Equity Center Radio

You can email your questions about school finance and equity for answer on the air to ECRadio@EquityCenter.org.

Today we present part 2 of our unique series about school reform with nationally known school reformer, Whitney Tilson. In this broadcast, Mr. Tilson explains what Achievement Gap number 1 is and why it is so important that the educational community within the United States overcome it. He makes a strong case about how we, as a country, are falling behind our economic competitors and and how the rest of the world is passing us by when it comes to educating children for the coming century.

Last week Mr. Tilson, told our listeners that after seeing An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s documentary about global warming, he thought to himself, “That’s exactly what school reformers need as well!”, why not create a similar documentary about the need for school reform. He did just that, and, using a PowerPoint presentation that is approximately 240 slides long (it’s posted at: The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform) he created A Right Denied: The Critical Need for Genuine Education Reform.

In his documentary, education reformer Tilson gives the most in-depth exploration ever committed to film of the twin achievement gaps that threaten our nation’s future: between the U.S. and our economic competitors, and between low-income, minority students and their more affluent peers. In today’s podcast Mr. Tilson explains the first of the twin achievement gaps that exist in the public schools. His first premise and the subject of this broadcast is that our country is increasingly falling behind our economic competitors. “Simply put,” he maintains, “the failure of our public schools is the most pressing domestic issue our nation faces.”

You can read more about Mr. Tilson by checking out last week’s podcast below and following the links that are provided in the accompanying text. Next Friday, at 10:45 a.m., Mr. Tilson will talk about the second achievement gap.

Although the Equity Center certainly takes issue with some of Mr. Tilson’s views, his documentary is an important addition to the body of thoughtful assessments surrounding the need for overall school reform. He provides insightful information and opinion that is worth listening to; and Equity Center Radio is pleased to present his opinions. You may disagree with some, maybe all, of his proposals for fixing the system, but we doubt that you will quarrel with his premise that the state of education is in crisis and that it is, for many students, especially those in poor neighborhoods, a “Right Denied.”

A Right Denied: The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform

Whitney Tilson

Whitney Tilson’s Documentary, A Right Denied: The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform will be premiered on April 7, 2010; however, you can pre-order the DVD by clicking HERE.

Our sponsor of the week is JR3 Education Assoc, WebSmart, ICap.
Call them at 254.759.1902 or go to their web pages to discover more about this gold sponsor at
www.jr3online.com

You can email your questions about school finance and equity for answer on the air to ECRadio@EquityCenter.org.

We know that today is not Halloween but you are in for both a trick and a treat; the trick is that we will begin a unique series for Equity Center Radio. Instead of just one or two parts to our interview, we will begin a month long series. And the treat is that today and continuing until completed, our host, the voice of Equity Center Radio and the Equity Center’s Executive Director, Wayne Pierce, joined by the Deputy Executive Director, Ray Freeman, will have an in-depth discussion about school reform with nationally known school reformer, Whitney Tilson. Mr. Tilson, by day, the head of Tilson Mutual Funds, 145 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022–where he can be reached at 888.484.5766–and by night, a true educational crusader, reveals how our school systems, nationwide, are in crisis and explains, in great detail, why.

Mr. Tilson, after seeing An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s documentary about global warming, thought to himself, he explains to us, “That’s exactly what school reformers need as well!”, why not create a similar documentary about the need for school reform. Since he had spent the last few years developing a PowerPoint presentation that is now approximately 240 slides long (it’s posted at: The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform; more broadly, you might also be interested in his school reform web page at: My Views Regarding School Reform), and prompted by Bob Compton, a highly successful businessman who in retirement has dedicated himself to also addressing our educational failures by producing a series of documentaries entitled 2 Million Minutes, he did so. The result is A Right Denied: The Critical Need for Genuine Education Reform.

In his documentary, education reformer Tilson gives the most in-depth exploration ever committed to film of the twin achievement gaps that threaten our nation’s future: between the U.S. and our economic competitors, and between low-income, minority students and their more affluent peers. After spending more than two decades on the front lines, witnessing first-hand public education’s shocking failures and, especially at the higher education level, remarkable successes, Mr. Tilson was inspired to assemble a powerful and at times unsettling documentary about these twin achievement gaps. His premise: “Most Americans have long known that our public schools aren’t getting the job done, but as our country increasingly falls behind our economic competitors and a wide academic gap within our country persists between low-income, minority students and their more affluent peers, these twin achievement gaps have reached crisis proportions.” “Simply put,” he continues, “the failure of our public schools is the most pressing domestic issue our nation faces.” All is not lost, according to Mr. Tilson, “but it won’t be easy.” Because children do not have a vote and the parents of minority and poor students, for multiple reasons, do not really participate in the main stream political process, they are losing the chance at the “American Dream.” The text on the back cover of the soon to be released DVD of his documentary, A Right Denied: The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform, puts these judgments flawlessly, “The system,” it says, “while failing children, has been working very well for the adults, who fight ferociously to maintain the unacceptable status quo. The outcome of this battle will determine the long-term future of our country.”

Now, utilizing the research that he used in his film, in this series of podcasts, he verbally paints the identical detailed portrait of American public education and its failures that is presented in his upcoming documentary.

Whitney Tilson committed himself to this issue more than 20 years ago, when he was one of the first people to join Wendy Kopp in starting Teach for America. She in turn later introduced him to David Levin, the co-founder of the KIPP network of charter schools, and he has served on KIPP’s board in New York City for nearly a decade. Mr. Tilson is also one of the founders of Democrats for Education Reform, Rewarding Achievement (REACH), and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, and serves on the board of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the Council of Urban Professionals, and the Pershing Square Foundation. Mr. Tilson received an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School, where he was elected a Baker Scholar, and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, with a bachelor’s degree in Government. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and three daughters.

Although the Equity Center certainly takes issue with some of Mr. Tilson’s views, his documentary is an important addition to the body of thoughtful assessments surrounding the need for overall school reform. He provides insightful information and opinion that is worth listening to; and Equity Center Radio is pleased to present his opinions. You may disagree with some, maybe all, of his proposals for fixing the system, but we doubt that you will quarrel with his premise that the state of education is in crisis and that it is, for many students, especially those in poor neighborhoods, a “Right Denied.”

A Right Denied: The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform

Whitney Tilson

Whitney Tilson’s Documentary, A Right Denied: The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform will be premiered on April 7, 2010; however, you can pre-order the DVD by clicking HERE.

Our sponsor of the week is Southwest Securities.
Call them at 972.978.8661 or go to their web pages to discover more about this gold sponsor at
www.swst.com

You can email your questions about school finance and equity for answer on the air to ECRadio@EquityCenter.org.

Today, our host, the voice of Equity Center Radio and its Executive Director, Wayne Pierce, has an in-depth discussion about the school finance coalition with Amy Beneski. Amy, the Executive Director of the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), 406 E 11th St, Austin, TX 78701–where she can be reached at 800.725.8272–reveals how an influential alliance of associations originated and banded together to form a potent league to promote healthier school funding in the State of Texas and how it is now at work enhancing the school finance environment.

The coalition, aptly named the Coalition to Invest in Texas Schools, is comprised of the following organizations:

• Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) | TASA, which was founded in 1925, is an organization that represents public school superintendents and administrators among others, before the legislature and provides numerous other services to assist its members in the professional roles.
• Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) | Created in 1949, TASB is a voluntary, nonprofit educational association that serves the needs of Texas’s 1045 school districts.
• Equity Center | The Equity Center, who sponsors this podcast every Friday morning at 10:45 am, is the largest research and advocacy organization of its kind in the nation. It is the only group in Texas which exclusively represents the interests of low and mid-wealth (Tier 2) public school districts. You can find out more about the Equity Center by clicking HERE. Whether researching or developing policy alternatives, crunching numbers for a multitude of finance proposals, testifying before legislative committees, making presentations to school groups across the state, or working with state agencies, the Equity Center concentrates all of its energy on improving the financial status of our school districts.
• South Texas Association of Schools (STAS) | STAS is made up of sixty-two school districts in deep South Texas. It purpose is to promote excellence in education and an equitable distribution of public resources for the benefit of all public school children in this State;
• Texas Association of Community Schools (TACS) | TACS, whose executive director, Ken McCraw, appeared on this show just last week, strives to promote, support and develop excellence in student achievement through the collaboration of member schools. A community school is defined as a school district having no more than one high school in the district. Institutional members are community school districts or Education Service Centers. Associate members are persons interested in improving education through the community schools concept.
• Texas Association of Midsized Schools (TAMS) | The Texas Association of Mid-Size Schools mission is to impact the state’s school finance system in order to obtain equitable funding of education resources while addressing disparities in size and diseconomies of scale. TAMS pledges to actively participate in the legislative process to insure continued support for the unique financial needs of districts up to 5000 regular ADA.
• Texas Association of Rural Schools (TARA) | TARS was created to enhance the fiscal capacity of small school districts and narrow the funding gap between small districts and other districts.
• Fast Growth School Coalition (FGSC) | FGSC was created in 1997 in response to the need to promote an agenda to assist the approximately 100 school districts throughout Texas that accounted for nearly all of the student growth in Texas, just as they do today.
• Texas School Alliance | Founded in 1990, the Texas School Alliance (TSA) represents 29 of the larger, diverse school districts educating approximately one-third of all Texas students and more than one-third of all minority students. These districts work together to provide a positive and significant impact on public education by bringing together selected school districts with mutual concerns to work cooperatively for the benefit of all public school children. The alliance, including the large urban districts, formalized an excellent working relationship between urban, suburban, and mid-sized districts across the state.
• Texas School Coalition | The Texas School Coalition is organized for the purpose of bringing together independent school districts that have an interest in improving the school funding laws for all school districts. The organization provides research, information and consultation regarding school finance legislation.
• Texas Rural Education Association (TREA) | TREA is a statewide organization with a formal affiliation with the National Rural Education Association. It promotes quality educational opportunities and experiences for all children from rural public schools which will enable them to live and compete in a global society.

Today’s guest explains the core principles that govern the group and discusses how its goals were collaboratively developed. According to Amy “the Texas public school system is at a crossroads” and the coalition is working to shape school funding for generations to come with additional student funding per capita so that Texas schools can keep pace with those in the rest of the country.

Amy Beneski

You can subscribe to our weekly show by pressing the RSS button here or hear the broadcast by pushing the button below:

To find out more about the Equity Center and the important work that it performs for the school children of Texas and its member school districts, please click on www.equitycenter.org.
 

You can email your questions about school finance and equity for answer on the air to ECRadio@EquityCenter.org.

Today, our host, the Equity Center’s Deputy Executive Director, Ray Freeman, interviews Ken McCraw, the Executive Director of the Texas Association of Community Schools (TACS), 1011 San Jacinto Blvd., Ste. 204, Austin, Texas 78701-2431. Ken can be reached at 512.440.8227.

Today’s guest is Ken McCraw, currently the Executive Director of the Texas Association of Community Schools (TACS). TACS is an organization that has been active in Texas since 1951. For the first 25 years it was known as the Texas Association of Small Schools and housed in the Texas Education Agency building. In 1976 the association changed its name to the Texas Association of Community Schools and became independent.

TACS represents school districts with no more than one high school; which means its membership comprises the small, mid-sized and rural school districts in Texas. There are 986 school districts eligible for membership.

TACS is the legislative voice of the single high school community in Texas and Ken is the voice of TACS. Ken started his career as a math teacher in Lamesa ISD in 1971 and worked his way up to Superintendent, taking over that position in 1994, where he stayed until 2004 when he joined TACS as its Executive Director.

While Superintendent of Lamesa, Ken was one of the driving forces that created the Texas Association of Midsize Schools (TAMS), and lobbied hard for the mid-size adjustment. It was during these years that Ken became one of the pioneer school personnel involved with school finance lobbying and learned the ins-and-outs of the legislative political processes. Now, Ken is considered by many as an icon in the area of Texas public school politics, having spent those numerous hours in the halls of the legislature working on behalf of, first, mid-sized schools, then, second, the small, predominately rural schools.

Now, when someone needs to know information about how the political environment is going to affect school districts, one of the first individuals they turn to is Ken.

Equity Center radio is happy to have Ken talk about the political environment in Texas and how it has an impact upon our public schools. With the primaries over with (excepting run-offs), and attention now turning to the general election, Ken’s interview, hosted by the Equity Center’s Deputy Director, Ray Freeman, is both timely and informative.

Ken McCraw

You can subscribe to our weekly show by pressing the RSS button here or hear the broadcast by pushing the button below:

To find out more about the Equity Center and the important work that it performs for the school children of Texas and its member school districts, please click on www.equitycenter.org.