The 8th Annual Georgia Charter Schools Conference, held March 10-12th, is the only statewide meeting for Georgia’s charter community. More than 400 teachers, administrator, parents, lawmakers and charter school supporters are expected to attend the conference.

The CDE identified Mosaica Education to provide support in the areas of academics, learning environment, leadership and planning. Following an extensive application process, the CDE only selected nine service providers to provide assistance in each of these four categories. An additional ten providers were approved for more limited service support.

Mosaica provides comprehensive school services in more than 75 school programs in the United States and internationally and has extensive experience in restructuring and turning around failing schools.

School improvement is required for chronically low-performing schools in Colorado under both federal guidance and state law. Federal guidance for Title I School Improvement Grants requires recipients to implement one of four school intervention models: (1) turnaround model (2) restart model, (3) school closure, or (4) transformation model.

Michael J. Connelly, CEO of Mosaica Education said, “Mosaica is proud to have been selected as an educational services provider in this critical area of work. We understand the challenge presented by these schools and we are well-prepared and very much looking forward to working with our colleagues in Colorado to identify, implement, and monitor viable solutions.”

According to Connelly, “Mosaica brings a strong track record of improving student academic performance in the schools in which it works. It does so by planning carefully, implementing aggressively, and holding everyone involved accountable for results. Mosaica’s experience working with low-performing schools has taught us that every school community is different – and we tailor our approaches to meet each community’s specific needs. The only workable, long-term and sustainable solutions are solutions customized to the unique set of circumstances in each school,”

Mosaica’s work with schools is driven by research-based interventions that become imbedded in the daily life of the schools. “We use innovative, effective instructional methods to include all students. Our hands-on approach supports the development of strong instructional leaders at the school level and includes the involvement of the community in the growth and development of the school”, said Mr. Connelly.

The providers identified in the department’s initial list will focus primarily on school turnaround and transformation efforts, but also may assist with more intensive interventions.

“We strongly encourage schools to avail themselves of the providers and the research-based, proven methods they offer,” said Commissioner of Education Dwight D. Jones. “The department is committed to partnering with schools and districts in the development of comprehensive turnaround plans and to assist in the effort to improve student achievement for all. This is urgent work.”

Consistent with federal guidance, the CDE has identified Colorado schools for intensive intervention based on data on student growth, achievement and graduation rates.

For more information
Contact:
Terry Gogerty
tgogerty@mosaicaeducation.com
720-838-4127

Throughout the years, we’ve tackled challenges and celebrated successes, but we’ve never wavered from the important mission that all of you now share with us. As we enter the new decade, often referred to as a decade of global education reform, we are as enthusiastic as we have ever been about changes sweeping the world of education. Just meeting AYP is no longer good enough for our schools. We are committed to accelerate the pace of change in the next 18 months. The goal continues to be to perform in the top quartile by the end of this year, with each school designated as a “School of Excellence” and ranked among the top schools in the state by the end of next year. The focus of reform efforts today on best practices – ranging from parent involvement to extended learning time, to integrated technology and rich, engaging curricular content – has defined our model since Mosaica’s inception thirteen years ago.

We at Mosaica are uniquely positioned to help students see beyond the challenges of today, find hope in the future, and see themselves as the architects of tomorrow. Our dream of an interdisciplinary, multicultural college-preparatory education for all students is making its impact on the world of education reform and is transforming the lives of real children and their families. Now Paragon is starting to reach students studying at home in the U.S. through Mercury Academy Online. Soon we’ll begin serving students internationally in broadly dispersed geographies through Mercury Prep Online.

In addition to the mission that we share as a team in serving students, the greatest part of our journey with Mosaica over the past 13 years has been the extraordinary fellow travelers who have joined us to make the dream a reality that far surpasses our most optimistic hopes at the start. Many of our team members have been with us for a decade or more, often taking on multiple roles and responsibilities over the years – and sometimes moving across the country, or indeed around the globe, to do so. Our team members are vital to the growth we have experienced and to the future we will share together. The dream is deeper and more expansive because of our team contributions, and our work together is a joy because of the great people with whom we are privileged to work. As with any mosaic, the various pieces work together to create a beautiful composition that is far greater than the sum of its individual parts.

As we celebrate Mosaica’s birthday with the beginning of the new decade, we also take the time to celebrate 13 years of success.

Here’s to a new year, to a renewed commitment to success, and to our rite of passage at 13 into young adulthood!

Dawn and Gene Eidelman
Co-Founders
Mosaica Education, Inc.

Individuals selected to participate in the program are expected to make a significant commitment of time and energy to the Mosaica training workshops. We are currently accepting applications for the 2010 program.

Qualifications:  Masters Degree in education or related field, as well as a minimum of three years experience as a CAO/principal or related position of school leadership.  Applicants will be asked to provide data that illustrates gains made in achieving AYP.

Interested and qualified candidates should apply online at www.mosaicaeducation.com/careers.

Wednesday was the first of two student count days this school year, and those districts and schools saw drops in enrollment of between five and 129 students this fall compared to last fall.

Only the Western School District, Leslie Public Schools and Jackson Arts and Technology Academy — a charter school in the city — reported gains.

Jackson Public Schools did not have a final tally by Wednesday but plans to release the number as soon as it is available, said district spokeswoman A’Lynne Robinson.

“We think we’re level at the elementary. Some are up, and some are down,” Robinson said. “At the middle school and high school, we don’t know.”

Jackson Arts and Technology Academy gained the most students with an increase of 55 students from 108 last fall to a count of 163 Wednesday.

Principal Septembra Williams credits the increase to a new energy in the building, a family atmosphere and a commitment to the students’ educational and social well-being.

She also did some recruiting during the summer that included radio and television advertising and appearances at stores, churches and in neighborhoods.

“We just really go out in the community and let parents know what we’re all about,” Williams said.

Enrollment at Albion Public Schools dropped by an estimated 129 students — the largest number among Jackson-area schools, according to information available Wednesday.

Albion Superintendent Frederick Clarke could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

This week’s student counts are tentative. The state allows districts up to 30 days to account for students who were absent on count day.

Total enrollment — calculated by “blending,” a formula that uses the fall head count and the previous winter tally — is used to determine how much state aid public schools receive.

In other words, when a district loses students, it loses money.

“Our graduation class last year was larger than our entering kindergarten class, so we did anticipate and budget accordingly,” said Linda Brian, superintendent of the Hanover-Horton School District, which lost 14 students from a year ago. “But the bigger issue is that as we decline in enrollment, students don’t all come out of one class. … They’re across the board.”

In other words, it is a challenge to reduce costs because a district cannot simply close one classroom to save money, she said.

Schools with falling enrollment could be hit doubly hard with the state also trying to make $482 million in school cuts. That might include slashing $218 per student in state funding to schools.

“That really, significantly hurts districts,” Brian said.

During the last school year, each Jackson-area student generated at least $7,316 a year in state funding.

An estimated loss of 29 students and the potential cuts to state aid should not prevent Stockbridge Community Schools from maintaining its programs, Superintendent Bruce Brown said. He said the reduction in students was less than the district’s projected 1,650 blended student count.

“The enrollment drop from people leaving the state doesn’t seem to be as bad as we thought it was, but it’s not good,” Brown said.

Napoleon Community Schools lost only about seven students, a drop Superintendent Jim Graham said was a blessing.

“We were hoping to stay at least flat, and I think we accomplished that,” he said.

Area school districts

Student head counts for area school districts with the difference from September 2008 in parentheses:

Albion — 1,046 (-129)

Columbia — 1,660 (-25)

Concord — 884 (-38)

da Vinci — NA

East Jackson — 1,304 (-32)

Grass Lake — 1,251 (-21)

Hanover-Horton — 1,335 (-14)

Homer — 1,026 (-40)

Jackson — NA

Jackson Arts & Tech. — 163 (+55)

Leslie — 1,378 (+13)

Michigan Center — 1,358 (-49)

Napoleon — 1,584 (-7)

Northwest — 2,984 (-57)

Paragon Charter — 644 (-28)

Springport — 1,029 (-5)

Stockbridge — 1,667 (-25)

Vandercook Lake — 1,290 (-13)

Western — 2,870 (+5)

White Pine Academy — 160 (-55)

Sources: Center for Educational Performance and Information, Jackson County Intermediate School District and local school districts

The WSJ reported that “The US government doled out $502 million for a dozen wind and solar energy projects.” The big winner was Iberdrola, a Spanish wind giant. Coming in second was Horizon, a subsidiary of a Portuguese firm. Third place went to a UK-owned firm. These grants will likely result in an energy efficient infrastructure, but two things strike me as interesting, 1) the big winners were all foreign owned, an indication of where public incentives have encouraged private investment over the last decade, and 2) all the grant recipients were for-profit companies, an opportunity that the US Department of Education doesn’t share with its $100 billion stimulus.

The education sector bias (and related legal prohibitions) against investment by private companies is remarkable in contrast to other public delivery systems. Innovations in health care, energy production and transmission, and transportation are often the product of private investment in government requested, sponsored, or incentivized projects. We don’t mind if textbook publishers update versions, but hackles go up when private operators propose school management. Most of this is just disguised job protection; the rest is historical bias.

Yesterday I visited Atlanta Preparatory Academy, a new school run by Mosaica, a private charter school operator. After only a month of access to an old school building, the place was updated, orderly, and clean. On day two of a new school, it was clear that a common instruction vision and curriculum framework were a guiding force. Classrooms were colorful and organized and featured products of the rich art and history curriculum. A talented principal (trained by New Leaders for New Schools) introduced me to an amazing teaching staff, some of whom had transferred from a Washington, D.C. Mosaica school. The instructional day was an hour longer than local schools, with 12 extra days of school each year.

You’d see the same at a National Heritage Academy, a privately operated network of 70 public charter schools. Mosaica and NHA are offering a service that is clearly superior to near by public schools and doing it for less money. They usually have to provide their own facility with no public funding. Yet they are prohibited from holding charters directly in most states. They find or construct a non-profit corporation which seeks a charter and then contracts with them for school management services. They run the risk of being kicked out of a school that they invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to open.

The $650 million Invest in Innovation Fund (i3) will soon be doled out primarily to school districts — folks with very little ability to invest in, manage, or scale innovation. Unlike the Department of Energy, public-private partnerships are prohibited. If the US Department of Education was able to invest half of i3 in private ventures, it would be multiplied several times over by private investment (10x in some cases), it would fund scalable enterprises with the potential for national impact, and the innovation would be sustained by a business model.

The barriers and prohibitions erected against for-profit companies in education weaken American competitiveness. Many of the interesting schools and learning tools are being developed internationally — all with private investment.

This isn’t a hypothetical argument for me. I spent the last year raising money, starting companies, and hiring staff (during the worst recession in 60 years). Worse than the recession are barriers to entry that inhibit the tools and schools that will mark the next generation of personalized learning.

We send our kids to privately run hospitals, we travel over privately constructed roads, and we buy power from private companies. Private sector investment and innovation should play a more important role in American education. Private companies have built-in incentives for speed, quality and scale. Visit Atlanta Prep or an NHA school if you want to see private capital providing a great service for less.

www.EdReformer.com