Way back in 1972 there was a committee whose acronym was CRP. CRP stood for Committee to Re-elect the President, who at the time was Richard M. Nixon. Because CRP became integrally involved in some creepy activities including Watergate, its acronym morphed into CREEP. A creepy committee funding some CREEPy goings on. (On a personal note, I worked at CBS News in Washington, D.C. during this time. While I thought some of the activities were CREEPy, I loved the political intrigue).
Fast forward to 2015 and my continuing involvement with Denver Public Schools. Another creepy organization has touched my life: Center on Reinventing Public Education or (another) CRPE, a University of Washington research center funded in part by Bill and Melinda Gates. It turns out this creepy organization has provided the blueprint for all that is happening and has happened in DPS over the last ten years. This creepy CRPE has tried to lead us to believe that a business portfolio strategy can somehow be successful in the public education world. Strategies and phrases such as “risk management,” “assets,” “portfolio rebalancing and managing,” “ridding yourself of portfolio low performers,” “monoploy” dominate the conversations with these folks. And because DPS has been so successful and diligent in adopting these elements it has finally, finally, reached the top of a reformy chart. The problem with this achievement is that it only represents success as it relates to implementation of some convoluted business strategy. Remember, a portfolio strategy requires constant churn, for the investor is always ridding his portfolio of low-performing stocks while looking for higher performing ones. This may be a good strategy for business, but schools, children, families and teachers are not stocks and bonds. They should not be treated as such. And so far implementation of this strategy has had virtually no impact on improving educational opportunities or outcomes for Denver’s children. So after being national exemplars for choice (or as I like to call it chaos), funding, talent (see here and here for Chalkbeat’s take) and accountability, Denver Public Schools still shows no growth in 2014 standardized tests. Proficiencies across the district slog along at 57% for reading, 47% for math, and 44% for writing with achievement gaps increasing in each subject. Even with a slight increase ACT scores are still only 18.4 (a 26 is needed to enter the University of Colorado) and the overall graduation rate is still at only 62.8%. Sadly, even after ten years, DPS has failed to transfer implementation into outcomes.
Below is a chart with all 37 “elements” of Portfolio Management. In order to see all of the elements you must click on this link. I strongly encourage you to do so.
A couple of observations: As CRPE celebrates DPS for being a national exemplar in 5 out of 6 elements in the category of “Good Options and Choices for All Families,” neighborhoods across the city are at odds with the District on this very issue. Just ask families in Northwest, Far Northeast, and Southwest Denver, and the neighborhoods of Park Hill and Stapleton how they view their choices. And again, as DPS achieves four out of 5 national exemplars in the Performance-Based Accountability category, one must ask how this is even remotely accurate when the School Performance Framework (SPF) used to close schools, give teachers’ bonuses, determine a school’s rating, is constantly changing. There most likely won’t even be “Accountability” for the next two years, given the new PARCC tests.
Out of these 37, DPS is a national exemplar in 17, well on its way to implementing 15 elements and needing to work on only 5 elements. I encourage you to open all of the elements. The Denver Public Schools strategies of the past ten years will become painfully clear. Strategies like “school closings, performance contracts, contract waivers, alternative pipelines, performance based evaluations,” are all the things we in Denver are used to hearing. What educational results have emerged from all this high performing implementation?
That is all I really want to say. The 1972 CREEP was pretty creepy; the 2015 CRPE is even creepier. I was creeped out when I looked at this in detail and just wanted to share with you the blueprint of the business model producing nothing. It is past the time to get rid of ten years of the sound and the fury, signifying nothing.
