The Minneapolis School Board closed down Cityview, one of its public schools whose test scores were too low, it replaced Cityview with a charter school, Minneapolis School of Science. The charter school has told the families of 40 children with special needs–children with Down Syndrome and autism–that they are not wanted at the school. Clearly the schools is bouncing these children to improve their test scores.
Is this what “no child left behind” means? Does it mean pushing out the most vulnerable children to inflate the school’s scores?
In a half-minute of Googling, I discovered that the Minneapolis School of Science is part of the chain called Concept Schools, which is affiliated with the Gulen charter chain. The Gulen schools are part of the nation’s largest charter chain. Most get high test scores. Most focus on math and science. They have some sort of association with a Turkish imam named Fethullah Gulen. The New York Times wrote a front-page story about the cleric a few months ago. The Gulen schools have occasionally become involved in controversy having to do with audits and ties to Turkey.
Oh, well, as long as they get high scores, who cares about all these other issues?
I periodically get letters on this blog from readers who say, “I work in a charter school and we never ask any child to leave, not ever.” I hope that some of them will respond to this story.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I was in Camden NJ a couple weeks back at a meeting about whether a neighborhood wants a public school or an ‘urban hope’ school (aka charter). Two families got up to tell the crowd they had made the decision to send their children to charter Schos in Camden with high hopes, only to have these 2 Schools (1 a major charter chain) counsel their children out very bluntly after realizing they had special needs. These families are devestated and feel powerless. One family tried to see if the father, who works nights I guess, could be the aide to his son. The school refused and told them to return to the district school. They are not alone. More of these cases are popping up in Camden. They will be documented.
And they have many other tactics…not a “good fit” is code for poor
test taker.
So they don’t ask you to leave, but they will tell a student they must repeat the entire year due to absences and poor grades, but when the student leaves (what they wanted) they give him credit for that school year so he can advance in the public school. I thought the charter was concerned with his academic progress?
They also try to keep good families by limiting the older siblings choices. Boston has a few prestigious public/private high schools. Acceptance in 7 th grade is a guarantee of a six year quality education….Boston Latin for example. A charter chain in Boston will tell the family if the older child leaves the siblings can no longer
attend.
So strategies to keep you in and strategies to get you to leave. So I guess it is semantics when they say we never ask students to leave…you don’t have to because you don’t let them in and you threaten the entire family if one leaves.
Linda, this is really totalitarian “stuff” that you are writing. Can you prove any of the statements? If so, then you should go to any “if any exist” proper legal authorities in your state and file a statement. If no results. then file a statement with the justice department at the national and state level. This is terrible what is happening as you are reporting. There must be somewhere to turn for help against what is being reported as dehumanizing principles against small children and citizens of the USA.
Yes, both are in Boston. One was a nephew but his parents didn’t want to deal with it and it was about five years ago and the other is a neighbor of my aunt and that is current day.
These are real stories. I will mention your suggestion to them. I don’t live in the state anymore.
The Gulen “Inspired” schools are known for creaming out lower performing students or those with special needs to appear as a “award winning school” They are nothing of the sort.
Most of the students that are truly gifted were at private Catholic Schools like the converted Gateway Science Academy in St. Louis, MO. THey inherit good students.
The other thing that is strange about these schools is somehow mediocre students miracously get “A’s” for the first time and are earning awards at the Gulenist sponsored events like: Science Olympiad, Turkish Olympiad, I-Sweep, Genius, CONSEF, and more.
THe Gulenists are masters at marketing, public relations, and advertising. At one time even advertised a few of the schools as “We have Turkish Scholars that teach your children”
Why false advertise?
Because it is a business and they can.
http://www.charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com
Charters may not throw students out but they create conditions with their policies so that students self select out. It is a tournament model….kids leave but cannot opt in later. That is why you see the attrition rates as students move through the grades. Their suspension rates and retention rates are also high.
I posted this on another thread…came from another reader, but I was hoping to get a response from Carol and Diane…sorry for posting twice…this is making me OCD:
Will all of you go to 4:10 in this video and tell me if her claim is true…..DC was the ONLY district in the nation to improve in all subtests?
Also, listen to her downplay the cheating scandal.
At least Mary Bousted, ATL Union President (UK), saw through the facade. In this clip, she lambastes Michelle Rhee for her public firing of a principal in D.C. A joy to watch…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18592185
POST THIS VIDEO E V E R Y W H E R E!
Finally, someone challenges her…why couldn’t it be in our country?
I think she said only district to improve in every sub-group not sub-test.
As compared to every school in every city in the entire country? I doubt that is true…she is a master of deceit and trickery.
WEll, that’s not true, DC made almost no gains on NAEP during Rhee tenure. Not for any group.
Then she LIED AGAIN and it was televised…if you have time…watch her lies.
Diane, I am presently watching you on YouTube! I paused to check in….back to your speech.
You don’t have to ask any child to leave if they are already coming to you problem free and not needing any special accommodations !!!
I work at an urban neighborhood school, not a charter school. I hear the same refrain you do from our local charter operator and staff: “We never ask any child to leave, not ever”. And you know what? They’re largely right.
Instead, they control access to the school through an application process designed to weed out non-supportive parents, poor academic performers students, students with disabilities, English language learners, and students with behavioral or disciplinary problems.
Even when those students make it through the application process and into the school through a “lottery”, they are not asked to leave. But they are given clear “choices” that “counsel” them out the door. How do I know? These students enroll in my neighborhood school throughout the school year by the dozens.
Students who are struggling academically (even if failing only a single class) are given a choice: 1) pay fees for summer school, 2) repeat the entire year at the charter and stay in high school for five years (or more), or 3) enroll in the neighborhood school where the student can make up credits at little to no cost and graduate in four years.
Students with discipline struggles accumulate large monetary fines – for offenses as small as wearing the wrong color belt, having untied shoes, not “tracking” the teacher during class, chewing gum, or bringing hot chips into the building. (These fines help pay for the cost of detention.) Those students are given a choice: 1) pay the fines, or 2) enroll at their local neighborhood school.
Students with significant learning or other disabilities are told after the lottery selections that the charter is unable to accommodate their special needs. The school keeps students with very mild needs, but disburses the rest to my school. They are within their legal rights to deny these services. My neighborhood school, of course, cannot legally deny these services…and we don’t want to deny them!
So, technically, I suppose this charter chain does not ask children to leave, but they sure are adept at achieving the same result through other means.
Of course, I went into urban public education to serve ALL children and do my best to give EVERY child the type of education I received and that I want my own children to receive. The selective nature of charter schools – and, please, understand that a “lottery” does not make them non-selective – runs completely contrary to the very foundation and tradition of public education. These schools are used to segregate and separate and turn high quality education into a scarce resource reserved only for those who “deserve” it.
Call me disgusted.
We know this has happened in the charter schools in New Orleans. You have referred to this in earlier posts and has been expressed by those in comments.I foresee this happening with Louisiana’s expansion of the voucher program. After they get the money. Let’s hope the court rules in the favor of the plaintiffs. The program is unconstitutional.
The Gulen schools, now they are scary to me.
That is how charters, for the most part, roll! In Chicago, the charter operators can “counsel” (read: kick them out) out the most vulnerable children, and they keep the money for the whole school year, as if they were in attendance!!! Nice revenue stream for not teaching the vulnerable.
I am the only spec ed teacher in a small K-8 charter school in Mpls that serves about 200 students. We have never told a parent that their child could not attend, but have had parents that decided that their child would be better served elsewhere (MPS) after we met and discussed their child’s needs and considered my classroom space, my caseload, and my training/experience.
I teach at a public school with overstretched resources and overcrowded classrooms. Our special ed teacher has way too many students crowded into a small room, including severely emotionally disturbed students who scream and bite. She’s not allowed to have that conversation with parents that you have, in which you have them consider classroom space, caseload, teacher experience, and then suggest they go elsewhere. Quite frankly, I don’t think she would have that conversation with them even if she were allowed to. In public schools we serve ALL children, regardless of difficulty.
My school is a public school. In Minnesota some of the most high needs EBD students are served in separate site Fed. Setting IV programs (in which I have worked for 10 years.) MPS, which serves 32,000 students in 70 schools, including special ed schools, has more and better options in some cases. Would a high needs DCD or Autistic child do well working independently while I teach a group of middle school students or is there a school with a special ed classroom that serves only primary grade students with someone trained in this disability area that would be a better fit? My pt, which I will restate is a small charter school may struggle to effectively provide the same range of services for high need students compared to a large district. I teach plenty of students who cannot pass our state tests, so dumping students is not the issue.
Would a high needs DCD or Autistic child do well working independently while I teach a group of middle school students or is there a school with a special ed classroom that serves only primary grade students with someone trained in this disability area that would be a better fit?
You are missing the point…read the statement above….you wouldn’t t have a choice in a PUBLIC school. You would have to make it work. You would have to create a program. You would have to make do…..we don’t get to say…sorry…go to that school down the street…they have a program….YOU must create the program and get support, and get materials and get going on the lessons. You are the better fit. Funny how it doesn’t work the other way….public sends challenging kid to charter school.
Laurie, as a special,ed teacher surely you are familiar with IDEA and students getting a free and appropriate education. If your charter is going to “play school” and with public dollars, why wouldn’t they be then obligated to develop and offer appropriate programming? Of course it’s a huge effort, time consuming, and costly, and I also suppose that’s the reason why most of the charters only want to get the public funding, and not take the ethical responsibility to create the more difficult programs.
The more I read, the more upset I become. This total restructuring- educational movement is disgusting, and apparently some people connected with the movement are equally as disgusting. However, when representative, constitutional principles are ignored or destroyed, what we are seeing is the result. People appear to become less than human with no moral concern even for samll, helpless children. And, yes, I am not afraid to use the name; Nazi Germany comes to my mind. As a student of History, I believe that unless the citizens are educated, history can repeat itself.
When are teachers going to have time to teach “The Diary of Anne Franks?” When are they going to have time, or be allowed to teach the history of the Holocaust? When will they be allowed to bring in a survivor of the Holocaust, as I did, and tell of her heartbreaking experience. I cried, my students cried, but we learned hopefully to be human and feel for others in need. At least, I did!
When will teacher have the time, or be allowed to teach or tell about the experience of Booker T Washington? Poor, yes indeed,
Booker T Washington’s “Up From Slavery” should be taught in every classroom throughout the world. His story should be introduced as “great literature” offered as an inspiration to all people regardless of gender, race, religion or culture. Above all, we should all try to be human and have compassion for the less
fortunate in our world. To do less, in my opinion, is to be less than human. Take care! Diane keep sending your message out and I encourage others to send theirs as well. These are trying times, but we have lived through trying times and we have survived, but let us learn a lesson from history! Let History not repeat itself!
Diane, just clean up the typo errors, please.
While I do not deny that everything described is occurring, I work at the exception that proves the rule. We are a neighborhood charter that accepts all students within our attendance zone. We also accept students from outside our zone (similar to “choice” options in some districts). We do not turn away students with handicaps or those with behavior problems, although we could, nor do we kick them out.
I would also like to point out that this is the best school I have known in my 25 years as a teacher. The two administrators are amazing (justified…we have 700+ students), the staff is exceptionally dedicated and strongly connected to each other through the corporate model of teamwork, and we are becoming known within the distict as a model school for our high risk population. We are able to use the freedom granted to charters to implement programs that work for our students without excessive oversight.
I guess my point is that there are schools out there, even charters, that work. If the freedom charters are granted was also allowed in public schools, there would be no need for charters at all. But then, that is part of the plan, isn’t it…
BTW…this corporation has been around for longer than NCLB and the current deform efforts.
It sounds like a wonderful school, but what you described happens in many public schools in many towns and cities in the USA. Don’t be fooled by the corporate deformers. You can visit my school anytime. Many other teachers who read and post here daily would invite you as well.
I work at a charter in New Orleans, and I am proud to say that my school does not ask students with special needs to leave nor create conditions that cause them to “choose” to leave.
I am sympathetic to these issues because as one commenter said, the situation for students with special needs in New Orleans is bleak. Lots of schools around here disgust me in that regard.
I am also sympathetic to the issues that NBCT raised – that post is very accurate in many ways. Those kinds of underhanded practices exist in lots of charters around here too.
Thankfully, my school is not like many in New Orleans. I am so glad that there are some schools that are well set up to accomodate students with special needs. I am very lucky to work there.
When we confuse harder with better, we run the enormous risk of allowing a scarcity of success, via desperate competitiveness, to creep into the classroom.
When we brag about how many kids couldn’t cut it in our class, or how quickly we can cull the heard, or efficiently separate the wheat from the chaff, we frame learning as an act of compliance.
When we take as much pride in the number of students who fail as we do with those who succeed, we invest in a learning environment built on exclusion.
When we define our own success as educators by wearing students’ failures as a badge of honour, we teach powerful lessons to not only those who are excluded but to all of us who witness the exclusion. Under these threatening circumstances, we wonder and worry what it means for us and for own safety and desperate need to be included – we eagerly comply to be included out of a fear of being excluded.
Under these conditions, real learning doesn’t stand a chance.
I just watched the speech at the AFT on YouTube. Excellent job, Dr. Ravitch! We are all proud of you! Thank you so much for all you do on behalf of the teachers.
Can you post the link? I can’t seem to find it. Thanks.
Thank you! Who knew?
Diane Ravitch
Please post the link to your speech.
Can you say a little more about why being Turkish is an “issue” that anyone needs to worry about?
Instead of addressing all the damning evidence and anecdotes above, this is your sole comment???!!!
Happy shilling!
Exactly. Instead of gaining insight from reading the links provided, his modus operandi is to act as if they explain nothing and divert attention, with innuendo and red herrings, because his sole purpose for being here is to insult educators and push deform.
In behavioral terms, –you know, the carrot and stick approach that Duncan, KIPP and other deformers think teachers and kids need (but they don’t really know enough about it to realize there’s a lot more to it than just doling out rewards and punishments)– this would call for extinction (i.e., planned ignoring).
Stuart, being Turkish is not an issue that anyone needs to worry about. The issue is that we are diverting public education funding away from district schools in order to send it to charter schools associated with a religious sect called the Gulen Movement. The Gulen Movement is led by a preacher who lives in Pennsylvania. When people mention the fact that the preacher happens to be Turkish, it tends to get in the way of the deeper discussion we should be having.
So what, though? Are the schools actually teaching religion in violation of their charters? If so, bring forth the evidence. Or are we just supposed to be prejudiced about allowing anyone who looks like a Muslim to do anything in the public square?
Stuart, just like adding the word “Turkish” can misdirect the conversation, adding the word “Muslim” can misdirect the conversation as well. Who cares which religion is involved? Let’s stick to the deeper discussion we should be having.
We are careful not to use public dollars to fund parochial schools (which is one reason I happen to be an outspoken opponent of proposed voucher legislation here in my state). Do the Gulen Movement schools teach religion in violation of their charters? That is exactly what people want to know, and the Gulen Movement itself appears to be unclear on that point when discussing schools associated with the movement in the United States:
“In some cases, religious instruction is offered once a week, while in other cases religion is not taught in the schools.”
http://www.gulenmovement.us/hizmet-schools-a-new-pedagogy.html
There is a difference between curiosity and condemnation.
tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb1Lsod2nts
Where is Michele Bachmann when you need her?!
Investigating Muslims.
I work in a charter school and we have never asked a child to leave, ever. Nor have I ever heard of a school in my charter network asking a child to leave. On the other hand, the public school where I previously worked did hint to students that they might be better off elsewhere on occasion.
Diane, what’s your source on this? I don’t know MN schools but isn’t this illegal? If this is true, it’s a real shame, most of all for the students, but also because one charter school’s bad policies are perpetuating what I’ve in my personal experience found to be a false stereotype about charter schools.
DO ALL KIDS HAVE THE RIGHT TO AN EQUAL EDUCATION?
Yes! All kids living in the United States have the right to a free public education. And the Constitution requires that all kids be given equal educational opportunity no matter what their race, ethnic background, religion, or sex, or whether they are rich or poor, citizen or non-citizen. Even if you are in this country illegally, you have the right to go to public school. The ACLU is fighting hard to make sure this right isn’t taken away.
In addition to this constitutional guarantee of an equal education, many federal, state and local laws also protect students against discrimination in education based on sexual orientation or disability, including pregnancy and HIV status.
In fact, even though some kids may complain about having to go to school, the right to an equal educational opportunity is one of the most valuable rights you have. The Supreme Court said this in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case when it struck down race segregation in the public schools.
If you believe you or someone you know is being discriminated against in school, speak up! Talk to a teacher, the principal, the head of a community organization or a lawyer so they can investigate the situation and help you take legal action if necessary.
http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice_womens-rights/your-right-equality-education
My daughter is a mainstream student and has been attending Minnesota School of Science since they opened. For 2 years in a row I have been trying to enroll my son who is a special needs student but have been told by the school both years not to enroll him because the special education program is lacking and that my son’s needs will not get met and was told he is better off in a Minneapolis Public school not a charter school. This came straight from the mouth of the principal and two special needs teachers. I am glad they were honest enough to warn me that their special needs program sucks, but what does that mean for the children already enrolled? That their needs are not being met and that they are being under educated?
There’s a science charter school run by Gulen not too far from me which is located in a condominium complex. I wonder how many students can fit into a condo and what they could be learning. I wonder if they have PE in the complex pool, Just asking…
In Boston, the Gavin Middle School was “transformed” into the in-district charter school Unlocking Potential (UP Academy) beginning SY 2011-2012. It was part of a package deal in which several schools were closed and morphed into something else. The school department’s first presentation on the takeover included these statements:
• All students guaranteed a seat at UP; they may also choose from available seats at other schools
• All Gavin students in special education and SEI (Sheltered English Immersion) programs will receive high-quality, appropriate services at UP Academy
• [UP will] Offer individualized consultation for families of students with disabilities
The Gavin had for many years been home to a program for multi-handicapped students, some of our most medically fragile and compromised kids. They were not going to ace state MCAS tests or any other standardized exams.
When the deal had been made and UP’s CEO came to visit, it turned out that any enrolled student who wanted to remain at their school would have to fill out an application, which is not a normal procedure in BPS. Next, it turned out that UP had made recruitment phone calls to select students across the city who were already enrolled in Gifted and Talented classes. The only entity that had access to that contact information would have been the School Department. And finally, UP balked at accepting the multi-handicapped kids.
Our inimitable EduShyster tells the tale:
Now a former employee of UP Academy has contacted EduShyster to express concern about the number of students that the school lost during the past year. The writer estimates that 25% of the students who began the year at UP Academy, which took over the former Gavin Middle School, were gone by the end of the year.
“If almost a quarter of your students are leaving within the year, I think that’s a pretty serious problem. It certainly doesn’t bode well for long-term student retention. FYI: The administration claims that the vast majority of students who left at the beginning of the school year left because of “transportation issues.” If the school really did lose that many students–and the “worst” ones at that–then any plan to open a second school in Boston should include a section on how the administration plans to stop that from happening the second time around.”
And there’s more (you can’t make this stuff up, folks!):
http://edushyster.com/?p=1159
http://edushyster.com/?p=1727
And the MH program? Well, the kids got to physically stay at the Gavin building, but they are not considered UP students – their scores are attached to another, traditional, BPS school.
How has UP been judged? They’ve just been given another elementary school, the Holland, to “turnaround”.
I work at a nonprofit charter school for kids with autism. we only except children who are diagnosed with autism first on their IEP. We range from preschool until high school and are in the process of building a second location to cater to students aging out of public school. We accommodate children on the spectrum that needs may not be met at public schools. we stay open by raising money having donors and getting a small percentage of funding from the school district. we are not a for-profit charter which seems to be the problem with charter schools. when you have schools that are being regulated and the call is to profit instead of help the children you have a serious problem. I found this blog when I was looking for articles about for-profit charters and if they do meet the needs of children with special needs. from what I am able to find the only thing that for-profit charter schools do is take away federal funding from public schools and make money off of the education system. I happen to be in the car using talk to text so I don’t know if all my sentences are making sense but I hope my comment was helpful.we need to stop women like Betsy Devos before she privatizes education and stops thinking about children and only thinks about profit.
Thank you, Catherine. Although I am critical of charter schools, especially when they exclude children with disabilities and English language learners, I praise charter schools like your own, which fill a great need. Thank you for the work you do!
Diane