Catherine Brown was a senior advisor to the Hillary Clinton campaign. She has long been associated with the neoliberal Center for American Progress. She also worked for former Congressman George Miller, who was a favorite of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), the hedge fund managers’ charter-promoting organization.
In this article, published fittingly enough at Campbell Brown’s website The 74, Brown says she has no regrets about supporting charter schools. She defends Beto O’Rourke, whose wife is deeply enmeshed in charter schools in Texas, and who has expressed his admiration for privately managed charters in the past.
Curiously, she feels no embarrassment about embracing a “reform” that destabilizes public schools and that is endorsed by every Red State governor and legislature.
She doesn’t seem to care about the fiscal impact of charters on the public schools that enroll 85-90% of the nation’s students. Why does she prioritize charters over public schools?
It is interesting that she does not address the recent NPE report demonstrating that the federal Charter Schools Program wasted nearly $1 billion between the years 2006-2014 (during the Obama administration) on charter schools that never opened or closed soon after opening. About 1 of every 3 charters funded by the federal program failed.
Nor does she address the daily reports of charter fraud, waste, abuse, and embezzlement.
Nor does Brown mention that 90% of the charters across the nation are non-union.
Nor that their biggest single private funder is the anti-union Walton Foundation.
Oh, no, she favors “high-quality” charter schools, you know, the ones that cherry pick the highest scoring students and post high test scores due to their admissions and discipline policies.
This article is a strong statement of the neoliberal Democrat view of charters, which has helped to defund public schools and undermine teacher unions across the country.
The overlap between the views of Betsy DeVos and neoliberal Democrats is hard to miss.
Note to the Center for American Progress:
Progressive Democrats support real public schools. Progressive Democrats do not support privately managed charter schools. Progressive Democrats do not support a sector that was built to smash teachers’ unions and that is 90% non-union. Progressive Democrats support democratically controlled public schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Also, TRUE Progressives oppose imperialism and colonialism, and U.S. foreign policy is both imperialistic and colonialist, with its bloated military budget and empire of more than 800 military bases in more than 80 nations and its repeated attempts to overthrow any government that tries to be independent of the arrogant U.S. hegemon.
Those hundreds of billions of dollars wasted on the Empire’s endless wars (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) and attempts to overthrow governments (Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela) would be better spent here at home on education, health care, and infrastructure.
Unfortunately, NO members of Congress oppose U.S. imperialism and militarism. BOTH parties always vote for bigger military budgets, then say we “can’t afford” Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and other social needs.
Sí, señor. Exacto.
How did you jump from CAP education policy to imperialism and colonialism? Needed to get something off your chest?
Yeah, the jackboot of the US military off the chests of the American citizenry.
Also, there are times when true progressives must stand up and fight. See Spanish Civil War and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade for one good example. There are more.
That time is not now!
I totally agree with you. We will never kill our way to peace. STOP THE KILLING !!!
Did you notice Brown’s modifier, each time she mentioned charters? ‘High-performing’ charters will do this, ‘high-performing’ charters address that, etc. etc. The thing is, high-performing public schools accomplish the same ends, without disrupting the educational funding ecology or turning students away.
Let’s put all our resources and our focus on making every genuinely public school ‘high-performing,’ beginning with a definition of ‘high-performing’ that incorporates all students’ needs and goals.
It is simply wrong–and a grievous wrong–to say or imply that ALL Dems and R’s vote alike in support of the war machine and imperialism. For e.g., on the resolution to invade Iraq in ’03, I think you’ll find that a majority of Dems voted no. That included our Members of Congress from Ohio, Brown & Strickland. At this time, Bernie Sanders is speaking against a possible move against Venezuela. Tulsi Gabbard–another presidential candidate–is a peace advocate (though a veteran of the Middle East invasions) and is outspoken about it. There are others. Howard Dean, who later chaired the Party, was a strong anti-war advocate. Ohio’s Dennis Kucinich has advocated for years for a cabinet Secretary of Peace. He and a number of Dems have opposed all our wars and overthrows going back to Vietnam and further. And to be fair, some libertarian Republicans have also opposed our wars. Let’s not oversimplify and tar everyone with the same brush. There are numerous politicians, mostly on the Dem side, that oppose our imperialism. Let’s support them. If you’re a vet, join Veterans For Peace.
When CAP uses the words “high performing” and “accountable”, skepticism is warranted. The unforced, egregious errors made by Hillary’s campaign staff contributed to, if not caused her loss and, they were legion. CAP- high performing and held accountable- when?
BTW- I informed a CAP education researcher/writer, after reading one of CAP’s papers, that charters aren’t “public” by state Supreme Court decree.
Are CAP staff living in a glass house of performance measurement ?
Market forces, Neo-liberals, assessment, “if you don’t measure it it doesn’t matter”…we need a better answer to the policy wonks who invent an issue and then seek a solution based on their lack of comprehensive understanding. Now yes, there is the need for a cultural change in our schools…and it lies (pun fully intended) in what they call “High Quality.” They mean workbooks on computers measuring data…
I think we need to address what we mean by “high quality?” I start with the term education rather than their training…
High Quality
Education is a path, a set of skills, a way of being, each educator/leader on the path lives this process. Education is not a set of predefined standards, skills or knowledge from the past but linking the best of past practice, research, efficacy moving towards an unknown future with the skills, attributes and characteristics that prepare for the next step (teachers, parents, community members, and students.)
Note–I would strongly suggest that one changes is the employee/employer industrial production model doesn’t fit well…needs rethinking. I prefer teacher/leaders, a community of practice…teachers should be engaged and interested learners, teachers should lead schools (teams, designated principal/teachers), districts should be run by educator boards rather than business boards. And this is one way than a few charters have shown a new path forward.
Finally, until we know where we are heading we will not measure progress. Current measures (slightly better is better than really bad) are not accurate compasses for navigation–“sailing in circles in the bay” will measure as forward movement but not progress. We need to be able to define what we mean by progress–interest, engagement, persistence, resiliency, creativity, critical thinking, life long learners…that’s progress.
Too Much Coffee man
teacher leaders and a community of practice
This is exactly how real continuous improvement might occur–bottom up, not top down. But for that to happen, teachers need dramatic reductions in their teaching loads that give them the time to meet together to do careful planning, to discuss what is and isn’t working, to choose materials, to plan curricula and pedagogical approaches. In other words, they need Japanese-style lesson study.
This bottom-up approach to quality was THE great lesson of the quality control movement of the 20th century.
Exact;y right–this is how colleagues built an open admissions writing program 1971-1976 at Staten Island Comm Coll/CUNY. Careful cooperative lesson study at weekly mtgs not ruled by testing or tech. We did not know how to teach for the new students when we began, and we all had grad degrees in English.
Exactly, this is how my colleagues and I worked with administration to turn around our school. It was a bottom up initiative. We eventually became a blue ribbon school for doing such a good job with our diverse population.
W. Edwards Deming “bottom up” management works. Why? Because BOTTOM Up not top-down is more honest and equitable. Hmm…EQUITABLE.
It works because those closest to the work know it best, and many heads are better than one–more sources of innovative ideas. Centralized planning in a few hands spells disaster.
It’s the difference between a) we will have new ideas about curricula and pedagogy when Gates reconvenes his commissariat to do the thinking for the rest of us, or b) we will have new ideas when classroom teachers and researchers and professors have them and try them out and share them with one another.
The end of Catherine Brown’s article:
“And the real embarrassment today is progressives turning their backs on the schools that work for the people they are supposed to serve.”
If someone can name a single progressive politician running for President who has “turned their backs” on the kinds of “high performing” “public” charters that Catherine Brown references here, I sure would like to know so I can support that person.
If progressive politicians did speak out and make the points that Diane does here, the discussion would be different.
I think Catherine must be talking not about progressive politicians, but about parents everywhere from all kinds of political backgrounds who have started to turn away from charters while progressive politicians still seem just as enamored of the “high performing” and “public” charters as Brown does.
NYC public school teacher,
Thank you for restating the end of Catherine Brown’s article:
“The overlap between the views of Betsy DeVos and neoliberal Democrats is hard to miss.”
Every time I think of ALL those campaign contributions going to neo-liberals, I cringe. Why? People are hurting and they along with the GOP are the reason.
She didn’t write that line about the “overlap between neoliberals and DeVos.” I did.
CAP’s Board Chair is Tom Daschle who founded a powerful lobby shop, the Bipartisan Policy Center. My opinion- it’s a huge conflict of interest for Daschle to get legislation passed for BPC clients through “bipartisanship” while chairing the organization that corporate media labels the voice from the left.
George Miller is heading up BPC’s new interest in higher ed. In fall 2018, Gates and Arnold funded a BPC session on higher ed. Corporate Democrat, Rep. Susan Davis, a K-12 privatizer, was in attendance. The only university listed at the session was the former Kaplan, current Purdue Global.
Catherine Brown is former TFA. Other CAP staff were employed by Jeb Bush’s Excellence in Education. Other staff were formerly with New America which allegedly fired its Open Markets group (reconstituted as such when it became independent). The cited cause of the firings- the group warned against the influence of the powerful technology monopolists. The recently selected CEO of New America was a school privatizer from Arne’s administration and from the usual reform organizations funded by billionaires.
CAP is funded by Gates.
CAP, tech monopolists, hedge funds and Republicans are inches away from each other.
Gina Raimondo, the chair of the DGA reflects the confluence of oligarchy, those claiming to be Democrats and the party of the Koch’s .
Linda,
Has Catherine Brown found redemption? I guess NOT. Guess she’s cleansing her soul. LOL.
In Forbes, Catherine Brown reviewed a book which I deduce neo-liberals and libertarians liked.
The header for Brown’s review, “Author never saw a classroom until college, now she has a Ph.d. and a lot of thoughts about education”.
The author’s parents were survivalists/ fundamentalists. The 7 kids gathered information on their own while working a ways out, in the family junk yard. The author muses that “teachers should be consultants”. It’s a predictable perspective developed by an isolated person, abused by her brother and gaslighted by her parents. The author would be unfamiliar with the concept of a village, including proactive teachers, having a responsibility to protect and nurture the community’s children.
But, what’s the neoliberals’ excuse?
“Charters work better when they set the entry bar high.” Any school can get excellent results by choosing excellent students. Public education should serve the needs of all students. Cherry picking the best and brightest is no great talent. When charters take the “best and brightest,” they make public schools the schools of the rejected, expensive to education, the neediest and neglected. Schools with the greatest need get less money to meet those needs. Public schools should reflect the communities they serve, and they can do a very good job meeting the needs of diverse students when they are well funded. Cherry picking charters create an enrollment imbalance in public schools. Charters also “rob Peter to pay Paul.” They allow the wants of a few to take priority over the needs of many. Public schools often must curtail programs and electives for students because charters siphon off so much money. Buildings also remain in disrepair when charters drain the public school coffers. Charter schools are a lose, lose for public schools.
A few years ago, a M&T Bank president promoted and worked to get charter schools for Buffalo.
A different M&T bank executive’s name has popped up in articles from the last couple of days in the coverage of the FBI raid of the Baltimore mayor’s home and office.
“M&T makes the most loans to Carl Paladino’s myriad LLC’s” – a conclusion drawn in Public Accountability Initiative’s investigative report (2015) about Carl Paladino, which began with the following header, “Carl Paladino’s history of racism, sexism and homophobia and the powerful network that protects his influence”.
I love this line from the article:
“[T]here is one policy championed by education reformers that has been an unqualified success: support for high-performing charter schools.”
Not for low-performing charter schools. Not for all the charters that receive funding but never open. Not for all the charters that close shortly after they open. Not for the charters whose managers end up in jail.
Support for high-performing schools is “an unqualified success.” Look and look and look until you find such a school, if you can, and then say that you support it.
That’s about as close to a completely empty statement–a tautology–as one can get.
Bob, the high-performing charter schools she describes are “no excuses” schools that are notorious for suspending kids who deviate by a scintilla from the rigid rules. Some call them neo-colonialism. They are also known for high teacher turnover because the well-educated TFA graduates have a hard time enforcing rigid discipline on little children and teaching them to sit quietly with their hands folded, tracking the teacher at every moment. Most of the teachers probably went to progressive suburban schools, so this behavior is not natural to them.
And then there is the cherry picking and exclusion of students that accounts for better results in a few rare charters.
“the high-performing charter schools she describes are “no excuses” schools that are notorious for suspending kids who deviate by a scintilla from the rigid rules. Some call them neo-colonialism. They are also known for high teacher turnover because the well-educated TFA graduates have a hard time enforcing rigid discipline on little children and teaching them to sit quietly with their hands folded, tracking the teacher at every moment.”
How can they be “high performing” when they institute educational malpractices as you describe in your statement?
In this instance, she means high test scores, produced by abusive practices
Yes! Exactly, abusive malpractices to get “high test scores” cannot be considered “high performing” in any sense.
This organization–the 74–takes its name from there being some 74 million schoolkids in the US. I’m not sure where they got that number. I think it’s a bit high. But no matter. Let’s take their number. Charter school students represent about 6 percent of the public school enrollment in the US. The other 94 percent attend traditional public schools. So perhaps Brown should have called her group the 4. Rounding up, that’s the number, in millions, of kids in charter schools.
I believe there are 50.7 million children in school, not 74 million. 6% are in charter schools (3 million). 9% are in private schools. So 85% attend public schools. She might want to rename her website the “15” for the kids in charter schools or receiving vouchers.
Thank you. Yes. I left out the private school kids.
A 50% error in number of students reported. The Waltons learned their ciphering at ECOT.
Long.
In April 2019, CAP had seven “experts” for K-12 education, several more for preschool and postsecondary education. I have looked at the bios of the K-12 experts and read some of their recent articles at the CAP website. Some artiles have appeared in Forbes, US News and World Report, The Hill, Hetchinger Report, and The 74 (Walton funded blog). Who are these CAP experts? What do they say?
Neil Campbell, Director of Innovation for K-12 Education Policy. Former Director, Next Generation program for Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education with policy oversight for personalized learning, course access, funding, and student data privacy. Obama’s USDE Chief of staff, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development; former Director of Strategic Initiatives for tech-based learning at Education Elements.com; work at The Boston Consulting Group. Education: Bachelor economics, political science, Case Western Reserve University; MBA, Vanderbilt University; The Broad Residency in Education. Teaching Experience: Not found.
Sample of writing for CAP: Excerpt from “Teacher Strikes, Charter Schools and Unions, February 26, 2019. “It’s unfortunate that questions about charter schools are diverting attention from the core message of these teacher protests: the need to invest in our schools, teachers and students. Instead of focusing on division, it would be powerful for teachers, unions and charter supporters to advocate together for greater investments in public education across the board. Every student deserves a building, supports and supplies needed to succeed, and every teacher — in traditional or charter schools — deserves to be treated and paid like a professional.”
Excerpt from “Policy Ideas to Improve Private School Voucher Programs,” November 19, 2018. “The Center for American Progress believes that public money should fund public schools, whether they are neighborhood schools, magnet or specialty programs in traditional school districts, or public charter schools that are open to all students and accountable to the public.”
Excerpt from “The Progressive Case for Charter Schools, With a Correction,” October 24, 2017.“Despite recent evidence suggesting that many public charter schools are improving outcomes for students—especially for low-income students of color—broad support for charter schools may be waning. According to one recent poll (Education Next, 2017) support for charter schools among self-described Democrats has fallen over the past year. This decrease in progressive support may be due to a skewed representation of charter schools in the media as well as a conflation of charter schools with ineffective private school vouchers—such as those Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration champion. However, to simply devalue all charter schools is unreasonable. The highest-quality charters exemplify progressive values and practices, most notably through their foundational principle of providing low-income students of color with equal educational opportunity and access they may not otherwise have.” (Links are to Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First).
Khalilah M. Harris, Managing Director for K-12 Education Policy. Former host and producer of Real News Network’s Baltimore Bureau; Founder, 2007, Baltimore City Freedom Academy, a charter school closed in 2013; Co-founder Baltimore Coalition of Black Leaders in Education. Active in EduColor movement; Former Deputy Director, Obama’s White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans; Manager, Obama’s Diversity and Inclusion in Government Council. Education: Morgan State University; J.D. University of Maryland School of Law; Ed.D. University of Pennsylvania, 2018 Dissertation: “Chasing Equity: A Study on the Influence of Black Leaders on Federal Education Policy-making.” No CAP publications. Teaching: No K-12 Found.
Laura Jiménez, Director of Standards and Accountability. Former Director, College and Career Readiness and Success at the American Institutes for Research (AIR); former Director, American Youth Policy Center. Manager, National Youth Employment Coalition (a three-year pilot funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates and Nellie Mae Foundations); UCLA Minority Training Program in Cancer Control Research. Obama’s USDE, former special assistant on Every Student Succeeds Act “flexibility,” college and career readiness, special populations (American Indian/Alaska Native and English language learners). Education: BA English, UCLA; Master’s Social Welfare, University of California; Berkeley. Teaching (?): Peace Corps, Community Education volunteer.
Sample of writing for CAP: “Furthering the College and Career Readiness of the District of Columbia’s Students” for the Council of the District of Columbia on Education Reform.” May 2018. Her written testimony argues for all high school students to take ”four years of English; three years of math, up to Algebra II; three years of social studies, including U.S. and world history; three years of lab science, including biology, chemistry, and physics; and two years of the same foreign language” with an option in every high school of at least three courses in the same career pathway (e.g., hospitality, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). She also endorsed these policies: Monitoring chronic absenteeism at every grade, investing in low cost interventions for absences (e.g., postcards to parents), monitoring at risk students in order to target wraparound supports. Frequent reference citations to Gates-funded Data Quality Campaign and The Education Trust.
Lisette Partelow, Senior Director of K-12 Strategic Initiatives. Prior positions: Senior Policy Analyst CAP, Director of Teacher Policy, CAP; Legislative Associate, Alliance for Excellent Education; Senior Legislative Assistant US House of Representatives; Research Assistant American Institutes for Research (AIR). Education: BA Psychology, Public Policy, Connecticut College; Masters in Public Affairs, Princeton University: Masters in Education, George Mason University. Teaching: Teach for America, first grade, two years, Washington, D.C.
Sample of writing for CAP: In August 2018, Partelow and research assistant Sarah Shapiro wrote about “Curriculum Reform in the Nation’s Largest School Districts.” The authors used the Gates-funded EdReports criteria for judging whether fourth-and eighth-grade math and ELA instructional materials were aligned with the Common Core. They also cite the Louisiana Department of Education’s system of rating instructional materials as exemplary for offering “a snapshot of the current status of the adoption of curriculum reform and instructional materials in the districts.” In fact, the rating criteria for Louisiana are nearly identical to EdReports.
Scott Sargrad, Vice President, K-12 Education Strategic Initiatives. Prior positions: VP for K-12 Policy CAP; Managing Director, Education Policy CAP; Director for Standards and Accountability, CAP. Obama’s USDE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Strategic Initiatives: Senior Policy Advisor, Presidential Management Fellow. Intern, Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped Hanoi, Vietnam. Education: BA Mathematics, Philosophy, Haverford College; Ed.M. Education and Management, Harvard Graduate School of Education.Teaching: Math and Cross-Country Track Coach, Queen Anne School (private), Upper Marlboro MD; Special education instructional assistant Harriton High School, Rosemont, PA.
Sample of writing for CAP: August 9 2018. “Are High School Diplomas Really a Ticket to College and Work? An Audit of State High School Graduation Requirements”(co-authored with Laura Jimenez) argues for more rigorous standards and courses for high school graduation suitable for “college AND career.” The term “audit” refers to three levels of quality ratings assigned to high school curricula in each state, based on perfect alignment with the specific courses that public colleges in each state seek for admission. No state received the highest rating. The report has other ratings for career and technical education (CTE) and a well-rounded education (e.g., life skills courses, financial literacy, online learning, business and communications, civic engagement). The authors say: “One promising approach to address the alignment and quality concerns is competency-based graduation requirements.” This report recycles ideas from the Education Trust (HS transcript data up to 2013), old data on course availability from the Civil Rights Data Project (2014), among other sources. In Appendix A, there are no active links to 137 of the 238 sources of data. https://c0arw235.caspio.com/dp/b7f930000e16e10a822c47b3baa2
Cynthia G. Brown, Senior Fellow, former Vice President for Education Policy at CAP; former Director “Renewing Our Schools, Securing Our Future National Task Force on Public Education,” a joint initiative (2004) of CAP and the Institute for America’s Future. Thirty-five years of work in education, many as an independent consultant. Former Director of the Resource Center on Educational Equity, Council of Chief State School Officers. First Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in USDE (1980 appointment, President Carter). Principal deputy, Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s Office for Civil Rights. Other work for Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Children’s Defense Fund. Current: Board of Directors of the American Youth Policy Forum; Perry Street Preparatory Public Charter School, District of Columbia. Education: BA, Oberlin College: MPA Syracuse University. Teaching: None found. No CAP publications listed since 2013, but this is the person whom Diane cites as a recent contributor to The 74 blog.
Ulrich Boser, Senior Fellow, Founding director, CAP’s Science of Learning initiative. Founder, The Learning Agency.com. Book: “Learn Better: Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business, and School, or, How to Become an Expert in Just About Anything” (2017); also “The Leap: The Science of Trust and Why It Matters,” (2014). Book publicity in Wired, Slate, Vox, Fast Company, The Atlantic, USA Today. Former advisor, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Articles in U.S. News and World Report, Education Week, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, The Washington Post. Education: BA, Dartmouth College, with honors. Teaching: None Found.
Sample of writing for CAP: “How to Match Students With Schools They Choose,” November 13, 2018. (This reflects an uncritical acceptance of school choice and explains one app enrollment).
“Homework and Higher Standards: How Homework Stacks Up to the Common Core,” February 13, 2019. Study based on 187 examples of homework submitted by parents and an opinion survey from 372 parents about that homework. Key findings: Homework is largely aligned to the Common Core standards but often focused on low-level skills that fail to challenge students (especially in primary grades). CAP recommendations for states, districts, and schools: Focus on homework that requires practice of rigorous grade-level content aligned with the Common Core, and/or provide access to Khan Academy’s online homework aligned to Common Core.
Current CAP Experts in K-12 Education strike me as short of teaching experience in classrooms. Recent articles show they are supporters of charter schools, treat the Gates-funded Common Core as if exemplary and look forward to instructional delivery by computers (mislabeled personalized learning). They are arrogant pushers of specific instructional materials and high school curricula, aided by the Gates-funded EdReports scheme. The Center for American Progress is no friend of public education.
CAP also has a news arm, Think Progress, a newletter supported by CAP’s Action Fund but represented as an “editorially independent project.” I wonder. The IRS 990 says: “The Action Fund makes communications to the general public commending or criticizing particular public policy positions taken by various candidates. … The newsletter is intended to “impact the national debate and transform progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, public education, grassroots organization and advocacy in partnership with American citizens, executive and legislative branch policymakers and progressive leaders throughout the country and the world.” The Newsletter has a new “Members-Only Commenting” feature available only “to our donors” with perks (e.g., shaping the content) for monthly rates at $5. or $15 or $35.
I looked a recent Think Progress Newsletters dealing with charter schools. I found seven. Of these, most are reports on federal budget and policies under Trump/Devos. The strangest had this headline: “Lawsuit claims that same-sex marriage leads to charter schools, and it may be right.” The author, Ian Millhiser, is a lawyer with expertise on Supreme Court cases. I could not find my way through the legal leaps connecting charter schools with same-sex marriage. The legal objective seemed to be that of establishing a federal law supporting educational choice, that to be justified by past Supreme Court rulings bearing on the 14th Amendment. The case was dismissed 02/20/2019. The law firm advancing this dubious cause also filed the Vergara v. California suit that dealt with a child’s right to instruction by “effective teachers.” That was overturned on appeal. https://thinkprogress.org/tag/charter-schools/
GENERATION PROGRESS is the youth activist and youth journalism arm of CAP. https://genprogress.org/our-issues/
WHO FUNDS CAP? Using the CAP website, I constructed a spreadsheet listing CAP donors for the last five years according to several tiers on money. I will report on some of the key donors later on.
Thanks for fleshing out the details about CAP.
One of the CAP staff you identify may reflect the addition of a new demographic to the education team. If so, it doesn’t come as a surprise to those who have read the new prescription in Stanford Social Innovation Review articles written by foundations/think tanks.
All of us, CAP included, should read Dr. Keith Benson’s paper (2-16-2019 post at the Ravitch blog) , “To the Black Education Reform Establishment: Be Real with Who You Are and Who’s Interest You Represent”.
Laura,
There is an error in your staff listing.
There are two different K-12 “experts” at CAP named C. Brown. One is Catherine Brown, who wrote the article in The 74. She apparently is TFA, because her linked in bio mentions Leadership for Educational Equity, the TFA political arm; also the JFK School at Harvard. The other is Cynthia Brown, whom you describe. Please update.
On it. Thank. I think I know how this errot happened
Catherine Brown has a recently changed role at CAP. She has been replaced as Vice President for K-12 Education Policy. She is now a Senior Fellow, but not listed as such on the website. She is a coauthor of “The Progressive Case for Charter Schools.” More to come ASAP.
Laura, what happened to Cynthia Brown at CAP?
Is any effort being made to find out just where Biden stands regarding charter schools….how loyal will he be to Obama-Gates-Duncan? Does he even know much about the issues?
Biden was on “The View” this morning. He talked a lot about values and said nothing about issues. The ladies gushed all over Joe. Most of what he said was a “mea culpa” for touchy, feely Joe.
Gag me. Joe Biden, GO AWAY.
DFERS, go away. You wrecked our public education system and for what? Oh, forgot power and $$$$$.
Hillary, go be a grandmother.
Chelsea, stop foisting yourself on teacher conventions. You have nothing worthwhile to say.
And, so glad I haven’t seen bill’s face lately.
The line-up of candidates for potus from the DNC is MORE OF THE SAME.
GO Bernie.
I want DFERs to go away, too.
But Bernie endorsed a DFER for the Virginia governor’s primary.
Blaming CAP when there are NO progressives in this primary that are not supporting the very same “good public charters” that Catherine Brown writes about here makes no sense whatsoever.
This has nothing to do with CAP unless you believe that CAP controls Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s brains.
This has to do with progressives who won’t stand up to “good public charters”.
Frankly, I can’t explain why progressives keep giving progressive credibility to “good public charters” but I refuse to condemn them as corrupt or paid off by CAP billionaires even though it frustrates me to no end that they are such true believers in “good public charters” just like Catherine Brown is.
I would vote for someone like Tim Kaine or Ralph Northam over a self-described “progressive” who is endorsed by DFER and Bernie. Other people should be able to vote for progressive whose view of charters is exactly like Catherine Brown’s. This is about making compromises and no matter what, we will have a candidate in the primary whose views we do not agree with 100%. Everyone should support the candidate in the Democratic primary who they like the most. If that candidate loses, let’s not blame e-mails between low-level staffers that didn’t lead to one negative thing actually happening. It will be because that candidate did not get enough votes in all 50 states. Maybe more voters like moderate views or more voters care about their son being able to walk down the street without being shot by police than free trade.
The important thing is to note that even if you don’t like Bernie’s giving progressive credibility to “good public charters” and endorsing DFER candidates, Bernie is still far better than Trump.
The important thing is to note that even if you don’t like Elizabeth Warren’s position on charters, Warren is still far better than Trump.
The important thing is to note that even if you don’t like Kamala Harris’ or Amy Klobuchar’s position on public schools or some other issues, they are still far better than Trump.
And the only people who tell you there is no difference are the ones who are celebrating the appointment of right wing Supreme Court justices and a right wing federal judiciary that are going to make it near impossible to enact progressive legislation for decades.
Biden is a DFER. GO AWAY, BIDEN.
If Biden walked up to me from behind, put his hands on my shoulder close to my neck and smelled my hair, trust me, as petite as I am, I would take him down and go for the kill.
Yvonne: what you said in your 3:33 PM comments.
WHY can’t these people live their own lives (Biden, HRC, Chelsea, et.al. & leave us alone???
Let’s be sure that Joe Biden knows and understands the difference between public and charter schools and throws his support behind public schools.
BIden will NEVER do it. His brother is a big charter school person. Don’t trust Biden on anything. He, along with many of both parties, are bought and paid for.
Biden is indeed BOUGHT and PAID FOR. Bet he invested in his brother’s charter schools. Biden is “slicker” than Bill and Obama. Don’t trust him.
What GALLS ME and is ridiculous is no nothing politicians telling educators what to do. Why we even give them the time of day is beyond me. Since Reagan, this country has gone downhill and now look who’s potus, an illiterate, lying, cheat, who makes his living dealing in human trafficking.
I am sorry, but just because Hillary wants to be the first female potus doesn’t mean she gets her way. We have that illiterate moron, because Hillary called in her cards.
Lawyers, marketers, and pseudo-technocrats like Gates and Zuckie … ALL need to get lives and get out of our students’ and teachers’ lives. They don’t know that they “don’t know.”
Solution. Maybe we can put them all in a room together and cover them with “funny” money they can count.
Not gonna happen,, Susan Osberg. He blew his chance. Had he been for public education, he would have spoken against the appointment of Arne as Sec. of D.o.Ed. He would have been horrified at the outcomes of RT3
(more & worse “standardized” testing, expansion of charter schools, nationwide public school closures, shame wrough by Obama & Arne in Central Falls, R.I., & on & on, ad.nauseum.
He would have done what Diane has done, having been part of the G.H.W. Bush Cabinet–done a 180 & denounced Obam’s education policies (& failure to “put on his marching shoes”).
Instead, he was complicit in his silence. As veep, he generally did nothing about anything…any issue, any policy…at all.
Al Gore should have been elected #43: in my lifetime, he was one (if there were any others, which do not come to mind) veep who actually” *DID something.
Plus his “apology” to Anita Hill (which, tellingly, she did not accept)–this time, not for doing nothing, but for being a part of a male tribunal who further victimized the victim, & glorified the perp. That whole scenario reminded me of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.
In fact, every reader here should watch (or re-watch, in my case) the HBO Film, Confirmation, before they pull it (it’s on HBO OnDemand through 1/20/20, but they–& other stations–have pulled films/shows before; they pulled the Greenwald doc about Snowden {& they keep docs on forever} & have never re-aired it since Snowden fled the country.
NO.JOE.BIDEN.
Sanders/Warren 2020!!
Susan,
The difference is easily understood. Public schools preserve community- both socially and economically. Public schools preserve democracy. On the other hand, charter schools enrich people, many of them grifters, hundreds and thousands of miles from Main Street. If Biden can’t get that, he, like Trump is too stupid for the job.
Democrats have drawn a line in the sand when it comes to protecting Social Security and the VA from privatization. DFER’s intentional targeting of Democratic allies to support charters was clever and effective. We fight on.
I think it’s safe to assume nobody knows for sure if the Democrats have drawn a line in the sand with Social Security & VA privatization. Bill Clinton’s attempt to cut social security ended when the Lewinski scandal erupted.Obama tried to raise the retirement age, cut & privatize social security through his lopsided appointments to the Simpson-Bowels Commission & his dubious “grand bargain.”
CAP’s funding sources have more in common with Republicans than progressive Democrats. Who is to say the next Democratic president won’t try, again, to reach a compromise across the aisle?
CAP Dems are equally slippery on education privatization. I love how the one writer claimed “The highest-quality charters exemplify progressive values and practices,” as if secretive, unaccountable EMOs exemplify progress but elected school boards do not.
The Democrats have learned nothing from the massive red state teacher strikes and seem to be doubling down on edu-privatization. The anger at the political establishment exemplified by CAP is not going away. They can shift the debate away from talking directly about public ed for only so long.
Of course, Hillary doesn’t think she’s WRONG. Now she’s got her daughter doing her biddings. Go away, Chelsea. Stop imposing yourself on teacher conventions.
I agree with: Progressive Democrats support real public schools. Progressive Democrats do not support privately managed charter schools. Progressive Democrats do not support a sector that was built to smash teachers’ unions and that is 90% non-union. Progressive Democrats support democratically controlled public schools.
Yes, because Chelsea knows SO much about teaching….esp. public school education. How many years did Chelsea attend a public school? & how many years has she taught?
But–as with her “journalism” career (isn’t it nice that we have kids who received real journalism degrees & are know shoulders deep in student debt cannot get jobs in their ffield but–oh!–along comes Chelsea, & she’s doing news reporting for NBC!
Stop setting up your platform to run for president, Chelsea. Your mom wasn’t entitled (even though she was, of course, highly qualified–which you are not anywhere near) & neither, especially, are you.
America is not a monarchy nor is it a nation for dynasty (Barbara Bush even famously urged Jeb! not to run, “Jeb, we have had enough Bush presidents. It’s not a dynasty.”)
Catherine Brown doesn’t regret attacking public schools, teachers, unions, parents, students, and the entire underclass? I guess she doesn’t regret losing the election, then. I guess she wants to lose more elections.
Helpful suggestion- where are the names of Neera Tanden and John Podesta?
Is there any funding source that CAP refuses? We know they took teachers union money. What did that money buy for teachers- must not have been enough dollars or, CAP just doesn’t like the working class?
Bad news that Kamala Harris is trotting out CAP’s “pay teachers more” verbiage while CAP writes about the merits of instructional materials vs. teachers- a disconnect that advantages Gates and Z-berg in state and national policy.
Diane, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this post. Hat tip.
I would like to be proved wrong and to learn that Joe Biden has his own ideas about education and that those are progressive, but the Obama-Biden administration was a disaster for public schools. That administration doubled down on the Common Core and standardized testing, VAM, charters, vouchers–on the whole Ed Deform program. Shameful.
AGREE, Bob. More than agree; see my comments above.
update on CAP experts on K-12 policy.
8. Catherine Brown. In February 2019, CAP replaced Catherine Brown as Vice President for K-12 Education Policy. Brown was “transitioned to a Senior Fellow role at the Center.” As of April 26, 2019 Catherine Brown did not appear on CAP’s website as a Senior Fellow or on the roster for CAP Action. Her LinkedIn bio affirms her recent move to Senior Fellow at CAP.
Brown joined CAP in 2014 after serving as vice president of policy, Teach for America. She directed Teach for America’s Early Childhood Initiative, and successfully lobbied USDE for a $50 million Investing in Innovation grant for TFA. Brown is a longtime insider on Capitol Hill. She was the senior education policy advisor for George Miller chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor offering recommendations on standards, assessments, and charter schools among other issues. Brown was the “domestic policy advisor” for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and legislative assistant for Senator Clinton on major initiatives (e.g., preschool, college affordability, job training). Brown also served as an organizer for Democrats in Montana and as a research assistant, Mathematica Policy Research. Education: Smith College, Master in public policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Teaching experience: None Found.
Writing for CAP. Catherine Brown was a co-author of the“The Progressive Case for Charter Schools,” October, 2017.
Brown’s July 2018 article in Forbes “Proposing A $10,000 Raise For Teachers” highlights a CAP proposal for a federal tax credit for teachers in high poverty schools. Brown developed that idea, reported in detail at. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2018/07/13/453102/give-teachers-10000-raise/
Brown was recently credited as “consulting” with presidential candidate Kamala Harris on a similar proposal. Harris has proposed matching teacher salaries with federal funds. http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/reformers-and-unions-love-harriss-teacher-pay-plan.html#comments
Once again, Harris who represents a new version of third way Dems, give with one hand & take away with the other. Tax credits &/or teacher raises is pure lip service. Any such proposals will be easily undone inside an education sub-committee.We need an ‘Education New Deal’ or an initiative like the GI Bill to send more individuals who want to study education to college.
Huge changes must be made structurally to undo what the last 3 presidents have done to undermine public education.
The Clintons sent their daughter to an exclusive private religious school, Sidwell Friends, operated by the Quakers. Bill/Hillary made some “lip service” about supporting public schools for the masses, but not for their child. What a pair of hypocrites. Many rich liberal elites, claim to support public schools, but not for their own children.
I think that people who support public schools, should vote for politicians who send their own children to the public schools, that they claim they support.
The Obamas also sent their two daughters to Sidwell Friends. But Pres Obama opposed expanding the charter school program in WashDC.
Hypocrites all.
Charles,
It is not hypocritical to pay for private school and simultaneously support public funding of public schools.
The principle is public funds for public schools. Private funds for private schools. I do not criticize anyone who spends their own money to buy something that is not free for everyone. If I hire a security guard, that’s my voice but I don’t expect the public to pay for it. I expect the public to pay for a well equipped, well trained police force that protects everyone.
If the Obamas and Clintons and Trumps paid $50,000 out of their own pocket, that is not a reason to defund public schools by giving poor kids $7,000 to attend a backwoods religious school staffed by uncertified teachers. Doing so is not equitable. It destroys a valuable common good to allow a small number to get a worse education than what they had in the public school. From the point of view of the children who take the voucher, they lose; they don’t learn modern science or history or math. From the view of society, it’s a tragedy, because the public schools must cut their budgets, lay off teachers, eliminate programs.
It is lose-lose. Protect and improve and find public schools.
I believe (?) that the last POTUS to send their child to public school was Jimmy Carter? Security is an issue for these children. Private schools provide a larger campus that is a buffer to the outside threats to these children and it allows the security detail to blend in better so that ALL the children attending have a better experience in school. Sidwell Friends has been very accommodating to the needs of Presidential children over the years.
I don’t care if people spend their money on a bigger car than mine or a bigger house or private school. Just don’t ask me to pay for private choices.
Charles,
The Bluegrass Institute and the Koch’s will want to oppose the candidacy of Christopher Tobe for Ky. state auditor. He actually plans to clean up the hedge fund/ graft mess unlike Bevin, who ran on that platform but, who, instead has done a slo-mo dawdling.
Diane, Re Cynthia Brown. I think she is kept on as a Senior Fellow without many obligations. She brings credibility to CAP, in part, as the first Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights at USDE with that appointment by President Carter also marking the first effort to establish what has become the biennial Civil Rights Data Collection. She appears to be active locally with a charter school. She may be consulted on major reports. The roster of Senior Fellows has many people who may have a similar role. Some Senior Fellows are Resident,” some are “Non-Resident. I also think there is a lot of churn in CAP senior positions. For example, Scott Ulrich has had three positions at CAP.
What info. is there about CAP’s Ulrich Boser, other than his .com business, the Learning Agency?
CAP’s Boser is against Vouchers, for charters.
Is that also the view of Chingos, who is cited as a reference in CAP papers? CAP’s written opinion about the relative value of instructional materials was a doozy. Chingos is at the Urban Institute, once viewed as liberal but now funded by Arnold with a Board that includes Mitch Daniels, Anna Nazareth (married to TIAA’s CEO who is buddies with Pete Peterson) and David Autor (my opinion- a neoliberal).
Diane, please consider reposting Laura’s work on CAP as a separate post. It will be handy to refer to it when questions arise on CAP’s “education” policies.
I intend to do that. Have to correct the two Browns section.
When I was in DC and for years after, CAP used to cosponsor events with rightwing think tanks like Thomas B. Fordham and AEI, always under Catherine Brown’s leadership. I don’t know if that continues but the assumption was that there was bipartisan consensus re testing, accountability and charters. The Bush-Obama policies.
Bipartisanship helps Tom Daschle’s lobby shop, BPC, so, as CAP’s board chair does he have an inducement to make “the voice from the left” more closely aligned with Republicans?
BTW- I contacted Ohio PEP and said I’d pay for the registration fees of two student journalists from Dunbar H.S. in Lexington, Ky., if they were interested in attending the Columbus event on May 16. I haven’t heard back.
What a great idea!
Here is a website that illustrates the continuing close relationship between CAP and the American Entierprise Institute. http://www.aei.org/tag/center-for-american-progress/
Perfectly evident- CAP’s voice would be at the Walton site because Walmarts did so much for Main Street…wait.
If CAP reads this-
“The establishment DCCC does tremendous damage to the Democratic brand and the progressive values its supposed to represent every single day they continue their blacklist policy that protects anti-choice, anti LGBTQ, corporate Dems like Rep. Dan Lipinski”- Charles Chamberlain.
Of course, if establishment Dem organizations actually prefer the election of politicians with the Republican ideology of the donor class… never mind.
Linda. I will up your offer and pay for two additional student journalists from Dunbar H.S. in Lexington, Ky., plus their journalism teacher if they were interested/able io attend the Columbus event on May 16. Your offer also suggests a worthwhile program for the Network for Public Education conferences. I hope you will let me know about the outcome of your offer. There is not much time left.
Thank you Laura for the meaningful offer. I’m under the impression that event planners will be talking with you soon.
I posted to you earlier but, cyber space took the message.
BTW, my Ohio Rep. hadn’t heard about HB 70. I wrote to tell him that he would have better understanding of the issues if he attended the May 16 event.
Teachers in Indiana are getting fed up. I sent this article, along with my comment, to Senator Niemeyer [R-IN] and Representative Chyung [D-IN].
………………………………………………..
Richmond educators walk-in to protest legislature’s budget decisions on teacher pay
Published 12:43 p.m. ET April 26, 2019
RICHMOND, Ind. — The chorus rang out: “Public education matters.”
Wearing red and carrying signs, Charles Elementary School teachers and staff members chanted the words as they walked from the school’s flag pole toward the front door. They ignored the drizzle and the rain clouds that obscured the sunrise just after 7 a.m. to make their point to Indiana legislators.
They are unhappy with the treatment teachers and public schools received in the recently passed state budget.
And they weren’t alone Friday morning in protesting a budget that did not include money for teacher raises and provided more growth to charter and private school funding than for public schools. Teachers, staff members and some students gathered in front of every Richmond Community Schools building for walk-ins.
“The amount of money that has been taken away from public schools over the last 15 years by the Indiana legislature just shows that their priority is not public education,” said Jeff Gabbard, treasurer of the Richmond Education Association and the journalism teacher at Richmond High School. “Teachers have decided this time to take action.”
Gabbard and Superintendent Todd Terrill addressed those gathered about 7:45 a.m. in front of RHS. Terrill agreed that you follow the money to identify priorities.
“We have to do more in our state,” he said after the walk-in. “We say all the time that education is our top priority and then we continue to pass budgets that don’t show that. You can always tell what your true priorities are by where you place your money and how you spend it.”…
With the walk-in, Miller hopes community members and legislators become more aware of challenges teachers face and the time outside regular hours that they spend on their profession. She hopes the unity shown helps boost morale that falls when teachers feel unappreciated, especially by the government.
“Hopefully, the politicians who make the laws who haven’t been in a school for awhile come and see us,” Miller said. “If they’re making these decisions, come in and see the public schools, see what’s going on. The children’s needs have changed tremendously. I pray that the politicians open their eyes and their hearts to our children of Indiana, because we need their help.”
Another year without raises in the budget continues a trend REA President Kelley McDermott called “very sad and unacceptable.” Since 2002, she said, Indiana ranks 50th among U.S. states in teacher pay increases. That impacts the ability to attract young people into the profession and to retain them, McDermott said, because some teachers with college degrees can’t make a living wage and raise families with their pay…
Check out this story on pal-item.com: https://www.pal-item.com/story/news/education/2019/04/26/richmond-educators-walk-protest-another-year-without-raises-indiana-legislature-red-for-ed-teachers/3586865002/