Archives for category: Education Industry
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Do You Want Your Child to Attend a Mark Zuckerberg School?

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2019 //
20

The Coalition for Student Privacy writes here about a new book by Dianne Tavenner, who leads the Chan-Zuckerberg-funded Summit Charter Schools. The Summit approach is based heavily on screen time, and it has encountered student and parent protests in numerous cities.

Tavenner’s new book is called Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life.

The book will be launched at an event funded by the far-right Walton Family Foundation in New York City, where Tavenner will have a dialogue with Angela Duckworth, she of “Grit” fame. If you are in the area, why not drop in for free food and drinks on the Walton dime?

The Summit charters have had some little problems with their teachers, some of whom want to form a union. That’s a sure way to lose Walton funding!

Categories Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Technology, Walton Foundation

Arthur Camins: Take Back Our Government. Start with Public Schools.

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2019 //
9

Arthur Camins retired after a career as a teacher, aprofessor, a scientist, and director of a lab in charge of innovation.

In this post, he lays out the great mission of our era: take back our government, restore our democracy of the people. Start with public schools.

An excerpt:

Public schools are the bedrocks of democracy and equity. They are a great place to start reclaiming government because they are under assault by market enthusiasts who promote charter schools.

At best, charter schools–publicly funded but privately governed–benefit a few at the expense of the many. The evidence is in. At worst, they drain funds from public school districts, exacerbate segregation, facilitate corruption, and promote competition rather than solidarity among diverse constituencies for education quality and equity. It is time to hammer the nails in the charter school coffin.

In a dramatic and welcome shift for presidential candidates, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warrenhave announced their opposition to continued federal support for charter schools. However, don’t make plans for the Democratic funeral just yet. The charter school lobby has deep pockets for legislative and electoral influence.  However, we are seeing a political shift in response to changing public opinion, possibly a reaction to Betsy DeVos’s flagrant distain for public schools and recurring charter school corruption.

Since Albert Shankar abandoned his flirtation with charter schools as an end run around stultifying bureaucracy, advocacy for so-called school choice has been primarily about undermining unions, avoiding systemic solutions to poverty, and promoting unregulated markets in opposition to government responsibility. Public acceptance of charter schools reflects a desperate response to years of abandonment and bipartisan support for and bashing of public schools. I don’t blame parents for choosing charter schools or the teacher who work in them. The responsibility falls on the politicians who allowed schools to deteriorate and poverty to continue, and with the profiteers who seek to make a buck at children’s expense. We will need to find a responsible way to reintegrate current charter school students into the public school system.

The market notion is that when schools compete for students and parent compete for their children’s entry into charter school equity and quality will improve. That is a zombie idea.  The absence of evidence notwithstanding, it just will not die. With billionaire funding it just keeps coming back to life.

Just for fun, I did a search on the term, “How to kill a zombie.”  It appears that the only way to kill off zombies is to attack their brains. We need to attack the brainchild of markets-fix-everything limited government enthusiasts  The American majority needs to take back the role of government as an essential support of a decent life for everyone. We need to take back the idea of social responsibility. The education of our children– all of them –could be the vanguard of that struggle.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Democracy, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Mike Deshotels on John White’s Record as Louisiana’s State Superintendent and Education Reformer

By dianeravitch
November 1, 2019 //
23

Mike Deshotels is a retired educator in Louisiana who blogs as “Louisiana Educator.”

In this post, he appraises State Superintendent John White’s record as state superintendent. 

He characterizes that record as “pitiful.”

John White, you may recall, is a “reformer,” that is, a specialist in Disruption. He is formerly TFA, a graduate of the unaccredited Broad Academy, and before coming to Louisiana, worked for Joel Klein in New York City, preparing public schools for takeover by charter schools. He supports charters, vouchers, and high-stakes testing.

Deshotels writes:

After over 7 years of John White as Louisiana’s education reformer, Louisiana ranks 47th on national reading and math tests, and 49th on the ACT.

John White’s propaganda mill had the unmitigated gall to put out this press release Tuesday claiming that Louisiana was “number one in the country in 8th grade math improvement” as measured by The Nations Report Card. This tiny bit of data selection is insignificant compared to overall achievement of our students in reading, math and college readiness. The press release neglected to mention that despite all this “improvement” Louisiana still ranks third to last compared to the 50 states in 8th grade math. There is also no mention that Louisiana ranks 47th out of the 50 states in overall performance on all the latest NAEP tests. No mention was made that the latest ACT tests now rank Louisiana second to last in the country in college readiness! Our ACT test score averages have been declining significantly for the last 3 years. White’s press release trying to portray total stagnation in student performance as “nation leading outcomes” is pathetic.

Deshotels reviews the state’ low NAEP scores, then turns to the steadily falling ACT scores:

For ACT scores, there is no press release at all from the LDOE, probably because they have not yet found a way to spin three years in a row of declining ACT scores as some type of success. Average ACT scores in Louisiana was 19.6 in 2017, 19.2 in 2018, and 18.8 in 2019. This is a very significant drop in three years. Don’t just take my word for it that Louisiana is performing poorly in college readiness, just take a look at this article by Will Sentell in The Baton Rouge Advocate casually mentioning that Louisiana has now fallen to 49th in the nation on the ACT.

 

 

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Corporate Reformers, Disruption, Education Industry, Education Reform, Louisiana, Privatization, Testing

Carol Burris: Wealthy Charter Organizations Lash Out at Elizabeth Warren for Proposing to Cut Off Their Federal Funding

By dianeravitch
November 1, 2019 //
15

Carol Burris, a veteran educator and now executive director of the Network for Public Education, has conducted extensive research into the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP), which resulted in a report called Asleep at the Wheel. That report documented the waste of about $1 billion in federal funds spent on charters that either never opened or that opened and then closed in short order. At the time the CSP was created by the Clinton administration, there were fewer than 100 charters; the new program was supposed to help start-up charters. However, since Betsy DeVos became Secretary of Education, she has used the CSP as her personal slush fund, lavishing million on established corporate charter chains–especially IDEA and KIPP.

In this post, which appeared on Valerie Strauss’s Answer Sheet blog at the Washington Post, Burris describes the outraged reaction of the charter advocacy groups to Elizabeth Warren’s plan to end the federal CSP. She details that each of the major charter groups has received many millions of dollars from the federal government, in addition to the support they have received from billionaires, foundations, and Wall Street. They are angry that their federal money might be cut off.

Strauss invited charter advocates to respond, and she includes their responses in the post. They want the money, they all said, because it is all about the kids.

Strauss writes:

Last week, Warren spelled out a detailed plan that would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to improve public schools from prekindergarten through 12th grade, saying she would pay for it by taxing America’s wealthiest people.

She calls for, among other things, quadrupling federal Title I funding for schools in high-poverty neighborhoods, which would add $450 billion over the next 10 years — and change the way that funding is implemented so that the neediest students benefit. The plan would also fund the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act at the level the federal government originally promised — 40 percent of the total cost of educating students with disabilities.

But this is what set off supporters of charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated: She said she would end federal investment in charter school expansion, ban for-profit charter schools and ensure existing charter schools are subject to the same transparency and accountability requirements as that of traditional public school districts. Warren also said she wants to ensure that only school districts can authorize the opening of charter schools.

She wasn’t the only Democratic presidential candidate to call for an end to federal funding for new charter schools; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) did the same thing. But Warren has risen to the top of a number of polls, and she is now a prime target for critics of her proposals.

A day after Warren’s announcement, the pro-charter Center for Education Reform issued a release attacking her, saying in part: “This week is seeing Elizabeth Warren’s education stances go from disastrous to downright awful. Yesterday she released a plan filled with failed policies of the past that puts narrow special interests over parents’ rights and student’s opportunities to succeed.”

Carol Burris writes:

The unveiling of Elizabeth Warren’s education plan resulted in a flurry of emails, tweets and blogs all focused on one small part of the plan — shutting down the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program. Most of the biggest objectors were those charter organizations that enjoy a stream of federal funding, with some having received hundreds of millions from a program whose original mission has gone astray.

It is not surprising that the alarm bells went off in the charter school establishment. Warren is now the second of the three leading contenders for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president who have promised to shut down the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) called for a moratorium on the same program in his education platform, eliciting the same outrage from many of the same players.

Below is a sample of some of the recent emails, followed by a discussion of the benefit that each organization received.

First, a fundraising email for the Charter PAC went out from Nina Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools:

From: Nina Rees
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2019 7:18 PM
Subject: Warren Proposes to Stop Federal Funding for Charter Schools
Dear Friends —
Today Presidential candidate and Senator Elizabeth Warren called to end federal funding for the expansion of
charter schools.
But we know that 5 million more families would choose a charter school if one could open near them.
Senator Warren’s plan to starve charter schools of funding would destroy the dreams of a quality education
for the families who need it most. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools responded sharply.
However, to protect as well as grow the Charter Schools Program, we must deploy all the tools available to us.
Please contribute to the Charter Schools Action PAC today. A strong Charter Schools PAC helps reinforce our
mission to candidates that need to know the impact of Senator Warren’s plan.
I’m writing today to ask for your help. Give today and share with 5 of your friends who support charter schools.
Thank you
Nina

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, which had an income of nearly $13 million in 2017, has a vested interest in the continuance of the Charter Schools Program.

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Education, under Secretary Betsy DeVos, awarded it a $2,385,960 grant. That is because a new funding stream was established that year, the National Dissemination Grants Program. The new grant program does not fund charter schools, but rather organizations such as the national alliance. Given the size of its budget, that award provides a substantial inflow of cash.

Since 2010, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has spent $2,621,999 lobbying Congress and the White House for funding for charter schools, with much of that lobbying being directed at the expansion of the federal Charter Schools Program, legislative records show.

[Asked to comment, Rees said in an email: “Charter Schools Action PAC, a voluntary organization of charter school supporters, responded to the Warren campaign’s direct assault on charter schools and the contribution they are making to high quality education for all kids. When our schools, students, and families are attacked our supporters have no choice but to respond on behalf of all families who want high quality educational options for their kids.”]

Rees’s email was then shortly followed by another from the CEO of IDEA Charter Schools, Tom Torkelson, who forwarded Rees’s email to the same listserv with this note:

Friends,
I hope you saw Nina’s note below. Senator Warren has proposed to cut the entire charter schools federal program. We need your help today [gmail.us4.list-manage.com]; don’t wait to support our efforts.
Tom
Tom Torkelson
Former Classroom Teacher and Charter School Founder

Torkelson, the CEO of the IDEA charter chain has an even greater vested interest in the preservation of the Federal Charter Schools Program. IDEA Charter Schools has received $225,000,000 from the Charter Schools Program since 2010. In 2018, IDEA had nearly $900 million in assets. That year, Torkelson earned over $550,000 from the charter chain and its related organization, public tax records show.

[A spokesman for IDEA said in an email: “As the Founder of IDEA Public Schools, Tom Torkelson has dedicated the last two decades to developing high-quality public schools that serve students from low-income backgrounds. Thanks, in part, to the federal Charter Schools Program, IDEA Public Schools has been able to expand in communities where the need is greatest, in partnership with teachers, students, and families…. We’re glad to see our founder stand up to defend schools that give students from all backgrounds the chance to go to a school that works for them.]

Just to make sure everyone on the listserv got the message and gave to the political action committee, Richard Barth of the KIPP charter chain forwarded the same email again.

Barth wrote:

Friends, We can’t let Senator Warren’s plan of cutting charter school funding become reality. Join us today and help all kids achieve their dreams. Richard.
Richard Barth
CEO
KIPP Foundation

The KIPP charter chain received $218,457,063 in grants from the Charter Schools program since 2010.

[A KIPP spokesman said in an email: Richard Barth is on the board of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools PAC. He sent the email on behalf of that organization, not on behalf of the KIPP Foundation. It is not uncommon for organizations like the PAC to ask for support when they are faced with important threats to their mission. The Charter School Program has been a critical and effective tool in creating opportunities for educationally underserved children. We are proud of our CEO for continuing to fight for black and brown families to have access to a quality education.]

That is nearly a half-billion dollars going to two of the most well-endowed charter chains in the nation — and that does not include the millions more that their individual schools received prior to the establishment of the Charter Management Organization grant program.

No one should be surprised that progressive candidates are taking on the Charter Schools Program. Sanders and Warren have been outspoken critics of billionaires and Wall Street driving public policy, and both of those groups have driven charter policies for years.

The federal Charter Schools Program, which began modestly in 1995, has turned into a massive giveaway with multiple examples of waste and the enabling of fraud. More than $4.1 billion in public funding has gone to start, replicate and expand charter schools with millions more now going to other ancillary programs for dissemination and facilities funding.

In Warren’s home state of Massachusetts, 74 charter schools were awarded CSP grants between 2006-2014. Fifteen never even opened and eight shut down or were shut down — hardly a resounding success. That represents over $4.6 million in federal funds going to charter “experiments” that failed.

Last March, the Network for Public Education issued our report, “Asleep at the Wheel,” that exposed the enormous waste the program has generated by freely given tax dollars to charter school operators who never actually open a proposed school, and to operators whose charter schools open and close.

Next year we will issue a follow-up report that will provide detailed documentation of where wasted funding went, including how funds make their way to charters run by for-profit organizations as well as to operators who would use that money to start charters while engaging in mismanagement and unlawful profiteering.

Under DeVos, the Charter Schools Program is moving in a direction that accelerates school privatization and the flow of public funds into private hands. Since DeVos has been in charge, six of the 20 grants from the State Entities program — totaling $116,571,458 — have gone not to state government agencies, but to private agencies to distribute school start-up grants. In exchange, these agencies get to keep 10 percent of the grants to administer the grants and supply services.

As these private agencies receive grants that have a funding stream for their organization attached, it is likely that the waste associated with the previous grants to state education agencies will get worse.

As mentioned earlier, the new National Dissemination Grants Program, has also been a financial windfall for charter advocacy groups. The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools was not alone in receiving a grant. Grants to private organizations totaled $16 million in 2018, federal records show. Joining the National Alliance were the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the California Charter Schools Association, which has also received big funding from billionaires of that state.

The CSP program is now moving in a direction aligned with the philosophy of DeVos — the private sector is preferred over the public sector when it comes to the schooling, and the management of schooling, of America’s children.

Some of the teacher strikes around the country that started in early 2018 — including those in West Virginia and California — focused on more than teacher salaries and benefits. West Virginia teachers walked out to stop the encroachment of privatization in the form of vouchers and charters in their state. In both the cities of Los Angeles and Oakland, calls to stop the spread of charters were heard from the picket lines and became part of negotiations.

The “competition” between the charter and public school sector was supposed to be the tide that would lift all boats. Instead, some public school systems are unable to stay afloat as that tide pulls public resources from their schools.

In 1995, New Hampshire enacted legislation permitting charter schools. It received two modest CSP grants in 2003 and 2010, together totaling about $18 million. In the 25 years since charters have been allowed, 33 charters opened, five of which have closed due to lack of enrollment and financial insolvency. The state does not allow for-profit organizations to run schools, and as of now, there are no charter chains in the state.

Although 28 charter schools is a small number, those charters are embedded in a public school system of only 448 public schools. Nevertheless, in 2019, DeVos gave the state a whopping $46 million as a CSP federal grant. In addition to providing support for existing schools, the intent of the grant is to both expand existing schools and create 27 charter schools in the five years of the grant — doubling the number of charters in that tiny state.

Frank Edelblut, the governor-appointed commissioner of education in New Hampshire who applauded receipt of the grant, home-schooled his seven children. He is a strong supporter of charter schools and vouchers (which use public founds for private and religious school education) — and like DeVos, has no experience in public education.

“Asleep at the Wheel” detailed up to $1 billion in federal funds that were wasted on charter schools that never opened, or opened and then closed because of mismanagement and other reasons, and that may be an underestimate. Sanders and Warren have now stood up to the charter industry, questioning a program that they say been used as a lever to sponsor unfettered charter school growth and private profits while undermining democratically governed public schools.

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Funding, Privatization

Pennsylvania: Speaker of the House Who Hates Public Schools and Teachers Will Have Electoral Challenge

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2019 //
3

 

Remember Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Mike Turzai, who denounced public schools as a “monopoly, and expressed his contempt for public school teachers as a “special interest group”?

He will have a Democratic challenger in the next election. Emily Skopov is the daughter of a public school teacher and an activist. Read her biography and learn about her project called “No Crayon Left Behind.”

Emily Skopov will challenge Pa. House Speaker Mike Turzai again in 2020

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE localnews@post-gazette.com AUG 1, 2019

After losing by almost 9 percentage points in 2018, Marshall Democrat Emily Skopov said today that she will again challenge Pennsylvania State House Speaker Mike Turzai for the 28th Legislative District seat. Mr. Turzai, a Republican, has held the seat since 2001 and been the House speaker since 2015. Democrats have challenged him six times, but Ms. Skopov, riding a wave of Democratic energy following President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, was the first to get within 10 points. The 28th District is located entirely within Allegheny County, and includes Pine, Bradford Woods, McCandless, Franklin Park and Marshall. In a press release announcing her run, Ms. Skopov argued she could win because of “demographic and ideological shifts” in the district. “This district is one of the few in Pennsylvania to be currently experiencing unprecedented growth. Mr. Turzai has demonstrated an inability to recognize, let alone understand, these changes and the changing needs and priorities of the residents that he purports to represent,” she said.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2019/08/01/Emily-Skopov-mike-turzai-pennsylvania-house-2020-election/stories/201908010125

Everyone who loves their public schools and respects teachers as dedicated professionals should support Emily Skopov. Every parent of public school children in the 28th District should support her. Turzai will be funded by Betsy DeVos. Emily Skopov needs our help.

District 28 needs a leader, not a DeVos puppet.

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Privatization, Vouchers

Africa: World Bank Ombudsman Expresses Concern about For-Profit Bridge International Academies

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2019 //
6

In recent years, I have posted several times about the issues raised by the efforts of for-profit Bridge International Academies to supply low-cost schools in Africa. These schools are staffed by teachers equipped with iPads reading a script written in Boston or someplace similar. Most African families can’t afford the cost. BIA aims to disrupt and replace African nations’ underfunded, ill-equipped public schools. African nations should be building a universal, free public school system with qualified teachers. The entry of BIA, despite good intentions, disrupts thoughtful long-term planning. BIA is supported by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, the World Bank, and other wealthy donors.

The World Bank’s ombudsman recently expressed concern about BIA.

A major development in the World Bank Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) complaint against the International Finance Corporation’s investment in Bridge International Academies was just announced.
The East African Centre for Human Rights announced the World Bank’s accountability body report, which raised ‘substantial concerns’ regarding the investment in Bridge International Academies.
In a report published Friday, the CAO found ‘substantial concerns’ regarding the issues brought against the company. An investigation into the International Financial Corporation’s (IFC) investment in Bridge International Academies will now be launched.

The investigation will look at whether the IFC took reasonable steps to ensure Bridge complied with national law and standards, labour rights, and IFC policy requirements for transparency, community participation, and health and safety standards.

The East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights) on behalf of the complainants, welcomed the report on Friday, urging the World Bank and IFC to commit to the provision of free, quality public education for all.

In solidarity with EACHRights, and the learners, parents, teachers and community members affected, we support this significant development and call for the World Bank and other major investors to ensure the right to education is fulfilled in line with the Abidjan Principles.

The full press release is available below.

Kind regards,
Sarah

Campaigner, Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
+1 613-203-8093 | sarah@gi-escr.org
www.gi-escr.org
NAIROBI, 25TH OCTOBER 2019. The World Bank’s independent recourse and accountability mechanism, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), published a report yesterday raising “substantial concerns” regarding Bridge International Academies (BIA) and announcing their intention to conduct a compliance investigation into the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) investment in the company.

This decision comes after a comprehensive appraisal of a complaint filed in April 2018 by ten Kenyan citizens, with support from The East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights,) which outlined alleged contravention of IFC performance standards and abuses of human rights law as committed by the IFC client, BIA. The complaint was filed following a long list of concerns raised by various independent sources, academics, rights holders, civil society organisations and journalists since 2016.

In order to decide whether a compliance investigation is required, the CAO first conducts a compliance appraisal. Through this appraisal, the CAO determined that BIA’s operations raise “substantial concerns” regarding: “(a) the specific allegations of adverse impacts to teachers, parents and students raised in the complaints; (b) the Environmental and Social risk profile of the schools in light of their number, locations and concerns regarding their construction methods; and (c) the registration status of the schools and adherence to relevant health and safety requirements.”

The CAO raised concerns regarding the adequacy of the IFCs supervision and due diligence regarding its investment in BIA. The investigation by the CAO will also look into the IFC’s supervision of BIA’s compliance with national laws, and its capacity and commitment to implement IFC performance standards including those relating to labour practices and the environment, health and safety aspects of its schools. In the course of the investigation, IFC may also consider whether IFC’s policy framework provides an appropriate level of protection for workers, the environment and affected communities in a context of providing low-cost services in informal settlements.

Dr Judith Oloo the Chief Executive Officer at the East African Centre for Human Rights commented: ‘It has been a long wait for the complainants involved in this case. In making this decision, the CAO has taken into account the scale of BIA’s operations in Kenya, the number of communities potentially impacted and also considered the vulnerable status of children and families that are the target market for Bridge schools. We look forward to a rigorous and thorough investigation, and call on all investors to start taking action to avoid further harm.’

Sylvain Aubry, from the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, stated: “The CAO report confirms the concerns and many issues that parents, teachers, and civil society organisations have been raising for years about the harmful practices of Bridge International Academies. It’s now time for the World Bank and other major investors such as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, the Omidyar Network, and the UK Government to take immediate action to remedy the situation and comply with the right to education.”

Tony Baker from RESULTS Educational Fund added “This investigation comes at a critical time when donors like the Global Partnership for Education and others are exploring their own private sector engagement strategies. Such investment decisions must be evidence-based, and a thorough and honest look at the concerns around for-profit private schools like Bridge is needed to ensure that such approaches truly support national efforts to achieve free, quality education for all.”

It is anticipated that the compliance investigation will be completed by September 2020. More information on the investigation can be found here.

The complainants trust that the investigation will confirm what existing evidence already shows and that actions will be taken by the World Bank and IFC to ensure that the findings are adequately addressed in fairness to the thousands of children, parents and teachers who are daily affected by these violations.

Background
Bridge International Academies is a for-profit, multinational commercial chain of low cost private schools running over 500 institutions in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia and India. The company’s operations have raised concerns over the threat they pose to the right to education. The IFCs total equity investment in Bridge International Academies as of June 2019 is US $13.5 million.

Contacts
The East African Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights): Linda Oduor-Noah, linda@eachrights.or.ke, +254 7 01 67 00 90

Documents
Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Education Reform, International, Privatization

Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat: Betsy DeVos Uses Disappointing NAEP Scores to Call for More Charters and Vouchers

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2019 //
12

In a thoughtful article, Matt Barnum writes in Chalkbeat that Betsy DeVos used the disappointing results of the NAEP 2019 national tests to call for her “Education Freedom” plan, which would further disinvest in public schools and divert funding from the federal government, states, and local school districts to charters and vouchers.

Barnum writes:

But the call for more school choice — which, alongside deregulation of education at the federal level, DeVos has rebranded as “education freedom” — in response to stagnant test scores is certain to spur debate.

Research has generally found that charter schools perform comparably to district schools on state exams, with those in cities performing better and online charters performing worse. There is some evidence linking the growth of charter schools in cities to rising test scores across the board.

But recent studies on three voucher programs that subsidize private school tuition have shown that they reduce test scores in math. (DeVos has previously blamed over-regulation for Louisiana’s results.) In D.C., voucher recipients did about the same as public school students test-score wise, according to a recent study.

He added:

A number of studies have found that tougher test-based accountability rules, including No Child Left Behind, raised NAEP scores in math. Another recent studyfound evidence that the introduction of the Common Core standards reduced NAEP achievement.

Two studies have also linked more resources for schools to higher NAEP scores — though DeVos suggested otherwise Wednesday.

“Over the past 30 years, per-pupil spending has skyrocketed,” she said. “A massive increase in spending to buy flatlined achievement.”

One study showed that school finance reforms that resulted in more money boosted scores, and another found that education cuts in the wake of the Great Recession led to lower scores.

One undeniable fact is that the two lowest-scoring cities in the nation on the NAEP–Detroit and Milwaukee–have extensive choice. Detroit has loads of charter schools, and Milwaukee has charter schools and vouchers. If choice is the answer, as DeVos claims, it certainly has not helped these two cities.

To someone who has a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Despite any evidence to the contrary, Betsy DeVos will push the same agenda that she has pushed for the past thirty years: school choice. It doesn’t raise test scores, it intensifies segregation, it defunds the community’s public schools, but DeVos doesn’t care. She wants public money to go to religious schools, corporate charter chains, for-profit schools, online schools, homeschooling. That’s her agenda, and nothing will persuade her otherwise.

 

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

Carol Burris: Center for American Progress Scrambles to Save Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2019 //
8

Carol Burris notes that charter-friendly Democrats have been put in a jam since Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have announced their intention to eliminate federal funding for charter schools, which is currently $440 million a year and used by Betsy DeVos primarily to expand big corporate chains.

She writes:

Since Elizabeth Warren joined Bernie Sanders in calling for an end to the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP), the charter school establishment has been frantically trying through editorials, postings and back channels to get Warren to change her mind.

One of the latest and more subtle attempts has been made by the Center for American Progress (CAP), that serves as the “think tank” for the least progressive arm of the Democratic Party, at least when it comes to education policy.

 Readers may remember CAP as the cheerleaders for the Common Core during the Obama years. It embraced all of the failed policies of Race to the Top, including evaluating teachers by test scores and the collection of big data on student performance to drive “data driven” reform.

 In a recent posting, no doubt in response to Warren’s call to shut down CSP, they issued a call for CSP “modernization” that you can find here.

 Since it began in 1995, the CSP has spent $4.1 billion on starting and expanding charter schools in nearly every state. Rather than addressing the big problems of the program—the funding of unauthorized charters that never open, the program’s history of sending hundreds of millions to charter schools that open and shut down, and the flow of money that goes to for-profit operators via “non-profit” schools, it tinkers around the edges with rules and suggestions for even more programs.

 One suggested “reform” calls for communities to analyze the need for more schools, presumably charter schools, via the grants.  That call does not follow up with the recommendation that CSP funds be given only to applicants in communities that find need. All CAP is calling for, therefore, is one more CSP program that would do nothing to address the problem of charter school saturation, which is overwhelming public school systems by draining the insufficient resources they have.

 They also call for funding to develop “unified enrollment systems.” Such systems, favored by the proponents of portfolio districts, are designed to expand the footprint of charter schools,while being disguised as an equity reform. One of the favored private vendors for unified enrollment is a company called SchoolMint. SchoolMint is presently being used in Camden, New Jersey, San Antonio, Texas, Denver, Colorado and other choice-driven districts.

 SchoolMint makes it mission clear when it comes to charter schools— “your growth is our game plan.” In this blog on the company’s website it shows how school districts can steer low-income families to certain schools, because after all, the program knows best especially when it comes to low-income families. SchoolMint can easily be used to steer parents away from what would be their first choice, their local public schoolto a charter school. Public school advocates on the ground in Camden have told NPE that is exactly what is happening.

 Another recommendation of CAP is for funding to create additional charter networks. However, cities are already overwhelmed by the giant CMOs like IDEA, KIPP, Great Hearts and the Gulen-affiliated CMOs that actively recruit and pull the most motivated students from the public schools, as well as fromthe independent charters that are attempting to realize the charter ideal of teacher and parent led schools formed for innovation.

 In short, the CAP call for reform ignores the serious issues that we brought to light in our NPE report, Asleep at the Wheel.  I believe it is designed to give candidates an alternative to the promises of Sanders and Warren to shut down the federal charter funding supplied by the CSP.

 Like the silly stand of “I’m against for-profit charters”, even though there are only a handful of for-profit charter schools in the nation, the CAP “reforms” are just one more attempt by neo-liberals to give Democratic candidates the appearance of actively supporting charter reform, while still supporting the status quo.

 CAP’s latest report serves as a reminder that the Democrats who share the DeVos agenda have not disappeared, even though none of the Democratic candidates is willing to admit in public that they do.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats, Education Industry, Education Reform, Race to the Top

Grassroots Arkansas: ACTION ALERT, 10:30 AM Tomorrow!

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2019 //
1
Supporters of Students,
Join our students as they stay home for a “sick-out” in solidarity with our educators tomorrow, Wednesday, October 30th. If you are a caregiver of a student, you can call their absence in, and no matter who you are, you can join them at 12:45pm outside the Governor’s Office in the State Capitol, wearing red, holding supportive signs, and supporting them in their demands to meet with the Governor about an immediate return to democratically-elected, local control and return of recognition of the LREA Little Rock Teachers’ Union.
If you are a caregiver of a student or a student yourself, please fill out this pledge to show Asa, Key, and the State Board of Education how many students intend to follow educators in the event of a work action and encourage them to come to the table.
You can also support them by donating to the Bread for Ed fund here to provide meals for students who would be out of school during a shutdown and to cover associated costs. Over 70% of Little Rock students rely on free or reduced lunch, and your support will make it possible for them to stand in solidarity with teachers and educators.
You can support the LREA Member Care fund here to provide support for members in the case of a collective job action. Funds will be provided to members based on demonstrated need.
Lastly, save the date for Monday, November 4th, 5-7pm, for an LREA fundraiser at South on Main.
Together, we will win!
GRASSROOTS ARKANSAS
Categories Accountability, Arkansas, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Walton Foundation

KIPP, IDEA Corporate Charter Chains Criticize Elizabeth Warren’s Plan to Cut Their Federal Funding

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2019 //
17

In her education plan, Elizabeth Warren proposed eliminating the federal Charter Schools Program. This program was started in 1994 to help jumpstart new charter schools at a time when there were fewer than 100 charter schools in the nation. Now there are 7,000.

Today, the CSP has a budget of $440 million a year (which BETSY DeVos proposes to increase to $500 million a year). DeVos uses CSP as her personal slush fund to expand corporate charter chains. This past year, she gave $89 million to KIPP, $67 million to IDEA, and $10 million to Success Academy. None of these charter chains are struggling financially. All receive huge grants from the Waltons and other billionaires.

The Network for Public Education studied the expenditure of $4 billion by CSP from 2006-2014, predating the DeVos era. It’s report “Asleep at the Wheel,” determined that at least $1 billion of the funds spent by CSP during that period were wasted on charter schools that either never opened or closed soon after opening. Warren cited this report in her education plan, to justify eliminating the wasteful CSP.

The empire strikes back:

The CEO of KIPP (and husband of Wendy Kopp) sent this email to his mailing list:

Friends,

We can’t let Senator Warren’s plan of cutting charter school funding become reality. Join us today and help all kids achieve their dreams.
Richard

Richard Barth

CEO
KIPP Foundation

 

A friend received this email from the founder of IDEA, which has received $225 million from CSP in the last two years. Bote that it was sent during the workday.

From: Tom Torkelson <info@charterpac.org>
To:

Sent: Thu, Oct 24, 2019 2:26 pm
Subject: FW: Warren Proposes to Stop Federal Funding for Charter Schools

Friends,

I hope you saw Nina’s note below. Senator Warren has proposed to cut the entire charter schools federal program. We need your help today; don’t wait to support our efforts.

Tom

Tom Torkelson
Former Classroom Teacher and Charter School Founder

* title used for identification purposes only

From: Nina Rees <nina@charterpac.org>
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2019 7:18 PM
To: Tom Torkelson <tom@charterpac.org>
Subject: Warren Proposes to Stop Federal Funding for Charter Schools
Dear Friends —

Today Presidential candidate and Senator Elizabeth Warren called to end federal funding for the expansion of charter schools.
But we know that 5 million more families would choose a charter school if one could open near them. Senator Warren’s plan to starve charter schools of funding would destroy the dreams of a quality education for the families who need it most. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools respondedsharply.

However, to protect as well as grow the Charter Schools Program, we must deploy all the tools available to us. Please contribute to the Charter Schools Action PAC today. A strong Charter Schools PAC helps reinforce our mission to candidates that need to know the impact of Senator Warren’s plan.

I’m writing today to ask for your help. Give today and share with 5 of your friends who support charter schools.  

It is not surprising that charter chains that enjoy many millions  of dollars from the CSP would fight to keep the federal spigot of cash flowing.

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Funding, Privatization
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