Archives for category: Corporate Reformers
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Rocketship to Nowhere

By dianeravitch
January 3, 2013 //
37

I posted a couple of times about John Merrow’s PBS profile of the Rocketship charter chain, but I think there is more to be said on the subject.

The chain now has seven charters in San Jose, California, and it will soon expand into many more urban “markets.” When it enters a new territory, it expects a commitment for at least five charters. It aims to enroll one million children eventually. It is presently planning new schools in Nashville, San Antonio, Milwaukee, and other cities.

Merrow’s show was well done and nicely framed. He begins with old documentary footage of Henry Ford’s assembly line and asks why we as a nation have not even able to “mass produce” high quality schools. He then shifts to Rocketship, where we see children, teachers, and parents chanting in what appears to be a daily ritual. I think they were chanting some sort of self-esteem boosting words or slogans, like “I am a Rocketship,” but I’m not certain of that.

Then we learn the following:

About 75% of the teachers are Teach for America, so we don’t expect to see many experienced teachers.

Students spend two hours a day in front of a computer, which assesses their skill levels and offers them problems adjusted to their ability.

The school has fewer teachers because of its computer time, which saves about $500,000 a year.

The founder of Rocketship is unalterably opposed to unions, because he says they would limit his flexibility.

The teachers are paid more than public school teachers, and some are paid a good deal more, though it was not explained what determined compensation.

The schools have high test scores, even though their students are low-income.

The schools offer neither art or music. They seem to be focused solely on tested subjects.

There was some talk of changing the computer labs next year, though it was not clear how.

Some of the students, especially the younger ones, appeared to be bored at the computer.

The takeaway?

These are schools for poor children. Not many advantaged parents would want their children in this bare-bones Model-T school. It appears that these children are being trained to work on an assembly line. There is no suggestion that they are challenged to think or question or wonder or create.

Bit their test scores are high.

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

In Search of One Brave Superintendent in Connecticut

By dianeravitch
January 3, 2013 //
5

Wendy Lecker is a civil rights lawyer who lives in Ciponnecticut. She worked on the lawsuit for more funding for high-needs schools in New York, called the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and has just agreed to become the lawyer for the Campaign.

In this terrific article, she asks whether there is any superintendent in Connecticut brave enough to stand up with such leaders as Joshua Starr of Montgomery County, Maryland, Heath Morrison of Charlotte-Mecklenberg, North Carolia, and John Kuhn of Texas, all of whom have forthrightly criticized the misuse of standardized testing.

Is there one? Two? Please speak up.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Testing

The War on Local School Boards, Bridgeport Edition

By dianeravitch
January 3, 2013 //
8

Josh Eidelson explains in Salon.com what happened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, when the corporate reformers promoted a referendum to abolish the elected school boards and give the public schools to the mayor. Despite the active support of Michelle Rhee and a heavy infusion of money, the voters of Bridgeport decided they preferred to keep their right to choose those who control their schools.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Charter Schools, ConnCAN, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Rhee, Michelle

Gary Rubinstein Talks to the Reform Leaders

By dianeravitch
January 3, 2013 //
3

Gary Rubinstein was one of the first members of Teach for America. He is now one of the leading critics of TFA and corporate reform.

His blog is consistently thoughtful and informative.

A few months ago, Gary decided to write to the top figures in the corporate reform movement.

His letters and the replies he received make for fascinating reading.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Testing

Jonathan Pelto Reports: Has CNN Dropped Dr. Steve Perry?

By dianeravitch
January 2, 2013 //
11

According to Connecticut blogger Jonathan Pelto, CNN has severed its relationship with Dr. Steve Perry.

Dr. Perry became best known for his putdown of teaches and unions, as well as his claims about his own miraculous achievements as director of a magnet school in Hartford.

Pelto does a good job deconstructing those claims.

Jersey Jazzman deconstructed his claims last year in multiple posts. See here. And here. And here.

Could it be that CNN executives read Jersey Jazzman?

Categories Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform

Jersey Jazzman Deconstructs Joel Klein’s Record

By dianeravitch
January 2, 2013 //
7

Joel Klein served as Chancellor of the New York City public schools for eight years. He had no previous experience as an educator. But he came to the job with a determination to reinvent the system and wipe out whatever he found. He has often boasted of the dramatic gains that occurred under his leadership, at the same time that he claims that public education is in terrible shape due to teachers’ unions and tenure laws that protect incompetent teachers.

Here Jersey Jazzman begins a multi-part dissection of Klein’s record as leader in New York City.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Klein, Joel, New York City

When Non-Profits Are Very Profitable

By dianeravitch
December 31, 2012 //
29

The New York Times had a front-page story yesterday about a non-profit corporation that runs halfway houses in New Jersey.

It may be non-profit, but the owner and his family are making millions.

Does this remind you of anything else you have read lately?

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, Privatization

An Ally Offers His Help to You

By dianeravitch
December 31, 2012 //
27

Robert Rendo, a National Board Certified Teacher, has offered his talents as an illustrator to help all those fighting misguided reform. He writes:

Dear Diane,

I am a veteran teacher of 19 years, Nationally Board Certified, and teach a low income immigrant population. I am also an editorial illustrator with works in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Sacramento Bee, the Society of Illustrators, and the American photography/American illustration show. My work is a tool for advocacy, and I believe firmly in the power of the image to speak more than a thousand words against this horrendous reform movement in public educaiton.

I recently put out a blog, and anyone and everyone who is like minded is invited to use the images in a free license with my express permission to incorporate into their advocacy material, in any medium they wish. The blog is about the education reform and all the reasons why it’s a catastrophe.

This is a very different sort of blog; it’s almost all imagery and no words.

Illustrations from my blog have been featured on Stephen Krashen’s “Schools Matter”, “Susan Ohanian”, “Change the Stakes”, “Education Notes”, to name a few.

the blog is at:

http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/?view=snapshot

It is my sincere hope that everyone who is pushing back against this nefarious coporate reform in educaiton use my free images as much as they’d like. This is no promotion or sales pitch. In trying to be pro-active, I want to empower my fellow colleagues in what promises to be a difficult and complicated fight to preserve education as a public trust.

This is not just a fight for the equitable educaiton of all children; it’s a fight for democracy.

Thank you for all the work you do, Diane. I hope you know how valued you and your work are by parents and educators alike throughout the country.

Sincerely,
Robert Rendo

PS from Diane: I added capital letters, since Robert expressed his wish for them.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Supporting public schools, Teachers and Teaching

Time for Action

By dianeravitch
December 30, 2012 //
103

In response to Katie Osgood’s post, “A Message to Reformers,” Maureen Reedy wrote the following:

“Katie, Diane and Friends,
I am loving your article Katie, it is right on in every way.

No more! No MORE!!! NO MORE!!!!

I have contacted Ed Schultz, a production company in California, Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow who teaches at Ohio State, state senator and superintendents in Michigan, I have a panel ready to go with the media when we get someone to pick up the ball and run with it.

I have been in touch with Parents Across America about a project based on “Hands Across America,” where, state by state, we join together, simultaneously, on the same weekend afternoon, and celebrate public education and present the cold, hard facts of privatization to the public, across America… remember “This land is your land, this land is our land?”

I have been relentless since running for state rep in Ohio as former Ohio Teacher of the Year and being kept out of the Statehouse by a malicious 1.5 million dollar ad campaign the last 2 weeks of the election of which Michelle Rhee was a player. I am determined to join others and take action from the Outside/ In where ever, whenever and however we can.

As a 29-year veteran educator and supporter/supervisor/facilitator for over 250 IEP/IAT meetings in my elementary school each year, you have got it right!!!

These are perilous times for our kids who are fragile, vulnerable and at risk. Taking the experts out of the equation and ping-ponging children across town in the name of for-profit avarice and greed is destroying our children and their crucial connection to community.

We ALL have momentum and the power to get moving on CIVIL / HUMAN rights issue of our time, namely, protecting our children and preserving public education.

It is time to take action from the Outside/ In.
Keep contacting people in a position to bring Katie’s facts to light, keep going with reaching your contacts, newspaper columnists, talk show hosts, etc.

Keep moving with your words, your expertise, your stories, your ACTIONS.

Keep doing what you can to save our children and public education.

Thank you Katie, thank you Diane, thank you to all friends who are fighting for our precious children, the real victims of corporate reform.

Maureen Reedy
Parent/29 year Public School Teacher
Columbus, Ohio

Categories Corporate Reformers

Corporate Reform Vs. Equity, Per Julian Vasquez Heilig

By dianeravitch
December 30, 2012 //
4

Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas is devoted to equity for students of color.

This has made him a critic of corporate reform.

And it may account for the name of his blog, which is “Cloaking Inequity.”

You should browse his blog archives. He writes with verve and humor, which we know is rare indeed among the professoriate.

His latest piece reveals the interconnections among the reformers associated with the IDEA charter chain, Teach for America, and the U.S. Department of Education.

IDEA claims that all its graduates enter a four-year college, but as Bruce Fuller recently explained, almost half are failing in college. They were not well prepared. Nonetheless, the U.S. Department of Education recently plopped $29 million into the IDEA coffers.

In the latest wrinkle of an ongoing reform saga, the Austin Independent School Board held its regular election and got some new members. They severed AISD]s connection with IDEA.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Testing, Texas
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