Charters, voc ed and gadgets

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Carnegie Colleagues Quoted

MIXED STUDY SEEN FOR CHARTER NETWORKS
A follow-up to a major national study on the performance of charter school networks shows that they are yielding varied results when it comes to their students' progress in graduating from high school and going on to college. The study shows that, of the six private charter-management organizations, or CMOs, for which data were available, three have significant positive impacts on students' on-time graduation rates compared with the regular public schools in their areas. One of the charter networks increased the probability that its students would graduate from high school in four years by 23 percentage points.

Thomas Toch, a Washington-based senior fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in Stanford, Calif., said CMOs, with their high population of low-income students, face a big academic challenge in moving students through high school and on to college enrollment. The less-affluent students who make up the majority of those enrolled in CMOs tend to be below grade level, compared with more affluent peers. "To take kids that are way behind and catch them up significantly in high school takes a lot of work," said Mr. Toch, who has done research on CMOs. "In some ways, it's encouraging that a few of the CMOs have been successful." The article is in Education Week, but is available to subscribers only at this point.

BOSTON MAYOR SEEKS TO OVERHAUL VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Mayor Thomas M. Menino plans to call for a major overhaul of Boston’s faltering vocational high school, seeking broad authority to create a job training institution that aims to help teenagers and adults climb out of poverty and into the middle class. By day, the new Madison Park Technical Vocational High School would serve high school students, coupling real-world job skills and rigorous academics. By night, adults would take to the same classrooms, workshops, and laboratories to develop skills for the modern workforce. Now, more than 40 percent of freshmen who enter Madison Park do not graduate in four years, and more than two-thirds fail to perform at grade level on state standardized tests. In fact, many students are so disengaged they miss a month of school each year. The Menino administration wants to lengthen the school day, revamp the curriculum, and radically change the schedule so students have more time for out-of-school internships

“Much of vocational education over the last decade has been a dumping ground for low-achieving, difficult-to-educate kids,’’ said Thomas Toch, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. “What every student needs today, regardless of his or her destination beyond high school, is a strong grounding in academics. There are fewer and fewer jobs that allow kids to be successful with their hands that [don’t] involve their heads.’’ The article is in the Boston Globe.

IDEAS TRUMP GADGETS
Ideas really do matter. People can talk all day about the impact of blockbuster ideas, like the breakthrough concepts that led to the microchip or Ford’s assembly line. But one of the best examples of the power and importance of ideas has to do with something less celebrated: coffee cup lids. Many people have already forgotten the ritual they used to perform after ordering their latte or double-shot espresso in a coffee shop. Until fairly recently, customers often had to fumble around the counter looking for the right-size lid, because a medium lid would not do if they were holding a large cup of cappuccino. All that changed with the introduction of one-size-fits-all lids, the product of an idea that required some tinkering with the design of the rims of disposable coffee cups.

The notion was just a little one, not often talked about today. But one noted economist who appreciates such things is Paul Romer of New York University’s Stearn School of Business (and a Carnegie Board member). “That small change in the geometry of coffee cups means that somebody can save a little time in setting up the coffee shop, preparing the cups, getting your coffee, and getting out,” Romer told Reason Magazine some years ago, explaining how the ideas underlying this simple innovation have touched both the shops and their customers. He points out that millions of little discoveries like this, combined with some very big ones, have exponentially improved the quality of life over the past century. The article is in Forbes Magazine.