WiccanLiberal
09-14-2012, 11:12 AM
Yesterday's NY Times had this article in the education section. It offers a view of a program that seems to offer hope for a lot of municipalities. Private and anonymous donors have created a program that seems to have a shot at fixing the local economy in Kalamazoo, MI. The article is a long one but well worth the time to read it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/magazine/kalamazoo-mich-the-city-that-pays-for-college.html?pagewanted=all
For the benefit of those who prefer not to wade through the entire text I will quote at length:
"It’s primarily meant to boost Kalamazoo’s economy. The few restrictions — among them, children must reside in the Kalamazoo public-school district and graduate from one of its high schools — seem designed to encourage families to stay and work in the region for a long time. The program tests how place-based development might work when education is the first investment.
While Promise money goes to postsecondary-school education only, the program has nonetheless brought change to the Kalamazoo public schools. It gives district officials a powerful inducement with which to motivate students, families and teachers. Michael F. Rice, the superintendent who replaced Janice Brown, persuaded teachers in the city’s middle schools — several of which are near the bottom of Michigan’s official school rankings — to rejigger their schedules to move 120 hours a year into core-curriculum instruction. This enabled the schools to provide personalized remedial instruction in math and reading, after which 70 percent of the district’s middle schoolers increased their proficiency by at least one grade in those subjects...
“Elsewhere in Michigan,” says Julie Mack, an education reporter for The Kalamazoo Gazette, “teachers are up in arms over budget cuts and new work demands. In Kalamazoo, with the Promise breathing life into the schools, teachers agreed to changes practically without any objections.”....
Overall, more than 90 percent of Kalamazoo’s graduates today go on to higher education. Six in 10 go to Western Michigan University or Kalamazoo Valley Community College. And over time, a greater number of students are landing at the more selective University of Michigan and Michigan State...
The Promise donors saw how a school district in decline and a weakening economy created a vicious circle. Poor schools hindered Kalamazoo’s ability to support businesses and bring in new ones, and as commercial activity suffered, the resources available to schools shrank. The Promise was created against a backdrop of recent economic thought that considers investment in education better than nearly every other kind of developmental effort when it comes to promoting economic growth. Eberts, for one, argues that if Kalamazoo prepares its students for college, the long-term return to the community will be an educated, innovative work force, a higher tax base and a more attractive business environment. Enrico Moretti, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, notes that well-educated people not only make more money individually; their interactions with everyone around them also amplify a community’s wealth. The biggest difference in salaries between highly and lesser-educated regions is not found in the salaries of the elite but in those earned by lower-skilled workers. The spillover effects energize the economy at every level."
The program doesn't have an easy answer but it may have one that works. I hope to see more cities get the opportunity to try this out. There are sufficient philanthropic individuals in this country who might be well-advised to invest in the future of those who will someday be the ones responsible for this country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/magazine/kalamazoo-mich-the-city-that-pays-for-college.html?pagewanted=all
For the benefit of those who prefer not to wade through the entire text I will quote at length:
"It’s primarily meant to boost Kalamazoo’s economy. The few restrictions — among them, children must reside in the Kalamazoo public-school district and graduate from one of its high schools — seem designed to encourage families to stay and work in the region for a long time. The program tests how place-based development might work when education is the first investment.
While Promise money goes to postsecondary-school education only, the program has nonetheless brought change to the Kalamazoo public schools. It gives district officials a powerful inducement with which to motivate students, families and teachers. Michael F. Rice, the superintendent who replaced Janice Brown, persuaded teachers in the city’s middle schools — several of which are near the bottom of Michigan’s official school rankings — to rejigger their schedules to move 120 hours a year into core-curriculum instruction. This enabled the schools to provide personalized remedial instruction in math and reading, after which 70 percent of the district’s middle schoolers increased their proficiency by at least one grade in those subjects...
“Elsewhere in Michigan,” says Julie Mack, an education reporter for The Kalamazoo Gazette, “teachers are up in arms over budget cuts and new work demands. In Kalamazoo, with the Promise breathing life into the schools, teachers agreed to changes practically without any objections.”....
Overall, more than 90 percent of Kalamazoo’s graduates today go on to higher education. Six in 10 go to Western Michigan University or Kalamazoo Valley Community College. And over time, a greater number of students are landing at the more selective University of Michigan and Michigan State...
The Promise donors saw how a school district in decline and a weakening economy created a vicious circle. Poor schools hindered Kalamazoo’s ability to support businesses and bring in new ones, and as commercial activity suffered, the resources available to schools shrank. The Promise was created against a backdrop of recent economic thought that considers investment in education better than nearly every other kind of developmental effort when it comes to promoting economic growth. Eberts, for one, argues that if Kalamazoo prepares its students for college, the long-term return to the community will be an educated, innovative work force, a higher tax base and a more attractive business environment. Enrico Moretti, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, notes that well-educated people not only make more money individually; their interactions with everyone around them also amplify a community’s wealth. The biggest difference in salaries between highly and lesser-educated regions is not found in the salaries of the elite but in those earned by lower-skilled workers. The spillover effects energize the economy at every level."
The program doesn't have an easy answer but it may have one that works. I hope to see more cities get the opportunity to try this out. There are sufficient philanthropic individuals in this country who might be well-advised to invest in the future of those who will someday be the ones responsible for this country.