I suppose it’s possible that Mesa Public Schools have the finest civic engagement programs in the state, and that’s why its schools make up 17 of the 31 schools recognized by the Arizona Department of Education for their “Dedication to High Quality Civic Engagement.” Maybe Mesa schools are that good.
Or maybe their schools’ most stellar achievement in civic engagement is engaging with the ADE by turning in applications to receive the honor.
(Two schools in southern Arizona were among those recognized, both in Tucson: TUSD’s Safford K-8 School and the Paulo Freire Freedom School University charter school.)
Ex-Superintendent John Huppenthal instituted the program and handed out its first recognitions in 2013. That year 28 schools applied and 22 were recognized. In 2014, 31 schools applied and 27 were recognized. When Diane Douglas took over, she ended the tradition of including the number of schools that applied, so I don’t know if she continued the tradition of accepting all but a handful of applicants.
Since 2014, Mesa schools captured at least half the awards each year.
The application isn’t especially long or detailed. It asks schools to estimate the percentage of teachers who engage in civic education with their students in ten categories, then asks for a brief explanation of the nature of the engagement. A panel goes over the applications and decides if they make the cut. If so, they are designated Schools of Merit, Schools of Distinction or Schools of Excellence.
Civic engagement for students is important, and it’s a nice idea to recognize standout schools, but this honor bestowed on schools by the ADE is meaningless. It gives schools the opportunity to hang a banner in the halls and brag in a newsletter, but that’s pretty much it. Apply and you shall likely receive, the ADE signals schools, so long as you’re generous in your estimation of the percentage of your teachers whose students are civically engaged.
This is Superintendent Kathy Hoffman’s first year and the deadline for the civic engagement application ended before she took office, so she gets a pass on this one. I recommend she takes a look at the six year old program and either figure out a way to make it mean something or choose to opt out of the self parody her two predecessors indulged in.
This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2019.
My son & step daughter went to Paulo Freire.They definitely teach civic engagement every day. My son is a senior in TUSD now, an All State Baseball Player, Honor Roll Student, accepted at UA and has multiple schools offering him scholarships to play baseball. My step daughter graduated UA 2 years ago and is currently working as a progressive lobbyist in LA and making over $100,000 per year. All I hear is bad things about charters – can you please be more balanced in these blanket judgments? I am a liberal person politically – Green Party actually. When is everyone going to look each other in the eye, actually listen to the other’s viewpoint without getting defensive, learn something to evolutionize themselves and humanity as a whole instead of just being a blind reactionary to some set position?
I need your help to change the way we communicate with each other: all of you reading this today! Help, help me/us change the world 1 by 1 through our everyday interactions with each other like right here. THIS IS TRUE CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. IT REQUIRES RESPECT FOR ALL NO EXCLUSIONS. Start today. No excuses if you really want a better world no matter what part of political spectrum you are from. Try NVC, please now. I/we/all of us need your help/participation now!
matt23, from what I know about Paulo Freire, it’s a very good school, as are many charters. When I write negatively about charters, it’s not to say they are doing a bad job educating kids. From what I know, charters range in quality from excellent to poor, as do district schools.
However, there are a few issues which cause me to emphasize problems about charters. One is that the very powerful and well funded privatization/”education reform” forces want to create the impression that district schools are failing and charters are the answer to all our education problems. That means it’s important for people like me to point out that, for example, BASIS schools, which get such high national rankings, both have a cherry-picked student body and game the rankings to put the schools at the top of the list. I try to counteract that narrative, including the false narrative that our traditional public/district schools are failures.
The other issue is the rampant corruption and profiteering in the charter industry. That’s not a fault of charters per se. It’s a fault of the lack of oversight, regulation and accountability built into Arizona’s charter laws.
If charter cheerleaders present a more honest, balanced view of charters’ strengths and weaknesses, and our legislature builds the necessary charter oversight into our laws, I’ll have little reason to write negatively about charters.
I should add, matt23, mentioning Paulo Freire as a school that got recognition wasn’t meant to be negative, any more than the mention of Mesa Schools. It’s about the ridiculous award, not the schools which decided to apply. If I were a principal, I might decide to apply just to get the accolade.
Me thinks thou dost protest too much.
Thanks David. I’ve followed you here for years. I am so happy you came back, as I know you take heaps of criticism, little of which is constructive, most of which is just personal and more immature than most high school students attitudes imo, from the trolls out there. My family was and is involved in the public education system since the 1950’s in the Northeast. I have seen from the front lines the purposeful decimation of public education by politicians and those they serve (definitely not the students/children nor the teachers). It has (d)evolved into an incredibly complex system to try and navigate for our children. Let’s face it, racism, much of which is ignorance, that is inherent within a society is blindly applied to all its institutions. So we have huge elephant in the room right there. The ever widening stratification of income gaps of our capitalist society just exacerbates the situation despite anyone’s good intentions seemingly. The bureaucrat does not want to rock the boat because he has a family to feed. Thus, the institutions stagnate creatively and are allowed to crumble slowly and agonizingly. Those with the economic ability protect their children by moving them to other districts initially, or when that doesn’t work to a private or charter school. Who can blame them when they realize the machine they are up against? My 3 children were initially home schooled and then went to charter schools like Paulo Freire where creativity was encouraged, where civic discourse and engagement were an every day experience, and they will tell you it was “the best school they ever went to” to this day! At some point all 3 of them entered the public school system because that’s what they wanted to do! Imagine the parental trepidation after years of creatively open learning. The 2 children I mentioned in my first post went to TUSD high schools! Imagine the concern after all I’ve heard and followed on TUSD over the years – under a Federal court order since 1962 that was apparently just not willing to be met by the administration; the purposeful attacks by politicians trying to kill any creative program for the students including past and current members of the schoolboard; a bureaucracy so deep that to get something to move is like walking though a swamp hip deep in mud; vacant teacher positions all year long – never ending parades of substitutes who were there mainly because it’s a job; teachers who teach subjects but can barely communicate fluently in English; sports programs that cheat and then get covered up; ridiculous standardized testing; etc. Yet these 2 children navigated this system successfully because they had adults around them who respected them and their creativity that was fostered by earlier learning experiences. And in TUSD we have met others who do the best they can to carry this torch within the guidelines that they are able to – Principal Holley at Catalina Magnet is an amazing, caring man for one. If every student in TUSD had that chance, well…maybe climate change would already be on its way to being resolved! Who knows? One of the schools that gets trashed regularly is the aforementioned Catalina Magnet High School. Lower average grades/test scores, yet no asterisk/recognition for taking in many non-English speaking high school students who come to Tucson fresh out of some other country. After being in that community for 4 years, I can fill these pages up with the amazingly special students down there and the amazing things they do and what they’ve had to overcome to do it that would have any sensible person bow their head in the shame of it all. One example is the honor roll student who for the past 7-8 years has had to be the mother of 2 younger siblings whenever their own mother disappears for days at a time…and the amazing people in the community who support her…and even bought a car for her so she can get to school to softball practice to work and to the couch she’s sleeping on this month each day. The list goes on and on, while many argue what to do, others on the ground or doing the doing that needs to be done. Not to mention how a mixed cultural school like that literally breaks down the barriers of racism every day on a root level when students from different culture become friends. Now there’s a lesson in civic engagement on the roots level, my friend! One that many administrators, politicians, and reporters apparently never got when they were young.
I agree with you David that many of these charter schools are out of control in the sense that profit is the main objective and obviously the stratification of income then limits what students are able to attend (which can also skew test scores – as can private tutoring that’s affordable to some but not all). The tax credit system of allowing money to be taken from the public school system for vouchers is straight up robbery to all those involved in the public school system – it is a reprehensible act and any politician who supports it should be constantly publicly outed to explain the logic and care of their position. And yes, obviously some charter schools will likely hire unqualified teachers, since public schools do too. The teachers at Paulo Freire and Highland are paid much less than their public school cohorts and are some of the most engaged, caring teachers I ever met. They care about all their students and know them all well. I agree there must be oversight – however, I don’t believe I trust the state to do that job objectively. The best way may be for a Non-Profit Guild of Charter Schools to create their own oversight committee and standards. Any legitimate charter school would want to be part of it. (One of the things I learned is life is not a multiple choice question like a standardized test. There’s always other creative options besides a, b,c, or d!)
Thank you for clearing up the misunderstanding on Paulo Freire – I had a feeling the headline/lead in kind of sensationalized it a bit where it came off like they just put in an app and got it because of that.
The comment by Donna H seems to be backing me up (?). However, this is not the type of backing I need – this is the beginning of just the type of personal attacks that prove one does not listen with respect that I asked for in my initial post. I’m sure Donna H has some very valid points that I would like to see in a constructive format, not personal.
David, keep fighting the good fight – I know your intention is solid, and I understand the frustration you feel. For some reason this is the reality we are called on to deal with. I only think it can change in the relationships people have between one and other – no big organization is going to lead the way. The followers must become the leaders by their actions and by their respect and compassion for others viewpoints.
Thank you. May you have a restful weekend. Matt23
The public district system of allowing tax money to be collected from parents that can only be applied in schools that fail to educate their children is straight up robbery of tax paying citizens who happen to be responsible enough as parents to recognize shoddy educational services when they see them. Trying to eliminate vouchers is a reprehensible act and any politician who supports it should be constantly publicly outed and required to explain how denying parents funds they have paid into the system that should be applied toward their childrens K-12 education (and using economic disincentives to force children to attend malfunctioning schools) can possibly be justified by anyone other than politically motivated bloggers/propagandists who have no personal stake in the system in that they do not now and never have had children enrolled in Arizonas public schools.
First of all “Children are NOT the property of the state.” Having said this, Let the parents make their own decision as to whether it be Charter, Public, or a home-school education. for their siblings. Government has no business to interfere, or to make any decisions for parents in the matter of education. When politicians, and educators, feel that they are far more qualified to make this decisions, than it’s time to stand firm and tell the politician to do what he does best, “raise money for his campaign,” and the educator to keep up with the latest teaching Technic’s, and let us the parents play the most important role in our children’s lives………Parenting !