Archives for category: Charter Schools
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Arne Duncan: American Schools Are the Worst–No, the Best–Ever

By dianeravitch
April 2, 2018 //
11

 

For his entire seven years as Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan repeated the mantra that American public schools were the worst ever. They were falling behind the global competition, they needed radical change, they needed privatization, they needed radical transformation. He thought that the remedies were testing, more testing, high-stakes testing, charter schools, and technology. Now he works for Laurene Powell Jobs at the Emerson Collective, where he is supposedly re-imagining the American high school, or something like that.

Having listened to his daily rants about failure for so long, it is startling to see his opinion piece in the Washington Post declaring that American schools are definitely on the right track because they have followed the advice of “reformers” like himself. He claims credit for every gain in test scores and graduation rate since 1971! Even though he was only 7 years old in 1971.

The funny thing is that I used many of the same data in my book “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools, to refute the claims of Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Eli Broad, Bill Gates, and the rest of the corporate reform wrecking crew, who insisted that America’s public schools were failing and obsolete. Their favorite word was failing.

Now, Arne doesn’t admit that he was wrong, but instead he claims credit for everything good.

No mention of the D.C. graduation rate scandal or the spread of credit recovery, which enables students to take an online course for a week and get credit for a semester that they failed. No mention of cheating scandals. No mention of the 2015 flatlining of NAEP scores.

But, you see what is really happening is that all the reforms he championed have made no difference at all. They are failing. There is not a single district controlled by reformers that is a shining example of success. The shine is off New Orleans, where most of the charters are rated C, D, or F. The District of Columbia has been firmly in the grip of “reformers” and we now know that most of its claims are illusory. Rick Hess, one of the chief reformers, chastised his fellow “reformers” that they had refused to recognize the D.C. realities and spun a tale of success out of their own fantasies.

Teachers and parents hate the high-stakes testing, and school officials are bullying them into taking the mandated tests.

But go back to 1971, and it is clear that we have made great progress. It is just clear that Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates, and Eli Broad had nothing to do with it.

Let’s credit the successes of our teachers and principals, our democratically controlled public schools.

The real struggle is not to double down on failed strategies but to protect our public schools from the rapacious grasp of privateers and profiteers.

 

 

Categories Accountability, Broad Foundation, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Resistance, Testing

Detroit: Unexplained Firings at Charter School Rattle Teachers, Students

By dianeravitch
April 2, 2018 //
11

 

Old Redford Academy high school, a charter school in Detroit, suddenly fired several staff members, some of whom were “veterans” (i.e., more than one year of experience), without explanation.

The orders came from corporate management, Advanced Educational Staffing. Students wondered how they would earn enough credits to graduate.

Advanced Educational Staffing is a for-profit charter operator. Many of those who have worked there give negative reviews to the corporation and say that the main focus is computer-based standardized testing.

 

The school, part of a chain, is a low-performing charter. Charters in Michigan do not have to meet accountability standards.

Turmoil, chaos, disruption. It is Michigan, after all, the wholly owned state of Betsy DeVos and her family.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Michigan, Privatization

The Failure of Mayoral Control in D.C. (and Everywhere Else)

By dianeravitch
April 2, 2018 //
14

 

Peter McPherson writes here about the failure of mayoral control in the District of Columbia. He recites the promises made by its proponents, and the turmoil and scandal and absence of accountability that has followed.

Reformers don’t like democratic control of public schools. They prefer top-down control, by a mayor or a governor or a commission beyond the reach of the voters. The mayor or governor listen to elites, not to those who are most engaged in the schools, especially parents and local communities.

But, writes McPherson, mayoral control does not improve schools. He agrees that the modernization of school buildings has been a success but it was not necessary to eliminate the elected school board to accomplish that goal.

In those 10 years, has a school system controlled by the mayor and administered by the executive’s chosen instrument, the chancellor, been transformed into a gleaming educational edifice of quality and broad academic achievement?

Not really.

The level of turnover and attrition among DCPS teachers has been far higherthan national norms. The same is true of DCPS administrators. DCPS has fewer students than it did 10 years ago. In school year 2006-07, DCPS had 52,645 students and DC charter schools 19,733, with DCPS having almost 73% of students. In the 2017-18 school year, despite growth in the school-age population of the city, DCPS has 47,982 students and DC charters schools 43,340. Alongside the decrease in absolute numbers of students, DCPS’s share of students has declined to a little over half citywide.

Such declines are not evidence of success.

Under mayoral control and like DC’s charter schools, DCPS has judged its progress using statistical measures of student test taking, such as the DC-CAS and PARCC. Sadly, all of DC’s publicly funded schools have shown only modest gains on these tests, while the achievement gap between white and African American students has widened–and while in the wake of a 2012 cheating scandal, it has become clear that many recent DCPS graduates were not, in fact, eligible to graduate.

(There is no independent analysis of what is occurring in DC charter schools regarding meeting standards for graduation.)

In the meantime, DCPS’s pedagogic innovations, like student performance-based teacher evaluations, have been clung to like life preservers in the freezing North Atlantic, with the belief that they alone would save the day..

This governance model allows those running DCPS to act both quickly and unilaterally. In the end, there could be little surprise that former Mayor Adrian Fenty chose Michelle Rhee as chancellor. He installed someone who was indifferent to what a large swath of stakeholders felt, operating like a zealot and atomizing the old order as she went. In her drive to close schools, Rhee was clearly indifferent to the input of affected communities and the negative effects of those closures, which continue to the present day.

Charter schools are booming, because those with money and power get what they want.

This is a governance system with no public oversight or accountability. It has failed.

The same could be said for mayoral control in Cleveland, New York City, and Chicago.

Mayors should have a role because they control the budget. But the people who enroll their children in the schools should have a large role also. The mayor is not uniquely qualified to run the schools or to choose the best person to run the schools.

Democracy may be inefficient, but it is far better as a governance system than one-man or one-woman rule.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Democracy, District of Columbia

Florida: Legislators’ Wives Are Opening Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
April 2, 2018 //
13

 

Florida is a state that apparently does not prohibit nepotism or conflicts of interest when it comes to charter schools.

The League of Women Voters in Florida studied charters and documented financial links between charter schools and legislators. 

The Miami Herald recognized years ago that Florida was creating a dual school system, and that the charters were fleecing taxpayers with little oversight or accountability.

The Miami Herald wrote about the most recent examples of family members of legislators cashing in.

”Though far removed geographically from each other, two new Florida charter schools share an uncommon feature: They both have a board member who is married to a state lawmaker heavily involved in crafting state policy on charter schools.

“Anne Corcoran, the founder of a charter school in Pasco County, is assisting with a new Tallahassee school. She’s married to Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes.

“Erika Donalds, the founder of a charter school in Collier County, is leading the effort to open a new Martin County school. Her husband is Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, who shepherded Speaker Corcoran’s bill on vouchers for bullied students in the House.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article207320264.html#storylink=cpy

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Florida, Fraud, Privatization

Julia Sass Rubin: The Newark Charter School Wait-List is a Myth

By dianeravitch
March 30, 2018 //
3

I posted earlier today about Chris Christie’s poison pill for Newark, having approved in advance of his retirement an additional 7,000 charter spaces on the basis of a long waiting list.

Rutgers Professor Julia Sass Rubin explains that the current charter schools have openings, and the wait list is a myth:

If current patterns hold, many of the Newark charter school seats approved by Governor Christie are unlikely to be filled by Newark residents because there appears to be an oversupply of charter seats for the level of demand in Newark.

Over the last four years, Newark residents have filled only about 80% of the approved seats in Newark charter schools. This may have been a factor in the Christie Administration’s decision to close several Newark charter schools last year, as doing so would create more demand for the remaining charter schools.

This pattern of weak demand for charter schools is also seen in other New Jersey cities with large charter enrollments.

The data showing a gap between supply and demand throws into question the claims of a 35,000 student waitlist that the NJ charter industry has used to push back against any slow down in approvals. The 35,000 figure is self-reported and unverified. It is created by the charter school trade association. If a student’s family applies to 10 charter schools, the waitlist would count her as ten students. Analysis of specific individual charter waitlists also confirms that they may include students who have moved away or who applied in prior years and are no longer interested.

Mark Weber and I will be releasing a second charter school research report next month that goes into greater detail on these and related issues.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, New Jersey, Newark, Privatization

Reader Reminds Legislators: 90% of American Children Attend Public Schools

By dianeravitch
March 30, 2018 //
21

 

Reader Chiara posted this comment this morning. Whenever a legislature takes up charters and/vouchers, they forget that public schools exist. From that moment, at least 90% of their time in session will be devoted to the care and feeding of the 10% or 3% or 1% in publicly supported private schools.

“Schools in several of Kentucky’s largest counties were forced to close Friday when teachers angered by the passage of a pension overhaul refused to go to work. The state’s two largest districts in Louisville and Lexington were among at least eight school districts that closed schools due to employee absences.”

“West Virginia, Arizona and now Kentucky. Meanwhile, the “ed reform movement” remains blissfully unaware of this ongoing crisis in….public schools.

“I used to joke that every public school in the country could close and ed reformers wouldn’t notice because they don’t actually work on “public education” but instead work on charters and vouchers. I never dreamed we would actually see that, but we are.

“You know what ed reformers in Kentucky spent the last year on? Charters.

“Meanwhile, the schools NINETY FIVE PER CENT of people in that state were in crisis.

“They don’t work for public school families. They work for some abstract privatized school system that exists only at the Walton Foundation.

“Would someone notify the 4000 employees at the US Department of Education that PUBLIC schools are closing? No one in ed reform will notice- they don’t send their kids to our schools.”

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Tom Ultican: Oakland Is California’s Petri Dish for Destroying Public Education

By dianeravitch
March 30, 2018 //
8

 

In this stunning review of Oakland’s recent history, retired teacher Thomas Ultican shows how that city’s school district was completely captured and nearly destroyed by a succession of Broadie Superintendents.

The “Destroy Public Education Movement” was launched in 2001 by then-Mayor Jerry Brown, who started Oakland’s first charter school.

The district fell into debt, and the state took control. Under state control, Oakland schools were managed and mismanaged by a series of Broad-trained Superintendents. Oakland became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Broad Foundation, and each superintendent opened more charter schools than his predecessor.

“Like the Republican politicians in Detroit, Democratic politicians in California pushed OUSD into financial disarray. And like Detroit, Oakland’s financial issues were driven by declining enrollment stemming from the same drivers; privatization, gentrification and suburban development.”

Broadies, writes Ultican, have a long-established track record of disruption, discord, and fiscal mismanagement.

In Oakland, one Broadie followed another, driving demoralization and disarray.

There is at last, he writes, a new superintendent who is not a Broadie. Her name is Kyla Johnson-Trammell. If the billionaires get out of her way, she might be able to restore stability in the district.

Ultican writes:

“A constant theme promoted by the DPE movement is “every student deserves a high-quality school.” When you hear a billionaire or one of his minions say this, you and your community are targets and your about to be fleeced.

“The United States developed a unique education system that was the envy of the world and the great foundation upon which our democratic experiment in self-governance was established. Over two centuries, we developed a system in which every community had a high-quality public school.

“These schools had professionals who earned their positions by completing training at accredited institutions. Government rules and oversight insured that school facilities were safe, and the background of all educators was investigated. In urban areas like Oakland there was a professionally run public school in every neighborhood.

“Could it have been improved? Of course, and that is exactly what was happening before the deceitful attack on public education and teachers.”

He is hopeful that the new homegrown leadership might extract Oakland schools and students from the billionaires’ Petri dish.

 

Categories Broad Foundation, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Oakland, Privatization

Newark: The Poison Pill That Chris Christie Left for the Public Schools of Newark

By dianeravitch
March 30, 2018 //
11

 

When Corey Booker, then Mayor of Newark, and Chris Christie, then Governor of New Jersey, persuaded  Mark Zuckerberg to give them $100 million to transform the schools of Newark, they told him that Newark would become the New Orleans of the North and that it would become one of the highest performing districts in the nation. Hahaha. As Dale Russakoff explained in her book The Prize about Zuckerberg’s millions, most of the money went to consultants and to pay off debts to the teachers’ union.

Nonetheless, Christie delivered on his end of the bargain. Newark is on track to have more than 40% of its students in charter schools. Ten years ago, less than 10% were in charter schools.  

The state has signed off on nearly 7,000 more charter seats to be available by the 2022-23 school year, according to state data compiled by Sass Rubin, who teaches at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Policy. If all those seats are filled and district enrollment stays flat at about 34,200 students, then the share of students who go to school in Newark and attend charters could climb as high as 44 percent.

No one knows whether the demand will meet the supply, but that doesn’t matter. The supply will be there thanks to the Christie administration.

Some said it made sense to stockpile extra seats during the charter-friendly Christie administration, under which the number of charter students doubled. “While the getting is good, and Christie is approving just about anything that sounds stable, why don’t we just go and apply for additional charters so we can have those in our pocket?” asked one charter leader, describing the thinking of some of his school’s board members.

So now we must eagerly await the results to see whether Newark becomes a model for the nation, as Booker and Christie said it would be. Or do we have to wait for Newark to become 100% charter? Apparently the goal is to prove that poverty and segregation don’t matter, and that charters can succeed despite those factors. Let’s see.

But the problem with Newark becoming 100% charter is that then the charters would have no place to send the kids they don’t want. As this report by Mark Weber and Julia Sass Rubin shows, the charters systematically under enroll students with disabilities and English language learners. If charters must take all of them, it might drive down their test scores.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, New Jersey, Newark, Privatization

Florida Offering Big $$$$ Inducements and Freedom from State Laws to Woo Corporate Charter Chains

By dianeravitch
March 29, 2018 //
20

 

The Florida Legislature is firmly controlled by advocates for privatization, some with direct conflicts of interest because of their ties to charter chains. Last year, it passed the “Schools of Hope” law, creating a new program to bring in charter operators to compete with or take over low performing schools.

There has not exactly been a gold rush by charter operators but two have stepped forward and are having trouble meeting the state’s minimal criteria. (I got a one-day complimentary subscription to Politico Pro, so you may not be able to access the full  access the full article).

“A controversial program signed into law in June called “Schools of Hope” gives charter school networks designated as “Hope Operators” the ability to open a “School of Hope” within five miles of a persistently low-performing public school. Those operators, collectively, get access to a pot of tens of millions of dollars to cover startup costs, personnel and specialized educational offerings, plus are given the flexibility of being exempt from a long list of state public education laws.

“The State Board of Education will Tuesday consider Hope Operator applications for two charter school networks: Texas-based IDEA Public Schools and Somerset Academy, managed by Academica, a Miami-based network of schools that took over Jefferson County schools and may not meet the requirements for Hope Operator status.

“To become a Hope Operator, charter networks have to meet certain criteria laid out in the new law, which is itself currently the subject of litigation brought by school districts that compete with charter schools for students.

“Among those criteria is a requirement that at least 70 percent of a charter network’s students be eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch. But across Somerset Academy’s more than 60 public charter schools, the Florida Department of Education estimates only 60 percent of their students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch (89 percent qualify at IDEA schools)….

”The laws states that state education officials must also determine that the student achievement of the charter network “exceeds the district and state averages of the states in which the operator’s schools operate.”

When the “Hope”law was enacted, legislators expected an abundance of applications, but thus far there have only been these two.

Thanks to Congress, there is plenty of money there for charter operators. Florida seems to favor the corporate operators, the fast-food style of franchising and outsourcing.

If Florida legislators think that state laws are unnecessary for charter operators, why are they necessary for public schools?

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Thomas B. Fordham Institute Praises DeVos for Getting $400 Million for Privately Managed Charters

By dianeravitch
March 27, 2018 //
15

 

Betsy DeVos may be mocked by the media and parents, but she has a friend in Mike Petrilli at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. 

Is TBF angling for a federal grant? Mike was an original member of the “NeverTrump” movement, but now he is very impressed by Betsy DeVos. He is star struck, in fact.

Congress has handled her budget requests unsympathetically. She asked for deep cuts in the ED Department’s budget, but Congress increased spending on the programs she wanted to eliminate. The ED budget is actually larger, not smaller.

Betsy wanted $1 billion for school choice, but Congress killed that.

The only win she got was an increase in the funding of charter schools, which now goes up to $400 million a year.

This is a big win for ALEC, the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, and all the Red State governors who want to privatize public education. Make no mistake, it is a win for Donald Trump.

The big push to eliminate public schools in urban districts will resume, thanks to Congress.

This surely makes Corey Booker, one of DeVos’s strongest supporters, happy, along with Andrew Cuomo (NY), Dannel Malloy (CT), and Jerry Brown (CA).

Democrats who say they oppose the DeVos agenda of privatization (like Senator Patty Murray of Washington State) got rolled by DeVos.

New funding for charters, despite the scandals and frauds association with them, will be at least $600 million from the federal government, with its $400 million a year, and the Walton family’s $200 million a year.

If charters were really saving lives, as Petrilli claims, why are Detroit, Milwaukee, and D.C. still among the lowest performing districts in the nation, even though they are all charter-heavy?

When public money goes to private entrepreneurs without accountability, that is an invitation to fraud. And there are plenty of fraudsters lined up to take the money and run.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Fraud, Privatization
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »