You must read EduShyster’s description of “reform” in Minneapolis, which she calls “Minnsanity.” Folks, you can’t make this stuff up.
Is there a method in their madness? Do they have any evidence for what they are doing? If it fails and fails, and they do the same thing over and over, what do you call it?
Stories like these convince me that the unrealistic claims of reformers can’t go on forever. At some point, the bills come due. At some point, reality intrudes.
Policy must have some relationship to evidence. High expectations are well and good, but they are no substitute for evidence, proof, reality.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
despite the obvious problems documented by EduShyster I fully expect a Twin Cities based long-time advocate of charters to weigh in with criticism of this piece.
Some of the charters did not do well, and have been closed. Some are doing very well. The charters, like district schools, have a wide range of philosophies, curricula and instruction.
As to why charters in Mpls enroll a growing number of students, the state’s largest daily paper has published a yearly summary of the schools serving a high % of low income students, and are close to or meeting the state average on standardized tests. Most, not all but most are charters.
Charters in Minneapolis enroll a higher % of low income, limited English speaking and students of color than the Minneapolis Public Schools. Thousands of families have selected charters because they are succeeding, and giving families hope.
That’s what the best public schools do – whether district or charter – help kids grow, and help give them hope.
While standardized tests can be over-used, and don’t show everything important about schools, many low income families know that these tests are used to help determine who is admitted to some colleges. So some families pick charters that do well on the state’s tests. That’s in part because of the test scores, in part because they believe that they and their children are respected in these schools.
“If it fails and fails, and they do the same thing over and over, what do you call it?”
You call it the status quo. It’s been over ten years of this now, and that’s what I think we all should start calling it.
Teacher ken, I was thinking the same thing!
He will be here and mention his background, his wife’s, his daughter..He believes this gives him credibility…like we care.
Could anyone on this post tell me whether the voucher recipient schools in MN are required to take a state test for accountability measures? If so, are there any studies showing a drop in scores or curriculum choices being narrowed? I am trying to talk private schools into accepting the fact that vouchers aren’t only bad for public schools, but will tie them down with government control.
The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers has become the first teachers’ union in the nation to create a group that authorizes charter public schools. The group is called the Minnesota Guild of Public Charter Schools.
The chair of their board is the former president of the Minnesota Federation of Teachers, Sandra Peterson. The vice-chair is the current president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. More info here:
http://www.guildschools.org/who_we_are/
An authorizer accepts proposals for charters, decides which to approve and which to reject, and then monitors those that it accepts.
It’s often difficult to fully describe the efforts in a community to improve public education. This is one piece that was left out of the commentary posted this am. I agree with some of the assertions that were made, disagree with others. I’ll post more later today.
Sorry, something I posted that was not accurate. I said the chair of the Minnesota Guild board was the former president of the Minnesota President of Teachers. The former Minnesota Federation of Teachers president, Sandra Peterson, is a member of the Board. The chair is the former President of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, former National VP of the AFT. Her name is Louise Sundin.
The current president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers is also a board member. Her name is Lynn Nordgren.
Mr. Nathan,
Are you assuming the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers membership supports this? A very wrong assumption if you are. How many schools has the Minnesota Guild chartered? How are they doing? Also, wasn’t the UFT the first union to sponsor charters in NYC?
First I need to say that I am not a supporter of “The Guild” but I do know that they have not authorized any schools yet but they do have in application in for a school in the suburbs.
The Guild has authorized two charters. They are waiting for Mn Dept of Education confirm. If the MDE affirms the Guild’s decision, the schools will open in 2014.
Minneapolis Teachers had an opportunity in 2012 to re-elect or defeat Lynn Nordgren, their president, who was helped create the guild, and serves on its board. She was re-elected.
The UFT in NYC proposed and helped create charter public schools. The UFT is not an authorizer. The UFT another group to authorize the schools it created.
Ms. Ravitch,
I appreciate you adding this link. There are thieves in education here. Could you please add a tag of “minneapolis” and/or “minnesota” for higher visibility. It would be fantastic if more people could learn about this injustice theses schools and communities are esperiencing at the expense of the poorest students, and advocated by “grass roots” groups funded by the elite. The Kramers know full well what they’re doing and that the Latino parents at Hiawatha will not speak up about what’s going on due to citezenship issues.
I will assume Mr. “status quo” has never taught in a public school in MN. If he had, he would know how funding has changed drastically over the past decade MN. This usually doesn’t matter to the ed deformers. All they do is “believe” they can reform public education and then spend millions of dollars convincing others that veteran teachers are missing the “belief” gene and need to be replaced by the “believers”.
Thank you Ms. Ravitch.
Here is another piece worth considering:
http://www.mn2020.org/issues-that-matter/education/education-reform-industry-targets-twin-cities