Laura Chapman posted this comment, which I hope you will read:
Readers should know that GreatSchools.org website supports redlining. This is a non-profit website and organization in name only. Zillow, for example, pays a fee to lease all of the data and the ratings of schools. Specific schools can pay a fee to steer users to their websites.
The following supporters of redlining via the great schools website are not friends of public schools. They want to preserve schools and communities that are segregated by income, race, ethnicity, ownership of major assets (e.g., homes, automobiles), access to public services and amenities (e.g., public parks, libraries).
These supporters of segregation hide their agenda under a lot of rhetoric about saving children from failing schools. Wrong. These are the billionaires who are determined to misrepresent and undermine schools and neighborhoods through the irresponsible use of school “performance data,” especially scores on state standardized tests and more recently spurious surveys about school climate, the physical appearance of the school, and usually anonymous “customer” satisfaction ratings.
Major supporters of this redlining website are (logo displayed): Walton Family Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Einhorn Family Charitable Trust; The Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Other supporters: The Charles Hayden Foundation; Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation; Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation; David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Heising-Simons Foundation; The Joyce Foundation; Excellent Schools Detroit; The Kern Family Foundation; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation; The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation;
Four other supporters of this website that forwards redlining sould be noted
America Achieves now calls itself “a non-profit accelerator” of large-scale system-wide change in public education. Achieve was and is the major promoter of the Common Core, college and career agenda, and associated tests. Achieve is funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Charles Butt, the Heckscher Foundation For Children, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Kern Family Foundation, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (among others).
EdChoice is the updated name for the Milton Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. EdChoice wants market-based education, unlimited choice, but subsidized by tax dollars–The DeVos/Trump policy.
Innovate Public Schools is a California-based national organization that uses GreatSchools reports to promote “new” school formation, especially charter schools, through extensive parent “fellowships” and training.
Startup:Education is a grantmaking project of the Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative founded by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. Everything promoted by Start;Up Education and the larger Chan/Zuckerberg initiative is tech-based and mislabeled personalized learning.
There are other commercial supporters of the website. They pay fees for advertising space and market a range of products called “educational.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
WE know that “great schools” just means “elite demographics”. WE know that a low scoring school might still have wonderful teachers and curriculum. But even if we could convince the public that this is so, wouldn’t many parents still balk at sending their kids to a low scoring school? Would this be irrational? Wouldn’t the preponderance of low-scoring kids drag down the level of the curriculum delivered –especially in schools that ban ability-level grouping? And wouldn’t unruly classrooms still be a rational fear –especially after 4th grade? It seems to me that until we acknowledge the rationality of these concerns and take meaningful measures to address them, support for “choice” could continue to grow.
Or we could keep working to get the media to acknowledge the presence of redlining websites like Zillow and their discrimatory and price inflating effects on housing and homeownership, thereby pressuring the government to put an end to them. GreatSchools is root of the Corporate Reforminess problem. Until school rating websites go, this land ain’t your land; it isn’t my land, from California to the New York island, from the redwood forest…
The Great Schools bills itself as “the leading national nonprofit empowering parents to unlock educational opportunities for their child.” Great Schools uses a secret algorithm based on test scores. I believe they have some level of partiality to charters in their formula since charters tend to receive higher ratings overall, and many charters do not take the same standardized tests as public schools. Great Schools works with real estate sites like Zillow, and the result is cyber red lining.
Retired teacher. The rating methodology is actually discussed (in part) here:
Click to access GreatSchools_Ratings_Methodology_Report.pdf
Almost all of the really important information about the whole website is buried in the fine print.
Look at the bottom panel, navy blue, and click on the entries. The privacy policy is a fiction, especially if you are user of Facebook. You can find the “methodology” for rating schools there, with weightings assigned to test scores, which tests are used (including ACT, SAT), how the scores in various subjects get combined and other great feats of statistical wizardry. The pretense of objectivity is fully developed.
In whisper type at the very bottom of the navy blue panel you can find all of the information about leasing data. In addition you can find two bizarre “research reports” that manipulate NAEP scores, and state test scores in math and reading in order to rate schools. One of the reports in based on an invented Education Equity Index for schools based on the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price lunches (a proxy for property). That report complains about a change in federal policy for data gathering that shifts attention from poverty rates in individual schools to poverty rates in an entire district.
Some of the really important information about the whole website is buried in the fine print. Look at the bottom panel, navy blue, and click on the entries.
The privacy policy is a fiction, especially if you are user of Facebook. In whisper type at the very bottom of the navy blue panel you can find all of the information about leasing data. In addition you can find two bizarre “research reports” that manipulate NAEP scores, and state test scores in math and reading to rate schools.
Laura,
Thank you for the excellent information.
When I read somewhere (should have saved it) that CCSS is copyrighted by NGA, this told me everything I needed to know about the shameful attack on Public Schools, as well as Public School teachers, students, and the parents/guardians and why. KA-CHING and total control.
With that said, I still know: Nothing can replace a teacher, even if the deformers think teachers are replaceable with the SCREEN. The SCREEN is about control and $$$$$$$ for the few.
“Behind* every great school is a billionaire” (*under the bleachers, too)
The billionaires
Behind great schools
Are hatching evil plots
With Billlyan errs
And “Common” rules
And testing– lots and lots
“under the bleachers, too. . .
. . . looking up whichever schoolgirl’s dress that they can!”
Bill Gates wanted a camera in every classroom to, uh, see what teachers with high VAM ratings were doing.
“Skirting the Truth”
Peeping Bills
And techy thrills
A camera, if you please
Cuz vids and stills
Of Little girls
Are what they really need
“A camera with a feed” would prolly be better
Has anyone ever calculated the good that could be done for public schools with the money these ignoramuses spend on destroying them?
Good question! My guess is A LOT! This country is being bought and sold in so many respects.
I had to laugh when I read an article about that DUMP and Pukin’ “looking to form a good relationship. Duh, these two have had a relation for many years. Dump needs Russia’s $$$$$$$ and is totally willing to hand this country over to Pukin’.
Holy cow! Blantant lie. This is what marketers, lawyers, and greedy corporations and people do. There has got to be a GREED GENE.
Depressing. Racism, classism, and sexism are well and alive in this country,
Thanks Laura and Diane.
Thank you for posting this information. We need to return income tax levels to Kennedy levels or better yet Eisenhower levels.
I’ve reading about President Garfield and the wealth inequality in the 1880s. Also, the government corruption caused by the Robber Barrons. It seems like the wealthy keep driving our economy over the cliff. Then, US Citizens fight back until the wealthy and powerful face either progressive reforms or anarchy.
When I was in HS, me and my friends found it fun to leave fake bad reviews of rival high schools on Greatschools.org. Our reviews were always published, and caused some of the other schools’ ratings to go down, despite the fact that we had never been students there.
Would someone connect the dots for me? Why are we using the term “redlining” for a self-appointed school-rating co?
Redlining = “a discriminatory method by which banks, insurance companies etc refuse or limit loans, mortgages, insurance etc within specific geographic areas, especially inner-city neighborhoods”… “In short, redlining forced blacks into specific areas and then starved those areas of affordable capital.”
( I can see two red flags: (1) GreatSchools’ ‘non-profit’ status [but maybe that’s just a pink flag– this is a a widespread problem reflecting lousy laws], and (2) GS working together w/Zillow [a very red flag which makes me wonder who else Zillow ‘works with’]. )
We have been living in a society of housing segregated by SES for a very long time (forever?) Because our schools are mostly funded by property taxes, our public schools reflect this. Today’s school-ranking methods are repugnant, whether promulgated by GreatSchools, NCLB, A-F ‘school report-card’ states, USNews&WorldReport, etc. The charade goes on as we speak as states cook up accountability methods to align w/ESSA & pass BDeVos scrutiny.
To me, the original sin is funding public schools w/property taxes, & the cardinal sin today is using edumetrics to declare schools in poorer areas failing– then instead of providing them w/compensatory funding & services, closing them & replacing w/ privates.
Here in LA it’s long been all about the property. Elsewhere to I suspect. So this dosn’t surprise me but I am impressed and thankful to Ms Chapman for rooting this out.
Two LA-specific observations. New board member Melvoin was sworn in by the son of the realtor Wexler who is really at ground zero for much of the charter-unrest on LA’s westside (Westchester Secondary CS) and who has joined forces with the CA Charter School Association.
As well I wonder about the referenced “Education Equity Index”. That is the term used by LA’s “poverty advocates” who aren’t that, in actuality. It’s complicated. But, …. that is the term they are using, the initiative they have drafted and are using all over again, doubling down on it now for wrecking havoc.
Same folks???
I recently posted my review of Challenge Charter School, Glendale, Arizona at Great School dot com…
https://www.greatschools.org/arizona/glendale/517-Challenge-Charter-School/
“Don’t be misled by skewed, inconclusive numerical ratings or their distorted school website marketing campaign with self-seeking awards and media coverage. There’s research and reviews by education scholars exposing the conflicts of interests, cronyism, bullying of parents, discriminatory practices, etc. that exist at this tax funded charter business. Google: “Arizona Daily Independent Challenge Charter School” July 5, 2017
Let’s see if it gets deleted, despite my diligent adherence to their “School Review Guidelines” https://www.greatschools.org/gk/review-guidelines/
Related Articles
Yep, this is the owner of Challenge Charter School:
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2015/08/24/az-education-board-chair-miller-attacks-superintendent-douglas/
Dr. Gene V. Glass originally exposed my own personal experience with Challenge Charter School. Dr. Diane Ravitch graciously cross posted. Ms. Loretta Hunnicutt reviewed this in its entirety:
http://ed2worlds.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-citizens-encounter-with-charter-school.html
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/05/30/challenge-charter-video-reveals-miller-ugly-tactics/
Other Articles
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/07/08/group-hopes-to-stop-school-voucher-expansion-before-it-takes-effect/
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/06/21/open-meeting-law-complaints-filed-against-113-arizona-charter-schools/
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/05/12/university-of-arizona-pays-students-to-snitch-on-each-other-for-10-an-hour/
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/05/20/teachers-speak-out-about-working-conditions-and-theyre-not-happy/
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/05/08/uofa-grad-ben-chavis-indicted-in-oakland-charter-school-scam/
Unrelated Article
Is It Okay For Children To Count On Their Fingers?
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/06/26/is-it-okay-for-children-to-count-on-their-fingers/
My Answer: Absolutely.
When I was a sophomore in public district high school, I was tutored by my former 6th grade teacher for algebra. My mother became friends with this teacher, along with several others, during my elementary public education. In fact, this group of teachers would come to our home, three times a week, during the evening to learn German from my mother. They would be at my home for hours learning written, spoken, and cultural interactions, as well as dialects, etc.
In any event, my former 6th grade teacher that tutored me for algebra during high school… she had her doctorate in education and taught elementary math, along with other subjects.
She was a huge proponent of using fingers as a resource to count.
I still do. Why not?
You might find these two posts of interest: one is a cross-post from Cathy O’Neill’s (aka Mathbabe) webpage on how a parent who used GreatSchools and Zillow when selecting a home ultimately selected a school based on word-of-mouth.
And one I wrote after reading this post wondering if parents whose homes were effectively undervalued by GreatSchools’ “mistake” could sue:
I’m passing Ms. Chapman’s findings along to the Mathbabe…. maybe the two of them and Mr. Osborne, the parent who wrote the cross post, can compare notes. It is reprehensible that the location of public housing within a school’s attendance zone can deflate ratings.
I just looked at Success Academy Brooklyn for their rating on greatschools.org, and look at the test scores:
https://www.greatschools.org/new-york/brooklyn/14226-Success-Acad-Charter-School-Brooklyn-6/
Across the board ethnicity/income the same percentages. Does anyone audit these scores?
It appears that the ratings on great schools.org are based on selective, inconclusive and false reporting by the charter schools due to, once again, lack of accountability.
One of many examples, for instance, is the oddity of how Gender is being reported as 50/50 for Challenge Charter School. While this outcome could be lauded, the point is that it’s unlikely to occur year after year at a charter school that purports to be exclusively based on an open-enrollment lottery (chance) policy.