Ohio is very friendly territory for charter schools.
Governor Kasich loves charter, vouchers, and virtual schools.
But the charters are not doing so well.
Read the following comment and the link with it:
I have been following your work closely since reading your most recent book a few years ago. My local paper, the Akron Beacon Journal, today ran an article analyzing the impact of the new state report card system on public schools, particularly the charter schools. The link is below to the article. The part that jumped out at me was the comments from the vice president of research and accountability for the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools. She claims that the high failure rate of these schools is caused by the special needs of the students (autism, drop-out recovery programs, etc.). She also used the excuse that most of the failing charters are in urban areas, and that geopgraphic location affects those charters. Mobility and the environmentla factor are aso cited as possible causes of low scores in the charters. Clearly she did not get the memo about “no excuses” and “every child can learn” that we hear so much about. Please share this article if you can. Keep up the good work.
Remember that charter schools are supposed to be models of innovation and excellence. Public schools are supposed to learn from the charter model.
But look at this:
“Among Ohio’s 612 public school districts, 60 percent would score an “A” on proficiency tests because their children would have at least a 75 percent pass rate. On the other hand, 72 percent of charter schools would receive an “F” for the same measure.”
“For graduation rates, only 7 percent of public school districts would receive an F, but 89 percent of the more than 300 charter schools would receive the state’s worst academic rating.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The part that jumped out at me was the comments from the vice president of research and accountability for the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools. She claims that the high failure rate of these schools is caused by the special needs of the students (autism, drop-out recovery programs, etc.). She also used the excuse that most of the failing charters are in urban areas, and that geographic location affects those charters. Mobility and the environmental factor are aso cited as possible causes of low scores in the charters. Clearly she did not get the memo about “no excuses” and “every child can learn” that we hear so much about.”
When are the charter advocates going to admit that they cannot solve the same problems that public schools encounter? We need to stop this madness and go back to supporting our true public schools.
LikeLike
Sorry for the typo…BACK to supporting our true public schools.
LikeLike
Perhaps the very data the reform movement hopes will be the downfall of public education will be their own undoing. Hoisted on their own data “petard” so to speak. What’s a petard? : http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hoist%20by%20your%20own%20petard.html
LikeLike
Now that’s a saying that we need to use everytime deformers’ destructive plans blow up in their own faces.
The deformers, it would seem by their own mechanism, will be perpetuating their own “petard”.
LikeLike
So when private charters fail, are they also subject to Parent Trigger for Charters, the way they expect public schools to be? Are they in any way at risk of being closed for non-performance? Why are they not held to the same standard?
LikeLike
The parent trigger (unfortunate metaphor) fires in only one direction. To help the corporations.
LikeLike
At least in California you are wrong. Anyone here can “Pull the Trigger.” We are advocating that parents, teachers and communities “Pull the Trigger” if it needs to be done as a result of your school district not caring about you and your children. Who says only corporations and charter schools can do this? Where is that written in stone. Obviously, to me anyway, most of you out there do not know how to do critical thinking and probably do not do your homework and read the bills. Just today I went through 15 bills completely so that we know what position to take on them. You have to do your homework so I suggest that if you have the Trigger in your state that you read the precise language of the bill and see if only the corporate privatizers can do it. I am willing to bet the bills are not written that way you only believe that as they know almost no one reads them and they can P.R. you to death to make you believe whatever they want. I am interested to hear from those who actually read the bills in other states to what they actually say in the language no what you think it might say. Politics is “The Art of the Possible.” Aren’t you supposed to teach to think outside of the box? Well, do it.
LikeLike
I just went and reread the California Parent Trigger ed code 53300. ANYONE CAN “PULL THE TRIGGER” IN CALIFORNIA. Now the question is what about your state? Learn to think “Outside of the Box.” You are supposed to be teaching your students to do this especially with arts, why not the adults also?
LikeLike
George, I am glad to see you read the legislation. The purpose of the bill was to encourage parents to turn their schools into charters. The bill came from Parent Revolution, funded by Walton, Gates, and Broad. Parent Revolution is headed by Ben Austin, formerly of the Green Dot charter chain. It was introduced by State Senator Gloria Romero, who now works for Democrats for Education Reform.
It was passed in January 2010. In that time, only one school–Desert Trails in Adelanto–has invoked the trigger and brought in a charter operator. By the time the court battles ended, and many parents were disqualified from voting because they did not sign the original petition, the charter operator was chosen by vote of 53 parents, from a school of more than 600 students. That is called “parent empowerment.” The last charter school in Adelanto was closed down because of financial shenanigans and self-dealing.
LikeLike
Diane, you are talking to someone here who knows a board member of the “Parent Revolution” who was directly involved in the legislation and testified to promote it. I backed it after a year as a result of the legislation which left it open for anyone to do it. School districts, like LAUSD and Compton, care nothing about their students and parents, students and community are sick of being ignored. I doubt you know the inside on this as you are not here. Compton was a joke and Ben Austin is a joke. I do not support the so-called “Parent Revolution” as they are front people for just who you state. I have spread sheets on Desert Trails and also on the entire district. No one I know has done this. The two charter schools in Adalanto are the ones that should have been taken over as their API scores are in the low 500’s and Desert Trails was about 710. The legislation calls for any school under 800 to be able to be “Triggered.” Parents and community need a “Correction Factor” on criminal organizations such as LAUSD and Compton. By the way did you know that the former superintendent during and before the “Trigger” on Desert Trails is now superintendent of Compton. Compton’s school police are very violent on parents and students. I have been before their board and at the inauguration of their new superintendent and have talked in public and in private with them about this and they do nothing. I have the goods on these ridiculous excuses for school districts. I know a mother and son who were both arrested in Compton as school was getting out as a result of the mother advocating. We have many cases of this in different school districts. LAUSD has a superintendent, Deasy, with a phony PHD. How does this happen when I personally made sure they knew before they put him in charge. You want fraud and theft. I have mass quantities. That is why something like the “Trigger” is necessary. Teachers do not read, generally, except for their classwork. I know all the way up to UTLA. They do not even know the budget or how could it be OK for over 115,000 students to not come to school everyday? It only cost the district over $1.3 billion in revenue in one year. Isn’t that enough.
Now, I want to know how many of you know the legislation in your own state? Does it allow for anyone to “Pull the Trigger?” If it does, what are you all complaining about? Don’t any of you understand how to use these laws against the corporate privatizers? We do. I am constantly amazed at excuses educrats produce and their denial of responsability and critical thinking. How about Tavis Smiley praising Deasy in his latest special? After the premier in L.A. I told him about Deasy’s phony PHD, so he then knew and a week later he is praising Deasy in print when really Deasy is the “Destroyer of Worlds.” Krazy Crawfish and Di Carlo do the hard work. They make my day as they do the dogged work it takes. Not many do.
So, wake up and check your state and use this law in schools where the district will not help you. It is your school and district not theirs. Take over that school, use union teachers, handle your own budget so that you can put resources where they belong, do not let the corporate privatizers do it, beat them to the punch and use that thing between your ears. What does it take for you people to wake up to what is going on and how to WIN. Remember the song “Imagine.” That is all you have to do and to understand the law so that no one can say a thing when you do it inside of all the legal requirements. There is no way you know what we know about what is going on here. That is obvious. Go ask Duncan, Steven Brill, Gloria Romero, Tom Torlakson, John Deasy and Monica Garcia who I am and what I have done to them in public as a result of their false statements and lies countered with the documented facts. You want to get rid of Duncan? I have what it takes in documents just like Rod Paige had to leave.
Now, Diane, have you read the legislation is my question. Lately, I have been reading bill after bill so that when we write letters of support or opposition we will really know what we are saying and why. If you want credibility you must do this or someone like me will crush and embaress you in public. In over 20 years I do it to them they do not do it to me.
Your statement that it only fires in one direction is not correct or what the law says. On important subjects like this you should really know what you are talking about and not rely on someones spin as Tavis Smiley did. Even when given the truth he is so ideological that he ended up in denial and will now do harm by not telling the truth. “The Trigger” can fire in any direction. Why not have the students, parents, teachers and community fire it?
LikeLike
This is of course assuming that state test scores are an accurate measure of what students know…
LikeLike
Wait a minute, charter lady! Aren’t those the same reasons public schools cite for low performance and charter advocates say are ridiculous? If you have those same problems with no solution, where is your superiority to the public school? I would argue none and that there is no need for you to exist.
LikeLike
I just read the article and have sent the author the DOE OIG study on the total lack of accountability of charter schools in Florida, Arizona and California. I am willing to bet that they have the same or worse problems with them there. Everything I know about charter schools shows that they do not follow most state ed code or local regulations, cherry pick parents and students, do not deal with behavioral problems, ESL or special education. Then there is what I call the “Correction Factor” in which you have to put these exceptions into the comparison because of the inequality. When that is done almost no charter school does even a little better than regular public schools just as the article showed there. Almost all students did worse no matter what when they went to charter schools. The charter schools there as everywhere when confronted on their failures come up with every phony excuse in the book. We see this all the time in L.A. and elsewhere. When they started they promised wonders from heaven and have given us a “One way ticket to Hell.” Time to stop this insanity and self-destruction. Everyone on this blog if you really care must read this audit. It is once again DOE-OIG/A02L0002. No excuses for any of us either. If you want to talk about the charter school problem you must have at least read the Stanford Credo Study and the DOE OIG audit listed above. You must actually know what you are talking about and have the backup or you are irrelevant. The reason is because the legal equivalent is called “Heresay” and in court has no relevance.
LikeLike
Diane, have you read the bills all the way through? Never talk about anything unless you really know especially on major issues. Since the bill is now law in California “Parent Revolution” does not own it. We can do with it what we want to if we want to and we plan to.
LikeLike
My first teaching job out of university was a charter high school in Toledo. The director’s husband was convicted of stealing public funds and sent to prison. The politically connected company that held the charter cut off the faculty’s health insurance without telling us midway through the year and didn’t plan on paying us once summer hit. The charter company closed the school immediately after the last day. If those who run charters are willing to steal and lie and cheat teachers out of their salaries, they’ll be willing to cheat on graduation rates and in-house test scores too.
One more note: The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools just sold my current charter school a “data collection system” that we’ve spent every single PD day working with, and in conjunction with the Ohio Dept. of Education, both enthusiastically push vender assessment on us as the best path. If I could find a public school position, I’d leave and never enter a charter again. 90% of the charters I’ve worked with or subbed at in Ohio are an affront to our system of education.
LikeLike