Archives for category: Charter Schools
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Randi Endorses Charter Schools in Op-Ed Piece with Jonah Edelman

By dianeravitch
May 31, 2017 //
125

Randi Weingarten and Jonah Edelman co-wrote an article in today’s Los Angeles Times, standing strong against vouchers.

I still remember Jonah Edelman as the guy who bragged at the Aspen Ideas Festival that he had crushed the teachers’ union in Chicago by buying up all the best lobbyists and raising the bar for a strike to 75% of the membership. I remember that he went to Massachusetts and threatened a referendum unless the unions capitulated to his demands. Stand for Children was showered with millions by the Gates Foundation and other promoters of the corporate reform agenda. Edelman strongly supports charter schools, even though they promote racial segregation.

In the middle of a strong article against vouchers, this paragraph was dropped in:

We believe taxpayer money should support schools that are accountable to voters, open to all, nondenominational and transparent about students’ progress. Such schools — district and charter public schools — are part of what unites us as a country.

It is public schools that unites us as a country, not charter schools. We have seen a steady parade of scandals, frauds, abuses, waste of taxpayer dollars, exclusion of children with special needs, from the charter sector.

Charter schools should be subject to democratic control (an elected school board), should be financially transparent, and should have the same requirements for teachers as public schools. They should be required to accept all children who apply, in the order of their application. They should not be allowed to exclude ELLs and children with disabilities.

Charter schools exist to bust unions and undermine public schools. They are a form of privatization. They should not be put into the same boat as public schools because they are not public schools.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Jeff Bryant: What Is the Point of School Choice?

By dianeravitch
May 31, 2017 //
44

Jeff Bryant is trying to figure out what the purpose of school choice is.

“Another week, another round of evidence that providing parents with more “school choice,” especially the kind that lets them opt out of public schools, is not a very effective vehicle for ensuring students improve academically or that taxpayer dollars are spent more wisely.

“The latest evidence comes from a study of the voucher program in Washington, DC that allows parents to transfer their children from public to private schools at taxpayer expense.

“The study found that students “who attended a private school through the program performed worse on standardized tests than their public school counterparts who did not use the vouchers,” reports the New York Times.

“This study adds to others – from Ohio, Indiana, and Louisiana – finding that school vouchers have negative impacts on students.

“Despite these results, many proponents of school choice contend the purpose of school choice was never about generating better results. It’s about choice.

“The latest evidence comes from a study of the voucher program in Washington, DC that allows parents to transfer their children from public to private schools at taxpayer expense.

“The study found that students “who attended a private school through the program performed worse on standardized tests than their public school counterparts who did not use the vouchers,” reports the New York Times.

“This study adds to others – from Ohio, Indiana, and Louisiana – finding that school vouchers have negative impacts on students.

“Despite these results, many proponents of school choice contend the purpose of school choice was never about generating better results. It’s about choice for choice’s sake.

“Results Don’t Matter?

“That seems to be what US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos argues in her reaction to the news about the apparent failure of the DC voucher program. As the Washington Post reports, the report prompted her to say, “When school choice policies are fully implemented, there should not be differences in achievement among the various types of schools.”

So if choice doesn’t raise scores, what’s the point?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, School Choice, Vouchers

Jersey Jazzman: The Facts About Charter Schools in Newark

By dianeravitch
May 31, 2017 //
6

Jersey Jazzman, aka Mark Weber, experienced teacher and doctoral student at Rutgers, follows the claims of charter promoters in New Jersey, especially Newark. His latest post is simply “Facts About Newark Charter Schools.”

Bottom line: the charters do not enroll the same students as public schools. Why is that so hard for the media to understand?

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

Politico Posts Puff Piece About Eva Moskowitz

By dianeravitch
May 31, 2017 //
55

I wasn’t going to refer to this article by Kyle Spencer in Politico magazine. It reads so much like promotional literature massaged by Eva’s public relations department that I thought it best to ignore its it. But several people sent it to me, so I couldn’t overlook it.

It is called “Paul Ryan’s Favorite Charter School.” It presents Eva Moskowitz as a “liberal Democrat” whose no-excuses charters produce miraculous results.

When she interviewed me, I told her to pay attention to student attrition. She didn’t.

When I pointed out that the same students who performed brilliantly on the state tests were unable to gain entry to the city’s highly selective exam schools until their third year of trying, she ignored that.

She fell hook, line, and sinker for Eva’s claim that the goal of schooling is to get high test scores, even at the risk of crushing the spirit of students with rules and sanctions.

Kyle Spencer knows that affluent parents don’t want their children in such a rigid atmosphere. But it seems to be just right for poor black children. That’s why Trump interviewed her for the job of Secretary of Education, and why Republicans like Paul Ryan love Eva. The patronizing rich usually believe that black children need a firm hand and swift justice.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Discipline and Suspensions, Education Industry, Harlem Success Academy, Privatization, Trump

New York: Is Rochester Academy Charter School a Gulen School?

By dianeravitch
May 30, 2017 //
22

Rochester Academy Charter School in New York boasts impressive test scores, as do most schools that select their students.

But is it a Gulen School connected to Fethullah Gulen’s national network?

One thing it is not is a neighborhood school or a community school.

Although three of the board’s seven members are Turkish, that is not conclusive evidence that the school is funneling money to Gulen for his political activities.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Bruce Baker: The Charter School Company Store

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2017 //
8

Bruce Baker writes here about the ingenious ways that charter schools extract money from their staff. The Gulen schools do it directly; Baker discovered that certain “no excuses” schools do it by requiring their teachers to enroll in the Relay “Graduate School of Education.”

https://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2016/12/12/the-charter-school-company-store/

Categories Charter Schools

California: Deal Struck in Legislature to Reform Charters’ Enrollment and Discipline Policies

By dianeravitch
May 28, 2017 //
18

Kyle Stokes of public radio station KPCC reports that a deal has been struck between the California Teachers Association and the California Charter Schools Association to allow rights for charter school students.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/05/25/72181/kicked-out-of-a-charter-school-deal-struck-in-sacr/

“Parents who believe their child is being “counseled out” of a charter school in California could soon have the right to request a hearing to challenge the student’s removal.

“This provision is part of a broader deal State Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) brokered between charter school lobbyists and teachers union leaders in Sacramento, potentially paving the way for state lawmakers to change state laws governing charter schools’ enrollment or discipline policies this session.

“The deal would amend Assembly Bill 1360, which members of the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee could take up and send to the House floor at their meeting on Friday. Bonta said the legislature’s lawyers are still working out the exact wording for the changes.

“But if the new language meets with all sides’ approval, Bonta will have sewn up a rare agreement between two rival Sacramento heavyweights: the state’s largest teachers union, the California Teachers Association; and the California Charter Schools Association….

“Under terms of the deal, the amended AB 1360 would strengthen or clarify several state charter school laws:

“Discipline policies. The bill would require charter schools to publish a specific list of acts for which a student could be suspended or expelled. The bill also spells out the “due process” rights of a charter school student facing discipline. Depending on the length of the student’s suspension, she could be entitled to oral or written notice of the charges, the right to present alternative evidence or even a hearing overseen by a neutral arbitrator.
”
‘Non-disciplinary’ dismissals. Critics often allege charter schools attempt to push out students who are costly or difficult to educate, such as special education students. (Charter school advocates say the charges are often overblown.) The amended AB 1360 would outline a similar “due process” procedure for charter school students who are transferred or dis-enrolled for “non-disciplinary” reasons, giving parents up to five school days to request a hearing challenging the students’ dismissal.

“Enrollment preferences. Charter schools are supposed to admit any student who applies so long as there’s space. When applicants outnumber available seats, charter schools must hold random drawings to fill those seats. State law allows charter schools to set limited admissions preferences, such as for pupils who reside in the district — but current law also leaves a big grey area, saying charter schools can enact “other preferences” so long as they’re not discriminatory. Under the deal, AB 1360 would officially allow two “other preferences” that have become common practice among charter schools — preferences for children of charter staff members and for siblings of current charter school students.

“Mandatory parent volunteer hours. California Department of Education officials have said parents cannot be compelled to volunteer their time or donate money to any public schools. Still, last year, the report from the ACLU and Public Advocates found more than 60 California charter schools which required parents to commit to a set number of volunteer hours as a condition for enrollment. The amended AB 1360’s language would explicitly prohibit these volunteerism requirements. (By the way, half of those 60 schools have since changed their policies.)”

This is a big step forward for charters, which have consistently fought off any efforts to regulate their practices.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Discipline

Tom Ultican’s Sharp Critique of What Went Wrong and How to Make Things Right

By dianeravitch
May 28, 2017 //
19

Tom Ultican became a teacher of math and physics in San Diego after a career in Silicon Valley. He is retiring. He loves teaching.

He describes with precision the people who imposed bad ideas on the schools and messed them up. Maybe they meant well but their lack of knowledge or experience in the classroom led to naive and foolish and failed interventions, like Common Core and “turnaround,” with mad firings.

He writes:

“Standards based education is bad education theory. In the 1960’s Benjamin Bloom proposed mastery education in which instruction would be individualized and students would master certain skills before they moved ahead. By the 1970’s this idea had been married with B.F. Skinner’s behaviorist philosophy and teachers were given lists of discrete items for their students to master. The “reform” became derisively known as “seats and sheets.””

Tom says he is leaving the classroom. I hope there is a way to keep his kbowledge, experience, and wisdom engaged in educating the next generation.

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Competency Based Education, Corporate Reform, Education Industry, NCLB, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization, San Diego, Technology, Turnaround Schools

How the Richest County in California Got Its New Charter School

By dianeravitch
May 28, 2017 //
17

Marin County in California is the wealthiest in the state. The seemingly idyllic Ross Vallley is now torn between two factions of parents: one supporting the traditional public schools (organized as STAND with Ross Valley schools), the other determined to break away and have their own charter school, RVC, or Ross Valley charter school.

Bill Raden, writing at Capitol & Main, writes:

“California’s 1992 charter school law waived much of the state’s education code for charters, under the theory that they would be dynamic classroom laboratories capable of closing the state’s education gap for children traumatized by the poverty and social stressors of their neighborhoods. What the law doesn’t do is limit charter schools to low-performing communities, and for small, highly rated districts like Ross Valley, charter schools carry substantial costs that STAND parents maintain have already negatively impacted classrooms.

“What concerns me is that [Ross Valley Charter] is going to eventually take over one of our neighborhood public schools,” said Eileen Brown, who is a STAND member but also a former parent of RVC’s predecessor, a district-run Alternative Schools program called MAP. “They will grow and they will get enough parents to buy in, so that one of our neighborhood public schools that serves all the children is not going to have enough numbers to justify staying open.”

“Besides being California’s wealthiest county, Marin is one of its best educated. The high value its residents place on a quality education has given Marin County some of California’s highest-performing and most competitive schools — including the four top-rated elementary schools and one middle school that serve the RVSD towns of Fairfax and San Anselmo.

“It has also given Ross Valley a blistering charter fight, in a Bay Area community long renowned for its laidback lifestyle and 1960s counterculture past.

“What has turned parent against parent, neighbor against neighbor, and even split up children’s friendships is MAP (Multi-Age Program), which was installed at Fairfax’s sole neighborhood school, Manor Elementary, in 1996. In August, the program will reopen its doors as the Ross Valley Charter School to 130 students, or six percent of RVSD’s 2,300 enrollment — becoming only the fourth charter in Marin county — in a co-location at White Hill, the district’s lone middle school.

“But many Fairfax parents already had their fill of MAP when the program was allowed to operate for 18 years under its own board as, essentially, an elite private academy within the district — much like a charter school. But because MAP was co-located at Manor Elementary, which includes the bulk of the district’s English Language Learners (ELL) and Free and Reduced Price Lunch populations, it was Fairfax’s traditional K-5 students who paid a disproportionate price in resources, enrollment and especially, said the Manor parents, the program’s rigid culture of keeping the two programs socially segregated.”

When parents complained about discrimination, MAP parents decided to take advantage of California’s lac charter law and break away as a charter, free of any obligations to the district.

You can see where this is going, can’t you? It is an invitation to affluent parents to break away and self-segregate, avoiding contact with “those children.” Better yet, they get to have a socially and racially segregated school at public expense. Deja vu?

Categories California, Charter Schools, Segregation

Oakland Charter School in Trouble Again

By dianeravitch
May 27, 2017 //
16

The American Indian Model School in Oakland has a checkered history.

It began as a school for American Indians. It was taken over by a swaggering, authoritarian leader named Ben Chavis. Chavis quietly got rid of the American Indians and replaced them with Asian and white students. The scores escalated, and the charter became famous and celebrated for its “no excuses” discipline and its high test scores.

Rise and Fall of California’s Most Celebrated Charter School

Governor Schwarzenegger visited the school, as did a parade of media luminaries. Chavis became a hero on the right, as he excoriated unions, multiculturalists, liberals, and anyone who questioned his harsh methods.

In a book called “Sweating the Small Stuff,” David Whitman cited AIMS as an exemplary charter school. Whitman’s book was published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Whitman became Arne Duncan’s speech writer.

The ceiling fell in on Ben Chavis, leader of AIMS, when a state audit discovered that $3.8 million was missing from the school’s account–and had been deposited in Chavis’s personal and business accounts.

Chavis retired, but the school lives on.

Earlier this year, Chavis wS arrested and charged with fraud.

http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/14922402-ex-charter-school-leader-charged-with-fraud-money-laundering-what-woul

The latest news is that the school is in turmoil. Parents, teachers, and students are angry at the administration.

https://m.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2017/05/24/parents-teachers-and-students-at-oakland-charter-school-accuse-leadership-of-mismanagement

AIMS is listed by Jay Mathews as one of the best high schools in America, positioned as #11 on his list.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Discipline, Education Industry, Fraud
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