Archives for category: Education Industry
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Education Activist Elected Head of Massachusetts Teacher Association

By dianeravitch
May 13, 2014 //
17

Barbara Madeloni, who led the fight against outsourcing teacher credentialing to Pearson, was elected president of the Massachusetts Teacher Association, will take charge of a union of 110.000 educators

“Until last August, Madeloni directed the Secondary Teacher Education Program at the University of Massachusetts.

“While UMass said her employment ended as part of a move to reduce the use of adjunct professors, Madeloni stated in interviews that the school was punishing her for opposing a project in which UMass tested a teacher assessment program for the for-profit company Pearson.

“Madeloni, 57, said in an interview Sunday she plans as MTA president to “amplify the voice of educators and be a leader at the national level.”

“She noted that her victory comes amid efforts in Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago to shift the debate back to supporting high-quality public education and the people who provide it over the interests of for-profit companies in the field.

“It should be national news,” Madeloni said of her win in Massachusetts. “It’s a message to everybody that teachers will not be silent and compliant as this assault on public education continues — and undermines public education. This is foundational to democracy and we need to defend it.”

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, Massachusetts, Pearson, Teacher Evaluations, Unions

Chutzpah in Louisiana: Crazy Crawfish Will Run for State Board Seat

By dianeravitch
May 12, 2014 //
12

Jason France, better known in the blogosphere as Crazy Crawfish, plans to run for the seat on the state board of education now held by Chas Roemer, son of a former governor, and brother of the head of the Louisiana charter school association. Jason is one brave man. He is a Crazy Crawfish, and all those who want to see a change in Louisiana’s heedless, madcap, irresponsible privatization should support him.

 

Press release (Professional design)

Contact: Debbie Sachs: Press Secretary and Media Relations: 985-626-3595

Press Release

2015 BESE election to have a fresh face: Jason France, a.k.a. “The Crazy Crawfish” seeks to remove Chas Roemer as he announces his candidacy for the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) district 6.

Jason France, a father of two East Baton Rouge public school children in BESE district 6, former Louisiana Department of Education Employee, controversial education blogger, and nationally recognized privacy and public education activist has announced his intent to seek a seat on BESE.

 

Baton Rouge, LA, April 7, 2014: Jason France has announced his candidacy for the district 6 seat on Louisiana’s State Department of Education. The district 6 seat is currently held by longtime politician, BESE President Chas Roemer, the son of former Governor Buddy Roemer, whom has not indicated whether he will seek another term. District 6 encompasses the eastern half of East Baton Rouge Parish, Ascension Parish, Livingston Parish, Washington Parish, Tangipahoa Parish and the City of Bogalusa.

 

Jason will be a dramatic change from the current office holder in charge of the state’s public schools and students, Chas Roemer, who has never attended a public school or university, and who sends his children to a non-public school that does not endorse Common Core because they find the standards inferior and does not participate in PARCC testing because they believe those tests are a waste of learning time and money, and yet actively promotes CCSS and PARCC for other children’s kids.

 

Since resigning from the Louisiana Department of Education over 2 years ago Jason has been active in fighting for student, parent and teacher privacy rights and for Louisiana to drop the substandard federally funded and promoted curriculum known by the misnomer as the Common Core State Standards as the State takeover of local schools and school districts and the rubber stamp approval process of substandard voucher and charter schools throughout the state.

 

Jason has been one of the driving forces behind the grassroots movement organizing to preserve Public Education in Louisiana. Jason hopes that by seeking this office he will be able inspire others to enter races across the state and to undo the damage wrought by influence bought by large national and multi-national corporations and organizations, as well as out-of-state billionaires seeking to profit from Louisiana children and de-professionalize the teaching profession in favor of temporary low cost, low quality alternatives.

2015 BESE election to have a fresh face: Jason France, a.k.a. “The Crazy Crawfish Jason has attended Magnolia Woods Elementary Magnet School, South East Middle School and is
a graduate of Scotlandville Magnet School Engineering Program in East Baton Rouge Parish, and is a
proud graduate of Louisiana’s flagship public university, LSU, where he obtained his BA in Business
Administration. Jason blogs under the pseudonym “Crazy Crawfish”, at The Crazy Crawfish blog. Jason
is also a featured writer at the National Education Policy Center and at Public School Shakedown, and a
strong ally of the Network For Public Education, Parents Across America, Class Size Matters and the
Southern Education Foundation and has contributed his opinions and analysis to articles featured in the

New York Times, Reuters, Monroe News Star, The Advocate, and Washington Post. For more information about the campaign please go to http://www.JasonFrance4LA.com

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Louisiana, Privatization, Vouchers

OECD Sponsors School Level Tests to Foster Test Mania and Its Own Control

By dianeravitch
May 11, 2014 //
20

The OECD has created tests that schools can administer to their students in order to compare them to the nations of the world.

Some schools have gleefully administered the tests, happy to discover how their students compare to children of the same age in the rest of the world.

Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg, a visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education this year, warned that it was not valid to compare schools to national systems.

The OECD test has sponsors now but it will eventually be a money-maker:

“Although these early administrations have been partly subsidized by private philanthropies, most districts will have to pay $11,500 per school in order to participate starting next year, according to Peter Kannam at America Achieves, a nonprofit that has been recruiting new schools and coordinating exchanges among participants.”

http://www.americaachieves.org/oecd#faq

“The development of this new diagnostic tool by the OECD was made possible by America Achieves, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Kern Family Foundation. Additional support was provided by the Craig and Barbara Barrett Foundation, National Public Education Support Fund, the Stuart Foundation, and the Rodel Charitable Foundation of Arizona.”

Many educators can’t resist the temptation to administer yet another test. What would they do without data? Would they know how to diagnose children’s needs and plan for education without external tests to guide them? Surely, they cannot trust teachers to write their own tests or evaluate student needs.

In the ideal world of the future, school will be devoted entirely to testing, preferably to tests created solely by Pearson and/or the OECD. All learning will be standardized, and all children will be test-taking machines, programmed to find the right answer to every question. Th questions and the answers will be the sole property of Pearson and/or OECD.

Any learning not on the test will be considered a waste of time. Those who choose to think for themselves will be considered outliers, rebels, outcasts, possibly dangers to society. All “knowledge” will be strictly monitored by the Pearson/OECD bureaucracy.

The rules of life in this new society will be:

“We measure what we treasure.”
“You can’t control what you can’t measure.”
“Whatever cannot be quantified does not matter.”
“All problems can be solved by measurement and data.”
“Test scores determine one’s life potential.”
“Test scores are the best measure of students, teachers, and schools.”

Welcome to our Brave New World.

Categories Data and Data Mining, Education Industry, International, Standardized Testing, Testing

Who or What is the “American Federation for Children”?

By dianeravitch
May 11, 2014 //
9

This is news you need to know.

The American Federation of Children is a rightwing organization that spends heavily to promote vouchers and to support candidates in state and local races who support vouchers.

When Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was under siege for attacking public sector workers, he was honored (along with Michelle Rhee) by the AFS.

The AFS is funded by the DeVos family, whose fortune comes from its ownership of Amway.

It belongs to ALEC.

AFC is opposed to public education.

It is one of the main forces funding privatization, along with the Walton family of Walmart fame and fortune.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Innovation Ohio: State Shortchanges Public Schools, Favors Charters

By dianeravitch
May 11, 2014 //
13

A new report from Innovation Ohio shows that the state regularly Shortchanges public schools to favor charters. Charter operators give generous campaign contributions to the governor and legislators.

“Proponents have long claimed that community or ‘charter’ schools are the cure for much of what ails Ohio’s education system. If only parents had more “choice” over where their children attend school, they say, competition and the magic of the market would surely improve all schools.

“Equally important, boosters claim that charter schools are cost neutral to the state. Unfortunately, a data set recently produced by the Ohio Department of Educationi explodes that particular myth. According to the data, the way charter schools are funded in this state has a profoundly negative impact on the resources that remain for the overwhelming majority of kids — 1.6 million — who stay in Ohio’s traditional public schools. Actually, it’s even worse than that. In the vast majority of cases — even in many urban school districts — the state is transferring money to charter schools that perform substantially worse than the public schools from which the students supposedly “escaped.”

“Here are the facts:

 Because of the $774 million deducted from traditional public schools in FY 2012 to fund charters, children in traditional public schools received, on average, $235 (or 6.5%) less state aid than the state itself said they needed.

 More than 90% of the money sent to rated charter schools1 in the 2011-2012 school year went to charters that on average score significantly lower on the Performance Index Score than the public schools students had left.ii

 Over 40% of state funding for charters in 2011-2012 ($326 million) was transferred from traditional public districts that performed better on both the State Report Card and Performance Index.

“IO [Innovation Ohio] does not claim that all charter schools are bad, or that charters don’t have a place in Ohio’s education landscape. We do say that the way Ohio’s political leaders have chosen to fund charters has had a profoundly negative impact on the children who remain in traditional public schools.

“That impact can no longer be ignored, and IO believes it is incumbent on the Governor and the General Assembly to develop a funding system that is not detrimental to the majority of Ohio’s school children.”

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Ohio

One Aspect of the Charter Industry

By dianeravitch
May 9, 2014 //
25

A reader says this about charter schools:

“Charter schools, which are investment tools for the wealthy are hijacking our public schools. One CEO of three charter schools in NYC makes $475,000.00 plus benefits. As an investment advisor I expect a return on my investment.. My property taxes and federal tax as well as state taxes are going to professional hijackers. We are all losing except the rich who are insuring their takeover. Ask Mike Milliken about it.”

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry

Peter Greene: How to Cash in on the Charter School Craze

By dianeravitch
May 9, 2014 //
8

It is National Charter School Week, President Obama issued a proclamation in their honor (did he forget National Teacher Appreciation Week?), and here is the best piece yet on what a sham industry this is.

 

Peter Greene gives sound advice here on how to score big in the charter industry. 

 

It gets funnier as he goes on, so I am only posting the beginning. You have to read the whole thing to get to the best parts!

**********************

Peter Greene writes:

 

Diversify!

Not the school– your portfolio. Set up multiple companies. Create a holding company that owns the building, and charge the school rent and facilities fees. Create a school management company, and hire yourself to run your school. Form your own custodial contracting company. Write your own textbooks, and then sell them to yourself. Buy a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and set yourself up as a lunch concession with ten dollar sandwiches.

Don’t Overlook the Obvious

“Non-profit” just means “not wasting money by throwing it away on stockholders.” Taking money hand over fist that you can’t call profit? Just put it all in a big wheelbarrow and pay it to yourself as a salary. There’s no legal limit to what you can be paid as the charter school operator. The only limits to your salary are the limits set by your own sense of shame. If you have no shame, then ka-ching, my friend. Ka. Ching.

Ain’t Too Proud To Beg

Have a fundraiser. When you wave schools and children at people, they fork over money like crazy, whether you actually need it or not. The only way it could work any better would be if you found a way to work in the American flag and puppies.

Students Are Marketing Tools

Students have a job at your charter, and that’s to make your charter look good and marketable. If they won’t do the job, fire them. If they aren’t for sure going to graduate, fire them before senior year (100% graduation rate makes great ad copy). If they are going to create bad press for disciplinary reasons, fire them.

Students Are Also The Revenue Stream

The other function of students is to bring money in while not costing any more than is absolutely necessary. Never take students with special needs (unless you can use them to make the school look good without incurring extra costs). If a student will require extra disciplinary or academic intervention, fire him.

Always remember, however, that students need to be fired during Firing Season– late enough to hold onto the money they bring, but early enough that they won’t hurt your numbers.

 

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Humor, Privatization

House Debates Legislation to Help Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
May 8, 2014 //
15

Under the leadership of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the conservative-dominated House of Representatives is debating a bill today that would reauthorize federal support for the charter school industry and provide $300 million, some of which is for facilities.

 

The members of the House will ignore, of course, the report issued this week showing that charter schools–which are deregulated by design and usually unsupervised– were responsible for $100 million in corruption, fraud, and waste of taxpayer dollars in only 14 states. Obviously, a full accounting would show even more waste, fraud, corruption, and abuse.

 

An informant in Washington passed along the following information:

 

HR10 is the charter legislation now being debated in the House. It it supported by the GOP House leadership, which intends to make its support for charters the major plank of the GOP education platform this fall. The bill is co-sponsored by outgoing Democrat George Miller, who is a favorite of the hedge fund managers group Democrats for Education Reform.

 

The House Rules Committee would not permit debates on the floor on such issues as:

*state caps on charter schools
*whether charter boards are required to hold open meetings
*whether charters are subject to public audit requirements
*conflict of interest guidelines for charter schools (some states exempt charter schools from conflict of interest laws–too intrusive)

 

In short, what the charter industry is lobbying to prevent is any limitation on their growth, any requirements for open meetings, any requirements for public audits of their finances, and any amendments that would bar conflict of interest (only charter schools receiving federal assistance would be required to avoid conflicts of interest). The charter industry wants public money but no public accountability or transparency.

 

This is from Politico.Pro:

 

5/8/14 1:51 PM EDT

The House of Representatives began floor debate on a bill that would reauthorize charter school law in the U.S. this afternoon.

On Friday, after today’s floor debate, the House plans to consider 12 amendments and vote on the bill. There are three bipartisan amendments, three from Republicans and six from Democrats.

The National Education Association, which has maintained a neutral position on the bill, threw its weight behind several amendments today, including two that focus on charter school transparency: One, from Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore, would require charters to disclose private funding sources and another, from Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor, would establish conflict of interest guidelines.

— Maggie Severns

 

If you want to stop the privatization of American public education, if you believe that public dollars should go to public schools, not to corporate charter chains, contact your Congressman and your Senator and tell them to vote no on the charter legislation.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

AIR Files Lawsuit Against Pearson Multi-Billion $$$ Contract to Score PARCC

By dianeravitch
May 7, 2014 //
14

Now begins the struggle for billions of dollars for Common Core testing. Bear in mind that this is public money that should be spent on reducing class sizes, providing arts programs, hiring librarians and counselors, and supplying other necessary services to students and schools. The next time you hear some politician or pundit complain about the cost of public education, remind them of the billions of dollars that Pearson and its rivals will collect to administer and score Common Core tests. This is the national marketplace that Race to the Top was designed to create. It succeeded beyond Arne Duncan’s wildest dreams–in enriching testing corporations and impoverishing schools.

 

Is this a crime in plain sight? The victims are our students, educators, and schools. Who will be held liable for this massive diversion of taxpayer dollars into the testing industry?

********************************

Politico reports this morning:

 

RIVAL PROTESTS PEARSON CONTRACT: The contract to administer and score Common Core tests for states in the PARCC consortium was expected to be worth several billion dollars through the end of the decade. So it surprised some in the industry that Pearson was the only bidder, in a consortium with a handful of subcontractors. Now a rival, the American Institutes for Research, is claiming it was no coincidence: It’s pressing a lawsuit alleging the bid was rigged. (h/t EdWeek: http://bit.ly/1s0Ksap).

– The PARCC bidding process was run through the state of New Mexico, which put out a request for proposals last year. The request bundled development and delivery of the first year of testing – which Pearson was already working on – with administration of the test in subsequent years. AIR, a nonprofit that administers tests in several states, claims Pearson got an automatic, insurmountable advantage because of the bid’s set up. AIR filed a protest with New Mexico last December, claiming the bidding process unfairly and unlawfully restricted competition. It sent its complaint to the individual identified by the state as the only person testing companies could contact about the process. But some time later – after the deadline for filing a complaint passed – New Mexico told AIR the protest was sent to the wrong office and it missed the deadline. Then it declined to hear AIR’s claim of an illegal bid process. AIR appealed in district court; a hearing is scheduled for later this month.

– “The RFP looked designed to go to Pearson, and it seems that every other firm in the industry must have drawn the same conclusion,” Jon Cohen, AIR’s president of assessment, told Morning Education. “To make a multi-billion-dollar decision based on an anti-competitive RFP won’t serve PARCC, New Mexico or all the other PARCC states well in the long run.’ For more, dive into the (very lengthy) AIR complaints: http://politico.pro/SyehVG and http://politico.pro/1uxz2PE.

– Pearson declined to comment. PARCC also declined to talk, referring questions to New Mexico officials, who could not be reached.

Categories Common Core, Education Industry, Pearson, Testing

NYC “Charter School Gold Rush” Begins, Thanks to Governor Cuomo

By dianeravitch
May 5, 2014 //
24

A story in today’s New York Daily News reports that charter schools will flock to New York City, thanks to Governor Cuomo’s preferential treatment of them in a state law that applies only to New York City. Charter students account for only 3% of the state’s enrollment, and only 6% in the Big Apple, but Cuomo made clear that he was taking care of the hedge fund managers who put $800,000 into his campaign chest for re-election.

In effect, Governor Cuomo shafted the 97% of the state’s children whose schools are stifled by the 2% tax cap he placed on them.

But for charter schools, it’s that “great come and get it day.”

Says the story:

“Recent state law changes are making New York City the friendlist in nation for opening charter schools.

“Get ready for a charter school gold rush.

“Recently enacted changes in state law created an environment for opening charter schools in New York City that’s friendlier than almost any other city in the nation.

“From an infrastructure perspective, things have never been better,” said James Merriman, the influential CEO of the New York City Charter School Center.

“We have the governor and state Legislature to thank for that.”

“Would-be charter school operators have already contacted the center asking for information on the benefits of the law spearheaded by Gov. Cuomo. It requires that the city provide new or expanding charters with space in traditional public school buildings or rent for privately-owned space.

“The law also increases per-pupil funding for charters from $13,527 to an estimated $14,027 by the 2017-2018 school year.

“It changes the whole game,” said Ric Campbell, 61, co-founder of the South Bronx Early College Academy. “It’s a huge advantage.”
Campbell’s middle school received its charter in December and won’t open until September 2015 with 110 kids and $300,000 dedicated to facility-related expenses.

“If Campbell qualifies for the new benefits he could spend the money on hiring four more teachers, laptops for each student, field trips to college campuses or more arts and music programming, he said.

“He’s not the only one excited by the benefits of the new law.

“Everyone who reaches out to our organization is considering whether they are eligible,” said Kyle Rosenkrans, vice president of policy and advocacy at the Northeast Charter Schools Network, which works directly with 183 schools.

“James Merriman, the CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, said that from an infrastructure perspective, things have never been better

“Gov. Cuomo has given a green light to a separate and unequal school system that favors privately run charter schools and underfunds traditional public schools,” said Zakiyah Ansari, advocacy director for the Alliance for Quality Education.

“The charter movement is counting on the continued support of Cuomo, who is listed as honorary chairman of a private education conference in Lake Placid beginning Sunday and attended by charter operators and deep-pocketed hedge fund donors.

“It’s not just about putting more money in the public school system, it’s trying something new and that’s what charter schools are all about,” Cuomo has told charter supporters.

“That doesn’t sit well with Ansari.

“Political contributions from super-wealthy ideological promoters of privatization have too much control over education policy under Cuomo’s new law — instead parents and communities should be in the driver’s seat for their children’s future,” she said.

“Rosenkrans was guardedly optimistic about the law, which he said includes a lot of vague language that still needs to be hashed out.
Still, observers expect an avalanche of applicants for the 52 remaining spots allocated by the state for new charter schools in New York City — and teachers eager to land jobs.

“That’s on top of the 21 approved charter schools set to open in the city this year.

“All told, that means 73 new charter schools in the coming years.”

NEW YORK CITY IS A NATIONAL LEADER IN PER-PUPIL FUNDING FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS.:
New York City: $13,527
Washington, D.C.: $12,306
Memphis: $7,895
Houston: $8,300

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/state-law-city-easiest-nation-open-charter-schools-article-1.1778486#ixzz30r9NIHOR

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, New York City
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