Gary Rubinstein has been following the results of the Tennessee “Achievement School District” since its inception. At the time, its founder Chris Barbic pledged that–in five years time– he would lift up the schools in the bottom 5% of the state to the top 25% in the state. His strategy: turn them into charters and let the charter magic do its work.
Barbic recently resigned, although the experiment has not reached the five year mark.
Gary Rubinstein here reports on the ASD’s failure to get anywhere near the goal of “top 25%.”
Although there are regular claims of dramatic progress, Gary has the results of three years of the experiment for the original six schools in the cohort.
Of the six, four are still in the bottom 5%; the other two are in the bottom 6%. Some scores went up, some went down. The strategy of converting schools to charter with TFA teachers has not produced miracles or dramatic progress. And yet, many states are rushing to create their own “achievement school districts.” Gary’s warning: Tennessee has an “underachievement district.”
Gary Rubinstein writes:
Throughout the country, there are states that are considering creating their own ASD based on the supposed success of this one and the Recovery School District in Louisiana, on which this one is based. Senate Democrats actually tried, and failed, to get an amendment into the reauthorization of the ESEA that would mandate that the bottom 5% of schools in each state become an ASD, essentially. I hope that my very simple calculations are compelling evidence that the ASD does not live up to the hype. Getting 2 out of 6 schools from the bottom 5% to the bottom 6% has not earned them the right to replicate around the country.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Reformster counter-spin can be found at a site called Chalkbeat Colorado (big cheerleaders of Mr. Barbic): http://tn.chalkbeat.org/2015/07/29/at-critical-moment-state-run-achievement-school-district-posts-big-gains-at-its-original-schools/#.VbugTxNViko
And another one! This one is being promoted by former Obama ed officials in their private sector charter jobs:
After a rigorous and very science-like analysis they have determined the best way to improve public schools is to get rid of them completely! 🙂
Now there’s a shocker.
http://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2015/07/31/failing_schools_whitmire_1216.html
Ah! I read that absurd article this morning prior to reading Diane’s post and didn’t make the connection. These guys are relentless!
RealClearEducation is an enormously frustrating site. Most of the RealClear sites are balanced with articles pro and con for various ideas. The education branch, however, is unapologetically and unashamedly Reformster dominated.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
The MYTH that corporate charter schools work magic is a bubble that has been burst repeatedly, but the RheeFormers who profit thanks to fools who believe their fraud and lies refuse to go away.
Lloyd, I think those “fools” are known as “useful idiots”
I do want to send my prayers out to Mr. Barbic who apparently is still recovering from a heart attack suffered during his latest endeavor.
I’m honestly confused. Didn’t he say he underestimated how difficult it would be and he didn’t meet his targets?
That just goes down the rabbit hole and we now sell this as an unqualified success that should be replicated everywhere? Don’t “experiments” have to actually prove something or other before they’re declared successful? Why call it an experiment if the results are predetermined ahead of time? Call it a decision.
Right with you, Chiara. These efforts have been an unambiguous non-factor at improving these schools (at least as far as they like to measure schools by test scores). Incidentally, Mr. Rubinstein was being generous in stating that two schools had improved to the 6th percentile, as one was in the top 5.5% and the other in the 5.2%. And who knows what the margin of error is on these tests?