I recently listened to radio coverage of the Chicago teachers strike.
There is no doubt that this is a painful time for parents, students, teachers, administrators. It is clear that each stakeholder wants what is best for the next generation. How to get there is a question that will require dialog, time, cool heads, experimentation, and money. The concern that rose to the surface of my mind is how this dialog relates to our local school system.
I am currently involved in the effort to start a public charter school in Ashland. This has raised questions and eyebrows among people I know, some with excitement and some with skepticism.
There is a lot of talk about charter schools and privatization in the news and on the education blogs these days. Much of the national conversation describes charter schools as anti teachers union, pro-privatization, cost saving in the short term, and heavily dependant on high stakes testing. There is truth to much of this and it concerns me deeply. This is not a direction I am comfortable moving in my community or my country.
These descriptions also describe some current movements in public education in general, not just charter schools. In Wisconsin in the coming years teacher evaluations will be required to include student performance on testing. The Common Core Standards Initiative has been adopted by Wisconsin to help standardize what is expected of our students. These changes have supporters and detractors. The research, politics, and corporate interests don’t give us clear answers as to their benefits and consequences. Some of this is at the heart of the debate taking place in Chicago.
So, why am I supporting and volunteering to make a charter happen in Ashland? I support the type of charter the Ashland School District has embraced. In Wisconsin, we have the option for instrumentality charter schools. These are designed to be a part of the district. Teachers are employed by the district, having the same benefits and protections, including collective bargaining. Students cannot be excluded due to ability or disability. They are responsible to the local school district that grants them the charter.
What makes a charter school different than the traditional school? Well, that really depends on what your current traditional school looks like and what type of charter you are looking at. A charter school depends on the educational philosophy of its founders. In Ashland, board members, administrators, parents, and teachers visited and got excited about project based learning (PBL) as an educational approach. I am excited about this model because it opens up the classroom to emphasize collaborative and independent, critical thinking skills. These are things that I want more of for my children in public school. I think a project based learning school can help achieve this. However, everyone may not feel this need for a big change to the approach currently used in our school. That is why having a place where institutional differentiation can take place is important to me.
Another feature of the Ashland Charter School, that runs counter to the national conversation about charters, is the role of teachers. All teachers in the Ashland Charter School, will be district teachers with appropriate licensure for the position they teach. They will be compensated through the funds of the Charter grant for professional development training and support transitioning to a PBL approach. Our school will be teacher led, with teachers working collaboratively to choose the curriculum, daily schedule and have representation on the charter council. This will be more work at the beginning, but hopefully more rewarding for those teachers who desire greater responsibility in creating the structure of their school.
I am excited to be serving on the founding charter council for the Ashland Charter School. I will work to maintain the guiding principles of the school, find consensus among the council, while recognizing the needs of the community. In the end, I hope that we can create a school that reflects a shared educational philosophy; where parents, students, and teachers are inspired to continue searching for better ways to make learning and working, exciting and relevant.
There is no doubt that this is a painful time for parents, students, teachers, administrators. It is clear that each stakeholder wants what is best for the next generation. How to get there is a question that will require dialog, time, cool heads, experimentation, and money. The concern that rose to the surface of my mind is how this dialog relates to our local school system.
I am currently involved in the effort to start a public charter school in Ashland. This has raised questions and eyebrows among people I know, some with excitement and some with skepticism.
There is a lot of talk about charter schools and privatization in the news and on the education blogs these days. Much of the national conversation describes charter schools as anti teachers union, pro-privatization, cost saving in the short term, and heavily dependant on high stakes testing. There is truth to much of this and it concerns me deeply. This is not a direction I am comfortable moving in my community or my country.
These descriptions also describe some current movements in public education in general, not just charter schools. In Wisconsin in the coming years teacher evaluations will be required to include student performance on testing. The Common Core Standards Initiative has been adopted by Wisconsin to help standardize what is expected of our students. These changes have supporters and detractors. The research, politics, and corporate interests don’t give us clear answers as to their benefits and consequences. Some of this is at the heart of the debate taking place in Chicago.
So, why am I supporting and volunteering to make a charter happen in Ashland? I support the type of charter the Ashland School District has embraced. In Wisconsin, we have the option for instrumentality charter schools. These are designed to be a part of the district. Teachers are employed by the district, having the same benefits and protections, including collective bargaining. Students cannot be excluded due to ability or disability. They are responsible to the local school district that grants them the charter.
What makes a charter school different than the traditional school? Well, that really depends on what your current traditional school looks like and what type of charter you are looking at. A charter school depends on the educational philosophy of its founders. In Ashland, board members, administrators, parents, and teachers visited and got excited about project based learning (PBL) as an educational approach. I am excited about this model because it opens up the classroom to emphasize collaborative and independent, critical thinking skills. These are things that I want more of for my children in public school. I think a project based learning school can help achieve this. However, everyone may not feel this need for a big change to the approach currently used in our school. That is why having a place where institutional differentiation can take place is important to me.
Another feature of the Ashland Charter School, that runs counter to the national conversation about charters, is the role of teachers. All teachers in the Ashland Charter School, will be district teachers with appropriate licensure for the position they teach. They will be compensated through the funds of the Charter grant for professional development training and support transitioning to a PBL approach. Our school will be teacher led, with teachers working collaboratively to choose the curriculum, daily schedule and have representation on the charter council. This will be more work at the beginning, but hopefully more rewarding for those teachers who desire greater responsibility in creating the structure of their school.
I am excited to be serving on the founding charter council for the Ashland Charter School. I will work to maintain the guiding principles of the school, find consensus among the council, while recognizing the needs of the community. In the end, I hope that we can create a school that reflects a shared educational philosophy; where parents, students, and teachers are inspired to continue searching for better ways to make learning and working, exciting and relevant.
Speaking as a mother who guided two-outside-the-box sons through a pretty rigid school system, I feel very strongly that any real and substantive changes in the schools will come from parents and others in a grassroots movement. I applaud your activist and thoughtful efforts!
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