an annual publication from Education Week devoted entirely to issues around high school graduation, and I didn't get far before something caught my eye. It wasn't the article on Florida's data system, the piece on ensuring graduation rates mean the same state-to-state, or the map of graduation rates by county. It was the ad on the left.

It's an ad for professional development courses in mathematics, literacy, and school design from an organization called America's Choice. At the bottom of the ad is the part that caught my eye: all these services are available for purchase with American Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Title I, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds. According to its Web site, it produces "remarkable results" "improving test scores" and "helping students build confidence." What's disturbing is the thought that a state or district out there would see this ad, read that "evidence," and then purchase America's Choice products with stimulus money intended for preserving teaching jobs and fomenting reform.

Update: A commenter suggested my "attack" on America's Choice was over the line. That was not my intent. My problems are with the ad itself and a system where states and districts spend public monies on products that are advertised but whose effectiveness has been shown only through less-than-rigorous research.

The Truth About New York City's High Schools

Dana Goldstein and Ezra Klein both linked last week to a graphic showing the school choice process in New York. The graphic is originally from an excellent report by Clara Hemphill and Kim Nauer on the impact small high schools are having in New York City, but, unfortunately, Goldstein and Klein continue the media's misinterpretation of the report.

Let's start with the most egregious misuse of the report, the top line finding that small schools have negatively impacted large ones. As Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein have opened hundreds of new small high schools, schools with high attendance and gradution rates, the remaining large ones have seen their enrollments balloon and their rates drop. One goes up, one goes down, so it must be a wash, right?

Wrong. Citywide attendance and graduation rates are up.

But the media never digested this. They focused on the negative, that large high schools are slightly worse than they used to be, and made that the emphasis of their coverage. The report was great not for its startling new findings but for its balanced look at New York's schools. It found, among other things:

• Klein has closed 21 large high schools that had some of the city's worst performance records and the lowest levels of student and parent demand. At the same time he's opened 200 new small high schools that enroll about one-fifth of the city's high schoolers.
• Small schools are not creaming. Following up on a US Department of Education finding that small schools are not discriminating, Hemphill and Nauer found that small schools enroll roughly the same proportion of at-risk students (overage, ELL, special ed, low-income) as other city high schools.
• Small schools are better, on average, than medium and large high schools. Small schools have higher four- and six-year graduation rates, attendance, and percentage of students earning more than ten credits, even after controlling for poverty.
• A new system for placing students in schools has decreased the number of students rejected by all of their schools from 31,000 in 2002 to 7,445 in 2009.
  

The report also featured a graph of New York City's high school graduation rate increasing over time. Even Jennifer Jennings' (of Eduwonkette fame, and one of Joel Klein's most vocal, intelligent, and statistically able critics) investigative piece on "discharges," students who leave school (supposedly to transfer) who never graduate and are never counted as dropouts, acknowledged that graduation rates have risen in the Klein era. According to the state's data, New York City's high school graduation rates have risen from 41 percent in 2002 to 56 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, white-black and white-Hispanic gaps have shrunk and the percentage of students earning the state's Regents diplomas increased 11 perecent between 2005 and 2008.

Goldstein and Ezra Klein seized on a graphic from the Hemphill and Nauer report showing the steps New York City students and parents must take to learn about and apply to high schools. And while it's true that the city's high school admissions process is complex--all eighth graders must list their top 12 choices from a list of almost 700 unique programs--Goldstein's reminder that "school reform means reforming all schools for all kids" and Ezra Klein's statement that, "school choice isn't supposed to simply amplify the benefits that kids from good homes already have," miss the progress being made. In almost no other city does a kid have such options, options that allow all students to select from all city schools. Evidence from the Hemphill and Nauer report actually shows that students and parents have gotten better at navigating this process over time. And, even though the city still graduates just over half its students in four years, the reforms undertaken by Bloomberg and Joel Klein have had a positive net impact for all the city's children.

The Terrible Power of Dumb Ideas

In a canny act of preemptive self-parody, Tom Friedman begins today's column as follows:

I was at a conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, a few weeks ago and interviewed Craig Barrett, the former chairman of Intel, about how America should get out of its current economic crisis. His first proposal was this: Any American kid who wants to get a driver’s license has to finish high school. No diploma — no license. Hey, why would we want to put a kid who can barely add, read or write behind the wheel of a car?

One can imagine Friedman's thoughts as he filed this beauty: "Suck on that, Matt Taibbi!" Friedman may not have invented the place-drop / name-drop / facile idea three-step, but he's certainly perfected it. 

Internet space is free yet I'm still resentful of the resources about to be wasted pointing out how ridiculous this is. But okay: Many high school drop-outs live in cities where you don't need a car to get around. As for those who don't--let's say you drop out of high school because your high school is terrible or you get pregnant or there's a family emergency or you're 16 and prone to foolish choices. A couple of years go by and you realize you need that diploma. How do you go back to school if you can't drive a car to get there? Or get to your job and feed your family in the meantime? Friedman and Venter seem not to realize that a sizeable majority of American teens don't attend Rydell High School. "Don't drop out, Kenickie--you won't be able to take your hot rod to the drive-in!" Plus, you don't actually need a high school education to be a good driver--for pity's sake, Dale Earnhardt was a drop-out. 

All of this would be merely aggravating if this kind of sad excuse for policy debate didn't have a real, detrimental impact on the lives of students. When you tell people that large problems can be solved with simplistic, nominally clever policy solutions, you're implicitly raising a question: "If it's so easy, why haven't we done it already?" That in turns breeds cynicism and mistrust, a jaded worldview in which large social problems are either fundamentally unsolvable or hostage to venal politicians who won't do the right thing even though the answer is so obvious that anyone with a lick of common sense can see it. And once you get there, the temptation is strong to throw up your hands and worry about something else. 

The high school dropout problem is serious business. We can do better, if we focus on improved funding, leadership, better teachers, curriculum and assessments tied to high standards, alignment with higher education, integration of social services, virtual high schools, and many other things. Meanwhile, Friedman continues to crank out endless slightly altered copies of columns that weren't very good to begin with, getting rich and making the world a dumber place along the way.