Drop whatever you are doing, and read this. EduShyster serves up a delightful portrait of an award-winning school in Minneapolis that embodies every new reform strategy. And here is the best part: It hasn’t opened yet! It won’t open until next September and it is already a great success!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Guess why it is a great success……because Bill Gates said so.
End of story….love Edushyster!
See their list of requirements….I wonder what will happen if the CEO determines you are not willing or committed?
What is Required from Students
In order to be a part of Venture Academy, students must:
Willingness to work hard and show dedication, even when it might not be easy.
Contribute to upholding a school culture of respect for all its members, regardless of differences.
Be willing to work with others/ be part of a team.
Be committed to complete homework/ extra practice nightly.
Be committed to attending select Saturday schools/ after school tutorials as needed.
Be committed to attending summer school.
Want to develop leadership skills.
Be willing to be courageous in their learning.
Wouldn’t it be great if EduShyster were funded an able to create videos in the same spirit as her writings?
After reading this, my reaction is a four letter word followed by an exclamation point.
check out their list of what they are reading…
http://ventureacademies.org/news/reading/
All the usual suspects represented.
Scary, scary. scary! I weep for the future of children and humanity if this is what is deemed educating.
i suspect their emphasis on blended learning is code for fewer “coaches” hired?
Yes, one teacher can monitor many. You can send messages from device to device. They can wear a Gates galvanic bracelet so you can tell if they are still breathing. Limit the human interactions, save on teacher salaries and boost the salary of all the reformy directors with fancy new titles. Splendid! What a reformy future these kids have.
” You see Venture embodies the Next Big Thing: blended learning, which will FINALLY reverse our schools’ long slide into suckage by filling them with cool new hand-held devices. And we already know that this approach is guaranteed to succeed because the people peddling the hand-held devices keep telling us this.”
Great stuff … Thanks for posting this, Diane, and thanks to EduShyster for writing this gem. ‘Sending it to everyone I know.
Interesting that the DOE’s meta-analysis http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf found blended learning results were not statistically significant. I bet John Hattie (http://www.amazon.com/Visible-Learning-Synthesis-Meta-Analyses-Achievement/dp/0415476186) would be saying, “There are dozens of other strategies that have a greater impact on learning and achievement.” Why not make sure those are in place before venturing, pardon the pun, into Venture Academy.
Here is the final line in that report. I guess they should define what an educator is…that is vague these days.
What does this actually say?
“Educators making decisions about online learning need rigorous research examining the effectiveness of online learning for different types of students and subject matter as well as studies of the relative effectiveness of different online learning practices.”
The Hubris, we won the big prize and the race has not started. The real answer is always simple and stupid (KISS) and that is good education by a dedicated staff to the students. It works every time. Remember, The Fish Rots from the Head. My friend, Richard Arthur turned around, the most violent and criminal high school in the U.S. at the time Castlemont High School in 1970, Since he took over not even fist fights instead of gun fights, over 50% dropout to almost zero and to college from 5-65% in only 4 years. Then he helped to found Whitney High School in Cerritos which has been one of the highest performing public high schools in the U.S. for over 25 years. Why not gather these “Real Genius’s of Education” into one place and have them decide what should be done to turn around low performing schools without changing all the staff and such. It has been done by these “Real Genius’s of Education” and they seem to use the same set of rules. Why not see what those who have done it say?
Anything Gates, Broad, Walton et al are involved in keep away from and don’t believe a word of the spin they present unless provable. They are not here for our benefit only theirs.