Rethinking Education

Last night, I attended "Your Role in Education Innovation", sponsored by Young Education Professionals DC and Young Nonprofit Network Professionals Network*. I had a great experience at the event listening to educational professionals (including interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson) discuss the future of education in the District. Henderson concisely summarized the argument that compensation should be results-driven instead of seniority-driven (a concept that Washington Teachers Union initially resisted, but agreed to incorporate in recent teacher contracts). She also spoke about how public school education in the District went from having no oversight, to a military-style oversight and "needs to return to the middle". I definitely think there were some disaffected stakeholders in the early stages of reforming education in the District and we need to move forward together; with Henderson, I think we're on a good path towards moving forward on one accord.

According to a recently released report, enrollment is projected to go up 3.5% in the 2011-2012 for DCPS and DCPCS combined. This is a great vote of confidence in the education reform that has taken place to date. Henderson expressed interest in being willing to try any educational model with proven results that shows similar results here in the District; if it works elsewhere and works here, our children will be able to benefit from it. This best practices-driven willingness to try new models, evaluate them carefully, and decide to abandon or proceed them with them based on actual educational results on the ground is key. Ben Riley of New Ventures School Fund emphasized that testing alone was not sufficient and suggested regular unannounced classroom visits and other methods to augment evaluation (the current model, I believe, calls for five classroom visits). Newer tech-based methods were also discussed as ways to improve instructor performance, such as allowing mentors to give real-time teaching advice to struggling teachers via Bluetooth device cordlessly attached to their ear as they taught their classes.

We definitely have to push for the best education models to take public education to the next level, both at traditional public schools and our charters. Continued evaluation of these models should enable us to find out what works and hopefully scale successful models to help more children succeed. We're all in it together.

The event hashtag on Twitter was "eduvation". Education + innovation = eduvation. Let's keep moving onwards and upwards.

* Search twitter.com for the hashtag #eduvation for live tweets made during the course of the event.

Addendum: Special shoutout to DC Statehood Green Party visionary David Schwartzman for pointing out to me this brilliant article proposing one hour of real-world application of math and physical sciences concepts within the school day, by Marion Brady.

(Photo by George Ellenberg. Used under Creative Commons license)

Providing Opportunities to High Level Learners in DCPS

The Post recently ran an article on a program that would allow students at School Without Walls and Wilson High School to take college courses during their junior and senior year, then attain a bachelors' degree in two years at the University of the District of Columbia. A similar program allows School Without Walls students to earn college credit in their final two years of high school, in order to complete an associates degree at George Washington University concurrently with their high school graduation. These two programs are great options to allow our city's brightest students to acquire college degrees in an accelerated format. The GWU program allows students to earn their associates degree without paying tuition, an exceptional benefit for students from financially challenged backgrounds. The programs both admit only a small pool of elite students (roughly 30, total), but hopefully these programs will be expanded to all DCPS high schools. It might also be advisable to include some component of service to the programs, whereby participating students must work in the community for some period of time with the skills that they have acquired in these programs. Tying service with education through these programs could lay the groundwork for a lifelong love of service to the community among our most academically gifted students (and hopefully will allow them to be role models for others with whom they interact during their period of service).

As we face an increasing budget crunch, it is imperative that DC government partner with local stakeholders such as area universities to pioneer programs such as these.

An additional idea might be allowing for accelerated completion of high school for advanced students. We cannot afford to stick to traditional models as we confront our massive budget shortfall. If students have the desire to complete high school on an accelerated basis, we are not currently in a fiscal position to compel them to remain for a senior year when they can complete the credits for that final year in an accelerated program. Again, this is a time for us to think creatively, as well as the time to present new options to our best and brightest students.

(Photo of Washington Math Science Technical High School Class of 2009 by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In Dr. King's memory, Let's Unite And Save This City

I had the honor and the pleasure of marching with DC Jobs With Justice, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, and hundreds of our fair citizens in Dr. King's memory up the street that bears his name: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. I was inspired by the experience to complete the press release below, that outlines my positions for media figures (and fellow citizens) who may be interested in my views, positions and background. Please take a look:

Alan Page brings Three Core Principles to the race to fill the At-Large seat vacated by Kwame Brown:

- We are a Diverse City
- Our Public Schools Are Our Treasure; and
- We Cannot Balance The Budget on the Backs of the Poor

WASHINGTON, DC -- In light of a budget shortfall, longtime Washington DC resident, DCPS parent and attorney Alan Page has decided to jump into the race to fill the seat vacated by Kwame Brown when he moved on to Council Chair.

"I have operated on the periphery of local politics for seven years now, since I became a homeowner and a father, knowing at that point I was then invested more than ever in the city I have called home for almost 20 years, because I need the schools in this city to succeed for my daughter to excel and I need this city to thrive for my home to be a part of a vibrant community," said Mr. Page.

Buying a home on then-blighted Wylie Street NE, Mr. Page worked hard with his neighbors in the Wylie Street Homeowners Association to improve conditions and access to city services for the one-block street. Overcoming an open-air drug market culture, trash, illegal parking (including stolen cars), seven years later the conditions on Wylie Street have changed 180 degrees from its prior state. Through this process, Mr. Page learned first hand that the city and the members of a community can radically improve even the most challenged area if they work together. Mr. Page continued to work with H Street Main Street to help foster the environment that new businesses needed to thrive in the area. As a result, many new businesses have opened on the once-thriving commercial corridor, helping it move closer to its former glory.

Now, as the District faces a crushing budget shortfall, it is time for the whole city to work together to get us past this crisis, without balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, by attempting to solve our crisis with disproportionate cuts to social services. Since we currently have one tax rate for income above $40,000 a year, creating a scenario where a schoolteacher and Bill Gates could share the same tax bracket if they were neighbors in our city, I believe it is also time to create a new tax bracket so our earners in the top 5% bracket can contribute just 1% more of their income above the $200,000 threshold, to help our city stay on the path towards prosperity. Understanding that our most successful citizens will expect more efficiency in government if they are asked to give more to help us all, Mr. Page also advocates a citywide appraisal of where cuts can be made to eliminate waste and duplication of services.

Mr. Page is also concerned about the future of the city, beyond our present budget challenge. In light of that, Mr. Page is a strong supporter of the Promise Neighborhood planned for Ward 7, which will coordinate educational and social services to maximize the chances for academic success for students in the Kenilworth neighborhood, by addressing their challenges in holistic fashion, from the classroom to the home. This program is supported by President Obama and is based on the successful Harlem Children's Zone analyzed in the book "Whatever It Takes". The key success in the Harlem Children's Zone is the elimination of the racial gap in mathematics performance on standardized tests for students who were part of the Zone, by the time they reached middle school. If we can support this effort and bring Promise Neighborhoods to other neighborhoods where students face a range of challenges that hamper their academic performance, we can secure the future of this city. Our public schools are our treasure and it's time to invest in maximizing their success.

Join Alan Page in his quest to turn this budget crisis around and take us over the water to a brighter tomorrow.