The corporate reform movement has spun an elaborate narrative in which charter schools are the solution to our nation’s allegedly dreadful public schools. “Waiting for Superman” became their message, used to win new converts. And the Common Core tests were supposed to put the nail in the coffin, demonstrating the utter failure of public schools.
For the past several years, study after study has shown that charter schools o not get better test scores than public schools if they enroll similar students. But, the reformers say, New York City was the exception. There, reformers kept finding “miracle schools,” where every student succeeded. And the New York City Department of Education boasted about its careful screening process for selecting charter authorizers. Here, the reformers claimed, was the realization of charter superiority.
But the myth just exploded. The narrative is a hoax. The Common Core tests that were supposed to destroy public education devastated the charter sector. Stephanie Simon of Politico.com was first to notice that some celebrated charters like KIPP and Democracy Prep did worse than the public schools.
Now Gary Rubinstein examined performance for all charters in New York City and determined that the sector as a whole did worse than public schools on the Common Core tests.
In fact, the score collapse of the charter sector dwarfed that of the public sector. Gary writes:
“The most stunning example is the famed Harlem Village Academy which had 100% passing in 2012, but only 21% passing in 2013 for a 79% drop (you can see that sad dot all the way at the right of the scatter plot). Democracy Prep Harlem Charter, run and staffed by many TFAers, dropped 84% in 2012 to 13% in 2013. KIPP Amp dropped from 79% in 2012 to just 9% in 2013. The Equity Project (TEP) which pays $125,000 for the best teachers had finally gotten some test scores they can brag about with 76% in 2012, but that has now sunk to just 20% in 2013. The Bronx Charter School Of Excellence, which recently received money from a $4.5 million grant to help public schools emulate what they do, dropped from 96% in 2012 to 33% in 2013. So these are the schools that are the red ‘outliers’ hovering near the bottom right of the scatter plot. In general, the average charter school went down by 51 percentage points compared to 34 percentage points for the average public school. The most plausible explanation for charters dropping so much more than public schools is that their test prep methods were not sufficient for the more difficult tests. In other words “you’re busted.”
The reformer narrative just blew up.
One wonders what excuses they will have for this in the Land of No Excuses.
There won’t be any excuses precisely because they live in the “Land of No Excuses” just more lies, prevarications and falsehoods spewing from their pieholes.
Wait, why couldn’t they just change the scores. After all, if they just know the school is good (particularly if there’s a lot of money behind it), all you do is change the C to an F, right? Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be done?
Exactly. There’s plenty of ways to change low scores to high scores. Throw out all of the low scores & compute a new average, exempt all standardized test scores and pick the grade you want, enter scores of non-existent students. Remember to keep all raw data secret.
Love it! That Facebook page and all the graphics are outstanding.
Maybe these poor performing charters taught to the test way more than the others and these students really don’t know how to apply their learning to a different kind of test (which may indicate they won’t be able to apply their learning to real-life situations). That would prove that teaching to the test achieves nothing outside the test.
I hope the reformers look into the schools with the highest drops (both traditional public and charters) and find the cause. Maybe this will be the end of high stakes tests.
It’s obvious these schools are nothing more than test prep. Nothing more than teaching to a test. How sad.
Concernedmom, I think the opposite is true. Teaching to the test will always yield better results because students practice “how” to answer ambiguous questions, which is what these tests are full of. Sometimes the most authentic teaching will not yield good results on tests because “what’s counted (scores), does not always count, and what counts (talent), is not always counted….and multiple choice questions cannot really show critical thinking. With that being said, charter schools are run by less than adequate personnel verses professional teachers in the public schools. I too, hope this fiasco ends these standardized tests……it is nothing less than hurtful to our children.
Now is the time they will recognize, and then proclaim as if it is a revelation, that comparing the 2013 scores to the 2012 scores is ridiculous.
Ah, but what is always missing in these miracle cures? Children are humans with needs beyond a bubblesheet or computerized questioning system.
As long as the only thing that matters is some cold definition of monetary profit is the guiding light in our quest for “efficiency” we will continue to be lost, floundering, and allowing ourselves to be blinded by the “possibilities”. If only we were perfect, flawless, unemotional avitars, all would be solved.
We argue even amongst ourselves as the children are pulled through this muck and nastiness that is a battle for money for the few and who knows (or seemingly cares) about the rest.
I believe that schools have been reflections of the societies in which they exist, often instruments of change and social cohesiveness. Yes, schools are and always be imperfect, just as we are. But, this madness has lost sight of the children, just as the conspiracy theorists have lost sight of a society with a thriving middle class and compassion for the struggling among us.
So schools continue to reflect our society. We have entered the age of “kick ’em while they’re down” but assure that the few have all they need. The few would be those who have the money and power to control, to shrug off responsibility, to drop the ball when it is convenient. It is bad enough when this happens to adults, but when children are the victims, the time has come to stop the madness.
There are so many attempts at discussions among the subscribers to this blog, but these discussions are diverted into pointless attacks and questions that are for another blog. They serve to break down communications and to thwart efforts being made to find a solution to the mess that is harming our children, and, therefore, our society.
I think there may be some confusion as to public charter and private charter schools. There is a difference. And the intended term “choice” seems to be used in place of “meeting a child’s needs”, and then there is the dilemma of wants/needs and the vicarious nature of parenting.
If people would work together for the god of the many, not the good of the few, wouldn’t this be a better place to live and work?
I guess spending all day learning how to take a bubble test is a complete waste of time, so then what exactly do charter chains like KIPP, etc.. have to offer other than test taking skills? And Success…something is amiss. More time on Saturday to work on the tests?
Why are we allowing them to experiment on our children? They are not lab rats!
Diane, I just don’t get it.
What else do you do during the day? Your whole purpose in life seems to be that of telling everyone how charters, the reform movement, all people associated with them are intrinsically evil. You tear down the Common Core, testing, people with wealth and give a platform for sick individuals who want nothing more than to show how others are messing up their lives. These evil people were just never baptized with the sense of wisdom you seem to have.
You are too intelligent a person not to have a hidden agenda. I would sure like to know what it is.
Dick Velner – Parent, Teacher and Curriculum Writer
I believe you are deeply of of touch and unable or unwilling to process new information. I worry about the early signs of a particular disease.
Why bother even reading this blog, Dick?
I seriously suspect Aspbergers or very mild dementia due to the fixed, rigid, myopic thinking pattern.
Are the “evil people” the “sick individuals” or the “people with wealth”?
I used to think testing wasn’t a big deal and if children knew the subject matter, they should pass. However, when my child started school, and I learned more about testing, I became concerned if how much time and effort is spent preparing for these test.
I am also concerned because the parents who choose charters in my town have some terrible comments about public schools and traditional public school teachers without acknowledging the differences between their schools and the traditional public school (most notably being the demographics and class size).
I have learned a lot from Diane and the posters here. Hopefully, I will also learn from your blog. I started following your blog.
Concerned Mom, you are not in New York, right? Regardless…it would be interesting to see what the parents in the charter schools in your area would say if suddenly, their schools’ test scores were lower than your areas traditional public schools’ scores. However, I don’t wish New York’s current testing nightmare on anyone.
If that is Diane’s sole purpose in life, more power to her. She is correct. Her agenda is not hidden. It is truth, Dick. Apparently you were just never baptized with the sense of wisdom to see what you don’t want to see. Open your mind to something beyond the RSM.
Hi Camb88. I do not know Diane but I know her credentials and we have something in common. We are both in our mid-70’s.
Speaking for my purpose it is to be a discerning thinker, for myself. A lot of zealots followed Jim Jones to Guyana and I have lost all faith in humanity if I let anyone tell me that those in the education reform arena are all nuts.
Too many people, too much at stake.
Dick Velner – Parent, Teacher and Curriculum Writer
Typical. You get your briefs in a bunch over issues of civility, then you go calling Diane Jim Jones. Go look long and hard in a mirror, pal.
And FWIW, Diane is actually an anti-Jim Jones. “Reform” is the latest, greatest Kool-Aid flavor these days. Diane is trying to stop people from drinking it.
The reformers and charter people are evil. Wake up, Dick. They are after money. They prey on poor children in urban districts.
Thank goodness for Diane! Thank goodness she is devoting her life to stopping these evil people. I think it’s a great way to spend each and every day.
How many charters have you worked in as a teacher? They are awful. I’m glad she is exposing all of the lies. Teachers in public schools have been bashed and trashed and blamed for all of the ills of society. Why can’t you take the truth?
Dr. Ravitch’s “hidden agenda” is on the top of this page: “better education for all.” What’s your agenda, sir?
Dick, She has no hidden agenda! She is trying open the eyes of people, much like yourself, about the evil man behind the curtain. She is an educational prophet! And she is our voice when we cannot always have one. She is on your side, embrace her!
Rubinstein asks the right question, for me, which is how has the misguided focus on charters harmed public schools?
Reformers can continue to focus exclusively on charters if they wish, many of them have staked their entire careers on these schools being “better” than public schools so I don’t see any chance they’ll admit anything, but since 95% of kids who attend public schools attend traditional public schools, people outside ed circles (the public) should no longer accept politicians or public policy people who focus on 5% of schools.
School reform was intended to improve all schools, or that was the sales pitch. The crazed, ridiculous cheerleading for certain well-connected chain charters is not helping all schools. Reformers in government are not doing the job they were hired to do. They shouldn’t accept a paycheck for work they’re not doing. If they want to work for KIPP or another charter, they should go and do that.
This is an ethical issue. Working for 5% of schools while either denigrating or abandoning 95% of schools is inequitable and morally wrong.
Reformers need to read their job description, or get off the public payroll.
sweet. Now, if only those people believed in data and rational decision making. . . .
“Charters dropped so much more than public schools because their test prep methods were not sufficient for the more difficult CC tests. In other words “you’re busted.”
Charter proliferation is wrong for a long list of reasons within this “democracy” and we need to stay clear on those. Be careful not to imply legitimacy to the CC existence or performance on NCLB-derived instruments that should not be “in play” in the first place.
Shaming children, refusing to help them grow into whole human beings, robbing them of creative, intelligent life experiences at school, with test tyranny as the convenient, racist, rationalized excuse? And then separate out “the lucky ones” into lucrative, lying charter schools and good riddance to the remainder? Let’s be sure to always call it what it is.
Just wondering where Gary is getting all this nice data?
Leave Gary a note on his site, he will tell you.
Ironically, we just saw the charter leaders paraded as heroes across the pages of the Daily News. Esteemed judges such as Campbell Brown and Merryl Tisch, selected these charter “slick willies” as exemplary educational leaders. What a joke.
PS teachers are fighting for their students and for the survival of their schools. Neighborhoods have been torn apart by the greed of so-called rheeformers. We are in for the long haul and the good fight. We are not going anywhere. We are invested in our students and our neighborhoods.
Sometimes I think the focus has gotten off track. While I understand the inappropriateness of the CC and many of the changes going on, I think there should be a discussion about implementation. Maybe the goals of CC aren’t so bad if the “reformers” would slow down and stop using bad math and bad science to force the change down everyone’s throat.
Change needs time to produce success. Inserting the changes and testing immediately without any time to assimilate those changes is unproductive and produces false results. Using that testing to ascertain whether teachers are worthy of their jobs is misguided and cruel. Using those scores to label students who were formerly Proficient or Higher as Failures is beyond cruel.
This entire fiasco was pushed at a pace, break neck speed, that guaranteed stress, failure, and tragic consequences. If it continues as it is, there will be so many unhappy people vocalizing their disappointment that it may stop it in its tracks. I certainly hope so.
Unfortunately, in order to get a few federal dollars, states signed on to this rapid change, kind of like buying a prototype for a car before the problems have been vetted, and the consequences are dire.
I have never been against well thought out change, but this rapid change model is unfair to everyone except those who can run to the bank and think they did something good … which they have not done.
It is even more bizarre to use this model for districts that are not and never have been failing or producing subpar graduates. But, to be “fair”, this idiocy has been imposed in state after state, community after community, costing millions of dollars that are mostly wasted on attempts at using technology to enhance and replace human beings as teachers.
This testing and CC insertion remind me of people who buy jeans in the size they of their dreams and force themselves into them with pain, embarrassment, and ruptured seams.
But, here we are.
Here’s an idea for Dick. If charters are so great, fund them privately. Let them set up their own budgets, let the wealthy backers provide tuition waivers and vouchers to serve the poor. This should be the tradeoff for operating outside the parameters imposed on the public schools. If you want public funds, meet public requirements, you know, not being allowed to cherry pick your student body, not being allowed to hire temporary non certified teachers, and take on all the “accountability” currently leveled at the public schools. Do this and we can have an honest conversation about pedagogy and results. We can then share insights and information, until then, you have little to offer us.
Hi Old Teacher. How old is old?
Most of my detractors on this site seem to have some very pat answers to a complex social issue. Yes, blame the reform people, blame the millionaires, blame Common Core and blame anyone but yourselves for it is you who are to blame. Times are changing and we have allowed the public education system to evolve into what it is today.
Interesting timing. Here in Minneapolis a new high school principal was fired (Washburn HS), no charters involved, just good old fashioned politics. Who do you want to blame?
Dick Velner – Parent, Teacher and Curriculum Writer
Dick,
A couple of things. First “how old is old”, ah, tis all relative in a certain sense. You happened to beat me in getting brought into this planet we call Earth by perhaps a decade and a half. Congrats for continuing to be here and I wish you many more years! But as I like to say “We’re all getting older at the same rate”.
You stated “and blame anyone but yourselves for it is you who are to blame.” I don’t understand what I am being “blamed” for. Hell, I’m just an older fart public high school Spanish teacher who tries to do right by my students while battling the insane policies and practices that are foisted upon me without my consultation nor consent by others who have neither the experience nor wisdom to understand that what they ask is bullshit. Be that as it may, what the hell am I to “blame” for???
Duane
Hi Duane, thanks for responding, I’m glad you respect me as your elder. But believe me, at 58 you’re just a kid.
If you feel free of all the garbage I read about, teachers who have the poor-me syndrome, “underpaid, overworked, no respect, insane policies (your words), on and on.”, you’re ahead in the game. I’m having the time of my life with all this turmoil going on.
Come join me in Minneapolis and we will make the World a better place. Couple of things – you’ll have to take a terrific pay cut and you must learn Russian. I tried Spanish in high school but I was too busy looking at the girls.
Dick Velner – Parent, Teacher and Curriculum Writer
Dick,
But you did not answer my question, or at least I’m not discerning an answer in your response. Since your statement was “. . .you are to blame. . .”, what am I to blame for?
Unless you mean for being “underpaid, overworked, no respect, insane policies (your words), on and on.”. For my community I don’t think I am underpaid nor not respected nor overworked. Under insane policies yes, no doubt, but I can usually just close my class door and do what I believe to be right and best for the students to learn Spanish.
I understand the concept that we all make our own reality to a degree and/but also that “our reality” can also be “imposed upon us” by outside forces far stronger and more powerful than us whether they be natural or human. I just try to mitigate the effects of the second part of my statement to not interfere with what I would prefer my reality to be.
Don’t know any Russian, have visited Minneapolis back in the mid 70s but I don’t know about making “the World a better place”. My goals aren’t as grand as I only try to make my own little “world” a better place. Thanks for the offer.
These test scores emphatically highlight the failure of vision that the corporate reformers bring to the table.
What scares me is the tremendous profit motive that drives and informs so much of what is happening in education. It’s as if capitalism, as a system, has its own needs and agendas that operate outside any kind of moral frame- work. Those who stand to gain, like hedge-fund managers, Rupert Murdoch styled billionaires, the industrial complex built up around curriculum and assessment, and the many charter chain operators are all aligned to push data driven, high stakes testing, and privatizing education with very little awareness or concern for the real implications that the free market has on public education.
I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say that they are dismantling a free public education system that is premised on equity, and established along with the founding of our democracy. They are replacing it with, well-connected, chain charters that don’t even address the needs of students and communities whose needs are highest. (These get counseled out, or lack the self efficacy to opt in in the first place.)
These “reformers” under-write politicians, thus gaining undemocratic access and influence. They own media outlets and know how to shape the national conversation. They tell us teachers suck, not poverty. They tell us teacher tenure undermines student achievement, not chronic underfunding of low-income school districts. They tell us that the labor movement and unions are a threat to our economy and to our way of life. When, in-fact, unions helped to establish and stabilize our middle class with the five day work week, the eight hour work day, a living wage, and more. They tell us public schools are failing when, in fact, every assessment, and decades of studies demonstrate that poverty is hurting children, not public schools. They tell us they know how to fix education, though they have been “fixing” it with charters and vouchers for over a decade, while sucking the life out of, low income, public schools with little to show for all their bluster.
They are still waiting for superman.
Well said, Jonathan!
I posted a version of this on Gary’ blog; forgive the cross-post. I have a slightly different take than Gary. The “big lie” the test scores expose is not “the one about charter schools being better than public schools.” Instead, I think the scores expose something I’ve been talking about for years: Charter schools squeeze their gains out of systems and structures, while their curricula is not appreciably different than the neighborhood schools they purport to improve upon. You can focus on data, teacher quality, and add instructional time, but without a coherent curriculum that builds knowledge over time, you will end up with what I have long called “a second flavor of bad.”
Unlike (I suspect) the overwhelming majority of readers of this blog, I’m resolutely pro-charter, but I believe with equal conviction that charters–and all schools–need to raise their game on curriculum, have a long-term K-12 vision, and focus on it relentlessly. I remain sanguine about CCSS, but hope it causes soul-searching about what teachers teach and what children learn, which I continue to believe (perhaps vainly) to be the proper focus of reform efforts.
On Gary’s blog, someone pointed out that the Carl Icahn schools did relatively well. Leonie Haimson, also in the comments, attributed this to their small class size. I know the Icahn Schools quite well and tend to believe the secret of their relative success is not class size (though I do not dismiss its importance) but their long-term adoption of the Core Knowledge curriculum and strong implementation under Jeff Litt–precisely the kind of curriculum which, well implemented, I would expect to lead to sustainable, long-term gains for any school — traditional or charter.
Robert Pondiscio
I don’t really see how we can call the tests invalid on one hand and then use them to confirm a belief (about the inadequacy of charter schools) on the other.
I think the point is that we have already shown how many charters are inadequate based on better standards, but this shows that even based on the reformers own standards they are inadequate.
Isn’t the “discussion” about whether the tests are appropriate for children in ANY school, followed by determining whether charter schools are an improvement or not. What will be found, and I am sure is found/was found is that charter schools, private schools, parochial schools that provide a full course of study and options in an environment of parental support, small class sizes, and students who are well fed, sleep well, are well-cared for by families and community WILL thrive. But, guess what? So will PUBLIC schools, given the same parameters.
If you break most of this down to the basics, it is about money. Where is the money going? Whose is it? Which is the best investment in the entire society? There are different views on this. Some are political. Some are religious. Some are just business decisions. Put them all together and the blame settles on teacher salaries. By breaking the step increases and experience pay, teachers will no longer be middle class, and they will still be expected to use more and more of their own money to re-educate themselves, buy for their students, and live about the same as an unskilled laborer, maybe less. Teachers are not baby-sitters and they are not mere public “servants” for the community to boss around. Their education gives them insights. Their dedication is beyond that required of most other professions. The disrespect shown to them is unacceptable. We keep comparing the U.S. student scores to those in other countries where there is a different attitude. If teachers were respected, all this would not be happening. But, the education profession seems to be bought off by all the changes, as this is forced into each district’s mindset and when all of the teachers with experience are driven out, those left will just be thankful to have a job at any wage. This is the goal of all those groups.
Charter school folks and common core folks are not the same people, at all. If this was all a conspiracy by “reformers” in the charter industry they would have done better, don’t you think? No, this article is right in that a difficult test exposed who was receiving a superficial education aimed at beating the test. … but, I wouldn’t count the charter schools out. It may be the case that they will simply adapt and figure out how to beat a much harder test. And at that point, teaching to the test wouldn’t really be a problem.