The accountability hawks thought that tests and report cards would help to display the failure of urban public schools and pave the way for more privatization via charters. What they didn’t anticipate, however, was that the charter schools would do no better than the public schools–and by their own measures, far worse.
Test case, Ohio.
On the A-F report cards (a favorite of the reformers), nearly 90% of the charters were graded either D or F. These were supposed to be schools that produced spectacular results by dint of freedom from regulation and unions. They didn’t. Embarrassingly, the Ohio charters had a lower graduation rate.
The charter experiment is not working on Ohio, although it is making a few people very rich.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Just learned that Ohio state Senator Joe Schavoni introduced a bill to hold charters more accountable. The bill would require a yearly audit and the same state mandates and requirements as public schools. We shall see how far this bill goes in Ohio’s Republican state house.
LikeLike
If he’s a smart politician he’ll get out in front of White Hat’s turning over their financials to a court.
White Hat is a big chain. They’re in four states (that I know of-they operate under several different corporate entities).
It will be national news if they’re ever actually audited and they’ve exhausted all of the state court avenues to continue to stonewall. Should be interesting what we find out.
LikeLike
They don’t have a yearly audit already?
LikeLike
So Diane, do you support (as I do) closing persistently low performing charter schools?
Do you see any circumstances in which a persistently low performing district school should be either closed or have new staff brought in? (I’m in favor of those options too).
LikeLike
There’s no comparison; charter schools are private schools getting public money, they are unaccountable to the local school boards. Here in NJ, charter schools are dumped into school districts without the input of the residents, charter school boards are unelected. Charter schools suck off funds and resources from the real public schools. CLOSING A PUBLIC SCHOOL BECAUSE GRADES ARE DOWN IS IDIOTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why do you assume that all the teachers are horrible and must be fired? Maybe it’s a poor school district with loads of social problems and the school needs more social workers and more counselors for the at risk kids. Maybe the classrooms are crowded with wall to wall kids.
LikeLike
But if the working conditions in those schools are so bad, the teachers are free to seek employment elsewhere. This is the mantra of all free market True Believers. Look at how well it worked, in its unfettered form, in the Gilded Age!
LikeLike
From what I understand, charters claim district schools and the teachers in those schools are the main reasons children fail, If the charters cannot get better results, then maybe the original theory of why students fail is wrong. It would not make sense to close a district school or have new staff brought in if an existing charter school with different leadership and supposedly better teachers in the same neighborhoods got the same results. What would happen if the replacement schools fails? Are you going to keep closing schools until someone gets it right?
LikeLike
Actually there are some terrific district & charter public schools that we can (and in some places) are learning from. That does not mean that they solve all the problems a youngster has. But they produce considerable progress and help many youngsters from low income families graduate and enter some form of higher ed, or help them find a job.
Schools won’t solve all of the country’s problems but there is a lot to learn from some of the most effective.
LikeLike
Charter schools do NOT have the same percentages of kids with learning problems, special needs, language learners, free and reduced lunches, etc.
LikeLike
Actually, Joe, charter school demographics vary widely, as do district public schools. Also, I don’t assume any school’s faculty are, to use your word, “horrible.”
But in over 40 years of experience (including teaching) in urban public schools, I’ve learned that some combinations of adults are dysfunctional. It’s rare but it sometimes is true. Starting over sometimes is a good option.
LikeLike
I am referring specifically to areas where overall, both the charter and district schools are “failing”. In those cases, I don’t see the value in opening and closing and/or gutting the staff of schools. I agree it is good to learn from schools whether the school is a charter or neighborhood school.
LikeLike
Thanks, concerned mom. I understand what you are saying…but sometimes new people can succeed whether others have failed. Please consider looking at this which describes considerable progress in Cincinnati Public Schools – with neighborhood schools that accepted all kids – unlike their exclusive magnets that use standardized admissions tests or other forms of admissions tests:
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/11150746.html
Going to work now. Will check back tonight.
LikeLike
Sounds just like someone running for some political office. You always do.
LikeLike
Joe, Closing low performing schools does not solve anything, whether they are charters or traditional public schools. It tears apart the community and puts the kids out to what: Some other quick fix for education? Education is or should be about the kids– bringing in new staff, supporting teachers instead of bullying them, working with the parents and community will provide a solution over time.
LikeLike
Thanks for your comment, Al. I don’t think it’s either or – I think we can do both. Here’s how it worked in CIncinnati Public Schools, which did produce considerable progress:
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/11150746.html
There are some combinations of adults (I include principals & teachers) that over a number of years, do not produce improvements (measured in various ways) with youngsters from low income families. I’ve seen really good examples of performance improving with the same youngsters when a new principal or sometimes a new principal and staff is brought in.
Sometimes working with an existing school does help produce progress. But if over a 3-5 year period, there is not progress, I think closing is a viable option.
LikeLike
Charter schools sap funds and resources from the real public schools because they are in competition with the real public schools, they do not work in cooperation with the real public schools. Gee, should we have charter police departments in competition with the regular police departments and pretend like we have all the money in the world to support two different police departments?
LikeLike
Through the country over the last 40 years, new options have been created because educators and families learned there was no single best school for all youngsters. Same is true today.
Sorry, have to go to work so can’t respond at great length now. WIll check in tonight.
LikeLike
“. . . I think closing is a viable option.”
So then who “takes over” that public school when it is closed? To whom do the physical facilities belong? How does one dispose of all the assets of the public school? Who gets the monies from that dispersement of the public’s assets? Where do the children attend school, then? And wouldn’t those children going to other schools then lower that schools supposed “academic achievement”? (and by definition they would because the other school would have to be performing at a “higher level” (sic) ot else it would be closed also).
No, I don’t think closing a public school haphazardly (and by that adjective I mean “student achievement” supposedly “measured” by standardized tests of “educational standards”) due to socio-economic conditions well beyond the control of the staff is a wise course of action. And no that thought is not the “bigotry of low expectations”.
The edudeformers play book has a paucity of plays and we know what they are and know they don’t work.
LikeLike
The worst thing about corporate education reform is that it doesn’t work and it tears apart communities, removes stability in children’s lives and destroys the lives of educators. The media, especially Talk Radio, has for years been attacking public schools and public school teachers in particular. They have convinced the public to blame teachers and public school administrators for any and all deficiencies. Truth is more complex and can be found in a rapidly changing society — social changes that result in more single parent homes, both parents working (often two or more low paying jobs) so there is less time for the kids; technology changes resulting in kids and their parents hooked on mobile phones, Ipads and Kindles, TV, and the relentless pressures of advertisement.
Education, the transfer of knowledge and skills from one generation to the next, has been lost as a priority in our society and schools cannot be “fixed” until the fundamental problems are addressed. I think these things are important: 1) The academic successes of students (and their teachers) need much more coverage in the media. This will help get the community more involved in a positive way with education. 2) Quit evaluating schools then punishing teachers and closing schools based on standardized tests. These one dimensional measuring sticks (standardized tests) plus poor funding for education are the two driving forces that are destroying education.
LikeLike
Never said we should use one test to determine this. For some of us, creating new options is an expansion of democracy. That’s why Rosa Parks worked to create a charter in the last year of her life; that’s why some involved for decades in civil rights work have worked to create new options either as part of districts, or sometimes as part of charters.
There are examples of great district & charter public schools that are helping many inner city and low income youngsters succeed.
One of the reasons that the # of students attending district & charter public school options is growing is that many educators and families see their value.
LikeLike
Which schools? Let us know names so that we may laud them.
LikeLike
Joe,
Allow me to correct one statement: “For some of us creating new options is an expansion of PROFIT CENTERS”.
LikeLike
Charter schools are private schools getting public money in a time of reduced budgets (for the real public schools). Closing the real public schools is wrong; don’t close them, improve them or hire more teachers, more social workers, more counselors, more librarians, music teachers, art teachers and gym teachers, etc. Charter schools do nothing to help or improve the real public schools where 90% plus of the kids are educated, quite the opposite.
LikeLike
Don’t be mad, Brennan and other wealthy CEOs need new yachts and mansions. They deserve it because they are so innovative and are saving urban America.
LikeLike
One of the successful Finnish approaches to troubled schools (and more importantly failing students) is to pour more resources and staff support into them rather than close them down. They really believe in “no child left behind” by giving the attention needed to each and every child. Their society also highly values public education and the teachers that provide it.
LikeLike
For-profit charter schools are, in effect, publicly funded private schools. They cherry pick their students and subject them to discipline policies that are not allowed in traditional public schools. (For good reason!). This is a distinction that the general public (including many teachers) fails to grasp. All schools that receive public school funding should abide by the same laws and regulations. Perhaps our courts need to define exactly what constitutes a publicly funded school. That definition should disallow any personal profit to individuals operating a publicly funded school. Am I hopelessly naive and simplistic in my thinking? For profit charter schools seem to be the root of the problem.
LikeLike
No, you’re not hopelessly naive and simplistic in your thinking. Actually, the thought seems to me to be quite common sense thinking.
LikeLike
“Cherry picking? Sir, you are sadly mistaken. OUR student body is selected RANDOMLY from the local population! There’s no cherry picking involved!” (smug smirk)
This was the rebuff I got from a charterite I met years ago, before I really understood how charters game the system in order to cherry pick while making it look like they aren’t. What I never forgot was the smug smirk that went along with the line. The bastard KNEW what his school was doing, he KNEW how they were in fact “cherry picking”, and he got off on the fact that he was able to pull off his shell game.
Wanting to make a profit is one thing. Smug smirking is another.
LikeLike
Duane Swacker: agreed.
Ron Poirier: agreed.
So a simple proposition: as a general rule, when private businesses fail, they shut down. Why? Because by the Majestic Logic of the Invisible Hand of the Marketplace—to go by their own most Sacred and Inviolate standards—they failed to deliver the goods.
Buh-bye, charters.
“But they’re Rheeally public schools!”
Then let them play by the same rules with same obligations and responsibilities and consequences.
EXCUSES? EXCEPTIONS? EXEMPTIONS? In unlimited measure?
Not—at—all.
Did I forget to mention transparency?
Or did I forget that in business you don’t show your hand to your ‘competition/competitors/rivals’?
How could we ever tolerate people who both “want to have their cake and eat it too” and proclaim in Marie Antoinette-esque tones “let them eat cake!”
Put them out of their misery—and end the misery of so many others. Shut ‘em down.
Did I mention the public schools should get back every penny wasted in these Centres of Docility?
🙂
LikeLike
Wouldn’t the reform movement come to a screeching halt if for-profit charters did not receive public funding? And has this ever been challenged? And if not, why not? If you are publicly funded then you have to abide by the same laws and regulations as all publicly funded schools.
LikeLike
Anyone who thinks charters don’t screen applicants is living in a fantasy world. Also, what I find interesting is the fact that they are no better than public schools and often worse. After all the cherry picking they still stink!!
LikeLike
Dee Dee, those seem like fairly large generalizations. However, happy Friday to you and others.
LikeLike
@Joe Nathan – for every one charter study that shows positive outcomes, I could show you 3 that show negative outcomes.
And I don’t like the two sides financing studies, and we all know that happens. Reminds of two side warring in evolution vs. creationism.
But there are negative studies that come out from even the pro charter groups.
LikeLike
Joe, I agree that charter schools are not necessarily bad, they can be excellent. However, when public school systems are destroyed and replaced by corporate charter schools with a profit motive, then children become commodities and their education becomes a secondary objective. In my home county of DeKalb, there is a new experiment underway with a “charter school cluster” where the parents and staff of a local high school, feeder middle school, and the 5 elementary schools have all voted to create an independently managed mini school system within the larger public school system. It will be interesting to see how this will work, and I think it may be a good solution to some of our problems with a nonfunctional school board.
LikeLike
This will be fascinating to learn more about, Al. Hope you will post updates. Is this in Illinois, Indiana or elsewhere?
LikeLike
This is the kind of charter school I can stand behind….ones created by teachers and parents, not outside sources with a profit-motive. Would love to hear how this cluster does throughout the next few years.
LikeLike
Don’t hold your breath.
LikeLike
Joe,
Charter schools are NOT all private schools. some of the best are public charters.
LikeLike
Very true, BUT…most all of the charter schools that are for-profit and run by management organizations and chains still call themselves PUBLIC charter schools because they are taking state and local money. There is no such disclaimer to be seen anywhere. The general public does not get the distinction!
LikeLike
There is no such thing as a “public” charter school. Thus the everpresent Orwellian modifier of “public” their supporters trot out.
They are private entities, privately managed, with minimal public oversight, and are described as such in the state laws that – notwithstanding a predictable fig leaf statement that they are “public,” despite their structure – created them.
Private boards, private decision making, private interests, private schools, funded with public money.
LikeLike
Here’s hoping Kentucky learns from Ohio’s mistakes and doesnt’t embrace charter schools
LikeLike
We have nothing to show for it other than weaker public schools. Unless you like standardized testing. We have more of them every year. Oh, and we got this really cool A-F school grading system. No one understands it or thinks it’s reliable and valid, but it makes for a very snazzy flyer and it gives politicians an opportunity to pontificate while they’re cutting funding to public schools.
There’s some signs that it’s turning. I understand Cincinnati has started supporting existing public schools, but only after they tried everything else imaginable.
LikeLike
Ohio has shown the US that charters are not the solution to urban education issues. If you want to see a few people get rich off of your tax dollars then go ahead and pass charters. If not, by all means, vote them down!
LikeLike
Sixteen years Ohio has been under “transformational and innovative” market-based school reform. We’ve tried every experiment, imposed every gimmick and recklessly jumped aboard every bandwagon.
Ohio was actually the first state to go to the constitutional wall on publicly-subsidized religious schools, a reform favorite.
In Ohio, reform IS the status quo. 16 long years of dismantling public schools, and we have absolutely nothing to show for it.
I want to try supporting existing public schools again. It’s not sexy and it doesn’t make for a great slogan, but it WOULD be new and different here.
I boldly reject the ed reform status quo. I’m looking for transformational change from this decade-long reform playbook we’ve been following.
LikeLike
16 years…and “nothing to show for it”. After 16 years charter schools have had ample time to prove themselves as the better alternative. Maybe a few can show some increases, but have yet to hear of remarkable wide-spread storieS. If it’s not repeatable, then it’s not really helpful.
LikeLike
Tracy, they are cash cows. Anyone who has worked in a charter knows this. I know someone who worked in a Mosaica charter in Columbus and the pay was low and benefits poor. The CEO owns a Learjet. He was going to own the building and property in 5 years. Do you feel like you have had your pocket picked? That was your tax money.
LikeLike
Innovation is always a good thing if tempered with restraint and pursued with caution. It seems to me that these current measures have thrown caution to the wind, plunged right in, and have no idea where they are going to head…just sure that they have to be “better than” whatever they perceive is “wrong” with public education.
I have no doubt that there are ideas out there that are excellent for some kids in some situations. The failure to succeed lies in the fact that there is NOT one way to teach ALL children that is BEST for all children. If you are a parent with even two children, you will see that they are not the same and don’t require the same attention or direction. Heck, I have sisters who are twins and one is OCD and the other is all over the map. They were raised the same. They don’t have the same needs, temperaments, intelligences, etc. All kids are that way. There are as many different ways to reach each child as there are children.
The failure of this whole movement is in assuming that there is one, regimented, specific way to force feed information and obedience into a child’s mind. There isn’t.
The excellent ideas should be shared. The failures should be dismissed. There should be a learning and growth process, not some assumption that some company is able to figure out the needs of millions by producing some test to determine what THEY think might be the answers to our problems … knowing full well that they could not possibly have the background to do any such thing.
I am just sad that we are continuing to throw the baby out with the bath water … for no plausible reason that benefits children.
LikeLike
Thanks, Deb.
Here’s a new study that may interest some of you. It suggests, according to Education Week:
“There is no statistical evidence that charter schools are “pushing out” low-performing students at a rate higher than traditional public schools, according to a new study published in the Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis journal.”
Having looked at the evaluation summary, I think it’s important to note that this study was limited to one (anonymous) large urban district. I think we need to be careful with generalizations.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2013/09/new_study_data_says_charters_arent_pushing_out_students.html?cmp=SOC-EDIT-FB
LikeLike
As you’ve noted, this study necessitates caution. If it is a large urban area, then they may become more like a neighborhood school without the need for a lottery. This would be they would attract more of a diverse student body, in terms of special needs kids, and would promote actually serving them.
From what I can tell, even expulsion in charters overall may not be much higher than in public schools, but with exceptions. And the big exception that bothers me most is in D.C. where supposedly the charters are outperforming the traditional public school students. It is no wonder why when their expulsion rates are through the roof.
LikeLike
“Innovation is always a good thing if tempered with restraint and pursued with caution.”
Be careful, Deb, Innovation in gas chamber technology can greatly increase the chambers ability to kill the masses. Innovation in war technology greatly increases man’s capacity to kill more efficiently even when “tempered with restraint and pursued with caution” which is how our nuclear weapons programs have been developed..
Innovation in and of itself is not always a good thing unless tempered with social responsibility and justice in mind.
LikeLike
Educatiing our children is at LEAST as important as a strong national defense. It’s just not as glamorous a cause. We’ve got to figure out the most effective way to do that. And saying we can’t afford it is stupid and self destructive for our society. We really know what it takes to educate effectively: Good teachers given the freedom to teach, small class sizes for one on one communication with students and guidance opportunites for the teacher, a decent environment and adequate resources for children, and a supportive community.
LikeLike
If I may correct your first sentence: “Educating our children is far more important as a strong national offensive war machine.”
LikeLike
Let’s stop blaming teachers and throwing money at private vendors to fix education. And, please, lets get rid of the damned standardized tests.
LikeLike
Since part of this discussion has been about what teachers can and can not accomplish, I think some of you might be interested in this tribute to an urban public school teacher. What he did for many people, including me, had nothing to do with test scores.
http://hometownsource.com/2013/09/04/joe-nathan-column-mr-hardy-student-couldnt-sing/
This column will be in a number of Minnesota suburban and rural papers over the next 10 days.
LikeLike
Duane, I would say that giving our children a good education is the foundation of a strong nation and essential for our national defense. The Department of Defense is charged with protecting our country from outside enemies. The oath of office for many of our public officials says, “protect our country from all enemies, foreign and domestic”.
Our greatest domestic enemies, at present, are those (perhaps well meaning) folks who’s actions are destroying public education.
LikeLike
Al,
No, the various oaths of office in the US do not have a “protect our country from all enemies, foreign and domestic.” That is a misconception of what the oaths are really about, that of protecting the constitution. Nothing about “protecting our country from all enemies, foreign and domestic” From Wiki:
In the United States, the oath of office for the President is specified in the Constitution (Article II, Section 1):
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
At the start of each new U.S. Congress, in January of every odd-numbered year, newly elected or re-elected Members of Congress – the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate – must recite an oath:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God.][63]
This oath is also taken by the Vice President, members of the Cabinet, federal judges and all other civil and military officers and federal employees other than the President.
The oaths of state and local officials are largely patterned on the federal oath of constitutional allegiance. Typical would be the oath taken by all New York government officials:
I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of New York, (and the Charter of the City of New York, e.g.), and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of (mayor of the City of New York, e.g.) to the best of my ability.[
And for members of the military:
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God
LikeLike
We are never going to get our education problems solved by starving the education budget and forcing parents to have bake sales. Funding is a real problem, but stretching dollars by increasing class sizes, reducing teacher pay, and not maintaining facilities may save a little money at first, but the damage done to our children is a major cause for many, perhaps most, of our society’s ills like drug use, teen pregnance, prisons filled with young people. Wasting money on standardized tests and private corporations doesn’t help either.
We must have more creative inovatons. Here’s an idea to strech education dollars:
Take high school students (who volunteered for the class) and give them “intern classes” with credit to spend a semester in the primary classrooms as coaches for the youngest students. Each HS coach would have 2 or 3 primary students to coach and be graded on their work. Their task would be to enrich the classroom teachers lessons and give one on one time for each student to practice reading, writing, and math. A TFA teacher could monitor the student coaches and keep a portfolio on their work which would then determine their grade. This would: a) provide bright older students with a real task instead of “make work” projects that they often hate, b)give the young primary kids daily opportunities to practice and hone the basic skills they are learning (which their parents often do not have the time to do) c) make use of the greatest untapped resource available in the public education arena – the knowledge base of our students d) add little cost to education because the HS coaches don’t get paid, and over time should save money while greatly increasing the effectiveness of the primary teachers.
LikeLike
To Ron Poirer – There are few if any examples in recorded history of econonic growth occuring as rapidly as it did in the American Gilded Age – 1870- 1900. The American Gilded Age was a golden age of technological innovation, falling death rates, improving education, etc. etc. I know of no period in all of recorded history of comparable length that had such an enormous increase in the welfare of a large population.
LikeLike
The Gilded Age was great for the robber barons but terrible for the workers who were used, abused and discarded like so much garbage when they were injured or maimed on the job, as in “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. During several strikes, the US government called out the troops to break the strikes and in one case they even utilized the army air corps to bomb the strikers. Workers had no rights, no protections and no redress against the horrific working conditions.
LikeLike
The Gilded Age during which we had some of our bloodiest strikes in which workers were brutally suppressed for having the nerve to stand up for their rights. To ignore the savage and brutal exploitation of the workers during the bloody Gilded age is incredibly insensitive.
LikeLike
Michael, yes there are some “public charters” that are managed by the local community, but there aren’t many.
LikeLike
Poor immigrants flocked by the millions from Europe to the US during the Gilded Age to benefit from the “horrific” working conditions and opportunities there. The improvement in the human condition during the Gilded Age was simply stupendous in comparison with any other historical preiod of comparable length and involving a population of similar large size. Research actual economic and social data about this period rather than propaganda.
LikeLike
What conditions did they leave? I just read most people were impoverished during this era. The working conditions certainly were less than ideal. Technology boomed but did the average income really improve?
LikeLike
Report cards can be misleading. Excellent with Distinction, WAS the grade of the
NE OH district where I live. Now the district has a grade of a D for both the four and five-year graduation rates.
If the ONLY tool I have is a hammer, I must make all problems into nails.
If the ONLY tool I have is “Education”, I must make all problems seem
education related.
The “State’s” ability to function relies on using Public Schools or “Education” as
the “Factor of Cohesion” within the social order. The logic of accumulation and
Global Capitalism, of the Transnational Capital class requires Social control,
AND indulgence.
R.W. Emerson Self Reliance:
I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names,
to large societies and dead institutions…
LikeLike
@Duane: SORRY for not adding social responsibility. I just meant that innovation that WORKS is a good thing and that the way this is being shoved into everyone’s schools is NOT responsible.
LikeLike
Diane,
What can you tell me about Terry Ryan from the Fordahm Institute? I saw this article and thought maybe this is why he left Ohio to come to Idaho to be the president of the Idaho Charter School Network.
I looked up the Fordahm Institute and saw you are a board of trustee, so I thought you would have some true insight. I also see that Rod Paige is on the board, the past U.S. Secretary of Education that implemented NCLB. What can you share?
LikeLike