Cindy Duckett: Doing Her Homework
By Cathy Feemster
East Wichita News
August, 2000
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'The rising tide of [educational] mediocrity...threatens our very future as
a Nation and as a people.' --
A Nation at Risk
Report from U.S. Department of Education, 1983
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National angst and frenzied activity followed the release of "A Nation at
Risk" seventeen years ago. Media pundits called it a "wake-up call" for
reform of schools.
During this same time period, Cindy Duckett was experiencing her personal
wake-up call which has made her the most recognized educational activist in
Wichita.
"One thing you have to understand about me to understand everything I do is
that I am a mom first, last, and in between," said Duckett during an
interview last month. "It started out with little things -- curriculum,
things like that -- that showed me I had real differences with where the
[Wichita Public School] district was headed. When I would speak up, most of
the time I would be told, 'you're the only parent who's complaining.'"
But Duckett has done more than just complain. While Wichita and other school
districts absorbed criticism from local employers for graduating students
who weren't ready for the work force, Duckett became the conduit for the
parents. From her working-class neighborhood in southwest Wichita, Duckett
sees herself as a promoter of knowledge.
"I see education as being crucial. I don't know that you can go anywhere in
life without an education. [Education] levels the playing field for all
children, regardless of income or family background, so for me, that is a
huge motivator," she said as she explained her continuing involvement in
public education activism, even after she sent her own two children to a
parochial school in Derby. "The only reason we could afford it is because my
folks helped," said Duckett about enrolling her children in Derby Christian
School in the early 1990s.
"But I felt a connection with the parents that I had worked with for years.
Many of them had been calling me for five or six years, saying 'would you go
say this for me; I don't know how to say this in front of a group.' When I
did finally decide that I couldn't sacrifice my own kids, I had so many
parents saying 'please don't stop.' I knew those parents. They don't love
their kids any less than I do because they don't have as many options. I
felt an obligation to them" she said.
Duckett, Project Educate Lead on Parental Rights Policy
After Duckett had addressed the Wichita School Board many times, she decided
that a formal organization was needed to voice parent concerns about
educational issues and low standards in Wichita Public Schools. "By that
time I had seen so much in the system that I knew it wasn't going to change
overnight. It was going to take a long-term commitment. Somebody had to lead
it, and I guess I volunteered." As a founding member of Project Educate, she
has absorbed derision and name-calling. (A Wichita Eagle editorial recently
called her a "whiner" and a "naysayer".)
However, Project Educate's first emphasis was on gaining parental permission
before teachers can ask students personal questions.
"Project Educate was the only group leading the charge on the development of
the Parental Rights Policy," remembers Duckett. "We are getting into too
many social things in school and not enough academics, in my opinion. We are
asking kids on surveys privacy-invasive questions. That, I don't believe, is
the mission of the schools. So in 1994 we asked for a policy to have
parental permission before those types of questions could be asked of
students."
The plan passed the Board, and Duckett reports that the policy is "working
very well. In fact, some of our administrators went to Washington to testify
on a Federal bill."
Another area that Duckett focuses on is educational standards and
assessments. She praised Wichita superintendent Winston Brooks and assistant
superintendent Mark Evans for their work in this area.
"I am all for the concept of high-stakes assessments. I think that goes
along with higher standards, and I'm on the District's side on this issue,"
said Duckett when asked about the graduation testing that has been put off
because experts warned that disgruntled parents of students who were denied
a diploma for failing the test would file successful lawsuits. The
requirements were originally set to be implemented for the Class of 2000.
"I pat the administration on the back for this. They were right to step
forward and rework [the test]. We need to take our time and do it right, and
in the long run, the delay is going to pay off," she added.
Core Knowledge Curriculum Development
Duckett credits the development of the Internet for her knowledge on
educational issues. She got her first computer around 1990 and was "one of
the early people on-line." In on-line chat rooms, she met other parents who
reported problems similar to those she had experienced in Wichita schools.
From those chat rooms and bulletin boards, she became acquainted with
nationally-known educators and began following national issues and ideas.
One of those ideas was the Core Knowledge curriculum. Through Duckett's and
Project Educate's leadership, Wichita has two elementary schools (Minneha
and Bryant) using this curriculum. Horace Mann Language Magnet also uses
part of the curriculum. This is the second year for Core Knowledge in
Wichita, and Duckett says that it will take at least five years to evaluate
if it's working.
Core Knowledge is a defined, sequenced curriculum focusing on information,
taught in specific grades, that students need to know to be successful
citizens.
"My daughter [in public school] got dinosaurs in Kindergarten, second and
third grades. She missed astronomy and other sciences, because teachers
didn't have a sequenced curriculum. It's not the teachers' fault. We haven't
sequenced our curriculum, and they would pick their own. There were gaps
there," said Duckett. "Core Knowledge eliminates those gaps. It spells out
very specifically what happens at each grade level, and it sequences so that
there are no repeats or gaps.
Duckett spotted this new curriculum through her dialogue with educators on
the Internet. "I was watching the results come in [on the national level],
especially in some of the so-called low income schools. It was reaching
those children, taking them up to the level where they should be. It was
something I thought we needed to try here in Wichita. It's not THE answer;
it's ONE of the answers."
"Cindy was tremendously helpful in getting me the information [on Core
Knowledge]," said Chip Gramke, a school board member. "She did a tremendous
job. If you look at the test scores of these two schools, it works."
Gramke also noted that he has also been on opposing sides from Duckett over
the years, but praises her for keeping to the facts and always doing her
homework. "She keeps emotion out of it and sticks to the facts. Cindy, from
my perspective, is someone with a tremendous amount of integrity. She always
comes with all the facts and figures to back up her position. She's a pretty
big force in education, not only in this city but also in the state."
Superintendent Brooks shares that respect. "My experience with her has been
very good," he said. "Cindy is someone who keeps public school systems on
their toes. She isn't bashful about challenging us or sharing her own
philosophies. She is always extremely respectful. Although I don't always
agree with her, I respect her opinion."
Duckett is known for her opposition to two Local Option Budget increases
which Project Educate helped defeat during the 1990s and also for not
supporting the recent school bond issue, which passed. She explains that
opposition, not on monetary grounds, but because she saw no linkage between
spending the money and evaluating the academic impact.
"I was on the original steering committee for the bond issue," said Duckett,
"and I went in planning to support it. But as the planning went on, I saw no
interest in academic accountability for the funds spent." She related that
she had hoped that new schools could be built to eliminate forced busing,
thus saving money on busing and keeping children in their neighborhoods.
Duckett had been a part of a public forum sponsored by Wichita State
University in which African American parents, in contrast to their
leadership, had wanted their children to attend schools nearer their homes.
Duckett, a graduate of East High School, credits Wichita schools with what
she calls her own "very good educational experience." She laughs about being
a rabble-rouser even then. Duckett was one of the first two female students
to be allowed to be team managers for male sports teams at East. In 1974,
she was manager for both the boys track and swimming teams under Coach J. D.
Edmiston.
"Understand that I'm a product of my times," she explained. "I grew up in
the 60s and 70s when it was cool to be young and be involved in politics in
your community and try to make a difference. Civil rights was something I
grew up with. I think I had good parents, and they taught me that you do
have social obligations, and that's probably a part of what motivates me.
"I know what education has meant to me. It has opened doors. I did not
finish college, and yet I've gone further in my life than what you'd think,"
she concluded. Duckett currently owns her own home business, designing web
sites.
Duckett Wants Competition Among All Schools
Seeing education as a social justice issue, Duckett has embarked on bringing
her national education experiences to Wichita with what is known as
Children's Educational Opportunities (CEO) Kansas. Duckett and Kim
Potochnik, a friend from Project Educate, hope to give privately-funded
three-year scholarships to low income students to help them attend private
or parochial schools.
The national CEO America program, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, has about
90 groups around the country giving scholarships in various ways to
low-income students. "Low income kids are the logical starting place for
us," said Duckett. "Those kids are typically the ones that struggle the
most. As it stands right now, upper income families already have school
choice. Many middle class families can exercise school choice, sometimes
with sacrifice, but they can have it. It's only the low income families that
don't. So we are trying to level the playing field."
School choice, according to Duckett, is essentially giving public schools
competition. The CEO America literature claims that competition, through
vouchers, will eventually make public schools themselves better, because
parents will demand it.
Of course public schools in Wichita offer many choices. There are currently
18 magnet or specialized public elementary schools as well as three Edison
Project elementaries. Duckett agrees with that and supports those choices,
but she wants higher academic outcomes than are currently seen in Wichita's
district schools, and she thinks that a public voucher system or tax credits
directly to parents, though most likely years away, would help achieve that
goal.
"Competition probably is good," agreed Brooks, "but if helping public
schools in the motive, I suggest that they help public schools directly."
Duckett, along with former mayor Frank Ojile, David Landwehr, and CPA Brian
McGuire have combined to find local funding for CEO Kansas, hoping to give
about 50 private scholarship vouchers the first year. Duckett and national
CEO America president Fritz Steiger were on KPTS (Channel 8) "Kansas Week
Focus" this summer to hype the idea. The group is also meeting with area
business leaders to ask for donations, which are given as three-year
commitments.
"Income is the only criteria" for the program, said Duckett, noting that
families whose income falls within the guidelines for the Federal Free and
Reduced Lunch program and who have Wichita ZIP codes are eligible.
CEO Kansas has contacted every private school in the Wichita area. She
reports that the average tuition is between $2,000 and $2,900 a year. CEO
Kansas will pay $1,500 of that through their scholarships. The program is
waiting to receive 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax-exempt status.
You would think that this committed activist would be planning a run for
public office to help enact her goals. But Duckett rejects that path. "Ten
years of activism has taught me that there are better ways -- at least for
me," said Duckett, noting that she has thought of political office. "I think
I've been able to do more outside of the system than I ever could have done
inside the system."
When asked what a perfect education system would look like, she replied, "I
think we have some of the best universities in the world, public and
private, and I guess I would want to model [primary and secondary education]
along those lines. The dollars are there to support the universities, and
people can choose what they want. I believe competition works. Once we
inject competition into the system, a lot of schools, public and private,
are going to rise to the standards."