Archives for category: Corporate Reformers
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Privatizers Now Targeting Pittsburgh Public Schools

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
3

Yinzercation, one of the best blogs in Pennsylvania, has an alarming post.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools have given a $2.4 million contract to two consulting companies to deal with the district’s equity and financial issues.

Some of this was underwritten by the Gates Foundation, as well as local foundations (Gates gave Pittsburgh a large grant to install a new teacher evaluation system).

One of the two companies is Bellwether, whose partners include the TIME columnist Andrew Rotherham and also Andy Smarick.

Andy is well known for his hostility to public schools. He believes in charterizing public education.

Other members of the firm were formerly associated with Bain & Company, Mitt Romney’s old firm.

Looks like Pittsburgh will join the urban districts that are closing public schools and handing the kids and money over to private enterpreneurs.

It would be great to see one example of an urban district anywhere in the U.S. where the corporate reform policies have produced a better school system, one that works for all kids.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Pennsylvania

Is This What Democracy Looks Like?

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2013 //
29

In Los Angeles, Robert Skeels is running against Monica Garcia, the school board president.

Garcia and two other candidates (including Kate Anderson, who is opposing Steve Zimmer), have received $1 million from NYC mayor Bloomberg, $1.5 million from Eli Broad and friends, and $250,000 from Michelle Rhee’s group.

Here is what Skeels says, responding to another reader, as he watches the massive campaign fund grow:

“…the ratio of plutocrat to union spending in this race is in orders of magnitude. All bidders indeed. My campaign has raised $17,245.22 with just contributions from working class families and community members of $25—$50. One big check from AALA of $500. UTLA hasn’t even sent me their promised $300 check yet. But these billionaires are giving my opponent millions upon millions to offset some phantasmagorical union advantage? You’re more than a liar Mr. U., you’re a shill for power and privilege. Essentially, just a single donor to the CSR corporate slush fund has more say over the election than all the families in my district. That’s some kind of democracy.”

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Broad Foundation, Corporate Reformers, Los Angeles

The Corporate Takeover of Indianapolis Public Schools

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2013 //
12

A reader sent the following information about the planned destruction of public education in Indianapolis:

Unfortunately the Neighborhoods of Educational Opportunity/Indianapolis Mayor’s Office plan (NEO) presentation which has been made public is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a well documented, more detailed plan that select groups (The Mind Trust, Stand for Children, Teach for America, The New Teacher Project) are meeting about in private and making plans while they await the possible receipt of a Bloomberg grant of $5 mil to get this plan off the ground in Indianapolis.
This plan will not be publicly unveiled in Indianapolis until it is a done deal.

Certain members of the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners were strategically placed there by the powers that be to weaken Indianapolis Public Schools and prime it for takeover.
Also, watch legislation in Indiana. The Mayor’s office is slowly taking powers away from other branches of government. For example, they now have oversight of four former IPS schools taken over under Tony Bennett’s watch.

There is legislation pending that would allow those schools to become “independent” schools at the end of the takeover period.

We now have a parent trigger law.

There is also legislation which would remove the involvement/oversight of the city county council in approving new Charter schools.

Another bill takes a funding source from public schools (proceeds from auctioned properties due to non-payment of taxes) and gives it to Mayor-sponsored charter schools.

Other legislation forces the sale or lease of closed public schools to Charter schools and other private entities.

All of this collusion is no accident. If you happen to believe it is a bunch of coincidental things, non-related, happening all at the same time, then I feel sorry for you.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Indiana, Privatization

An Outrage in Sacramento

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2013 //
12

The Sacramento school board is rushing to shut down 11 elementary schools. That’s 20 percent of the elementary schools run by the Sacramento City Unified School District.

The process has been indefensible. Board members and the Superintendent have short-circuited the usual decision making process on school closure in order to jam these through. The California Department of Education recommends a 6 month process, which includes formation of a citizen advisory committee. But the district has given just five weeks between announcing the list of schools on the chopping block, and the final vote on Thursday. There is no citizen committee.

The fierce urgency of now requires immediate action, and no democratic process whatever.

The district has wildly exaggerated the under-enrollment numbers at these schools, cherry-picked numbers regarding costs and revenue, and refused to take into account the impact that displacing so many students will have on enrollment–as students leave the district for charter schools and other districts. Charter operators are already checking out some campuses, eager to take them over. The superintendent is a graduate of the Broad Academy, which suggests that the mass closure is more about about ideology than cost savings or efficiency.

This is an outrage.

Why don’t they hold hearings?

The lights are going out on public schools in city after city because some billionaire thinks it is a good idea.

Some smart and sophisticated young activists in the Hmong and Latino communities have organized to fight this plan. Listen to them here.

Are there no public-spirited citizens on the Sacramento school board? Don’t they feel a civic obligation to protect public education against privatization?

Categories Broad Foundation, Budget Cuts, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Mercedes Schneider on the NCTQ Board

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2013 //
1

This is the sixteenth installment of Mercedes Schneider’s analysis of the board of the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Mercedes is a teacher in Louisiana who holds a Ph.D. in statistics and research methods. As a teacher, she wanted to know about the organization that is now evaluating teacher preparation programs around the nation.

Tomorrow she will release her overview of the entire series.

 

Categories Corporate Reformers, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching

How Charters Went from Portfolios to Parasites

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2013 //
4

If I had to choose one post each day that was a must-read, this would be it.

Bruce Baker of Rutgers has followed the evolution of the charter movement.

He initially thought they might be a source of innovation, as their advocates promised.

But over time, he has observed a systematic pattern of cream skimming, where charters pick the best students and leave the toughest cases for public schools.

Although he recognizes that some charters have resisted the temptation to win at all costs, he now concludes that the sector has become parasitic, harming public schools by skimming the students that make the charters look good.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry

What About the Good Charters? UPDATE

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2013 //
122

Jeb Bush’s organization tweeted on the morning of February 20 that I “liken school choice to Nazi invasion.” Whoever posted that tweet under the name of Jeb Bush’s organization either maliciously ignored the fact that the first sentence of the post says that the post was written by a parent, or was confused by the formatting. I did not liken school choice to a Nazi invasion, period.

I can’t do anything to diminish the malice of others, but I did revise the post to insert the words, “she writes” to make clear where her comment begins. And I added the link to the Naison-Bernstein post to which the comment refers.

I want to add that I defend the right of everyone to use historical analogies to refer to current events. People do that all the time, as well they should. Free speech permits anyone to use analogies to slavery, Jim Crow, the Brown decision, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Great Depression, McCarthyism, Prohibition, the Holocaust, Chamberlain, the Munich Pact, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Pearl Harbor, or any other historical event or person to make a point. I believe in free speech. It is your choice to like their analogy or not like it, but it insults the intelligence of everyone to say that all historical analogies are out of bounds. If people make ridiculous analogies, then it makes them look ridiculous.

So to clear up any confusion, here is where the original blog begins.

 

 

 

This parent takes issue with Mark Naison and Bruce Bernstein, who wrote a post about how to tell whether your local charter school is avaricious. The few “good charters” are used by the corporate charter chains to clear the path:

She writes:

Superb list. Very true. However, I must disagree with this sentence: “We will not categorically write off charter schools because there are some great ones.”

Maybe. But the privatizers declared war on our schools, our kids, our teachers, our parents and our taxpayers.

We didn’t start this war, any more than Poland in 1939. But we must fight back. And ultimately, emerge victorious.

And when you’re in a war, and you’re defending the lives of your community, unfortunately, nuance or thoughtful qualifications become luxuries we can no longer afford.

Every “ed reformer” has lines like this down pat: “Well, charter schools aren’t a silver bullet. I’d never pretend that they’ll solve all of our education challenges. And I’ll be the first to admit that there are some bad apples. But we should all acknowledge that there are some great ones…” blah blah blah and before you know it, you wake up one day and you’re living in Detroit, New Orleans, Philadelphia or Indianapolis, with the mayor running the show, and cutting up “the pie” for all his fellow country clubbers and new billionaire buddies.

You may technically be right about some “good charters”, but I think such a reasonable concession is just what they’ll use as an excuse to then drive a truck right through it.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Privatization

Los Angeles School Board Race: Follow the Money

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2013 //
13

This just arrived in my email box:

LAUSD: Follow The Money by Joseph K

Mensaje se repite en Español)
I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I’ll confirm. I’ll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that’s all. Just… follow the money.

-Deep Throat, “All the President’s Men” (1976) 

If you want to know the direction LAUSD School Board President Monica Garcia and new candidate Kate Anderson want to take the Los Angeles School District after the upcoming election, then follow the money. In this case following the money isn’t difficult because there is just so damn much of it. Start with an astounding quarter of a million dollars by Eli Broad, Superintendent Deasy’s mentor and puppet master, and another quarter million by fellow billionaire, Latino media magnate A. Jerrold Perenchio, formerly of Univision. Together they pushed “their” Coalition for School Reform’s coffers to $1.5 million. Then Mayor Villaraigosa who, along with Broad, was instrumental in bringing Deasy to LAUSD, called in the really big gun by brokering a deal with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who contributed an additional million dollars for the Coalition -money education historian Diane Ravitch called “repugnant and an affront to democracy.”

What qualifies Bloomberg to buy a Board of Education three thousand miles distant? In New York with the help of the Gates Foundation, he closed more than 150 “failing schools” replacing them with smaller schools and charter schools. Sixty percent of these “new and improved” smaller elementary and middle schools now have lower passing rates than the schools they replaced. Just 38% of the students at elementary and middle schools created by the Bloomberg administration passed the reading exams, compared with 47% of students citywide. Former NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein, who raised proficiency rates by dramatically lowering expectations, pitched in another $25,000.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bloomberg-new-schools-failed-thousands-city-students-article-1.1119406#ixzz2LC0W0ylq 

Bloomberg’s schools share this attribute with Villaraigosa’s Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (PLAS), which have been a dismal failure. Roosevelt High School was divided into seven small schools in the name of “improvement” in 2007. Only one of the seven principals had previous experience as a principal. In 2009, Roosevelt teachers gave Villaraigosa and PLAS an “F” because they saw no improvement. Now in 2013, many school and community members are in open revolt. Enrollment has plummeted. The LA Weekly, citing API scores, noted that Roosevelt made Compton Unified look like the “district of the freaking month.” 

Mayor Villaraigosa called Bloomberg, “the most important voice in education reform today” – education deform is more like it. The Coalition for School Reform may as well be in Deasy’s pocketbook. Megan Chernin is a major backer and the former head of charter operator LA’s Promise as is Steven Prough, the current head, who contributed $10,000 personally. How good is L.A.’s Promise in keeping its promises? In 2010, 91% of West Adams Prep students were not proficient in English and 82% were not proficient in math. Manuel Arts, which L.A.’s Promise had also “promised” to turn into a Garden of Eden had astoundingly high non-proficiency rates of 97% and 90% respectively in 2010. Their achievement rates seem inversely proportional to the glossiness of their marketing brochures.

Jaimie Alter Lynton donated $100,000 to the Coalition. She, like Chernin, is on the board of Deasy’s fundraising nonprofit group. Lynton also launched L.A. School Report which is basically dedicated to extolling and promoting Deasy and electing both Anderson and Garcia while simultaneously denouncing the teachers’ union as the protector of pedophiles. 

Kate Anderson has called Deasy “the best superintendent this district has had in decades” and wants to make all schools as “great” as New West Charter School. New West is 62% white and Asian, 24% Latino, and 12% Black. Only 11% of its students are on free or reduced lunches. It boasts not a single English Language learner in the entire school. Special education statistics are unavailable for some mysterious reason. Let’s make all schools just like New West Charter School. 

You want to know about Garcia and Anderson? Just follow the money. 

Joseph K. is a 27-year veteran of LAUSD, a former mentor teacher twice named a Johns Hopkins University Teaching Fellow. He teaches the old-fashioned way – by ignoring standardized test scores. Instead of teaching bubbling, he tries to instill a love of knowledge and learning in his students and for this reason will probably be allowed to continue teaching for fifteen more minutes.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch: 
 
 
En Español
 
Tengo que hacer esto a mi manera. Tú me dices lo que sabes, y yo voy a confirmar. Te voy a mantener en la dirección correcta si puedo, pero eso es todo. Sólo … seguir el dinero.
-Deep Throat, “Todos los hombres del presidente” (1976)
Si desea conocer la dirección de la Junta Escolar de LAUSD Mónica García, y el presidente nuevo candidato Kate Anderson quiere tomar el Los Angeles Distrito Escolar después de las próximas elecciones, a continuación, seguir el dinero. En este caso, después de que el dinero no es difícil porque no es tan condenadamente mucho. Comience con un sorprendente cuarto de millón de dólares por Eli Broad, mentor Superintendente Deasy y titiritero, y otro cuarto de millón por el multimillonario hombre, magnate de los medios latinos A. Jerrold Perenchio, antes de Univision. Juntos empujaron “su” Coalición para las arcas de reforma escolar a $ 1,5 millones. A continuación, el alcalde Villaraigosa, quien junto con Broad, fue instrumental en traer a Deasy LAUSD, llamado en la pistola muy grande por negociar un acuerdo con New York el alcalde Michael Bloomberg, quien contribuyó con un adicional de millón de dólares por la Coalición de dinero educación Diane Ravitch historiador llamó a esto “repugnante y una afrenta a la democracia”.
¿Qué califica Bloomberg para comprar una Board of Education tres mil millas distante? En Nueva York, con la ayuda de la Fundación Gates, cerró más de 150 “escuelas fracasadas” sustituyéndolas por las escuelas más pequeñas y las escuelas charter. El sesenta por ciento de estos “nuevos y mejorados” más pequeñas escuelas primarias y secundarias ahora tienen menores tasas de aprobación que las escuelas a las que sustituyen. Sólo el 38% de los estudiantes de las escuelas primarias e intermedias creadas por la administración Bloomberg aprobó los exámenes de lectura, en comparación con el 47% de los estudiantes de toda la ciudad. El ex NYC Escuela canciller Joel Klein, que elevó las tasas de aptitud por bajar drásticamente las expectativas, lanzó otros $ 25.000.
Escuelas de Bloomberg comparten este atributo con la Asociación de Villaraigosa de Los Angeles Schools (PLAS), que han sido un fracaso total. Roosevelt High School fue dividido en siete escuelas pequeñas en el nombre de la “mejora” en 2007. Sólo uno de los siete directores tenían experiencia previa como directora. En 2009, los maestros de Roosevelt dio Villaraigosa y PLAS una “F” porque veían ninguna mejora. Ahora, en 2013, muchos miembros de la escuela y de la comunidad están en rebelión abierta. La inscripción ha caído en picado. LA Weekly, citando resultados del API, señaló que Roosevelt hizo Compton aspecto unificado como el “distrito del mes maldito.”
Alcalde Villaraigosa llamó Bloomberg, “la voz más importante en la reforma de la educación de hoy” – deformar la educación es más parecido. La Coalición para la Reforma Escolar puede también ser en cartera Deasy. Megan Chernin es un importante patrocinador y el ex jefe de la Promesa carta operador de Los Angeles como es Steven Prough, el actual jefe, quien contribuyó con $ 10.000 personalmente. ¿Qué tan buena es la promesa de Los Ángeles en mantener sus promesas? En 2010, el 91% de los estudiantes de West Adams Prep no eran competentes en Inglés y el 82% no eran competentes en matemáticas. Manuel Artes, que Promise Los Ángeles también había “prometido” para convertirse en un Jardín del Edén tenía asombrosamente altos de competencia no las tasas de 97% y 90% respectivamente en 2010. Sus tasas de rendimiento parecen inversamente proporcional al brillo de folletos de marketing.
Jaimie Alter Lynton donó 100.000 dólares a la Coalición. Ella, al igual Chernin, está en la junta de recaudación de fondos sin fines de lucro grupo Deasy. Lynton también lanzó Reporte de LA Escuela, que es básicamente dedicado a exaltar y promover Deasy y elegir a Anderson y García y al mismo tiempo denunciar el sindicato de maestros como el protector de los pedófilos.
Kate Anderson ha llamado Deasy “el mejor superintendente de este distrito ha tenido en las últimas décadas” y quiere que todas las escuelas como “grande” como Escuela Nueva Carta de Occidente. New West es el 62% de blancos y asiáticos, latinos 24% y el 12% Negro. Sólo el 11% de sus estudiantes son de almuerzos gratis oa precio reducido. No cuenta con un solo estudiante de Inglés en toda la escuela. Estadísticas de educación especial no están disponibles, por alguna razón misteriosa. Vamos a hacer todas las escuelas al igual que la Escuela Nueva Carta de Occidente.
¿Quieres saber acerca de García y Anderson? Sólo tienes que seguir el dinero.
Joseph K. es un veterano de 27 años de LAUSD, un maestro mentor ex dos veces nombrado Johns Hopkins University Teaching Fellow. Él enseña la manera pasada de moda – haciendo caso omiso de las puntuaciones de las pruebas estandarizadas. En lugar de enseñar burbujeante, trata de inculcar un amor por el conocimiento y el aprendizaje en sus estudiantes y por esta razón probablemente se le permitirá continuar enseñando durante quince minutos más.
Si usted o alguien que usted conoce ha sido blanco de ataques y están en proceso de ser despedido y la necesidad de defensa legal, póngase en contacto:
Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Privatization

Activists in Four States Organize to Support Public Education

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2013 //
3

If you are in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, or Illinois–or anywhere else–please join with parents, students, and educators to support public schools. These states have been targets for rightwing demands for privatization. Enough is enough. Time to organize and mobilize to fend off the attacks on teachers, principals, and public schools.

Time For Action Update:

Parents Across America, in cooperation with Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education and with other grassroots groups, invites you to “Public Schools Across America,” a 4-state Regional Action Planning Meeting.

Across the country, there is a rising chorus of protest against corporate-style school reform. Parents, teachers, students, principals, superintendents, scholars, school board members, civil rights lawyers and other concerned citizens are voicing opposition to the privatization of our schools which threatens the future of our children and the fundamental democratic principles upon which our system of public education is based.

With “Public Schools Across America,” we hope to create a model for coordinated regional action in support of public education which could be expanded and replicated across the U.S.
Who: You are invited! And please share this invitation with others interested in regional joint action in support of public education (even if they are not in our region – as long as they are able to get themselves to Ft Wayne). This meeting is not limited to educators. It for parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens who support public education and want to get more involved in supporting our public schools and our children.

What: The first “Public Schools Across America” Regional Action Planning Meeting.

Featured speaker: Indiana State Superintendent Glenda Ritz, newly-elected superintendent.

Where: Fort Wayne, IN, chosen because it is located within a reasonable drive from all 4 states, and is FULL of public education activists!. We will meet at the Plymouth United Church of Christ, conveniently located at 501 W Berry Street in Ft. Wayne.

When: Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 from 12 noon to 5 pm (snacks provided).

Why: To share our concerns about attacks on public education and how we have addressed them locally, and to consider joint activities across our region and potentially across the U.S. to strengthen public education.

Thank you for all you do in support of our public schools and our children. Hope to see you in Ft. Wayne!

Julie Woestehoff and Maureen Reedy

Julie Woestehoff, executive director, Parents United for Responsible Education (Chicago)
Co-founder of Parents Across America.
E-mail: pure@pureparents.org

Maureen Reedy ~ Co-founder of Public Schools Across America
Parent and 29-year public school teacher
Ohio Teacher of the Year, 2002
E-mail: Maureen.reedy@gmail.com

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE) Blog: http://neifpe.blogspot.com/;

Email: neifpe@gmail.com; LinkedIn: NEIFPE and Twitter

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Privatization

When “Reality” Shows Lie

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2013 //
7

A reader commented on Oprah’s television mockumentary about the “miracle” of charter schools in New Orleans. By the state’s own data, New Orleans ranks 70th of 70 districts. By the admission of the pro-charter Cowen Institute at Tulane, two-thirds of the charters are “failing” schools. But the myth lives on. Another zombie idea.

Now we have the reality TV circuit manufacturing an image (note the overlapping soundtrack) to reinforce the charter school myth. What reality TV constructs is research-lite. It proposes to give insight, yet in this case, the proposal is cloaked with the intent to forward the privatization of education –research bias at its finest. What is consistently apparent in charter schools is the pick and choose basis of its student population while siphoning monies intended for public education –education as commodity while the neo-liberal train rolls on.

A disturbing actuality about the reality-genre, is that TV shows in the past (from Leave it to Beaver to Family Ties and onward) constructed a wall between the viewer and the constructed image plastered on the screen. Viewers for the most part had an understanding that “life is not like that.”

Now the wall has become permeable, luring the viewer to “believe” that the actuality exists and the marketing agents are absent from the narrative. What we witness today is an illusion that the marionette’s strings have been severed. Furthermore, the critical lens to examine, find limitations, and query further is never proposed or suggested. The proof is in the pudding and celebrities like Ms. Winfrey are the peer-review validation to such pseudo-research. Why have a discourse about education when the bottom line dictates the propagating narrative of choice?

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, New Orleans
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