Archives for category: Democrats for Education Reform
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Why Big Business Intervened in Chicago with an Ad

By dianeravitch
September 14, 2012 //
13

I received an email from a parent who is also an educator in Chicago. She wondered about the identity of a group called Education Reform Now, which placed ads in the local media undermining the teachers’ strike. ERN is part of a group called Democrats for Education Reform. DFER is funded by Wall Street hedge fund managers who support charter schools, privatization, and using test scores to evaluate teachers. It is interesting that the charter schools they promote are often (depending on state law) exempt from test-based evaluation. Oh, and 88% of all charters are non-union.

She writes:

Greetings Ms. Ravitch,

I write this letter to you with both excitement and disappointment in my heart. I am sure you are well aware of by now of the strike/battle over the fate of our children and public education that is currently taking place between the Chicago Teachers Union and the City of Chicago. I write this letter not as an educator, but as a parent with children in the public school system here in the city who is infuriated that my children, other children and tax paying citizens are having their civil rights infringed upon through the bullying tactics of our mayor, CPS and big business moguls of this country.

I have been extremely active in the process of fighting against the unfunded longer school day put upon us by the mayor, fighting for an elected representative school board and now walking the picket lines and taking information to the streets and the people regarding the issues that the union is truly bargaining for for our students and teachers. My children have been in the streets along side me as well. I have utilized this opportunity as a teaching moment because I understand the importance of teaching our children, our future, true democracy in action.

My excitement comes from not just the part I play in the process, but more importantly the role and witnessing of the process by children. We talk about the importance of providing a comprehensive education to our children and that we are a “democratic society”; but based on what I am witnessing now brings me to what has has me disappointed and incensed.

Yesterday I watched a television ad paid for by Education Reform Now Advocacy that ran on our local ABC station channel 7. The ad blared carefully selected quotes taken from stories in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune against the union, the teachers and the strike. It ends with the narrator quoting from the Sun-Times that “a deal is within reach, all CTU has to do is grab it”.

The content from both media outlets is based off of mis-information that is simply not true. This is a strike that is, in fact, long over due. Contrary to what the city wants everyone to believe, this is a strike to take back the fate and control of our children’s education. The city and big business are combining efforts and dollars to dismantle the union, and to pit parents and communities against teachers and our children so that they can continue to create standardized testing factories. They aim to turn our students into consumers of a privatized, on-line product that produces data and dollars so that the rich can continue to become richer.

This is both disgraceful and disrespectful and therefore, I am making a plea to you to support our union, our children and the people of Chicago by helping to shed light and expose the bullying tactics of big business in their continued attempt to dismantle unions and privatize education in this country during the time of our fight.

Thank you in advance for your attention and support! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

In Solidarity,

Tonya Payne
Parent/Educator

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Parents

Nashville School Board Turns Down Charter for Third Time

By dianeravitch
September 12, 2012 //
10

The Metro Nashville school board turned down a charter proposal for the third time, even though the state education department ordered the board to endorse the charter.

The local board feared that the charter would appeal mainly to affluent white families, both because of the curriculum and the expectation that families would make a large up-front “voluntary” contribution.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120911/NEWS04/309110094/Metro-defies-state-denies-Great-Hearts
 
Metro defies state, denies Great Hearts
8:07 PM, Sep 11, 2012 |
 
Written by  Lisa Fingeroot   The Tennessean
In a surprise move, the Metro Nashville school board defied the state’s education power structure Tuesday and denied a controversial charter school for Nashville’s West Side over concerns that it would cater mainly to wealthy, white families.
The vote marked the third time Metro board members denied a charter to Great Hearts Academies, a firm that operates a system of 12 charter schools in Arizona. But the vote also marks the first time a local school board has defied the State Board of Education, which ordered Metro to approve the charter school and hinted at funding penalties if they didn’t.
State officials could not be reached for comment late Tuesday, and Great Hearts officials also were unavailable. That left questions about what happens next largely unanswered for the moment.
During the meeting, an attorney for Great Hearts made a last-minute appeal to the board for its approval, but he left soon after the vote.
The vote was 5-4 against Great Hearts, with Amy Frogge, Jo Ann Brannon, Sharon Gentry, Anna Shepherd and new Chairman Cheryl Mayes opposing the school. Jill Speering, Elissa Kim, Will Pinkston, and Michael Hayes voted in favor of Great Hearts.
Frogge, a new board member, said she and others were concerned about the threat of litigation against them, both as board members and personally, but said she felt they had a moral obligation to Nashville’s schoolchildren to vote without fear.
Pinkston, also a new board member, appeared to be leaning against Great Hearts during the board’s discussion, but voted to approve it in the end.
He voted in favor because of the legal threats, Pinkston said. After discussions with the board’s lawyers, he is satisfied the state has the legal authority to demand Metro approve the school and is also concerned about the threats that have been made by state officials.
The repercussions are “the great unknown,” Pinkston said.
Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman accused the Metro board of breaking the law when it delayed a vote on Great Hearts and a State Board of Education attorney said consequences for not following a state directive could include the loss of funding for Metro schools.
In explaining her opposition to Great Hearts, Frogge echoed a concern that has been a sticking point for others who have voted against the school in the past.
The main issue for Metro board members has been whether the school would cater to an affluent, largely white population or work to create a more diverse student body by providing transportation to students from other areas of the city.
If the board sets a precedent that allows charter schools to serve only those who can afford an affluent neighborhood or the transportation there, then the board will leave behind the very kids it must protect, Frogge said.
New member Pinkston suggested the board create a committee to develop a comprehensive diversity plan that could be shown to potential charter school applicants in the future. Metro’s diversity plan is currently spread through many different documents, he added.
Great Hearts has chosen a location between Charlotte Pike and White Bridge Road, which is in the majority white and wealthy 37205 zip code, but also borders the more diverse and less affluent 37218 zip code.
Black community leaders opposed the school because they worried it would become an exclusive charter school catering to wealthy white parents in the area. Parents in favor of the school, however, said they wanted the rigorous curriculum provided by Great Hearts, whose Arizona schools have much higher standards and a faster learning pace than those set by Metro public schools.
The school board has twice denied the charter application and even provoked the ire of state education officials by refusing to vote on the charter school a third time after Great Hearts won a state appeal.
The State Board of Education directed the Metro board to approve the school, but the board delayed a decision, which caused state officials to speculate on the possible consequences that worry Pinkston.
Lisa Fingeroot can be reached at 259-8892 or LFingeroot@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaFingeroot.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012309110022
School board denies Great Hearts charter again

6:25 PM, Sep 11, 2012 |
6 Comments Updated at 6:20 p.m.

The Metro school board denied the Great Hearts Academy charter school again tonight in a vote of 5-4.
Previously reported: Leader says $1,200 donation from parents ‘optional’

A controversial charter school expected to be approved tonight by the Metro Nashville school board asks families in its Arizona schools to ante up a $1,200 gift, a separate $200 tax credit contribution, and a few hundred dollars in book and classroom fees.
However, a Great Hearts Academies official says the schools are free and that even the book fees will be waived if necessary.
“It is 100 percent clear to everyone in our schools that those are optional contributions,” said Peter Bezanson, president of Great Hearts Tennessee, the nonprofit management company set up for the five schools Great Hearts hopes to open in Nashville.
Great Hearts’ requests for parent donations in Arizona are larger than those typically seen in Nashville public or charter schools.
For example, Julia Green Elementary PTO asks for a $300 donation and J.T. Moore Middle asks for $250, parent volunteers said. Meigs Middle, which is conducting a technology campaign, asks for $5 to $500, depending on what parents feel they can afford.
LEAD Academy, a charter school with a campus near Great Hearts’ target area in West Nashville, notes on its website that “we must raise an additional $1,500 per student” to supplement the public funding the school receives, but LEAD doesn’t explicitly request that amount from parents as Great Hearts does.
LEAD is always on the lookout for donors and constantly applies for grants, said Shaka Mitchell, director of external affairs. The school also has an annual breakfast to raise money for students to visit colleges.
Charter schools in Tennessee don’t usually ask for donations from attending families because the population has been traditionally from lower socioeconomic groups, said Rebecca A. Lieberman, chief talent strategy officer at the Tennessee Charter School Incubator. But they do ask for donations from others and participate in fundraising, she added.
The proposed Great Hearts charter became controversial mostly because of the wealth associated with its supporters and the affluence of the mostly white West Nashville area where it plans to locate.
The Metro school board has twice denied the proposed school and even refused to bow to state pressure last month, postponing a vote on Great Hearts because members were not convinced the charter was dedicated to diversity. The board had been ordered by the state to approve the charter after Great Hearts appealed its denial.
Great Hearts officials have promised to market to families in other areas of the city and to supply some transportation for poor children.
Books loaned if students can’t pay

The Great Hearts schools in Arizona ask every parent to participate in two fundraising campaigns. Parents are asked to make a one-time, $1,200 donation — which can be paid in monthly installments during a school year — and a $200 gift that allows the donor to receive a dollar-for-dollar Arizona tax credit. One Great Hearts school requests a $1,500 contribution.
The only mandatory fee is a refundable deposit of $35 per textbook, Bezanson said. If a parent cannot afford it, the fee can be waived without a lot of paperwork, he added.
The websites show different requirements, though. They say parents must submit a $25 application to an outside party along with tax documents. That company will determine whether parents are eligible for a waiver.
The schools also ask students to purchase other books for reading the classics of the Western canon that are so much a part of the curriculum, but Bezanson said schools will loan those books to students if needed.
Class fees of $120 are required for workbooks, student planners, assemblies, field days and ceremonies, according to at least one of the school’s websites, but again Bezanson said the fees are not required.
Great Hearts, like any other school, wants everyone to participate, he added.
“We never send anyone away,” he said. “We have never turned anyone away for not paying.”
Lisa Fingeroot can be reached at 615-259-8892 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 615-259-8892 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or lfingeroot@tennessean.com.

Categories Charter Schools, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Reform, Tennessee

A Guide to Identifying Phony Reform Groups

By dianeravitch
September 7, 2012 //
11

I discovered a new blogger who is spot-on: EduShyster

He or she seems to be writing from Massachusetts and has a wicked sense of humor.

This post is called “The Scratch n’ Sniff Guide to Phony Education Reform Groups.”

There are certain tell-tale signs. For example, no one in a leadership role ever went to a public school. Its “experienced” teachers had two years in TFA. Its policy agenda is exactly the same as ALEC.

This post challenges a charter cheerleader to find a single charter school in Massachusetts with the same demographics as Lawrence and a low attrition rate and high scores.

This blogger has wit, style, and knowledge, a powerful combination.

And to show my exquisite sense of political balance, here is a guide to reform groups by the Center for Education Reform, which advocates for vouchers, charters, homeschooling, online for-profit virtual schools–anything but public schools.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, Education Reform, Humor

Two Moms Terrify DFER and StudentsFirst

By dianeravitch
September 4, 2012 //
23

What are DFER and Students First afraid of?

Activist moms denied admission to events at the Democratic National Convention

 

Contacts:  Pam Grundy, 704-806-0410, shamrockparent@earthlink.net

Carol Sawyer, 704-641-2009, carolsawyer1@gmail.com

 

For the second day in a row, at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., a handful of moms bearing flyers and large yellow pencils made out of pool noodles were denied admission to an event sponsored and/or featuring the corporate-focused education “reform” groups Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and Students First, headed by Michelle Rhee.

On Tuesday, Carol Sawyer and Pam Grundy, co-chairs of the locally based MecklenburgACTS.org, had signed up in advance for what was billed as a DFER “Town Hall,” and received confirmation of their registration. An hour before the program was scheduled to begin, they stationed themselves outside the entrance and distributed flyers to other attendees which questioned the effectiveness of DFER’s strategies for improving education.

Shortly before the event was to begin, Carol went to take her seat. But she was told at the door that she would not be allowed in, even though she had a confirmed registration. The reason she was given was that the MecklenbugACTS representatives were discouraging people from attending. This was patently untrue, as Carol and others were in fact directing attendees towards the entrance, which was somewhat complicated to locate.

The denial at the Students First event the previous day more closely resembled a comedy of errors, as Pam described in a Parents Across America blog post following the events.

“We find it somewhat amusing that these well-funded groups seem to regard us as such a threat,” Carol observed. “But more important, we are troubled by the way that these forums on education – a subject which is so essential to our children’s and our nation’s future – seem to be so thoroughly orchestrated that they leave no room for real debate or discussion. Many, many Democrats agree with us on issues of high-stakes testing, treatment of teachers and rampant privatization. We call on President Obama to use his influence to open up the debate to other voices and other points of view.”

 

Categories Democrats for Education Reform, Parents, StudentsFirst

Talk About Nerve!

By dianeravitch
September 4, 2012 //
25

A group of 30 organizations associated with corporate reform wrote a letter to Secretary Arne Duncan to insist that he hold teacher education programs accountable for the test scores of the students taught by their graduates.

Groups like Teach for America, StudentsFirst, Democrats for Education Reform (the Wall Street hedge fund managers), The New Teacher Project, various charter chains, Jeb Bush’s rightwing Chiefs for Change and his Foundation for Educational Excellence, and various and sundry groups that love teaching to the test stand together as one.

Their views are in direct opposition to those of the leaders of higher education, who oppose this extension of federal control into their institutions.

Read Gary Rubinstein’s blog about it here, where you will see the full cast of corporate reform characters, many of them funded by the Gates Foundation.

They are certain that what minority students need most is more testing. They want the test scores of the students to determine the career and livelihood of their teachers. And they want the federal government to punish the schools of education that prepared the teachers of these children.

If Duncan takes their advice, he will assume the power to penalize schools of education if the students of their graduates can’t raise their test scores every year.

The vise of standardized testing will tighten around public education.

These people and these organizations are wrong. They are driving American education in a destructive direction. They will reduce children to data points, as the organizations thrive. Wasn’t a decade of NCLB enough for them?

They are on the wrong side of history. They may be flying high now, but their ideas hurt children and ruin the quality of education.

Categories Accountability, Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, ConnCAN, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Education Reform, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Higher Education, StudentsFirst, Teach for America TFA, Teacher Evaluations, Testing, U.S. Department of Education

Parents in Charlotte to Protest Film and DFER

By dianeravitch
September 3, 2012 //
7

A press release from Parents Across America:

MecklenburgACTS/PAA to protest film/DFER event & Present Positive Education Reforms at DNC

 

For immediate release: September 3, 2012

Contact: Pamela Grundy, 704-806-0410, shamrockparent@earthlink.net

Members of MecklenburgACTS.org and Parents Across America will be rallying and distributing literature at two events associated with the Democratic National Convention here in Charlotte.

 

We will call on President Obama and other Democrats to reject the ineffective “reform” measures being pushed by well-heeled organizations such as Students First and Democrats for Education Reform, and instead join parents and education experts in support of a more proven, community-based set of changes.

 

As the Charlotte Observer and the Huffington Post have noted, Democrats differ significantly over ways to improve the nation’s schools. We will be highlighting this debate.

 

On Monday, we will be at the Students First-sponsored showing of the controversial movie “Won’t Back Down” at the Epicenter complex, 201 E. Trade St., from 12:30 to 1 p.m.. Although several of us signed up to see the movie and attend the discussion some weeks ago, we were informed early this morning that we would not be admitted. So we will make our case outside.

 

On Tuesday, we will be at the “Town Hall” sponsored by Democrats for Education Reform at the Knight Theater, 4:30 S. Tryon St., from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

 

We will present the following statement:

 

Our Children Need Education Reforms that Work

 

 

Students First, Parent Revolution and Democrats for Education Reform are pushing for education policies that have no track record of success:

 

• An expansion of high-stakes testing that turns schools into testing factories and drives families and top teachers away from public education.

 

• Relentless charter school expansion even though charter schools regularly perform less well than comparable public schools.

 

• School closings which disrupt families and communities and send most students to schools that perform no better than the ones they left.

 

• Parent trigger laws which divide parents and have yet to improve a single school.

 

We’ve seen here in Charlotte how these policies destabilize communities, anger parents and demoralize our best teachers. We call on President Obama and other Democrats to reject these policies and join parents and education experts in support of a more positive set of changes that includes small classes, a well-rounded curriculum, more meaningful parent involvement and greater investment in teachers andfamilies.

 

For REAL solutions visit MecklenburgACTS.org and ParentsAcrossAmerica.org.

Categories Democrats for Education Reform, Parent trigger, Parents

Profiteers Circle Schools

By dianeravitch
September 3, 2012 //
9

A reader discovered the agenda for a big conference of equity investors, technology corporations, and supportive foundations.

A high-level official of the U.S. Department of Education will be there too.

Folks, read the agenda.

Public education is up for grabs.

Lots of corporations are licking their chops.

This is scary.

Remember reading about “the Great Barbecue,” in the late nineteenth century?

That’s when greedy men plundered the public treasury. .

Are the public schools now on the spit?

So much money, all guaranteed by the government.

Now we will see how entrepreneurs reform our schools and get rich too.

The reader writes:

 

Yep, there’s money to be made . . .

and Jeb is there to give the April 18th keynote . . .

Check out this agenda for the 2013 Education Summit in Arizona.
http://edinnovation.asu.edu/accommodations/

The April 17th panel at 4:35 p.m. will include Ron Packard (of K12 Inc.) and other profiteers discussing, “A Class of Their Own: From Seed to Scale in a Decade: What Does it take for an Education Company to Reach $$$1Billion?”

Check out the who’s who list of CEOs and their elected friends networking to the online charter school profits. The Trojan horse philanthropists , Gates and Milken, will be there too.http://edinnovation.asu.edu

I wonder what they will discuss in the session . . . .
“The Fall of the Wall: Capital Flows to Education: What sectors and companies are attracting investment?”

Margaret Thatcher may have been a milk snatcher . . but don’t let Jeb fool you, he is poised to take it all . . and give it to his CEO buddies.
Categories Bush, Jeb, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, Education Reform, K12 Inc., Privatization, Technology, Computers, U.S. Department of Education

The NY Times on the Parent Trigger

By dianeravitch
August 19, 2012 //
7

I am not going to write anything substantive about the movie celebrating the so-called “parent trigger” until I have seen it.

But the stories about it continue to miss the point about  why parents and teachers think it is a corporate-conceived and corporate-driven idea, for the benefit of corporate charter chains. Why not mention the Florida parents’ fight to stop this so-called “parent empowerment”? If it really empowered parents, why did parents oppose it?

Here is the latest example. Frank Bruni, usually a thoughtful writer, has an article in today’s New York Times. He sees the movie as part of the ongoing (and at least partially justified) critique of teachers unions. He never mentions that the two states that enthusiastically endorsed parent trigger laws (after California did it first, during the Schwarzenegger years), are right-to-work states, Texas and Mississippi. Nor did he mention the role of the rightwing group ALEC in promoting the trigger idea as a way to hasten the privatization of public education.

Instead he sees it as a righteous plea for better schools (the cloak that reformers always wear as they set out to privatize your schools). That’s exactly what the producers are hoping for, to pull the wool over people’s eyes to their privatization agenda with a soap opera set in a public school.

The tipoff is the ending quote, which is from Joe Williams, the executive director of the falsely named Democrats for Education Reform. DFER is the organization of the Wall Street hedge fund managers. Joe, a nice guy, was formerly a beat reporter for the New York Daily News.

Larry Ferlazzo, a prolific blogger and Sacramento teacher, calls Williams on his line about finding and rewarding the best teachers.

Why did Bruni end up parroting DFER? The hedge fund mangers are not education experts; they are not teachers or principals. They send their children to Andover, Exeter, Lakeside Academy, Trinity, St. Bernard’s, Deerfield Academy and Sidwell Friends. These schools don’t evaluate their teachers by standardized test scores. Why does the parent trigger lead us right back to all the other bad ideas propounded by these out of touch reformers?

 

Categories Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Reform, Parent trigger, Unions

A Student Voice of Wisdom

By dianeravitch
August 10, 2012 //
9

I discovered Stephanie Rivera on Twitter. Ah, the power of social media. Stephanie took issue with Students for Education Reform, which is a mini-version of the Wall Street hedge fund managers group called Democrats for Education Reform. DFER thinks that charter schools will close the achievement gap, but sadly there is no evidence==other than an anecdote about a handful of charters–that this remotely possible on any scale. It hasn’t happened in Washington, D.C., which is awash in TFA and charters, nor in New Orleans, nor in New York City. Where is the evidence that they can close the achievement gap other than by skimming top students and kicking out low-performing students?

Stephanie met with the leaders of SFER in her part of New Jersey, and they tried to convince her she was wrong to be devoted to the public schools. Stephanie can’t understand why they would turn their backs on the schools where 90% of American students are. I think this is called “lifeboat” strategy, where you pluck a few kids and pat yourself on the back instead of trying to save the ship.

Well, as it happens, the ship is under attack from the likes of DFER and SFER and SFC and a long list of well-funded alphabet groups, but it is definitely not going down.

And the charters, we now know, are extremely varied. Some are excellent, some are dreadful, most are no different from public schools. And some are run by profiteers, who use tax dollars to pay off investors.

Lurking between the lines are class issues; the SFERs are at Princeton, Stephanie is at Rutgers. ‘Nuff said.

Be strong, Stephanie!

Many experienced and expert teachers are waiting to give you a hand when you join them.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Students

Follow the Money

By dianeravitch
July 3, 2012 //
6

If you want to know why so many politicians think so highly of charters, there is a basic rule of  politics that explains it all: Follow the money.

The most visible organization promoting corporate reform is called Democrats for Education Reform, known as DFER (commonly pronounced “D-fer”). DFER is the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ group. It always has a few non-hedge funders on the board, especially one or two prominent African-Americans, to burnish its pretentious claim of leading the civil rights movement of our day. Kevin Chavous, a former council member from Washington, D.C., fills that role for now, along with the DFER stalwart, Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark. DFER has its own member of the U.S. Senate, Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado. It has also raised money generously for Congressman George Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education and Labor Committee.

This group bankrolls politicians, woos them, raises campaign cash for them, and persuades them of the advantages of turning the children of their district over to privately managed schools. Watch their website to see which politician they favor this month and scan those they have recognized in the past.

In New York City, Hakeem Jeffries, DFERs’s candidate for U.S. Congress, announced his support for tax credits for religious schools on the day after he won the election. His support for charter schools was already well known. Unless there is targeted new funding, support for charters and religious schools comes right out of the budget for public schools, which are already stressed by cuts.

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Reform, New York
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »