Copyright 2000 eMediaMillWorks, Inc.
(f/k/a Federal
Document Clearing House, Inc.)
Federal Document Clearing House
Congressional Testimony
March 8, 2000, Wednesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 4880 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY March 03, 2000 KATHRYN A. T. KNOX HEADMASTER LIBERTY COMMON SCHOOL
HOUSE EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
CHARTER SCHOOLS
BODY:
By Kathryn A. T. Knox, Ph.D.,
Headmaster Education and the Workforce, March 3, 2000 I am very proud to
represent Liberty Common School in Poudre School District, Ft. Collins,
Colorado. As you know, as a charter school, we operate under a contract with
significantly more autonomy than the typical public school and yet with clearly
articulated expectations for accountability and high standards. Our school is a
K-9 school with over 500 students. We have grown every year and have a waiting
list and lottery pool with over 900 students. In addition to successfully
implementing I 00% of the Core Knowledge curriculum and creating a 9th grade
Classical Honors curriculum, a character education program, a solid teacher
education progran-4 and a strong and well-articulated literacy program with 98%
of all students at or above grade level in reading by the end of first grade, we
are active participants in the charter school and Core Knowledge movements. We
have also been leaders in seeking alternative financing for capital needs and
are state and local leaders in standardized testing results. Our Board of
Directors are very committed parents who contribute enormous amounts of time in
general governance support, in financial oversight and visioning. We are
committed to high standards, student achievement, citizenship and development of
community. Our mission is excellence and fairness in education, and our dominant
metaphor is the journey. With the focus on Federal support for charter schools,
I'd like to consider several initiatives for discussion. Goals 2000 provided a
framework for meeting National Education Goals by promoting coherent and
systemic education reform. The Public Char-ter Schools Program was created to
provide financial assistance for charter school start-up and growth. The
Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program offers grants to assist
schools in developing comprehensive school reforms. AU of these are helpful to
charter schools and the schools of choice movement. However, in the goal to help
schools, some determinations on what is a good program (often coming out of a
current philosophical or political slant--such as with the new math wars;
phonics or not; content/process differences) can color who gets financing,
because grant reviewers have predeterminations on what is a "good program". The
school effectiveness research of today should focus on results rather than on
the philosophy of those in charge. With the reauthorized Federal charter school
expansion act of 1998 , schools are reviewed every five years to ensure the
school is meeting the terms of its charter. Accountability is important to most
charter schools, including our own. We hold high standards and want to measure
our progress quantitatively and qualitatively and create benchmarks and goals
for continual progress. I have been a team leader and a team participant in the
Colorado League of Charter Schools Accountability Process. This process has had
the support of some state representatives as well as many district personnel
across our state. It seems that initiatives like this one, that focus on how
well the charter is meeting the terms of its contract, reviewed by somewhat
objective reviewers, are worth supporting. Such accountability procedures take
the renewal process to a larger audience by putting more eyes than simply those
coming from the district personnel on the charter school. The Federal Charter
Act also rewards states that have made progress in increasing the number of
high-quality, accountable charter schools. We have been the beneficiary of some
of these financial awards. We received Title X grants for two of our three
years, with the first allocation being $116,312. in the 1997-1998 school year,
and the second being $179,562. in thel998- 1999schoolyear.
Wealsoreceiveda$10,00OTitlellIESEAtechnologygrant,which helped us get a working
computer lab going. The Title X grants were used for much-needed books, science
materials and so forth, to bring a school from start-up to solid operations. The
Act also stresses the requirement for the same state assessments as other public
schools. We take more standardized tests than other schools in the district, and
also participate in all the CSAP (Colorado state assessments) tests. Our results
have been very gritifying. Last year (and last year there were only tests in
3d,4 1h and 7th grades), we exceeded both the district and the state results
with percent of students at or above proficient. Reading results follow: Reading
Proficiency Results CHART FOUND ON HARD COPY Let me stress that the results come
out of clear definition of goals throughout the school, hard work and
persistence of all involved, a focused approach to teaching, parent support, and
coherent and consistent approaches to achieving our goals. We are very
accountable to our public and at the "grassroots" level, it is immediately
evident if students are not reading at grade level. We attribute our success to
the ability to have autonomy and be free of unnecessary or burdensome
bureaucratic regulation. We have an entrepreneurial spirit in approaching
teaching, and all of us involved in the school put in more hours, do more
focused activities, and work together more consistently than most schools I have
been involved in. Teachers, parents and administrators are committed to do the
best we all can to help students succeed. We use materials and methods that
work, even if they are not the currently accepted ones of the district (such as
a phonics-based approach to literacy including literacy immersion; and Quantum
methodology to support better learning). The Act also provides new authority for
charter schools to serve as models. We have been pleased during our two years to
"share the knowledge" of what is working, where to find resources, how to
organize lessons and units effectively and which methods work well. We networked
with other schools, set up a web site and sent teachers out to observe at other
schools, and be observed in turn. We did all this without remuneration. However,
now, we are very solid in our third year, and we look forward to being able to
apply for a Dissemination Grant where we can possibly help other charter schools
more directly and consistently. The new IDEA has caused all schools some
confusion in interpretation, but overall, it is workable and provides more of a
platform on which parents, administrators and teachers can work together to
improve learning for all. The confusion primarily lies in who decides whether
misbehavior is a direct result of the disability or not. The
National Study of Charter Schools is very helpful for gathering and
disseminating data about the effectiveness of charter schools. We have
participated in this study, in a local study by an R&D center in Ft.
Collins, with other data-gathering efforts, and also now with the Harvard
Charter School study. The US Charter Schools Web Site, the Colorado Department
of Education site with links to charter schools, the information shared by the
League of Charter Schools during our initial year of start-up, our own web site,
and many other helpful internet sites, are all contributors to sharing the
knowledge. Many administrators and teachers in charter schools are very
interested in gaining knowledge, skills, processes, methods and procedures that
will improve their schools and classes, and believe that we can learn much from
others. Limitations that have turned into areas of challenge for us have of
course been inadequate access to capital funds and operating funds. The receipt
of start up grant monies from the Federal government (Title X) was extremely
important to the successfid first two years of our school in that the monies
allowed us to purchase start-up resources, books, science equipment and so
forth. Our district did not provide a building for our school, and our lease
took almost a third of our revenues. At present it is still taking about a
quarter of all revenues. Through bond financing (and being the first school in
the nation to qualify for tax-exempt bond financing for our building), and
creating a 501 (c)3 we have saved substantial revenue which we have applied to
increasing student achievement. Even with this creative and very-time-consuming
process, our students remain at a disadvantage compared to other district
students. Though the new state law here allots 95% of funds to charter schools,
it does not take into account other sources of funding that contribute
significantly to a school's budget. For us, these include an inability to access
vehicle license fees, mill levy funds, capital reserve funds, and facilities
bond funding. When you add this lack of access to those funds to the cost of
providing our building, providing our own maintenance, repair, utilities,
custodial services and grounds maintenance, we are operating on about 73% of
each dollar other district schools receive, and yet our students are public
school students just like any others in the district. The lack of fair funding
has been a huge hurdle for us to overcome, and it is for most charter schools.
We have a substantial burden that other schools don't have, and that seriously
impacts the full educational opportunities for our students, especially without
access to grant monies. Another Federal grant, the Title III
ESEA funds for technology ($ 1 0,000 received by our school)
helped us to start up our computer lab. However, it would not have been
sufficient without substantial "sweat equity." As with many charter schools,
labor is contributed by parent volunteers, and in fact in our case, our parents
set up the LAN and actually ran all the wires to set up our lab. Nevertheless,
even with all the parent volunteer time and creative financing, we continue to
have substantial capital needs. As a school that includes an elementary and a
junior high, we need to expand our facility (add a regulation gymnasium for
example), and are finding it very difficult to find ways to finance these needs.
We would welcome Federal support in grants related to capital growth for third
year schools. In addition to capital funding limitations, the lottery
requirement potentially inhibits our ability to increase the socioeconomic
diversity of our student population. The reason for a lottery is undoubtedly to
increase diversity within a school, but in a city like Ft. Collins which is not
extremely diverse, the lottery may have the opposite effect, potentially pushing
the chances for a student of color or a student at-risk back in the pool. In our
charter, we have stated that we want to set aside and hold slots for at-risk
students but this is counter to the lottery requirement. Another idea I would
like to put forth is the possibility of Federal support of rigorous alternative
paths to licensure (both teacher and administrator licenses) including
apprenticeship models, the license being accepted in any state. Many of our
teachers want to keep a license up to date, but they get caught up in the
various state requirements for classes, in-services etc., and we find that there
is often the necessity to "create our own program' for these teachers to get
them re-licensed. We have found that teachers need solid content knowledge in
order to engage students and teach them well. Of course, good methodology and an
understanding of student learning is also requisite. However, much of the
current teacher preparation programs focus primarily on method rather than on
content, and thus the licensure process also does as wen. I would like to see
content specialists who are also excellent teachers of students, be able to gain
licensure that would ensure them continuance within the teaching profession. I
would also be supportive of alternative administrator licensing models including
apprenticeships and experiential components. I would like to see this licensure
process supercede, or at least be an alternative to, much of the state-to-state
licensing requirement. Other challenges we have experienced are similar to any
other school, including the need to provide content-based training for teachers
to keep them up-to-date in their fields, and the importance of retiring good
teachers using financial as well as organizational benefits. We have accepted
this challenge and we have implemented many successful systems including A
Learning Organization philosophy, an intensive recruitment and training process,
cooperative planning time, partner teachers, mentoring, a bonus pay systen,4
teacher-created benchmarks for literacy, math and science, a habits of mind
program, regular professional development, and opportunities for teacher
leadership. In addition to Federal support initiatives, we have also found that
local support has been extremely helpful, such as the new regional Core
Knowledge Center in Colorado (for disseminating information, coordinating
training, and locating resources), and the CDE charter school outreach of
information and resources, through knowledgeable people like Bill Windler and
Denise Mund. A brief summary of our academic goals and results is included
below. We attribute our success to our ability to determine our goals and focus
efforts without burdensome bureaucracy. Our teachers are encouraged to develop
leadership and "do what has to be done" to help increase student literacy, math
skills, and so on, and are not inhibited by mandates coming from a central
office. We implemented a standards-based, well-articulated curriculum K-8 at the
beginning of our charter, for example, not because we were told to, but because
we knew it was the right way to start a school. We are very accountable to our
public and we receive immediate "grassroots response" if we fall below our
standards and goals. In addition, parents volunteer and support the school
because they believe their efforts will make a difference. 1. Reading Goals a.
all students mastering all 70 phonograms of the English language by 2vid grade b
all students reading at or above grade level by end of first grade c. 22% or
less below proficient on District Level's tests in grades 3-6 d. a minimum of
75% of 3 Id graders and 50% of 0graders at or above proficient with a goal of
less than 5% or less below proficient on state CSAP tests e. a decrease in the
number of at-risk readers each year RESULTS: a. all students mastering 70
phonograms of the English language by 2 degrade (goal met) b. in K-2, 162 of 168
students at or above grade level in reading c. 18.5% in grades 3-6 below
proficient in reading (goal exceeded) d. Third grade CSAP results: 86% at
proficient or advanced levels; 0% unsatisfactory (goal exceeded; first in
district, top IO% of entire state) e.Fourth grade CSAP results: in 1998, 83% at
proficient or advanced; in 1999, 91% at proficient or advanced (goal exceeded,
top IO% of state) 2. Writing Goals a. increase student proficiency across the
school b. create benchmarks and monitor student progress c. exceed state and
district results on state CSAP standardized assessment RESULTS: a. narrowing of
gap of students below grade level. b. 4 th grade state writing assessment
exceeded district and state results; first in entire district 3. Math Goals a.
7% annual increase in mean ITBS developmental scores b. early diagnosis of math
level of upper students; use of technology to support enrichment and remediation
c. schedule math at same time of day so students can attend at appropriate level
a. Increase in ITBS developmental scores in all grades ('98- '99); new CSAP 5h
grade scores will be out this month a. 4. Coverage of lOO% of Core Knowledge
Sequence with depth and breadth using the Thinking Framework and Habits of Mind
in various content areas 5. Many avenues of regular professional development
both on and off-site (these have included training in the areas of content level
learning, health and safety, methodology, organization and leadership) We also
have public speaking goals (including oral presentations at all grade levels),
community service and character education goals (handout attached for examples
of program development), and goals to increase electives and enrichments (adding
Latin and foreign language; economics experiences; bands and choirs; athletics
and technology options, for example). We will always have the goal of strong
parent involvement (parent survey results enclosed). Liberty administration uses
principles articulated by Senge, Sergiovanni, Covey and others to create a
foundation of trust and learning, in which teachers work well and effectively
together. I strongly believe that much of our success is attributable to the
entrepreneurial spirit developed and maintained by all involved in the school.
This spirit is nurtured through being free from much bureaucracy. We have a few
shared statements including, "no muda" (eliminating what consumes resources but
gives no value), and "the main thing is student achievement, and the main thing
is to keep this main thing the main thing." We also use the ideas of "servant
leadership," "collegiality (not just congeniality)," and doing what has to be
done for excellence and fairness in our system. Many of our parents are very
committed to the mission, vision and principles articulated by our school and
work with us because they know that parents and teachers working together make a
huge difference in student achievement. We have been invited to apply for a John
Irwin Schools of Excellence award by the state of Colorado, and we have received
a plaque qualifying us as a 100% Core Knowledge school. These are simply a few
of the outward symbols that we are continuing to do the job we signed on to do.
The real heart and soul of a school can be seen and felt, experienced in a
child's eyes and measured in learning. We continue to be committed to excellence
at Liberty Common School and we appreciate your support of school choice and
charter schools in this nation.
LOAD-DATE: March 9,
2000