http://www.memphisflyer.com/NewsBlog/archives/2012/05/22/soulsville-charter-school-plans-for-first-high-school-graduation Comments On: Soulsville Charter School Plans for First High School Graduation by Bianca Phillips en-us Copyright 2013 Memphis Flyer. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Memphis Flyer readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Memphis Flyer. wil@desert.net (Memphis Flyer Webmaster) Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Fri, 24 May 2013 08:30:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by Kewan Wallace Hannibal]]> Fri, 25 May 2012 12:31:56 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by oldtimeplayer]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 23:26:05 -0500 Memphis Flyer
I'm going to go ahead and ignore all the race claims from another poster, since that's been discussed ad nauseum, and he has trouble seeing the word "we" as a reference to anything other than a racial group.

I'm going to agree with AP's point. Why would we want to let Memphis politicians run our schools given their track record?

Yes, it's a lack of trust.
Posted by GroveReb84]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 17:01:21 -0500 Memphis Flyer
You are doing a fantastic job of trying to cover up what is obvious.

First of all, 250,000 voters, even in the minority, are not just going to be disregarded and steamrolled. You know it and I know it.

Actually the weight that you claim you want and need is just a passing fancy.
Posted by oldtimeplayer]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 12:31:58 -0500 Memphis Flyer
I agree with your first sentence, but I suspect that we probaly disagree on whose claims are accurate and whose are not. I certainly have no doubts that you are correct that a number of MCS schools have strong connections to parents.
Posted by ArlingtonPop]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 11:25:37 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by oldtimeplayer]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 11:23:11 -0500 Memphis Flyer
I would also add that in a number of Memphis schools the connection to schools you discuss exists as well, and that I think meaningful access to board members will be available to those who want it in any system.
Posted by Anonymous Poster]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 11:09:28 -0500 Memphis Flyer
You make some points. Our efforts are in large part an attempt to separate ourselves from MCS.
Posted by ArlingtonPop]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 10:58:38 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by Noone]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 10:52:46 -0500 Memphis Flyer
Let us agree that the literature can be interpreted both ways depending upon the position you are supporting. The suburbs and their opponents both can pull statements from studies that advocate those respective positions.
Posted by ArlingtonPop]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 10:33:37 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by SVG]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 09:59:08 -0500 Memphis Flyer
There are benefits to both, but one of the major disadvantages of a major corporation is its inability to be responsive or quick acting when issues arise. Also, large corporations have more waste, and they have more employees that are able to hide or skate by due to the layers of management.

Point being, you don't need layers of management for accountability.
Posted by GroveReb84]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 09:56:13 -0500 Memphis Flyer
Thanks for the links re school size. I have not had a chance to look at the second link provided, but I don't think the first link supports your claim that smaller is better/larger is worse.

A few quotes from that piece indicate that there's not uniform agreement that smaller is better:

"Unfortunately, the results of studies relating school size to students’ achievement have
produced conflicting results, the relationship tends to be small.
Posted by Anonymous Poster]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 09:43:51 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by oldtimeplayer]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 09:29:04 -0500 Memphis Flyer
Where smaller makes all the difference in the world is classroom size. It doesn't matter the size of the school or the district, the students interactions are within his/her respective classrooms.
Posted by oldtimeplayer]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 09:21:58 -0500 Memphis Flyer
I think the success of many charters, especially ones like Soulsville filled with students that were struggling previously, tend to support the idea of smaller being better.

As I said, if you could have every student with a 1 on 1 teacher-student ratio and all of those teachers were qualified, that would be the best possible scenario for student success. That's impossible though, because 1) there aren't enough good teachers, and 2) at that level of scale, there is definitely an issue of economies of scale.

In other words, there are some diseconomies of scale when you get to districts or classes that are too small, when it comes to costs, but the scale shifts again when you get too large.

There is a sweet spot in there when it comes to the cost versus performance of the student.
Posted by GroveReb84]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 09:18:42 -0500 Memphis Flyer http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol132005/slate…

Here is one study. In this one, they talk about how there is often a misunderstanding about economies of scale in schools.
Posted by GroveReb84]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 09:04:33 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by Anonymous Poster]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 08:38:22 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by Phlo]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 07:53:18 -0500 Memphis Flyer
When you have super-large systems, you get standardized practices like social promotion, and you have issues with ineffective teachers being able to blend in and skate by especially at the lower levels. The reason you get that is because it's difficult for a system to keep tabs on EVERY principal in a large system to make sure that they trust EVERY principal in the system to handle his own evaluation of his staff.

If you have a small system withou 5-10 principals reporting to a board/super, you have a lot more accountability, and it's easier to identify problems and focus on specific needs at specific schools rather than just promoting kids to make the numbers look better and putting in evaluation systems that can't possibly compare every teacher on an even plane across the entire system.

Smaller is better in schools.
Posted by GroveReb84]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 07:45:42 -0500 Memphis Flyer
In an interview, he seems to think that the true cost of operating a msd has been underestimated and that there has been no resolution on the school buildings. He also says that they should wait to see how the race to the top funds would impact them as part of the unified SCS.

Those statements that he made are telling, to me. It seems as though it is an indication of his lack of fortitude in a court fight over this issue.
Posted by oldtimeplayer]]> Thu, 24 May 2012 01:04:40 -0500 Memphis Flyer
A child can be successful without AP classes or a monster ACT score. Millions of americans of all races have achieved the american dream without the courses that you are talking about.

For those kids that want to take them, kudos to them, but that doesn't mean that the ones that don't will not be successful.
Posted by oldtimeplayer]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 17:06:33 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by Colin Windsor]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 16:36:31 -0500 Memphis Flyer
Is this just poor wording or did these kids EARN scholarships? I wonder who edited this article?
Posted by homersimpson]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 16:10:45 -0500 Memphis Flyer
That is impressive. For them to take kids that far behind and from families with such meager resources and then work like heck is just flat outstanding.
Posted by ArlingtonPop]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 15:35:26 -0500 Memphis Flyer