Cincinnati Impresses: Center Of Innovation

The Center of Innovation program at the College of Applied Science at UC aims to show seniors that their choices for employment upon graduation is not limited to Fifth Third, Kroger’s, and Great American Insurance (not that there’s anything wrong with those fine companies). The program also aims to show them that, in a region full of marketing, design, and business talent, there is serious need for young technology talent with an entrepreneurial bent. For those who might want to take the plunge, the program also outlines business skills and resources they’ll need to complement their technology skills.

This is a great thing, and kudos and support goes to Andy Erickson and Dr. Hazem Said for their work so far.

This past Tuesday I gave a short talk to students in the Innovation Seminar series in CAS at UC about what' it’s like to work in a startup from a coder’s point of view. I talked about transitioning from a cubicle farm job to a startup environment, the nature and pace of working in a startup, and the tons and tons of learning that is inevitable.

You won’t get a lot from these slides without the narrative, but I post all my talks here so I thought I’d post this one.

Cross-posted on my programming blog.

Development In A Startup

View more presentations.

Downtown Child Care?

Seeing this blog about a new child care center opening up downtown got me thinking.  The city may finally be starting to regain population, depending on whom you ask (but at least you can ask!)  But I wonder how the 18-and-under population as been trending.  I could not find any demographic trends for just children after some quick searching.  My feeling is that the trend has been going down.  One obvious sign is the growing list of vacant CPS buildings.

My feeling is that most of the people moving into the city are childless.  When they become not childless, they move outside the city limits.  Looking forward to starting my own family, the thoughts about raising a child in either the CBD or OTR that enter my mind are interesting.

Will there be same-aged kids on our street to play with?  Where will our kid go to school?  When I think about how I grew up in a subdivision, surrounded by kids my age, and spending hours of summertime wandering around in the woods, it takes a giant mental leap to imagine how it would be in the city.  I know that people are doing it (cf. CityKin).  Would we be capable of doing the same?

Would I be comfortable with sending our kid to a CPS elementary school, which will be mostly African-American (it's hard to be a minority in any situation), and likely underperforming on state standards.  There are only three elementary/middle schools in CPS with the highest state rating that I'm aware of, and there is only one high school.   That's a small basket to put all your eggs in, if you care about such things.

So another child care center opening up downtown encourages me.  Now, it probably has been long overdue just because of all the workers downtown.  But now, if you live downtown, and work downtown, and have a family downtown, you don't have to leave downtown before work just to take your child to daycare.

North College Hill Rated Effective

There is a lot that can be said about the way Ohio has defined its NCLB school ratings, but progress is progress. Congratulations, baby!

clipped from news.cincinnati.com And some school districts, stuck for several years in the Continuous Improvement category, were propelled to Effective. Among them are Northwest, North College Hill and Princeton.

If Special Education Is In Such Demand, Why Are Salaries So Low?

From the "The Government Does Not Have Enough Money To Serve <insert industry here> But May Be The Only One Who Can" category comes a story about special education positions in Cincinnati.

Kudos to Mr. Favors for pursuing such a personally rewarding job, but the cynic in me wonders how long he'll last. I don't know many people who are willing to incur school debt for advanced degrees, maintain certification, work long hours and work with some of the most challenging segments of society for $30,000 to $40,000 a year.

And it's not even the volume of work that seems like the worse part. The worst part seems to be the Dilbert-esque bureaucracy that permeates the public sector, and prevents simple ideas for improving process with limited resources from ever seeing the light of day.

One more thing about salaries: I often hear that such-and-such a position is underpaid. Well, jobs will continue to pay at a salary as long as there are people willing to work for it. The opposite reason is why professional athletes make so much money. I understand the very personally rewarding nature of education jobs, but I wonder how quickly (and painfully) a solution for teacher salaries would be found if suddenly no college graduates wanted to become teachers?

clipped from news.cincinnati.com It's hard to persuade a college-educated man, especially a minority man, to make in the mid-$30,000 or so in salary for the first few years, said Harris. "The pay is all right, but it's not great like if they went into business," she said. Then there's the paperwork - volumes of it that go along with each special education student. Jane Ackerson, the 35-year teaching veteran who mentored Favors last year, said she coaxed him through it last year.

On Community Learning

There used to be a charter school, and it still may be there - I'm not sure - in Over-the-Rhine called W.E.B. DuBois Middle School. In a very short time, it became one of the few charter schools in the state to attain a rating of Excellent. Parents and community raved about the school. Kids scored the highest possible scores on state tests for reading and math.

I used to see the kids walking along Central Pkwy on my way to work in the mornings. I didn't know where they were going. But it was quite a sight. They walked single file on the sidewalk, with an adult at the front of the line and one in back. They were always smiling and bouncing, and the I want to say they all wore dark blue jackets. The boys did at least.

Then the founder and principal of the school was ousted and convicted of fraud or something. Not sure.

But back to their success. W.E.B. Dubois kept the kids there until 6 pm. The school was also open on Saturdays and Sundays. And instruction was year-round.

Is that what it takes to succeed in a low-income neighborhood? To practically raise the kids becaue no one else will?

Schools can no longer just be schools for some of these kids to succeed. The services must not be just educational, but holistic and comprehensive.

Which is why this quick story about progress on the new Rothenberg School and Community Learning Center reminded me about all the new CLC's being built by CPS right now, one of the many things they're doing right.

From the CPS web page:

Communities and schools are strongly linked — one seldom succeeds if the other fails. Schools need families and communities that are involved in the education of students; communities need schools that serve as centers of neighborhood life.

...The district launched its 10-year, $1-billion Facilities Master Plan in 2002, with the goal of creating Community Learning Centers within all of its fully renovated and newly constructed buildings. There is no "cookie-cutter" design for a Community Learning Center; each represents the energy and needs of its neighborhood.

...For example, Winton Hills Academy identified health concerns as a barrier to students' learning. As a result, they now partner with a pharmacy, a primary and oral-health care provider, and a full-time behavioral health clinic to provide services to their students and families.

...Community Learning Centers are proven success stories. Benefits for students include: improved academic performance, higher attendance rates and greater parent involvement. One example is Winton Hills Academy — enrollment is up, discipline incidents are down dramatically, and the building hums daily with after-school and summer programming run by the YMCA.

Trends In The City

The Enquirer Politics blog reports on Cincinnati Public Schools' annual financial audit from the state, released a couple weeks ago (PDF). I'll repeat their point that CPS has been fairly responsible financially, but the audit also contains some interesting data from the last 10 years about CPS and the city as a whole, which may reflect regional and national trends. Here are some I found interesting.

Population of city (S.30):
1997: 364,040
2006: 331,285

Per-capita income in city (S.30):
1997: $29,395
2006: $40,828

Unemployment rate in county (S.30):
1997: 3.6%
2006: 5.0%

Types of business of top 10 employers in city (S.33):
1998:
Government (3)
Consumer Goods (2)
Education (2)
Communication (1)
Public Utility (1)
Jet Engines (1)

2007:
Health Care (4)
Consumer Goods (2)
Education (2)
Financial (1)
Government (1)

CPS Enrollment in K-8 (S.30):
1997: 37,611
2006: 23,140

CPS Enrollment in 9-12 (S.30):
1997: 10,444
2006: 11,089

CPS Number of classroom teachers (S.34):
1998: 3,326.52
2007: 2,480.04

CPS Number of social workers (S.34):
1998: 28.50
2007: 40.68

CPS Number of psychologists (S.34):
1998: 53.38
2007: 72.85

CPS Number of librarians (S.34):
1998: 76.43
2007: 28.90

CPS Cost per pupil (S.48)*:
2002: $9,983
2007: $12,025

CPS (State) Pupil-to-teacher ratio (S.36):
2000: 13.9 (18.1)
2007: 14.3 (19.6)

CPS Students with disabilities (S.39):
2007: 20.5%

CPS Students with ESL (S.39):
2007: 3.2%

CPS Students on free and reduced lunch (S.39):
2007: 86.49%

CPS Average teacher salary (S.40):
1998: $46,695
2007: $62,760

CPS Attendance rate (S.48):
2002: 91.1%
2007: 94.7%

CPS Graduation rate (S.48):
2002: 60.2%
2007: 77.2%

* Updated: there were three figures for Cost-Per-Pupil - I was unsure of why they were different - so I just picked one.

Election Wrapup: CPS Levy Passes

The CPS levy finally passed, which is good.

Some people are not pleased. Such as this lady.

I am writing to voice my displeasure with the passage of the Cincinnati school levy. I estimate the levy will raise the property tax on my home by at least $800, which is an amount my middle class family, like many others in the area, simply cannot afford. The primary consequence Cincinnati will see as a result of this will not be better schools, but increased flight to the suburbs by middle class families where the schools are better and crime rates and taxes are lower. I love Cincinnati, and I don't want to move, but my family may be the next family to move to the burbs.

- Deborah Gates, Columbia Tusculum

So many themes spring to mind when I read that letter.

1. First of all, the levy adds an estimated $240 in taxes on a $100,000 home. So Miss Gates of Columbia Tusculum owns a house in the mid $300's. Now, I hesitate to even bring this up, because I'm uncomfortable classifying people based on these things, and I know that $300,000 does not buy as much house as it used to, but it makes me wonder if Miss Gates is truly middle-class (and makes me wonder what truly is middle-class anymore anyway)? And I wonder where she sends her kids for school?
2. Because it's true that the schools, crime, and taxes are all better in the suburbs, obviously. If her kids attend private schools, I understand why, and I understand why still paying property taxes is upsetting. (Which is why I believe that vouchers and charter schools are in the solution somewhere, but they must be held to the same standards as public schools - the government cannot afford to fund public education the same way it cannot afford to fund health care, but I digress.) But if she loves this city so much, then she should know that, as I've said in previous blogs, the future of this city long-term depends on having publicly-funded education that parents will not hesitate using. And the levy helps achieve that goal. If her kids do attend public schools, then Miss Gates should support the levy anyway.
3. Not to mention that in all this CPS is doing a good job and is setting the trend. In the appendix of the book about teachers that I read, there was a list of around a half-dozen school districts around the country with forward-thinking teacher-payment systems. CPS was one of them. Additionally, in the last CityBeat before the election, there is a great article on the importance of CPS and the great progress it has made.
   

   "...one person in particular, Joe Nathan, suggests that CPS could serve as a model for other districts. He represented the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for seven of the years it was involved with local schools and was so impressed he wrote an opinion piece for the The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune praising the district.
   
   'Powerful progress in the Cincinnati Public Schools may help efforts to improve Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools,' Nathan wrote in 2007. 'Despite its problems, CPS grew from a four-year, 51 percent high school graduation rate in 2000 to a four-year, 79 percent graduation rate in 2007. It also eliminated the graduation gap between white and African-American students. Graduation rates for all students increased. Cincinnati appears to be among the first (if not the first) major urban districts to eliminate this gap.'"

   So CPS is improving. How is it improving? Why do you think they spend all that money?

Growing Inward

The Queen City Survey has a very thoughtful, nigh impassioned post about how to grow our fair city. I encourage everyone to read it in its entirety. To answer his question - "What are those things – projects or otherwise – that will grow this city inward and what will get us moving in a positive direction quickly?" - my thoughts on the matter (in no particular order):

1. The streetcar proposal is the single most important big ticket/development issue. While it may not be the best deal economically at this time, we must strike while the political iron is hot. Despite the valid arguments that Cincinnati is not Portland, the car is king here, etc. I firmly believe that someday - someday - this type of mass transit will be at the national forefront again, as we run into imminent transportation and energy issues. Importantly, the streetcar must link uptown to downtown, with OTR in-between, to link two of the largest residential/employee bases in the city.
   
2. Over-the-Rhine must be developed, as it can be and has been, as long as the city and the naysayers stay out of the way. IIRC, OTR used to be home to over 50,000 people back in the day. Today less than 10,000 call it home. OTR can accomodate many more residents and can add 40,000 to the city's population if it lives up to its potential. (I would say, let's build a ballpark in OTR, but we know how that turned out.)
   
3. Apart from development-type issues, education stands at the forefront. Cincinnati Public Schools must be successful and families must not hesitate to send their children there if Cincinnati is to thrive. Interestingly, if #1 and #2 above succeed, and the demographics of the city change, CPS may improve simply by having better raw materials to teach. That said, it is the children in CPS today who will become Cincinnati's residents tomorrow, and they deserve the best chances to be productive citizens.

Teachers Have It Easy

Every educator and politician in America should read this book.


From the back cover:

Teachers Have It Easy is a landmark work examining how bad policy makes the teaching profession unsustainable. Interweaving teachers' voices from across the country with hard-hitting facts and figures, the book presents a clear-eyed view of the harsh realities of public school teaching.

With a look at the problems of recruitment and retention, the myths of short workdays and endless summer vacations, the realities of the work week, and shocking examples of how society views America's teachers, Teachers Have It Easy explores some of the best ways to improve public education. Case studies demonstrate how current salary reforms are transforming schools, the lives of our teachers, and the educational experiences of our children.

Michael Flannery

So Michael Flannery, whom you may vaguely remember from his kids show on Fox, has won a seat on the CPS school board. In fact, he was the top vote-getter. In fact, he earned more votes than any of the city council members. One day, I might be voting for him for mayor!

"I've been in front of boards and organizations. These people are going, 'Why are you running?' And my question is, 'Why aren't you?' These people complain about the school board: 'They're not being fiscally responsible, and look at all this money.' What partner of an accounting firm has stepped up to run for school board? Nobody. They say it's being mismanaged. What executive or CEO has stepped up to run for school board? Zero. So you get a kids' show host. I have no qualifications except I'm a parent. I care about Cincinnati, I care about the kids. I want someone in there who's looking out for the kids. That's what I'm qualified for."

But he said he's still amazed that people are questioning his ability to do the job.

"It's an unpaid position that nobody wants," he said, "and they're questioning my qualifications?"

When The Levy Breaks

When I married Sarah, hidden in the vows was the clause that I am to vote yes for public school levies for the rest of my life. I could live with that, despite my Libertarian-ish ways.

Despite being bothered by the fact that only a government institution could abruptly find itself $72 million in debt. Despite the fact that only government budgets must separate capital funds from operational funds, leading to a ridiculous situation where teachers and staff are cut while nearly $1 billion is spent on building new schools. Despite the fact that these levies continue to feed into a public school funding formula that has been declared unconstitutional multiple times by the Ohio Supreme Court (SCOO?). Despite the fact that the teachers unions allow the youngest, cheapest, most energetic teachers to be cut first, while the teachers who have taught the longest are allowed to do and change the least while being paid the most.

Despite all these things, I support the upcoming CPS levy. And you should too. Because they haven't asked for a new operating levy in 7 years. Because these teachers work in extraordinary - no - super-ultra-extraordinary environments. Where they are required to do more and more with less and less. Get to school at 7 am. Use one hour to plan 6 hours of talking. No bathroom breaks. A half-hour for lunch, maybe, if you don't eat while grading. No office supplies. No assistants. No climate control. Advanced education requirements with no advanced salary. Kids who misbehave. Kids who are behind. When you get home, maybe you can grade some more. At least you get summers off.

And that was all before No Child Left Behind. You see, in the past few decades, kids who were behind, or were severe behavior problems, were either casually advanced or forgotten about altogether. But NCLB is literal in its name and its intent. But that last 10%-20% of kids who never graduated high school and weren't thought of again, it takes a lot more than 10%-20% of extra effort to get them to meet ever-rising federal standards. A lot more.

So now, on top of all the problems with education that were already there, now teachers have to participate in counseling, intervention, special education, and behavior plans. More counselors. More psychologists. More aides. More specialists. And where does the money to pay all these people come from?

No where at the moment. But the levy, our disproportionate property tax unconstitutionally funded levy, will help.