Why “THE” 21st Century Solution?

There has been just a bit of criticism raised by educators about me naming my new documentary on Arizona’s BASIS Charter Schools “THE 21st Century Solution.”  Let me clarify why I view the school as such a powerful model for America.

It is NOT because the BASIS school is “THE” solution, but because it embodies two fundamental attributes necessary for “THE” dramatic improvement in U.S. education:

1- it meets the President’s agenda for K-12 education improvement – an agenda, which I believe, makes sense for 21st century America, and

2- because it passes critical business tests necessary for large-scale replication.

President Obama and Secretary of Education Duncan have articulated an Education Agenda that, to the general public, makes common sense.

Here is Secretary Duncan's 6-point public school agenda:

1- Make U.S. Education World-Class – set world-class academic standards and a curriculum that fosters critical thinking, problem solving, and the innovative use of knowledge to prepare students for college or career.

2 - Assessment and Accountability - require systems that provide timely and useful information about the progress of individual students and the capability of individual teachers.

3- Pay For Performance – use rewards and incentives to keep talented teachers in the schools that need them the most and demonstrate we value their skills.

4- Recruit Best and Brightest to Teaching – support efforts to fast-track private sector professionals with advanced degrees into teaching and push for expansion of Teach For America.

5- Remove Poor Performing Teachers - challenge State and school districts to quickly remove ineffective teachers from the classroom.

6- No Restrictions on Charter Schools – school boards should not limit the number of charter schools; should allow charter schools to create their own rules regarding hiring, curriculum, tenure and unionization; and per student funding should be equal to that of other public schools within the same district. High-quality charter schools give children and parents the option to find the school that best fits their needs.

I titled my film “The 21st Century Solution” because, in addition to Secretary Duncan’s Education Agenda, the BASIS school’s economics make it the most compelling business model I have found for a world-class 5th-12th grade school.

If we are to prepare America’s 54 million K-12 students to compete globally with the nearly 600 million other K-12 students in the world, we must have 21st century schools that:

1- meet the needs of students,

2- can be affordably scaled, and

3- are economically sustainable with the $668 Billion we annually spend on K-12 education -- an amount that exceeds any other country.

Our economy simply cannot support massive increases in education spending –we must get creative, entrepreneurial and frugal. BASIS, more than High Tech High, New Tech High or KIPP, meets the test of business scalability and sustainability.

That is what I’m referring to as The 21st Century Solution. Here are the specifics:

1- Modest Start-Up Costs – a BASIS school can be started for ~ $150,000. That is extraordinarily affordable. BASIS Tucson is located in a strip mall across from Office Depot on East Broadway. It has very humble facilities. That's fine for a school.

2- A Curriculum Above The Global Standard – in math, science, English, history, foreign language, etc. We must educate our children to at least the level of those with whom they will compete for the high-wage jobs of the future.

3- An Inspiring Culture – can ordinary American kids, middle and low income, achieve at extraordinary academic levels? BASIS proves they can. That is reassuring and inspiring!

4- A School Year of 180 days – lengthening the school day, week, year will take lots of debate and will add to cost. Kids need to compete now. That is not to say that many children would not benefit from a longer day, week and year - it just will add to cost.

5- Sustainable Economics for a “Free Public Education”  - for an annual cost of $6,500 per student, BASIS is delivering a world-standard, free public education – that cost is below the national per student average of $8,700 and well below my daughters’ private school tuition of $15,000/yr in Memphis.

6- Passionate, Expert, Inspiring Teachers - all of BASIS teachers are professionals with Master’s or PhD’s in their fields of expertise. Over 80% are NOT certified teachers.

7- College and Graduate School As Students' Goal – 100% of BASIS students go on to top colleges and most plan for graduate school.

8- Entirely replicable – no new curriculum needs to be developed; no major foundation grants are needed to fund start-up; no corporate contributions are required to sustain the school. This model can be scaled quickly across the country and is affordable to ANY community.

My film may have disappointed the pedagogues, but for helping typical Americans and their typical local and State leaders envision a way to bring American children up to world-standard, at a price we can afford, I contend BASIS is “The 21st Century Solution.”

So, I used BASIS as a conceptual metaphor, much as the film uses time lapse photography, slow-motion video, a tiny bird at the end and the song Une Annee Sans Lumiere by Arcade Fire: metaphorically.

Bob Compton

Comments

[Tanya Foose]

I would imagine that anyone reading Bob's blog and books would agree that education needs reformed, and while there are examples of schools that are doing well, the schools can only do so much. Schools cannot fix the broken homes, the children who have no role models. They cannot change the mentality of inner city youth who do not view education as the means to a better life, but only see crime and thuggery as the way to get what one wants.

All the educational reform in the world can't fix the culture that many of our youth face. This is what makes the difference between India and China and the U.S. In China and India, education IS the only way out. Here in America our inner city children are lost. It truly is my hope that we can tap into Obama's legacy and use it as a message to our youth that anything can be accomplished if one uses their brains instead of guns to get what they want.

It all starts at home, and if a campaign to drive that message isn't communicated, implemented and instilled, a school can have the best program in the world and it won't matter one bit. Once we figure out how to fix the attitudes, the rest is sure to come.

[Tina McDermott]

Hello,

I listened to you on Brian Lehrer's show today and wanted to make a couple of comments.

If the Arizona school you looked at is filled with great teachers, and great students, and has the ability to let go of problematic students (or students who leave because they can't keep up), it's not that difficult to see why it "succeeds."

There is another kind of success, however. My son's RSP teachers are the most amazing teachers. While his scores still reflect that he is at Basic levels, he has made tremendous improvements with their guidance and his own perseverance.

Of course, you wouldn't notice that type of success if all you are looking for is high test scores and high volume output.

For students with difficult personalities and challenging learning disabilities, it sounds like you are suggesting a "separate but equal" type of system. This is most troubling.

If we really want to follow the models of other countries, we would institute tracking systems and sort our students out at a young age for their careers and trajectories. If that's what you're trying to promote, why don't you just come out and say it? Problem is, it's not very democratic.

Best regards,

Tina McDermott
College Instructor
and mother of a son with ADD/LD

[Ph.D.Candidate]

There is a little told fact about charter schools; they remove students who are constant low achievers and behavior problems. As a fund development and education consultant, in addition to substitute teacher for a number of school districts and charter schools, I can attest the later have removed 20% - 50% of their students for being "too bad and/or to dumb." Interestingly the removals come after the state funding is received.

[Oregonreader]

Bob's new video on this unique charter school should be an object lesson to all school districts nationwide. The school portrayed, like a number of other charter schools in the country, operates out of a bare bones facility, and does not offer the fancy underwater basketweaving electives. But the prime directive of our K-12 system should be creating the best minds for the lowest possible investment. And this charter school seems to have hit that target dead on.

One scenario that I have seen played out in many districts is that most kids get lost in the middle school. This school covers grades 6-12. A very smart move. Usually, kids get lost in the middle school on many academic subjects, and never recover. In this school, students have a chance to recover from deficiencies in all their subjects. Similar experiments tried elsewhere have yielded positive results.

Gates Foundation, as Bob blogged earlier, has discovered that when money is thrown at the problem, the results are hit-or-miss, mostly miss. Bill Gates himself admitted that their attempt at creating small schools with "Rigor, Relevance and Relationships" fell short of expectations. Their focus now has turned to charter schools that have produced results, and in figuring out how to replicate them in more districts. I think he has a better chance this time than the last time.