Archives for category: Education Industry
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What Hath Reform Wrought?

By dianeravitch
January 27, 2013 //
46

Veteran teacher Marc Epstein surveys the wreckage of “school reform” and wonders who will come along to put our nation’s education system back together again.

He writes:

“Today’s education reform rests on the premise that the civil rights movement that overturned Plessy and desegregated the South has failed because there are elements of the black community that have not made sufficient progress over the past fifty years to justify the continued existence of public education as we know it.

“For these reformers the solution is the adoption of the free enterprise system because they believe free market choices always results in the survival of the best products, in this case the best schools, while the inferior ones whither away. Theirs is a universe devoid of snake oil salesmen or Chinese handcuffs.”

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, New York City, Poverty, Privatization

Turning Us into Consumers, Not Citizens

By dianeravitch
January 27, 2013 //
44

This comment from a Puget Sound parent hits the nail on the head about both the strategy and goal of corporate reform. First, create dissatisfaction, then turn us into shoppers, choosing a school while destroying our attachment to our community schools. In time, we discover that it is the school that chooses, not the shopper.

 

One of the objectives of the privatizers is to reinforce the “Mall Mentality” that so many of us just act on, unconsciously. The entire goal is to get us to see education as a “product” to “choose”—like we would with a new pair of sandals at a giant retailer.

What’s MY “return on investment” for MY kid? How come I’m paying for YOU, “teacher”, and I can’t just “can you, like my boss can can ME, anytime, for any reason?”. What am I getting for MY money?”

And the reason that the privatizers are trying to drill this into us with words like “choice” and “investment” and “accountability” is that they realize that community, cooperation and mutual support are CRITICAL if a public school is to survive, let alone thrive.

Privatizers WANT people to be suspicious of the people running their schools and ultra-competitive with each other. They want people looking for advantage and focused exclusively on self-interest, resulting in an obsession with “MY KID!”—and implicitly “NOT YOUR KID!”

Privatizers live for the image of parents bickering, breaking into factions, and running for the exits after they maliciously pay someone to yell “FIRE!” in the equivalent of a very crowded theatre.

Like the crowd during the bank run in “It’s A Wonderful Life”, will we panic and sell out to Potter, “for at least HALF of MY MONEY” or will we stick together, realizing that our strength comes from standing WITH one another, united for ALL of “OUR KIDS”?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Testing, Vouchers

Charter Hype and Double Standards in Connecticut

By dianeravitch
January 27, 2013 //
8

Wendy Lecker here describes how public schools and charters are judged by different standards in Connecticut.

Part of the hype and spin comes from Connecticut’s State Commissioner of Education, who founded a charter school that is now a “failing” school. (New York State also has a state commissioner who was a co-founder of a “no excuses” charter school, which should be known not for its high test scores but for its high suspension rate.)

At some point, the public will get wise to the games that charter advocates play. Hopefully, that will happen before the charter promoters have managed to wreck public education.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Kaya Henderson and the Cycle of Privatization in D.C.

By dianeravitch
January 26, 2013 //
11

D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson is determined to close more public schools, which will create larger enrollments for charter schools. As more public schools close, more charter schools open. As more D.C. public schools lose enrollment, the chancellor has more reason to close them.

Henderson claims she will save money by closing underutilized schools, but somehow the savings never materialize. Net-net-net: privatization of the public schools of D.C.

It is a shame that D.C. does not have a chancellor who actually wants to compete with the charter sector, who will fight to improve the public schools and show that they serve their students well.

Competition implies two teams, each promoting their own wares.

In D.C., in New York City, in Chicago, and in other cities and towns controlled by corporate-style reformers, the leaders of the public school system are working on behalf of the competition.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Who Will Speak Up for the Nation’s School Boards?

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2013 //
15

In the last few years, there has been an all-out attack on local control. Most of the attack comes from the privatization movement, which thinks that school boards debate too much, listen too much, move too slowly. The privatizers prefer mayoral control in cities to get fast action. And they push laws and constitutional amendments allowing the governor to create a commission to override local school boards that reject charters. This is the ALEC agenda.

Happily, leading members of the National School Boards Association will have a chance to ask Arne Duncan why he pushes mayoral control, which has done so little for Cleveland and Chicago–and is now approved in NYC by only 18% of the public.

And they can ask Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia what he thinks about that state’s recent drive to strip local school boards of control of their districts. They might also ask him what he thinks of the re segregation that charters are promoting.

Media Advisory

Contact: Linda Embrey
Communications Office, National School Boards Association
Office: 703-838-6737; Cell: 571-437-7425
Onsite Press Room as of January 27: 202-797-4820; lembrey@nsba.org

Secretary of Education, Key Congressional Leader to Address National School Boards Association’s Advocacy Conference

Alexandria, Va. (Jan. 25, 2013) – U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee & Member, Senate Finance Committee will speak at the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) 40th annual Federal Relations Network Conference on Monday, Jan. 28. The conference is taking place January 27 to 29 at the Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave., Washington, D.C., and will be attended by more than 700 school board leaders from across the country. Attendees will participate in sessions on major public education issues and meet with their members of Congress and Capitol Hill staff to discuss key education policy issues.

The following events are open to the press and are being provided to the media for planning purposes. Items are subject to change.

Monday, Jan. 28:

3 p.m. – Remarks by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. He will speak about progress in K-12 education and the Obama administration’s goals for education reform going forward. A question-and-answer session will follow.

3:30 p.m. – Remarks by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee & Member, Senate Finance Committee.

Media are welcome to cover these conference sessions. Valid credentials must be shown before obtaining a NSBA press pass. The press room and press registration will be located in the Embassy Room, Terrace Level. Please contact Linda Embrey at 703-838-6737 (office), 571-437-7425 (cell/onsite), 202-797-4820 (onsite press room on Jan. 27), or at lembrey@nsba.org .

# # #

Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is a not-for-profit organization representing state associations of school boards and their more than 90,000 local school board members throughout the U.S. Working with and through our state associations, NSBA advocates for equity and excellence in public education through school board leadership. http://www.nsba.org

If you would rather not receive future communications from National School Boards Association (NSBA), let us know by clicking here.
National School Boards Association (NSBA), 1680 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314 United States

Categories Accountability, ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, Race to the Top

Nevada Set to Replace Career Teachers with TFA

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2013 //
43

This is a disturbing interview with Nevada’s State Superintendent of Instruction James Guthrie.

Nevada is 18th in the nation in teachers’ salaries but Guthrie seems to think they are overpaid.
He is certain there are large numbers of bad teachers in the state.

He has the governor’s ear. In his State of the State address, Governor Sandoval made clear that he wants more of those TFA to come to Nevada and raise scores and close the achievement gap.

In his State of the State, the governor said,

“”One of the most successful programs in the country today is Teach for
America – a unique corps of brilliant young leaders from America’s top
universities, who give their time and talent as teachers in schools
that need them most.

“These teachers help spur innovation and creativity in instruction that
makes the entire system better.

“Teach for America has helped make a difference in the lives of
hundreds of Nevada’s students.

“But we can do more.

I am proposing a new investment in Teach for America to help recruit,
train, develop, and place top teacher and leadership talent in
Nevada.”

So instead of investing in career educators who plan to stay with their schools for the long run, the governor plans to invest in 22-year-old college graduates who have 5 weeks of training and commit to stay for only two years.

Dumb thinking. Poor planning.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Teach for America TFA, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching

Jersey Jazzman to NY Taxpayers: Thank You!

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2013 //
24

Jersey Jazzman wrote to thank the taxpayers of New York, whose dollars subsidize his blog via advertising by Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy network (formerly known as Harlem Success Academy).

JJ notes that this charter chain spends millions of dollars each year on recruitment, advertising, public relations, and marketing. This is a necessary business expense to drum up thousands of applications for a small number of seats. The lottery–and the drummed up demand–makes a case that more charters are needed. That seems to be the business plan.

The lottery is a clever marketing tool. It occurs to me that it’s the same marketing approach used by Teach for America. The more applicants they have, the more they can turn down, and the better the brand looks. There is a certain snob appeal to having a few winners and a lot of losers.

Not like those public schools that take any student who walks in off the street.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Harlem Success Academy, Privatization

Hilarious! Louisiana’s New Website

By dianeravitch
January 25, 2013 //
9

Crazy Crawfish is a blogger who worked in the Louisiana Department of Education. He cares a lot about accurate data. He noticed, as did other researchers in Louisiana, that all the historical data for the past ten years disappeared overnight and have been replaced by press releases about the glorious success of Governor Jindal’s marketing slogan, which the Jindal team calls “Louisiana Believes.”

Don’t miss this one. It is called “Louisiana Believes Anything.”

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Honor Roll, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Privatization

Stay and Fight?

By dianeravitch
January 24, 2013 //
20

I know that many teachers are demoralized. It is not just because I read your comments every day, but because national surveys by Scholastic/Gates and by the Metlife survey report that this is so.

Some of the newbie organizations founded and/or funded by Gates (like TeachPlus and Educators4Excellence) think this is wonderful. So does The New Teacher Project (TNTP), founded by either Wendy Kopp or Michelle Rhee, depending on whom you believe.  They see a new day coming, when teachers who don’t care about a pension or job security, who want to be evaluated by test scores, will fill the classrooms of America.

I say all this is nonsense. Ten years from now, the teaching corps in most districts in the nation will be drawn from the same pool as now. It is an absurd goal to want to push out or drive out experienced teachers and rely on a group of young people to change teaching into a job for short-timers. It could happen, but if it does, it won’t be good for students or for the quality of education.

Short term, there is good reason to be demoralized. Long term, I am convinced that the destructive trends of this era will pass. Failed ideas eventually are recognized as failed ideas.

That is why I urge everyone to stay and fight for what they know is right for their students. Signs of resistance are growing. The test boycott at Garfield High School in Seattle is the first sign of spring. There will be many more.

Here is someone who disagrees with me, or made her decision a while back:

“Maybe the greatest act of defiance is to stay and fight for what is right.”

Diane, I believe most teachers who have decided to leave the profession felt that way years and years before they left. These changes have been a long time coming. The writing was on the wall years ago and most teachers hunkered down and got the job done anyway. They stood up to bullying principals and insane edicts, more paperwork, much more testing, and more decisions being made by people who never taught a day in the classroom. They fought hard and were belittled, ignored, or forced out.

There comes a day when it becomes impossible to stay, when you feel you can no longer be a part of something that is directly harming children and that takes a little piece of your soul each day that you continue to play by someone else’s rules. I know because I was one of those teachers. I taught for 20 years and the district offered a buy out, hoping to get rid of their veteran teachers so they could hire cheaper, more pliable, younger teachers. That was almost two years ago, and most of the teacher friends I left behind are retiring this year. Like me, they reached a point where they had to leave.

Even though we’re no longer in the classroom, we continue to fight “from the outside.” Thank you for everything you do.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

More Imagine Charters Close in Indiana

By dianeravitch
January 22, 2013 //
38

Ball State University announced that it was not renewing seven charters.

Among the seven were three Imagine charters, one in Indianapolis and two in Fort Wayne.

Imagine is one of the nation’s biggest for-profit charter operators.

Last year, Imagine lost all its charter schools in Missouri and the remainder of its schools in Georgia.
This year, Imagine was closed in St. Petersburg, Florida, and one of its schools in D.C. is in trouble.
These closures raise an interesting question about the risk involved for corporations that invest in charter schools. Imagine is backed by a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) called Entertainment Properties, which also invests in multiplexes, real estate, and shopping malls. Entertainment Properties owns MASTer Academy in Ft. Wayne and the shuttered Imagine Indiana Life Sciences Academy-East  in Indianapolis. 
Another Imagine school in Indianapolis (also owned by EPR) apparently was not up for renewal this cycle.
The CEO of Entertainment Properties Trust was boasting just last year that charter schools were a stable business opportunity, “very recession-resistant,” and he added: “there’s not a lost of risk, there’s probably risk to everything but the fact is, this has bipartisan support. It’s part of the Republican platform and Arne Duncan, secretary of education in the Obama administration, has been very high on it throughout their work in public education. So we have both political parties very solidly behind it, you have high demand, high growth, you have good performance across the board.”
Well, there is actually quite a lot of risk when the authorizers start cracking down on low performers.
The sad part is that the opening and closing of schools disrupts the lives of children and destroys communities. If it is just another investment, well, so be it. If it is the life of your child or your community, it matters quite a lot.
Need we say it again and again: Schools are not shoe stores or barber shops. They should not open and close at will. Public schools should be a permanent fixture in every community, as assured as roads and police stations. If they need help, they should get it. If they need a new principal, they should get it. That’s the job of public officials, not entrepreneurs.
Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization
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