Archives for category: Education Industry
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A Mother in Douglas County, CO: The Damage Done by “Reformers” to Our Public Schools

By dianeravitch
August 16, 2017 //
15

The following comment was posted on the blog in response to this post about the coming school board elections in Douglas County, Colorado. There, in the most affluent county in the state, corporate reformers swamped the previous school board elections with money and propaganda and elected a majority committed to privatization. Many of the district’s best teachers left. The future of the district lies in the hands of its parents. If they want public schools, they will have to fight for them, go door-to-door to explain the issues, and mobilize other parents and civic-minded members of the public to vote in the school board election. Only they can save their schools.

The reader from Douglas County wrote:

“Thank you for shining light on our CO school district. I’m a mom, and local resident, with kids in our public schools. We had amazing schools and outstanding teachers in this district, as our student and school performances (in the past) showed. Over the last 7 years, outside interests and forces (which most residents and/or parents haven’t really understood), have been decimating our schools, and causing the loss of our best teachers. I never realized that high functioning, successful public school districts in wealthy suburban areas were such attractive targets for private “for-profit” national education corporations. I’m realizing that our local tax dollars, collected for “public” purposes, are the focus of BIG corporate cash-grabs. Vouchers and charters are strangling our once thriving schools. Please help us shed light on this destructive trend, and help us stand up to it, as a community. Our own elected school board members (the “reformers”) have been selling out our district, and hiring their own friends and colleagues, spending obscene amounts of money, with little accountability, or transparency. I wish we could personally sue each one of them for negligence, collusion, and damages to the community, and our kids.”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Colorado, Education Industry, Privatization, Vouchers

Chris Hedges and Diane Ravitch Discuss Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
August 16, 2017 //
18

What fun to meet and talk with Chris Hedges!
Chris lives in a New Jersey town where a charter school was opened without the consent of the residents. Their taxes support a school they don’t want. Their local public schools are excellent. Why are they supporting a private school, he wonders.

At the end of the show, Chris gave me a copy of his national Best-seller, “Empire of Illusion.” It is an amazing book. Read it. You won’t be disappointed. You will see the world differently.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

EdNext Poll: Support for Charter Schools Plummets

By dianeravitch
August 15, 2017 //
14

Education Next is a publication funded by conservative foundations and staffed by conservative editors and writers. It supports charters, vouchers, school choice, high-stakes testing, the commodification of education, and the education industry.

Here are the results of its latest poll:

“The 2017 Education Next annual survey of American public opinion on education shows public support for charter schools has dropped, even as opposition to school vouchers and tax credits for private-school scholarships has declined. Opposition to the Common Core State Standards seems to have finally leveled off. When the “Common Core” name is not mentioned, support for the same standards across states rises among both Democrats and Republicans. Meanwhile, support for the federal role in education policy has waned. This year’s poll also finds that President Trump’s policy preferences widen the partisan divide on issues such as charter schools, Common Core, tax credits, and merit pay for teachers.

“Among the key findings:

“Charter school support drops. In a dramatic change of opinion over the past year, support for charter schools has declined by 12 percentage points, from 51% last year to only 39% this year (36% opposed). Support has fallen by 13 percentage points among Republicans and by 11 percentage points among Democrats, to 47% and 34% support respectively, leaving the partisan gap on the issue largely unchanged. Support for charters among blacks has dropped from 46% to 37% and among Hispanics from 44% to 39%.

“Opposition to private school choice declines despite partisan differences. Opposition to universal vouchers, which give all families a wider choice, has declined from 44% to 37%, while support for vouchers targeted to low-income parents has increased by six percentage points (43% in 2017 up from 37% in 2016). However, an analysis of individuals by political party reveals that support for universal vouchers has increased by 13 percentage points among Republicans (to 54%) but fallen by 9 percentage points (to 40%) among Democrats, whereas in 2016, Democrats were more supportive than Republicans of universal vouchers by an 8-percentage point margin. Opposition to tax-credit funded scholarships has declined from 29% to 24%.

“Support for national standards rises while opposition to Common Core levels off. Though support for Common Core plummeted between 2013 and 2016, the downward trend has leveled off, with support standing at 41% (38% opposed) in 2017, virtually the same as in 2016. Support for standards that are the same in all states is, at 61%, 20 percentage points higher when the name is not mentioned (6 percentage points higher than in 2016). While there remains a partisan divide in support for Common Core (32% in favor among Republicans and 49% among Democrats), support rises to 64% and 61%, respectively, when the name is not mentioned, eliminating the partisan gap.

“Support for local control of schools is on the rise. Although a plurality of the public continues to think accountability policy should mostly be a state responsibility, the latest poll numbers show that the public has shifted away from federal towards local control of schools. Only 36% of the public think the federal government should play the largest role in setting standards, down 5 percentage points from 2015; only 13% think it should identify failing schools, also down 5 percentage points; and only 16% think the federal government should be responsible for fixing schools, down 4 percentage points. Democratic support for federal decision-making has dropped by 8, 6, and 7 percentage points, respectively. The share of the public thinking these policies should be a local responsibility has risen by 4, 6, and 7 percentage points, respectively, for the three areas.

“Information about cost and earnings has little impact on college-going preferences–except among Hispanics. The latest poll shows that two-thirds of the public want their child to pursue a 4-year degree, while only 22% prefer a 2-year degree. Among white respondents with a 4-year college degree, 88% want their child to pursue a 4-year degree, compared to 57% of white respondents without a 4-year college degree. Most respondents, when they are informed as to the average costs and earnings associated with 2-year versus 4-year degrees, do not change their preferences. For Hispanics, however, providing both types of information shifts their preference for a 4-year degree to 72%, from 61% when no information is provided. This shift reverses the white-Hispanic gap in preferences for a 4-year degree. These findings emerge from an experiment where a randomly chosen group within the sample receives financial information while another group does not.

“The Trump Effect. On four issues—Common Core, charter schools, tax credits, and merit pay for teachers—the poll examines whether President Trump’s endorsement of a policy has a polarizing effect on public opinion by telling half of the sample the president’s position while not supplying this information to the other. EdNext conducted similar experiments in 2009 and 2010 during President Obama’s first two years in office. In 2009, Obama enjoyed a period of bipartisan support during which he moved public opinion toward his position, though the effect waned in 2010. Trump has not enjoyed such a “honeymoon” period (see figure). When informed of Trump’s position, Republicans move toward it on three of the four issues, including a 15 percentage-point increase in support for charter schools. However, Trump fails to persuade Democrats, who move away from the president’s position on two of the four issues, including a 14 percentage-point decrease in support for merit pay. These offsetting effects leave overall public opinion on these issues largely unchanged.”

One can draw different conclusions from this poll, but I am impressed by the stunning drop in public support for privately managed charter schools. As the public learns more about them, it likes them less. The steady drumbeat of charter scandals is getting through to the public. The scandals in Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Arizona, California, and elsewhere may be taking a toll on public estimation of charters. There is a glimmering of understanding that charters are unaccountable and that every dollar for a charter is taken away from public schools. The public is beginning to wonder about the value of funding two systems, one selective, the other open to all. One subject to democratic governance, the other controlled by private, self-selected boards.

Categories Charter Schools, Common Core, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Testing

Valerie Strauss: ALEC’s Pathetic, Warped “Report Card” on Education

By dianeravitch
August 14, 2017 //
13

In education, ALEC is the axis of Failed ideas. It writes model legislation for states to kill unions, reduce the teaching profession to at-will temps, and replace public schools with charter and vouchers. Its sponsors are big corporations. Its members are 2,000 state legislators who want to be corporate puppets.

Valerie Strauss writes here about the ALEC report card. What matters most to ALEC is whether your state has charters, vouchers, cyber charters, homeschooling and for-profit schools. What matters least is whether students are learning anything.

Betsy DeVos is ALEC’s spokeswoman. Coincidentally, Secretary of Education. She parrots their line. Choice. No unions. Choice. No job protections for teachers. Choice. No collective bargaining. Choice.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Alan Singer: Charter Advocates Play the Race Card

By dianeravitch
August 14, 2017 //
3

Alan Singer roasts Eva Moskowitz and Dan Loeb (billionaire chair of Eva’s charter empire) for pretending to care more about black children than the NAACP.

Eva cares so much that she interviewed for the job of Trump’s Secretary of Education, then praised Betsy DeVos, who hopes to defund the programs that black (and white and Hispanic and Asian) children rely on. She welcomed Paul Ryan and Ivanka Trump to her schools. And of course she eagerly awaits the new Trump funding for charter schools.

Dan Loeb dared to slander a black legislator who doesn’t support charter schools, saying she was worse than a KKKman.

These are folks who don’t care about the common good. They are happy to take care of the few they choose. To heck with the rest.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

William Mathis: What Standardized Tests Tell Us (Not Much)

By dianeravitch
August 14, 2017 //
48

William Mathis is managing director of the National Education Policy Center and vice-chair of the Vermont Board of Education.

Mathis writes here about the inherent flaws of today’s standardized tests.

“They claim to measure “college and career readiness.” Yet, it takes no particular insight to know that being ready for the forestry program at the community college is not the same as astrophysics at MIT. Likewise, “career ready” means many different things depending upon whether you are a health care provider, a convenience store clerk, or a road foreman.

“The fundamental flaw is pretending that we can measure an educated person with one narrow set of tests. There is no one universal knowledge base for all colleges and careers. This mistake is fatal to the test-based reform theory.

“When the two test batteries (PARCC and SBAC) are put to the test, they don’t score very well. Princeton based Mathematica Policy Research compared PARCC test scores with freshman grade point average and found only 16 percent could be predicted (in the best case) by the math test and less than 1 percent by the English Language Arts score. The SBAC doesn’t have such a validity study but they say it “appears in their crystal ball.” (p.72 1). Since the future of schools and children are in the balance, this is no place for murky crystal balls…

“In the current latent traits fad, here’s how the tail has to wag:

“Knowledge can only have one line from easiest to hardest, children within a grade are equally distributed within and across all classrooms, and that all children learn the same things in the same way, in the same order and at the same time. As any parent of two or more children can tell you, that is not reality.

“Another fatal tail wagging is that no matter how important the item, if it doesn’t fit the latest test fad, it is tossed out. The result is that the test drifts off in space. This problem is made worse when politicians dangle money in front of test experts to do things with tests that cannot and should not be done, says Shavelson.

“If we redesigned our measures to address what our state constitutions and citizens tell us is important, we would concentrate on the skills that define success as a citizen, worker and human being. These which include clear and effective communication, creative and practical problem-solving, informed and integrative thinking, responsible and involved citizenship, and self-direction.

“This is not to say that standardized testing should be eliminated. It is the single uniform measure across schools. But the very standardized attributes that make them valuable cause harm to those things that are truly important for our children, and our communities.

“Since the “recommended” SBAC tests’ standards are currently set to fail about two-thirds of students, the data will wrongly and dishonestly provide fodder for school critics. In high scoring states, a mere half of students will be declared failures even though they would rank in the top 10 percent of the world. The test scores measure neither college nor careers nor success in life. They simply float free in monolithic space radiating glossy ignorance but as far as informing us about our schools, they are a cold, silent and misleading void.”

I have only one disagreement with Mathis’ keen analysis.

Given the pervasive misuse of standardized tests, our nation would benefit by having a moratorium on standardized testing of three to five years, during which time we might figure out how and when to use them, how to educate without them, and why test scores not the purpose of going to school.

Categories Accountability, Citizenship, Creativity, Democracy, Education Industry, Real Education, Standardized Testing

Why the NAACP Said “Enough” to School Privatization

By dianeravitch
August 13, 2017 //
22

Rann Miller, writing at Alternet (and Salon), explains why the NAACP finally stepped up and demanded accountability for and oversight of charter schools. Miller directs the 21st Century Learning Center in southern New Jersey. He taught at a charter school in Camden, New Jersey, for six years.

Miller writes that the NAACP recognizes that charter schools are a way for state officials to abandon accountability for black and brown children.

“The conversation about the failings of public education is worth having. However, too many folks are missing the larger point that the NAACP is making: state governments must be held accountable for the education of Black and Brown children. School privatization has allowed state governments to avoid their obligation to educate children of color, especially poor children. The erosion of the public commitment to educating all kids is sadly ironic when you consider that it was Black people who pushed hardest to make free public education a reality for all.

“Here is what the abandonment of the public responsibility for educating all kids looks like. State policymakers declare themselves fed up with overseeing underperforming public schools in poor Black and Brown neighborhoods. Some policymakers, at the behest of their constituents, rather than seeking solutions to improve these schools, tell families that the schools are so bad that they can’t be improved. Families are then told that “experts” will be invited to improve the education of their children. This “strategy” takes the burden of educating poor children of color off of the state, which many believe is a waste of tax money considering the continuous underperformance of city schools. This strategy also paints education policymakers in an innovative light; they look as though they are thinking outside the box to attack a problem largely created as a result of the state’s own negligence.

“According to the NAACP task force, charter schools are exacerbating racial segregation, a topic that critics of the civil rights group have been largely dismissive of. The larger issue is that outsourcing the education of students of color abandons the spirit of integration. School choice and the proliferation of charter schools prevent people of color from holding state governments to the obligation required of them as per Brown v. Board of Education. The NAACP report documents the consequences of this abandonment: inadequate funding of urban schools, a lack of accountability and oversight for charter school, most of which are concentrated in urban communities, the disproportionate exclusionary discipline of Black students, high teacher turnover, and an absence of teachers of color in both charters and traditional public schools.”

Relinquishing the responsibility for educating children of color to the private sector is not an answer to the needs of children, families, and schools.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Civil Rights, Education Industry, Privatization

Little Rock: The Waltons Pull a Fast One and Buy Another School for Conversion to Charter

By dianeravitch
August 12, 2017 //
11

Arkansas belongs to the Walton family, the richest family in the U.S., which runs the state like its personal plantation. If the Waltons cared about children, they might focus their spending on child health and well-being in Arkansas, but instead they spend $200 million a year spreading charters where they are not wanted. The family claims credit for launching one of every four charters in the nation. And of course they are very generous to Teach for America, which supplies the low-wage, non-union, short term employees needed to star charters.

Max Brantley, former editor of the Arkansas Times, is not afraid of the Waltons. He writes fearlessly about their domination of the state.

Their latest outrage involved the Waltons’ swift and secretive purchase of Little Rock’s Garland School. The sale was not advertised. There were no bids other than the Waltons’. Brantley assumes they mean to use it for charters.

The Waltons recently maneuvered to have the entire Little Rock district taken over by the state, even though only 6 of 48 schools didn’t meet state standards. This was a power grab. It removed the elected board, making it easier for the Waltons to pick over the bones of the district.

For their contempt for public education, their lust for power, and their determination to impose their will on others, I add the Walton family to the Wall of Dhame.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Wall of Shame, Walton Foundation

Florida: Charter School Closes, Leaving Behind Academic Failure and Mountains of Debt

By dianeravitch
August 12, 2017 //
5

Another day, another charter scandal. This one is in Lauderhill, Florida, in Broward County.

“LAUDERHILL, Fla. – The Paramount Charter School was, by all accounts, a disaster for its young students, but now that the publicly financed, F-graded K-8 school is closed, there is a big question that remains: Where did the money go?

In all, taxpayers coughed up more than $3 million for the charter school in Lauderhill, which promised a first-rate education for its predominantly financially disadvantaged students.

“Now American Charter Development, the Utah-based charter school company that was Paramount’s landlord and primary investor, alleges it lost well over $1 million during the two years the school was in operation and suspects public funds were misappropriated.

“In our view, there’s been fraud,” Rob Giordano, senior vice president of business development at American Charter Development, told Local 10 News.

“Giordano said the company conducted its own examination of the school’s finances and found that, in addition to a nonprofit company that had been set up to run the school, called the Advancement of Education in Scholars Corp., there was a second for-profit company formed with an almost identical name.

“Giordano said his firm obtained Paramount bank documents showing large sums of money going to the for-profit company.

“It was tens of thousands of dollars in excess of $30,000 a month going to this shell organization,” Giordano said.”

Not to worry. This failed “public charter school” will be replaced by another. The taxpayers’ money? It’s gone, along with the time that children lost in this school.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Florida, For-Profit, Fraud, Privatization

Jan Resseger: Time to Shut Down Unqualified Charter Authorizers in Ohio!

By dianeravitch
August 12, 2017 //
7

Jan Resseger reports that Ohio charter law allows any non-profit to become a charter authorized, even if they have no education experience and even if they have no geographical proximity to the charters they allegedly oversee. The authorized collects 3% of the charters’ public funding, which can mean millions of dollars a year in found money. It certainly creates an incentive for authorizes to keep charters open and growing.

In the latest episode of a long-running drama called “How Charter Schools Fleece Taxpayers,” Resseger says that the Cleveland activists have called on the Ohio Department of Education to block the St. Aloysius Orphanage fromsponsoring charters in Cleveland. The Orphanage hired a for-profit corporation to manage the charters it sponsors from afar.

“In the news this week is charter school sponsor, St. Aloysius Orphanage—along with Charter School Specialists, the for-profit firm with which St. Aloysius Orphanage has contracted to provide all the services required of charter school sponsors by the Ohio Department of Education. St. Aloysius Orphanage was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1837. It has evolved from a 19th century orphanage into a 21st century mental health agency, which also provides a local Cincinnati charter school for children needing special education services. St. Aloysius Orphanage has also become one of Ohio’s statewide charter school sponsoring agencies….

“There are some other serious problems with the new school planned by St. Aloysius at Orchard Park. Patrick O’Donnell, of the Plain Dealer, has been reporting for several weeks about the for-profit company with which St. Aloysius has contracted to open and manage the school, Cambridge Education Group. Cambridge’s Florida counterpart, Newpoint Education Partners has been indicted in Florida, as has the founder of both companies, Marcus May. O’Donnell explains: “Cambridge Education Group, the operator of 19 Ohio charter schools and of a new school about to open in Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood, is distancing itself from recent fraud and racketeering charges in Florida against founder Marcus May. But details are trickling out about how much that alleged fraud may have spread from Florida to the 19 schools Cambridge operates here in Ohio.

“And Cambridge and its counterpart in Florida, Newpoint Education Partners—a company that is itself under indictment in that state—have had a tight relationship for several years, besides just being founded by May. The school logos in both Ohio and Florida for Cambridge and Newpoint have the same theme…. and the two companies have shared the same officers at times, including Cambridge owner and President John Stack. Stack has not been charged in the case. His name does not appear in court filings against May… Stack said that he was unaware of any of the schemes to defraud schools of money that May is accused of.”

“Charter School Specialists, the for-profit company with which St. Aloysius Orphanage contracts to fulfill its sponsorship responsibilities, is headed by Dave Cash, who is quoted in an additional article by Patrick O’Donnell about the problems at Cambridge-Newpoint, which St. Aloysius intends to hire to run its new Orchard Park charter school: “We have been aware of the legal concerns of Newpoint in Florida and have been in contact with the prosecutor in the case… The boards of each school that utilize Cambridge Education Group have also been monitoring the case and staying abreast of the issues.”

Resseger urges the state to tighten oversight of shoddy and shady charter sponsors.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Ohio, Privatization
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