The Carpe Diem charter school in San Antonio announced that it was closing its doors in June. The charter chain relies heavily on “personalized learning” and “blended learning,” which means a lot of instruction takes place on computer screens. It failed to meet academic standards two years in a row and was not likely to improve in its third year.
Carpe Diem was part of the initial cohort of schools recruited by Choose to Succeed, a school choice campaign that sought to attract high-performing charter districts to San Antonio. While the other Choose to Succeed districts — KIPP San Antonio, BASIS, Great Hearts Academies, IDEA Public Schools and Rocketship Education — built campuses across the city, Carpe Diem floundered. Its enrollment hovered between 200 and 250 students at its single campus on the West Side.
Former Mayor Julian Castro embraced charter schools and promised to have a large proportion of the students in the city enrolled in them. He created the campaign that welcomed the big corporate charter chains to San Antonio. The new Mayor, Ron Nuremberg, is not hostile to charters but has emphasized that charters should be complements to high quality public schools, not replacements.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Carpe Pecuniam”
Carpe Diem
Seize the day
Carpe Pecuniam
Seize the pay
Here’s Carpe Diem from the Christensen Institute:
“Carpe Diem Learning Systems LLC is a charter school management company that leverages technology, information, and human resources to ensure a superior learning experience at its schools, assuring all Carpe Diem students will be career ready and college prepared.
Carpe Diem Learning Systems schools are tuition-free public charter schools educating 6th–12th grade students. They use Carpe Diem Learning Systems’ proprietary “blended learning” model developed by founder and CEO Rick Ogston. The Carpe Diem model blends individual digital curriculum with high quality instruction. What also sets Carpe Diem schools apart from the traditional classroom is that students work at their own pace informed by daily assessments based on their individualized learning plan.”
Ed reform “research” reads exactly like advertising.
The CEO’s of these schools submit whatever over-the-top nonsense they can throw together and ed reformers repeat it as fact.
This is advertising. Ed reform “reviews” of charter schools are indistinguishable from ads for charter schools.
How do ed reformers know it’s a “superior learning experience”? Because the CEO of the charter company told them it is.
I’m going to write one of these for our local public school. I’ve read enough of ed reform by now where I could knock an ad like this out in 15 minutes. It won’t have any relationship to reality, but who cares! MAKING THE SALE is the thing.
I have a suggestion for public school parents. If your child is in a “blended learning” classroom or school ask them what they’re actually doing in class, specifically.
Ed reformers are WILDY exaggerating how “innovative” this is.
My son’s in a blended learning science classroom and he is spending about 25% of every class period taking short assessments on a computer.
They get all this “data” they rave about from somewhere, and where they get it is they test these kids CONSTANTLY. Don’t buy the hype. They’re selling product and 90% of the product is created by students taking tests. A lot of time the classes themselves are essentially standardized tests. The kids read a short piece and then test. Over and over and over. It’s elaborate and expensive test prep.
“Why would anyone want to spend his/her time taking tests?” It’s insane.
Boulder Valley Public Schools has a “new” PUSH to have students take those awful tests. Good grief. I guess this is one of the dangles re: hiring a new superintendent. The last one was fired and the school board is not telling the public any information.
The parents and public need to understand that those tests are banquets for the few (profits) and the students are the meal. The school board, teachers, principals, and those who support and deliver those tests are the “waitresses and waiters.”
Insanity.
More like Carpe Pecunia or Carpe pauci Diem; if my Google translator is correct. The goal is to grad a dollars with not a care about the volatility of opening and closing schools.
Carpe Diem, or in this case, “Take the Money and Run.”