Connecticut has the misfortune to have a bad combination: a significant group of very rich hedge fund managers devoted to charter schools and a state commissioner of education who wants to open more charter schools. The charter schools in the state serve disproportionately small numbers of English language learners. So is it a good idea to open more of them?
Here’s a shocking outbreak of common sense from the Stamford Advocate.
A seat opens up on a school board in West Sacramento.
An employee of StudentsFirst decides to run for it.
A teacher challenges him.
One has big money.
The other has experience as a parent and teacher in the schools. Who will win?
A reader in Connecticut links to Jonathan Pelto’s report of spending by wealthy supporters of corporate reform in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in their failed attempt to persuade voters to abandon their elected school board. The voters said no.
“Did you see this yet? Over a half a million spent by corporate “education reformers” to persuade voters to support mayoral control in Bridgeport, CT.
“They lost but what a waste of money and they say it is all for the kids.
“Imagine how many books could be added to the libraries? More social workers? Smaller class sizes? What a waste of money!
“The final reports from Bridgeport’s November 2012 education reform referendum are in and it turns out that the corporate education reform industry and its supporters spent at least $562,955.16 in their effort to pass Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch’s anti-democracy initiative, a proposal that would have eliminated the City’s democratically elected board of education and replaced it with one appointed by the mayor.
So many wealthy people and corporations so very concerned about the children in Bridgeport, really?
Data hounds continue to search for a measuring stick to identify teacher quality.
They can’t believe they are on a fruitless hunt, like trying to find a barometer or yardstick to say which piece of art is best, which doctor is best, which…… as though human judgment means nothing.
Here is Matt Di Carlo summarizing the research on the instability of VAM, meaning that the best teacher this year might be only average next year, or vice versa.
Apparently the mayor and the union in NYC did not reach a deal on teacher evaluation.
Too bad. VAM Is junk science. It should not be legislated or imposed anywhere.
Here is the UFT press release. Count on seeing the mayor blame the union for not accepting a lousy scheme that has no basis in evidence or experience.
STATEMENT BY UFT PRESIDENT MICHAEL MULGREW:
I am sorry to announce that I have notified Governor Cuomo and other state officials that — despite long nights of negotiation and a willingness on the part of teachers to meet the DOE halfway – the intransigence of the Bloomberg administration on key issues has made it impossible to reach agreement on a new teacher evaluation system.
It is particularly painful to make this announcement because last night our negotiators had reached agreement – but Mayor Bloomberg blew the deal up in the early hours today, and despite the involvement of state officials we could not put it back together.
Thousands of parents have gotten a lesson this week, as the Mayor’s “my way or the highway” approach has left thousands of schoolchildren stranded at curbs across the city by the school bus strike. That same stubborn attitude on the Mayor’s part now means that our schools will suffer a loss of millions of dollars in state aid.
Elitism may be a dirty word in some circles, but not to EduShyster.
She here commends the graduates of tony private schools who work so hard to see that their lesser brethren can go to “no excuses” schools where they will learn to sit up straight and keep their eyes on the teacher.
Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee are working Tennessee, with grandiose claims about the great results that charters and vouchers can accomplish.
The good news is that the reporter shows skepticism about thei claims.
Why don’t they tell their audiences about Milwaukee, which has had vouchers and charters for 20+ years? On the NAEP, Milwaukee is one of the nation’s lowest scoring cities, and state scores show no difference between the public schools, the charters and the voucher schools.
Saddest of all is that the performance of black students in Milwaukee is very low.
Remember that line about “the civil rights issue of our time”?
Vouchers and charters are not it.
Yesterday I posted a comment from Linda Whittington, a member of the state Legislature in Mississippi who was removed from her assignment on the House Education Committee because she opposes charters.
Today a reader in Tennessee posted a comment with these links from Memphis:
http://schoolingmemphis.blogspot.com/2013/01/tn-state-rep-fitzhugh-forced-off.html
http://schoolingmemphis.blogspot.com/2013/01/harwell-shenanigans-confirmed-in.html
You will learn here that Tennessee House Democratic leader, Craig Fitzhugh, was removed from his position on the education committee because he opposes vouchers.
Bottom line: The privatization steamroller is moving fast in those states. The privatizers don’t like local control.
Their goal is to hand public money over to nonpublic schools, out-of-state corporations, businesses, and religious schools, with minimal or no supervision. They don’t care if they destroy the public schools.
By the way, StudentsFirst, which is registered as a nonpolitical 501(c)4, poured about $900,000 into the legislative races in Tennessee to assure a Republican super-majority. But please don’t forget that it’s all “for the children” and of course, bipartisan. Oh, and if you read the article linked here, you will see that Rhee claims to be a resident of Tennessee, even though she is married to the mayor of Sacramento. Where does she live? Where is she registered to vote? It’s mysterious.
D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson is set to decide how many public schools to close.
A D.C. teacher and blogger reviews the shifting rationales for closing public schools.
A public school closes if enrollment falls below 350. But more than 70% of charter schools have less than 350 students, and some have less than 50 students, and they are not on the chopping block. Why the double standard?
She writes:
“There are many parents who are attracted to charter schools precisely because of their small size. They feel that not only is it safer, but that their children will be in a school where they will get more individualized attention. Since all of the schools on the proposed closure list have a large percentage of high needs students, doesn’t it make sense that these schools remain small learning environments that can offer class sizes of 12 to 15 students? This would not only attract families, it would dramatically improve the teachers’ ability to effectively address the needs of all students.”
When Mayor Bloomberg was elected in 2001, his first priority was to gain control of the schools. At the time, the schools had a central board with seven members, two appointed by the mayor. Now the mayor appoints a majority and they serve at his pleasure.
In the last decade, the city’s schools have Ben subject to four major reorganizations and three chancellors. One of them lasted only 90 days, a record of sorts.
Now, voters and NYC public school parents oppose mayoral control. In a new poll, only 18% want the mayor to control them.
This is what the Quinnipiac poll showed:
“New York City’s next mayor should share control of the public schools, 63 percent of voters say, with 18 percent who want the mayor to keep control and 13 percent say the mayor should give up all control. Parents of children in public schools share those opinions. In fact, no group supports continuing mayoral control of the schools.
By a 53 – 35 percent margin, voter trust the teachers’ union more than Bloomberg to protect the interests of public school students.
Voters approve 45 – 34 percent of the job Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is doing, his highest approval rating so far. Parents of public school children approve 51 – 34 percent.
“New Yorkers don’t like Bloomberg’s take-over of the schools. Most favor shared control,” Carroll said. “And never forget: it’s a labor town. Despite all the outcry against the teachers union, New Yorkers believe the union would do a better job protecting kids than Bloomberg.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 