Mercedes Schneider received an email from Eva Moskowitz, founder of the Success Academy charter chain in New York City, announcing that she has “reinvented” the high school; the graduates of her new high school will be prepared to enroll in selective colleges, succeed in college and graduate from college.
Mercedes reviewed a post from Gary Rubinstein, in which he reported that the attrition rate in Eva’s K-8 schools is about 80%. The only students allowed to enter one of her two new high schools are those who completed the eighth grade at one of her SA charters. She accepts no new students after third grade.
Both of the new high schools are co-located in public schools that didn’t want them.
It is hard to know if Eva’s new high school will do what she promises because it has not yet graduated a single student. There are 17 students in the class of 2018. We won’t know about their success in college until they enter and complete college.
I am reminded of the Common Core, which made all sorts of pie-in-the-sky claims about preparing every single student for success in college or careers, closing achievement gaps, producing dramatically higher test scores, higher graduation rates, less college remediation, etc. all based on wishful thinking, not a scintilla of evidence.
Maybe I was reminded of Common Core because I spent the day re-reading Mercedes excellent history of the Common Core, called “Common Core Dilemma.” It is most definitely written from a teacher’s perspective.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The only thing Eva has reinvented is herself, as a legend in her own mind.
Look at the kids from the PUBLIC school Marjory Stoneman HS where the shooting took place. These kids are giving creative, inspiring speeches and presentations regarding gun violence. The kids have organized trips to the white house, the state of Florida law makers in Tallahassee, Florida with detailed plans.
These kids were educated by a public school and as anyone can plainly see these kids are not test prep factory robots that are coming out of charter schools and especially the moskowitch fake school agenda whereas eva takes students who perform only similar to the way besty devos thinks.
No these kids are able to think and they have been trained properly. The kids coming out of charters will suffer in the real world as they have not been taught to think but rather to memorize.
I wondered whether any charter students joined the March 14 Walkout. Only if they were told to. Independent thinking is not encouraged.
So, if it’s a high school that doesn’t accept students from public middle schools, it’s a private school. Eva is getting public funding for a completely private school. Telling people they can’t go to a supposedly public high school unless they went to a SA middle school is like telling people they can’t vote unless they went to drivers ed class. Foul.
No, it is like telling people they cannot obtain a driver license and drive legally unless they went to driver ed class. Or telling people they cannot obtain a firearm and use it until they completed weapon handling classes. Or telling someone they cannot go in class and teach unless they acquired a college degree in the required field (math, chem, physics) plus a degree in pedagogy.
This country cultivates amateurs, starting from school. Why learning something if the same material will be taught again in again using the “spiral” model? If the only “science” kids learn at school is the dreaded water cycle, explained no less than three times from elementary to middle school, with no real hard science courses like physics or chemistry, then there is no pressure to study and learn.
I completely understand her reasons for avoiding students who did not come from her system.
In Stand and Deliver Jaime Escalante started with asking his students to solve (-2)+2 – in high school! – then lifting them up all the way to calculus. There is a reason the movie was made: because this is a one-in-a-lifetime story, a fairy tale, and Hollywood loves tales.
No, it’s like telling people they can’t go to a public park if they haven’t previously been to the same park. One must obtain a license to practice medicine, law, etc. One does not, however, have to obtain a license to be a public school student. Anyone can go to high school, no matter what happened to them growing up. Public defenders shouldn’t turn away clients who lack promising cases. Public schools shouldn’t turn away students who lack promising scholastic histories.
And by the way, Garfield High School in Los Angeles continued to accept all students and teach most of them high school math while Escalante taught calculus to some. Escalante’s class did not take disproportionate funding away from the other classes. The other classes didn’t have to learn calculus to stay open. Jaime Escalante did not use public funding to advertise his brand, did not take students out of class to attend brand advertising rallies, and did not allocate to himself a six figure salary with public funds. He probably cared too much about his students to treat them the way Eva treats hers. And as a matter of fact, he gave up a well paying career to live on a teacher salary because he, unlike Eva, believed in good instead of greed.
Oh, and since you mentioned needing to obtain a license to teach, Eva doesn’t want to have to hire licensed teachers. There’s that too.
Walking in a park does not require a previous experience of walking in a park. It is not like you need to walk on paved roads first, then they let you on dirt trails. But coming into high school ill-prepared means that you cannot study algebra, calculus, statistics. You cannot comprehend simple text.
Jaime Escalante was one of a kind teacher, hence the movie, because it is pretty much a fairy tale. You cannot require from every teacher to be like him. And you cannot consider the system, when high-school freshmen can read and do math on 4th grade level at best, a viable system worth preserving.
We were talking about SA High denying students entry, remember?
“We were talking about SA High denying students entry, remember?” – um, correct. Which I did not deny and explained possible reasons for it. And yes, if by middle school you still read and count at 4th grade level at best, your life is already screwed.
On the other hand, why Moskowitz is grilled for selectivity, but the middle schools that cannot teach their students basic math are not? Why she – or any other HS for this matter – should be obliged to fix all the wrongs done by elem and middle schools? The whole concept of separating into three types of schools and different districts breeds inefficiency and inattentiveness to the results. It should be a single system, and there should be a single point of entry and single point of failure.
“, SA attrition is such that Moskowitz might be hard pressed to retain the student enrollment numbers necessary to aggressively expand SA-brand high schools.” With attrition rates of about 80%, SA is more of niche school for a handful of strivers than a viable alternative to public education. The SA model is highly inefficient and costly. Taxpayers should be asking if this is the best use of tax dollars. With Moskowitz’s high school expansion relying heavily on CAI, it is possible a few survivors will be able to stand the tedium. However, I do not know if this will prepare students for college where a high level of independence is necessary.
Many poor student leave college for non-academic reasons. An obvious reason is economic. Without grants or scholarships, many students cannot afford the tuition and fees. Another stressor common to poor students is family problems. Family members get ill or lose jobs, and these students have no economic cushion to weather the storm so they often leave school to work to provide for the family.
“Taxpayers should be asking if this is the best use of tax dollars.” — taxpayers should be asking about a recent contract with the Saudis, or about 60 Tomahawks fired upon Syria, each costing about $2M. Stuff like that, you know.
Look out for the big “billy goat.” Her name is Diane, and she has the power to knock you off the bridge.
retired teacher: excellent points.
Seems to me that the only apt description of the Moskowitz outlets would be a term that rheephormistas self-servingly apply to genuine public schools: “factories of failure.”
How else to describe an approach which—based on the polices and practices of her schools—ensures that the vast majority must be eliminated in order to make a small minority of students appear to shine.
Or to put it another way: rheephormsters assume that the vast majority are useless, uneducable and a drag, so best to throw them away and concentrate on the “meritorious few.”
Thank you for your comments.
😎
Eva Moskowitz did not reinvent anything. She borrowed from the tactics used in re-education camps run by the Little Red Guard during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, because her schools are designed to brutally program children to become obedient, docile citizens that repeatedly regurgitate and support her thinking. She only keeps the children that are easiest to reprogram.
I’m waiting for Eva to publish her own “Little Red Book” of slogans, but there is a difference. Mao’s quotes were an extreme assault on rampant capitalistic greed. Eva’s agenda supports capitalism and greed, and it will instill a sense of obedient worship in those children she keeps of the wealthy 1 percent as if the oligarchs were gods.
Does not reciting Pledge of Allegiance every morning or putting “In God We Trust” banners program schoolkids into obediency? History textbooks filled with religious propaganda? 4-minute breaks between classes, so that the kids, god forbid, run around and cause ruckus? Fences around the schools with metal detectors? Narrow poorly lit corridors and small classrooms, more akin to prison?
Physician, heal thyself.
Public schools classrooms are nothing, … nothing, … nothing like a prison.
Curious about the procession of trolls. One goes away, another appears.
Full-time trolls often create several identities using several devices. Those other fake identities are called a sockpuppet. A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception. These trolls also belong to forums where some join together in flocks and coordinate their attacks.
Here’s a piece from The Washington Post.
“They have pseudonyms, not names.
“They deal in racial slurs and foul-mouthed insults, not actual dialogue.
“And collectively, they represent some of the darkest, slimiest, most confounding material on the social web: Whenever anyone refers to the Internet’s inability to “have nice things,” or to be “a pro-social” environment, they’re essentially talking about characters like the two who tweeted graphic images and insults at Robin Williams’ daughter, Zelda … both of whom belonged to a shadowy cabal of interrelated, bottom-dwelling trolls who exist primarily to prey upon public figures and their fans.
“It’s impossible to call them “people,” because evidence suggests that many of these accounts are sock puppets, or fake accounts, manipulated by one actual person. And that means that, even after Twitter cracked down on Williams’s abusers, both of them are still online. …
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/08/14/serial-trolls-sockpuppets-and-twitter-harassment-why-zelda-williams-abusers-are-still-online/
“Public schools classrooms are nothing, … nothing, … nothing like a prison.” — You consider this a retort? You did not refute not a single fact that I provided. Maybe you agree with reciting Pledge of Allegiance every day and learning about our Lord? Maybe you think that 4-minute break is enough? Seriously, how much time one needs to pee.
Many of the trolls have the same writing style as one another.
Perhaps they are one person with different names
¡Sí señor!
I saw a Wall Street Journal article about this.
I know that there are quite a lot of white media journalists who are extraordinarily impressed that Eva Moskowitz was able to educate 17 African-American and Latino students and have them graduate high school. I mean, she must be running the only public or charter high school in all of NYC where African-American and Latino students are graduating and actually getting admitted to good colleges! It is a miracle! Seventeen children! No one could have imagine any children of color “stuck” in any NYC public high school could ever have learned enough from a school that was NOT run by Eva Moskowitz and then been admitted into a good college. Especially kids from low-income backgrounds. It has never before happened. It is a miracle brought to us by the likes of the white woman charter leader who understands the type of discipline and suspension that African-American and Latino students must experience if they want to go to college. Seventeen entire students! Glory Hallelujah.
I’m sorry, but this has to be the most embarrassing and condescending public relations campaign that Eva Moskowitz’s PR company has ever launched. I hope it comes back to bite them. Their self-congratulations at graduating 17 children is truly racism expressed by people who believe with all their heart they are not racist. They just believe that the existence of any African-American or Latino student who is a good student is so rare and unusual and these 17 represent something never before seen.
So let’s look at the statistics:
In NYC public schools approximate 65,000 seniors are in high school each year. 65,000 12th graders!
Of those 65,000, over 43,000 of those seniors are African-American and Latino. Even at low proficiency rates of 17 – 22%, that means there are many thousands of capable African-American and Latino students in NYC public schools graduating each year. Finding 17 of them is NOT the miracle that white reporters believe. It is .2% of the proficient African-American and Latino 7th graders this year. Not 2%. Two tenths of one percent. Of the PROFICIENT ones. It is .04% — that is 4 hundredths of one percent — of the total number of African-American and Latino students in the 7th grade.
So even when Moskowitz brags that she has 10 times as many African-American and Latino students graduating and going to college in 2 years, remember that even 170 African-American and Latino students represents a tiny % of the total population of African-American and Latino students who score proficient on state tests in NYC and an even tinier % of all African-American and Latino students who are in each grade of NYC public schools.
You have to be racist to think Moskowitz’ accomplishment is newsworthy. What is newsworthy is her school’s aggressive shedding of the students who don’t meet her standards. Because you can walk into many NYC public high schools and find high performing African-American and Latino students — the difference is that their schools won’t ruthlessly shed the ones who are not high performing but they spend their resources to teach those students, also.
I can’t believe that any journalist believes 17 students is newsworthy. I can’t believe any journalist has no clue as to how many African-American and Latino seniors in NYC public schools getting admitted to similarly good colleges (without the benefit of millions of dollars of donor money to subsidize their education and class sizes that must be tiny if there are only 17 seniors!) But there are certainly racists who believe that these students are so rare and unusual that 17 constitutes a miracle. Maybe it would in some very small town. Not in a school system of 1.1 million. Too bad reporters don’t understand math.
The NYC Board of Education should publish its numbers of minority students heading to college. It would make for a good reality check.
retired teacher:
The attrition rate I mentioned is just as stark if you ONLY look at the carefully culled class that enters in 9th grade. All data below from the NYSED website:
In the SA high school first 9th grade class, there were 26 students (from the 32 in 8th grade the year before). Of those 26 students in Success Academy’s first 9th grade class, 19 were classified as economically disadvantaged.
By 11th grade – 2 years later – that cohort is now down to 20 students. That means 23% of the students who started in 9th grade are no longer with their cohort. Remember those 19 economically disadvantaged 9th graders? There are now, in 11th grade, only 9 economically disadvantaged 11th graders. Only 9 out of the 20 students remaining by junior year are economically disadvantaged. Fewer than 50%.
And now we read in the WSJ article of the 17 seniors graduating and getting admitted to colleges. There were 20 junior year, and now only 17. How many economically disadvantaged students are left in that 17 who are graduating?
So now we know that a class that started with 26 students in 9th grade is down to 17 graduating. That is nearly 35% of the entering 9th grade students not in that cohort.
So it’s not just all the high attrition that is evident from grades K – 8. Even among the students who remain and begin their 9th grade year in the Success Academy High School, nearly 35% of those kids are missing.
SA is education for a few at the expense of many.
NYC psp, I hope you will write a Letter to the Editor of WSJ with your noteworthy numbers.
I wonder if the timing of yet another self-aggrandizing press release from Eva relates to the recent press about the small numbers of Latino and black students admitted into NYC specialized high schools. I suppose Eva can’t waste any opportunity to claim she can educate that population better, even though that’s false. I would like to know why no journalist has pressed SA about why the students who were allegedly admitted to specialized high schools last year chose to stay with SA.
I know of only two SA students who passed the entry exam for the city’s rigorous specialized high schools. That may explain why she started her own high schools, whose graduating class has only 17 students
“Success Academy opened in 2006 with 83 Kindergarteners and 73 first graders. Eleven years later there are now 17 twelfth graders set to be the first graduating class.” — So? What sort of a damning message can be derived from this information? That the evil SA kicks out students? Or that those who were incapable to adopt to SA methods or could cope with SA load left themselves?
The attrition numbers quoted above say NOTHING negative about the SA schools. Nothing positive as well. To figure out whether SA schools are good or not, one has to look beyond these numbers.
“This is not how public education operates, but it is how SA operates.” — Yes, public schools try to keep their students because they are paid for each head they have in their stable. Public schools are not interested in letting students go. I don’t get how this should serve as a praise.
“Yes, public schools try to keep their students because they are paid for each head they have in their stable. Public schools are not interested in letting students go. I don’t get how this should serve as a praise.”
You’ve missed the most basic and salient function/demand of public schools. And that is to educate all students. Those in public schools do not operate under the premise of “getting paid for each head”. That’s about as bogus of a statement as there is concerning the mandates of public education. In what state do you reside Gruff? I’ll gladly help you out on the fundamental purpose of education in your state.
I agree about Eva Moskowitz, but since you included the CCSS…
Again, today is the March Of Our Schools, developed by the students at Parkland — a school district that most probably adopted these standards (this is Jeb Bush land, after all).
Phooey on the standardized tests and what they do or do not measure, but what about the standards themselves and these incredible, thoughtful, courageous, and engaging students?
The standards are focused on teaching the steps for research, information literacy, analyzing information, and communicating new ideas effectively.
Reading Emma Gonzalez’s powerful speech and listening to her reasoning for “We Call B.S.” — this speech came from a student that has spent time developing an argument, who knew had to research and to incorporate that research seamlessly into her writing, who is well-equipped with media and information literacy, and can communicate better than most of her previous generations.
This is EXACTLY what our school has been focusing on since the first year of CCSS — you have referred to this as “test prep,” but our school have been re-developing unit and lesson plans, collaborating with teachers, and defining these standards to fit the needs of our students. That’s how we interpreted the standards after its first year and have been struggling to teach ourselves something that we didn’t get in our own education.
If we begin to see this kind of action countrywide, then I hope the CCSS (or anything like it) sticks around for a long time.
Obviously, Emma Gonzalez learned how to write compelling speeches not because of what she has been taught at school, but because her parents, presumably, hired a ton of tutors. The median home price in their district is $900K after all. There is no way teachers could teach her these skills. Or maybe she is just one of a kind, super-bright student. Or maybe her generation is so much smarter than baby boomers generation, they don’t even need no stinking CCSS. Or maybe she just likes to read and borrowed the techniques from her favorite books. My guess is as bad as everyone else’s, because it is a guess after all.
Gruff,
You are a very bad hombre. Give credit to the teachers at MSD high school. Lots of the kids are articulate. They take debate classes, rare today in most high schools. Don’t stereotype Emma or the other survivors. Wash your mouth out with soap. You sound jealous. Give credit where it is due.
Gruff, Several news reports stated that Emma Gonzalez was enrolled in AP Government class. A student w such interest might not “Obviously … [had] a ton of tutors.”
Excuse me, so now you are defending her Common Core ELA and math classes, as well as AP Government classes designed by no other than College Board, which is supposed to be evil, evil, evil. Busted!
Gruff,
Do you have a copy of Emma Gonzales’ classes. How do you know what classes she took? Why are you venting your anger on this young woman? What is your problem? I don’t like your sarcasm and negativity. Cut it out. Smile. Laugh.
dianeravitch and booklady:
I guess you can’t see that an irrefutable 3DM [DataDrivenDecisionMaking] formula is being employed because “presumably” and “no way” and “maybe” and “maybe” and “guess” and “guess” add up to the carefully crafted conclusion of—
“Like, a rheeally smart person” who is [presumably, maybe] also “Like, a rheeally stable genius.”
I, er, kid you not.
😎
The CCSS have no standards for debate (the speaking section of ELA isn’t really done, because it’s not tested), civics, history, and geography, which has helped prepare these students for their activism and advocacy.
In fact, the CCSS have DESTROYED any number of programs in civics, history, and geography, because with the full-time focus of “test, test, test,” in only math and reading, has cut programs in everything else, and particularly in history, geography, and civics, which aren’t “STEM” or “STEAM” subjects.
CCSS has crippled the ability of many students in specifically the areas that have helped the MSD students.
In our school, the CCSS actually increased our periods of social studies.
You said it perfectly when you mentioned that the speaking section is not addressed because it is not tested. This is the main problem: MOST of the CCSS is not addressed because it can’t be tested. So schools can take two approaches: Follow only the very few standards mentioned on the test (DRILL, DRILL, DRILL), or do all of them and have an interesting, thought-provoking curriculum.
For school districts to destroy programs in civics, history, and geography shows how incompetent they are at reading the standards. The standards work better with civics, history, and science. Because the test is listed as “ELA,” everyone thinks you need to increase ELA periods (even though its not what the standards say to do).
I fully support many of the issues on this site, but I do feel that the positive of the CCSS gets ignored for fear of how the opposition might misconstrue it.
But the social studies aren’t tested, so it doesn’t matter how “well” the CCSS works for social studies.
I’m curious–are you in a higher-income area? Because the cuts to the social studies out in my area are ONLY to low-income schools, who are trying to keep from getting shut down, that are cutting everything else but math and reading.
Furthermore, if social studies is simply used as a vehicle for reading instruction, there is truly NO social studies content learned. The reading passages have no coherence or pattern, and because it’s a reading “skill” that is being taught, the content doesn’t matter, and is forgotten immediately.
I teach in a high-risk junior high, and I have watched with dismay as students are coming to me from very high-risk elementary schools with fewer and fewer amounts of knowledge of very basic history and geography, as their schools more and more focus only on the two tested areas. It’s educational malpractice, but I have watched it for years.
Your description of CCSS doesn’t make sense to me. What are the curriculum materials used in your school?
I’m not a fan of bought materials. I feel like the only way to successfully make this work is for teachers to develop a curriculum themselves — something that works for the students that are in front of them.
“Phooey on the standardized tests and what they do or do not measure, but what about the standards themselves and these incredible, thoughtful, courageous, and engaging students?”
I’ll take that as a direct response to my many postings on the invalidities involved in the STANDARDS and standardized testing regime. Notice that Wilson’s dissertation is titled “Education Standards and the Problem of Error”.
You see, NYTeacher, the standards themselves suffer all of the onto-epistemological errors and falsehoods as shown by Wilson. There are no formally agreed upon standards in education. None of the protocols for the formation of standards in any area have been followed in the imposition of the CCSS and other state standards. Why might that be? Because attempting to get a standard curriculum, and it is the curriculum that is the most important part in any subject area/grade level is akin to herding cats. Each teacher has his/her own idea of what the curriculum should be. Can there be some broad agreement on curriculum? Of course there can.
So, NYTeacher, you want all to use invalid, unethically promulgated and false standards to guide us all???
What in the world did this country do before the self-annointed holy standards of education came into being? How did this country, in the last century become the supposed top-dog leader in the world without any education standards?
Please start in answering with the last question first.
This country voted in Trump — that’s what this century of decline has brought us.
Generations lack information and media literacy skills. They can’t analyze the simplest of media deceptions. They need to be fed information because they are unable to break it down.
I do believe my grandparents were correct — TV did rot my brain. And now I think for many kids, Instagram and replacing words for Emojis are doing the same thing — but it’s even worse (remember its all hand fed information).
In my heart of hearts, I believe the CCSS is trying to inorganically create a generation of readers. If all children truly read for pleasure, I do not believe we would need the CCSS. But with all of our distractions, we will never be that generation again.
That’s all well and good and I don’t necessarily disagree with what you have stated, other than what CCSS is and is trying to do.
You seemed to have missed the distinction between standards and curriculum and you didn’t answer my questions:
So, NYTeacher, you want all to use invalid, unethically promulgated and false standards to guide us all???
What in the world did this country do before the self-annointed holy standards of education came into being? How did this country, in the last century become the supposed top-dog leader in the world without any education standards?
Please start in answering with the last question first.
The standards are not the content, the content can be anything depending on where you are and what you need to know. The standards are skills, and although many disagree, information and media literacies are skills every person in this country (to be a civic-minded individual) need.
Are standards the “new” curriculum?
On a side note, when the discussants can’t even agree on a meaning of what standards are, that might be the place to start. You say “standards are skills”. I can’t agree with that statement. Please define more fully what you mean by standards. Gracias.
Let me explain what I’ve been asked to do. We use the “NEXT” standards, which basically further defines the CCSS. ELA, Math, Social Studies, and Science each have their own set of standards. I work in a middle school so for Social Studies, the standards are combined for grades 6-8. There are reading standards and writing standards. By the end of 8th grade (writing standards – the reading standards support the writing), students should be able to: Write a formal argument, write a formal informative paper, write a historical narrative, be able to connect information to one’s own personal experience, draw evidence to support analysis and research, conduct a research project, and write a research paper. Again, this is divided up among the three years.
Why called standards and not curriculum?
The damage that Threatened Out West was referring to, was that no one is really checking to see if this is truly happening. The only thing people are evaluating are the test scores. Do schools need to completely change the curriculum and style of teaching to focus on these “standards” if no one is paying attention? Obviously, no. The test certainly cannot address these standards. The test focuses only a simplified version of drawing evidence to support research and analysis. It can’t be that detailed because the reading passages are not able to be that long. So to add “grit” they have to make it tricky. Does tricky really prove anything? NO. But it’s all they’ve got.
So when I support the CCSS, it’s because I support much of the writing. Unfortunately, students do not write as much as they do in school as a result of higher class sizes and the inability to provide quality feedback.
But the CCSS that we see and everyone is against, is a ridiculous watered-down (yet filled with pointless tricks) version of what CCSS was asking schools to do.
On the other side of the spectrum, again as a result of 150-280(!) students per education, I can’t imagine many teachers taking on the exhausting work to truly develop this kind of writing. It just won’t happen.
And I know this is insulting to many, but if teachers had the opportunity to do what they want with let’s day 120-150 students, they still would not attempt to do this kind of work unless it was set up within a set of standards. And yes, I think it is important for the students to try.
“Why called standards and not curriculum?” – I am going to paint myself as a know-nothing internet surfer, but try googling curricilum… and syllabus for good measure and see whether there is a clear definition. I’d say CCSS is more like a syllbus with a bunch of bureaucrat-speak thrown in plus a dose of curriculum-looking recommendations. Then again, many states have their own criteria in a form of K.123.456.Z – student must be able to read sentences with more than five words, so CCSS simply wanted to blend in, using familiar language.
You painted yourself accurately, Gruff-LOL!
You see the reason that the term “standards” has been chosen and used is that it implies a certain specificity to assessment that cannot be there. “Standards” are used to hijack the curriculum process into something that can be not only quantified but then monetized. To misquote a line from “Treasure of the Sierra Madre”-We don’t need no stinkin standards.
Curriculum is the proper historical term for a course of study in the teaching and learning process. Why not use the more appropriate and accurate term instead of one that is misleading and inaccurate?
““Standards” are used to hijack the curriculum process into something that can be not only quantified but then monetized.” — Nah, I don’t see how standards imply monetizing.
“Curriculum is the proper historical term for a course of study in the teaching and learning process. Why not use the more appropriate and accurate term instead of one that is misleading and inaccurate?: — Does simply listing a bunch of rubrics per subject per year make curriculum? What if these rubrics have teacher’s directions? What if there are directions per lesson? What if there is a “script”? What if there is a list of topics with suggested problems to solve, with suggested frequency of tests, with suggested methods or checking students’ rate of learning/memorizing/applying the concepts but no script? Which one is curriculum and which one is not? “Course of study in the teaching and learning process” is very vague.
Well, this is a reinvention. No doubt about that.
!7 kids in the graduating class??? That is all she could keep? That is not even a full classroom. What a joke.
17 is a small enough number that they can be supported by SA on an individual level in both the application process and afterwards at whatever college they get into. I would not put it past Eva to spin that support as leveling the playing field in college, ignoring the fact that the kids might still need such support after HS. Drill and kill – no excuses kids may fare less well under the sudden onslaught of the full freedom and responsibility for making their way thru college, a thing we’ve seen in kids from many backgrounds and schools. No offense to the kids, I wish them every success except being successfully used as Evas pawns.
I have DOUBLE the amount of students in just one CLASS. I have a student load of 280 students (and I don’t teach PE or a music class, where that might be expected).
Whoa! Did you mean 180 or literally 280?! No wonder! There is no way any human being can give thoughtful feedback to that many children. If you are in a middle school and teach social studies, it wouldn’t shock me to have 180 (which I still think is insane), but 280?! Please tell me this is a typo!
NY Teacher
Not a typo.
Just Utah.
REALLY. I have 280 students. That’s not a type-o. Welcome to Utah.
I don’t the CCSS destroyed anything, I think it’s Utah’s SED that destroyed education.
To me the real scandal is how Success Academy and their authorizers at the SUNY Charter Institute have circumvented democracy and science.
SCIENCE: We have decades of data showing how charters measure up to other schools and models, but the only factor they count is test scores. Cue Campbell’s Law and they reinvent school to make “outcomes” drive curriculum, culture and even marketing. Science tells us the use of standardized multiple choice test scores is a flawed way to measure knowledge, progress or school quality, but government and media deception has led parents to believe in test scores as “valuable” the same way they get people to believe tax cuts for the rich create middle class jobs.
DEMOCRACY: Because the government does not hold open hearings or allow transparent vetting of education policies, decisions are made by uninformed or ill-informed officials whose fortunes depend on wealthy campaign donors. Even after policies like VAM or Common Core fail and implode in front of everyone’s eyes, they can take years to repeal or modify because our political system is so broken.
Betsy DeVos is the perfect embodiment of the way proven, experienced educators are prevented from shaping policy in deference to wealthy disruptors. Diane, Mercedes, Carol Burris and other education bloggers have already laid out a devastating case against school privatization and standardized testing which is fully searchable online, but politicians ignore it all and it barely reaches parents.
The only way I see democracy and science restored into education debates is through curbing pay for play corruption. It’s like climate change – everyone knows we are committing planetary suicide, but no one can seem to break the yoke of the greedy corporations and lobbyists who are driving us right off a cliff.
The Alt-Right neo-conservatives and/or Koch Brother’s brand of libertarianism with their allies from the far right fundamentalist, evangelical Christian movement to speed up the apocalypse and bring on the rapture have been working hard to subvert The U.S. Constitution and the Republic it was written to support and protect and circumvent science for decades.
“Bill Moyers reports that the organization Christians United for Israel – led by highly-influential Pastor John C. Hagee – is a universal call to all Christians to help factions in Israel fund the Jewish settlements, throw out all the Palestinians and lobby for a pre-emptive invasion of Iran. All to bring Russia into a war against us causing World War III followed by Armageddon, the Second Coming and The Rapture.”
And then there is the Kochtopus.
Eva does not accept students for high school from outside the well oiled ” Test-taking Machine” for one simple reason: it drives down the mean test scores for SA’s high schools.
After drilling students in test taking skills for several years (and effectively culling those who “could not hack it”) it would be a real shame to “dilute” her well prepped test-taking population with novices from the outside who did not have the same testing experience/expertise, now wouldn’t it?