Do We Need a LGBTQ Audit? Park this reality: One in three LGBTQ teenagers attending the Montgomery County Public Schools (@MCPS) have a plan in place to commit suicide. @mocoboe

by Joseph Hawkins

In March, the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will survey students, and others, as part of a systemwide Antiracist Audit. You can find information about the surveys and the audit at this website: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/antiracist/.

After MCPS finishes its Antiracist Audit, and based on data presented below, MCPS might ponder undertaking a systemwide LGBTQ Audit. Data from MCPS LGBTQ teens is both concerning and disturbing. Is it not concerning a third of our LGBTQ have in place a plan to commit suicide and another third have no adult they can turn to for help?

Since the 1990’s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has monitored the health-related behaviors of young people that contribute to causes of death and disability. Monitoring is accomplished through a system of surveys. The official CDC system is referred to as the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). You can read more about this CDC system at this website: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm

Several survey cycles back, CDC started allowing teens to self-identify their sexuality. The two survey questions used to self identify as LGBTQ are:

Which of the following best describes you?

• Heterosexual (straight)

• Gay or lesbian

• Bisexual

• Not sure

Some people describe themselves as transgender when their sex at birth does not match the way they think or feel about their gender. Are you transgender?

• No, I am not transgender

• Yes, I am transgender

• I am not sure if I am transgender

With CDC guidance, Maryland’s Health Department takes this information and generates a “Sexual Identity Report.” You can find the complete report here:

https://health.maryland.gov/phpa/ccdpc/Reports/Documents/2018%20YRBS%20YTS%20Reports/Montgomery/2018MDHS17%20Sexual%20Identity.pdf

From that report, one might notice immediately that MCPS LGBTQ teens are way more likely to be bullied on school property than are straight teen peers—24.7% versus 12.8%. Also, MCPS LGBTQ teens are more likely to have in place a plan to commit suicide than are straight teen peers—34.0% versus 10.7%. Disturbing? Concerning? Perhaps disturbing and concerning enough for a separate MCPS LGBTQ audit?

(Note: The MCPS data below are from 2018. Currently, Maryland is collecting data for the 2021/22 school year.)

MCPS Report: Only Talked to One Focus Group at Damascus HS and 9 Other High School Students

Comment on MCPS report on hazing and rape at Damascus High School:

A total of 2 student focus groups, one at DHS and another with 9 high school students (not sure where they came from).
Regardless, I would have spoken to way more kids than this.  And given the nature of the inquiry and sensitive questions, I probably would have interviewed a lot of kids one-on-one.  I love focus groups.  But in one it is easy for individuals not to reveal things because they don't want the others in the group to know what they know or what may have happened to them.  In all honesty, in a focus group, do "we" actually think a macho football player is going to say, "Yeah, they hazed me and raped me with a broom."  Not happening.  ~ Joseph Hawkins

...The report’s authors acknowledged that no comprehensive, historical review was done of unreported incidents and that no districtwide survey was conducted for the analysis.

Five high schools were examined in the sprawling suburban system, which has 25 high schools and is the largest in Maryland.

Still, it said, “the few extracurricular-associated hazing and bullying incidents of which we became aware appeared to be isolated events, rather than part of a larger, continuing pattern.”..

..."We conducted interviews and focus groups at DHS and at a sampling of other MCPS high schools. At DHS, we interviewed 29 individuals, including administrators, staff members, coaches, parents, and after-school activity sponsors. In addition, we conducted a student focus group. Beyond DHS, we conducted focus-group discussions at four other high schools in different areas of Montgomery County: Seneca Valley High School, Montgomery Blair High School, Walt Whitman High School, and Walter Johnson High School. Those discussions included principals, assistant principals, business administrators, athletic directors, coaches, and extracurricular sponsors. We also conducted four focus groups with staff from across the district: two with MCPS athletic directors (eleven athletic directors in total), one with seven MCPS principals, and one with nine MCPS high school students. Additionally, we spoke with key administrators from the MCPS central office, including Superintendent Smith, members of the District’s senior leadership team, the Chief Safety Officer, the Director of Systemwide Athletics, and representatives from the Office of School Support and Improvement. We also met on two occasions with the Montgomery County State’s Attorney and members of his Office to inform them of the scope of our review and our preliminary findings. We did not interview any victims from the DHS incident, any of the alleged perpetrators, or any of their families (though we did review documents related to the criminal prosecutions), and we otherwise strove to keep our review separate from the investigation by the State’s Attorney’s Office."..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/report-hazing-does-not-appear-widespread-in-sampling-of-maryland-high-schools/2019/10/07/51040e7e-e8a9-11e9-85c0-85a098e47b37_story.html?fbclid=IwAR3-vD8lGPGusaIb2GMNiNGlqnLpVSoYlW6MjuAfhD4_xNCwfsIfNaVBTiY

Webcast Wed. May 23rd: America’s Charter School Deserts: Up Close in the Washington Metro Area featuring Joseph Hawkins (Montgomery County)

2016–17 was one of the slowest growth years for charter schools in recent memory. Nobody knows for sure why this happened, but one hypothesis is saturation: With charters enjoying market shares of over 20 percent in some three dozen cities, and almost 50 percent in Washington, D.C., perhaps school supply is starting to meet parental demand, making new charters less necessary and harder to launch. If so, perhaps it’s time to look for new frontiers.

One option is to start more charter schools in affluent communities, which we surely support. But we couldn’t help but wonder: Are we overlooking neighborhoods in America that are already home to plenty of poor kids, and that contain the population density necessary to make school choice work? Especially communities in the inner-ring suburbs of flourishing cities, which are increasingly becoming magnets for poor and working-class families priced out of gentrifying areas?

That’s the question addressed by Fordham’s new study by Miami of Ohio assistant professor Andrew Saultz, Charter School Deserts: High-Poverty Neighborhoods with Limited Educational Options. Saultz and his team found that thirty-nine of forty-two charter states have at least one desert each—and the average number of deserts per state is a worrying 10.8.

Consider how this plays out in the Washington, D.C., metro area. The District of Columbia is home to a thriving, high-quality charter sector that has benefited from supportive public policies and ample private philanthropy. That’s all well and good—but the city’s affluence has put residency out of reach for many poor and working-class families. The District is home to roughly 37,000 poor children and 120 charter schools. Yet neighboring Montgomery County, Maryland, has many more low-income students—some 55,202 of them—and exactly zero charter schools. And in chronically low-performing Prince George’s County, Maryland, there are 81,055 low-income students, but just eleven charter schools.

Join us on May 23 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. for a summary of Fordham’s new study, a discussion about the charter school deserts located in the shadow of the Washington Monument, and an examination what might be done by philanthropists, policymakers, and others to irrigate them.

You can also follow the conversation on Twitter with @educationgadfly and #CharterDeserts.

Moderator:

Michael Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Discussants:

Robin Chait, Center City Public Charter Schools

Joseph Hawkins, Retired (formerly Westat)

Kimberlee Sia, KIPP Colorado

This event will be webcast. Please visit the Thomas B. Fordham's event page, at 10:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, May 23rd, to watch the proceedings live.

Hawkins: The Tie Goes to the Sister

Right now my 2016 Maryland Senate vote goes to …

Maryland U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski is retiring (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/03/02/sen-mikulski-to-make-announcement-about-her-future/). A little more than a month after announcing her retirement, candidates lined up to run for her sit (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/blog/bal-who-are-the-candidates-to-succeed-barbara-mikulski-20150302-story.html).

Right now, it appears as though, U.S. Congressman Chris Van Hollen from Montgomery County is the odds on favorite to win (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/rep-chris-van-hollen-says-he-will-run-for-mikulskis-senate-seat-in-2016/2015/03/04/0bca68ae-c206-11e4-9271-610273846239_story.html ). Based on money alone, Van Hollen seems serious about out-fund-raising opponents (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/rep-chris-van-hollen-raised-more-than-1-million-in-1st-quarter-of-2015/2015/03/31/fbd927ce-d7f8-11e4-b3f2-607bd612aeac_story.html). After all, it will take a small fortune to win Mikulski’s sit, and, if nothing else, Van Hollen has a proven track record of raising millions.

And while Van Hollen amasses cash, he also is serious about amasses big-name supporters. Two prominent Democrats County Executives have already jumped on board the Van Hollen bus (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/baker-grilled-on-choice-to-support-van-hollen-instead-of-edwards/2015/04/08/7497f726-de20-11e4-be40-566e2653afe5_story.html ). 

 

I found the Rushern Baker and Ike Leggett early Van Hollen endorsements interesting. The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/baker-grilled-on-choice-to-support-van-hollen-instead-of-edwards/2015/04/08/7497f726-de20-11e4-be40-566e2653afe5_story.html ) wrote the following about the endorsement. “Leggett said he and Baker, 56, decided to endorse Van Hollen because the congressman’s record on topics important to people of color “is impeccable. His leadership on all of the issues that we fought for is impeccable.””

But using this logic—fighting for colored people—one might argue that Baker and Leggett should have endorsed U.S. Congresswoman Donna Edward from Prince Georges County. Recently, Edwards joined the race for Mikulski’s seat (http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/donna-edwards-maryland-senate-mikulski-seat-115937.html ).

 

A review of Van Hollen’s (http://ballotpedia.org/Chris_Van_Hollen) and Edward’s (http://ballotpedia.org/Donna_Edwards) congressional voting records reveal they vote the same way 95% of the time. The only real difference I could find between the two was the fact that Van Hollen crosses party lines and co-sponsors bills with Republicans while Edwards never crosses party lines. So, a quick review of voting records isn’t convining me that Van Hollen is better for colored people than Edwards.

[Note to self: I’m also not at all convinced that Van Hollen loves Israel more than Edwards. Let’s hope this Israel love-fest becomes a short side-show issue, and eventually, the candidates get down to discussing more serious issues that impact Maryland. Baltimore comes to mind.

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/edwards-denounced-flier-that-attacks-van-hollen-in-us-senate-race/2015/05/05/e07c3b5e-f370-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html?hpid=z4)]

I hate making the race for the Mikulski seat racial, but since Baker and Leggett opened the door, I’ll walk through that door and share my thoughts. (Note to readers: In reality, the press opened this door by asking Baker why he was picking “the white guy—Van Hollen?” Baker and Leggett simply played along.)

As a Democrat—who always votes the party ticket and never misses an election, if Van Hollen and Edward still seem equal in my eyes when it’s time to vote in the 2016 primary (dates yet to be announced), I’m voting for Edwards, the African American. Here are my reasons for supporting Edwards over Van Hollen.

We need another black senator. If elected, Edwards would be the second African America female elected to the U.S. Senate, and the first black senator ever from Maryland. In my lifetime, there have been five African Americans elected to the U.S. Senate: Edward Brooke (Massachusetts), Carol Moseley Braun (Illinois), Barack Obama (Illinois), Corey Booker (New Jersey), and Tim Scott (South Carolina). Technically, Roland Burris (Illinois, replaced Obama) and Mo Cowen (Massachusetts, replaced John Kerry) served as black senators serving out elected candidates terms. Also, during the Reconstruction Era, three blacks were elected to the U.S. Senate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_United_States_Senators ).

We need another female senator. Fortunately, over the last two elections, 2012 and 2014, the U.S. Senate gained more female members. Currently, there are 20 female senators. When issues are a tie, I pick the female candidate over the male candidate because females, on average, are less likely to support wars. Let’s face it, women are just less violent than men. I also think women vote more progressively along social issues than do men.

Finally, I’m using the Larry-Wilmore-logic of picking the black candidate over the white candidate. Here is Wilmore, the host of The Nightly Show, explaining that logic as he applied to voting for President Obama (http://www.cc.com/video-clips/tyrqv8/the-nightly-show-the-state-of-obama​). Well, I’m using the same logic to vote for Edwards over Van Hollen. I’m going to vote for Edwards because she’s black. Period. End of story.

Joseph Hawkins

"In my opinion, the Board once again showed its utter disdain for the little guys and gals of the world."

Slice of pie

Give the little person a slice of the pie!

by Joseph Hawkins

On Tuesday, February 10, 2015, the Montgomery County Board of Education hired Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) to search for a new superintendent for the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). HYA will be paid $35,000 for its work. HYA is the same firm that conducted previous MCPS superintendent searches.

The Board awarded the HYA search contract without a competitive bid process. In my opinion, the Board once again showed its utter disdain for the little guys and gals of the world.

Since 1998, I’ve worked as a research contractor. I’ve lost track of how many contracts I’ve bid on, but to make things simple, let’s just round up and say I’ve been involved in over 100 competitive bids. The bids have been both small and large. The bids have included governments (local, state, and federal), foundations, and private companies.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that some government agencies take competitive bidding very seriously, including making sure that small, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses receive a fair share of the contract dollars awarded.

I once had a contract with the state of Pennsylvania and the state required me to share 25% of the contract dollars with a pre-approved minority-owned business. I ended up using a certified small-business located in Washington, D.C., owned by a black woman (this business also was certified in the state of Pennsylvania). A multi-million dollar contract with the federal government required me not only to have annual goals with a pre-approved minority-owned business, but I had to submit to the feds each year proof that I spent what I had agreed to spend with the minority-owned business. For this contract, I ended up using a certified small-business located in Silver Spring, Maryland, owned by a black man. In the end, both of these black owned businesses ended up with a fairly substantial slice of the contract pie.

In all honesty, I have learned that while it takes a little extra energy finding small-businesses, in the end, it has always been worth the extra time.

I’m totally disappointed that our Board of Education seems so calvalier about bidding contracts. At the end of the day, I believe HYA should have competed for that $35,000. And if our Board was serious about sharing the pie with the little guys and gals, it might actually award extra bid points to bidders that involve minority-owned businesses.

And why is competitive contract bidding some critical for small businesses, especially the women-owned, and minority-owned businesses? Because believe it or not fair and open competition is more likely to level the playing field for such businesses.

Below, is a 2010 interview I conducted with a black woman who owns her own small research firm. I think this person helps us understand why competitive bidding is so critical to the survival of such companies.

---------------------------------------------

(Note: This interview first appeared in the Rockville Patch newspaper.)

In 1998, when I resigned my Montgomery County Public Schools job, I went to work for the American Institutes of Research. When at AIR, we hired Crecilla Cohen Scott to work on a testing contract AIR held with the School District of Philadelphia. Crecilla was one of the smartest young researchers I had ever come across. She always had an uncanny instinct for asking great questions, and she could crunch numbers with the best of them. Since 1998, we have remained friends and colleagues.

Departing AIR in 2000, Crecilla took her skills to the U.S. Census Bureau. After working there for several years, she went into business for herself, establishing Infinity Research in 2007.  Infinity is a women-owned research social-science company. The company also is certified as a small disadvantaged business. Infinity is based in Bowie. Crecilla is African American.

Like all research firms, Infinity survives by bidding on what we in the industry call requests for proposals (RFPs).  Coming from both government and non-government entities, RFPs are a lifeline to business contracts, and they are the difference between staying profitable—surviving—and going out of business. For the most part, governments are extremely open and transparent when it comes to contracts, RFPs, and the bidding process. This openness—when it is consistently present—aids the “little guy,” including small businesses like Infinity.

Probably once a week, Crecilla and I talk shop. When we can partner, we partner—I personally believe in sharing the pie with the little guy. For example, several years ago, I used Infinity to help put workers on the ground so Prince George’s County Public Schools could restructure its database for the homeless students the district serves. And so I thought it was worthwhile to ask Crecilla a few questions about why being open and transparent is critical to small businesses and their ability to remain profitable. My questions and her answers (gathered via email and over a face-to-face lunch) appear below.

Question: In your opinion, as a small business, why is an open RFP process so critical to staying afloat?

Answer: An open RFP process is essential to small businesses because it provides an opportunity for us to showcase our capabilities, competitively bid on work, and increase awareness of our products and services. An open and transparent RFP process opens up the market and helps to level the playing field. Without an open and transparent process, many small businesses find it difficult to compete and generate sufficient revenue to remain profitable.

Question: Recession or not, it is my experience this region continues to spend money on research contracts. For a small research firm, what are some of your biggest challenges when trying to obtain contracts?

Answer: Our biggest challenge is establishing a professional relationship with decision-makers and building trust. Larger companies have the advantage of name recognition and long-established working relationships with government agencies. When decisionmakers are unfamiliar with a smaller company’s work, it is particularly challenging to establish trust. We have several clients that have provided repeat business, but in the beginning, there was a lot of work that went into establishing the relationship. We definitely benefit from and rely on partnerships with larger companies to build our portfolio—it adds to our credibility and helps build trust.

Question: Do you have any horror stories about bidding on contracts in this region? Perhaps a situation where it looked like an agency wanted a small business, especially one owned by a minority, but then at the last moment, the contract was awarded to someone else?

Answer: Once, we were asked to bid on a project that had the potential to generate significant revenue. We were awarded a very small contract to develop a high-level “blue print” (or Phase I) of the larger project. After delivering the “blue print,” we thought we would be a natural fit to be awarded the larger contract (or Phase II). As it turns out, the agency decided to go with a large company to execute the work that we designed.

Question: Just thinking out loud here, if you could sit with government officials and give them advice on how to making the bidding process work better to the advantage of small businesses, what are some suggestions you’d offer?

Answer: I would suggest that officials take the time to reflect on the value that small businesses bring not only to each project, but also to the U.S. economy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, small businesses employ half of all (private sector) employees, generate 65 percent of new jobs, and pay 44 percent of U.S. private payroll. We are an important part of the U.S. economy. It is critically important to understand that small businesses have the ability to provide quality products and services. Given the opportunity, I would suggest that officials reduce the paperwork required to submit responses to RFPs. A simplified, on-line submission process would be more efficient and it would reduce the number of hours needed to competitively bid on projects. Also, I would suggest that officials increase the incentives to larger companies to partner with small businesses. Sometimes, the “piece of the pie” is so small, we wonder if we will make it another year.

MCPS: “The public would misuse the data.”

My Two Cents: Praise For Greater Government Transparency

...When on the telephone with Dr. Zuckerman, I mentioned that it seemed odd to me that MCPS — a modern and sophisticated public organization — wasn’t more open and transparent. Being such at has never been easier than right now. Beyond the MCPS Foundation books, I mentioned Schools at a Glance and asked, “Why is such a key, and public MCPS data file not available as a downloadable Excel file?”

His answer (not a direct word-for-word quote, but close enough): “The public would misuse the data.”

What?

...

http://www.bethesdanow.com/2014/08/12/my-two-cents-praise-for-greater-government-transparency/

10 gap closing ideas from the 1990's

by Joseph Hawkins 

Recently, a reader of this blog said I was void of ideas—ideas that closed academic achievement gaps. That comment got me thinking—Am I really void of ideas? 

If we judged me on just me throwing ideas on the table—which I have been doing since the 1980’s, then heck no is the answer.  It is probably difficult to find any single Montgomery County resident who has tossed more ideas in the public domain than me, especially when it concern African American students and the achievement gap. 

Here are 10 ideas listed in chronological order—all 10 are from the 1990’s.  I could have easily cited another 20 ideas from just the 2000’s.  Most of the ideas come from columns and essays written for The Montgomery Journal (a local newspaper that went out of business), The Washington Post, and Education Week. 

Idea #1 (December 20, 1988):  provide black kids with better information about college.  “Establish a financial-aid clearinghouse to help black students find enough financial aid to handle the cost of college.”continues at this Patch link.

Starr Kicks Me to the Curb: The Non-Interview

Rockville Patch

Joseph Hawkins

Senior Study Director, Westat. Former evaluation specialist, MCPS.

For this blog, I recently emailed the Montgomery County Public Schools and requested an interview with Superintendent Joshua Starr. My hope was to sit and chat with Dr. Starr about achievement gaps. He seems to talk endlessly about this issue with all sorts of people; so why not me?I got kicked to the curb. My request for an interview was turned down by MCPS spokesman Dana Tofig.
Well, I think I came up with some really great interview questions. The questions appear below, without responses.
I stand ready at any time to sit and chat with Starr.
Question No. 1:
Your children will attend Walt Whitman High School. When Advanced Placement exam results were last reported (for the Class of 2012), Whitman AP exam-takers who took AP Psychology, on average, scored a “4.”  Forty-one percent of the Whitman AP Psychology exam-takers scored a “5”—the highest AP score possible.
Across the county, Psychology exam scores for Wheaton High School tell a different story. At Wheaton, on average, AP Psychology exam-takers scored a “1”—the lowest AP score possible. Only 2 percent of the AP exam-takers at Wheaton scored a “5.”
First, how do you interpret these differences?  And second, what is your plan to alter these outcomes—increase the AP exam performance for minority high school students?Question No. 2: Let’s stick with the performance gaps between Whitman and Wheaton high schools. In 2011, Wheaton seniors who received FARMS scored 429 points, on average, on the SAT critical reading subtest. Black seniors at Wheaton scored, on average, 421 points on the same subtest. Across the county, white Whitman
seniors scored, on average, 623 points. During the 12-year tenure of MCPS
Superintendent Jerry Weast these SAT performance gaps never closed (although,
Weast is on the public record saying they did close).
First, why do you think they never closed?  And second, what is your strategy for closing such performance gaps? Question No. 3: Let’s fast forward to 2020: You're in your third term as MCPS superintendent. The above performance gaps remain—you have not closed this specific performance gap or others.
When you factor such a reality into the mix, how would you then grade your overall MCPS performance as superintendent? And how would explain the grade? Question No. 4: I’m on the record saying that MCPS still experiences huge performance gaps for black students in our high schools because our black students are not taking complete advantage of specific “high-end” challenging academic programs. For
example, the number of black students participating in our International Baccalaureate programs is embarrassingly low (in my opinion).
What are your thoughts on this? Why aren’t our high schools enrolling more black students in their IB programs?Before answering the next question, Dr. Starr should read a book chapter I wrote about the "Talented Tenth." (Note to readers:  If you send me an email at hatmbrown@yahoo.com, I will send you a copy of this book chapter.)
Question No. 5:
Now, I believe that one significant factor that drives low black IB participation is
parental apathy. I actually believe that black parents are not pushing their children hard enough academically.
What are your thoughts on this? What can MCPS do to change this?Question No. 6:
If Bill Gates called you tomorrow and said, “Dr. Starr I’m giving $1 billion dollars to MCPS to spend on gap-closing efforts and programs at the high school
level, however, MCPS can only spend the money on three specific things,” what three things would you pick and why?

Who Knew That Our Kennedy Cluster Project Was 'Similar' to the Harlem Children's Zone?

by Joseph Hawkins

Recently, I learned from Montgomery County Councilman George Leventhal that on Tuesday (February 12, 2013) he will host a meeting to discuss “unfinished business” impacting the lives of African Americans in Montgomery County. Here are details for those interested in attending the meeting:

6:00 pmStella B. Werner Council Office Building  6^th Floor Conference Room   100 Maryland Avenue Rockville, MD  RSVP Walton Harris  240-777-7945  Walton.Harris@montgomerycountymd.gov.

“Unfinished Business” is the title of a draft report, which I assume was
authored by Leventhal. Click here to read it.

The report is full of interesting facts about African Americans living in Montgomery County. But the report also touches on a few surprises. For example, I did not realize that the county’s first public charter school, the Community Montessori Charter School, is a “trial” school to determine if such schools are able to eliminate academic achievement gaps. I wonder how they plan to achieve a goal that no one else in the county has achieved. Click here to learn more about Montgomery County Public Schools' first charter school.

But the other surprise that caught my attention is this notion that the Kennedy Cluster Project is “similar” to the Harlem Children’s Zone. Really!

If you’re sitting at your computer reading this blog stop and google "Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ)." 

One link that should come up is this one. If you scroll through to page 23 you will notice that HCZ has a boatload of money—nearly $250 million in total support and revenue as of June 30, 2011.

Now, google the "Kennedy Cluster Project budget."

This link should come up.

If you scroll to page 9 you will see $126,720 allocated to the project. 

I’m sure there are other bucks allocated to the project. But I doubt one can find more than $500,000. Regardless, it does not take a budget genius to quickly figure out that someone is seriously out-to-lunch if they believe the Kennedy Cluster and HCZ efforts are “similar.” 

Patch Article continues here.

To Stay a High-Performing School District, MCPS Must Support its Mathletes

...I began to wonder if MCPS really is interested and committed to standing behind its most academically-gifted students.
Have we lost our minds?...
Bethesda Patch article by Joseph Hawkins continues here. 

5 Reasons Why MCPS Is A High-Performing System

by Joseph Hawkins

Recently, an out-of-town newspaper reporter contacted me and wanted to discuss why the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) had been so successful in closing the achievement gaps.  It seems everyone believes MCPS conquered the gaps. Unfortunately, I told the reporter that everyone was dead wrong—the gaps were not closed...

PATCH article continues at this link.

The Black MCPS Advanced Placement Team is Getting Lapped

....If the AP exams were an Olympic footrace with four major teams—a white team, an Asian team, a Latin team, and a black team—the black team would come in dead last.  The black team is so far behind it probably gets lapped by the white and Asian teams.
There was a time when MCPS could barely say it had a black team in the AP footrace. Black AP participation rates were horribly low. That is no longer the situation, and frankly, MCPS gets credit for jacking up AP participation rates for all students. But MCPS should not just be proud of getting the black team in the race. Nor should MCPS try to dupe the public into thinking that because the black MCPS team outruns black AP teams from Harlem, Prince George's County and Atlanta that the AP performance gap within our county has closed.  It has not closed and that must change. 

Read full article by Joseph Hawkins at this link. 

Patch: A Fascinating Summary of MCPS Failures

For more than a decade now, Montgomery County Public Schools has issued a "Call to Action" annual report. The report origins go back to the early years of Superintendent Jerry Weast, who retired last year...

 Article continues at link:  http://rockville.patch.com/blog_posts/a-fascinating-summary-of-mcps-failures

Why is There No Modern Day Roscoe Nix in Montgomery County?

by Joseph Hawkins

I’m glad that as a Montgomery County Public School employee, I knew Mr. Nix. For more than a year in the late 1980s, I served as a consultant to a NAACP Blue Ribbon Panel that Mr. Nix established to examine why so few black males enrolled in and graduated from Maryland colleges and universities. And I have defended Mr. Nix’s role in putting race on the MCPS table—long before Jerry Weast arrived in our county....

Read Mr. Hawkins article on Roscoe Nix at this Patch link:
http://rockville.patch.com/blog_posts/why-is-there-no-modern-day-roscoe-nix-in-montgomery-county

Show Me the Data: Chicago, Miami-Dade, and New York City Show Their Data

by Joseph Hawkins

If you go to the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) public website and attempt to find Excel files—real data which can be “played” with—you will find nothing. All you will find are Portable Document Format files, commonly referred to as PDFs or Adobe files.

I have always advocated for access to real data. Why not? If taxpayers are supporting a data-driven school district—and this concept comes out of MCPS Superintendent Jerry Weast’s mouth every 10 seconds—then surely we cannot be afraid of sharing data. Shouldn’t a useful document such as Schools at a Glance exists as an Excel file?  Click here to see Schools at a Glance:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/

But instead of focusing on why MCPS always says no to public requests for real data or informs the requester that it will cost a zillion dollars to create data, let’s visit three large public school districts’ public websites and see what real data they offer up to the public.

The Chicago Public Schools provides users with a rich variety of downloadable Excel files. My two favorite files—the Advanced Placement (AP) results file which provides rich details for all city high schools (including race/ethnicity information) and the National Student Clearinghouse results file. Isn’t Superintendent Weast out and about bragging on the MCPS Clearinghouse data? Why not share? Click here to see why Chicago is my kind of data town:

http://research.cps.k12.il.us/cps/accountweb/Reports/allschools.html

For each school in its system, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools provide in downloadable Excel files basic enrollment data, attendance and mobility rates, and graduation and dropout rates. Most of this information is the data found in the MCPS Schools at a Glance document. Miami-Dade also provides an Excel for on performance measures from 2003 through 2010. Click here to see what Miami provides:

http://oada.dadeschools.net/DSProfiles/DSProfiles.asp

The New York City Public Schools are not as data friendly as Chicago or Miami, but they provide access to some Excel files. If nothing else, they underscore the possibilities and the spirit behind being data friendly.  Click here to see what New York City provides:

http://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/data/default.htm

When it comes to real data, PDFs are never the starting point but rather an end point. Data people know this!

A document like the MCPS Schools at a Glance clearly resides first as data, either as one huge Excel file or multiple Excel files or in some database that can create and export data formatted as Excel files. Regardless, the data in those files can be manipulated and “played” with—one is not able to play with information in PDFs without a lot of labor devoted to reformatting and reentering information.

It seems to me that MCPS could place on its public website Schools at a Glance—as well as other data files (e.g., AP results, National Student Clearinghouse results)—in file formats that are data-friendly. And when that happens, I promise I’ll stop asking Show me your data!

"Show me the Money" - No I Mean Show me the Data

by Joseph Hawkins

Show Me the Money

School Reform: Where Does MCPS Fit in the Landscape of Reforms?

by Joseph A. Hawkins

How do school districts get students to perform better? They reform themselves!

I thought I would use this post to explore school reform. Many of us throw the term around as if everything done under the reform banner is the same. Well, there are degrees and shades of school reform and those degrees and shades matter. For this post, I’m going to place school reform in three camps, and for simplistic sake, call them reform 101, 102, and 103.

The Three Camps

Reform 101 rarely alters our traditional view of the school house. Under reform 101, I believe most grandparents still recognize schools as places they attended.

Generally, reform 101 starts from the premise that the current organization of schools is fine and all we need to do to get students to perform better is to work smarter and harder. Smarter and harder applies to all—students, teachers, and parents. Examples of working smarter and harder include requiring preschool for all poor students, requiring all students to complete Algebra 1 by end the of 8th grade, requiring all students to enroll in and complete a certain number of College Board Advanced Placement courses, requiring all teachers to participate in periodic staff developments, or mandating that all classrooms be staffed with a highly qualified teacher (this one is actually a No Child Left Behind goal/requirement). While many of these things are rather straightforward—even simplistic—there is no implication here that these things are easy to implement or achieve. Getting a highly qualified teacher in every classroom in America is proving to be an extremely difficult challenge. Even wealthy Montgomery County fails to achieve the goal (see www.mdreportcard.org/ for details).

Reform 102 occasionally alters our traditional view of the school house. Under reform 102, some grandparents might still recognize schools while some others might be slightly confused about some of what they see.

Reform 102 efforts underscore the value of working smarter and harder yet these efforts take things a step further by actually altering some traditions. Examples of altering traditions include year-round schools—including the modifications to the traditional bell-schedule and calendar, gender-assigned classrooms—the creation of boys or girls only classrooms, schools without walls—high school students independently complete most classes on a local college campus or dividing a large comprehensive high schools into smaller houses—each house might even have its own principal or curriculum theme.

Reform 103 seriously alters our traditional view of the school house. Under reform 103, many grandparents would not recognize their grandchild’s school at all—assuming there is a brick building.

Many reform 103 efforts are thought to be radical departures from tradition; however, I do not believe that those designing reforms under reform 103 start out telling themselves they must create something radical. I think reformers under reform 103 end up with radical departures from the status quo because their articulated solutions for getting students to perform better require more than what is offered in the traditional school. Examples of reforms under reform 103 include charter boarding schools (take for example The Seed School in Washington DC), virtual or online schools (no or few bricks), or the Harlem Children’s Zone—an effort to transform not just schools but an entire neighborhood (see Paul Tough’s 2008 book Whatever It Takes).

The Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and School Reform

For the most part, when it comes to school reform, pretty much everything MCPS does in the name of reform falls under reform 101. We are firmly in the working smarter and harder camp while maintaining the basic traditional view of the school house. In terms of organization, county schools look and feel like they looked and felt 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years ago. Sure, the kids are different, but the buildings they walk through—with the exception of the technology toys—look and feel the same.

There is nothing wrong with tradition. And if simply working smarter and harder jacks up achievement levels higher, and narrows achievement gaps, than MCPS ought to remain firmly planted in the first camp of school reform. Nonetheless, it seems fair to ask the following question: Can those firmly planted in the first camp actually claim to be school reform leaders? I ask this question because recently someone on an education blog wrote the following, “Not to put too fine a point on it, but Montgomery County Superintendent Jerry Weast is the Churchill of school reform.” (See August 18, 2009 PC blog posting.) Wow, the Winston Churchill of school reform! Wouldn’t this make Weast the elder statesman of school reform?

But seriously, is this possible in a school district that views reform only as working smarter and harder? And can you be “the” elder statesman of reform if you have never viewed a charter school as a potential solution to a specific issue or problem, opened your district to a KIPP school, offered a wide-range of online courses for credit, encouraged a group of high schools to switch to a more flexible bell schedule or created a school from scratch to serve a special population that currently is not well served by the traditional MCPS model? For me, to be “the Churchill of school reform” one has to be able to rule over all visions of school reform—all visions and forms of learning and schooling. And since I know MCPS fails the vision test, I cannot possibly see us making Weast the elder statesman of school reform.

Why Is School Reform Restricted in Montgomery County?

Now, many supporters who find themselves in the first camp of school reform (reform 101) claim that only this type of reform is appropriate for MCPS because the other camps mostly find themselves in failing urban school districts. These are places where desperation is the name of the game. These desperate individuals grab onto anything that floats the boats in a better achievement direction for kids. I think this view of why some may select reforms that fall into the second and third camps is both elitist and ignorant.

• It is elitist because when we take such a view of urban school districts, especially ones with a history of failure, it means we have automatically concluded we are better. Clearly, we are better in terms of resources, facilities, and outcomes; however, we should not assume with certainty that everything we do is automatically better than what happens in Harlem, New York or even Baltimore, Maryland. Why would educated people not believe that others have valuable ideas?

• It is ignorant because by limiting our vision of school reform we automatically eliminate learning and schooling options that might actually be better for certain populations of students. Why would educated people box themselves in to a restrictive concept of reform? Or what a school can be?

I strongly believe that those who find themselves in the third camp of school reform (reform 103), and sometimes in the second camp (reform 102), may in fact be desperate, but I do not think desperation is their only motivation. I believe some of what comes out of reform 103 evolves from a serious child-centered process. What is that?

I actually believe that some reformers in the third camp do not specifically have a school organization or design in mind when they begin the reform process. I believe these reformers actually sit and digest perhaps all that is known about children and learning, and with the resources available to them design a school that 95% of the time ends up looking fairly radical in both concept and design when compared to the typical Montgomery County public school. On the other hand, I doubt that MCPS takes such an open-minded approach when it huddles up to discuss children and learning. It cannot. If this county did take the more open-minded approach, wouldn’t there be at least some variation in what our schools look like?

Yet there is no variation. Not even a single example of a school variation falling into either reform 102 or reform 103. For god sake, we can’t even modify the bell schedules. We want to keep schools open for poor kids year-round, but even on this front, we don’t make the practice mandatory. We went guns a blasting with all-day kindergarten, yet we are struggling to move our traditional Head Start programs to an all-day, year-round format—something others in the nation moved to back in the late 1990’s. If poor kids need all-day kindergarten then they also need all-day Head Start. And those same poor kids and their families probably could use the Harlem Children’s Zone’s Baby College—think Head Start and childhood literacy from the first moments of pregnancy and beyond. We want more students of color to experience the International Baccalaureate (IB) program but we would go into shock if some stood up and suggested that all kids of color be required to sit for the diploma degree (via the full range of IB exams). We could probably fit all of the black kids who now sit annually for exams to receive the full IB diploma degree in a single classroom.

And then there is the Kennedy Cluster Project. The county has gone on record saying it will turn the cluster into a laboratory of social experimentation that will take the cluster’s poor kids of color and turn them into high achievers all headed off to college. For me, “experimentation” implies more than just working harder and smarter. It also makes me think that we are actually going to break some molds and deviate from traditions, and along the way, schools might even end up looking different. So, is this possible? Perhaps, but let me end this posting with offering a few suggestions.

In 2008, I directed a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation research project that evaluated the DC Achievers Program. This program serves high school students in Ward 8 in DC—Anacostia. The program is part of the city’s Double the Numbers initiative—an effort to increase not just the number of poor kids of color who get accepted to college but also graduate with a college degree. The DC Achievers Program is managed by the DC College Success Foundation (see http://www.dccollegesuccessfoundation.org/ and http://www.doublethenumbersdc.org/ for details).

When I read the background documents on the Kennedy Cluster Project, I immediately thought of the DC Achievers Program. Why? Because I actually think the county could learn from what is going on in Anacostia. But it will take more than just working harder. Here is some of what the program is doing in SE DC.

• First, to get more poor kids into college a foundation was established. And I want to say this is a pretty serious foundation with a long-term mission. The foundation is literally pouring millions of new dollars into scholarships and resources that support efforts to get kids in college and to keep them there through graduation. I’m not an expert on how much money is going into the Kennedy Cluster Project but published amounts I have seen are a drop in a very small bucket. There are no millions of new dollars going into the Kennedy Cluster Project.

• Second, lots of additional staffing resources have been allotted to the six Achievers high schools (Anacostia High, Ballou High, Woodson High, Thurgood Marshall Academy Charter High, Friendship Collegiate Charter High, and Maya Angelou Charter High) in Ward 8. For example, beyond the normal guidance/college counseling, students have additional college advisors who work full-time on their behalf. They also work with parents and guardians, spending huge amounts of time helping parents and guardians solve the mysteries of college financial aid, including filling out the FAFSA—the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (as well as direct aid in filing annual income tax forms). For many poor kids of color, the absence of this aid pretty much leaves them abandoned with only a slim chance of getting into a college and staying.

• Third, there is a wide range of mandatory support efforts/formal programs to keep students focused academically not just while in high school but also while in college. It is never easy getting poor kids into the right college nor is it easy to make sure they stay and graduate. Nonetheless, the DC Achievers Program has in place efforts to help kids matriculate—a mandatory summer college bridge program, mentors who check in frequently with students, and efforts to track kids through each semester of undergraduate school.

So, for those in the county willing to really understand what true experimentation is all about, I’m available to anyone as an Anacostia guide. Warning: I will make you visit a few SE DC charter schools, especially Thurgood Marshall Academy—a great example of a small high school (less than 400 students). Can any of us ever imagine such a small MCPS high school?

Getting the MCEA History Right

MCEA Paved Its Own Way to Higher Wages

by Joseph A. Hawkins

In my last posting, I noted to readers that I was interested in setting the historical record straight on two fronts. One front was the notion that Montgomery County Superintendent Jerry Weast was the first county school superintendent courageous enough to put race on the table. Even a quick survey of county history reveals that this is wrong. There is plenty of evidence that detailed and formal conversations about race were ongoing back in the mid-1970’s—nearly 25 years before Weast arrived in the county.

In this posting, I take on the “myth” (it certainly seems to be headed in that direction) that Weast made it safe for the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA)—the teachers union, a local National Education Association (NEA) affiliate—to come out of the dark and participate in decision-making. Dark is my word, but it is the image that comes to mind when I read The Washington Post article, Over 10 Years, Montgomery's Weast Aced Tough Tests, by reporter Daniel de Vise on 7/28/09. In that piece, de Vise wrote,

“He forged a rapport with teachers almost unknown in public education, inviting union leaders onto his inner-sanctum leadership team. Weast offered teachers the same deal the school board had offered him: good pay for hard work. He made Montgomery teachers the best-paid in the region. In return, the union took the remarkable step this year of giving up a 5 percent pay raise to balance the budget. Weast collaborated with the union on a program to help struggling teachers improve or exit the classroom.”

“Inner-sanctum leadership team.” Wow! Sounds private, secretive, mysterious, and definitely dark.

But let us get real folks—MCEA has no history of anything close to being a shy wall-flower. And below I make the case for why this is true. Warning: When I resigned my Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) job in 1998, I was not only an active MCEA member but also an elected member of the MCEA Board of Directors. And in 1997 and 1998, I was a member of the MCEA contract bargaining team. I am a little biased.

Commission on Excellence in Teaching: MCEA has always been serious about collaborating

I first became conscious of MCEA’s ability to collaborate with others in MCPS in 1985 when MCEA and the Board of Education established the Commission of Excellence in Teaching. The Commission concluded its work in 1987 and issued a very comprehensive report titled Attracting, Keeping and Enabling Excellent Teachers. One of the really cool things about the Commission was the caliber of experts called upon to serve. Experts like Linda Darling-Hammond (clearly a guru in the field of teaching), Michael O’Keefe (former president of the Consortium for the Advancement of Private Higher Education), and David Tatel (former Director of the U.S. Office for Civil Rights) served on the Commission.

I really became conscious of the Commission’s work when MCPS and MCEA began to implement its recommendations in the late 1980’s. After putting in place in multiple schools, site-based management (teachers and parents involved in local school decision-making), new teacher induction programs (think mentoring programs for novice teachers), and site-based staff development and training (teachers involved in decisions about what training they needed), my old Accountability Office was called upon to evaluate impacts. I was personally responsible for evaluating the teacher induction programs and the site-based staff development efforts. Beyond what was actually going on in schools across the county—new teachers definitely needed supports and were getting them and school staff were extremely capable of designing and managing their own training needs—I got a unique opportunity to view the extent to which MCEA was deeply involved in pushing MCPS in directions that were making schools better. (Note to self: Don’t they call this stuff school reform. The Washington Post called it reform when they wrote about it 1988. So, MCEA was engaged as a true partner and this was more than 10 years prior to Weast arriving in the county.)

And I believe it extremely important to note that the Commission’s work also stressed to the county at large that paying teachers more was a high priority. So, the roadmap, the game plan to have our teachers become the “best-paid” in the region was laid out as early as 1987.

New Unionism: MCEA jumps onboard with both feet

In early 1997, then NEA president Bob Chase set forth an agenda for NEA affiliates to adopt new unionism. In a nutshell, new unionism encourages teachers to partner with administrators in promoting school reforms. For the most part, NEA affiliates around the nation did not rush to sign up for new unionism; however, MCEA did and did so by jumping in with both feet. I remember MCEA’s move to new unionism because I was there. And the jump made sense given MCEA’s history and support of the recommendations of from the Commission of Excellence in Teaching. For MCEA, the move to new unionism was guided by then MCEA president Mark Simon (retired) and MCEA executive director Tom Israel.

(Note: Those seeking additional information on new unionism ought to do a Google search on Bob Chase and new unionism. Lots of links pop up.)

New unionism fit MCEA like a glove, and the tenets of new unionism were first put in play in 1997 as MCEA and the BOE sat down to bargain for a new 1998 teachers union contract. I was a member of MCEA bargaining team. Mark Simon led the MCEA team and Steve Seleznow (now at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) then the deputy MCPS superintendent led the BOE team. The 1998 contract was bargained using interest-based bargaining. This type of bargaining is also known as Win-Win Bargaining, Mutual Gains, Principled or Interest-Based Negotiation, Interest-Based Problem Solving, Best Practice or Integrative Bargaining. Regardless of what it is called, in 1997, it required the bargaining parties—MCEA and the BOE/MCPS—to drop traditions and adopt new ideas and processes for bargaining. For example, neither party came to the table with any predetermined issues or positions.

Now cynics can dump on interest-based bargaining, but the fact of the matter is MCEA used a new approach to bargain a contract and it worked. But perhaps more than anything else, new unionism and interest-based bargaining required greater MCEA and MCPS collaboration (even rapport). And that collaboration was real (sure as member of the MCEA I felt cautious of the other side but the entire process felt honest and open). And this foundation of collaboration laid down in late 1997 and early 1998 occurred an entire school year prior to Weast’s arrival in the county. And this foundation included setting in motion specific actions and plans to aid struggling teachers and counseling failing teachers out the classroom door.

And I believe it extremely important to note that even prior to what occurred in Broad Acres Elementary School—MCPS and MCEA collaborating on moving that school forward in a positive academic direction during the early years of the Weast superintendency—MCPS and MCEA had already begun to test out the Broad Acres collaborating model before the 1999-2000 school year. I was part of a MCEA team that went into Brookhaven Elementary School in the spring of 1998 in an effort to assist struggling teachers and improve the school’s academic outcomes. Again, a roadmap and a game plan were in play.

And Then There’s the Apple Ballot

I moved from my hometown Washington D.C. to Bethesda in 1984. I’m a little fuzzy on my first official county election, but as I long as I have voted in the county, I remember there being a MCEA Apple Ballot. This is the list of MCEA endorsed candidates running for the Board of Education (BOE). County voters may have mixed feelings about the Apple Ballot, but one thing is clear—it works (you can get elected without MCEA’s endorsement but the odds of getting elected with their endorsement are extremely high). And as a former MCEA member I lost track of how many times I volunteered and stood out in front of my own voting/polling location (Pyle Middle School) handing out the Apple.

But getting the right group of people elected to the BOE, as well as to the county council, links directly to higher wages and better benefits. At the end of the day, MCEA wants elected officials that support the rhetoric of we want the “best-paid” teachers. And this is not a deal that was dreamed up by Weast. It is a reality that has been in place for nearly three solid decades. The notion that Weast rode into town and the BOE finally open up their check-books is at best non-sense.

So What Is My Point?

I believe Weast has actively promoted and supported higher pay for teachers. I also believe that he and MCPS management, including the BOE, actively involve MCEA in decision-making. However, both of these things or actions or policies or whatever you call them; especially how well they currently function with Weast as superintendent, result from a fairly long and complex history of MCEA activism and not just from the leadership of one person—no matter what their evangelical skills.

Postscript

Last week in Education Week, Stacey M. Childress pinned an essay and wrote the following,

“When Weast arrived in Montgomery County, board members rarely agreed, and the unions were at odds with each other and the district. His willingness to blur the lines rather than consolidate power to himself was a first step, and stakeholder groups reciprocated by engaging deeply in the reform efforts.”

MCEA at odds with MCPS? MCEA at odds with the other unions? Who is Childress interviewing to arrive at these wrong-headed conclusions? I was there just prior to Weast’s arrival—working behind the scenes at MCEA—and I simply do not recall my fellow MCEA members at odds with others. Sure there were disagreements but “at odds” sounds like we were fighting it out in an alley somewhere. And what’s wrong with board members disagreeing publicly (or behind closed doors)? However, I also do not recall board chaos. In fact, in 1998, the board that hired Weast, approved one of the largest teacher union contracts ever long before he ever set foot in Rockville. That was not possible without a little peace and harmony.