Spitting in the eye of mainstream education (Los Angeles, Oakland: school district, college)

[18Montclair]

Spitting in the eye of mainstream education

By Mitchell Landsberg
Los Angeles Times
May 31, 2009

Reporting from Oakland - Not many schools in California recruit teachers with language like this: "We are looking for hard working people who believe in free market capitalism. . . . Multicultural specialists, ultra liberal zealots and college-tainted oppression liberators need not apply."

That, it turns out, is just the beginning of the ways in which American Indian Public Charter and its two sibling schools spit in the eye of mainstream education. These small, no-frills, independent public schools in the hardscrabble flats of Oakland sometimes seem like creations of television's "Colbert Report." They mock liberal orthodoxy with such zeal that it can seem like a parody.

School administrators take pride in their record of frequently firing teachers they consider to be underperforming. Unions are embraced with the same warmth accorded "self-esteem experts, panhandlers, drug dealers and those snapping turtles who refuse to put forth their best effort," to quote the school's website.

Students, almost all poor, wear uniforms and are subject to disciplinary procedures redolent of military school. One local school district official was horrified to learn that a girl was forced to clean the boys' restroom as punishment.

Conservatives, including columnist George Will, adore the American Indian schools, which they see as models of a "new paternalism" that could close the gap between the haves and have-nots in American education. Not surprisingly, many Bay Area liberals have a hard time embracing an educational philosophy that proudly proclaims that it "does not preach or subscribe to the demagoguery of tolerance."

It would be easy to dismiss American Indian as one of the nuttier offshoots of the fast-growing charter school movement, which allows schools to receive public funding but operate outside of day-to-day district oversight. But the schools command attention for one very simple reason: By standard measures, they are among the very best in California.

The Academic Performance Index, the central measuring tool for California schools, rates schools on a scale from zero to 1,000, based on standardized test scores. The state target is an API of 800. The statewide average for middle and high schools is below 750. For schools with mostly low-income students, it is around 650.

The oldest of the American Indian schools, the middle school known simply as American Indian Public Charter School, has an API of 967. Its two siblings -- American Indian Public Charter School II (also a middle school) and American Indian Public High School -- are not far behind...

Spitting in the eye of mainstream education - latimes.com

Oakland's only 2 900+ scoring middle schools and only 900+ scoring high school. Amazing really.

[CAVA1990]

I didn't know there was a large American Indian population in Oakland.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

His school is superior to Lowell, Burlingame and Palo Alto High Schools.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I didn't know there was a large American Indian population in Oakland.

There arent. I would be surprised if any of the student body were Native American.

I think he just named it that.

[esmith143]

Oakland's only 2 900+ scoring middle schools and only 900+ scoring high school. Amazing really.

Not true. Oakland Charter Middle and High schools scored 943 and 955 respectively last year, with essentially the same demographics. And there's no trace of conservative bigotism on their web site. Evidently, that's not what makes those small charters work.

There's a number of ways these charters work differently from "mainstream" high schools. They are really small (30 children per grade), there are no tracks, no electives, just fixed classes and rigid curriculum based on the single objective to master state-administered tests.

There's also some degree of self-selection. It's generally known that charter students are brighter and more motivated than students of similar socioeconomic backgrounds in normal schools, because getting into a charter involves more conscious effort on the part of their parents.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by esmith143

Not true.

It is true. No other middle school or high school in Oakland scores 900 or higher.

[esmith143]

2009 Growth API School Report - Oakland Charter High

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by esmith143

2009 Growth API School Report - Oakland Charter High

+1

Ya got me. LOL

This is one instance where Im actually glad to be proven wrong.

It proves that we actually can lick this problem if we really put forth the effort.

[azoria]

School test scores are meaningless in the real evaluation of student education. Utterly and irredeemably without value.


Signed,
Mom who raised two great kids in spite of any school system

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by azoria

School test scores are meaningless in the real evaluation of student education. Utterly and irredeemably without value.


Signed,
Mom who raised two great kids in spite of any school system

It's one thing to say test scores are not the whole story....but quite another to say they're meaningless. That is going too far. This kind of attitude is why Americans are so poorly educated compared to their peers in other countries.