The State of Charter Schools

Hey Innovators!

 

Phase 1 of my Playworks internship has been over for a few weeks now. If you recall from my last post, phase 1 encompassed a great deal of volunteering within Urban schools. Aside from the loads of fun I had playing with kids on the recess yard, the biggest takeaway that I got from the first phase of my internship is the difference between charter schools and traditional public schools. I spent about half of my time volunteering in John P. Holland, a small charter school located in downtown Paterson, NJ. I spent the other half of my time volunteering in Peshine Avenue school, a massive public school located in Newark, NJ. Two very important contrasts exist between these two schools: the contrast between a charter school and a public school as well as the contrast between a small school and a large school—in this case, size matters.

 

I noticed in John P. Holland, the smaller school, the school acted more as a community. With only one class per grade, there were only 9 classes throughout the K-8.The teachers knew all the students, and the students knew all the teachers. It was a community, not an institution.

 

Over at Peshine Avenue school, the student population was larger, class sizes were larger, and the building itself was enormous. Cutting class was a very easy task for students. Not a day went by when I saw less than 5 kids cutting class, roaming the halls with no apparent destination. Peshine was an instiution, not a community. Each student was a number. Teachers couldn’t be bothered with chasing a single insubordinate student down the halls when she had a class full of 20 other students to teach.

 

All in all, I am of the opinion that smaller is better when it comes to schools. When schools like Peshine Avenue in Newark grow too large, students turn into numbers, and the necessary personal attention and positive relationships that our urban youth need just dissipates.

 

Now on to the charter school vs. public school debate. Stanford recently put out a brand new study on Charter School impact in the US. Reading through this lengthy 100 page study was quite the task, and prevented me from writing this post earlier. Basically, here’s what the study says: Charter schools can be a very beneficial system if used in the right setting for the right people. For example, right beside Washington D.C. our beloved Louisiana’s charter school is thriving more than any other state’s charter school system in the country, recording the 2^nd most student growth in reading and one of the top five highest periods of growth in Math. Overall, students enrolled in the Louisiana charter school system gain an extra 50 days of learning over those enrolled in a TPS (traditional public school). WOOOOOH! IT’S WORKING! NOLA…NOLA…NOLA! On the flip side, Nevada “has the weakest charter growth effect in reading, equal to 108 fewer days of learning” than TPS. To complement those state-by-state statistics, here are some pretty encouraging national statistics:

 

–       Black charter students in poverty—compared to Black TPS (traditional public school) student in poverty—gain an extra 29 days of learning in reading a year and 36 days of learning in math.

–       In 2009 charter students gained about 7 extra days of reading. In 2013, that number improved to 14 additional days.

–       In 2009 charter students received about 22 less days of learning in reading than their TPS counterpart. In 2013, that number improved to 7 less days.

 

Statistics like these—some good, some not so god—exist in mass quantities within this extraordinarily comprehensive study. My main takeaway from the analysis is two-fold. First, closure of poorly performing schools is crucial to the success of the charter school system. While it is unfortunate for the students attending those schools, it is not beneficial for them to attend a poorly run school. The study lists hypothetical rules for school closures on page 89 of the study.

 

Second, and most importantly, the key to charter school success is time and patience. Students that transfer from a TPS to a charter lose 43 days of learning in reading and 58 days of learning in Math, on average, than students in TPS after their first year. After 2 years of enrollment, they gain 22 additional days of learning in reading and 14 additional days of learning in math than students in TPS. Finally, after 4 or more years of attending that charter school, charter students gain 50 additional days of learning in reading and 43 additional days in Math than TPS students. Those last numbers are telling of the system as a whole. The charter system is still in its adolescent phase. It hasn’t quite figured itself out yet, and is still going through an awkward phase where many of the kinks in its system haven’t been figured out yet. But, it looks like the trends are on the rise, and with time, this quasi-natural selection system could become the main education system in Louisiana, if not the US.

 

Thanks for Reading,

Max

The Power of Networking: My Playworks Internship

Seeing as this is my first blog post, I’ll start out by giving you guys a little insight into my internship with Playworks. 

First off, I’m minoring in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. Second of all, I have a very strong passion for working with inner city youth. Combined, these two interests have led me to engage in lots of work with New Orleans youth. This is why I was jumping out of my seat with excitement when I found out that I would be working with Playworks through the service learning component of my intro to social innovation course. I was even more enthused when Jill Vialet, founder and CEO of Playworks, gave a guest lecture in our class about her work as a Social entrepreneur. But it seems I’m getting a little ahead of myself, let me explain a little bit about Playworks and what they do. 

Their website says it best: “Playworks is a national nonprofit organization that transforms schools by providing play and physical activity at recess and throughout the school day.“ Recess? What could they possibly do at recess, that’s just time for free play? People commonly respond in this way after initially hearing what Playworks does. What they might not realize is that Recess has become a huge issue in schools for 2 reasons:

1. Schools are removing recess from daily curriculums to make more time for academics.

2. Recess has become a chaotic mess of aggressive play and bullying, doing more harm for the kids than good

Now located in 22 cities, 360 schools, and serving over 270,000 kids a day, Playworks has found the solution to these problems. By planting a Playworks coach on the recess yard of their partner schools, Playworks is taking control of recess across the country. These coaches manage the recess grounds by implementing structured games that teach the kids valuable socioemotional skills like leadership and conflict resolution. Statistical studies have clearly shown that Playworks has immensely reduced bullying in schools and increased physical activity along with creating a much stronger learning environment.

Now that we’ve cleared up the gist of Playworks, let me get back to my encounter with Jill Vialet. Following her guest lecture, I approached her after class and told her a little bit about the work I’ve done with New Orlean’s youth. Following a little bit of small talk, I told Jill I lived in New Jersey and asked her about possible internship opportunities for the summer. She gave me somewhat of a mini interview and offered a position to me right on the spot. Who knew the power of networking was so strong? Just 45 minutes before that, I came to class anticipating another normal day of learning and within minutes I was walking away with the opportunity of a lifetime.

Which leaves me here, a third of the way done as a Playworks intern. Considering this is my first post, let me break down how this internship is planned out.

 

Phase 1: Work in various Playworks schools and get a feel for the on-the-ground work this extraordinary company does. 

Phase 2: Work in the Playworks Greater Newark/Greater New York office with the goal of learning what a non-profit office environment looks like.

 

Phase 1 is nearly done and I cannot be enjoying it anymore. With that, I’ll leave you guys off with a piece of networking advice–a piece of advice that I carry around with me at all times:

“Walk through every door that opens for you, because you can always walk back out.”

Rest assured, I definitely won’t be walking back out of this door.

 

Thanks for reading!

Max

 

The Power of Networking

Seeing as this is my first blog post, I’ll start out by giving you guys a little insight into my internship with Playworks. 

First off, I’m minoring in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. Second of all, I have a very strong passion for working with inner city youth. Combined, these two interests have led me to engage in lots of work with New Orleans youth. This is why I was jumping out of my seat with excitement when I found out that I would be working with Playworks through the service learning component of my intro to social innovation course. I was even more enthused when Jill Vialet, founder and CEO of Playworks, gave a guest lecture in our class about her work as a Social entrepreneur. But it seems I’m getting a little ahead of myself, let me explain a little bit about Playworks and what they do. 

Their website says it best: “Playworks is a national nonprofit organization that transforms schools by providing play and physical activity at recess and throughout the school day.“ Recess? What could they possibly do at recess, that’s just time for free play? People commonly respond in this way after initially hearing what Playworks does. What they might not realize is that Recess has become a huge issue in schools for 2 reasons:

1. Schools are removing recess from daily curriculums to make more time for academics.

2. Recess has become a chaotic mess of aggressive play and bullying, doing more harm for the kids than good

Now located in 22 cities, 360 schools, and serving over 270,000 kids a day, Playworks has found the solution to these problems. By planting a Playworks coach on the recess yard of their partner schools, Playworks is taking control of recess across the country. These coaches manage the recess grounds by implementing structured games that teach the kids valuable socioemotional skills like leadership and conflict resolution. Statistical studies have clearly shown that Playworks has immensely reduced bullying in schools and increased physical activity along with creating a much stronger learning environment.

Now that we’ve cleared up the gist of Playworks, let me get back to my encounter with Jill Vialet. Following her guest lecture, I approached her after class and told her a little bit about the work I’ve done with New Orlean’s youth. Following a little bit of small talk, I told Jill I lived in New Jersey and asked her about possible internship opportunities for the summer. She gave me somewhat of a mini interview and offered a position to me right on the spot. Who knew the power of networking was so strong? Just 45 minutes before that I came to class anticipating another normal day of learning and within minutes I was walking away with the opportunity of a lifetime.

Which leaves me here, a third of the way done as a Playworks intern. Considering this is my first post, let me break down how this internship is planned out.

 

Phase 1: Work in various Playworks schools and get a feel for the on-the-ground work this extraordinary company does. 

Phase 2: Work in the Playworks Greater Newark/Greater New York office with the goal of learning what a non-profit office environment looks like.

 

Phase 1 is nearly done. Keep on checking back for updates as I am nearly done with Phase 1 of the internship and cannot wait to tell you guys all the great things I have learned and observed over the past couple of weeks. With that, I’ll leave you guys off with a piece of networking advice about that I abide by at all times which helped me attain this amazing opportunity:

“Walk through every door that opens for you, because you can always walk back out.”

Rest assured, I definitely won’t be walking back out of this door.

 

Thanks for reading!

Max