Celebrating Education Reform at the ESPYS

Champions for Choice Event a Success

By Lisa Leslie
Four-time Olympic Gold Medalist and former WNBA star



With my fabulous co-hosts
Kevin P. Chavous and Jalen Rose

One of my favorite events of the year is the ESPY Awards. It is a fantastic opportunity for sports stars, celebrities and fans to join forces and celebrate the athletic achievements of the past year – And this year was no exception!

I was especially excited for this year’s event as I had the opportunity to co-host “Champions for Choice in Education” with Jalen Rose  and Kevin P. Chavous. The event allowed us to educate fellow celebrities and athletes about the importance of educational choice.

"Quality schools shouldn't be just for those who have money" -- Ohio State Rep. Coley Explains his Support for Education Choice

The Ohio Legislature recently passed, and Gov. John Kasich signed into law, legislation that would greatly expand educational options for low-income students in the Buckeye State. Receiving strong bipartisan support across the state, the bill showed the state’s commitment to ensuring all students have access to the best education for their needs – whether that be at a traditional public school, charter or through private school choice program. Rep. Bill Coley (R-Liberty Township) drafted an op-ed for the Cincinnati Enquirer on the significance of the passage, and how school choice is helping to level the playing field for low-income and minority students.

Rice: "The key to not being trapped in the circumstances of your birth is a quality education"

Dr. Condoleezza Rice called educational choice the most important education reform she sees today, as more than 800 reformers, community business members, legislators and educators listened intently to the panel discussion at the 2013 Leadership for Change! Louisiana Education Excellence Summit.

“They key to not being trapped in the circumstances of your birth is a quality education,” Rice said.  “It doesn’t matter where you come from; it matters where you are going.”

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, writer and journalist Campbell Brown, Former California Democratic Majority Leader Dr. Gloria Romero and former Louisiana State Senator Ann Duplessis all joined in the panel discussions about education reform in Louisiana, with the American Federation for Children’s executive counsel Kevin Chavous moderating.

“What is NOT a measure of success is the same ol’, same ol’,” Chavous said.

That’s why Louisiana’s legislators are fighting hard this legislative session, which began April 8, to protect the landmark Louisiana Scholarship Program that was expanded by a bipartisan group of legislators in 2012.  It allows students from low-to-middle income families with students enrolled failing and low-performing schools to use a scholarship to attend the school of their choice.  Students entering kindergarten for the first time who meet the income limits are also eligible.

Former Secretary of State Rice told the audience that Korean children learn in third grade what children in fifth grade learn in the United States, “even in the best of schools.”  Rice encouraged everyone to remember to fight back against the pervasive soft bigotry of low expectations when it comes to K-12 education.

That’s precisely why Gloria Romero said Louisiana’s education reforms are key: “If you don’t educate, you will incarcerate.  We’re spending all this money to lock up the failed result of our public education system.”

Despite bills taking aim at the Louisiana Scholarship Program during this year’s legislative session, Governor Jindal is standing strong to protect the reforms that are serving nearly 5,000 children across Louisiana.

“We’ll pass these reforms as many times as it takes to provide the kids of Louisiana with a quality education,” Jindal said.

Obama Budget Excludes New Funding for Successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program

President Obama announced his Fiscal Year 2014 budget this week, and unfortunately did not provide any new scholarship funding for the highly successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), despite having signed legislation in 2011 that reauthorized the program for five years.  The president's budget only includes funding for the statutorily required evaluation and program administration.

If you follow AFC’s blog, Facebook, and Twitter, you have seen countless stories posted about the success stories of this program.  Since its beginning during the 2004-05 school year, The OSP has helped thousands of children from low-income District families receive the education they deserve.  (Read about some the program’s success stories here, here, and here). 

Since its inception, more than 11,000 families have applied to participate in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and more than 6000 have been fortunate enough to get a scholarship.   

It is despicable that we are not doing more to ensure each and every child has access to the best education for their needs.  Kids should not have to remain trapped in schools that do not work for them when another viable option exists right now - and no child should be forced to stay in a school that does not meet their needs simply because of their family's income. 

Accordingto last federal evaluation of the program in 2010, 91 percent of children who used their D.C. opportunity scholarships graduated from high school - 21 percent more than those who sought but did not receive a scholarship and 30 percent higher than D.C. public schools.  Subsequent research by the program administrator for 2010 and 2011 showed that 94 percent of scholarship students graduated and 89 percent of those students enrolled in college.

Unfortunately, the future of the OSP – a program that has proven its ability to deliver real results for students trapped in schools that do not work for their needs – is in jeopardy.  

While funding exists for approximately 2,000 children, this year's program had just under 1,600 students participating because of implementation challenges between the Department of Education and the program administrator.  The program is carrying over funds each year that supporters believe should be used to provide more scholarships for eligible children.   

What is most interesting is that the president has gone on the record reiterating the need to provide low-income students with the access to a better tomorrow.   

Duringa speech in Decatur, Georgia in February, President Obama said “the size of your paycheck shouldn’t determine your child’s future.”   We agree full-heartedly.  Each child – no matter their family’s income or their zip code – should be entitled to the same opportunities to succeed.  So why restrict a program that is delivering real results for some of the poorest students in our nation’s capital? 

A better tomorrow starts with a quality education.  We cannot continue to sit back and wait for poor-performing schools to improve.  We must deliver all children the educational options necessary to open the door to greater opportunities tomorrow.

Chavous: Students Must Come First

Today's post comes from AFC's executive counsel Kevin P. Chavous:

 

One of the biggest stories in the news today is the Georgia cheating scandal.   Public schools in Atlanta, Georgia have fallen under pressure as evidence has surfaced showing that school administrators may have altered standardized test scores to make it appear students performed better than they actually did.

 

By altering the test scores, students did not win.  Only the schools and school districts “won” (that is until they got caught).  In fact, Retired district superintendent Beverly Hall was praised by U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan for her work in turning around these poor and minority schools.  She was even named 2009 National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators.

 

According to Hall’s indictment for racketeering, “Principals and teachers were frequently told by Beverly Hall and her subordinates that excuses for not meeting targets would not be tolerated.”   To meet these “targets,” teachers were allegedly asked to gather the students’ test sheets and change incorrect answers.  These formerly failing schools were now outperforming the wealthier suburban schools, and the school officials were being touted education reform heroes, showing that a school can be turned around from within. 

 

“Our schools desperately need to be fixed,” wrote The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson in a column about the scandal.  “But creating a situation in which teachers are more likely than students to cheat cannot be the right path.”  I couldn’t agree more.   These Atlanta administrators touted themselves as “education reformers” but as I have said time after time, no school district has ever reformed itself from within.  Real education reform comes as a result of external pressures through educational choice.  

 

By providing families with access to educational options, parents have a choice in their child’s education.  Through options such as tax credits, scholarships, vouchers, charter schools, and traditional schools, families have a say in their child’s education.  As I said this earlier week on PBS NewsHour, “the only way we are going to fly this plane while we fix it, is by helping those kids with the immediate needs, and also providing the impetus for public schools to right-side themselves.”

 

Our nation’s education system needs to be about providing the best education to all children.  Every option must be on the table to ensure each and every student in America receives a high-quality education that will prepare them for tomorrow.

Rose: Access to Educational Options Could Be the Ticket to Solving Dropout Problem

Growing up in Northwest Detroit, I watched many of my peers struggle through school – some even dropped out.  What kept me motivated was the fact that I knew getting my high school diploma and making it to college were mandatory steps in achieving my dreams.  I also was lucky to have a supportive mother who kept me grounded and motivated. 

Every day, nearly 7,000 high school students across the country give up on their shot at a better life. In Detroit, four out of ten students do not graduate. A staggering number of these students in Detroit and across the country who decide to drop out of school are African-American and Latino, and come from low-income families with limited access to educational options.

 

Like my high school peers, students drop out for myriad reasons.  There is one thing that is certain, we need to do more as a country to ensure these students have every opportunity to avoid becoming another “inner city statistic.”  

 

Providing children with the opportunity for a better tomorrow starts with a good education.  The one-size-fits-all approach to educating students is obviously not working.  We need to provide families with greater access to educational options, ensuring each and every child has the opportunity to receive an education that addresses his/her individual needs.

In 2011 I founded the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in an effort to give children in my hometown with access to a quality education in a positive environment.  Currently the Academy is serving over 200 ninth and tenth grade students selected at random with a robust educational experience.   Students at the Academy receive a leadership-focused education with the goal of inspiring students to ultimately graduate with a college degree. 

 

The Academy is just one example of an educational option that is working to address the needs of economically-disadvantaged students.   We must take the steps necessary to provide students with access to the education that works best for their needs if we ever hope to solve the issues that plague our inner-city neighborhoods. 

 

Statistics show high school dropouts are 72 percent more likely to be unemployed as compared to high school graduates.  What is also startling is the fact that nearly 80 percent of prisoners in the United States do not have a high school diploma.   With nearly 760 prisoners per every 100,000 citizens, as a nation we spend almost $70 billion each year to incarcerate adults, confine youth to detention centers, and monitor those on probation and parole.   

By ensuring every student has access to the best education possible, we can help prevent more students from becoming statistics.  We must call on our elected officials to work together to provide students with educational options, giving them a chance to receive a quality education that works for their needs. 

Through my work with the American Federation for Children, I hope to help raise awareness of the plight of low-income and minority students across the country stuck in schools that do not address their individual learning needs.   These students deserve every opportunity available to help them rise above their current economic situation and achieve their dreams. 

Students Deserve a Choice

Thousands of families across the country have thousands of unique reasons why their assigned public school does not work for their child’s needs.  These myriad reasons are exactly why educational options are necessary in order to deliver each and every child an education that works best for their individual needs.   For many families – especially those who are low-income – their ability to choose the best education for their child is limited based on financial constraints. 

Parental choice or opportunity scholarship programs are a lifeline that allow low-income families to have the same choices taken for granted by higher income families.  Nearly 250,000 students across the country are seeing the benefits of such programs. 

Jason Bedrick, Visiting Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, recently drafted a piece for Educationnext in support of scholarship tax credit programs.

“There is clear evidence that students benefit by participating in educational choice programs,” said Bedrick. 

“Under the status quo, wealthy families already have school choice while low-income families do not,” continued Bedrick.  “Wealthy families can afford to live in districts with high-performing government schools or to send their children to private schools. By contrast, low-income families generally only have one choice: the local assigned government school.”

Assigned public schools may work for many students.  For those students not being adequately served by the status quo, educational options are a must!  This sentiment was echoed in a letter to the editor featured in the Tampa Bay Times from Manuel L. Sykes, president, NAACP St. Petersburg.
   
Writing in support of FL Senator Marco Rubio’s proposed tax credit scholarship bill, Sykes says, “Two-thirds of the 50,000 low-income students on the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship are black or Hispanic. They were the lowest performers in the public schools they left behind and are now making the same academic gains as students of all income levels nationally. Just as encouraging, the public schools most impacted by the scholarship are experiencing higher learning gains.”

Whether on the left or the right of the political spectrum, we can all agree that providing the highest quality education to each and every student needs to be our nation’s number one priority.  If the traditional public school does not work for a student, families need every