Archives for the month of: October, 2016
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Ohio: Scandal-Ridden Charter Sector Gets $71 Million for New Charters with Federal Oversight

By dianeravitch
October 7, 2016 //
27

Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said to be a progressive worked out a deal where his state will get $71 million in federal funds, with oversight by the charter-loving US Department of Education. As readers of this blog know, Ohio has large numbers of low-performing charters and some of the worst for-profit charters in the nation.

“Sen. Brown said various measurements will be used in oversight by DOE to monitor how the money is spent. If Ohio doe not satisfactorily comply with the conditions, he said federal officials can suspend or terminate the grant. “They [DOE] know a lot more now than before,” he said, adding, “The days of the federal government throwing money around is over.”

And here is the oversight entrusted to John King:

ED will require the Ohio Department of Education to:

Hire an ED-approved independent monitor to oversee the Ohio Department of Education’s implementation of the special conditions ED has placed on its grant;

Create a database that indicates public charter schools’ academic, operation, and financial performance;

Submit expenditure documentation to ED for review and receive approval for all withdrawals from the grant account;

Submit semi-annual budgets to ED for review and approval;

Submit to ED and post publicly semi-annual financial reports related to the use of the grant; and

Form a Grant Implementation Advisory committee of parents, teachers, and community members to create transparency.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Ohio, Privatization, U.S. Department of Education

Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair on Donald Trump

By dianeravitch
October 7, 2016 //
14

Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, has known Donald Trump for more than 30 years. He has many stories to tell. You will find his article interesting. You will see the human side of The Donald. And yes, his hands are small.

Categories Trump

New York: Only One School Failed to Meet Arbitrary Targets

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2016 //
17

State Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia announced that only one school in the state–JHS 162–failed to meet her targets. It missed by only a point or two.

http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2016/10/05/the-state-finally-announced-which-schools-could-be-taken-over-and-the-only-one-is-in-new-york-city/#.V_WcO4b3aEc

This sets up the school for a radical change of staff, direction, leadership. 

Here’s a thought: Let Commissioner Elia take over JHS 162. 

Categories Education Reform

Trump’s Business Ventures: Hype, Spin, Lies

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2016 //
23

The New York Times reviewed Trump’s business ventures over the recent past. Each was announced as the biggest, the best, the greatest, the most.

https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/us/politics/donald-trump-business-deals.amp.html

Hype, spin, lies. Like his promises to being back jobs lost to automation or to countries where workers make a few dollars a day.

“When Donald J. Trump unveiled his new online travel booking venture, GoTrump.com, he said in a promotional video in 2006 that customers would “love everything I put on this site.” “There’s nobody better,” he added. “There’s nobody even close!”

“A few months later, ground was broken for Trump Tower Tampa, a project he said would “redefine both Tampa’s skyline and the market’s expectations of luxurious condominium living.”

“And when he signed a long-term deal with the fledgling U.S. Pro Golf Tour that summer to become a partner on a new championship series, he proclaimed that “there is no doubt the talent level is among the highest in the world.”

“The travel venture never took off. The tower in Tampa, Fla., was not built. And the golf championships? Mr. Trump withdrew as the tour fell apart.

“Moving past a disastrous period that led to a loss on paper of more than $900 million — possibly freeing him from federal income taxes for years — Mr. Trump became a one-man factory of big ideas, churning out a constant stream of projects and promises. Together they fed the image of Mr. Trump as an American Midas, the foundation of his argument for why he would make a great president.”

”

Categories Fraud, Trump

BREAKING NEWS: US Inspector General Warns of Risks of Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2016 //
45

In a remarkable turn of events, the federal Office of Inspector General issued a warning that charter schools posed a risk to the Department of Education’s goals.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-10-05/oig-report-charter-schools-pose-risk-to-education-department-goals

The report was released just days after the US Department of Education released $245 million to increase the number of unregulated charter schools.

US News reports:

“Charter schools and their management organizations pose a potential risk to federal funds even as they threaten to fall short of meeting the goals of an array of programs the Department of Education oversees, a new audit from the Office of Inspector General found.

“Investigators assessed the risk that charter schools receiving federal funds, specifically the schools’ relationships with the organizations that oversee them, posed to the objectives of department programs, including the federal K-12 law, special education, school turnaround efforts and others. The audit period covered July 2011 through March 2013 and assessed 33 charter schools in six states.

“Specifically, the report found instances of financial risk, including waste, fraud and abuse, lack of accountability over federal funds and lack of assurances that the schools were implementing federal programs in accordance with federal requirements at 22 of the 33 schools they looked at, all of which were run by management organizations.

“We determined that charter school relationships with [charter management organizations] posed a significant risk to department program objectives,” the report reads. The investigators noted, however, that because it was not a statistical sample, the findings can’t necessarily be projected to the entire sector of charter schools and their management organizations.

“Moreover, the inspector general’s report found that the Education Department did not have effective internal controls to monitor, evaluate and mitigate those risks, nor did it ensure that state departments of education were overseeing charter schools and their management organizations.”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Nancy Bailey: The New, Weird, Bizarre Education Jargon

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2016 //
25

Ten years ago, I wrote a book called EdSpeak, which ASCD published. It is sorely in need of updating. Nancy Bailey has the same fascination with words that I do. I hope she will help me revise EdSpeak as my co-author.

Read this and laugh out loud.

One thing I have noticed in the Brave New World of “reform.” Everything is opposite. Reform means disruption. Reform means privatization.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Cathy Rubin Asked Me: What if You Were Secretary of Education?

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2016 //
15

Cathy Rubin interviewed several well-known educators and asked what they would do if they were Secretary of Education. I was one of them. Here is the interview. The interview was conducted about four or five years ago. I focused on the errors of the Bush-Obama agenda of test-and-punish. It was a bad idea in 2002, a worse idea in 2009, and today it is a proven failure.

If I were Secretary of Education, I would focus federal funding on greater resources for the neediest students. My theme would be equity and equality of educational opportunity. I would create a fund to promote increased desegregation. I would campaign for community schools and wraparound services. I would not fund privately managed charters. I would fund only charters that are created and supervised by school districts to meet needs. I would be a champion for the principles and values of public education and a champion for teachers.

Categories Accountability, Corporate Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top, U.S. Department of Education

New York: State Announces Only One School for Takeover

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2016 //
11

State Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia announced that only one school in the state had failed to meet the arbitrary benchmarks she set. It is J.H.S. 162 Lola Rodriguez De Tio.

Elia is directing NYC Chancellor Carmen Fariña to take dramatic action.

“J.H.S. 162 did not hit its targets, the State Education Department announced Wednesday afternoon. That means schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña has 60 days to appoint an outside entity, such as a school improvement expert or nonprofit, to oversee the school. The city could also decide to close or merge the school.

“Each persistently struggling school had to make at least 40 percent progress on a “demonstrable improvement index” to avoid independent receivership — and J.H.S. 162 reached 38 percent, missing some indicators by less than one point.”

So the school may be closed because it missed Elia’/ goals by less than a point.

Here’s an idea.

Elia should take control of the school, personally. Don’t give it to a charter chain or some turnaround firm. Let Elia do it. She set the goals. She should show the rest of the state what she can do. JHS 162 is on her conscience. Let her take responsibility for fixing it.

Categories Closing schools, New York

Mercedes Schneider: More Out-Of-State Millions Flow into Massachusetts to Promote Charters

By dianeravitch
October 6, 2016 //
14

Mercedes Schneider has been following the money trail in Massachusetts, where voters will decide whether to allow charters to expand by 12 a year indefinitely. The issue is Question 2 on the November 8 ballot.

Some of the money supporting charters is “dark money,” bundled by committees that are not required to identify their donors publicly.

“To date, the ballot committees in favor of Question 2 have raised just shy of $14.5 million in unique dollars** to expand charters in MA– with $8.6 million of that amount (60 percent) coming from New York-based Families for Excellent Schools– and being dumped into the coffers of Great Schools Massachusetts.

“In contrast, the single ballot committee opposing Question 2, Save Our Public Schools, has raised $7.2 million– just under half of the amount raised by the pro-charter-expansion camp.”

“Thus, the total money spent on MA Question 2 is currently at $21.7 million. By comparison, as of October 05, 2016, the marijuana legalization ballot measure has a total of just over $4.3 million in funding ($3.7 million, in favor, and $634,000, opposing)– or only 20 percent of the amount of money behind Question 2 on charter expansion.”

Are the people of Massachusetts prepared to turn their public school dollars over to private corporations? Can they be fooled by expensive propaganda to privatize their public schools?

The public schools of Massachusetts are the best in the nation. Don’t let he privatizers buy them or steal them?

Ring doorbellls. Call your neighbors and friends. Don’t let the Walton/Walmart family of Arkansas take over and privatize your schools. The schools were built and paid for with your tax dollars. They belong to the people of Massachusetts, not to Wall Street and Walmart.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Massachusetts, Privatization

Uganda: Profiting on the Backs of the Poor

By dianeravitch
October 5, 2016 //
22

An organization called Bridge International Academies has plans to take over a large part of state education in Africa and replace it with for-profit schools. Free and universal education is a basic human right, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

But in this brave new world, everything is monetized.

To: AFT Media Affairs

Subject: Education International Report Shows Bridge Academies Abuses in Uganda

 

For Immediate Release

October 5, 2016
 
Contact:

Andrew Crook

202-393-8637

acrook@aft.org

http://www.aft.org

Education International Report Shows Rampant Bridge Academies 

Abuses in Uganda

 

WASHINGTON— Education International, the global union federation representing 32 million educators in 170 countries, released a damning report today highlighting the abuses of for-profit school chain Bridge International Academies in Uganda.

Click to access DOC_Final_28sept.pdf

The report, “Schooling the Poor Profitably: The Innovations and Deprivations of Bridge International Academies in Uganda,” documents in distressing detail BIA’s disregard for legal and educational standards established by the Ugandan government. This includes failing to employ qualified teachers, failing to observe the national curriculum and failing to uphold school building standards.

BIA has expanded rapidly in Uganda since February 2015, with an estimated 12,000 fee-paying students. However, in August, the Permanent Secretary of Uganda decided to close all BIA schools due the company’s failure to meet the government’s educational and legal standards. EI’s research revealed that as many as 9 out of 10 BIA teachers are unlicensed, in direct contravention of Uganda’s Education Act.

The report shows that BIA’s business plan is based on standardizations, automated technology, shoddy school structures, and internet-enabled devices that are used to carry out all instructional and non-instructional activities on the cheap.

BIA is backed by $100 million in funding from global educational conglomerate Pearson, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, the World Bank, the U.S. and U.K. governments, and others. It plans to sell basic education services to 10 million fee-paying students in low-income communities throughout Africa and Asia by 2025.

However, many Ugandan children cannot afford to pay anything for education, much less BIA’s fees, according to officials. Families with an average household income have to spend up to 23 to 27 percent of their earnings just to send one child to a Bridge school for one year. Indeed, the BIA school dropout rate ranges from 10 to 60 percent.
The report highlights BIA’s use of broadband technology to deliver its “academy in a box,” with pre-programmed curricula transferred to tablet e-readers—“teacher-computers”—that distribute knowledge and information to pupils. BIA makes money by keeping overheads low and by employing unqualified teachers and paying them severely low wages.
The physical structures of Bridge Academies are also shown to be below par, with reports of “poor hygiene and sanitation” in school buildings that often do not meet basic requirements and minimum standards established by the Uganda Ministry of Education.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, an EI member organization, said: “This report serves as a warning about what happens when private education providers put profits above people. BIA’s shameful abuses, cookie-cutter curriculum and cost cutting make for distressing reading but sadly aren’t in the least bit surprising.

“BIA and other for-profit operators need to realize that their compliance with national and international laws and regulations isn’t optional. Every student, no matter his or her country, has the right to a high-quality, affordable education taught by qualified educators. In Uganda, BIA has failed to deliver.”

Education International’s general secretary, Fred van Leeuwen, said: “We call on the government of Uganda to remain steadfast in demanding that Bridge International Academies operate in accordance with Ugandan legislative and regulatory requirements. Every child deserves to be taught by a qualified teacher delivering an engaging curriculum in safe schools conducive to good teaching and learning.”
  

 
###
 

Categories Education Reform
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »