Poor Milwaukee. It has a thriving voucher sector. It has a thriving charter sector. It has a struggling public sector, overloaded with the children with disabilities and the others that the two private sectors don’t want.
Yet neither the voucher schools nor the charter schools get better test scores, and the higher graduation rate of the voucher schools relies on an extraordinary attrition rate (56% of their students leave before 12th grade).
On NAEP, Milwaukee is one of the lowest rated districts in the nation, slightly ahead of Detroit.
All that choice, and nothing to show for it.
So what do the business/civic leaders now propose for Milwaukee: More charter schools!
The Economic Policy Institute says what should be obvious: This is a bad idea.
Here is a press release on the latest EPI report on Milwaukee:
Corporate Takeover of Milwaukee Schools Would Do Nothing to Help Students
Washington, DC | Apr 23, 2014
Wisconsin policymakers and advocates are debating proposals to close low-performing public schools, largely in Milwaukee, and replace them with privately run charter schools. In a new report, Do Poor Kids Deserve Lower-Quality Education Than Rich Kids? Evaluating School Privatization Proposals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Economic Policy Institute research associate Gordon Lafer argues that these proposals will enrich private charter schools’ corporate backers while doing little or nothing to help Milwaukee students.
Lafer argues that, because national research shows that charter schools don’t perform better than public schools, there is no reason to replace traditional public schools in Milwaukee with private charters. These proposals will simply divert money from Milwaukee students to corporations and their investors. Especially troubling is the Rocketship chain of schools—promoted by Milwaukee’s business community—which uses a particular blended learning model that allows students to spend a quarter of the day on computers with no certified teacher to monitor their activities and, in the remaining classroom time, relies heavily on test preparation taught by inexperienced educators. This model is not shaped by what’s best for students, but in large part by what will generate profits for investors and fuel the company’s ambitious growth plans.
“To really improve education in Milwaukee, we need to broaden the curriculum to focus on creativity and critical thinking, not just test prep,” said Lafer. “Poor children are no less deserving of a quality education than rich children, and the schools that privileged suburban parents demand for their children should be the yardstick we use to measure the adequacy of education in the city.”
The most ambitious proposals for corporate-backed school reform are skewed against poor cities, while letting corporate-backed charter schools fail for years before facing any consequences. Such legislation would lead to the closing of a growing number of public schools and concentrate the city’s neediest students in a public system without the resources to serve them—possibly bankrupting the public school district.
For more from EPI, see 2007’s Vouchers and Public School Performance: A Case Study of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, by Martin Carnoy, Amita Chudgar, and Frank Adamson.
###
ABOUT EPI
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is an independent, nonprofit think tank that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
OK now, you are just rubbing their noses in it. Joe says we cannot compare the types based on test scores. Anyone care to track down these grads and see how they are doing: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03educ.html?_r=0
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There’s another charter study in Ohio. 53% of charter students in the state are going from a higher-performing (test scores!) public school to a lower-performing charter school.
This isn’t discussed in the study, but I have a question. Charters can pull from a larger area than public schools, and they do, apparently, because a lot of the kids are coming (again) from HIGHER-performing districts into a LOWER-performing charter.
So shouldn’t they be out-performing lower-income district schools by a mile? They have kids who come from higher-income districts, and the public schools (in certain areas) don’t have that advantage.
If I’m a district school and my whole population of students comes from a low income area, and I’m a charter school and 20% (or 30, 40, 50%) come from a higher-income area, why are we comparing these two situations? The charter has an advantage as far as “recruiting”.
It’s like comparing two high school football, teams, one of which is limited to district “recruiting” and the other who can pick up players from 5 or 6 or 7 high schools. No one would do that, and in fact Ohio doesn’t do that. They have elaborate rules in school sports to address and prevent that disparity.
Click to access IO-Report-Short-Changed.pdf
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So many parents have been conned by the “business model” charters and their propaganda promotions. The news media has sold this lie to parents and their children have been the losers.
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Interesting analogy. A relatively small charter school in our region became the boys basketball champ. Because they can recruit from anywhere – as long as the kids have a way to get to the school, including parents driving them – they are able to identify and recruit good players. In our region many charters have empty seats, so most kids who want to go can get in.
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Susan,
Some charters are recruitment maps for college basketball teams.
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Chiara read this:
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/04/25/charter-school-sponsors-fire/8173173/
Very interesting
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We should know by now that they are after the money in schools. Short term profits and then disappear. It is the mindset now. It shows in so very many ways.
Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up is their mantra and pull the wool over people’s eyes. Promise them something better even if you know it is non factual. Quo Vadis. Where are we headed? As a nation, as a planet?
The TRUTH would make us free. Perhaps people will wake up in time. If not, our democracy and planet too will go the way of the passenger pigeons.
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Gordon,
You make absolute sense.
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And Milwaukee’s problems will not be solved by yet more emphasis on “critical thinking” and other such rigor. Milwaukee has pockets of poverty just like any other major city and that’s where the problems lie.
Until we do something about the problems of poverty (lack of discipline, lack of early childhood education, lack of parental support), we are just spinning our wheels.
The beatings will continue until the morale improves.
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I was reading the Obama Administration blueprint for ed reform. On page 5 they vow to “hold states accountable for not providing the resources to allow schools to succeed” (or words to that effect, read it yourself).
Can anyone cite a single instance where Arne Duncan “held a state accountable” on ed funding? They have a terrible track record as advocates on funding. They spend so much time obsessing on these ridiculous measurement systems for teachers it’s no wonder they’re such poor advocates for ed funding. How many states have cut ed funding since 2009? 32? 36?
I wonder if this comes from the ideological belief of (some) ed reformers that money doesn’t matter, that all we need are high expectations and “choice”.
Click to access blueprint.pdf
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“All that choice, and nothing to show for it.” We all know what they have to show for it.
1. Enriching private companies on the public dollar,
2. destroying the middle class by wiping out every last vestage of a union,
3. reducing organized labor to reduce organized opposition to agendas that do not serve the schools or students or parents,
4. big fat paychecks for the charter CEOs, and temporary jobs for idealistic college grads who spend 2 years in the classroom before being burnt out and quitting.
They got everything they wanted. Smoke and mirrors data driven test score achievement for the students is just a means to the end.
Two quotes from the NYT article in Akla’s comment.
the emphasis is on business. That’s because more money is flowing into education.(read money invested to make money and destroy public ed.)
“People who have a growing amount of influence are people who can at least speak in business terms or at least be familiar with that way of thinking.” (Like Gates and the hedge fund managers who are in it for the kids.)
Unfortunately, only the pro charter drivel like that in the NYT makes it to the mainstream media because they are owned by the same businessmen. Thank god for Diane and the NfPE. I am finding that Aljazeera is the only channel that reports fact based news now.
http://america.aljazeera.com/topics/topic/categories/education.html
There is not much there supportive of the corporate take over of education.
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Yes, this. It may not make sense, but it makes cent$.
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You described the “choice” lie to a tee. Nothing to show for it but rich CEOS, poorer teachers who are leaving in droves, and an education inferior to the one in public schools. It is just plain sad.
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And don’t forget, vouchers & charters also discriminate against children with disabilities adding to the segregative impact, while the state stands idly by despite USDOJ orders to address the discrimination. http://systemschangeconsulting.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/wisconsin-fails-to-protect-the-civil-rights-of-children-with-disabilities-in-voucher-schools/
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You would think Duncan would constantly make speeches and go on tv to speak of this injustice. I guess it just doesn’t matter.
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What has happened in Milwaukee should make abundantly clear the moral bankruptcy of the privatization of public education. There is no justification for this continued destruction. What do you have to say Arne? Aren’t you going to tell us how wonderful the reform efforts are in Milwaukee?
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2old2teach: “the moral bankruptcy of the privatization of public education.”
Much said in few words.
😎
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