The NAACP bravely spoke out in favor of regulating charter schools to make them accountable, transparent, and subject to the same standards as public schools.
Most people would say that the NAACP’s concerns and recommendations are reasonable.
But supporters of charter schools are outraged and hysterical.
The Center for Education Reform, which has advocated for charters for more than 20 years, astonishingly called the NAACP “opportunity’s opponent.” This is a breathtakingly insulting slur coming from a conservative organization that has long been hostile to public education.
CER provides a link to other rightwing organizations that oppose the NAACP’s criticism of public schools.
Who cares more about black children?
The NAACP or the Heritage Foundation?
The NAACP or CATO?
The NAACP or Betsy DeVos?
The NAACP or hedge fund managers?
The NAACP or the Walton Family Foundation?
The NAACP or the Center for Education Reform?
The NAACP or the Thomas B. Fordham Institute?
The NAACP or the Koch brothers?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The National Review has published a criticism of the report as well:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450092/naacp-charter-schools-report-makes-weak-argument-against-them?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NR%20Week%20in%20Review%202017-08-06&utm_term=VDHM
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Charles,
Thanks for letting us know what the National Review thinks.
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Oh good gracious, Charles. The National Review is still using the debunked CREDO study that uses “days of learning”? And we’re supposed to take that seriously? Sorry, couldn’t get past the first few paragraphs without laughing.
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I actually think they can’t make all charters “nonprofit” because it just doesn’t mean much without more.
They get around it easily in Ohio. They create a nonprofit entity and then just stuff it with individual for-profit contractors. You have to really look at the series of contracts, go past the “charter” and look to what they’re contracting out.
Charter supporters have difficulty doing this. They have to make this distinction between what they consider the heart of a school and allied services.
You can really see this clearly in the lawsuits in Ohio. The devil is in the details. I don’t know- are the Horizon charters “nonprofit”? The “school” entity has all these subcontractors. The Horizon contracts in Illinois include school furniture subsidiaries. The “for profit” arm sells the “nonprofit” arm all kinds of things. You would need a team of lawyers and the IRS to determine “nonprofit” and even then it would be designating or defining.
There’s a for-profit company in Ohio who staff charters. One would think the nonprofit part of the charter would do something as essentially central to the school as “teachers” but they must not be because these spin-off businesses exist. There are property management companies, accountants, and on and on. In Ohio 99% of the school can be a for-profit program and the charter is still a “nonprofit” as a tax designation.
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IMPORTANT point: public money, “public” schools—PRIVATE contractors/curricula/programs and often private administration/management/school board.
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You tell me, for profit or non profit?
“National Heritage Academies is not just the state’s largest charter school management company — it’s also the largest charter school landlord, and its schools pay NHA some jaw-dropping rents.”
National Heritage Academies is layers of contracts, and “the charter” is just one. Each one of these contracts can be for profit and yet fit within the state rules.
I think Jerry Brown knows this and that’s why he didn’t tighten up California charter rules. “Non-profit” would involve a lot of regulation. I don’t think they’re willing to provide the kind of transparency or oversight that would require.
There simply isn’t the state-level staff in Ohio to regulate all these charters all over the state. They can’t possibly visit these schools, coming out of Columbus. Public school systems were designed so the regulator was close to the entity regulated. Our public school isn’t regulated out of Columbus. It’s regulated locally at the district and then county level. We wouldn’t be regulated at all if we left it up to the State of Ohio. Who would do it?
Some of the authorizers in Michigan are HUNDREDS of miles from the schools. They’re not even in the same region of the state where the schools are located. No one is visiting these schools. There’s no one on-site. Grand Valley State University isn’t sending regulators out to these schools on any regular basis. The schools are self-reporting and they’re all hoping they’re telling the truth. I’m not at all surprised there’s been financial fraud. It was inevitable. I think they should count their lucky stars that is hasn’t been WORSE than losing money. It could be safety and then they’re in a world of hurt because the public will ask how it happened.
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The NAACP backs up its call for a moratorium on charter schools with something often missing in today’s political environment – facts.
.
My Blog at:
https://www.opednews.com/articles/Separate-and-Unequal-The-by-Carl-Petersen-Charter-Schools-170805-327.html
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Thanks for the link.
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OPPOSITION to the legacy of colonial opportunism – the NAACP and Black Agenda Report deserve thanks for carrying the banner for all of the 99%.
If only…the NAACP, Black Agenda Report, and HBCU’s could count on (1) 0.1% er’s writing checks for $1 bil. to the organizations (2) professor grants at the $1 mil. level, to advocate for public schools (3) transfers of money to PR organizations and think tanks to promote common goods (4) ALEC drafting legislation that reflected concern for kids’ education instead of profit taking (5) politicians having their hands out to the plutocrats and oligarchs in return for policies that fund the schools of the disadvantaged at higher amounts because they don’t get to cherry pick students and, (6) crucifixion of those who dare to refer to schools as “human capital pipelines”, particularly, condemnation from state and federal executive branches.
Since the reverse of those 6 things are happening, we can deduce, the self-anointed ed reformers are impatient opportunists hell-bent at profiting off of the destruction of America’s most important common good.
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Actually destroying the notion that there is a common good is perhaps more important than profit. As that common good implies collective action. From the storming of the Bastille to the streets of Yeltsin’s Moscow or the streets of Cairo collective action does not usually end well for Oligarchs . It does not necessarily end well for anyone , but that’s another story .
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Gordon Lafer’s book reports on a study of advanced society failure over the past 500 years. The cause of failure is always concentrated wealth. Current conditions reflect the tipping point.
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Linda, I am reading Lafer’s book now, along with Democracy in Chains. Chilling.
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Thanks, Diane. Some interesting material. Following the links, I was especially glad to learn of this study which I hadn’t know of:
“The Medium-Term Impacts of High-Achieving Charter Schools”, Roland G Fryer J, Dobbie W. , Journal of Political Economy. 2015;123 (5) :985-1037.
Its abstract:
“Using survey data from the Promise Academy in the Harlem Children’s Zone, collected for the purposes of this study, we estimate the effects of high-performing charter schools on human
capital, risky behaviors, and health outcomes. Six years after the random admissions lottery, youth offered admission to the Promise Academy middle school score 0.279 (0.073) standard
deviations higher on academic achievement outcomes, 0.067 (0.076) standard deviations higher on an index of academic attainment, and 0.313 (0.091) standard deviations higher on a measure of “on-time” benchmarks. Admitted females are 10.1 percentage points less likely to be pregnant in their teens, and males are 4.4 percentage points less likely to be incarcerated. We find little impact of the Promise Academy on self-reported health. These effects are larger than those expected from test score increases alone, implying that high achieving charter schools alter more than cognitive ability.”
I think it’s important to look at effects of charter school attendance on outcomes above and beyond test scores…
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Stephen,
When Geoffrey Canada opened his charters, he received wild acclaim. He recruited students for his first class (6th grade) and promised they would go to college. The students had low scores the first year; low scores the second year; low scores the third year. Canada’s board (composed mostly of white men from Wall Street) were unhappy; how come KIPP got higher scores, they asked Canada. Canada called the ninth-graders together in May and told them they were all fired. It was hard for them to find a public school with openings because the time to apply for a high school spot was over. Canada didn’t care. This story was recounted in Paul Tough’s “Whatever It Takes,” a book about Geoff Canada and the Harlem Children’s Zone. I confronted Geoffrey with this story when we were on “Education Nation,” and he insisted it wasn’t true, that he had actually closed the entire school because it was “a bad school.”
Here is a story in the New York Times that you may have missed: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/education/13harlem.html
A charter chain that spends vast amounts on the social and medical needs of children is a great model, especially when the parent organization has $200 million in the bank, and the CEO of Goldman Sachs is chair of the board.
But since you mention Fryer and Dobbie, I wonder if you saw the study this team did recently about charter schools in Texas: they had no effect on test scores and negative effects on earnings.
Stephen, you are too prone to cherrypicking studies and tweets and anything else to try to persuade me and the readers of this blog that privatization is wonderful.
Stop wasting your time.
I was deeply embedded in the rightwing think tanks for years; I know the arguments better than you do.
Think of the common good for a change and stop looking for boutique schools that don’t prove the value of privatization as a strategy for a democratic enterprise.
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On target response, Diane.
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Thanks, Diane, the information you provided helps expand my understanding of the Harlem Children’s Zone. But doesn’t, in any way that I recognize, discount the Dobbie/Fryer research findings showing, for example, that during the specific sampling period, among young males, over 4% of the Zone’s lottery losers were incarcerated and none of the lottery winners.
Diane: “I wonder if you saw the study this team did recently about charter schools in Texas: they had no effect on test scores and negative effects on earnings.”
As it happens, almost exactly a year ago today (Aug 11, 2016), you asked me about that same paper: “Did you read the Dobbie-Fryer report last week on this blog?”
And I see that my response was as follows:
Start extract–>
Indeed. I read the main body of the research itself, though the appendices were a bit too abstruse for me.
Obviously, it is of at least some minor interest that “no-excuses” charter school students seemed to earn a little more ($1,200/year for those who attended charter in grades 1-12?) at ages 24-26 than their peers, even when you consider: 1) that their rate of 4-year college attendance is increased (which would shift labor market activity later, especially if it took them more than 4 years to graduate) and (2) that all data for earnings outside the state of Texas itself was ignored as not readily obtainable. Hopefully, some stuck around here after picking up a graduate degree in Boston at age 25.7.
And it was of interest that attendees of religious charter schools fared substantially worse on the authors’ measures of success than those at College Prep or “No Excuses” charters, dragging down average results of “kids will be kids” charters. Not sure if you’ve focused much on those, but if not this seems a good place to start: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20101122-charter-schools-with-ties-to-religious-groups-raise-fears-about-state-funds_use.ece
In the same overall context, in addition to Dobbie/Fryer, I also looked at Lovenheim/Willén “The Long-run Effect of Teachers Unions on Educational Attainment and Earnings”: “Taken together, our results suggest laws that support collective bargaining for teachers have adverse long-term labor market consequences for students.”
Click to access LR%20Union%20Effects%20-%20AEFP.pdf
And briefly considered Kevin Booker et al “Charter High Schools’ Effects on Long-Term Attainment and Earnings”:
“Using data from Chicago and Florida, we find evidence that charter high schools may have substantial positive effects on persistence in college as well as high-school graduation and college entry. In Florida, where we can link students to workforce data in adulthood, we also find evidence that charter high schools produce large positive effects on subsequent earnings.”
Click to access charter_high_school_effects_on_attainment_and_earnings.pdf
Frankly, add it all up and my response doesn’t deviate far from: Meh
My all-time (necessarily abbreviated) favorite comment by Christine Langhoff:
“And there we have it, folks! Education is not for developing a child’s interests, talents, curiosity or skills. The only focus is on what skills are important for labor markets…. real teachers ask what students need; Economists “Two-Tier” Fryer and Dobbie and their ilk ask what the markets need.”
<–End Extract
Perhaps at the end there I was being my usual sycophantic self to Christine and not adequately respectful of Dobbie/Fryer… Ah, well.
But if that comment allows me momentary status as a Leftie, mark me down not as outraged but, instead, wincing, embarrassed for the organization, at some, though by no means all, aspects of the NAACP Report.
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Stephen says:
“during the specific sampling period, among young males, over 4% of the Zone’s lottery losers were incarcerated and none of the lottery winners.”
Say what??!!! You just implied that WINNING a charter school lottery — even if you never step one foot in the charter — is a proven way to stop a child from being incarcerated! LOL!
I have the perfect solution to crime! From now one every child at age 5 is automatically entered in the lottery for a no-excuses charter school and will be told they won. Later they will be told that they didn’t win after all, but I’m certain the mere effect of “winning” will mean they will never commit a crime.
“And it was of interest that attendees of religious charter schools fared substantially worse on the authors’ measures of success than those at College Prep or “No Excuses” charters, dragging down average results of “kids will be kids” charters.”
Stephen, I bet you a buck nobody thought to check whether the religious charter schools actually KEPT the students who won their lottery even if they weren’t high performing scholars. Did they?
And I’m not talking about some yearly attrition rate that is the charters’ way of hiding how many students are “repealed and replaced” (so to speak) by more desirable children.
I’m talking about comparing how many of the students entering in the FIRST year of a charter remain in that charter through its last year.
Otherwise, like the other meaningless research that charter billionaires like to fund, all comparisons are pointless. Of course the no-excuses charters fared better because they dump the kids who don’t let them far better. I suspect the religious charters have a different agenda and dumping as many low achieving kids as they can get aways with is not on the top of their agenda as we all know is the case for the no-excuses charters.
So I truly do not understand what point you tried to make with that unless it is that no-excuse charters — whether in Dallas, NY, or Massachusetts — dump their lowest performing students far more frequently than religious charters do. Or public schools, which don’t do it at all.
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^^and I apologize for being so snarky. I truly do not understand any study that purports to compare charter lottery winners with lottery losers because simply “winning” doesn’t tell you if the child ever attended the charter or for how long.
In fact, I think these studies generally use “winner” to describe the students who win the lottery, and make it through the finite year of the charter without getting drummed out. So that would obviously be a completely meaningless comparison. It would be like comparing patients who took a drug with patients who didn’t, but the patient group who took a drug excluded every patient who was not responding well to the drug and got kicked out early. It would be seriously flawed.
Or just as bad, can you a imagine a study where the patient who took a drug, was kicked out early, and then never took the drug again but took a different drug that DID work, was somehow included as part of the original group as a “success” despite him taking that drug for one week and getting sicker and taking another drug that actually worked and getting better? It would be extremely misleading.
Either way, these kinds of studies are very suspect and it is never explained exactly how the researchers do it.
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The results are for a sample at a particular point in time. There’s no guarantee that the results would be invariably the same. In fact one would expect some variation.
Here’s language directly from the study:
“The treatment group is composed of youth who are lottery winners and the control group consists of youth who are lottery losers.”
“Only 6.6 percent of lottery losers attend the Promise Academy for at least one year, compared to 63 percent of lottery winners.”
(I’m guessing the lottery losers who attended may have won the lottery in a later year after initially losing)
“Female lottery winners are 10.1 (4.7) percentage points less likely to report being pregnant during their teenage years, a 59 percent drop from the control mean of 17 percent. Male lottery winners are 4.4 (1.7) percentage points less likely to be incarcerated, essentially a 100 percent drop from the control mean.”
You may find this overview of the methodology helpful.
http://evidencebasedprograms.org/1366-2/promise-academy-charter-middle-school
It includes: “These are the Academy’s effects on all outcomes that the study measured, and (unless otherwise noted) on all lottery winners, including those who enrolled in the Promise Academy and those who did not.”
And after reciting some of the results for that group it states: “The effects on the subsample of lottery winners who actually accepted the admission offer and enrolled in the Academy were 45% larger than the effects shown above.”
I am always glad to know of additional charter school studies with a similar focus. This is one I had, previously, missed.
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Stephen,
As the New York Times story I linked explained, the Harlem Children’s Zone provides a comprehensive set of wraparound services. It had $200 million in the bank. Probably more now. Its board of Wall Street financiers keeps it well-supplied with whatever money it needs. It is a wonderful program.
When you cite any data about HCZ, acknowledge that it has the money for small classes, two teachers in a room, 1:1 tutoring, medical services, and whatever it wants.
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Ronan, tell readers if you find a plutocrat duplicating the grants found in the c.v.’s of people like Fryer, specifically, a richest 0.1% er who believes in the value of common goods.
Take a look at the Fordham-written foreword to Figlio’s research on Ohio vouchers. Does the foreword’s finding about competition match the researcher’s work product?
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“Ronan, tell readers if you find a plutocrat duplicating the grants found in the c.v.’s of people like Fryer, specifically, a richest 0.1% er who believes in the value of common goods.”
Sorry, I don’t understand what you mean… and some of attempts to comment are being sent immediately off through the ozone layer, so don’t assume I haven’t got a cogent persuasive reply if one doesn’t appear.
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It does sound as if Stephen B Ronan’s argument proves that having millions of extra dollars to fund wraparound services and small class size gets results. So it’s amazing that reformers aren’t fighting for that.
And the lack of any funding of longitudinal attrition rates studies of charters is very telling. There are some things that reformers prefer not to know.
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What the hell is “human capital”?
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You may find the Wikipedia entry useful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital
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Atlanta has school board members and a superintendent that can tell you.
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Perhaps I should have phrased that differently. Point is, I have no use for anyone who would even use the term “human capital”. Obviously someone more worried about things like “efficiency” and “economics” than humanity. The term has no place in an intrinsically human endeavor like education.
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I think you may wish to phrase that differently, also… Given the context here, perhaps try a Google search for:
NAACP “human capital”
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Stephen doesn’t get it. The it being the disgust at calling another human being “human capitol”. Too bad the slave owners didn’t have that term, they might have been able to fight off the arc of history for another 50 years.
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You’re right. I don’t get it. I see nothing whatsoever wrong, for example, with this statement of Ben Jealous while President of the NAACP:
“As we continue on a road toward economic recovery, we must invest not just in the infrastructure that keeps this country moving forward, but also in the human capital we rely on to lead our nation. Smart investments in education, health care and innovation will allow every American — even the least advantaged among us — to compete in tomorrow’s global marketplace and have a shot at the American dream.
“These goals are attainable, but if recent history has taught us anything, it is that they will not come without a fight. Predatory lenders, the greediest Wall Street bankers and the most cynical political leaders would like nothing more than to see the status quo remain in effect.”
If you have a problem with that, why don’t you take it up with him. A Bernie Sanders supporter who is now running for Governor of Maryland, perhaps he would find your views of interest
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And I decry his use of the term “human capital”. Included in that thought is “human resources”. I remember back in the 80s when personnel departments started to become “human resource” departments. I thought the term abhorrent then and my mind hasn’t changed since.
Just because a term comes into the language doesn’t mean that it usage is necessarily right and good. Do I need to give examples?
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Human capital is as appropriate as human flesh is delicious.
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Perhaps part of the problem is people having the blurry sense that the work “capital” may derive from the Latin equivalent of Moolah (the Fijian word meaning ‘money’).
But, it derives from the Latin for caput or head.
Ceding the use of the word “capital” to financiers, assuming they own it for their purposes, is that what we should be advocating?
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Stephen,
The reason for the disagreement is this: economists and financiers speak of “human capital” as an abstraction.
Teachers and parents see the faces before them and see them as children, not “human capital.”
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No need for obfuscation and deflection Stephen. Capital in the sense used in human capital is encompassed in the phrase human resources-humans to be exploited by other humans, plain and simple. I am not ceding anything to anyone, that’s as bogus as they come.
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I do have a problem with the use of that term by anyone. I understand the focus on education as a path to good paying jobs. I am not at all impressed with turning people into capital in our quest to compete in the global market. I so much would like the economists to take their narrative and shove it where the sun don’t shine. As a teacher, the last thing I would have thought about would be how my students would fare as human capital fueling the global economy. Can you imagine that as a mission statement in a public school? We have to rid ourselves of their pernicious influence on how we frame the purpose of education. It is demeaning.
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speduktr: “I do have a problem with the use of that term by anyone.”
Thanks, interesting. I would wonder if perhaps it would bother you less if you had very frequently seen the term in benign contexts, used by those you respect.
This is from the NUL’s Policy on Jobs:
“Every adult in America should have equal access to the resources that enhance employability and job mobility, including post-secondary education and other investments in human capital.”
Deray McKesson of Black Lives Matter just within the last couple of weeks stepped down from his job as chief human capital officer of Baltimore Public Schools.
Here, at our Boston Public Schools: “The Office of Human Capital’s mission is to support BPS employees at every stage of their career, from recruitment to hiring to professional growth and leadership development to retirement.”
https://www.bostonpublicschools.org/ohc
Barack Obama, Barry Bluestone (oops an economist)… are among those freely using the term…
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Stephen,
Again: using the term “human capital” makes sense when economists are talking in the abstract.
If you refer to my grandchildren as “human capital,” I will be outraged.
The fact that Boston has an “Office of Human Capital” reflects the fact that your superintendent was trained by the unaccredited Broad Academy, which teaches its “students” to view children as “human capital” and to ignore families and communities as insignificant.
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The term seems to be in current use by public school districts throughout the country.
If you think they’re all alluding to students, I’d encourage you to read again, carefully, the Boston Office’s mission that I quoted above.
Similarly, at the Baltimore District, where McKesson worked: “The Human Capital Office leads City Schools in attracting and retaining high-quality staff at all levels and in supporting all district employees to contribute to improved student learning.”
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Stephen,
When I look into the eyes of a child, I don’t think “human capital.”
If you do, I assume you don’t have children and you don’t teach.
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Diane: “When I look into the eyes of a child, I don’t think ‘human capital.'”
While, naturally, I’m thinking: “oculi in capite!” How may we assist in filling that little human caput with knowledge and wisdom… What can we invest in that effort? Perhaps a lot. But maybe a little later.
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Stephen,
I don’t think that either. I think, “What a beautiful child! How can I help him grow up healthy and happy? How can I protect him from a mean world that wants to warp him with other people’s agendas?”
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“I don’t think that either. I think, “What a beautiful child! How can I help him grow up healthy and happy?”
Sounds like you’re thinking of a cute little tiny tot. In respect to an older cute little lad I may commonly be thinking: “Roblox… Again??! Sheesh… we should be able to do better than that for this kid.”
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Stephen,
I am thinking of my younger grandchildren, ages 4 and 10. They are not human capital.
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“They are not human capital.”
Ah, you’re so lucky. I’ve always admired the theriocephalic (Ganesha being a special fave of course).
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I’m not lucky, Stephen.
Learn to speak and think as a parent, not a social scientist and you too might see children instead of human capital.
You are “seeing like a state.” Read the book of that name.
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“Learn to speak and think as a parent, not a social scientist ”
He simply sounds cynical. Not all social scientists are cynical.
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I am having trouble seeing the parallel between children as human capital or as animal-headed “humans.” I wonder, why do you resist disclosing your interest and experience in the educational arena? I sense a detachment from the day to day world of children.
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Stephen,
Still wondering if you have children?
If you did, would you be trying to stuff their heads with “knowledge and wisdom” or would you listen to them and encourage them to try new things and encounter new experiences?
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“assist in filling” <> “stuff”
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““The Human Capital Office”
What’s that office about? Is it evaluating the economic value of live humans?
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“Barack Obama, Barry Bluestone (oops an economist)… are among those freely using the term…”
So what? It doesn’t matter who uses the term, it’s the context that matters. It’s another matter that “human capital” is an unnecessary jargon “popularized” by economists to briefly describe the term “economic value of human beings”.
It’s easy to make enemies by talking about the economic value of children. So why make war when not needed?
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Máté Wierdl: “It’s easy to make enemies by talking about the economic value of children. So why make war when not needed?”
Hey, I’m trying to defend the NAACP at every chance I get here. If I don’t stand between them and this buzzstorm of criticism of their commonplace rhetoric, who will? Even Diane has abandoned the ship on this one. I don’t assume at all that when they, and other civil rights organizations, talk about investing in human capital, in children’s education, they are only seeking purely economic value for society as measured by GDP as the result.
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Stephen,
In case you were in doubt, I think the NAACP report was great.
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Diane: “In case you were in doubt, I think the NAACP report was great.”
Mmmm, easy to be with them when they’re only being attacked by right wingers and their minions (and, ok, receiving gentle criticism by well-informed others).
But when they’re surrounded by enraged Lefties aiming to stick a pitchfork in their rhetoric, where are you when they need you?
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Stephen,
I don’t know of any attacks on the NAACP by people on the left.
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“I would wonder if perhaps it would bother you less if you had very frequently seen the term in benign contexts, used by those you respect.”
I think I was pretty clear that I have a problem with ANYONE using the term human capital, especially when the reference is to children and education. Your statement would seem to imply that the NAACP does not include individuals I might respect. Putting that aside, I found the dehumanization of how children are described distasteful no matter whose mouth was spewing it.
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Exploiters’ PR terms often go viral, finding their way into common usage. Examples (1) “ed reform”, as a summary for the self-anointed who carry Koch DNA (Eric Heubeck’s parallel cultural institutions) (2) “outsourcing”, a summary for exploitation of labor and avoidance of safety and health precautions (3) “public charter schools”, a false description for private contractor schools (4) “human resource departments”, a term to supplant “personnel” departments (5) “human capital pipelines” to describe schools for kids of the 90% (6) Arnold and Pew Trusts’ “community supervision systems” to deflect from electronic monitoring by oligarchs.
With greater public awareness, the term, “weaponized philanthropy” will go viral, starting a process where labor sets the tone for governance by democratic principle and people like Gates, Broad, Arnold, Art Pope, Robert and Rebekah Mercer, Charles and David Koch and Walton heirs and their toadies are pilloried… at a minimum.
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The efforts to smear the NAACP is one of many joint efforts by right wingers who want for-profit charters vouchers, and those who profess only to believe in non-profit charters but won’t do anything to stop their gravy train flowing.
The entire charter movement has lost its way and their response to the NAACP demonstrates just how mendacious the entire movement is.
I’m sure there have been a few honest voices but they have been so attacked when they dare to speak that they have disappeared from sight.
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There is NO true distinction between “for profit” charters and “not for profit charters.”
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I dare to say that the left wingers don’t care too much either. It’s not just right-wingers slinging the mud.
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Only if you define Democrats as left wingers. Few of them are. Most genuine left-wingers do care and, in fact, have been fighting privatization since back when it was the Democrats doing it.
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Lisa,
I have not seen any outrage against the NAACP by people who are on the left. Let me know if you do. Most of the outrage is coming from the usual sources on the right and far-right, claiming to be more concerned about black children than the NAACP. They often hire a black person to speak on their behalf.
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And if HRC would have won in November, this conversation would still be marching on the same as it is now. The right and far right are just speaking louder now because they have a bully at the pulpit. Let’s not forget all the democrats who love, love, love charters. Maybe HRC would have been nicer about how things are said, maybe she would have used her “motherly” magic to calm the NAACP, but the outcome would still be the same…..more charters profit and non-profit for urban schools. Sorry, but both sides are guilty of the same thing it’s just that one side likes to pretend to care and the other side just let’s it all hang out.
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Lisa,
I still don’t know anyone on the left who attacked the NAACP. The vitriol from the right has been disgusting.
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Lisa,
Readers of this blog know ALEC members are Republicans- right wing (ALEC Exposed). The Koch’s ALEC organization writes laws that are anti-union and anti-Black, e.g. right-to-work and stand your ground.
The political division that Americans need to understand is the fight between oligarchy-promoting (colonialism) vs. democracy.
Your comments are a failed attempt at subterfuge.
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^^I’m sorry this posted in the wrong place.
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Perhaps I missed it, but it is more than disappointing that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders aren’t out there defending the NAACP from these kinds of racist, offensive attacks.
Where are they?
I suspect Hillary Clinton agrees with the NAACP but she is so toxic these days that it’s always better she remain silent because her support just allows the haters to change the subject.
But the NAACP’s report reflected what Clinton said about charters during the campaign (although it wasn’t very much). There needs to be REAL accountability and oversight and she said it is an absolute fact that charters push out high needs kids.
That is something that everyone in the reform movement — including the non-profit charters who are sliming the NAACP — absolutely deny.
And every time they deny this, the rest of us understand what liars they are.
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NYC PSP,
I think HRC is quiet because Trump keeps threatening to have Jeff Sessions indict her…for running against him?
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I am surprised that Bernie Sanders and Elisabeth Warren aren’t out their defending the UCS or Medicines Sans Frontiers .And while we are at there is a pothole on the corner of 164st and Horace Harding Blvd that they have not done or said anything about .
As for Hillary she is probably setting up another round of speeches. She can stay in seclusion and take Bill and Barrack with her . Michelle I would like to see a little more of.
Education is not in-front of the Senate right now . I think their opposition to the Trump /Pence /DeVos education agenda has been pretty clear .
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there not their and it was left out 9/14 my birthday for the edit button .
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And that post was sent before I actually finished .
I wish their opposition to the Obama\Clinton \Duncan \King education agenda had been stronger . But on how many issues can you fight the NEOLIBERAL establishment wing of
the Democratic party headed by Bill\ Hillary and Barrack and not be totally marginalized .
I guess we found out how that worked, in the Democratic Primary . .
Frankly I have enough fighting Trump and Trumpsters , that I really do not need to be reminded that it was the failures of the Clinton \Obama wing of the Democratic party, that elected a fascist. Failures to put the working class (the 85% ) over the Donor class the 5% .
But we can go through the list of those Clinton \Obama Democrats like Rahm and Andrew
to understand what happened . Andrew will take care of his teacher problem through the back door with a Constitutional convention . He will work with Republicans to do it .Just like Bill did. No more pesky Unions will get in his way . Including those Construction Unions that think he has their back . His knife is ready to go into it . His backers on Wall st demand nothing less.
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Joel Herman,
I don’t care if you want to make all the excuses in the world for why Bernie Sanders thinks giving college students a semi-free college education (assuming they have parents rich enough to pay the expensive cost of room and board at state colleges) is far more important than fighting against what has been an incredibly powerful and well-funded movement to destroy public education.
But if you are going to give him the benefit of the doubt, could you at least do the same for other Democrats who you might disagree with on one or two issues but who are basically progressives who are actually fighting for the same things you believe in but think it is better to go about in a different way?
I give Bernie the benefit of the doubt when he isn’t doing a darn thing to support public education — I think he is wrong-headed and frankly, quite ignorant, on the issue, but I don’t think he is doing it because he is in the pocket of the neoliberal agenda. I don’t think he is corrupt. I just think he is WRONG. But not for corrupt reasons. And I think he is right on other issues.
“But on how many issues can you fight the NEOLIBERAL establishment wing of the Democratic party headed by Bill\ Hillary and Barrack and not be totally marginalized .”
Let’s see, the NAACP has the courage to “fight” the neoliberal establishment. Bill de Blasio has the courage to “fight” the neoliberal establishment.
And both have been excoriated by the pro-reform movement trying to imply that they are corrupt in a manner very similar to the massive PR campaign that got so many progressives to believe Hillary was corrupt and a “neoliberal”. And instead of sticking up for them, Bernie Sanders endorses the pro-reform candidate in the Virginia Democratic primary.
Could you just stop pretending Bernie’s hands are tied on this one because he is “afraid” to rock the boat? Can you just acknowledge that when it comes to public education, Bernie DOES NOT CARE. It’s okay to say that. For whatever reason, Bernie’s interest in public education is nil. Nada. None. I don’t know why. But unlike you, I’m not to work hard to convince Democrats it is because Bernie is a sell-out and corrupt.
If you can’t distinguish between Democrats who have different opinions but who believe in the progressive agenda, and those who only care about staying in power and pleasing the billionaires, then you are helping the right wing stay in power.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren could very easily defend the NAACP and public schools and they are choosing not to because they do not care. Or they actually believe that the education reformers are correct. I have no idea why, but I am 100% certain that it is not because they are terrified of rocking the boat if they do anything to support those issues strongly. I am also 100% certain that they aren’t doing it because they are corrupt.
I have no idea why they don’t believe in public education, but it is more than clear they believe the education reform movement is not nearly as much of a tool of the neoliberal agenda as you and I do.
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^^and the fact that you equate fighting for public education as no different as fighting for a pothole or single charitable organization is truly shocking to me.
It’s like saying being unwilling to stand up against privatizing Medicare or Social Security. It’s not whether you fund a foreign charity with more money or not.
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NYC public school parent
For starters your screen name says it all . Lehman,Hunter ,Brooklyn , York , Queens ,City ,Baruch….,..(CUNY) Farmingdale, Purchase, Stony Brook,(SUNY) …..
And a few that I left out are all available to NYC graduates one of them being my Alma Mater . None to shabby . And all would be a Commuter school. As that hundreds of thousands make that commute daily .Even from Stony Brook. The same could be said of many parts of the country .
The problem with free tuition in NY State is that unlike Social Security and Medicare it is means tested . CUNY was not , it was free till 77. Poor me, I had to forgo campus life in exchange for a hundred dollar student activity fee, being my out of pocket expense.
However the income restrictions are so low compared to the cost of living , that home ownership knocks you off the program. If your family can afford to buy a home in down state NY. You would make too much income . But its a start, if it survives the middle class wrath, who feel excluded. The only thing that will save it, is the lower incomes up state.
But here is the way I see it . You can attack the periphery of the problem a Neo-liberal assault on education K-U or you can attack the problem the Neo-liberal assault on American society. An assault by the proverbial 1% on the 99% . An assault by Plutocrats and Oligarchs and the Corporations they control on the working/middle class, the 80-90% .. Yes this is class warfare and you know what the other Warren the one from Omaha , said about that .
There would be no Charter school movement, if it was not a right wing assault on Unions/ workers . Or more correctly the movement would be so underfunded as to be insignificant. Because
if those Publicly funded Charter schools had Union teachers the ideological reason for right wing support disappears and the profit margins narrow to the point that it makes no financial sense.
There is a reason why fact based research has no effect on on the Ed reformers. That is, they could care less about the education of mostly under privileged children. It is not that they do not understand and need and education . they don’t care. They are not in it for the children . I would argue even Gates has significant financial interest in another aspect of this debate.
Now some of the people who produce research for them may think they are sincere . But the old saying follow the money applies to the validity of their bought and paid for research.
The school choice(vouchers ) movement had its origins in the segregated South and again this can also be seen as a class issue.
Cleverly pitting poor whites and working class whites against poorer blacks.
Now if you are seriously saying Hillary / Bill / Barrack would be more inclined to do something about this neo-liberal assault, than Sanders and Warren. If you are , I would take 2 aspirin and see the doctor in the morning.
And the problem with what Hillary says is, that like Trump(OK he is worse) you need a score card and a weather vane to keep up with her positions . . I am sure the sentiment at the Democratic( Hedge
Fund ‘rs ) for Education Reform, was the same as it was at the National Chamber of Commerce on TPP . ” Don’t worry in the end she’s with us. ” Thomas J. Donohue is President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
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Joel Herman,
I understand that college students can live at home and commute. I ALSO understand that there is a cost to that commute to Stony Brook and Purchase. And I also understand that many low-income students going to those schools are already receiving need based financial aid. I just don’t understand what point you are trying to make. Do you think it doesn’t cost a parent a fair amount of money to feed and house a college student, even if that student lives at home? I think we agree about Cuomo’s NY State plan not being quite as transformative as it appears to be. I agree some students will benefit as long as they read the fine print and know they must remain in the state after graduation or whatever restrictions the program has.
I don’t even know why I am quibbling with you about that — you seemed to have missed my larger point in your certainty that some Democrats that you don’t like are sell-outs but those you do like can take the same position without being a sell-out. And we will never agree on that.
Ironically, the one Democrat who we probably agree about is Governor Cuomo. And guess what he is happily embracing: Bernie’s free college tuition plan! Because deep down, the neoliberals don’t really care that much about the plan as long as it doesn’t cost much money. Bernie’s plan won’t rock their neoliberal boat one bit.
So forgive me for not being more impressed about “he can do no wrong” Bernie Sanders fighting “against all the odds” for something Gov. Cuomo is happy to embrace that will cost him not a penny in donations from the right wing anti-public school billionaires.
You think any of them care whether Cuomo gets to appear at a press conference where Bernie Sanders praises Cuomo for embracing that truly “controversial” plan to give free college tuition to some students who meet the eligibility? The neoliberals are DELIGHTED that Bernie now gives Cuomo some “progressive credibility” that he can use to give the neoliberals what they really want — the private takeover of public schools except as repositories for the children that the charters don’t want to teach. And Bernie Sanders will probably just remain silent because public schools just aren’t his thing.
And Cuomo can run those nice commercials showing him with Bernie giving so many college students the free tuition Bernie promised. What a terrific guy. I know, because I saw him in that commercial doing just what Bernie wants.
And for the record: I absolutely believe Hillary Clinton (NOT Obama, NOT Bill Clinton) – Hillary Clinton – would have done more for public education than either Bernie or Warren has shown any interest in doing. Maybe someday it will be “important” enough for them to educate themselves on the issues but the fact that they haven’t yet speaks volumes to me. I also believe that Hillary would have spoken out in defense of the NAACP from the nasty attacks. (She is in a bind now because her “support” of any issue will hurt more than help.) Remember it was Hillary who invited Black Lives Matters to appear at the convention when many other Democrats tried to ignore them – much like they (and Bernie) are ignoring the attacks on the NAACP right now!
So instead of listening to you sounding remarkably like some of the right wing trolls masquerading as Bernie supporters during the election (“did you hear that the President of Chamber of Commerce says Hillary is with him – what a sell-out”, says Joel) I will continue to judge Hillary by her own actions over decades in politics. Not by nasty innuendoes about all the evil things she was planning to do just as soon as she got power (even though they were the opposite of everything she had spent her life doing). Just like I judge Bernie (and find him lacking) when he intentionally endorsed a DFER candidate in Virginia over a Democrat who believes in public education just like Hillary’s pick for VP Tim Kaine.
And you can keep saying it doesn’t matter as Bernie helps legitimize the DFER candidates and act as if it is fine while you smear other Democrats who actually support public education for not being sufficiently progressive on some other issue.
I like the idea of free college too. I just wish Bernie and the rest of the progressive movement fought nearly as hard for public education and supported the NAACP’s proposal to help legitimize it instead of legitimizing the politicians who want to throw public schools under the bus.
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Gee I remember a time when you claimed you voted for Bernie .
But I guess you were just a Hillary BOT .
So to answer your question
“The Sanders plan would require public colleges and universities to meet 100% of the financial needs of the lowest-income students. Low-income students would be able to use federal, state and college financial aid to cover room and board, books and living expenses. And Sanders would more than triple the federal work study program to build valuable career experience that will help them after they graduate.”
https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/
So yes Sanders has enabled that snake in the grass Andrew by lending support to a half ass college tuition plan because it was a first step in the right direction. And Sanders has fought like hell to defend the ACA a worse than half ass substitute for the Universal Healthcare that he wanted to deliver. And even worse he came out in support of Hillary for president even though he vehemently disagreed with her on everything . There are some on the left who would fault him for that and he took a large hit to his reputation for doing that . I do not . I have lived through the damage that Reagan did and know it has lasted decades and has been impossible to reverse.
I do find it particularly amusing that you have taken this to the level of the cost of feeding the student while he or she is living at home .
The socialist in me kind of goes for it .
By the way since 1970 I have voted in every election under the Democratic ,Liberal or Working Families party line and I voted for Hillary as well
. But you are welcome to join me any time you want in the resist Trump movement . Have you been to the Climate march , the Women’s March , the Science March . the Tax March . the march from Trump tower down to 47th and Bway , which I believe was the resist Fascism march ,the demonstration outside of his ms13 speech at SCC last week . Have you spent almost every Tuesday for the last 4 months with an indivisible group at resist Trump demonstrations. I find it offensive to hear a Hillary Bot tell me I support Trump .
But I and my children will have to live for quite some time with the legacy of Bill ,Hill and Barrack and that is a legacy of failure that has led to the election of a fascist and turned the nation over to a party of Christo fascists in service to oligarchs .
But this is perhaps your best statement yet .
“I will continue to judge Hillary by her own actions over decades in politics. Not by nasty innuendoes about all the evil things she was planning to do just as soon as she got power”
Well as that Hillary was never in executive office yet claims that being first lady was a substitute for experience. We can only judge her by the policies of her husband in Arkansas , in Washington, the short time she was in the Senate and her time as Secretary of State . A record that would make Andrew look like a socialist,perhaps even Rahm both were in Bills White House . I’ll save the typing and refer everybody to Thomas Frank , Michelle Alexander, and Elizabeth Warren’s interview on Moyers in 2004. As for her time as Secretary of State using Kissinger a war criminal as a reference says it all .
I have voted Democratic since 1970 and held my nose several times since 92. Although I did go into 2008 with an open mind about the hopey changy guy. Even though I supported Edwards before his crash and burn. After the election I did not need the Podesta emails to tell me what was coming, By the time he appointed his transition team I knew I had been duped . Of course that did not stop me from voting for him again in 2012 , I value my pension to much to be stupid enough to elect Republicans .
I do not come to Diane’s site because of an interest in pedagogy . I gave up on wanting to be a teacher after my intro to Ed course in my Sophomore year . I come hear because of a commitment to democracy and social justice . The education wars have been by design,since the Powell document one of the main battle fronts in a war against both.With the war on American Universities as Linda has detailed often, even more troubling than the war on K-12 So excuse me if I see the issues of Charters and Common Core and Testing as skirmishes in a far greater battle.
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come here 9/14
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How can you believe that Hillary supports public education when she’s best friends with Eli Broad and she put John Podesta in charge of her campaign? I’m not going to argue that Bernie or, much less, Warren would have been any better – very few Democrats support public education and most of those who do are low level state reps or city council members. But Hillary’s actions on public education speak clearly enough to me. What is it that you are seeing in her record to say otherwise? (Not, incidentally, her words, which change depending on whom she is speaking to.)
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Why would I lie about supporting Sanders in the primary?
I liked enough of his ideas that I was willing to overlook that he was not good on public education. Because I knew that Bernie’s position on public education was not because he was corrupt and a bad person.
That is what I am trying to get you and other progressives to stop doing to Democrats unless their actions warrant it. Not “snippets from speeches” that the propaganda trolls release to put them in the worst light. If you had read the entirety of Hillary’s “deplorables” speech you would find she was pointing out to the rich that so many working class Americans were left behind and she wanted to address that. But that’s not what people were convinced of.
And Hillary basically ran on Bernie’s platform — it was certainly about as liberal a platform as I have ever seen. Could you please point to exactly what offended him that he had to support on that? Or was it just nasty Hillary’s personality that made you certain it was all a lie?
It is possible to disagree with a candidate and be angry that your candidate isn’t supporting everything you want without characterizing it as corrupt. You still haven’t told me the nefarious reasons that Bernie has for throwing public education over the fence. And I just his ACTIONS – fighting hard to campaign for DFER candidates who are supported by those very billionaires you gave as your reason for why you knew Hillary was lying to us during the entire campaign.
You put Hillary and Cuomo in the same boat despite their histories of fighting for progressive ideas being entirely different. Hillary fought to get the Child Health Program in place. Her choice of VP was one of the few leading Democrats who actually supported public schools. So to answer your question, dienne77, Hillary was just as much “best friends” with Randi Weingarten as with Broad. (Neither of whom I like). But she has never been the tool of the rich that other politicians have been so it’s shocking the propaganda got you to believe that.
But this is NOT about Hillary. I am only bringing her up because this is about the DOUBLE STANDARD and HYPOCRISY I see from progressives who don’t accept that Bernie Sanders hurts the fight for public education more than he helps. Because he gives progressive legitimacy to the DFER candidates he campaigns for and appears with. And there would be nothing wrong with Bernie doing that if he spent a tiny minuscule fraction of his time ALSO fighting for public education or supporting the NAACP’s calls for accountability and transparency. Not one word. If you don’t get that he doesn’t, then you are fooling yourselves. Maybe someday he will but I won’t hold my breath.
But I don’t think Bernie is evil. He is NOT corrupt. He is simply wrong. He is right on enough other issues that I voted for him and unlike Joel I didn’t “hold my breath”. I am old enough to get that people are complicated and no candidate will reflect 100% of what I want.
Finally, on sliming Hillary because of Kissinger – that’s just really low. Foreign policy is hard. There are no easy answers. Was Bill Clinton right to intervene in the Balkans when people were killing one another? What about the Middle East? Do we get involved in Syria or not? No easy answers and every choice is wrong and so is doing nothing. In foreign policy I thought she and Kerry were being thoughtful and had the right values – unlike the current regime. Lots of people criticized FDR for taking us to war. Hindsight is 20/20 but I want a leader who I trust. And yes, I trusted Hillary and I trusted Bernie Sanders. I would probably have trusted Romney on foreign policy. And I’m sure all would make a decision that I could criticize. I don’t trust the Trump administration at all.
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“Finally, on sliming Hillary because of Kissinger – that’s just really low.”
Really? Here’s a bit on Kissinger you might want to check out for starters: http://www.alternet.org/world/top-10-most-inhuman-henry-kissinger-quotes
This is a man that Hillary actively bragged about supporting her and this she, in turn, supports his ideas and policies. His support was, in fact, key to her foreign policy bona fides. He’s not someone she just happened to bump into at a party a time or two.
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More on Clinton and Kissinger: https://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clintons-embrace-of-kissinger-is-inexcusable/
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dienne77,
Despite the “rumors” in the article you linked to, Kissinger did NOT endorse Clinton.
Did Clinton run Obama’s State Department as Henry Kissinger II. Were the actions she took as Secretary of State reminiscent of Kissinger II?
Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said “Henry is a friend of mine…” He must have been an evil man.
And, fyi, sometimes I wonder how much difference there is between Kissinger’s realpolitik and the cries on the left that we should not get involved when a foreign country is killing huge swaths of its own citizens. I don’t think the left gets a pass for being more moral when they fight intervention because it’s not our concern how many people die in other places.
I agree with you about Henry Kissinger’s policies and I have no desire to defend them. I prefer – as I said – to judge anyone who is willing to hear his opinion on something as to whether 1. they take it and 2. it was a good action to take and they did not take it because Kissinger’s pals paid them to do so.
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This reaction to the NAACP from the autocratic, child-abusing, democracy-hating, corporate charter school test-and-punish, greed-is-good crowd is an example of what happens when you back a wild predator into a corner.
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Exactly.
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Please follow this Facebook link to see a video post from Gerry Monroe a Houston community activist that is now in the running for school board. https://www.facebook.com/shondobbs/videos/1583558435049448/
Mr. Monroe addresses the corruption and failures of edreform superintendent Terry Grier and how now after years of static growth, the Texas Education Agency may now take over control of at least four prominent and predominantly black and underfunded high schools: Yates, Kashmere, Madison, and Worthing among them. He is encouraging the community to show up at tomorrow’s board meeting. All of the cruel things that were done to teachers and students in the name of reform netted no success for anyone except people like Grier and various vendors and corrupt officials. Everyone else loses. I hope everyone will share Mr. Monroe’s post as it is representative of the heartache and frustration felt by the people who do care about our kids. Mr. Monroe is passionately opposed to the policies that have marginalized our kids under the auspices of “reform”.
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Thanks for the post.
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I can only wonder what Success Academy is doing to its pre-k scholars. From an early age, to be indoctrinated to fall in line; wear the clothes, assume the position with hands behind backs, a bubble in the mouth to stay silent, track the teacher, never speak unless you are spoken to, no recess, no joy, no fun.
The reformers would be happy to treat those at the NAACP, and resistant parents, as “scholars” – silent, assuming the position, track those in control/authority, etc.
When does the nonsense end? When it isn’t about creating a compliant minority, its about diverting tax dollars into private coffers – and worst of all, its about the real estate.
Got to get the word out on the sweet real estate deals, and, sometimes, the gentrification.
Politicians are getting rich; builders are making money, suppliers are making money, and for-profit landlords are raking in the taxpayer dollars renting back to the schools that…who owns? At this point, who owns the schools? Not the taxpayers who paid for them, but the charter operators, and when they close up – what happens to the real estate?
People need to go to jail. Enough is enough.
NAACP should put these stats out for public consumption.
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On the other hand, the memphis NAACP distances itself from thje national line http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/education/2017/07/29/memphis-naacp-branch-helps-sway-conversation-charter-schools/518028001/
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Funders?
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