Time4Learning Online Curriculum

Each family has a variety of educational choices, depending on their state, district, and resources.  Briefly.

1. Homeschooling

2. Public neighborhood school

3. Public magnet school

4. Public charter school. Rapidly evolving.

5. Private or parochial schools.

6. Virtual schools, public or charter

One of my friends is working on a blog which studies in some detail what is going on with his local school district and school choice. It’s quite an education. Read all about Broward County Schools.

I’m thinking about a survey that I did of my community a few years ago and I wish that I had gotten it organized again this year.

The Thanksgiving question that I asked of the T4L members was, regarding their curriculum vendors, what were they thankful for. And what was on their wish list.

Here’s what I think. I am what I would call a “social entrepreneur.”  It’s a phrase that means that I run the company with a “double” bottom line. I’m pursuing two sets of goals. On one hand, I’m a business trying to produce stability, growth, and profits.  On the other hand, I have a sense of mission related to service. I want my members to truly benefit from their use of use of my services and I want my employees to truly benefit from their experience with T4L.

Balancing these goals can be tough especially was we get larger and it gets less personal. I use to know a good number of our members personally, to read the forum and the support emails regularly, to even take support phone calls on a regular basis, and to have a close relationship with each of my staff. However, we’re now too big for me to do this and it would be easy to get too commercial.

For instance, I look at some community sites which hope to attract users and build a community while making a profit and in pursuing this, they throw up soo many many google ads that it becomes unthinkable that serious bloggers would use that platform and community and instead, it ends up with a pretty mixed bag of bloggers.

So this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for models of businesses like mine which have veered off track in both ways. Some are too commercial for me to be comfortable with.  Others over compensate the other way.  Lets look closely for instance, at two sites that I worked on this week:

Vocabulary.co.il – This vocabulary building site has ads but also has original useful content that other sites don’t. And the ads don’t interfere with the user experience, they’re only visible during navigation, not study. For instance:

Hig Pig Games
Homophone Games
Idioms Games
Latin Learning Games
Literature Games
Oxymoron Games
Parts of Speech Games
Phonics Games
Prefix Games
Root Word Games

On the VocabSpellingCity site, there’s lots of original content such as:

Analogies – New!
British Spelling
Capitonyms
Compound Words – New!
Contractions
Dolch – Sight Words
Geography Lists
Homophones, Homonyms, etc.
Literature Based Word Lists
Math Vocabulary – Most Popular!
Monthly Holiday Lists
Multiple Meaning Words – New!
Phonics & Sight Word Curriculum
Possessive Nouns
Sample Lists By Grade
Science Vocabulary – New!
Sequential Spelling Program
Sound Alike Words
Syllables – New!
Word Abbreviations

There’s a great blog post called What to Teach which starts to explore the question of standards and curriculum.  Without divulging all of it, the article deals with the definition of educational curriculum and what should be taught as the standard for high school. It’s in the area of curriculum reform and uses the new Common Core Curriculum as the jumping off place.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the search and selection of Robert Runcie, the new Broward School Board Superintendent.   In addition to checking that he is a good administrator, honest, smart, hardworking, has some ideas on how to improve test scores (sad sad sad) and deal with unions etc, I wonder whether they queried him and the others on a number of questions such as:

1. Homeschooling. What should the district’s position on it be? Right now, there is one person who “supports” homeschoolers. I have no idea if this is a full time or part-time part of his job, what he does, and whether he is popular with the homeschool community.
2. Magnet and charter schools. Is the school board actively encouraging charters? Are magnets dead or is there life in them yet?
3. Role of arts and sports going forward. Can it be cut? Vital? Needs growing?
4. Curriculum reform. Are we just following the common core and other state-level initiatives?
5. Principals. Is getting great principals a priority (I would hope so). Is giving them the liberty to run their school including hiring/firing teachers a priority?

Its been awhile since I’ve posted,  here’s the news here about my local schools and their school board.

The lady that I knew pretty well on the board resigned. It’s a shame. She was an X-teacher and totally dedicated to making the public schools work. She got criticized pretty heavily for being closely associated with the creation of a school near her home area. The school is a tremendous success and a real model  in a number of ways. I think the criticism is unwarranted since it’s based on the fact that she seems to have focused on her own region, not that she derived any personal benefit from it.

The school superintendent, Jim Nutter, resigned.  For a few months, there was an interim.  Donnie Carter is the Interim Superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, the sixth largest public school system in the United States, the second largest in the state of Florida, and the largest fully accredited K-12 and adult school district in the nation. 

Mr. Carter has over 20 years experience in public education administration. He has been with Broward County Public Schools for more than a decade, where he was named Deputy Superintendent in 2004 and Chief Operations Officer in 2007.

Prior to joining Broward County Public Schools in 2001, Mr. Carter was a Director with JM Family Enterprises; and Assistant, Associate, and Deputy Superintendent with Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Mr. Carter is a graduate of St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is an experienced senior operations executive with a comprehensive background in operations and business management.

A Florida Grand Jury accused the Broward County School Board for havin g “a culture of corruption and reckless spending of taxpayer money” in a report released last Friday.  And I quote the State report released in March 2011 about Broward County:

The evidence we have been presented concerning the malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance of the Broward County School Board (Board) and of the senior management of the Broward County School District, (District) and of the gross mismanagement and apparent ineptitude of so many individuals at so many levels is so overwhelming that we cannot imagine any level of incompetence that would explain what we have seen. Therefore we are reluctantly compelled to conclude that at least some of this behavior can best be explained by corruption of our officials by contractors, vendors and their lobbyists.  Moreover, many of the problems we identified in our inquiry are longstanding and have been pointed out by  at least two previous Grand Juries.  But for the Constitutional mandate that requires an elected School Board for each District, our first and foremost recommendation would have been to abolish the Broward County School Board altogether.

The report also criticized Superintendent Jim Notter, saying he was not strong enough in leading the nation’s sixth largest school district.

The report concludes:

“The corruptive influence here is most often campaign contributions from individuals with a financial stake in how Board members vote. Long ago the Board should have recognized the risk that putting themselves in the center of handing out hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars would inevitably drawn attention and undue influence from moneyed interests…Only now, years later and with pressure from all sides, have they begun to take steps to resolve this and other issues.

“Unfortunately based on the history of this Board as an institution, we have no confidence in their ability to make meaningful changes and to adhere to them. The solutions we see, at least short term, are to remove as much power and influence from the Board as possible and to have an independent outside authority monitor their dealings closely.’’

The report blasts the board for “an appalling lack of both leadership and awareness. Rather than focusing on the big picture and looking to the challenges of the future, they have mired themselves in the day to day running of the District, a task for which they are singularly unqualified.’’

Summary of Findings….Our inquiry of the District focused on the non-instructional aspects of the District’s functions, particularly the construction of schools. We have heard from some mid level managers that they can’t discipline or fire lazy incompetent workers, thwarted by a timid personnel department and sometimes by protective Board members who must vote on every dismissal,  yet we are aware of top levelmanagers who openly talk of targeting whistle blowers, boat-rockers and other malcontents whose primary sin appears to be exposing flaws in the system and lack of leadership among senior staff.  Those employees find themselves transferred out of their positions to less desirable posts; transferredto the districts dumping ground, the book depository; or even outright fired for petty violations.In short,  we have a  middle  management staff that tolerates or is forced to tolerateincompetence, double-dealing, corruption and laziness but which in turn is always fearful of being targeted by upper management should they challenge interference by Board members or attempt to hold contractors accountable for their work.

Among the criticisms, the report says the school board ’”seems to be more comfortable with opening unfinished schools than angering the contractors that fund their campaigns through political contributions and fundraisers.”

The list of findings is extensive: incomplete and inadequate construction records, untrained inspectors, “wasteful and dubious spending on ill conceived ideas,” and board members who “direct that spending towards friends, acquaintances or supporters of Board members without any accountability.”

The jurors conclude with 21 recommendations, in addition to calling for an outside monitor to oversee every move until the district and its oversight board roots out corruption and gets into shape. Among them:

Refuse campaign contributions from contractors, vendors and others doing business with the Board.

Require mandatory ethics training and testing by an outside agency.

All late additions to the Board’s agenda must be discussed at a public meeting.

Add more detail to agenda items or provide a link to where more information concerning the item can be found.

Reduce the threshold on spending items on the consent agenda.

Remove retainage reductions from consent agenda.

Require recommendation of the Superintendent or the Deputy Superintendent for reduction in retainage to be in writing and under their signature.

End the influence of the Board over the Building department by turning over inspections to local building departments.

Reduce number of school board members to 5.

Place before the voters the issue of electing the Superintendent.

Create independent office of Inspector General to monitor the Board and District

Prohibit board members from being involved in the selection of contractors, vendors, or financial institutions.

No official business should be conducted between school board members and staff

All bids should be opened in public, with Auditor there to certify bids met minimums.

No decisions should be made anywhere other than a regularly scheduled board meeting.

No discussions should be had other than at Board meetings or workshops as per Sunshine Law requirements.

Prohibit gifts of any value to any Board member or District employee from anyone doing business with the District or lobbying the Board

Empower Department of Education to penalize districts that don’t file require paperwork by withholding any state funds until certificates of occupancy, inspections and other project documents are filed.

Broward County, Florida– A school board chairwomen has admitted to using a derogatory slur in front of colleagues in 2007. According to reports filed about the incident, while serving as a Transportation specialist, Ann Murray referred to the upper deck seating at Sun Life Stadium as “n—- heaven.”  What a silly thing to have said as a public official. I mean it’s inappropriate language for anyone to use but for a public official, it’s just ridiculous.

Ann Murray was quoted: “In 2007, I used a word I should have never used. Minutes after saying it, I apologized to my co-workers and subordinates. Eventually, I received a very strong reprimand from my supervisor,” she wrote. “To this day, I have the deepest regret for the incident and the pain I may have caused others. I ask the African American community and all communities who suffer with the ugliness of bigotry to accept my sincerest apology.”

• James F. Notter is the Superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, the nation’s sixth-largest public school district and the largest fully accredited public school system in the country, with over 255,000 students in more than 230 schools and education centers and 68 charter schools.  He became the 18th permanent leader in the 94-year history of Broward County Public Schools on August 7, 2007.

  Mr. Notter began his career as an elementary and secondary school classroom teacher for the Orleans Niagara Board of Cooperative Education Services in Sanborn, New York.  He has served 37 years in public education, including 27 years in administrative roles and 10 years as a classroom teacher in Western New York. He is in his 24th year with Broward County Public Schools, having relocated to South Florida in 1986.  Mr. Notter joined the District in March of 1986 and has progressed through the organization, serving in a variety of capacities before being named the North Central Area Superintendent in July of 1999.  He was named Deputy Superintendent in July of 2001 and added the Chief of Staff role to his responsibilities in July of 2003.

  He is a graduate of the University at Buffalo with a BS degree in education and earned a MS degree in administration from Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York.  He has completed his postgraduate work at Florida International University and the University of Miami and is currently enrolled in the doctoral program for Organizational Leadership at Nova Southeastern University in Davie.

I’m now curious about how the County relates to the school board (who runs the county?), where the school gets its money from (state, county, directly from the Feds?) and how much of the county has gone charter.

Although I don’t have any children in the public school system, I am increasingly interested in the public school policy problems.  From watching the mayors get rid of the school boards so that they can take over and turn-around the schools (DC, Chicago?) to listening to the endless debates about school reform and teachers, I’m getting very interested in getting in touch with the reality.

So I’m going to start my own personal study of my local school system and the Broward County School Board.  And I quote:

BCPS is the sixth largest and the largest fully accredited K-12 and adult school system in the country. Under the leadership of the School Board of Broward County, Florida and Superintendent of Schools James F. Notter, we are “Educating Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s World.”We have nearly 257,000 students, 230 traditional schools and centers, 68 charter schools and one virtual school that serves elementary, middle and high school students. BCPS serves a diverse student population.  We have students from 173 different countries speaking 53 different languages.

I think I’ll start with the question of governance. As in, who is in charge?  It’s the publicly elected school board. There are seven districts and two members voted at large (Robin, Jennifer). The chair is Benjamin (how is he picked?) and the vice chair is Ann.