What attracted me to politics was the notion of being a part of something bigger than myself. I was driven by that working on campaigns, driven by that working on Capitol Hill, but when it came to education (big picture) I was at a lost of how it all fit. Perhaps that I was because I was lost at how I fit in the education space not being a teacher or a school leader or parent. There has been some growth.
Over eight weeks ago, the NYC Department of Education’s Charter Schools Office asked me to help them analyze the system need and capacity for new charter school development. From that I have since also developed a targeted national marketing strategy to enable them to recruit more high-quality, high-performing charter management organizations and stand alone charters to locate in the city. I honestly did not begin to understand the depth of my work until I looked at the data.
I analyzed growth, application, waitlist, and admittance data for the past five years looking citywide, by school and by neighborhood. There has been a 78 percent increase in number of charter school applications, but at the same there has been a decrease in the admittance percentage — we are now down to 11 percent. Yes, you read that right, only 11 percent of students who apply will be accepted to a charter school in New York City! It’s kind of crazy to think that it is harder to get into a K-5 charter school than it is to get into some of the Ivy League colleges and universities. For the 2011-12 school year alone, there were 114,932 applications for 12,917 seats. The number of applicants exceed the number of seats available in every borough. So I can only laugh now when people say, ‘No one wants charter schools in New York City’ because the data tells a very different story — for New York City. I need to add that caveat because New York City is very unique place and what works here, by no means will work across the country.
Having lived in the South, I very much understand residential segregation. Where I went to high school in Columbus, GA, there was literally a color line in the city that could greatly effect the educational outcomes for students. If you live below Macon Rd (Exit 6 off I-185), you are more likely to go to a Title I school, you are more likely to have novice teachers, you are more likely not to be scored proficient or advanced on state Math or English Language Arts exams, you are more likely not to graduate from high school, and more startling, it is possible for you to go through K-12 never being in class with a white student. If you live above Macon Rd, you have the opposite outcomes. However, I would argue that the transition to a reasonable house or apartment above Macon Rd would not necessarily put a family in the poor house. Whereas in New York City, moving into a community school district that has high quality traditional public schools could be the cost of a $3.5 million condo on the Upper West Side. Class stratification is intertwined in the very culture of this city, and its front and center in the education space. Charter schools have by no means been the “silver bullet,” but they are helping with the equity issues.
In my task this summer of looking very critically at how the district can work to try to meet charter school demand, I had the opportunity to look across the country and look for the best of the best that were not in New York City. There is so much innovation that is going on across the country, and its quite inspiring. What I was surprised to find was that some of the charter schools that have received acclaimed national attention for great graduation rates — when I looked at their state test scores and data, it told a very different story. Now I am not this huge advocate for high-stakes testing, but in terms of looking for evidence of success, it was something I took very seriously. Yes, I can applaud the achievement of getting a kid into college, but then the more important achievement is were they college-ready? I was looking for power charters. Arizona, Texas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, New Mexico….I looked everywhere. I ended up narrowing my list down to 20 power charters I thought NYC should be looking at. I also designed an 8-page marketing brochure and a 1-pager on why these organizations should expand to New York City.
Two weeks ago, about an hour before I was to give my presentation on my findings and strategy to the Executive Director and Chief of Staff of my office, the Deputy Chancellor for my division sent an email asking some very interesting questions. Who are the best charters that are not in NYC? And what would it take for us to get them here? CRAZY good timing! My bosses where extremely impressed with my work and ready to move things up the chain of command. In my perfect world, if at least two of the top nine power charters I identified chose to locate in NYC, I would consider that a success. I hope that I can stay involved and see this through.
I am finally starting to see where I can fit in education reform not being a teacher or school leader or parent for that matter. The politics of education (national, state, and local level) is a bloodsport, and there are not many skilled players who understand the politics on the side of the good guys. Access to opportunity is a daily experience and I think I understand the politics and the stakes enough to effectively advocate for that. Back to the idea of looking to be apart of something bigger than myself, it has hit me very forcefully over the last few weeks as I have worked on this project, visited schools, and actually sat in on a couple of classes… This–our work in education reform or the education sector in general–is bigger than you and me. This is about kids you don’t even know getting to their fullest potential. And that’s powerful!
