School Choice: A Dilema

SCHOOL CHOICE: Public, Private, Charter, Home School Or Vouchers Or Chuck Them All & Start With Early Childhood/Head Start. The dilema

Many scholars and academicians debate what is the best form of education for our kids. Early childhood versus charter schools, private schools versus public schools and so on. Perhaps some definitions would seem appropriate at this point: Public Schools, The national system of formal education in the United States developed in the 19th century. Public schooling is very similar to the auto industry; a dying dinosaur (Americans are fond of the dinosaur word not realizing that America may not make it that far without some major changes along with a desire to improve. Jefferson was the first American leader to suggest creating a public school system. His ideas formed the basis of education systems developed in the 19th century. Until the 1840s the education system was highly localized and available only to wealthy people. As a result of the efforts of free school reformers, free public education at the elementary level was available for all American children by the end of the 19th century A History of Public Education in the United States Deeptha Thattai (deeptha1@yahoo.com). Two schools of thought exist: 1 Schools began to ‘dumb down the kids; others say 2 School quality and the quality of education began to fall. Who knows the answer. We do know, however that the public education system which took so long to hatch has now been reduced to a laughing matter of private or home but not public! This is a shame.
2 Private schools which began as Catholic or Parochial Schools were the first form of private schooling followed by other religious groups and then the elite schools that only some could afford Private education is offered at many American preschools as well as at many colleges, universities, and technical institutes. The amount of private school tuition varies widely according to the type of school and the level of education offered Although the cost of private education is beyond the reach of many American families, most private schools offer some form of financial aid to low-income applicants
The preponderance of poorly funded public schools which lead to inability to learn has some advocates saying students in these non-performing schools should be able to access private schools by attaining vouchers to help defray the cost of tuition. Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2005 © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
.3 Charter Schools were conceived in the early 90’s as a way to teach kids who don’t do well in the public school environment Odyssey Charter School grades Kindergarten through 7th is a Distance Education program that involves Nevada licensed teachers visiting students' homes for one hour a week with parental supervision.
Students' conduct their studies online with online state approved curriculum programs
Wikipedia on Charter Schools 2009 Evaluation of Charter Schools is difficult because they often cater to 1 type of sudent. The charter school movement has grown tremendously since its beginning in 1992. Charter schools receive the same per pupil funding as traditional schools but have greater freedom in staffing scheduling curriculum and instructional methods. Charter schools are allowed to hire anyone (qualified) to manage the schools
There was much fanfare here in Las Vegas about the “Charter School” phenomenon but some who took part didn’t have the hutztbah to complete or continue the job. I started collecting articles in 2006 The article:” Charters aimed at Minorities” describes how Imagine Schools, which operates over 70 schools in various parts of the USA, has teamed up with 100 Black Men of Las Vegas, a nonprofit, organization, to open a charter school called the 100 Academy of Excellence. The Academy is one of two local charter schools operated by the Image Schools that began operation in 2006. Members of the group serve on the school’s governing board and as mentors to its’ more than 400 students The 100 Black men feel there is a serious need for this type of school based on the amount of mentoring they have been doing in schools in the North & West side of Las Vegas T Pratt, LVSun Aug 06
“Facing charter timeout, school rushing to open in a YMCA”.says Emily Richmond in her article. The State & County School Boards say a lack of resources to review apps and monitor charter schools has made a moratorium necessary. The 100 Academy of Excellence has endured 18 months of high staff turnover, and problems in providing appropriate services to special ed students. When student enrollment dipped the school finished its’ 1st year $285,000 in debt to Imagine Schools, raising red flags with the district and state Education officials. Students are required to adhere to a strict dress code & some Saturday sessions are required. The second school was set to open in Sept. at the YMCA. Emily Richmond LVSun Mar.08.Then in June 2008 Emily Richmond wrote “Charter School on Thin Ice” Imagine Schools spent $9 million building & staffing the school including providing text books. As 100 Academy’s 2nd year comes to a close, enrollment is down 20% & school officials are struggling to keep as many of their 525 students as possible for the 2008-09 academic year. Numerous concerns have been raised one of which is are taxpayers getting their money’s worth out of the $7 million the state has provided 100 Academy, The school Board will asses results in July when standardized tests taken by students throughout the district. The president of Imagine Schools Dennis Bakke notes that Nev is a not for profit charter state setting itself up for “mom-and-pop”: charter schools. No explanation given for this statement. My interpretation is that the Charter Schools in NV cannot be run by for-profit companies (like Imagine). Plans were going forward to open a 2nd school in 2008 in the fall in Durango Hills but citing concerns related to the track record of 100 Academy State officials last month shot down plans to open 2 additional campuses in the Las Vegas Valley applications. Visits to the 100 Academy of Excellence and discussions with parents found the school in somewhat chaos and that mentoring was not being done. Mentoring & volunteering were key factors that persuaded the School Board to sponsor the school in April 2006 . However there has been a sharp drop in involvement by the community group in school activities particularly in the last six months. Several parents, were particularly happy with their child’s progress. Most of the remaining portion of the article is Management VS Board of Education concerns and not germane to our discussion. However, they did add the school tests didn’t show any marked improvement in results over public schools but Imagine Schools say that test results in the 1st year are typically considered a baseline and improvement is expected in July when the latest results are released. Emily Richmond LVSun June 08 Retired Principal of Explore Knowledge Academy, Joan Sando, says charter schools must try harder than public schools to prove themselves. ”Time is on Charter’s Side”. Schools find it can take several years to measure up to Fed Standards. It has taken Ms. Sardo’s school 5 years to pull everything together. Some charter schools are appealing the Clark County : Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) decision on various grounds Emily Richmond LVSun July 08. I seem to recall a blurb on tele @ Xmas 08: It concerned the 100 Academy of Excellence I think in No Las Vegas. The principal was awarding bikes yes bikes to the kids who read the most books in a certain period of time. That’s def. a good thing!
4 Home Schooling grew as a direct result of public schools being thought inferior and therefore, needing of improvement that only a home environment could solve Home schooling provides a child’s main educational programs at home. taking the place of full time school attendance. In the US & Canada it usually meets state & provincial requirements for compulsory ed. Often families of various races, religions educational backgrounds teach their children at home.. Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2005 © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Ideally, it is the perfect way to educate a child. Much has been said about the benefits of a 2 parent family where 1 stays home educating the children, or monitoring & taking part in school progress; thus, making for a more stable home life. This, of course, has become a goal feared by some as unattainable. However, I think it could & should be done. 5 Vouchers became an issue along with home schooling as an alternative to Public Schools but financed by certain groups (other than the students) as another means of school choice. A school voucher, also called an education voucher, is a certificate issued by the government by which parents can pay for the education of their children at a school of their choice, rather than the public school to which they are assigned. In many cases, vouchers were only good at privately segregated schools, known as segregation academies. School vouchers were used in the 1960s after school integration by some Southern states in the U.S. as a method of perpetuating segregation. In a few instances, public schools were closed outright and vouchers were issued to parents. The vouchers, in many cases, were only good at privately segregated schools, known as segregation academies.wikipedia: school vouchers Dec. 2008
6 Early Childhood Ed & Head Start . Early Childhood Education, schooling for young children, usually beginning at age three, is intended to prepare them for elementary grades . Head Start, is a federally sponsored preschool program in the United States for children who come from low-income families. Established in 1965 as part of the antipoverty program of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Head Start prepares disadvantaged children for school Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2005 © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Many people donated their time to assist in Head Start Classes. My stepmother, for one, in San Diego, went out at least 3 days per week for a few hours of volunteer work. Then, it started to become popular, many people saw it as a way to make money by caring for pre-k for $. Thus all the Early Childhood Ed. Courses were born and licenses were required. Then it become more of a business than a labor of love to help those who could not help themselves
The Obama-Biden Plan for Early Childhood Education begins with the Zero to Five Plan. The Obama-Biden comprehensive “Zero to Five” plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, the Obama-Biden plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state Zero to Five efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school. There will be a new Secretary of Ed, Arne Duncan who has been praised by present Secretary Margaret Spelling. The Obama-Biden plan will expand Early Head Start and Head Start: Obama and Biden will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding, and improve quality for both.
The Obama-Biden Plan will also provide affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Obama and Biden will also increase access to affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families The Obama-Biden plan will restore the promise of America’s public education, and ensure that American children again lead the world in achievement, creativity and success. Change.gov the Obama-Biden website 1/22/09
Magnet School. Almost as an after thought we should touch on one that began in the early 60’s. Magnet Schools were begun as a result of racial desegregation
and failure of bussing as a solution. Magnet schools have three distinguishing characteristics: Distinct curriculum or instructional approach. Attract students from outside an assigned neighborhood attendance zone & 3 have diversity as an explicit purpose. Public School Review 2003/2009. Magnet schools have their own cheerleaders in the Magnet Schools of America. So a lot of people must agree.
It’s hard to end a discussion on school choices without touching on the fact that there are some schools that cater to groups quite unimaginable. i.e. one school here in Las Vegas says the group Outreach Group Communities in Schools, is 100% indigent! And at the same school, 25% of the students are homeless? Three clinics have/or are being established in the No Las Vegas to the Spring Valley Area, by this group, because many students have no access to Medical or Dental care! Laura Carroll, “Organization helps kids stay in school” View August, 2008 Is this mind boggling or what? Many millions of dollars are being spent on various forms of education. Yet, we end up with schools that have to/try to teach indigent & hungry kids. I’m still a believer in one system that can and should strive to improve & deliver what students need. Tough love should become the norm & promises must be kept by all involved. Obama-Biden state in their Preamble to their education platform: Our “vision for a 21st century education begins with demanding more reform and accountability, coupled with the resources needed to carry out that reform; asking parents to take responsibility for their children’s success; and recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers to fill new successful schools that prepare our children for success in college and the workforce.”

Tips on How to Start Homeschooling

Education is probably one of the best gifts and privileges that you can give to your children. While there are many good schools out there that you can enroll your child in, there is also an option to homeschool him or her. Despite the fact that not many parents make that choice, homeschooling can prove to be as effective as a traditional school as a learning tool - if, of course, done the right way. Parents need to be aware that this is a full-on role of becoming both parent and teacher to their children. If this is all okay with you, you then need to learn how to start homeschooling your child.
However, homeschooling does not mean that you drastically take your child out of the room and bury him or her into work. In fact, experts recommend that you don't do anything straight away - instead, you should provide your child an area to relax. If any, reading books together should be your focus. This allows the child to make a smoother transition from an actual school to studying at home.
You yourself should also be familiar with guidelines and tricks on how to start homeschooling. Read up on reference materials, and get together with other parents who have experienced doing a similar thing. Get feedback and input from them and incorporate the suggestions you find will be more effective for your kid. Be aware of the homeschooling laws in your state. While it is legal in most, if not all, states, there might be some local organizations or schools that may not necessarily be on the same side.

Next, you'll need to customize your home-based curriculum in terms of your child's interests. Learn to explore different fields of study that many not necessarily be included in most schools' curricula. Your child may have an area of interest that you could possibly add into your study schedule so that he is motivated and will look forward to what each session has in store.
Learn to be creative! This is the key skill that any parent or teacher must possess. Children have relatively lower attention spans than adults, and so keeping their attention rapt and focused on the lesson is of the essence. Get input from local teachers and learn from their techniques, as they experience this year after year with their classes.

Disastrous education

So much attention, both nationally and internationally, is paid to the importance of education in Nepal. Yet even the most superficial analysis reveals what a raw deal the children are receiving in reality. I have written previously about the flaws of the chronically under-resourced government school system that sees so very few pupils (who are drawn from the lowest social classes) lasting the course to age 16 to take successfully the School Leaver's Certificate (SLC) examination. I have commented on the rote learning that bedevils both the government and private school methods of instruction, with examinations serving as tests of inculcation and memory rather than of education. I could write about the corporal punishment which is endemic in the schools and is just as vicious and sadistic as that which I knew as a boy in Ireland. However today I write about the latest news of the Ministry of Education deciding to close all government schools until the 10th of June. This is as a result of a lack of text books that over the weekend led to street disturbances at several locations across the country. The shortage is entirely due to the recent election when the national printing effort was directed towards producing ballot papers instead of the books that were necessary for the start of the academic year (April). So today's politicians have been elected to the disadvantage of tomorrow's citizens, who already have the cards so stacked against them. And those most disadvantaged kids whom we are trying to help will spend the next couple of weeks at the refuge providing a recreational and educational challenge to our already over-stretched staff. Brilliant.
Yesterday I visited our Arts Rehabilitation Centre in Godawari. It was lovely to witness our new art tutor, Jolanda Aucott, at work teaching the girls the basics of colour. The girls seem to thrive not just on the artistic input but on the attention that they receive from our enthusiastic volunteers. And the standard of mosaic work is soaring, with these becoming all the time smaller and more intricate, reducing shipping costs and making them more desirable to the tourist who might be limited by luggage space. The bee eater mosaic (published right) was designed by my wife Bev and based upon a photo I took at Bardia National Park (see my post of 4th April). It is just 12 cm by 16 cm and takes a girl around one week to make. Not bad for £60.
This morning's ornithological treat in my garden was a hoopoe which I spotted grazing on the lawn. It was a little distance away so please excuse the quality of the image. There's a mosaic in there somewhere...

Education in Nepal

From 1846 to 1950, Nepal was ruled by the oppressive and autocratic Rana family. Fearing that an educated public would be a threat to their rule, the Rana regime actively suppressed education. In the years leading up the WWII, however, English middle and high schools began to be established for the benefit of Nepal's Gurkha soldiers - the country's Armed Forces - who in turn opened the eyes of the people in many Nepali villages to the importance of education. This led many high-caste families (who could afford it) to send their children to university, and proved the Ranas fears to be just; these educated people formed the Nepali Congress, and gave rise to an anti-Rana sentiment that at last brought an end to the regime. The first order of the Congress - a democratic system of government - was to establish an education system in Nepal.
In the past 50 years, there has been wide-spread advancement of educational facilities in Nepal. In the 1954 Population Census, national literacy was listed as only 5%; in 2001, it had increased to 48.2%. Over that same span, the number of primary, secondary and upper secondary schools ballooned from 300 to 26 thousand.
Despite these vast improvements, there remain a number of social, cultural and structural barriers to education - including poverty, caste separation, lack of physical access to schools during the monsoon season, and woefully under-funded facilities - that deny access to thousands and thousands of children.
The particular focus of NCEP is to overcome the barrier of poverty; we endeavour to offer children who dream of going to school the chance to do so, covering the full educational costs from enrolment until their secondary school graduation.

Welcome to Girls Education Nepal

Girls Education Nepal was established in May 2005 by Nonna Lamponen and Amanda McKay. The programme sponsors girls from underprivileged families to attend school near their homes.Our mission is simple – to enable girls to have a better future through education. Sponsorship is aimed at the most desperate cases – children who otherwise would have little chance of going to school. All girls are welcomed regardless of age, religion, location, previous education or background.Our selection criteria is equally simple. To qualify for our sponsorship a child needs to fulfil three conditions:
To be a female
To be from verified underprivileged background
Currently not attending school
The GEN sponsorship covers education-related expenses only. All fees are paid directly to the schools and the girls remain living with their families. Although there is no requirement for academic excellence we expect the girls to study as hard as they can and attend school regularly. Our sponsorship is for one year at a time, and will be renewed provided that the girl gets reasonable results, attends school regularly and most importantly shows enthusiasm and willingness to learn. GEN is a small charity, operating without middlemen and heavy admin costs. We personally know all the girls in the programme and follow their progress closely. GEN operates on voluntary basis meaning that 100% of your donation goes towards the education of these girls.