Last Updated: November 1, 2007
Mary Budiac, a teacher, tells how one of her third-graders did unusually poorly on a quiz - a little low-stakes math quiz.
The child's dad called Budiac's cell phone, asking what he needed to do. As it turns out, nothing: The girl filled out the wrong circles. Simple error. But the reaction was typical, says Budiac, of the "huge engagement" of parents at her school.
The school is in Milwaukee's inner city. Ninety-nine percent of its students are poor. Almost none speaks English at home. Practically all are there because of school choice.
Last week, a report said parents aren't good at choosing schools - though the report didn't apply to private-school choice at all and didn't use any data from Milwaukee.
Budiac's school, St. Anthony's, the largest in Milwaukee's private school choice program, offers many lessons. One is a contradiction of the notion that parents won't choose a better education.
St. Anthony's, now grown to two sites along Mitchell St., was a traditional parochial school that decided four years ago it needed to do better, says its president, Terry Brown. So it extended its day to eight hours for more math and reading. It rebuilt its curriculum around direct instruction, a rigorous teaching method. It hired Ramon Cruz, a former Milwaukee Public Schools principal with direct instruction experience.
The method, also used in some MPS schools, prescribes specific lessons teachers will use, even phrases and techniques. Critics say this script stifles teachers. Backers say it locks in best practices while leaving teachers free to teach.
When you see it unfolding at St. Anthony's, it ends up looking like a game, with constant interaction between teacher and students. There's no room for students to drift. They all stay engaged.
"Kids love it because they're learning," says Cruz.
The method isn't for everybody: Brown says the school must be up front with potential hires. But as Budiac points out, it dramatically cuts down on the time spent managing a classroom. Kids stay on task.
Because the method is centered on monitoring results, she knows immediately which students need help. For instance, there's a library grade. Children earn it by reading books. Short online quizzes ensure the books really are read and are appropriately challenging. The result, says Budiac: "instant feedback."
"We're checking that they've learned what we've been teaching," says Mary Schmidt, the curriculum expert overseeing the school's results. It's as if each child were getting a personalized education.
The results are good: Among eighth-graders, scores on state standardized tests approach those of Milwaukee students who aren't poor. Schmidt says that each year, children typically make well over a year's progress. The elementary school's gone from having one child in high school-level algebra to having 18 of them.
There are MPS schools that have good results, too. Choice isn't the only way to success.
But the logic of reform can't be that choice is allowed only if absolutely necessary. If school choice makes a rigorous education available to Milwaukee children, it's $6,500 well spent.
St. Anthony's demonstrates exactly that. While the school costs taxpayers thousands less per pupil than MPS, it has three times the budget per child as a typical parochial school. It let the school afford its intensive curriculum. It let the school scale up its library from 2,000 books to 30,000 - with 20,000 circulating at any one moment.
Being independent, says Cruz, "we can make a decision and live with it." Changing tactics was more difficult in MPS, he says. "We have local control," says Schmidt, "so we can put in place what we feel is best for the students. We can follow it and can modify it as the data informs us."
And because every child came to the school by choice, parents are more engaged, says Cruz. "We can say, 'This is what it is; this is what we demand.' " The school has doubled its enrollment since 2003, suggesting that parents will opt for rigor.
Budiac, who used to teach in a suburban school, notices a difference: "I see 50% of my kids' parents every day," she says, because they just stop by. "They feel we're on their team."
Or they are the team. The school works for anyone, says Brown. His children attend. His first-grader, tired by a full day, naps on the way home. "Can you tell I'm proud of the place?" Brown asks.
The above column appeared in the November 1, 2007 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.