Privatization is put on hold (Houston schools)

[Judi Lynn]

Feb. 21, 2005, 10:30PM

Privatization is put on hold
Saavedra opts to create advisory groups to improve 3 low-performing HISD high schools
By MIKE SNYDER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Houston school administrators will not replace the management of three low-performing high schools without the support of parents and community leaders, Superintendent Abe Saavedra said Monday.

After meeting with leaders of the NAACP and other groups opposed to privatizing Yates, Kashmere and Sam Houston high schools, Saavedra said he will form advisory committees of parents and community leaders to help develop reform plans for each school.

In his State of the Schools speech last week, Saavedra called for reforming the schools, saying HISD would solicit proposals to "totally redesign" them because incremental reform efforts had failed. The state has ranked the schools as low-performing since 2001.

"No recommendation to outsource will move forward (to the school board) unless the community has embraced it," Saavedra said Monday.

He said the advisory groups will consult with Houston Independent School District officials as they seek proposals from nonprofit groups, for-profit firms or HISD employees to improve student performance at the three schools.

James Douglas, the general counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Houston chapter, said the organization would oppose any plan to shift management of the schools away from HISD. Opposition to outsourcing was overwhelming among more than 200 parents who met with Saavedra later Monday at Kashmere, said U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston.
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3050964
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[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. the problem with schools

has been that they are considered the panacea for all social problems. Schools will never be this, whether they are run by a school district or run by some corporation.

I taught in two inner city schools in Texas, and until the drugs and violence in the neighborhood, until parents take time to spend with their kids and teach them the value of education and paying attention, the best teachers and the best schools in the world aren't going to help.

[jody]

2. I agree parents are a major factor. In addition, education quality is

invariant to or goes down as the number of teachers with degrees beyond a BS increases.

Money spent is not the problem. In my state, the average SAT, ACT and other key test scores is not affected by the average spending per student. However, the percent of students on free lunches, a surrogate measure for poverty etc., explains about 60-70% of test scores.

In the meantime, the state continues to support doctoral programs in education but neither dissertations nor faculty research have found solutions to the problem.

Privatization of education is a joke designed to reduce taxes for a privileged segment of society who want to get their children out of public schools where they have to associate with poor kids.

Gifted students from poor families are affected most because scare education dollars primarily go to help students with learning problems. I understand that nationwide, for every $11 dollars spent on special education for students with learning problems, we spend two cents on gifted students.

End of my rant for the day.

[flygal]

3. That is so true

I know of a lot of great teachers in great schools with a lot of assistance (teachers aides, retired seniors) but they are in a bad neighborhood with absent parents - out gambling, drinking, or arrested for meth - a BIG problem.

One thing I love about Germany - my kid is in a school with a lot of kids from "the bad neighborhood" and you'd hardly know it. The parents get help from family and community. They have kindergeld, preschool starting at age 2 which cost about 100 Eur/month, and the parents are held up to a certain standard whereas in US I see so many parents leave their kids as the schools problem most of the day.