Policy changes for public schools

EDUCATION REFORM

The average high school graduation rate of all high schools within the city of Portland is 63%, 68% for the state of Oregon

The current national average is about 70%

PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS

David Douglas, 72%

Madison, 71%

Cleveland, 76%

Lincoln, 89%

Events: Fail ing schools are producing students who are not prepared to contribute to society or their community result: Tutoring centers

Patterns/trends: Schools in low income neighborhoods produce the most drop outs. result: Raising money, federal grants, fundraisers, etc.

Underlying structures: every school in the nation has a budget that is a mix of federal, state, and local tax and funding. These funds are not distributed equally among schools. Teacher salaries are dependent on these funds as well result: teachers seek higher paying salaries, highly skilled teachers

disproportionally in higher paying school districts.

Mental Model: ”Play with the cards that you are dealt”. American society fuels a mental model that feels that equal opportunity is given to everyone, so that the situation they are in is dispositional and if everyone else can do it, so can you. Result: instead of blaming the system for failing, we blame those who are

failing the system

ICEBURG MODEL: SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE STATE OF PUBLIC

SCHOOLS

David Douglas High is the only high school within the David Douglas School district

With one high school, David Douglas doesn’t have to spend as much on principals and administrative staff, and spends 4 percent less on overhead costs than the average Oregon high school.

Fourteen years ago, David Douglas High created sheltered core classes for non-Engl ish speakers, creating a place where students and teachers were encouraged to try new methods that make teaching more affective for non-English speaking students in non-English classes.

David Douglas offers after-school English lessons for parents and teachers

are encouraged to seek out parents and even to vis it them at home if they can’t be reached by phone.

The teaching and administrative staff is committed to the challenges posed by language barr iers as well as dealing with low-income students.

DAVID DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL

“Collectively we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individually”. –Senge David Douglas has policy and practices that encourage

accommodation of cultures, instead of rushing students to catch up in English without any regard to their country of origin

This dialectical approach to culture in education has created a relaxed environment instead of a competitive or embarrassing one for foreign students.

David Douglas shows how cultural competency produces desired results within the context of education

The Power of Context Broken Windows Theory Crime rates in New York began to dwindle when graffiti was removed

and fare jumpers were fined Small practices or programs being implemented within the district

could spread through out the state and bring graduation averages up. David Douglas has policies only being practiced within their district

DIALOG AND TIPPING POINT THEORY

Michelle Rhee chancellor of the Washington, D.C.

public schools from 2007 to 2010 TED Talk: “Public Education - Are We

Under, Over or Just Misspending?” Unmovable and persistent: Fought

against tenure and teacher’s unions, pushed for merit based salaries and centralized funding. She closed down many schools knowing she might loose her job as the result.

Started StudentsFirst, the first student’s right lobbist group: “Our mission is to build a national movement to defend the interests of children in public education and pursue transformative reform, so that America has the best education system in the world.”

LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

1.) Goal: Make information on Oregon Public Schools accessible Activity: write to Oregon Department of Education to

make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) available online Resources: email Rationale: The Public has a right to have access to

information about public institutions. This information is needed especially for parents who feel maybe their child’s academic performance is the result of their parenting, when really it could be the school/ district as a whole.

2.) Goal: Apply practices of David Douglas High School to tutoring centers around Portland. Activity: reach out to tutoring centers and gather info

on demographics at various centers to determine which methods might work best for that community.

Resources: Free Tutoring Centers (map) Rationale: If tutoring centers have the similar

demographic of students as David Douglas High and other surrounding schools, tutoring methods similar to sheltered core classes might make students more successful from more than one school. Tutoring centers do not have administrative restrictions to their tutoring methods so they have wiggle room to experiment with different policies.

Getting the publ ic behind education reform

ACTION PLAN

Free Tutoring Centers

Native American Youth And Family Center

David Douglas

Huntington Center

Not Shown: Oasis tutoring located on sight at various public schools

3.) Goal: Hire new teachers/ faculty and implement merit based teacher salaries.Activity: propose administrative plans and changes to Portland School Board at publically held meetings.

Resources: Madison High School where board meetings are held

Rationale: Policy changes within the Portland Public School System will help spark education reform for the entire state of Oregon

Getting the publ ic behind education reform

ACTION PLAN

Strengths:-Tutoring centers and after school programs located on site- Parent Teacher Association

Weaknesses: - Teacher’s Unions: teacher entitlement to their job creates an environment where the teacher’s rights come before the student’s. Automatic Tenure makes it virtually impossible to terminate under performing teachers. - Public Policy/administration: Students are assigned to schools according to the neighborhood they live in. Charter schools fix this problem but choose student enrollment by a lottery

Opportunities:-The Community: foster a relationship between the students and their community to encourage educational completion-Sheer Numbers: Student advocacy groups can be stronger/bigger with more support from parents.

Threats:- No Child Left Behind- Allocation of local and state funds- Socioeconomic status of the student and their community (empirical evidence of correlations between of SES and educational attainment)

SWOT Analysis

InternalOrigin

External Origin

Helpful Harmful