The future of Education in Durham: Charter Schools, Traditional, or Virtual Schools?

Durham Public Schools (DPS) faces a problem of white flight - the phenomenon of upper and middle class whites moving out of cities and into suburbs. In 2015, only 18 percent of Durham Public School students were White. In 2010, 20 percent of DPS’ students were white. According to the 2015 US Community Census, Durham[CC1] is 52 percent white, up from 40 percent in 2010 (Quick Census, 2015). At this time of decrease in White students enrolled in Durham Public Schools, there was an increase in enrollment in charter schools, with White students being the majority race. In 2015, there were 14 charter schools in Durham, NC. During this same period in 2015, white students made up 54 - 67 percent of the student population in four Durham charter schools. This competition of school choice is leading to school segregation. Segregation is divisive in social context. This is pointed out when Billings, Deming, and Rockff (2016), stated that explicit efforts may be necessary if policymakers wish to prevent a widening of racial and economic inequality in the wake of increases in school segregation. Out of 156,149 households in Durham, only 49,303 households have children (Home, 2010).

Why is White flight a problem for Durham Public Schools? The obvious symptom is that the school district is less diverse. A lesser symptom is the harm inflicted by school segregation. Durham’s mission is to provide all students with an outstanding education that motivates them to reach their full potential .... Racially and socioeconomically isolated schools are strongly related to an array of factors that limit educational opportunities and outcomes. These include less experienced and less qualified teachers, high levels of teacher turnover, less successful peer groups, and inadequate facilities and learning materials (Flaxman, 2013). As white and middleclass flight occurs what is being left behind in some DPS schools are students that are academically, socially, and economically challenged. Behavior research shows that children from impoverished homes develop psychiatric disturbances and maladaptive social functioning at a greater rate than their affluent counterparts do (McCoy, Firck, Loney, & Ellis, 1999). The proportion of DPS students that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch increased about 4 percentage points in 2015, to 68 percent which equates to 22,780 students (DPS, 2015). A weak performing school system loses its ability to be marketable in a global economic community. Strong school systems attract business that bring jobs and new residents to work in jobs created by new companies and a thriving economic community that can strengthen a school system ( Berger & Fisher, 2013). Segregated schools also bring social and civil unrest. The Delaware branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Community Legal Aid Society, filed a complaint, citing data showing charter schools are almost entirely racially identifiable by school performance (Sirota, 2014).

To address resegregation of schools DPS is working to improve its brand in the academic community. It spends more local money per pupil, $4700, compared to Wake County’s $2400 and Mecklenburg County’s $2400 (N&O, 2015). An interview with Administrator One, an assistant principal for DPS, revealed that DPS has an aggressive mentoring program for new teachers. Durham has an aggressive recruiting program to identify, attract, and hire quality teachers. But to best explain DPS’ efforts to improve the Durham Public School system, Dr. L’Homme, Superintendent of DPS said in August of 2016, “This year, a leaner central office is reorganizing itself to prioritize spending on the classroom. We are training our schools to provide a more orderly and equitable school environment where every student will feel welcomed and respected, and where academic excellence will be an expectation for each child. We are providing enhanced literacy support to high-needs schools, and we are reevaluating our use of classroom assessments to ensure that they provide useful data to our teachers without detracting from classroom instruction.” Hopefully, DPS will be able to better compete with other learning models in the future.

References
Bryk, A. S., Gomez, L. M., Grunow, A., & LeMahieu, P. G. (2015). Learning to improve: How America’s schools can get better at getting better. Cambridge, MA: Third Printing.
UCPS (2014-2017). Union County Public Schools: Strategic Plan. Retrieved from https://webcp.ucps.k12.nc.us/forms_manager/documents/99/ucps_strategic_plan.pdf
http://www.dpsnc.net/cms/lib011/NC01911152/Centricity/Domain/77/Magnet%20Schools%20Review%204.20.16.pdf
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/school-segregation-race-americas-demographic-future-update-recent-research
http://www.bullcityrising.com/2016/01/scrutinizing-our-schools-how-does-durhams-school-spending-compare-to-other-districts.html
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/resources/data/
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/dn-opinion/article95973132.html#storylink=cpy

Durham Public Schools adopts Educator's Handbook

     

 Educatorshandbook.com   |  Educator's Handbook Infographic

Durham Public School (DPS) system is listed among the top ten largest school systems in the state of North Carolina. Durham County Schools currently has more than 32,000 students enrolled in the system, with more than 2200 teachers employed by the district to teach full-time. The school system’s mission is “In collaboration with our community and parents, the mission of Durham Public Schools is to provide all students with an outstanding education that motivates them to reach their full potential and enables them to discover their interests and talents, pursue their goals and dreams, and succeed in college, in the workforce, and as engaged citizens.” The district offers traditional schools,

 magnet programs, year-round calendar schools and small specialty high schools. Durham Public Schools is also one of the top 30 districts in the nation for employing National Board Certified Teachers, and two of district’s high schools were listed in the US News & World Report's Best High Schools list for 2015 (DPS, n.d.). To uphold its mission Durham has implemented a new discipline program to better manage discipline and discipline related data. The name of the new technology is Educator’s Handbook.

Brief History of Discipline in DPS
In 2016, after analyzing racial disparities in suspension rates — and the poorer educational outcomes for suspended students, the Durham Public Schools Board of Education overhauled the student code of conduct for the first time in 10 years, (SORG, 2016). The mission was to decrease districtwide suspensions. Children and teens who are repeatedly suspended from school are less likely to graduate. And dropouts are eight times more likely to go to jail than their peers who complete school, according to criminal justice statistics. The issue of suspensions dramatically affected DPS African-American students, who were 3.5 times more likely to be suspended than their white peers in 2016. Even though then, about half of DPS 33,600 students were black, African Americans made up more than three-quarters of short-term suspensions. In contrast, 19 percent of DPS students in 2016 were white but they comprise only 4 percent of that type of suspension, (SORG, 2016). Durham Public School’s efforts to reduce suspensions overall and to bring the rate of suspensions of minority children closer to the rate of suspensions of white children became a districtwide initiative led by Durham Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Bert L’Homme. Although Educator's Handbook is a platform operated and managed by the State of North Carolina, DPS can use the program to track suspensions and monitor districtwide progress made towards lowering nonessential suspensions.

Educator's Handbook Summary
Educator's Handbook is the latest discipline program that Durham County Schools has selected to use to track discipline referrals districtwide. The program is a paperless method of tracking the number of discipline referrals written annual, and for what reasons they were written. The program tracks entry by teacher, administrator, and school. The level of the infractions; if it was a serious infraction or just a minor one, is distinguishable and the program provides detailed reports of what discipline measures were taking by teachers and administrators. Educator's handbook allows senior administrators to require designated actions before writing a specific referral, for example, a teacher may be required to make a parent contact before sending an office referral to administrators. Teaches that classify a referral as minor are opting to address discipline issue themselves, but log their actions to document the infraction. Teachers that designate a referral as an officer referral are requesting that an administrator addresses the infraction. As stated previously, Educator's Handbook offers reports that give administrators at all levels with access to Educator's Handbook data about what is happening within a school. Educator's Handbooks data can be uploaded to PowerSchools. In addition to the reports feature, Educator's Handbook also has an email component that allows teachers and administrators to email parents about school infractions that involve their children. The email feature also serves as the liaison between teacher and administrator, providing updates to teachers about administrator decisions regarding infractions. Formal letters can be printed from the program to mail to parents, to be used for formal notices, and to be used during formal reviews of a child’s discipline record.

Helpful Links for Educators Handbook

How To... Brief demonstration videos Access Your Account (1:30)    Compose an Incident (1:34) Assign a Consequence (1:55) Create and Use Rosters (1:22) Approve Roster Access (1:00)

Documentation Detailed user guide         Account Access          Account Setup        Incident Workflow        Calendar         Rosters        Reports        Students               Employees        Settings        Document Template Codes        System Requirements

Downloads Handouts and slide decks         Teacher Handouts         Teacher Training Presentation

If you like the infographic, you can learn more at ....Click Here.

References:

DPS. (n.d.). About Durham Public School: Minds on. Retrieved from Durham Public School System: http://www.schoolmatch.com/search/system.cfm?lea=3701260

Educators Handbook. (2016). Educatorshandbook.com. Retrieved from Educatorshandbook.com: http://educatorshandbook.com

School Match. (2017). Durham Public Schools. Retrieved from School Match: http://www.schoolmatch.com/search/system.cfm?lea=3701260

SORG, L. (2016, February 19). Durham revamps school discipline code. Retrieved from The News and Observer: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/article60844267.html

Education Secretary

Betsy DeVos's nomination for Education Secretary is another example of how President Trump's presidency so far has been anything but a democratic process. Facing criticism from my peers, I asked my friends to give President Trump a chance to lead our country. My public support for Trump was probably the remnants of a time when I wanted Trump to run for President. I held on to stubborn feelings when I thought Trump would be a great President as I solicited support for him. My friends laughed at my patriotism to believe in Trump because he was President. They reminded me of all the leaders before Trump that supported laws that were unjust and morally decayed. Fortunately, insightful leaders came behind the leaders of tyranny to govern our great country with U.S. citizens in mind and rejected unjust laws and made changes that moved America forward to become a country of civic living. I said, "Give Trump a chance."

Betsy DeVos' vision for public education is to create a separate but equal school system. She supports charter schools over traditional public schools systems. DeVos is a member of the Republican Party known for her advocacy of school choice, voucher programs, and ties to the Reformed Christian community.[1][4][5] She was Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan from 1992 to 1997 and served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000, with reelection to the post in 2003. DeVos has been a defender of the Detroit charter school system[6][7] and she is a member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. She has served as chairwoman of the board of Alliance for School Choice and heads the All Children Matter PAC (Wikipeida, ). President Trump nominated her to govern over the country's educational system. Why was she chosen? If DeVos was nominated because of her beliefs and related background experience, the selection would not be a point of contention. Any qualified person should be considered for the position. The issue is that DeVos is one more nominee, one of the several previous nominees, that seems to be getting nominated because of their billionaire or millionaire CV and their personal vendetta to push a personal goal into law through their relationship with Trump. Devos stated, "My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party … I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence," the piece reads. "Now, I simply concede the point. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment; we expect a good and honest government. Furthermore, we expect the Republican Party to use the money to promote these policies and, yes, to win elections." The practice of passing laws though a politician that you have financially backed has now become obsolete. The new practice is to "donate enough money to my presidential campaign and I will hire you so that you can change the laws your damn self". The pattern is obvious. Scott Pruitt is an adversary of EPA. Rex Tillerson has a conflict of interest with Putin. Betsy DeVos is an advocate for charter schools. Ben Carson is Housing Secretary? The practice of appointing people based on campaign contribution can put our great country at risk. >>>>>>

I support protecting our country from attack. I support making decisions that are in the best interest of the people of this great country. What I don't agree with, and what Trump's actions remind me of, is that of a country with a King, a communist structure, or governing structure based on a tranny. He fires or goes after people that offer a contrary position to his own. Presently, our country is a country that allows open discussion, a difference of opinion, and room for consensus. Each day I watch the democratic fabric of our nation being pulled into dislodged strands of string. Education is not excluded from the political carnage left by changing presidential-executive orders. I am still hopeful that these appointments will improve our great country. Only time will tell.

Technology or Paper

There seems to be the ago old argument of what practices are best for educating children. The flip-flop argument is that you don’t need technology, that a talented teacher in the classroom is all that it takes for students to advance, vs technology is necessary for tomorrow’s students to compete in a world not yet known to us. Lets take the side of this argument that technology is not needed. In fall 2016, about 50.4 million students attended the public elementary and secondary schools. Of these, 35.4 million were in prekindergarten through grade 8 and 15.0 million were in grades 9 through 12. An additional 5.2 million students attended private elementary and secondary schools (source) (NCES, 2016). Where are the talented teachers with the natural gift to teach all types of students going to come from to teach 50 million students? Since America is not at the forefront of the global race to be first in the field of education, I think that it will be safe to say that there are not enough of these high caliber teachers in the US, or least they are not working in the field of education. This fact helps the alternative argument, that computers are needed.  Its clear, that technology is needed to make up for the shortfall of exceptional teachers. But the lack of exceptional teachers is not the biggest argument for technology. The most significant argument is that technology is needed in the classroom is that our tomorrow will be a world of technology and people need to know how to use technology. Tabling the argument that technology is needed, lets hop back over the fence to the side that technology isn’t a factor in learning. If this is true, we have surely wasted the last 50 years or more with the going to the moon and personal computer gibberish. Corporations have made a mint, well billions in Bill Gates case, only to establish a poor class, a meager middle class, and a rich as hell upper class. Half the world’s wealth is held by eight people, (Reuters, 2017). Could it be that all this technology is a way to make money, just business?   People still die; get sick; come out of school with a degree, but not much more than that until they are hired; and we still require the same basic needs for survival; substance and water, even with all the advancements fostered by advanced technology. If we look at the situation in terms of advancement, of course technology is important. It is fun to play with and create, and it keeps us busy.  People are curious and we get bored easily.  We need something to do.

The truth, in my opinion, is that neither argument is accurate, because neither side argues the only important perspective which is that man has done nothing, or created anything, that matters, with the exception of the possibility to expand our inhabitants among the stars.  So it doesn't mater which side of the argument you take because we are just having fun doing stuff, advanced or trivial.

This blog pokes fun of our indecisiveness regarding the best approach we should use to educate students. We change frequently, looking for the silver bullet that will solve our educational problems. One almost wonders if there is a best practice with just 33% of all students graduating from college. All the professionals give their advice, but the truth is that by design education and opportunity is dangled in front of many students as an untouchable fruit. I hope there is a best practice. I hope we discover it.  We have to, because I am looking forward to the next already created invention.

Technology in Educational Leadership

Administrators working in low-performing schools face the daily challenge of coming up with ways to support students academically and to raise test scores. Technology has been an area that educators have turned to for answers when asking how to better support students. Programs like Study Island, IXL, Campus, North Carolina Virtual Schools, and Accelerated Math have been utilized to improve student learning. To further extend the integration of technology into the classroom, software programmers have created ways to use cell phones, IPads, computers, and other hand held devices as an instructional tool. The US Department of Education states that technology is used to support both teaching and learning, technology infuses classrooms with digital learning tools, such as computers and handheld devices; expands course offerings, experiences, and learning materials; supports learning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; builds 21stcentury skills; increases student engagement and motivation; and accelerates learning (United States Department of Education, n.d.). To observe the benefit of the use of technology in the classroom, one need only look in the nearest classroom of a progressive teacher.

Educators have become so reliant on technology to support students that some school systems have allowed students to bring their own technological devices to school to enhance instruction. Wake County is one such school system. “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a growing national trend and it has come to Wake. Just like it sounds, students can bring their own laptops, tablets or even smartphones to school to support their learning”, (Yarbrough, n.d.). In addition to allowing students to bring their own devices to school, many systems have used funding to provide class sets of computers or to make their school a one-to-one, student-computer school system. Technology is everywhere in education: Public schools in the United States now provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3 billion per year on digital content. Led by the federal government, the country is in the midst of a massive effort to make affordable high-speed Internet and free online teaching resources available to even the most rural and remote schools. And in 2015-16, for the first time, more state standardized tests for the elementary and middle grades will be administered via technology than by paper and pencil, (Herold, 2016).

Not everyone is convinced that the use of technology in the classroom is moving in the right direction. The basis for this opinion seems not to be the use of technology, but the way the technology is used to support teaching and learning. “In every case of failure I have observed, the one-to-one computing plan puts enormous focus on the device itself, the enhancement of the network, and training teachers to use the technology. Then, teachers are instructed to go! But go where? That’s the critical question that must be addressed first”, (Ziegenfuss, 2013). The problem of establishing a vision, and leading the use of technology is one that many educational organizations face. To help administrators with integrating technology and establishing a vision for its use to support teaching and learning in the classroom the ISTE Standards were created.

The standards are clear and specific ( Read More About the ISTE Standards)

Visionary Leadership
Educational Administrators inspire and lead development and implementation of a shared vision for comprehensive integration of technology to promote excellence and support transformation throughout the organization.

Digital Age Learning Culture
Educational Administrators create, promote, and sustain a dynamic, digital-age learning culture that provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging education for all students.

Excellence in Professional Practice
Educational Administrators promote an environment of professional learning and innovation that empowers educators to enhance student learning through the infusion of contemporary technologies and digital resources.

Systemic Improvement
Educational Administrators provide digital age leadership and management to continuously improve the organization through the effective use of information and technology resources.

Digital Citizenship
Educational Administrators model and facilitate understanding of social, ethical and legal issues and responsibilities related to an evolving digital culture.

Technology is an important resource to combat illiteracy, weak computation skills, and low academic performance in general. The ISTE Standards help to direct its use, to be sure that technology is not integrated just for the sake of being used. The right technologies must be used for the right situations if students are to benefit from its use.

See what President Obama said about technology in the classroom in 2013.

References
Herold, B. (2016, February 5). Technology in Education: An Overview. Retrieved from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/

International Society for Technology in Education. (2009). ISTE Standards Administrators. Retrieved from ISTE.org: https://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-A_PDF.pdf

The United States Department of Education. (n.d.). Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from U.S. Department of Education: https://www.ed.gov/oii-news/use-technology-teaching-and-learning

Yarbrough, M. (n.d.). BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE COMES TO WAKE. Retrieved from Wake County Public Schools: http://www.wcpss.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=16&ModuleInstanceID=7209&ViewID=047E6BE3-6D87-4130-8424-D8E4E9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=3462&PageID=24

Ziegenfuss, R. (2013, February 10). Why Schools Must Move Beyond One-to-One Computing. Retrieved from November Learning: http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/why-schools-must-move-beyond-one-to-one-computing/