Wake up Denver! Actually, wake up America!  It’s no secret our education system ranks amongst the lowest in the world in math and science.  It’s also no secret that Denver only graduates just over half of its high school seniors and the dropout rate is abysmal. And, there are 1.2 million students dropping out per year in the United States!

Most of us walk around feeling helpless, pointing fingers and bad-mouthing teachers and administrators for not doing enough for the children – the children!  Well, we are the makers of these children and we began as the children, didn’t we?  When we fail them, we have failed ourselves.  School was originally developed to be linear and follow a track decades ago.  This was so our children could work in factories or on the farm.  Go to school, learn your numbers, break for lunch, learn your letters.  School was never about the organic and evolutionary nature of how children actually learn.  Most public schools follow that same track system today.

So, do we just sit around while ineffective teachers and administrators lead and teach our kids?  I suppose we should ask, “Are they actually leading and teaching my children?” Or, do we stir the pot, challenge them, question them and ask, “What are you doing to take my child to the next level, to inspire them?”  If they cannot answer, are you seeking alternative education or asking for change  so they will be in an environment that is rewarding and inclusive and progressive?

We are privileged (and for some, burdened) with many school choices here in Denver. But, those schools that are successful and making positive change are so incredibly difficult to “get in” to (it’s like winning the lottery if you do succeed). As Oprah said on her show yesterday, September 20th, 2010 about this very subject, “You shouldn’t have to win the lottery to get a good education!” What happens if your child doesn’t get in to one of these coveted schools, then what?

Waiting for “Superman” is a documentary film created by critically acclaimed and award winning director (of An Inconvenient Truth), Davis Guggenheim.  It has a similar premise as another film, The Lottery, a recent documentary about families vying for a spot in an amazing and high achieving NYC charter school. Waiting for “Superman” explores the state of our current public schools in the U.S. and how they are affecting our children and subsequently our children’s children.

Waiting for “Superman” will be released nationally sometime in October.  On October 15th, Denver will get our chance to see this film.  Please join us in watching; this is a MUST see whether you are pleased with your child’s education or not. It’s for everyone.

In the words of author, educator and radical thinker Ken Robinson, “Every education system is being reformed at the moment. And it’s not enough. Reform is no use anymore because that’s simply improving a broken model. What we need is not evolution, but a revolution. This has to be transformed into something else.”

To see yesterday’s Oprah Show, where her Angel Network awarded six “Groundbreaking Charter Schools” each $1 Million dollars, the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) Charter School included among them, go here: The Oprah Show – Waiting for “Superman”

When you’ve had a chance to see the Oprah Show and the documentary, Waiting for “Superman“, please tell us what you think.  Who will be Denver’s “One Woman Tornado”? What will you do to strive for educational excellence? If you don’t know where to turn, perhaps start here: Take Action Denver.  Let’s bring this rumble to a ROAR!

Take a look at what happened to one of the lowest performing  high schools in Rhode Island a few days ago. The school board needed to make some drastic changes and, as it turns out, they certainly did by firing all the administrators, teachers, and personnel at Central Falls High School.

The Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, supported the school district and superintendent’s decision. He, after all, is known for the radical “turnaround program” from his days as superintendent of Chicago Public Schools.  In order for R.I. to receive millions of dollars in federal funding for transforming its lowest performing schools, the mass firings was the option they chose. Read the article below to see if you agree or disagree with this approach of  turnaround for a low performing school?

(CNN) — A school board in Rhode Island has voted to fire all teachers at a struggling high school, a dramatic move aimed at shoring up education in a poverty-ridden school district.

In a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, the board approved the plan by Frances Gallo, superintendent at Central Falls School District, to discharge the teachers, administrators and other personnel at Central Falls High School.

The firings, which will be effective at the end of this school year, came after the district said it failed to reach an agreement with the teachers’ union on a plan for the teachers to spend more time with students to improve test scores.

A union spokesman called the firings drastic and cited a 21 percent rise in reading scores and a 3 percent increase in math scores in the past two years.

The school district said 93 people, including the principal and three assistant principals, were fired. The teachers’ union earlier had said the firings affected 74 classroom teachers and other educators, such as guidance counselors and reading specialists.

Central Falls High is one of the lowest-performing schools in Rhode Island. It is in a community where median income is $22,000, census figures show.

Of the 800 students, 65 percent are Hispanic and for most of them, English is a second language. Half the students are failing every subject, with 55 percent skilled in reading and 7 percent proficient in math, officials said.

In a proposal based on federal guidelines, Gallo asked teachers to work a longer school day of seven hours and tutor students weekly for one hour outside school time. She proposed teachers have lunch with students often, meet for 90 minutes every week to discuss education and set aside two weeks during summer break for paid professional development.

A spokesman for the union said the teachers had accepted most of the changes, but wanted to work out compensation for the extra hours of work.

The superintendent said the two sides could not agree on a pay rate.

Under new federal requirements for school reform, low-performing schools have several options. One is called the transformation model, which includes a series of changes that teachers agree to adopt.

When the negotiations on those changes failed at Central Falls High, the superintendent switched to another option: the turnaround model, which means firing every teacher at the troubled school.

Kathy May, a teacher at Central Falls High, said she’s disheartened. “I feel like, after 20 years, I can see some progress beginning to be made. And I’m sad that we’re not going to be around to follow that through, to push that forward.”

Gallo, who said Rhode Island law says notice must be given by March 1, said the problem isn’t solely the fault of teachers and it wasn’t her preference to make the move. She indicated that some of the teachers might be rehired.

“When we had to move from the transformation model, the next best move was the turnaround model. And that requires us to remove the teachers and rehire, of those who reapply, up to 50 percent,” she said.

“This is a major move, for a very significant reason, and that being that we couldn’t hone in on the assurances we needed for the transformation model.”

Asked what would happen if the teachers’ union accepted the original terms, Gallo said it would be very difficult to go back, but can’t be discounted.

“And if … as we move forward, if indeed something of that effect comes around, then I still think we have a lot of doors that could be opened.”

At a community rally before the school board meeting on Tuesday, supporters of the teachers slammed the plan.

Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, said teachers have been unfairly targeted and scapegoated and the union will fight to have them reinstated.

“We want genuine reforms, not quick fixes that do nothing but create a wedge between teachers, our school and our community,” said Sessums. She added that “teachers have agreed to numerous solutions and reforms.”

George McLaughlin, a guidance counselor who was fired along with his wife, a chemistry teacher, said the school has been inaccurately cast as a place with low graduation rates.

“We have the most transient population in this state. Nobody comes close to us. So when they say that 50 percent of the people graduate, a very high percentage of our students leave our school. They return. They leave again. They go back to other countries,” he said, noting that three times as many of the school’s students are accepted to colleges now than they were five years ago.

He also knocked the superintendent, saying she “has been with us for a little more than three years.”

If Gallo were willing to negotiate and listen to former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who has offered to mediate, “maybe we could resolve this instead of causing more trauma to us.”

McLaughlin said the negotiations were about job security, not pay, and said the teachers are ready to resume talks.

Denver Public Schools recently released the updated School Performance Framework (SPF) reports for the district’s 140 schools. The reports focus on the year-to-year growth of each school. It includes the academic progress of the students, along with other areas such as attendance, student and parent satisfaction, etc. Click on the link below to see how your school measures up.

School Performance Framework (SPF) Reports