[eric.hanke]

Kudos to Renaissance Academy and to the families for being a model of how education should be! ISTEP scores of 97 Language and 94 Mathematics.



MCAS, English up, Math down, thank you Everyday Math (what a crappy math program). Wait until next year after the budget cuts...

[Southsider2k12]

Amazing what happens to test scores when you can eliminate or not accept the under performing.

[indianamaniac]

Amazing what happens to test scores when you can eliminate or not accept the under performing.

Now, now... Let's not begrudge Mr. Hanke the opportunity to celebrate the good fortune of his children's school... We don't always have to bring up someone else's misfortunes or negative traits while being proud of our own...

MCAS, English up, Math down, thank you Everyday Math (what a crappy math program). Wait until next year after the budget cuts...

If only we could get Mr. Hanke to realize the same thing, then we'd really be getting somewhere...

[eric.hanke]

Amazing what happens to test scores when you can eliminate or not accept the under performing.

I disagree. It's amazing what you can do with a Montessori school program. Each child has a PLP by design. And they don't use research based programs to educate.
It's like the classroom of the old that you and I grew up with Mike. Teachers take part in every aspect of the students' life from greeting them in the morning to eating lunch with them. No lunch ladies or recess aids here!
Our family had an underperforming student. Turns out he excelled in the environment and with the PLP designed by the program. Keep in mind this all happened naturally without a special intervention or meeting. Our son was not treated any different. While children who excelled were provided tools to keep them engaged in the education process.
The underperforming is not eliminated.
Actually Mike, I'm a little shocked for someone who ran for School Board, twice, apparently knows so little about the other educational opportunities available in Michigan City.

Here is the breakdown for MCAS:

[eric.hanke]

It will be interesting to see how Jan Radford spins these figures...

[Southsider2k12]

Now, now... Let's not begrudge Mr. Hanke the opportunity to celebrate the good fortune of his children's school... We don't always have to bring up someone else's misfortunes or negative traits while being proud of our own...
If only we could get Mr. Hanke to realize the same thing, then we'd really be getting somewhere...

I'd settle for an apples to apples comparison.

The Michigan City Area Schools don't get to pick and choose who they educate. They are obligated to accept all students by federal law. A charter school does not have those obligations. If you want to compare, how does the academy compare to Culver Military Academy, or somewhere similar? The comparison being made is dishonest.

[Southsider2k12]

I disagree. It's amazing what you can do with a Montessori school program. Each child has a PLP by design. And they don't use research based programs to educate.
It's like the classroom of the old that you and I grew up with Mike. Teachers take part in every aspect of the students' life from greeting them in the morning to eating lunch with them. No lunch ladies or recess aids here!
Our family had an underperforming student. Turns out he excelled in the environment and with the PLP designed by the program. Keep in mind this all happened naturally without a special intervention or meeting. Our son was not treated any different. While children who excelled were provided tools to keep them engaged in the education process.
The underperforming is not eliminated.
Actually Mike, I'm a little shocked for someone who ran for School Board, twice, apparently knows so little about the other educational opportunities available in Michigan City.

Here is the breakdown for MCAS:

I understand the options quite well. I am surprised you don't understand what selectivity can do to test scores.

Tell me what the demographics look like out there? What is the poverty and minority rates of students?

[eric.hanke]

I'd settle for an apples to apples comparison.

The Michigan City Area Schools don't get to pick and choose who they educate. They are obligated to accept all students by federal law. A charter school does not have those obligations. If you want to compare, how does the academy compare to Culver Military Academy, or somewhere similar? The comparison being made is dishonest.

Culver would not be a good comparison for Renaissance Academy. Culver is a high school program and Renaissance Academy stops at eight grade.



As for demographics, while I don't have the numbers in front of me, Renaissance Academy has the same, if not more minorities. The children are required to wear uniforms and bring their own lunches. Some classrooms even have a full kitchen and encourages the students to cook together.



And don't give me the dirty uniform speech. My 4 kids wear pants with holes in them and came home dirty every day from playing, yes actually playing, during recess. Play is encouraged including teacher participation.



I'm going to miss Renaissance Academy!

[eric.hanke]

Now, now... Let's not begrudge Mr. Hanke the opportunity to celebrate the good fortune of his children's school... We don't always have to bring up someone else's misfortunes or negative traits while being proud of our own...
If only we could get Mr. Hanke to realize the same thing, then we'd really be getting somewhere...

Give me something positive and I'll shout "kudos"!

[Southsider2k12]

Culver would not be a good comparison for Renaissance Academy. Culver is a high school program and Renaissance Academy stops at eight grade.



As for demographics, while I don't have the numbers in front of me, Renaissance Academy has the same, if not more minorities. The children are required to wear uniforms and bring their own lunches. Some classrooms even have a full kitchen and encourages the students to cook together.



And don't give me the dirty uniform speech. My 4 kids wear pants with holes in them and came home dirty every day from playing, yes actually playing, during recess. Play is encouraged including teacher participation.



I'm going to miss Renaissance Academy!

Let me tackle this one for you then. There are 19 kids who fit the states poverty description, or about 21% of total enrollment.

The MCAS has 1140 in the poverty setting out of 2337 or 48.8% of students.

The student bodies are no where near the same, and don't deserve compare. By and large the poorest students aren't going out there.

If you take out those numbers, City's pass rates go up to 88.3% for English and 91.5% for math. See what happens when you can exclude the hardest to educate? That doesn't even begin to break out mandatory public school programs such as special education that also skew those numbers, and aren't addressed as a break out group for ISTEP scoring purposes. Eliminate those students in both groups who are special education and not poor, and I'd bet the scoring of like students is pretty darned similar.

You told me I need to understand the programs, I think you need to understand how to read these numbers below the surface level presented by the News Dispatch. There is way more to them than just a very simple pass fail rate.

[eric.hanke]

Let me tackle this one for you then. There are 19 kids who fit the states poverty description, or about 21% of total enrollment.

The MCAS has 1140 in the poverty setting out of 2337 or 48.8% of students.

The student bodies are no where near the same, and don't deserve compare. By and large the poorest students aren't going out there.

If you take out those numbers, City's pass rates go up to 88.3% for English and 91.5% for math. See what happens when you can exclude the hardest to educate? That doesn't even begin to break out mandatory public school programs such as special education that also skew those numbers, and aren't addressed as a break out group for ISTEP scoring purposes. Eliminate those students in both groups who are special education and not poor, and I'd bet the scoring of like students is pretty darned similar.

You told me I need to understand the programs, I think you need to understand how to read these numbers below the surface level presented by the News Dispatch. There is way more to them than just a very simple pass fail rate.

Can you break those numbers out 1 - 8 grades. If you want to compare apples to apples.

[bandaid19]

Yeah, maybe the same racial makeup as Springfield or Coolspring, but not most other MC elementary schools...and look at the paid lunch rate! 80.4%! Most MCAS schools are in that neighborhood for Free/Reduced. I'm not going to get into the fact that there's only 184 kids in the school!

http://compass.doe.in.gov/dashboard/overvi...ool&id=4711

And yes, selectivity, socio-economic factors, low class sizes, individualized learning plans... ALL play a huge part in test scores. I've seen the tests.. I know what kinds of questions they're asking.. some of them just don't make sense to our students, because they're out of context for their lives.

I'm thrilled that RA works for some people... I want MCAS to work for ALL people, not just those they take by application. However, as a teacher of 16 years, I think the biggest change in education today are FAMILY VALUES. I knew how to read, write my name, count, know colors BEFORE I came to school. I had someone encouraging me to read and write at home. I read the newspaper EVERY DAY with my dad. I ate meals with both of my parents (most days, when dad wasn't on the road), and talked to them about what was going on in my life, my school, my community.

My parents didn't have to work 2-3 jobs to support my family... they didn't drive ridiculous car(s) that were out of our league... I've never been to Disney World, or on a cruise.. our summer trips were to Michigan and Ohio. When my mom went to college, we all pitched in to make it work, and I *still* was held at a high expectation to behave a certain way, and to get my work done (both home and school). If I *ever* talked to an adult the way some of the students at my school talked to me I would be sitting in the bathroom with a sore butt and a mouth full of soap suds.

*These* are the things that have changed... for many reasons, family dynamics have changed, and thusly have changed the face of education. I know it sounds preachy, but I guarantee that some of the problems with the MCAS test scores lay squarely within the culture of MC itself... and how do we change that?

[Southsider2k12]

Can you break those numbers out 1 - 8 grades. If you want to compare apples to apples.

Those are like numbers, straight off of the ISTEP spreadsheets, for those grades which were tested. The total MCAS enrollment is something close to 7000 kids.

[Magnolia]

I'd settle for an apples to apples comparison.

The Michigan City Area Schools don't get to pick and choose who they educate. They are obligated to accept all students by federal law. A charter school does not have those obligations. If you want to compare, how does the academy compare to Culver Military Academy, or somewhere similar? The comparison being made is dishonest.

I think we need to clear up some misconceptions about Renaissance. Renaissance is a public school chartered through Ball State. They don't get to pick and choose between who they take. They perform on a lottery system after a first come first serve basis of application. The admit children according to applications received, and resort to a lottery system after the application date has expired. There is no formal interview process by which they pick and choose who attends the school or not. The do the lottery after students have matriculated out of the school or have decided not to attend; therefore, they fill the spaces from the lottery.

Therefore, the comparison is quite accurate. The school is quite diverse...the children come from all segments of northern Indiana and Southwest lower Michigan so long as the parents are willing to commute the students to school and their respective extracurricualr events. The school does not function like a traditional school, and some parents embrace it like we have and some do not. It is a committment to a lifestyle in education.

A comparison cannot be made to Culver Academy, because Culver is a private high school military inspired. a proper comparison would be perhaps Notre Dame or some other K-8 program from which I feel Renaissance is equally as competitive. I know this to be the case, because quite a few of the students matriculate out to Marquette, MCHS, LaLumiere, and other fine institutions of secondary education. Our own son Jordan was accepted to Culver from having had a RA education. I know for a fact that the level of coursework he had at Barker would have not been adequate enough for him to do well on his SSAT to even be considered for admission into Culver. He said that exam was extremely difficult. He went up three levels of mathematics to Algebra and even Spanish 1 at Renaissance in two years (or rather one and a half years for admission to Culver)....that never would have happened at Barker. Some of his fellow students even completed geometry this year. Also, we had a son who consistently failed Istep every year, but this year he successfully passed Istep...the first time since third grade. He excelled and went up several levels in reading and language arts after consistenly struggling since kindergarten. Our youngest son was behind due to speech difficulties, they worked with him doing speech therapy (he was considered special ed), his reading and language excelled so much that he was doing third grade spelling words in first grade and an entire reading level ahead. He has since finished his speech therapy, enunciates beautifully, and has become an exceptional student at least a grade ahead in many subjects.

The key difference to RA is that they change with the demands of each student and subsequentlly each cohort. Something that the MCAS cannot do in its current system of doing things. Children at RA are grouped in age groups as opposed to grades and work through learning groups. While they may have homeroom time most of the day, the students attend learning groups that are the most challenging for them, and when the work becomes easy they move to a different more challenging group until there is a happy medium. Most parents misconstrue this as their student doing poorly in school when receiving B's and sometimes C's, but the children are being challenged to perform higher. So each classroom is comprised, for example, of students normally considering in grades 1, 2, and 3. So if you have a student who is at grade level in second grade for reading, but needs to be more challenged in mathematics, then they move them up to the next learning group for mathematics which could be grade three math or even higher. Additionally, the children develop long term relationships with their teachers because of the classroom setup so the teacher doesn't have to get to know the student each year, they already know what the student is capable of. As such, the teacher is more able to hold the student accountable when they aren't doing their best.

This allows for children of all academic levels to excell. The teacher moves through the work groups providing a more individual education. He/ she acts more like a facilitator...the students help one another...and the students work at their own pace based on a weekly workplan.

The school is Montessori so there are several ways to approach education in a more hands on approach either through manipulatives or by doing experiments or exercises such as skits or plays. They learn by doing which most children understand better than by wrote exercise only. Kids in lower grades liken some of the manipulatives to playing games even though it might be a math manipulative helping them to understand placement of numbers.

The students also follow a curriculum that rotates each year on subject. So in history last year was medieval/ renaissance...so their history and language/ reading revolve aorund literature from that time period. Even math and science somewhat revolve around that as well. Sometimes, it is difficult to meet the demands of Istep especially with respect to US hisotry, because of the rotation, but they provide overnight study groups for the kdis to help them with that. Our kids have read more books than ever in the MCAS. Our eldest was never a reader, but he has read through so many different series including the Hunger Games, because of the competitive nature of reading at RA. They use literature instead of textbooks as much as possible. They also focus on things such as chess...everyone learns to play chess.

We have embraced this school...they are very much child-centered...the students are allowed to be kids...the kids go on lots of field trips...they are given adequate play time and free time during the day...they don't discourage things like Pokemon for example (because it promotes math) and they do not offer a school lunch program and are rather strict on what children can bring to school to eat.

I am also sad that our children will not be able to attend this school due to relocation, but will instead be attending traditional schools. Although the school are good schools, I worry about the gains our one son has made in his time at RA. no school is perfect, but it is perfect for us.
I hope this provides some insight with respect to RA.

[Southsider2k12]

I appreciate the effort put into the explanation, but the state's numbers are pretty clear. The school isn't very diverse at all when it comes to socioeconomics, which has been proven time and time again to be the truest indicator of future success. The MCAS has a 250% higher rate of students in poverty.

Once you take off the differing demographics between the MCAS schools and RA, their results become remarkably similar. The numbers are there. Your kids might identify more with that particular system, but the data shows that on a statistical basis, your experience is fairly unique.

[Magnolia]

I have never agreed with the stance that poverty is in direct correlation with uneducateable students. I grew up in abject poverty as well as many of my long time friends...and I think we did just fine. Comparing free/ reduced students is not an accurate assessment of learning. However, an involved family (which RA requires), small classroom size, PLPs, and the general structure of how the school operates are the key factors to the success of RA. Anyone is capable of attending RA, but being able to afford the uniforms and paying for the students supply fees can be a considerable burden for some families...and at a few times even for us when one of us was unemployed. Not to mention having to pick up/ and drop off your students everyday is also a huge committment that most families are not able to do. If the school was more accessible...I am certain more students from lower socioeconomic groups might attend. I thing the students come from pretty much everywhere...and some how the parents make it work who make the decision that this is what is best for their children. The key is taking ownership by the family for the family and ultimately for the student which RA supports and isntills as part of attendance. This is the number one issue in MCAS is lack of parent involvement and accountability. The other issue is the lack of team work and effort by the MCAS to make the schools as inclusive as possible...open up your schools and maybe resorting to more old school facets such as homeroom moms and house visits might help improve the situation. It's a two way treet in education.

[Magnolia]

I appreciate the effort put into the explanation, but the state's numbers are pretty clear. The school isn't very diverse at all when it comes to socioeconomics, which has been proven time and time again to be the truest indicator of future success. The MCAS has a 250% higher rate of students in poverty.

Once you take off the differing demographics between the MCAS schools and RA, their results become remarkably similar. The numbers are there. Your kids might identify more with that particular system, but the data shows that on a statistical basis, your experience is fairly unique.

The school is diverse with respect to the types of children who attend whether we consider them as hispanic, white, african american, asian, etc. I think comparing them to a financial picture is an unfair assessment and sets up a stigma that shouldn't be there.

[eric.hanke]

...open up your schools and maybe resorting to more old school facets such as homeroom moms and house visits might help improve the situation. It's a two way street in education.

Good luck with that! When I tried to get involved at Barker they almost threw me out of the building! I hated that school!!!

[Magnolia]

The school is diverse with respect to the types of children who attend whether we consider them as hispanic, white, african american, asian, etc. I think comparing them to a financial picture is an unfair assessment and sets up a stigma that shouldn't be there.

I want to add one more important note...the free/reduced form that students fill out in the MCAS is not required at RA...simply because there isn't really a purpose. We never filled one out even though we might had had to instances where only one of us was working for meal/ book rental purposes in the MCAS. However, RA students pay a supply fee and not book rentals and there is no school lunch program. The option to fill out the form for the schools sake is available, but many I know don't fill them out, because there isn't any studnet benefit to doing so based on the fee structure of the school. So in fact there might be more "free/reduced" lunch students, but they don't fill out the paperwork, because...well...it is unnecessary.

[eric.hanke]

The school is diverse with respect to the types of children who attend whether we consider them as hispanic, white, african american, asian, etc. I think comparing them to a financial picture is an unfair assessment and sets up a stigma that shouldn't be there.

But that's how they manipulate the data to make is sound like the MCAS is doing OK. We can't educate Michigan City kids becasue they are poor...