The Hartford Board of Education is considering whether to grant another charter to the charter chain called Achievement First.
AF is a political powerhouse. Stefan Pryor, the state commissioner of education, was a co-founder.
AF is noted for high test scores but also for the highest suspension rates in the state. It has been criticized for its harsh disciplinary policies and its very low enrollment of English language learners and children with disabilities.
Another AF charter will skim off the best students and leave the majority of students in Hartford worse off.
But it will be very good for AF.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Kaya Henderson is on MELISSA HARRIS PERRY this morning, just dishing out corporate right bullshit, and receiving a propaganda pass during this incredibly disinforming discussion…
I have often, and i mean OFTEN, pushed for representation from YOU, and VAL STRAUSS, on such panels, but corporate media continues to bar the TRUTH about american public education in the contexts of jurisdictions that have adopted wholesale the corporatization/privatization/charterization frauds of the RHEE’s and other charlatans such as the NTP and TFA, both of which bilk MILLIONS from public school budgets as schools decline precipitously….
This morning’s show was DISGUSTING!
https://www.facebook.com/MHPshow
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Shlomo, I have never been invited to appear on Maddow or MHP.
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I read the promo on her site and I couldn’t watch. I knew it would ruin my day. She does a great piece on Bennett and now this. I don’t do facebook….how else can we reach her?
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You could always create a Facebook account under an alias for this sort of thing.
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Although on the other hand that would just give the loathsome Zuck one more new user to tout.
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AF has not only been “criticized,” it has been the subject of a civil rights complaint that warranted an investigation and settlement. Board Chair Matt Poland blithely stated that if parents “didn’t like” the disciplinary policies, they could enroll their children elsewhere. To condone a policy that violates a child’s civil rights is an abdication of his responsibility as a board of education member.
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Yes, here is his quote and here is my question:
If parents don’t like the charter’s disciplinary model, they can enroll their child at a traditional neighborhood school, Poland said. “Part of the beauty of our school system is that there is choice. Choice is key to parental engagement.”
So, how do you choose your neighborhood school over AF if they close it?
Choice is a smokescreen for giving up responsibility in this case.
And may I add: The quote above drips with a “let them eat cake” mentality.
Nationally, in our cities, we have abandoned schools, not failing schools. (Karen Lewis made this statement in DC at Occupy USDOE in April).
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You’re right, Linda. Sadly, AF is only one sign of Reformy influence here in the Nutmeg State. We’ve also got:
* The Paul Vallas clown show in Bridgeport;
* The Invasion of CCSS which is sucking up education funds as districts spend spend spend on “professional development” and Pearson “aligned” textbooks;
* A ridiculous new teacher evaluation system based on Gates ideas and tying teacher ratings to student test scores;
* An unfair education funding formula that shortchanges needy districts; and
* The state’s constant foot-dragging when it comes to implementing court-ordered desegregation efforts. (After all, if you fund magnets there’s less for charters.)
I know I’ve probably forgotten a few items. At least I have the sense that more and more Connecticut teachers and parents are waking up to the dangers of Reformyism.
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And the CEA and Malloy have thrown us under the bus. It will be survival of the fittest. Let the hunger games begin!
Unfortunately, until this charade or illusion of “reform” affects the children in the suburbs it will continue.
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Choice and competition are the bumper sticker slogans of the Rheeformers and corporate privatizers of education. It’s similar to the politician who claims to be in favor of mom, apple pie and the flag. If you try to have rational dialogue with said politician, he will then counter that you are against mom, apple pie and the flag. The school privatizers use the “C” words to intimidate and silence those who challenge all the reformista BS nonsense.
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Good comment on “the C words”. The French poet Anatole France said, “In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.” Reformy advocates take a similar stance: Rich and poor alike are free to “choose” the educational setting that works best for their children.
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I feel stupid for pointing out the complete inappropriateness of the state education commissioner being one of the founders of a charter chain, not to mention his lack of education credentials.
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He student taught and he attended Yale. Those credentials are good enough for a reformy shyster.
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Having Pryor as the Ed commish is like putting Jim Jones in charge of a Koolaid factory.
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It must be pointed out again and again and again…until everyone sees all the conflicts of interest in the reform movement all over the nation
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What really happens in our portfolio city schools. Sent to me by a veteran HPS teacher:
Too much money going to paying adults who don’t work directly with students. Jumoke has 10 admins and the CEO is making $350,000. When I taught in that neighborhood I had a student who was the son of an addict finding his dinner in the garbage can of his neighbors until DCF got around to placing him with grandma. I had students lose parents to AIDS, car accidents and jail. Students witnessed murders by gun, knife, and machete. Students were being raped by 14 year old uncles, saw the cops shoot their dog, had the cops break down their door looking for drugs, got evicted and were homeless. And they were 6 or 7 years old. These children are not welcome at charters because the parents are unable to provide the support. But these children show up at our public schools and they need more tlc than other students but with money going to charters and a larger concentration of the neediest students in the non charters you are overwhelming the resources and setting the other schools up to fail.
When I went to a magnet school fair at my school last year I was struck by two things:
1. the amount of money spent on marketing or selling (brochures, websites, power point, and the paid staff manning the booths, and putting together the brochures, websites, etc)
2. The inequity in the way the room was set up with the magnets & charters and their glossy displays upfront and the “others” w/o mimeographed sheets on cardboard tables in the back of the room.
I asked the person in charge why the room was clearly set up with the more desirable schools in front and the “others” at the back of the bus and she replied, “They are lucky to even be here.”
So there you have it. The two tiered system supported by the powers that be and perfectly willing to brag about it.
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Ms Ravitch,
I have a question. I have read some of your books and I remember your description of your wonderful English teacher. I also understand your support of public education. I taught in the public schools for 33 years and teach part time at a community college. You criticize charter schools for skimming the best from the public schools, but many public schools are failing to educate most of their students and that includes the best and brightest. You yourself said that a teacher such as your old English teacher would not get a job today. You are absolutely correct. SO how are the pubic schools ever going to improve when they will not tolerate teachers that challenge students academically and teachers that run a well disciplined and managed classroom? The admins at my school say that kids do not need knowledge. Two quotes from the very top are, “Our school has moved beyond knowledge” and “It is more important for children to know where to find information than to have it memorized”. That explains why my students as the high school are ignorant of so many things it is breathtaking. And at the community college we have over 40% in remedial math and 60%+ in remedial reading and remedial writing. Everywhere one turns he can hear that the schools are failing. it seems to me that the privates schools, charter schools, and home schoolers are the only hope for this nation. I also understand that too many charters have been more about making money than education. But the KIPP schools I have reason to believe are quite successful and they exclude no one. Their entry is based on a lottery and they go to the poorest parts o f the country. I do worry about how long their teachers can carry the load. It is extraordinary. And KIPP grew out from people who worked for Teach for America.
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Dwight, I don’t have time to answer in full. Your understanding of KIPP and TFA is not the same as mine. We will destroy our democracy if we create two publicly-funded systems–one that chooses its students and pushes out the ones it doesn’t want, and the other required to take everyone.
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“We will destroy our democracy if. . . ”
What democracy?
It’s already been mostly destroyed. We live in a fascist plutocratic oligarchy, or is that a fascist oligarchical plutocracy. And now they come for the last bastion of democracy left, the local school boards.
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Mr. Anderson,
I believe you need to do more research on the ways many charters (including and especially KIPP) game the system to be very exclusionary. I won’t get into your unsubstantiated claim that public schools are failing the best and brightest. Seems a statement based on listening to rhetoric rather than hard research.
Here are gaming strategies to get the “right” students:
* Lotteries are only entered by interested families wich are likely to be high functioning so it isn’t like ALL families are pulled from a community and randomly placed in a lottery.
* Many charters go to places that would be more likely to have high functioning families in poorer neighborhoods (like churches) and advertise.
* Many charters keep the lottery admission window open for a brief specific time and only inform the more desirable families of that time.
* Many charters (especially KIPP) have parent contracts. These contracts can be used to justify the rejection of a student for the smallest of violations.
* Charters counsel out many students (again KIPP) and end up with low retention rates. Then they don’t refill those spots and claim success. (5th grade has 100 students, 6th grade 91 students, and so on until the lesser caliber students are weeded out. Then they claim year to year growth even though the raw number who passed may not have actually changed.)
* It has been proven that charters,on average, have statistically lower rates of special ed and ELLs than the competing neighborhood school.
This is not to say that some charters don’t do well. But your comment reads like something out of a conservative newspapers editorial page. Also, I would point out that I live near Detroit, a city that has had charters for nearly 20 years. It’s still one of the worst educational cities in America. Even its charters are miserable. The primary jusitification for charters was that “ending the public school monopoly” would create competition and drive school improvement. After a full generation of charters,that has proven to be a myth.
Unleashing the fragmentation of education will be disruptive but not in the way people like Clayton Christianson think. Having two parallel systems that get to play by different rules is of no help. Charters get so much more leeway to educate than traditional publics do. (For instance,some charters in my state offer ACT prep classes as required parts of their schedule in 8th – 11th grades. When our public district wanted create the same just for our 11th graders, that state said it wasn’t instructional time. Gee,I wonder whose kids will likely do better on the ACT? Adding in the fact that charters also have hidden methods of creaming.)
So lastly, it’s hardly a level playing field. Charters get to “innovate” but publics must continue to adhere to a strict set of state-mandated rules.
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And Achievement First is a “wannabe” KIPP.
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Ed Schultz…public schools facing systematic destruction…MSNBC:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755822/ns/msnbc-the_ed_show/vp/52665628
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