Where's one of the best places in the world to learn reading and math?
Tempe Preparatory Academy, according to a study released last week.
The George W. Bush Presidential Center released the "Global Report Card" to compare how the United States is doing educating its students in reading and math. It used the most recent test scores available at the national level - data from 2004 to 2007 - to compare the U.S. to the average achievement of 25 developed countries globally, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea and Canada.
The study, using academic achievement data from 25 countries, not only compares every school district and charter school to the rest of the world, but lists the top 60 U.S. schools or districts.
Joining Tempe Preparatory in the top national rankings is Veritas Preparatory in Phoenix, a school founded on the same principles as Tempe Preparatory. Chandler Preparatory Academy - a sister school to Veritas and one of the Great Hearts charter schools - ranked on the list of top places for reading education in America.
In fact, of the top 60 public school districts or charter schools in the U.S. for reading or math, all of Arizona's entries are charter schools.
Nearly two-thirds of the top U.S. schools listed for both subjects - reading and math - are east of the Mississippi. Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York provide the highest number of top schools.
Hugh Hallman, headmaster for Tempe Preparatory Academy and mayor of Tempe, points to his campus as an example of what can be done in education in Arizona.
"We are not a private school with the best and brightest. We are a public school. Our students are picked by lottery. Our incoming student base looks just like the incoming student base in surrounding schools," he said, while watching students dismiss from class Monday.
What Tempe Preparatory Academy is doing differently is keeping class sizes - and school size - small. Teachers only teach four classes a day. With a maximum of 22 students in each class, each teacher is only responsible for 88 students. That keeps those kids from falling through the cracks, Hallman said.
Tempe Preparatory Academy was founded shortly after Arizona's charter school movement began in the 1990s. Like district schools, charter schools are publicly funded. But charters have private operators who are freed from some of the regulations districts must follow. Students in both types of public schools are required to take the Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards test.
The biggest difference - the only difference, Hallman maintains - between district schools and charter schools is that teachers at charters do not need to be certified.
Hallman can hire teachers who are passionate about their subjects, whether or not they have teaching credentials. But that doesn't mean they don't have experience. His staff includes scientists, musicians and certified teachers.
Tempe Preparatory Academy also raises the bar, he said. Students in danger of failing, or who are failing, are required to seek help. Since he instituted the mandatory tutoring time, Hallman said, fewer students are dropping out despite the challenging curriculum.
That curriculum is also key. Tempe Preparatory Academy - along with the Great Hearts charter schools - puts an emphasis on reading literature and historic papers, such as "Henry V," the Federalist Papers, Supreme Court documents, "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." Some students read those last two in their original Greek form.
"Any kid can do this. We ask too little of students. Do we have students who come to us not ready? Absolutely. We do everything we can to prepare them," he said. "Our problem in education is not that the standards are too high, but that we're testing the wrong thing."
Raising the bar is where Arizona is heading, said state Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa. Crandall, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said he was not very familiar with the Global Report Card. But he said the future for education in Arizona is "exciting."
Arizona has adopted the nationwide Common Core Standards, which could be fully in place by 2014. Several education leaders are also looking at individualized instruction provided through technology in the classroom, a concept known as "blended learning," he said.
"If we hold students to the highest bar, they tend to rise to the occasion. That's good news. That's where we're going," he said.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has launched a new education initiative, Arizona Ready, to make that happen, he said.
Even without the nationwide drive to change, Arizona charter schools are revamping what they're doing to compete on a world scale, said Eileen Sigmund, president and CEO of the Arizona Charter Schools Association.
Competition is no longer just the school down the street, but the international marketplace because that's where the jobs are.
"They've adjusted their curriculum to create critically thinking kids," she said.
Schools like Tempe Preparatory Academy and the Basis charter schools set out to compete globally. Basis Schools - which recently opened a campus in Chandler - sends staff to watch how students are educated in Finland.
"The schools on the (Global Report Card) list have a set curriculum, but they will certainly meet the individual student needs," she said.
Increasingly, families are choosing charter schools, Sigmund said. The most recent report from the Arizona Department of Education shows another 10,000 students entered charter schools this year - from about 124,000 last year to 134,000 as of Oct. 1.
But the districts are not just sitting by.
In the last few years, several have opened new programs - from blended learning in Chandler to an advanced academy in Mesa to a classical academy in Gilbert. And many of those districts are looking at even more ideas in the future.
Kyrene Elementary School District announced earlier this fall that it will open a traditional school. Mesa Unified School District is also looking to adopt a "blended learning" option.
The Global Report Card was developed by Jay P. Greene, a professor, author and well-known education reform advocate, and Josh B. McGee, an adjunct professor at Rice University, as part of the George W. Bush Institute's Education Reform Initiative.
Michelle Reese, East Valley Tribune
Mike McClellan posted at 5:25 pm on Tue, Oct 4, 2011.
As a retired teacher, I have nothing but admiration for what the whole Prep Academy group of schools does in our area. Those schools do a fantastic job, and obviously have dedicated teachers and administrators who hold their kids to the highest standards.
But I also note that they intentionally keep their class sizes at 22 students per class. Which contradicts what our State Schools Superintendent John Huppenthal argues, that small class sizes don't really matter. Anyone who's taught knows differently.
I'm currently volunteering in an ESL class at a local elementary school -- 32 4th and 5th graders at all kinds of levels. I'm sure the teacher in that class would love to have the 22 limit that the Prep Academy schools have.
rewine posted at 6:40 pm on Tue, Oct 4, 2011.
TPA? Really, one of the best places to learn math? Not in TD3. My eighth grader is currently in TD3 taking Honors Geometry. Next year as a ninth grader he will take Advanced Algebra/Calculus. TPA does not even offer Geometry to eighth graders.
Do your homework parents and really take a look at what schools are offering what courses.
Suelee posted at 7:25 pm on Tue, Oct 4, 2011.
My daughter attended Tempe Prep in 7th and 8th grade and is now in her mid 20s and says that her time at Tempe Prep was the best education she received. Just 2 years at Tempe Prep and she was able to finish public high school in just 3 years and graduate from MCC by age 18.
prokofieff27 posted at 10:27 pm on Tue, Oct 4, 2011.
rewine: full disclosure, I am a senior at Tempe Prep
If, as you say, Tempe Prep offers math classes at a lower level than public schools, wouldn't its scores on this assessment be much lower?
However, Tempe Prep's scores are much higher. Traditional public schools may have more advanced classes, but according to this data, their students are learning less. Students at Tempe Prep receive a better grounding and basis in math that prepares them (we are after all a prep school) more adequately for college
rewine posted at 5:45 am on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Check it out for yourself...my statement is fact. I can tell by your question, you don't get it. My point is exactly as I stated. TPA does not offer the higher level math classes that the public school offers. What test score are you referring to? Are you referring to when these Honors Geometry students take the AIMS? SAT? ACT?
Again...you are comparing apples to oranges. Not EVERY 8th grade student in TP3 takes Honors Geometry.
I do agree with a portion of your last statement, you get a "basis in math" and you are "small."
Fidelio posted at 6:34 am on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Please note that Tempe Preparatory Academy, rather than using blended technology, accomplishes its phenomenal success with a bare minimum of technology, computer or otherwise. The Socratic method is the main teaching modality.
Along with the pop idiom of the day, all of our current school children were born after the advent of Windows and "computerese" is a native language to them. Tempe Prep teaches through an idiom of the masterworks of Western culture, enabling students to see further by "standing on the shoulders of giants."
In answer to Rewine, ALL classes at TPA are honors classes.
geekette posted at 7:07 am on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Those are great schools and congratulations to them. However, I must quibble with Hallman's statement that "The biggest difference - the only difference, [... ]- between district schools and charter schools is that teachers at charters do not need to be certified." District schools cannot restrict their size; they must accept all comers. Teachers must teach more than 4 classes a day. So the difference is also class size and workload.
Knightsfan posted at 7:15 am on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
The data was gathered between 204-2007 and reflects a peak time in Tempe Prep history. The founders of Tempe Prep established a classical liberal arts academy. This accolade belongs to them. The classical liberal arts genre of education produces critical thinkers. The class size is certainly a factor in the school's success, but do not fail to note that a classical liberal arts curriculum results in deep learning and a love for learning for most of the students who are trained by it. Tempe Prep should keep focused on providing a classical liberal arts curriculum if it wants to receive this same award in the future.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:27 am on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
But how can all these "Charter Schools" be excelling = the teachers don't have a........UNION ???
And where are all the ...."ESL = English as a Second Langauge" ...Illegal Alien Students...the ones that study and study and study....2-3 hours of English everyday at $7,670.00 per Illegal Alien student...per year and after 8 years only.....1 in 4 or 1 in 5....understand and comprehend.....Basic English ???
Did you notice......NO PC's....just a pencil and a notebook...the old Socratic way that we old Catholic Parochial School students learned back in the 1950's. Mother Ann Charles and Sister Mary Magdalene didn't have a ..."power point" back then..they didn't have a PC...just a text book..a blackboard .....a piece of chalk.....and a pointer (and boy could they... "use"... that pointer if some one wasn't .."paying attention" to the blackboard.....not Suzie Q's latest tattoo or body piercing).
No Certification....wait a dog-gone minute....but the ...UTA (United Teachers Association requires that for all new teachers......you know...the Teachers Union that is going to support and join those ..."white pained clown-faced anarchist freaks that are getting ready to loot and burn down New York Stock Exchange...the ones President Obama was preaching to and calling on to...."Go after the Millionaire and Billionaire Capitalists on Wall Street") in his best Mao Tse Dong "People's Revolution" speaches all across American (Air Force One costs the American Tax-Payer = $187,000.00 an hour).
One last point to show how the ...1960's and 1070's ..Hippie-Yuppie-Love Child-Kumbaya Ultra-Left Teacher's Unions and Liberal School Boards ...."destroyed American Education"....notice how clean-cut and "normal" these kids look, notice the way they are sitting up in their seats...notice their "attentiveness"...and notice the young man in front with his hand raised as a mark of courtesy and respect for his teacher...........do you see this type of behavior in our .....United Teacher's Union Certified Teacher Classrooms of Today ????
If America's Teachers Want Respect let them earn it ....not from "Strikes" and "Walk-outs" but the .......old-fashioned way.......earn it....teach the subject....not your Liberal-biased Politics.
Mike McClellan posted at 8:17 am on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
To the Tempe Prep student: your comment about test scores of district schools vs. yours is accurate . . . on the surface.
However, when you disaggregate the scores, and examine the test scores of comparable students, the district schools and Tempe Prep are essentially the same.
For example, take the same cohort of kids at Corona or Marcos or Desert Vista or McClintock or Mountain Pointe, and you'll find their scores in math to be right there with Tempe Prep.
That's not to say Tempe Prep does anything wrong -- I love the fact they focus on the Socratic Method, for example.
It just means that when you make the claim you did, you're comparing a small, homogenous group to a larger heterogeneous group: The aggregate score of 40 very similar Tempe Prep sophomores' scores on AIMS should be higher than the aggregate score of, say, 600 more varied sophomores at Corona, for example.
Chl178 posted at 10:27 am on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Alright, here is what I have to say. TPA has a decent curriculum; it is unusual and somewhat intense. But, it is very possible to have a great education somewhere other than TPA. If you want you child to have an education like TPA, you can find it in public schools. Also, TPA has a terrible math and science department. The only thing unique about the great heart schools is the Humane Letters Seminar. The math, science and most of the language classes are standard and you could get them at any public school. On a different note, TPA is one if the hardest environments to be in. The small school atmosphere and the prejudice that students, and even teachers, show is disgusting. I have heard that Chandler Prep and Veritas are not as socially challenging. Also, I think that Hallman should take care who he hires to teach. I heard that this year, he hired a man without a college education to teach junior high english....ridiculous. There are some teachers at that school who have no right teaching.
rewine posted at 12:40 pm on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Fidelio-YOU are confused. TPA 8th graders DO NOT TAKE HONORS GEOMETRY. They take Honors Algebra...that is ONE FULL YEAR BEHIND the Honors level TD3 kids. Any parent of a Honors level student needs to take a real close look. Why hold your kids back????? My kid took your TPA Honors math class a year ago!!!
Do your homework!!!!
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 12:42 pm on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
With a typical class size of 50 or more students, S. Korea educates the smartest children in the world. Japan is a close second. Class size has nothing to do with student learning. If you want your children educated at world class levels then I suggest you teach them using world class models. http://asiasociety.org/education/learning-world/south-korean-education.
Very good points Leon. I might add that I cannot see any minorities in the photo provided. Could that possibly be a contributing factor in their excellent record of achievement? No ESL?
Jubilee posted at 1:55 pm on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
So, if Tempe High switched next year to Tempe Prep's curriculum and model, we would see the same high test scores? GET REAL, HALLMAN, that is a lie and you know it.
Tempe Prep is a COLLEGE PREP school, and the best and brightest are the ones who self select into that school.
Tempe Prep: 78% white, 11% asian, 9% hispanic
McClintock: 41% white, 35% hispanic, 13% black, 6% asian
Same neighborhood, VERY different student base
JMJ posted at 7:01 pm on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Well, from what I can make out from all these comments, we should send our kids to South Korea.
There hasn't been a teachers' strike in Arizona EVER, at least not in the 40 years I have lived in Arizona.
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 7:31 pm on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Well JMJ, you almost get it. Did you consider maybe, perhaps we should adopt their education strategy instead, and what does a strike have to do with a union making it difficult to fire an incompetent teacher?
Interesting figures Jubilee, so what does that tell us? Are Asian and White students smarter than Hispanics and Blacks? Some people believe that. Aren't we all equal under the skin?
JMJ posted at 8:23 pm on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Why, yes, Rose. Read this link about how S. Koreans have the highest suicide rate in the world.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/August/S-Korea-The-Suicide-Capital-of-the-World/
I was suggesting we send our kids to S. Korea, tongue in cheek. Tongue in cheek means I was kidding. The S. Korean model is highly successful for the students who live through their schooling.
As a teacher, I begged to have 50 automatons every year who were in fear of failing their family and their culture by not passing their classes. Robots are easy to teach. Real, live children with no support at home are not. Luckily, in my quarter centure of teaching Arizona's children, none of them ever committed suicide. I consider that a win.
As for the reference to teacher strikes, that was a comment based on another commenter's comment. That commentary is SSDD, by the way, from that rantor. Rhymes with cantor. Figure it must be spelled "rantor". I could be wrong. Again, tongue in cheek. Get a sense of humor.
No teacher would strike out here, because our associations [not unions] cannot support such an action. AZ is a right-to-work state. The organizations are weak. I love living in Arizona, I just cannot make a living, in education, in AZ.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The discourse amongst us in our media commentary is boring and solves nothing. Guess I was bored, again, tonight. Sorry to be boring back.
Rant rant rant. That's my rant for today. Seriously unfulfilling. And, the band played on. We STINK in education as a state. I'm glad my own kids got through with a very fine public education in AZ when they did. And, drumroll, they left. Greener pastures anywhere but here.
I love the sunsets, but they don't pay the mortgage.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:53 am on Thu, Oct 6, 2011.
Boy, can you believe all the "Sour Grapes" comments from the union "certified", East Valley Public School teachers...wow..."can't we all get along".....where is all this "civilized discourse"....lol
I am surprised to see so many East Valley teachers even on this blog. I thought all of them had walked-out-of class by now to show their support for their "comrades" in arms at the Wall Street Sit-ins. Remember how our East Valley teachers led the student walk-outs to protest SB 1070. I guess "teaching" your students how to drag the Stars and Strips in the dirt and the gutter is more "meaningfull and self-fullfiling" than "teaching" them Reading or Math.
I am sure that there is a bus load of the "Che Guevara" teacher's chapter from Tucson on it's way to the Big Apple as we "blog". Probably on a lunch stop at an IHOP in Moline right about now.
Yes, we should be seeing our Arizona Flag being waved by "white made-up clown faced" Tucsonian teachers as they join Obama's "Red Guard" made up of Capitalist-hating anarchists getting ready to torch and loot like their British counterparts across the Pond.
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 9:31 am on Thu, Oct 6, 2011.
JMJ, Lithuania holds that title. It's better to have 20 snotty kids that tell you to F-off if you ask them to do something than 50 kids too afraid of failure? I think the main point is the amount of time spent studying. 100 years ago in America, having 3 month long summer vacations to bring the crops in may have been a good idea, and the amount of knowledge needed to succeed in the world was much less. Of course, as a teacher and probably union too, I'm sure you would fight to defend your long vacation. Do you think S. Korean school children have the highest rate of suicide in the world or just the parents of those children that just don't care about getting an education that will help their family yo survive in a dog eat dog world?
JMJ posted at 9:45 am on Thu, Oct 6, 2011.
The main point is that you will make a main point even if there is evidence to refute you last main point. It's not discourse, it's ping pong. I think they play ping pong in S. Korea, come to think of it.
But, I guess we should now send our kids to Lithuania.
There is really no point to try to make a point with those of you who espouse rabid rationales to try to convince others of your views, when you've not been in their shoes, yet go on and on about professions you know nothing about, other than you had a gnarly nun years ago who made you what you are today: Pathetic.
I could rant about how to do neurosurgery, but I know not one thing about neurosurgery.
These "conversations" are entertaining, but that's about it.
East valley teachers are in their classrooms teaching, today, hardly on a road trip to fight Wall Street. We can be your poster children and dart boards for whatever cause and extremist views you hold against the profession and its individuals.
Thanks for the entertainment. Again!
You are right. Far, far right. Loons of the world, unite! LOL!
Tookie88 posted at 10:17 pm on Thu, Oct 6, 2011.
OK...for all of you who say this school/person is teaching without technology, then this charter school spent almost $2,000 on a Smartboard! No one noticed it in the picture? It is behind the teacher on his left! In order for a Smartboard to work, you need a computer and a projector! The computer is probably on the cart and out of view and the projector is either mounted on the cieling or also on a portable cart.
To Leon...not all teachers belong to a union and this is a right-to-work state so unions really have no power here. I am a teacher and I spend my time teaching the standards and making sure my students learn what they need...not teaching a political agenda. You are totally misinformed about education in this state and what teachers do.
Tookie88 posted at 10:24 pm on Thu, Oct 6, 2011.
A student's success begins in the home. Most parents do not respect education and think it's the teacher's job to teach the child EVERYTHING. As a teacher, I have your child for only about 9 months and about 7 hours a day....you have them from birth on. I can be the best teacher on earth, but if parents don't take a vested interest in their child's education, then my talents are wasted. Parents need to step up to the plate and take responsibility too when it comes to their child's education...it is not ALL the teacher's responsibility. Get a clue people...nothing will change until parents change their attitude!
AaronSales posted at 7:31 am on Sat, Oct 8, 2011.
Having been educated in the traditional state sponsored school system, it was my desire to have my kids educated in an environment that is focused on academics and where the discipline issues are primarily of the "chewing gum in class" variety, where the cliques on campus have limited gang banger and druggie types. My teacher siblings at other schools tell me that controlling the students is a large part of their day, significantly impacting their time available to teach. TPA has a good curriculum, but what I feel best about is my kids feel safe on campus and are free to concentrate on learning how to learn. The other public schools offer many excellent educational opportunities but they mixed in with lots of kids who don't have the same desire to progress on to higher education. That is an advantage I see of charter schools. It allows the school to focus on the areas it wants with fewer distractions. I don't see the traditional system as being set up that way.
AaronSales posted at 7:31 am on Sat, Oct 8, 2011.
When parents are given a choice on where their kids are educated, schools like TPA will surface and they will challenge the traditional system to rise to a higher level, which appears to be happening. And that's a good thing.
AaronSales posted at 8:45 am on Sat, Oct 8, 2011.
One last comment. There are many charter schools in Arizona. It is significant to note that only those based on the TPA model are mentioned as being on the list.
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 9:26 pm on Sat, Oct 8, 2011.
JMJ, I see now that you are nothing but a ping pong player. Nice not getting to know you.