Last year at this time I was at the National Charter School Conference in New Orleans. One of the visions that I had during the conference involved returning in subsequent years with a strong SLLIS team that would be able to absorb even more information than I could do on my own. That vision is happening as I type. Debra Cole, Head of The Spanish School, Rebecca Powell, Director of Operations and Amber Simpson, Board of Directors, are in Washington D.C. for this year’s conference. Hopefully we can get them each to post about their experience.
National Charter School Conference, Washington D.C.
June 24, 2009 · 1 Comment
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Tagged: Amber, Debra, Rebecca
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Amber Simpson // June 26, 2009 at 5:10 pm |
This year’s National Charter School Conference was held in Washington, D.C. and appropriately so, as there are over 90 charter school campuses in the D.C. Public School Area. The theme for the conference was, “Charter Schools: Leading Change in Public Education”. No matter where you stand on the issue of school choice, it is unquestionable that our public school system is in dire need of help. Change is exactly what is needed. Here in St. Louis, and by extension the entire State of Missouri, the dialogue must shift from ‘the blame game’ to true collaboration across all education models to identify best practices that will benefit all of our children.
To contextualize just how dire the situation is facing our public school system, the US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, shared some sobering statistics during his keynote address. He stated:
“Today, I want to focus on the challenge of turning around our chronically low-achieving schools. These schools have failed to make progress year after year. [...] There are approximately 5000 schools in this chronically under-performing category –roughly five percent of the total. About half are in big cities, maybe a third are in rural areas – and the rest in suburbs and medium-sized towns. This is a national problem –urban, rural and suburban.”
In reflecting on how this characterization of the public school landscape compares to Missouri schools, if we are honest, we can see that the failures extend far beyond St. Louis and Kansas City Public School Districts. Our challenge is to make sure that we are doing our part to ensure that quality public education choices – either district or charter schools – are living up to the mission of preparing our young people for success, both academically and generally in life. But, how do we get there?
Secretary Duncan submits, “States and districts have a legal obligation to hold administrators and teachers accountable, demand change and, where necessary, compel it. They have a moral obligaion to do the right thing for those children – no matter how painful and unpleasant.” All of us are included in this call for accountability. Whether you are a supporter of a district or charter public school, may we all be advocates for quality educational opportunities and postive academic growth for all students.
The public school landscape has changed and will continue to do so. This is a good thing, for the one constant in life is change. In Missouri, let us ‘be the change we want to see’ as Ghandi so eloquently stated, and pull up our sleeves to get to work together to make Missouri a national benchmark for public education.