Archives for category: Corporate Reformers
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Gary Rubinstein: Does KIPP Deserve to Expand in Philadelphia?

By dianeravitch
July 17, 2017 //
26

Gary Rubinstein learned that KIPP plans to add more schools in Philadelphia and nearly triple its enrollment.

So Gary did what he always did: he checked the public data for KIPP in Philadelphia.

He found that KIPP has one high school in the city.

“That school got the lowest possible rating, essentially an F. Not only were their test scores low, but they also got the lowest possible rating in ‘growth’ in math and reading, in other words the value-added for the school which reformers claim to take very seriously.”

But, says KIPP spokesmen, an amazing proportion of our students graduate from college.

Gary checked the data. KIPP was resorting to its usual legerdemain and ignoring the high attrition from fifth grade to high school graduation. They compare all low-income kids only to their high school graduates, which makes KIPP look far better than the reality.

Given KIPP’s unimpressive academic record–one might say “failing” record–in Philadelphia, why would the School Reform Commission allow them to expand?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, High School Graduation, Privatization

Florida: Parents Fight Corporate Takeovers of Public Money!

By dianeravitch
July 16, 2017 //
5

Parents in Alachua County in Florida have created an organization to fight the opening of a for-profit charter school run by Charter Schools USA in their community.

Their organization is called Parents Against Corporate Takeovers (PACT).

The charter will drain students and money from their local community public schools.

In addition to hurting public schools, the new charter will have poor oversight, located far from Gainesville. If parents have complaints, they will be told, “choose another school if you don’t like it here.”

Charters have a poor track record in Florida:

“Despite consistent growth by charter schools in Florida, the schools have lagged on quality, diversity and innovation. The CSUSA school proposal admits: ‘Achievement among CSUSA schools that serve a student population similar to ACS’s projected demographic is, on average, lower than both the state and Alachua County’s net average proficiency in math, science and social studies.’,

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Why Oklahoma’s Teacher of the Year Left for Texas, “Kicking and Screaming”

By dianeravitch
July 15, 2017 //
0

Jennifer Berkshire released this podcast about the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year who left his job to teach in Texas. It is part of the Have You Heard series.

Here is an excerpt:


When Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Shawn Sheehan decided to leave his job as high school math teacher for a better paying position in Texas, he didn’t go quietly. Sheehan left “kicking and screaming,” warning Oklahomans that the school’s notoriously underfunded schools are teetering on the brink, even as schemes to privatize education in the state gain momentum.

In the latest episode of the Have You Heard podcast, Jennifer Berkshire talks to Sheehan and other teachers who are leaving their jobs with a bang. Think resignation letters as a form of activism delivered via blog post or video, and sending a powerful message about the state of public education. And as Michigan State University researcher Alyssa Dunn explains, these very public “I Quit” letters are a sign of the time.

Have You Heard: These very public statements from teachers who are leaving the classroom are something of a trend. You argue that they’re a form of protest. Tell us more.

Alyssa Hadley Dunn: I think because so many teachers are experiencing challenging working conditions right now and so when some teachers write their resignation letters, they go viral, because people feel like they are saying what I am feeling and they are speaking for me, even if I feel like I can’t speak for myself. You hear teachers saying things like: “I feel like I have no voice when policies are handed down to me”, “I feel like I’m not as able to be creative in the classroom because my curriculum is being scripted or standardized”, and “I feel like I have to spend a lot of time teaching to the test in this era of high stakes testing and it’s not only harming my students’ learning conditions, it’s harming my working conditions.”

Have You Heard: The teachers you talked to are determined to change the system, even as they’re walking away from it.

Dunn: They feel like their hands have been tied, in terms of being the teachers that they want to be, and they feel like they’re complicit in a broken system if they stay. They’re not indicting the teachers who choose to stay, but they’re saying that “an act of activism, and an act of justice, that I can take is to leave the classroom and to tell people why I’m leaving, so that perhaps the people who stay, the administrators who stay, can use this to make changes for the better.”

Have You Heard: One of the most interesting things you found was that the letters and “I Quit” blog posts that young teachers are writing have a lot in common with teachers who are leaving the classroom after decades. Millenials often get dinged for “bailing,” but the young teachers you talked to seemed to agonize about giving up on their new careers.

Dunn: These were teachers who had really spent their whole lives thinking that they were going to be teachers and then got into the classroom and felt like it was a lot different than what they had anticipated. That was my story too. I’d wanted to be a teacher since 3rd grade. I became a high school teacher in urban schools in Atlanta and I loved my students, but I found the working conditions very challenging, because I was working in a system where it made it difficult to enact justice oriented and student focused learning. Tons of teachers do it every day, but for me, I felt like I was complicit in a system that was oppressing students, in particular students of color.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Oklahoma, Privatization, Teacher Pay, Teachers and Teaching

New York: Who Is Behind the Effort to Allow Charter Schools to Hire Uncertified Teachers?

By dianeravitch
July 14, 2017 //
40

In this article, Alan Singer of Hofstra University connects the dots behind the effort to allow charter schools to hire uncertified teachers. He follows the money, and it leads to one man: Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Charters need to hire uncertified teachers because they churn through teachers and need newcomers who can devote long hours to the job without the diversion of a family.

“The finger points at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Politicians and wealthy business leaders with ties to Cuomo are behind the push to exempt some of the state’s charter schools from hiring certified teachers. It is a move that would weaken University-based teacher education programs, undermine teacher professionalism, and seriously hurt the education of children across the state.

“Cuomo has long been a supporter of expanded and minimally regulated charter schools. In 2014, while preparing to run for reelection, Cuomo spoke at a pro-charter rally on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Albany. In his speech he praised charter school groups and Republican and independent Democrats who were joining with him to “save” charter schools, although there was no movement trying to destroy them. Curiously, Cuomo never discussed pulling the children out of school and shipping them to Albany for a staged rally.

“In 2016, while no one was paying close attention, the State Legislature with Cuomo’s endorsement extended the regulatory authority of the Trustees of the State University over charter schools. The SUNY Charter Institute, a sub-committee of the Board of Trustees, now claims this legislation empowers them to permit charter schools under their jurisdiction to hire uncertified teachers and train them according to their own guidelines.

“The Trustees of the State University of New York currently authorize 165 charter schools in New York State including those operated by some of the most politically connected networks. Six SUNY charter schools operate in the Capital Region (Albany and Troy), six are in Buffalo, two are on Long Island, and over 140 are in New York City. The New York City charters include seven sponsored by Carl Ichan, ten affiliated with Achievement First, and 38 Success Academy Network Schools operated by Eva Moskowitz. Ichan is a corporate raider and real estate magnate with ties to the Trump Administration. Achievement First is connected to former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein who left the city’s Department of Education to work for Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. Eva Moskowitz is New York City’s Charter School Queen with political ties to Andrew Cuomo and hedge fund companies and foundations.

“According to a 2015 expose by Juan Gonzalez for the New York Daily News, between 2000 and 2015, 570 hedge fund managers made nearly $40 million in political contributions to New York State candidates, including $4.8 million to Andrew Cuomo. Several of Cuomo’s 2014 reelection campaign donors including Carl Icahn, of Icahn Enterprises, Julian Robertson of Tiger Management, and Daniel Loeb, of Third Point LLC, are major supporters of charter schools.”

Cuomo appointed all four members of the SUNY charter school committee that will make the decision.

Cuomo needs the hedge funders to finance the presidential run everyone expects he wants. But, as Alan points out, he also needs the votes of the public so he may be open to suasion.

That is why I hope you will use this link to protest this unwise decision before it is too late.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Cuomo, Andrew, Privatization, Teacher Education, Teachers and Teaching

New York City: Mayor de Blasio’s Capitulation to the Powerful Charter Lobby

By dianeravitch
July 13, 2017 //
51

There used to be a well-known saying: “You can’t fight City Hall.”

Change that to: “You can’t fight the charter lobby.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio ran for mayor with the promise that he would fight the charter lobby. He was a public school parent and had served on a community school board. I believed him. I endorsed him.

Then after he was elected, the billionaires showed him who runs education policy in Albany. Governor Cuomo, the recipient of large sums from the financial industry, became the charter cheerleader, even though charters enrolled only 3% of the children in the state. The Republican-led State Senate gives the charter industry whatever it wants. The charter industry’s best friend is State Senate Republican leader John Flanagan, who loves loves loves charters, but not in his own district on Long Island. Call him Senator NIMBY.

De Blasio wanted charters to pay rent if they could afford it. The legislature required the City to give free space to charters, even though public schools are overcrowded, and to pay their rent if they locate in private space.

In the recent legislative session, the mayor was told that the only way to get a two-year extension of mayoral control was to revive 22 charters that had been closed or abandoned for various reasons.

Now the mayor is seeking a “truce” with the private charter industry that sucks the students it wants from the public schools.

Sad.

Mayoral control is a failed experiment. New York City needs an independent Board of Education, which chooses the Chancellor and to whom the Chancellor reports. The Mayor should make appointments to that board, along with the borough presidents. Candidates should be screened for their qualifications and experience by an independent review board of civic leaders, a process used in the past.

The city needs a board prepared to support and defend the 1.1 million students in public schools, to provide a public forum for grievances, and to listen to their parents and communities.

Categories Bill de Blasio, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, New York City, Privatization

A Nashville School Board Member Warns Kentucky and Mississippi about the Charter Scams

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2017 //
8

Amy Frogge ran for the Metro Nashville School Board in 2012 as a concerned mom who was also a lawyer. She was unaware of the pitched battle about charters and privatization. She had the simple goal of improving public schools, which made her an enemy of the privatizers. She ran again last year and was re-elected. Both times, she faced candidates who outspent her by vast sums with out-of-state reformer cash. She was previously named to the Blog’s Honor Roll for her fortitude in standing up to the vilification by reformers and sticking to her promise to fight for public schools.

In this post, she writes that it is a new day in Nashville. High-profile charter operators arrived with big promises, then crashed and burned. The Nashville community sees them for the frauds they are.

She hopes to alert parents in Kentucky and Mississippi to beware, now that rightwing legislators have opened their state’s to the same scammers.

She writes:

“While my personal views and political positions have not changed at all since my first run for school board, the atmosphere surrounding education policy has changed drastically, both in Nashville and at a national level. Locals have finally become aware of the driving forces behind the school privatization movement, and alliances have shifted. After a newspaper editor was fired last fall, all of the politically-motivated, factually inaccurate “hit pieces” about me in the local paper (accompanied by comically bad photos) ceased. Many of the bad actors have either been fired or fled town- headed off to other less suspecting places that have not yet caught onto the privatization movement.

“At our last board meeting, we discussed LEAD Academy, often touted as a Miracle Charter School. LEAD likes to promote its 100% graduation rate, but as we learned at our last board meeting, this statistic is at the very least misleading, if not entirely untrue. In reality, LEAD high school has a 40% attrition rate, meaning that nearly half of students who start high school at LEAD don’t make it through to graduation. (So much for that 100% graduation rate!) It’s also clear that LEAD does not serve all students. Only one English Learner at LEAD has reached graduation in four graduating classes, and only three students with special needs are on track to graduate this year. Furthermore, student performance is decreasing in all tested areas for grades 3-8 at LEAD. Over a one-year period at LEAD, 13.5% more students scored basic or below in math, 17% more students scored basic or below in English Language Arts, and 42.6% more students scored basic or below in science.

“Ravi Gupta, head of RePublic Schools, left Nashville last year after a number of disturbing events occurred at his “no excuses” schools: First, several parents accused the RePublic of “abuse and neglect” of students, and Teach for America (which supplied most of its teachers) also expressed concerns about RePublic. Then, a parent accused RePublic of copyright violation for photocopying book passages (a common practice in charter schools to save money) containing inappropriate reading materials for middle school students. And most recently, parents filed a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit against RePublic for violation of federal law. Gupta is now trying to recreate himself as a political consultant of sorts with a new group called “The Arena,” standing in opposition to the new President. Ironically, though, Gupta’s own work in schools has been very much aligned with Betsy DeVos’s education agenda.

“Shaka Mitchell, former head of Rocketship, also left his post. Rocketship came into Nashville amidst great fanfare, thanks in large part to former Mayor Karl Dean (and his education liaison Wendy Tucker, mentioned in the attached article). However, only a few years later, Rocketship is now performing in the bottom 3% of schools statewide. Recently, Rocketship was also found in violation of state and federal laws for failing to provide services for students with disabilities and for English learners. Furthermore, Rocketship was censured for requiring homeless students to buy uniforms. Despite all this, the state has expressed its intent to force Nashville to open another Rocketship school this fall. This should tell you ALL you need to know about the charter school movement. (Hint: It’s not “about the children”)…

“The PR wall has begun to crumble, the veil is pulled back, and the truth emerges. Evidence has emerged that charter schools are contributing to the re-segregation of school systems, that they have a negative fiscal impact on school systems, and that they do not improve educational outcomes for students.

“In response, what do these folks do? Do they try to address these problems or worry that perhaps they are increasing inequity within MNPS? No, they work on the “spin.” They go after the reporter who wrote the attached story, demanding a retraction. They manipulate, harass, bully, race-bait, and attack. They tell charter parents that board members “hate charter parents and their kids,” hoping to whip these parents into a frenzy. This is the toxicity we have experienced in Nashville for years.

“Watch out Mississippi and Kentucky. These problems are headed your way. Steel your spine, and buckle your seatbelt. It doesn’t matter how professional or evidence-based you remain; if you don’t toe the line for charter schools, you will be attacked. You will be demeaned, bullied, and belittled. Get ready for the smear campaigns and character assassinations. But pay them no mind. Stay on the right side of history, and keep standing up for the students. Keep standing up for justice and equity. Keep standing up for public education. There’s important work to be done.”

Open the link to read the attached article.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Privatization

Koch Brothers Target Colorado for ESA Vouchers

By dianeravitch
July 10, 2017 //
20

Wherever there is a bipartisan consensus for charter schools, the Koch brothers see the state as ripe for expanding vouchers. Now they are targeting Colorado, where they have developed a strategic plan for the state.

Leading Democrats, such as wealthy Congressman Jared Polis and former State Senator Michael Johnston, have led the charge for charters and schiool choice (both have announced they are running for the Democratic nomination for governor.) Polis has opened two charter schools and fiercely supports them as a member of the House Education Committee. Johnston, former TFA, introduced legislation in 2011 to make student test scores count for 50% of teachers’ evaluation. The law has been an abject failure, although Johnston claimed it would guarantee that Colorado had great teachers, great principals, great schools.

DFER and Stand for Children have been active in Colorado, laying the groundwork for the Koch brothers.

And now they arrive with a plan to defund public schools and call it “opportunity.”

“COLORADO SPRINGS — In a nondescript office building on the north side of this conservative enclave, more than a dozen volunteers spent hours making calls to educate voters about a new initiative that will allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to send children to private schools.

“At the same time, just miles down the road, the political network behind the effort gathered hundreds of its wealthiest donors at a posh mountainside resort to raise money to support the campaign to remake the education system.

“The confluence of policy and politics epitomized how the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch flex their organization’s muscle and spread an ideological agenda in states across the nation.

“The value of this network cannot be overstated,” said Stacy Hock, a Koch donor and conservative education advocate in Texas. “The ability to stand on the shoulders of the giant that is this network to make yourself more impactful and strategic changes the game.”

The Koch brothers plot a conservative resistance movement in Colorado Springs strategy session
Koch network to Trump administration: “You are never going to win the war on drugs. Drugs won.”
The phone calls to middle-of-the-road voters and presentation to donors in Colorado last week were part of the Koch network’s six-figure campaign to promote school choice and education savings accounts, or ESAs.

“The effort in Colorado involves the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the Libre Initiative, a group focused on Hispanic community outreach. Together the organizations are making calls and sending flyers to voters this summer, two of which promote ESAs as a way to “give families the freedom to select schools, classes and services that fit the unique needs of their kids….

“The Koch network considers Colorado an attractive state for its message because public charter schools are a bipartisan cause. In the 2017 session, lawmakers equalized funding for charter schools with district schools.

“EdChoice, a conservative education advocacy organization aligned with the Kochs, commissioned a survey in 2015 to introduce Colorado to the ESA issue, finding strong support when cast in favorable terms.”

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Colorado, Corporate Reform, Corporate Reformers, Dark Money, Education Industry, Education Reform, Hoax, Privatization, Vouchers

Laura Chapman Exposes the Billionaires Behind GreatSchools, Inc. and Redlining

By dianeravitch
July 9, 2017 //
21

Laura Chapman posted this comment, which I hope you will read:

Readers should know that GreatSchools.org website supports redlining. This is a non-profit website and organization in name only. Zillow, for example, pays a fee to lease all of the data and the ratings of schools. Specific schools can pay a fee to steer users to their websites.

The following supporters of redlining via the great schools website are not friends of public schools. They want to preserve schools and communities that are segregated by income, race, ethnicity, ownership of major assets (e.g., homes, automobiles), access to public services and amenities (e.g., public parks, libraries).

These supporters of segregation hide their agenda under a lot of rhetoric about saving children from failing schools. Wrong. These are the billionaires who are determined to misrepresent and undermine schools and neighborhoods through the irresponsible use of school “performance data,” especially scores on state standardized tests and more recently spurious surveys about school climate, the physical appearance of the school, and usually anonymous “customer” satisfaction ratings.

Major supporters of this redlining website are (logo displayed): Walton Family Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Einhorn Family Charitable Trust; The Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Other supporters: The Charles Hayden Foundation; Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation; Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation; David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Heising-Simons Foundation; The Joyce Foundation; Excellent Schools Detroit; The Kern Family Foundation; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation; The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation;

Four other supporters of this website that forwards redlining sould be noted

America Achieves now calls itself “a non-profit accelerator” of large-scale system-wide change in public education. Achieve was and is the major promoter of the Common Core, college and career agenda, and associated tests. Achieve is funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Charles Butt, the Heckscher Foundation For Children, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Kern Family Foundation, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (among others).
EdChoice is the updated name for the Milton Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. EdChoice wants market-based education, unlimited choice, but subsidized by tax dollars–The DeVos/Trump policy.
Innovate Public Schools is a California-based national organization that uses GreatSchools reports to promote “new” school formation, especially charter schools, through extensive parent “fellowships” and training.
Startup:Education is a grantmaking project of the Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative founded by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. Everything promoted by Start;Up Education and the larger Chan/Zuckerberg initiative is tech-based and mislabeled personalized learning.

There are other commercial supporters of the website. They pay fees for advertising space and market a range of products called “educational.”

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Privatization, Segregation, Shame

Why Do National Democrats Forget About the Threat to K-12 Schools?

By dianeravitch
July 9, 2017 //
87

Every day I get fund-raising appeals from Democratic and progressive national organizations. They usually include a list of critical issues and ask me which one I care most about. They never include K-12 schooling, which is now being battered and assaulted by DeVos and the Red state governors.

Here is a list I got today from the DCCC (I think that’s the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee). Here is its list:

WHAT ISSUES MATTER THE MOST TO YOU? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)
Fully funding climate change research

A health care plan that takes the burden off families

Continued funding for Medicare and Social Security

Student loan forgiveness

Making tuition affordable for all

A $15 minimum wage

Protecting immigrants and immigration reform

Fully funding women’s health centers

Fighting economic inequality

Creating new jobs

Preserving President Obama’s Medicaid expansion

Gun violence prevention

Protecting voting rights

The form had a box for other. I wrote: STOP PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

And made no contribution.

No money until they acknowledge the threat posed by charters and vouchers.

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

Charles Pierce: “Education Is Not A Damn Marketplace!”

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2017 //
27

There is one super-smart columnist writing in Esquire, and his name is Charles P. Pierce.

He gets it.

Unlike the editorial boards of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, he understands that schools don’t get “better” by competing.

He understands that what is called “reform” these days is a massive failure.

He knows that charter schools, despite the boasting, despite the hundreds of millions squandered on them, don’t get better results than public schools and usually get worse results.

He has been paying attention.

In district after district, public schools are outperforming charter schools.

Will someone tell the Walton Family?

Will someone tell Eli Broad and Reed Hastings?

Will the editorial writers wake up anytime soon?

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