This edition of the Notebook NEWSFLASH is also available online at: www.thenotebook.org/newsflash/2005/july
Notebook NEWSFLASH:
July/August 2005
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The Philadelphia School District's unexpected decision to award a major contract for curriculum materials to K12 Inc., a company chaired by a former U.S. education secretary, has some science educators wondering why this controversial but politically influential firm got the deal.
Philadelphia's kindergarten through third-grade classrooms will receive science lessons, kits, and books from K12, a McLean, Va.-based education company that says it "combines online technology with traditional content." Since the company's launch in 1999, its marketing of that content has largely focused on home-schoolers and virtual charter schools.
K12 board chair William J. ("Bill") Bennett, now a conservative talk show host, served as Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan. The company's senior vice president of education and policy is former Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Charles Zogby, a key architect of the state takeover of Philadelphia schools.
In Philadelphia, K12 edged out at least two nationally renowned science materials providers to win a $3 million contract in April for K-3 materials. Philadelphia became the first school district in the nation to adopt K12's materials districtwide.
However, a number of interviews with Philadelphia science educators reveal that the company's materials had failed to catch the eye of a panel containing 30 of the District's own top science teachers and leaders. The panel spent many Saturdays and evenings together in 2003 and 2004, meeting to shape the new curriculum.
In drafting curriculum guides, the panel relied heavily on the widely used kits from two other companies: Science and Technology for Children (STC), made by Carolina Biological, of Burlington, N.C., and Full Option Science System (FOSS), made by Delta Education, of Nashua, N.H. Materials from the two companies will be used in grades 4-6, but not in grades K-3.
While top District officials speak enthusiastically about the advantages of the K12 selection - customized materials, high-tech instruction using interactive whiteboards, and substantial cost savings – some local science educators are questioning whether the contract can deliver the finely honed hands-on science lessons once envisioned.
"Are we saying we're not going to have students do hands-on science?" questioned teacher Theresa Lewis-King, among the curriculum writers who took part in the lengthy process to come up with nationally recognized, standards-based science instructional materials at each grade level and align them with state standards. "Have they moved back from that pedagogy?" she asked.
Lewis-King, who participated in meetings until October 2004, said she was unaware of the subsequent decision to purchase materials from K12. In fact, Lewis-King and others contacted who participated in the curriculum-writing process could recall little if any discussion of K12 materials. (Most of the 30 participants were teachers who could not be reached for comment this month.)
Cecilia Cannon, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction, explained simply that K12 had not at that time been explored as a provider for the materials. Noting that STC and FOSS kits would still be used in grades 4-6, Cannon said, "It's not like we abandoned everything."
Donna Cleland, assistant director for the Math & Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia, who participated in the curriculum-writing process one Saturday to discuss hands-on curricula, commented, "The choice of K12 materials rather than the FOSS and STC programs came as a shock to the science curriculum leaders in Philadelphia."
"Many of these teachers had been piloting these materials in their own classrooms and were enthusiastic about their use."
Arlene Langman, a K-6 science leader at FitzPatrick who was not part of the curriculum writing, said, "All of the science leaders were provided initially a copy or a working copy of what was going to be finalized in September. So we sort of had an idea of what to expect."
She expected FOSS and STC. But she added, "I haven't heard anything about this K12 at all."
Schools CEO Paul Vallas, in a July interview, acknowledged that he provided some direction on the science curriculum: "I told them that we needed to standardize the curriculum. I talked about models they should look at. I didn't say, ‘Here's K12, I want you to bring them in.'" He and Cannon both said the final recommendation was hers. And she named its technology base and cost savings as her chief considerations.
Asked whether he recommended a look at any models other than K12, Vallas responded, "There's not a lot of work done in primary science curriculum, let's face it."
He further stressed, "Ultimately, it's up to Ceil (Cannon) and her curriculum team to tell me whether they believe my opinion is justified."
School Reform Commissioner Sandra Dungee Glenn, before voting with other members at an April SRC meeting to approve the K12 contract, questioned whether the District should "move so aggressively on a new and relatively untested product as to take it districtwide."
Vallas and Chief Academic Officer Gregory Thornton responded at that time by stressing a number of advantages – a curriculum specifically designed with Philadelphia students in mind, K12's willingness to infuse a multicultural perspective, and savings of $700,000 over other curriculum offerings.
Bror Saxberg, chief learning officer for K12 Inc., acknowledged that the Philadelphia contract is a breakthrough for K12. "For the first time, we've had a chance to really get involved with a district, and obviously a prominent district at that. It's wonderful to have this opportunity, and that's one of the reasons we're working so hard to make sure it matches what Philadelphia wants."
Approval for excellence?
SRC members did not publicly question whether K12
actually meets the guidelines described in the April
resolution, which states, "Materials selected
have received national recognition and approval for
their excellence."
But out of a half-dozen science education experts contacted by the Notebook, none expressed familiarity with K12 Inc.
Sally Goetz Shuler, executive director of the National Science Resources Center, formed by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Academies and involved in developing and assessing curriculum, stated, "I am not familiar with K12 Inc."
Shuler pointed out that developing quality curriculum is a long and expensive process: "It took us 10 years and $8 million to produce STC. And now we're in the process of revising it."
Jeff Winokur, of the Center for Science Education at the Education Development Center in Newton, Mass., expressed familiarity with STC and FOSS, but added, "I do not know K12 Inc."
After reviewing K12's online materials, David L. Smith, director of professional development at the Da Vinci Discovery Center of Science and Technology in Bethlehem, noted, "The portion of a sample earth science lesson that I looked on their web site was of very low cognitive demand, contained no inquiry at all, was oriented toward shallow factual content rather than deep conceptual understanding, and contained numerous errors of fact."
Of the STC and FOSS materials, Smith explained that they are expensive to purchase but said, "Both are oriented to developing deeper understanding of the most fundamental areas of science. Their activities parallel the authentic activities of scientists, with enough structure to ensure that all students can succeed in doing the activity and advancing their understanding of the material. . . . Both were developed in a rigorous, peer-reviewed research process funded by the National Science Foundation."
While some Philadelphia science educators expressed hope that K12 materials will be able to replicate lessons that had been designed with FOSS and STC materials in mind, some experts insisted that such an attempt would be akin to apples-and-oranges comparisons.
Progressive educators question K12's use of the "Core Knowledge" sequence and its traditional, fact-based approach as a foundation of its curriculum.
Smith indeed noted, in science education, an increasing "polarization between a group of people who favor hands-on, investigative modes of learning and teaching, and people who favor highly restructured, teacher-led drills and vocabulary activities."
But District leaders maintained that the K12 materials include a strong hands-on component. "It was customized to Philadelphia and was very hands-on," Chief Academic Officer Gregory Thornton offered, in describing the elements that led to K12's selection.
K12's relationships
So what does Vallas see in K12? With technology upgrades
promised for Philadelphia classrooms, he told the
Notebook he views its interactive, technology-based
instructional delivery as the approach "of the
future." Vallas pointed to the company's
two years of work under contract to support Hunter
School in North Philadelphia, as "a very solid
job."
He also spoke to the "added value" of K12's "capacity to help us secure the funds, to help us lobby for other funds, to secure additional funding for their programs from other state and federal resources."
"I want to take advantage of that relationship," he said.
While he praised their ability to "bring additional resources to the table," K12's instructional model must nevertheless be superior, Vallas stressed repeatedly.
Although Vallas acknowledged political advantages to the selection of K12, he dismissed the significance of his own history with K12 President Bennett.
Vallas noted, "I don't think I've ever had a discussion on K12 with Bennett. Ron Packard is K12's person. He's their CEO, the one we interact with, the one Ceil (Cannon) interacts with."
Bennett has often complimented Vallas, heaping public praise on him in Chicago for school improvements there, after having once condemned Chicago schools as "the worst in the nation."
Last November, the Washington Post reported Bennett's suggestion of Vallas as a strong candidate for the U.S. secretary of education position when then-Secretary Roderick Paige announced plans to retire.
It was not the first time Bennett had mentioned Vallas for this same job. In 2001 the Chicago magazine Catalyst wrote that Vallas "was clearly intrigued when members of President George W. Bush's transition team, including former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett, told him he was being considered for Bennett's old job at the White House."
"Yeah, I was on the short list," Vallas was quoted as saying, following the naming of Paige for the job. "I talked to Bennett again today, and he says I came ‘this close' to being selected."
K12 controversies
K12 was launched in 1999 as part of Knowledge
Universe, Lowell Milken's and former junk-bond-impresario-turned-philanthropist
Michael Milken's technology enterprise.
Thus far, K12 has remained limited in its client base, providing services, materials and Internet-based curricula to some 4,000 students in homeschools scattered throughout the country, and 15,000 students in public, virtual "cyberschools" in several states, many in Pennsylvania.
It many cases, it hasn't been a smooth sell.
K12 has received criticism for the receipt of public funds for its services to private, often religion-oriented home-schoolers; for its "anti-scientific" approach to evolution; and for the political influence K12 wields with its use of aggressive, high-priced lobbyists who were active in the Bush campaign.
Bennett has infuriated many in the science field
with his K12's teaching on evolution. One Christian
website quoted Bennett describing K12: "We're
centered in the Judeo-Christian tradition. We do not
ignore faith and religion, we do not ignore the arguments
against evolution, because there are some."
K12's science curriculum introduces evolution
in the seventh grade, outside the scope of the firm's
K-3 Philadelphia contract.
Launching the program
In mid-July, teachers were attending professional
development workshops for the new science curriculum.
At Hunter School, teachers were able to see the curriculum
on a SMARTboard, an interactive whiteboard connected
to a computer and projector. With a touch on the screen,
the instructor was able to display the images and
texts of a lesson in various formats, and demonstrate
how changes in lesson plans could be easily implemented.
Saxberg, however, admitted that most classrooms are not likely to be fully wired and equipped for such usage. The School District said 25 schools would.
"It's made as an augment," Saxberg stressed, "but is not necessary to get a really good class."
Saxberg added, "The curriculum itself will be accessible by computer even outside of class hours. So families and kids – through the public library or in their own home – can review homework materials and see what we did in science today."
K12's website says its online lessons "blend text, photos, illustration, animation, audio, and interactivity, giving students an opportunity to see and examine aspects of the world that might otherwise be out of reach. Away from the computer, activities such as reading, planting seeds, or building a model keep things new and exciting and allow students to get hands-on experience."
Figuring out how to deliver good science instruction is a necessity under the No Child Left Behind law. States must begin assessing science achievement – much like they have for reading and math –in 2007-08.
District leaders crowed this June about three years of success in reading, language arts and math scores on the TerraNova exam, but science scores were largely flat between 2002 and 2005. This spring's average science score for second- through sixth-graders placed more than 45 percent of Philadelphia students in the nation's bottom quartile.
Contact Notebook staff writer Sheila Simmons at 215-951-0330 x156 or sheilas@thenotebook.org.
The School Reform Commission does not meet in July. In June, the SRC approved the following:
· $3.16
million to Voyager
Expanded Learning: Passport and $1.98 million
to Princeton
Review for Extended Day Program.
Covers literacy (Voyager) and math
(Princeton Review) curriculum materials and professional
development for Extended Day Programs for 2005-2006.
· No-cost contract extensions
for Princeton
Review K12 Services, Kaplan
K12 Services, ResulTech, and SchoolWorks
for District's Small
Schools Transition Project
Extends from June 30 to September 30 the timeline
for each firm's work with their contracted small
high schools. Princeton Review's $600,000 contract
covers Lamberton, Sayre, Vaux, and Parkway Gamma;
Kaplan's $450,000 contract is for Lankenau,
Randolph Career Academy and Carroll (Carroll replaces
Parkway Northwest as a Kaplan recipient in the Transition
Project); ResulTech's $450,000 contract is for
Bartram Business, Bartram Communications and Parkway
Center City; SchoolWorks' $300,000 contract
is for Bartram Human Services and Bartram Motivation.
Schools CEO Paul Vallas said the extension, at no
additional cost to the District, was because specific
deliverables at each school had not yet been achieved.
The Transition Project aims to create 28 smaller high
school options for students by 2008, by way of converting
middle schools to high schools, breaking up large
high schools, and making branches into separate schools.
· $75,000 to Next
Step Associates for project management of Small
Schools Transition Project
Following last year's $60,000 contract to the
firm, founded by retired District veteran Cassandra
Jones, the one-year contract starts July 1 and involves
oversight of the small high school initiative.
· $980 million to Independence
Blue Cross for health benefits
The amount covers insurance and benefits for the District's
active union and non-union employees from July 1,
2004 to June 30, 2008. Officials said the projected
rate includes increases of 9 percent the first year
and 12 percent for each of the other years.
· Authorization for renaming of
Bartram High School branches
Four satellite campuses now operating as individual
high schools will be renamed as follows: Bartram School
of Business becomes Philadelphia High School for Business
and Technology; Bartram School of Communications,
Communications Technology High School; Bartram School
of Human Services, Paul Robeson High School for Human
Services; and Bartram School of Motivation becomes
Motivation High School.
· $2.35 million to Philadelphia
Education Fund for Student Teacher Pipeline
Project is to develop 1,000 student teachers, as well
as 100 student school psychologists, counselors and
nurses, and covers July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.
· Three major school renovation contracts: $7.37 million to Daniel J. Keating for middle school conversion of Sayre Middle School; $12.98 million to Daniel J. Keating Co. for major renovations to Strawberry Mansion; and $2.29 million to T.N.T. Construction, Inc., for major renovations to Longstreth.
· Authorization to establish cooperative
sponsorship of sports teams
Aimed at creating greater participation in athletics,
the initiative establishes guidelines that permit
students to participate in a sport that their school
does not offer or cannot support. The effort will
begin with the Fall 2005 season and establishes guidelines
addressing insurance coverage, team names and uniform
of sponsoring school, financial arrangements, staffing,
operating procedures, facilities arrangements and
transportation.
· $300,000 to Ross and Associates
for communications services to the SRC
Ross will serve as the communications agency for the
SRC, implementing media relations, community outreach,
advertising, public relations and general marketing,
at rate of $25,000 a month, from July 1, 2005 to June
30, 2006.
· $12.4 million to Sodexho
School Services for custodial services
Covers 22 high schools, from July 1 to June 30, 2006.
Schools CEO Vallas cited poor cleaning performance
and high absenteeism by union workers in the decision
to solicit bids by private firms for the services,
which union leaders protested.
back to top
Wendy Beetlestone, general counsel, to depart Aug. 5, to join the law firm of Hangley, Aronchick, Segal and Pudlin. . . . Greg Amiriantz, top administrator at Charter High School for Architecture and Design, retired June 30. Serving as interim head of the school will be Peter Kountz, former head of the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, N.Y. . . . Felecia Ward joins the Office of Communications as a media relations manager. . . . Tim Spreitzer, deputy chief of staff to CEO Paul Vallas, departs for the office of State Rep. Dwight Evans. . . .
Principal
comings & goings
RETIRING from their school
posts are the following principals:
Rochelle Agris, Hancock School (to
be replaced by Rosemary Cataldi);
Ruth Anderson, Duckrey School;
Christine A. Black, Ellwood School
(to be replaced by Bettie Klekley);
Diane Branch-Jones, Fulton School;
Elizabeth K. Byrd, Gideon School
(to be replaced by Ruth Victoria Pressley);
P. Karen Hill; Bodine High (to be
replaced by Ann Gardiner);
Saundra Hopkins, McMichael School
(to be replaced by Angela Edwards);
Adrienne Jacoby, Lowell School (to
be replaced by Rochelle Bock);
Kathleen H. Lacey, Sulzberger Middle
School (to be replaced by Adrienne Wooden);
Clarence A. Martin, Vare Middle School
(to be replaced by Patricia Cox);
Joanne Nichols, Alexander Wilson
School;
Ann Rivera, Morrison School (to be
replaced by Christopher Byrd);
Susan E. Shucker, H.A. Brown (to
be replaced by Juliette Pennyman);
Judith C. Simkins, Dunbar School;
David D. Strolle Jr., South Philadelphia
High (to be replaced by Kevin King);
Charla Sussman, Dobson School (to
be replaced by Kerri McGinley).
Other principal assignments include the following: Yolanda Armstrong, Pepper . . . Newton Brown, Olney East . . . Marilyn Carrion, DeBurgos . . . Mary Dean, Mastbaum . . . Sharon Glodek, Pennypacker . . . Karen Jackson, Roosevelt . . . .Anna Jenkins, Cook-Wissahickon . . . Richard Jenkins, FitzSimons . . . Florence Johnson, Lamberton High . . . Yvonne Jones, Motivation. . . Ernest Lowe, Jones . . . Eileen Maicon, Kensington International Business . . . Robert Manning, Elverson Military . . . Adele Pride, Kensington CAPA . . . Denise Richardson, Webster . . . Rosalyn Sample-Green, Franklin Elementary . . . Jill Silverstein, Southwark . . . Vera White, Clymer . . . Mollie Williams-Lee, Daroff . . . Reuben Yarmus, Kensington Culinary . . . . Over 50 principal vacancies in all are being filled.
"Comings & Goings" is a feature of the Notebook Newsflash that reports personnel changes within the institutions and organizations that focus on public education in Philadelphia. We welcome any knowledge you'd like to share on recent or upcoming personnel moves. E-mail us at sheilas@thenotebook.org.
July 28: Reading Festival sponsored by Philadelphia Parents for Successful Schools. 12 noon – 4 p.m. Gompers Elementary School, 5701 Wynnefield Ave. Sponsored with Philadelphia Reads.
Aug. 1 - Aug. 5: Business Boot Camp 2005.
Registration: 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.; Sessions: 10
a.m. – 5 p.m. The Enterprise Center, 4548 Market
St. Fee: $30 per person. Contact: Jeff Wicklund, 215-895-4078,
jeff@theenterprisecenter.com.
Online application: http:www.theenterprisecenter.com/y?bbc_php
Aug. 2: National Night Out. 6:30
p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Twenty-second annual event
seeks to gather communities around crime prevention
and drug prevention, and to build neighborhood spirit.
Register your organization online,
or call the National Association of Town Watch, Wynnewood,
PA, at 610-649-7055, or email info@natw.org.
Aug. 8: School and Family Violence Prevention
Workshop: Preventing Violence the Problem-Solving
Way. 2 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. University
of Pennsylvania Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce Street.
Sponsored by the International Society of Criminology,
XIV World Congress of Criminology "Preventing
Crime & Promoting Justice: Voices for Change."
Workshop presented by Myrna B. Shure, Ph.D., Drexel
University, and Curry Bailey, Ed.M., Philadelphia
School District. For information go to www.worldcriminology2005.org.
Aug. 10: School Reform Commission Planning
Meeting. 1 p.m., School District of Philadelphia,
2120 Winter Street, 2nd floor Auditorium. To register
to speak, call 215-299-7850 by 4:30 p.m. the day before
the meeting.
Aug. 13: Basic Tutor Training: (Session 1 of 2) 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Municipal Service Building, 1401 JFK Blvd., 16th floor. Sponsored by the Mayor's Commission on Literacy. For info, call 215-686-5256.
Aug. 17: School Reform Commission Action Meeting. 1 p.m., School District of Philadelphia, 2120 Winter Street, 2nd floor Auditorium. To register to speak, call 215-299-7850 by 4:30 p.m. the day before the meeting.
Aug. 19: Pennsylvania State Board of Education Early Childhood Committee Public Roundtable Discussion regarding Chapters 4, 11, 12, 23, and 49 as they pertain to early childhood education or pre-kindergarten. 10:30 a.m. United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Rooms 2 and 3, Seven Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Click here for details.
Aug. 20: Basic Tutor Training: (Session 2 of 2). 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Municipal Service Building, 1401 JFK Blvd., 16th floor. Sponsored by the Mayor's Commission on Literacy. For info, call 215-686-5256.
Aug. 20: An Anti-Drug Workshop. 12 noon – 3 p.m. Philadelphia Youth Network, 714 Market St., Suite 304. Speakers from Philadelphia Youth Network, Philadelphia Police Department Narcotics Bureau Heads-Up Program, Philadelphia Anti-Drug, Anti-Violence Network. For youth ages 10 – 17. RSVP to 215-552-8720. Sponsored by Enhancing Lives Through Action.
Every Thursday: Talk radio program with Sandra Dungee Glenn, School Reform Commission member. 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. WURD 900 AM. Call-in number: 215-426-1310.
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