Aug. 26,
2015
Telling
stories about our school
How much truth can we handle?
How honest, how transparent,
should low-performing schools be, as they try to survive in this new age where
parent choice is a priority—where a district like Denver Public Schools is
direct enough to speak of the “marketing” strategies now in place? (See box)
Marketing,
a need and benefit
for
Denver schools –
01/26/2015
As the novelty
wears off for a process that reformed the way Denver parents pick a school
for their kids, school leaders are becoming more sophisticated in their marketing, trying to find students
who are the right fit….
With so many
options, school marketing is still
necessary, but now the reasons aren't just about snagging more students
than the next school but also about creating relationships with the community
and getting the right students….
"It really
puts schools in a position that they need to look internally at what makes us
different," said Erica Mitchell, DPS's
senior marketing manager. "We want families to know all of their
options and find the school that is the best fit for their students."
The district has
not increased the size of the marketing
team — consisting of Mitchell and two specialists — but did change how
they help district-run schools…. Now, Mitchell says, even schools that always
have waiting lists use the district's marketing services. (Bold mine)
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We are not surprised to see
banners outside schools that celebrate success: Blue Ribbon School! Winner of
the Colorado John Irwin Schools of Excellence Award! We would find it odd for a school flag raised
(at half mast, perhaps) announcing: Turnaround
School! Accredited on Probation!
or—absurd to even say it—Turnaround
School- 3rd straight year!
But last winter and spring, as
Denver families were trying to choose the right school, DPS rated 54 schools in
the bottom three categories of its School Performance Framework: 29 schools were
Accredited on Watch, 12 Accredited on Priority Watch, and—the
lowest rating possible—23 Accredited on
Probation. Do we “market” that?
A
school report that is parent-friendly
What is
reasonable? How expensive and how long should it be? How much data do parents want? Should we
expect our public schools to produce a beautiful 26-page admissions package –
as we see from the most prestigious private school in the city? Of course not. Perhaps two pages, available
on line, will do – as a start. (See Graland
Academy’s Digital Admission Brochure
http://issuu.com/graland/docs/viewbook?e=7148506/5343901)
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Parents want to know what is
really going on the schools where they seek to send their son or daughter, and
marketing and advertising and sales-jobs often hide some grim facts. How do we encourage schools and the district
to be sure parents have access to what I will call essential information so
that the choice process is well-informed, and not based merely on all the happy
talk stressed in a marketing brochure? Over
the past decade the state of Colorado, and especially DPS, have worked hard at
developing more meaningful accountability reports. Imperfect as they are, can’t
we insist that some of the data in these reports be easily available to mom, dad,
and grandparents trying to find the best school for their child?
A
tale–two tales!–of one school (apologies to Charles Dickens)
No answers here, I merely pose the question. I present the problem–the
two distinctly different “stories,” if you will—by looking at ten DPS schools.
First, a compare and contrast exercise for one school, Greenlee Elementary; what
the school’s website reveals, versus the data and judgements available from
several external sources—the district, the state, and Colorado School Grades.
The contrast is telling. After
that, a more cursory comparison of nine other Denver schools.
My point: a school can send out a
message that is devoid of facts, a story that is glowing but where the data is damning.
Parents deserve an honest portrait. Can we find a way to paint a more complete
picture for the parents so that choices are made on good information—not effective
marketing?
Ten
DPS schools – all Accredited on Probation on Denver’s School Performance
Framework
Compare
and Contrast
I began to learn about Greenlee
Elementary in 2010 when I first studied and wrote about the federal School
Improvement Grant to Colorado—$39.7 million—designed to bring “dramatic change”
to dozens of our lowest-performing schools.
Greenlee received over $2 million in federal dollars during the next
three years.
A. What the school tells us
Visit Greenlee’s website*: At the home page we see photos of a visit by
several Denver Broncos (note the date:
September of 2013. Hence the #24 shirts!): “Broncos Come to
Greenlee” – and this paragraph:
“In honor of
National Hispanic Heritage Month, the NFL Broncos partnered with Scholastic
Books, The United Way and Play 60 to create a new reading room on the first
floor! On opening day Bronco players and cheerleaders celebrated with students
by reading to classrooms, answering questions, and leading exercises and
activities on the playground. Watch this clip posted on the Broncos’ website to
see more!”
What if we want some hard information on student performance? Greenlee does not make it easy.
At the school’s website, click on About - Then click on Turnaround
History - There, we read:
Click here for DPS Turnaround Information.
--- Which takes you to the DPS website:
Welcome to School Turnaround
Where we read:-
Greenlee Elementary School
What is Greenlee's plan for school turnaround?
Read the Tiered Intervention Grant that was submitted
in April 2010.
Read the TIG Plan Update that was submitted in April
2011.
Read the TIG Plan for Year 2 that was submitted in May
2011.
To read Greenlee's School Support Team Report
(Diagnostic) - February 2009 click the links below:
• Landscape
Report
• Executive
Summary - English
• Executive
Summary - Spanish
Full Report
This is helpful? To make parents wade
through all that? They search and click
through the labyrinth of DPS and CDE websites—only to find reports from … 2009-2011?
B. What the district, state, and Colorado
School Grades tell us about Greenlee Elementary
1. At a bare minimum, perhaps each school’s
website could sum up three different assessments
Greenlee Elementary
|
Colorado Department of Education
School Performance Framework 2014
|
Denver Public Schools 2014
SPF Rating - %
pts Earned
|
Colorado School Grades
|
Entering year 4 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
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ACCREDITED ON PROBATION - 27.52%
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C-
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2. Or perhaps sum up recent student
performance in four academic disciplines - % proficient/advanced
TCAP results
|
Reading (2014)
|
Writing (2014)
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Math (2014)
|
Science (2013)
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Greenlee Elementary
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39.4%
|
25.9%
|
48.9%
|
05.9%
|
Denver Public Schools
|
55.9%
|
43.7%
|
57.9%
|
31.4%
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Colorado
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70.5%
|
53.4%
|
69%
|
48.4%
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https://edx.cde.state.co.us/SchoolView/DataCenter/reports.jspx?_afrWindowMode=0&_afrLoop=515385208880038&_adf.ctrl-state=1h0h49qvu_4 (CDE’s School View Data Center)
3. A 4-year history from the state’s School
Performance Framework might help. It would look like this:
Greenlee Elementary
|
Colorado Department of Education
School Performance Framework
|
Performance
Indicator: Academic Achievement – Rating –
% of Points Earned out of Points Eligible
|
CDE – Total Points
% of Points Earned out of Points Eligible
|
2014
|
Entering year 4 of Priority Improvement (PI) or
Turnaround
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Does Not Meet – 33.3
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49.9
|
2013
|
Entering year 3 of PI or Turnaround
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Does Not Meet – 25
|
38.2
|
2012
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Entering year 2 of PI or Turnaround
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Does Not Meet - 25
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47.4
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2011
|
Entering year 1 of PI or Turnaround
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Does Not Meet - 25
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30.8
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4. Best of all, why not present the SPOTLIGHT
SUMMARY SCORECARD – already available at the DPS School Performance Framework website? (http://spf.dpsk12.org/) For
Greenlee Elementary, we read:
Enrollment – 377 FRL – 95%
SPED –
11.9% ELL – 32.6%
Minority – 91.2%
Earned Points
|
Possible Points
|
% of Points Earned
|
Stoplight
|
|
Overall
|
41
|
149
|
27.52%
|
Accredited on Probation
|
Student Progress over Time
|
27
|
101
|
26.7%
|
Does Not Meet
|
Student Achievement - Status
|
7
|
30
|
23.3%
|
Does Not Meet
|
Student Engagement
|
1
|
6
|
16.7%
|
Does Not Meet
|
Parent Engagement
|
4
|
8
|
50%
|
Approaching
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Of course any summary like this misses a great deal. It fails to capture
a school’s culture, the learning environment, and the quality of the teachers. It won’t enable parent to match their values
with those of the school they want for their boy or girl. Much more needs to be said—I completely
agree!
But
this kind of information will help. Families considering Greenlee would be
entirely justified in asking the school about this data before choosing to send
their child there. They do not want to
be misled. Would it put the school on
the defensive? Probably. But is that wrong? Parents can distinguish a sales pitch from
the truth. Greenlee (they might say),
it’s nice to know the kind of school you hope to be; it’s equally important to
tell us—how did the school do last year? Can you show us good progress on
academic achievement?
9 DPS schools
receiving lowest SPF rating in 2014 – ALL ACCREDITED ON PROBATION
Now a look at nine
other DPS schools – again, “two tales.” I
am not arguing that one presentation is “better” or “more truthful.” But I hope
we can insist that parents deserve both,
the narrative—and the facts.
A. What the schools tell us
Excerpts from the school’s
website (as of late July 2015) – Perhaps some of this has been more recently
updated. These are merely excerpts of what are often far longer presentations
of the school’s history, mission, vision, academic program, etc. (Bold mine.)
|
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Denver Public Montessori MS
|
Welcome to DMHS - Denver Montessori Junior Senior High School (DMHS)
combines the best of Montessori practices with current research on the development of the adolescent brain.
Educators at DMHS promote high
academic achievement for
each student while also supporting them socially and emotionally. The
junior high uses an integrated approach to humanities as well
as daily experience working on
an urban farm.
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Noel Community Arts School
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Noel Community Arts
School is a Denver Public School Innovation school focused on arts infused
education program utilizing project-based, experiential learning and artistic
demonstration of knowledge and skills. NCAS has committed to an extended day
and extended year which will allow for additional
instruction time to close learning gaps in core academic areas while also
providing a full and rich learning experience that
prepares students with skills that are critical to success in college and
career. NCAS will provide a rigorous academic program to ensure that
students graduate ready for success in
college and career. Students will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for art as a representation
of human experience. NCAS will leverage the arts to engage in relevant
academic pursuits as well as to enrich the lives of students and prepare them
with critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills
essential in the 21st century workforce.
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Schmitt Elementary School
|
Extraordinary Eagles - Our Extraordinary Eagles
are students who share and demonstrate Schmitt’s caring culture through good
deeds or setting a positive example.
Teacher Spotlight - Our Eagles of Excellence
are teachers who share and demonstrate Schmitt’s caring culture through good
deeds or setting a positive example.
Achieve - Here at Schmitt, if you can imagine it, you can
achieve it! …With over 170 pieces of technology solely dedicated to
student-use and promethium boards in every classroom, our students leave
Schmitt with the skills to be successful in middle school, high school and
beyond.
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Lake International School
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Our mission – At
Lake International School, we empower all students to achieve academic excellence, contribute to their community
and become innovators of world change.
Lake International School is an authorized IB Middle Years Programme.
International Baccalaureate is an educational program that’s (sic) mission
is to nurture our students in developing the intellectual, personal,
emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing
world. Students in the 21st century are faced with the challenge
of learning about an interconnected world where knowledge is constantly
developing. The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Programme
prepares students to be active participants in a lifelong journey of
learning.
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Wyatt Academy
|
VISION
- 100% of Wyatt Academy scholars
will be college ready.
MISSION
- We are a learning community
united by great teaching, high academic standards,
and rigorous accountability on the tireless pursuit of
success for our scholars. We prepare them for high school, college and
beyond.
BELIEFS
- … to prepare every Wyatt scholar
for high school, college and beyond, we need to:
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Centennial ECE-8 School
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(At
the website, great photos of students active outside the classroom. Also a terrific,
enthusiastic letter from Principal Laura Munro, which begins:)
Welcome to Centennial - A School for
Expeditionary Learning! I am very
excited to share with you all the amazing
things happening at Centennial. … Expeditionary Learning is a researched based
technique, proven to support active
engagement of students with one another and the world around them. Many
schools across the U.S. implementing this model are outperforming their districts and states. The EL model nurtures
critical thinking, employs inquiry and real-life problem solving, sets high social and academic
expectations, encourages perseverance, and utilizes opportunities which
support cooperation and trust. EL schools are exemplary, and are in high
demand. Centennial is very proud to
say that we are the first neighborhood school in DPS to implement the EL
model! ….
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West Generation Academy
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Academics
- West Generation Academy
is a 6-12 grade public school located on the West High School campus. Our
academy offers rigorous academic
programming and hands-on experiences for students designed to prepare them for college and a career.
Our academic calendar is built around an extended
school year, which includes 200 days of instruction, and a unique
schedule that has students spend two months off-campus per academic year to
pursue project-based learning through local internships. Our classes sizes (sic)
are smaller–18-22 students per class–and our curriculum is divided into three
distinct types of courses to challenge students in a variety of settings:
foundation courses; studio courses; and intensive courses. Finally, our
students have the opportunity to dual-enroll during their junior and senior
years, and students can earn up to
one-year of college credit for free by the time they graduate.
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Fairview Elementary
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Our Mission Statement - Upon
leaving Fairview Elementary, students will be confident, competent leaders and learners who have a hunger for
knowledge.
Fairview’s Touchstone - Fairview
students, teachers, and staff value the unique diversity of our community. We
provide a warm welcoming environment
where all students feel safe, are able to learn and succeed. We are
respectful, caring, and responsible individuals who SOAR toward excellence in all that we do. Each day we prepare our
minds to think, our hearts to care, and our hands to serve. As we SOAR, we
will show respect to others, remain outstanding citizens, accept
responsibility for our actions, and rise to the occasion and achieve academic
success.
We are the Fairview Falcons and we
SOAR in all that we do!
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Valverde Elementary
|
(At
the website, great photos of students, faculty, and staff.)
Welcome to
Valverde!
Valverde is a dual language community
school that serves ECE through 5th grade students. We provide a rigorous bilingual academic program
that prepares all of our students for global citizenship in the 21st century.
Experienced and highly skilled educators are deeply committed to nurturing the whole child in a safe
and caring learning environment. Our comprehensive academic program is enriched
through thematic instruction in music, art, library, technology, and physical
education as well as an extensive
after-school program.
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B. What
the district, state, and Colorado School Grades tell us
Now a look at the same nine schools: three “assessments,” “ratings,” or
“grades” for these Denver schools.
Colorado Department of Education*
School Performance Framework 2014
ALL ASSIGNED TURNAROUND PLAN
|
Denver Public Schools**
SPF Rating - 2014
ALL ACCREDITED ON PROBATION
% pts Earned
|
Colorado School Grades***
|
|
Denver
Public Montessori MS
|
Entering year 1 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
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31.78%
|
D-
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Noel
Community Arts School
|
Entering year 1 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
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31.72%
|
D
|
Schmitt
Elementary School
|
Entering year 1 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
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27.89%
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D-
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Lake
International School
|
Entering year 2 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
|
25.87%
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D
|
Wyatt
Academy
|
Entering year 3 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
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25.71%
|
F
|
Centennial
ECE-8 School
|
Entering year 3 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
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22.73%
|
F
|
West
Generation Academy
|
Entering year 2 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
|
19.39%
|
F
|
Fairview
Elementary
|
Entering year 2 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
|
16.55%
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D
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Valverde
Elementary
|
Entering year 2 of Priority Improvement or Turnaround
|
15.60%
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F
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*CDE assigns schools one of four plans: Performance
(highest), Improvement, Priority Improvement, and Turnaround (lowest). ALL of these Denver schools were assigned Turnaround Plan, most for at least the
second year in a row, two for the third straight year.
**DPS assigns schools one of five ratings: Distinguished
(highest), Meets Expectations, Accredited on Watch, Accredited on Priority
Watch, Accredited on Probation (lowest).
ALL of these schools were assigned the lowest SPF rating, Accredited on Probation.
***Colorado
School Grades coalition worked with
independent, third-party organizations – The Center for Education Policy
Analysis (CEPA) at the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver
and R- Squared Research, LLC - to translate the Colorado Department of
Education’s School Performance data into letter grades. … (They) calculated the
grades using the same variables and weights as the Colorado Department of Education’s
School Performance Framework. http://coloradoschoolgrades.com/Default.aspx
Final
Comment
Again, those of us who applaud the commitment DPS
has made to school choice must acknowledge the glass is half full. This newsletter does not give sufficient
credit to all that now available to help parents choose (see for example the district’s
new website, School
Match - http://schoolmatch.dpsk12.org/).
And if anyone wants to point out that this writer is
more excited about data than most parents, fair enough!
But we can do more to see that, in an efficient way, parents obtain essential information that tells them more than what a school hopes to achieve this coming year. They’d also like to know: how’d the school do last year?
Another View,
a newsletter by Peter Huidekoper, represents his own opinion and is not
intended to represent the view of any organization he is associated with. Comments are welcome. 303-757-1225 / peterhdkpr@gmail.com
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