Kevin Teasley, who is CEO of a small charter chain with schools in Indiana and Colorado, with new ones planned for Louisiana, admits that Indiana is overwhelmed by an explosion of charters and vouchers.
He writes:
After years of being in the minority, reformers suddenly found themselves in the rare position of actually being able to pass legislation during the Daniels administration, and now in the Pence administration.
These actions have been done with the best of intentions, but the result caused chaos, and reasonably so. Legislators added new charter authorizers; implemented new test schedules, new graduation measurements and tests, new standards, and new school accountability measures; and, yes, even created a new competitor called voucher schools.
All the while, schools and authorizers have had to adjust on the fly.
Adding to the challenge, groups wanting to “help” grow the movement work full time to raise scarce philanthropic dollars to create even more competition by recruiting out-of-state “best-in-class” charter models. Two groups approved to create multiple charters—BASIS and Rocketship—have announced they are not coming to Indiana after all.
Schools are opening with a fraction of the students they planned to serve. Phalen Leadership Academy planned for 300 but opened with 150. Indianapolis Academy of Excellence planned for 230 but opened with fewer than 80. Carpe Diem planned on 173 and opened with 87. The list goes on and on.
Inconsistent accountability measures contribute to the chaos. In the past 10 years, the state has gone from a “probation to exemplary” grading model to an A-F model. Neither is accurate nor helpful.
Many charters have too few students (see above) or grade levels to be graded accurately. For example, since 2012, ChristelHouse received an A, an F and a B. KIPP Indy received an A, a C, and this year, a D.
And now the Legislature plans to change the system again. The inconsistency, and some argue political, grading of schools has diminished what credibility the process might have had.
Hoping to stabilize the charter sector, he calls for time and patience. But these things are clear from his candid account: There are no waiting lists for charters; schools opening and closing; grading schemes written by politicians: This is chaos. It has nothing to do with improving education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Corruption in charters is aided and abetted by U.S. Department of Education, directly and indirectly by your taxes and mine. As previously posted.
Investments available in 2014 from USDE, and note that much of this money was authorized in the No Child Left Behind Act. //////The USDE 2014 Funding for Charter School Programs (ESEA, Title V, Part B, Subpart 1) Total = $248.1 Million.
1. State Education Agency (SEA) Grants and Non-SEA Grants: (ESEA,Title V, Part B, Subpart 1) $153.9 Million. These Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to SEAs, who in turn, make subgrants to charter schools. But, when SEAs do not apply for or they are denied funding, individual charter schools can apply directly to the USDE. Funding is used to help cover charter school start-up costs.
2. Replication & Expansion Grant. $60.1 Million. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to non-profit charter management organizations (CMOs) that have demonstrated success, including improved academic achievement.
3. National Leadership Activities Grant (ESEA,Title V, Part B, Subpart 1) $11 Million. Competitive grants fund projects of national significance to improve charter school quality, as well as money to disseminate information about the projects.
4. State Charter School Facilities Incentive Grant (ESEA,Title V, Part B, Subpart 1) $11 Million. Competitive grants to states to help cover charter school facilities costs.
5. Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Program (ESEA, Title V, Part B, Subpart 2) $11.9 Million. Competitive grants to public and non-profit entities that enhance the ability of public charter schools to raise private capital to acquire, construct, renovate, or lease academic facilities.
In October,2014 USDE announced grants to 27 charter organizations in 12 states worth $39.7 million.
For Replication and Expansion. Here is one sure to insult NewYorkers: the fabulous Success Academy Charter Schools, for $2,234,500. The biggest overall winner is KIPP for $13,789,074 worth of expansion, and the biggest winner by state is California $26,780,502 followed by Tennessee, $3,112,402
For Planning, Program Design, and Implementation Grants, the biggest winner at $308,270 is the Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation, operator of Gulen charters with issues with scandal documented at .http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/07/chesapeake-science-point-charter-school.html
The big winner by state for start-ups is Washington, with four new charters funded at $1,122,606, about $250.000 per school. Next is Oregon, with three new schools, $692,427 total, Illinois with three, including expansion of the Nobel network already in 12 states and saturating greater Chicago. Total for Illinois-based operations $575,705.
information sources: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-awards-397-million-grants-expand-high-quality-charter-sc///are the following and http://www.publiccharters.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/FundingFlowChartFY14.pdf/////////
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He’s only concerned about the chaos of an unregulated market because it’s now gotten so bad it’s impacting charter schools.
There was absolutely no concern or attention on this from “the movement” when it was damaging only public schools.
The same thing happened in Ohio. For fifteen years we didn’t hear anything but cheerleading from ed reformers, until charters started to saturate markets and their reputation slipped.
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Free market! Market based reforms! Competition! Accountability! Think outside the box! Best in class! Value add! Run schools like a business! Creative destruction! Benchmarking!
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Oh, the irony of saying that the charters have too few students to grade properly. I don’t suppose he’ll offer the same comment for elementary school teachers being assessed by VAMs?
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‘Many charters have too few students (see above) or grade levels to be graded accurately. For example, since 2012, ChristelHouse received an A, an F and a B. KIPP Indy received an A, a C, and this year, a D.’
I find it interesting that charter leaders complain about accountability measures and give reasons why it is unfair to grade charters, yet they claimed charters were needed because schools were failing and used the same accountability measures as proof.
I thought charters were supposed to achieve miracles and all students would succeed on the accountability measures. Why would the number of students matter? I thought the A-F was based on the % of students passing, not the total number of students taking the test.
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concerned mom: you wrote—
“I find it interesting that charter leaders complain about accountability measures and give reasons why it is unfair to grade charters, yet they claimed charters were needed because schools were failing and used the same accountability measures as proof.”
This blatant hypocrisy cannot be pointed out often enough.
Their double standards and double speak go together. That is why you can get a charterite/privatizer as highly placed at the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, declaring at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association that he was (1) somewhat for, (2) somewhat against, and (3) somewhat for/somewhat against standardized testing. Firmly. Simultaneously. In the same cranium housing the same grey matter. Plus he cited Campbell’s Law without realizing he was a poster child for its pernicious effects. And last but not least, he chastised the attendees (that included some of his harshest critics re standardized testing) for not working hard enough to make the tests he was mandating better.
Rheeally! and Really!
😱
Link: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/choosing-right-battles-remarks-and-conversation
That is why you can put “Arne Duncan” and “word salad” and “cognitive dissonance” in the same sentence. And when it comes to his peers—from educrats to edupreneurs to edufrauds to edubullies—just put in the name of your choice and add the second and third terms.
Yet amongst the hilarious foolishness is the frightening reality that many of them actually believe* their own hype, spin and pr. *Since they are so bizness-minded, they prefer the term “buy into” instead.”
Presaged long long ago by a very dead and very old and very Greek guy:
“A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.” [Demosthenes]
Although some homegrown talent wasn’t far off the mark either:
“Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.” [John Steinbeck]
😎
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I just read the speech. yikes!
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Done with the best of intentions my Aunt Fanny.
BTW, Cristelhouse is the one that Bennett got in trouble for “adjusting” their grade. The operator is a personal friend of Bennett. That was one of the main reasons he didn’t get re-elected.
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Personal friend, AND political donor!
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That Kevin Teasley (CEO of GEO Foundation) would be complaining that “legislators… even created a new competitor called voucher schools” is a real hoot given his long “storied” involvement with the voucher movement documented here
People like Teasley seem to have no sense of irony (or hypocrisy).
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Wasn’t competition supposed to be good for us all? I guess some people really didn’t mean it after all. This competition is good for shuffling our dollars from the public schools around though. It is beyond merely difficult to muster any sympathy for these people.
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