In the news: high school models unveiled

March 7, 2009 7:21 pm by

Portland Public Schools staff gave the school board the first look at it’s ideas for a high school system today, and Willamette Week reporter Beth slovic gives us the first public look.

There’s a lot to like, including the fact that balancing enrollment and opportunity, something I’ve long advocated, is a salient factor in the thinking. Model B looks quite a lot like something I’ve seen somewhere else. Models A and E also have a lot to recommend, and are based on neighborhood attendance.

Kudos to Carole Smith and her staff for seeming to get to the basic truth that we must balance enrollment in order to pay for equity of opportunity.

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Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.

filed under: Equity, High Schools, Media, Reform, School Board

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One Response

  1. Comment from Ken:
    March 8th, 2009 at 11:47 am

    Good to see PPS is considering a number of alternatives. I hope they look at elementary and middle schools as well, particularly Vicki Phillips’ K-8 model.

    I think we’re a pretty liberal crowd here. Different views of PPS and public education will evaluate these models as well. Just to stay on top of what other viewpoints are floating around, here are two links about PPS and education in Oregon.

    This first document, published by the Bridgespan Group in January 2009, is a must-read. The Bridgespan Group, the non-profit arm of global management organization Bain & Co., was hired as a consultant for the PPS schools during the 2005-2006 school year and again in 2007. Their consultants worked with the Gates-funded Office of High Schools. Tax filings show the Portland Schools Foundation paid Bridgespan $119,000 between July 1, 2006 and June 20, 2007.

    http://www.bridgespan.org/Lear.....px?id=2966

    This second document comes from the Milton Friedman Foundation and was also published in January ’09.

    http://www.friedmanfoundation......o?id=10104

    Just for a little more reading material, here is a link to new information about how the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund will be distributed:

    http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/l.....-fund.html

    -Ken