The mainstream media love to point to New Orleans as the national exemplar of the new brand of “reform”: replace public schools with privately-managed charter schools and get rid of the teachers’ union. Success! Many cities, especially those with high concentrations of poor African-American majorities, such as Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia, seek to copy the New Orleans model.
What really happened in New Orleans?
Here is an excellent account in the Jacobin magazine by Beth Sondel and Joseph L. Boselovic.
This is the framework for the article:
“The state of education in New Orleans is often presented as a sort of grand bargain: on the one hand, the neoliberal transformation has been undemocratic and has marginalized community members, parents, and educational professionals; on the other hand, advocates of reform are quick to cite higher test and state school performance scores as evidence that the reforms have been successful. While the former is true, the claim that there has been substantial improvement in the educational experiences of young people is unfounded.
“In such a market-based system, students’ assessment data are used to compare charter providers, recruit families, maintain charter contracts, and reward teachers. The willingness of reform advocates to hold up test scores as the key indicator of success places enormous pressure on schools and teachers to produce quantifiable results. When the focus is on increasing assessment data, what happens to the democratic purposes of schooling?
“If we are willing to accept that the purpose of schooling goes beyond raising test scores, and is in fact tied to preparing citizens to engage in and deepen our democracy, then we need to look more closely at how power has been distributed in school governance across New Orleans and the ways in which this distribution shapes the experiences of students.
“We must ask if we are raising test scores at the expense of raising citizens.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“We must ask if we are raising test scores at the expense of raising citizens.”
YES. That sentence sums up the heart and sould of the education reform crisis!
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From the introduction to the 2014 National Standards for Civics and Government–
“There is an old saying that the course of civilization is a race between catastrophe and education. In a democracy such as ours, we must make sure that education wins the race.”
John F. Kennedy (1958)
Here are some excerpts from the introduction to the standards
… Ultimately, a free society must rely on the knowledge, skills, and virtue of its citizens and those they elect to public office. Civic education, therefore, is essential to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy. The goal of education in civics and government is informed, responsible participation in political life by competent citizens committed to the fundamental values and principles of American constitutional democracy. Their effective and responsible participation requires the acquisition of a body of knowledge and of intellectual and participatory skills”….
“Schools, …bear a special and historic responsibility for the development of civic competence and civic responsibility. Schools fulfill that responsibility through both formal and informal curricula beginning in the earliest grades and continuing through the entire educational process”…..
… ” ‘Government of the people, by the people, and for the people,’ in Lincoln’s phrase, means that the people have the right to control their government. But this right is meaningless unless they have the knowledge and skills to exercise that control and possess the traits of character required to do so responsibly.” http://new.civiced.org/standards?page=stds_toc_intro
This whole document is refreshing in that it moves beyond “standards” for students and teachers but insists on standards for resources at the school level and the obligations of districts and state agencies for resources and policy supports.
The neglect of so-called “opportunity learn standards” is a noteworthy feature of current federal policies that focus on “out-put standards,” competitive grants, and an ethos of “results, not excuses” irrespective of the resources teachers and students need, including a policy culture in which economists and billionaires are not considered the ultimate authorities on all matters educational.
The democratic impulse is not to create top-down-mandates, but to curb these in favor of collegial dialogue infused with vigorous debate ending in mutually agreed upon practices. That impulse is being killed off by federal policies, the willingness of state officials to go along to get along and get a bit of cash, and so on down the line. Time for change, for certain.
http://new.civiced.org/standards?page=stds_toc_intro
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I am very concerned about “1984 situation” where corporations control schools and what is taught in those schools because they wrote the curriculum through reforms. They sell the books that at used and have no oversight from the government. I always thought this couldn’t happen in America because of the public schools but I can see it coming. The corporations will rewrite history the way it will benefit their net profits and teach only what they really want to public to know. There are many sic-fi books written that confirm this. Just read Farenheit 451 to get a picture as to where our society is going. One day someone will wake up and say how did this happen!
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What I find most compelling about Sondel and Boselovic’s article is the level of oppression in these zero-tolerance (Kipp, etc.) schools. In a city whose bedrock was slavery, these schools mirror history. Teachers at the mercy of TFA and of their corporate bosses (also known as principals) and students at the mercy of their brain-washed TFA teachers. Sad, sad commentary on the fate of pubic education in NOLA.
I can’t imagine that music or art is a part of any curriculum in these schools. How sad for the city of New Orleans, where music is air.
My hope is that parents and community members will rise-up and demand local control. Send these corporate monsters packing.
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It’s almost as if the corporations who control charter schools are similar to some private schools that espouse religious beliefs that discourages independent thought. There’s a difference, though. Many charter schools (read: Renaissance schools) also want the funds that public schools receive from taxpayers. I really don’t think most American tax payers want to contribute to a system that enriches the few at the so-called non-profit
charter schools at the expense of our children.
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Interesting take on unions was shared at a law conference I attended in Grand Island, New York today. Jay Worona, General Counsel for NYSSBA cited a number of case studies which he suggested indicates that unions may be in for a rough ride. I did speak to him after the presentation and asked what he thought of the presentation of the Campbell Brown lawsuit. He felt that characterizing the wording as unconstitutional would be a stumbling block. Sure hope so…
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Hurricane Katrina made it easy for reformers to carry out their work. Every city in America could have this happen if we are not careful. Americans who value public schools must spread the word as well as their passion for solid public education for all.
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