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What Romney Reform Looks Like

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2012 //
8

We don’t have to wonder what Mitt Romney’s education plan would look like if he is elected. It would look like the Jindal legislation passed this spring in Louisiana.

The Louisiana “reforms” represent the purest distillation of the rightwing agenda for education.

First, they create a marketplace of competition, with publicly funded vouchers and many new charter schools under private management.

Second, more than half the children in the state (400,000+) are eligible for vouchers, even though only about 5,000 seats have been offered, some in tiny church schools that don’t actually have the seats or facilities or teachers.

Third, the charter authorities will collect a commission for every student that enrolls in a charter, a windfall for them. And of course, there is a “parent trigger” to encourage the creation of more charters as parents become discouraged by neglected, underfunded public schools.

Fourth, the money for the vouchers and charters will come right out of the minimum funding allocated for the public schools, guaranteeing that the remaining public schools will have less money, more crowded classes, and suffer major budget cuts.

Fifth, the law authorizes public money for online instruction, for online for-profit schools, and for instruction offered by private businesses, universities, tutors, and anyone else who wants to claim a share of the state’s money for public education.

Sixth, teacher evaluation will be tied to student test scores and teachers can be easily fired, assuring that no one will ever dare teach anything controversial or disagree with their principal. Teachers in charter schools, the biggest growth sector, will not need certification.

Rather than go on, I here link to a blog I wrote at Bridging Differences (hosted by Education Week). My blog links to an article written by a Louisiana teacher who happens to have been a professional journalist. You should read what she wrote.

The Jindal plan is sweeping and it seeks to dismantle public education. It is a plan to privatize public education. It is not conservative. Conservatives don’t destroy essential democratic institutions. Conservatives build on tradition, they don’t heedlessly cast them aside. Conservatives are conservative because they take incremental steps, to fix what’s broken, not to sweep away an entire institution. Jindal’s plan is not conservative. It is reactionary.

And it is a template for what Romney promises to do.

Diane

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, On-Line Education, Parent trigger, Privatization, Romney, Mitt, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure

Louisiana Breaks New Ground

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2012 //
31

With all the education reforms taking place in Louisiana, it’s clear that Governor Bobby Jindal wants to be a national leader in what is now called the “education reform” movement. Louisiana is leading the nation in the race to the bottom, having adopted every bad idea in ALEC’s catalogue of ways to tear up your public school system.

The Louisiana law was saluted by Indiana’s state superintendent Tony Bennett, head of a group of ultra-conservative state superintendents called Chiefs for Change, who share Jindal’s desire to get rid of public education if at all possible. Bennett said, “These student-centered reforms will completely transform Louisiana and its students,” by introducing a “marketplace of choices.” Part of that “marketplace of choices,” we now know, is letting students take tax dollars away from their public school and pay it to universities, private businesses, individual teachers, tutoring businesses, online companies, or anyone who sets himself up and says he is selling education.

Now we knew about the voucher program and we knew about the vast expansion of charters and for-profit online corporations. And we knew that teachers will be fired if the scores don’t go up in their classes every year.

But here is a new way to “reform” the schools. The state board of education, in its infinite wisdom, decided that teachers in charter schools don’t need to be certified. Understand that certification in Louisiana is not a real high bar to clear. A teacher need have only a college degree, a grade point average of 2.5 out of 4, and pass a national teachers’ exam.

But not for charter teachers! They don’t need certification. State board member Charles Roemer, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, insists that charter schools need to be free to “try new approaches.” One new approach is to have uncertified teachers.

But wait, Roemer has an even better idea! According to an article in the local press:

Roemer said the issue of teacher credentials should be left to individual charter schools.

Some who even lack an undergraduate degree could do a good job in the classroom, he said.

Roemer said charter schools should be given flexibility, then be held accountable for how students fare in the classroom.

Roemer knows a good bit about charter schools. His sister Caroline Roemer Shirley is executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools.

Teachers in charter schools, if Mr. Roemer has his way, won’t even need to be college graduates. Now there is an innovation. Just hire anyone who wants to teach, without regard to qualifications, and see if they can raise test scores. Do they need a high school diploma? Why? Why not go for broke and wipe out all credentialism?

This is indeed new ground in the “education reform” movement.

Diane


Categories Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, Education Reform, Louisiana

Is This a Conflict of Interest?

By dianeravitch
June 17, 2012 //
12

Last spring, Louisiana held a crucial election that determined who would control the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Governor Bobby Jindal–the uber-conservative education reformer with a plan to replace public education with vouchers and charters–wanted to take control.

He rallied his friends and allies to win the decisive seat on the board, which was held by a local attorney, Louella Givens. Jindal’s candidate was Kira Orange Jones, the director of TFA in New Orleans.

According to Education Week, Orange Jones collected nearly $500,000 for her campaign.  She raised large sums of money from the business community and from out-of-state donors, including Mayor Bloomberg, who sent a last-minute contribution of $100,000. Orange Jones also received campaign funds from Democrats for Education Reform, the pro-charter Wall Street hedge-fund managers organization.

Educators rallied to support Givens, but she raised only $9,000. In a runoff, Orange Jones won.

Now questions have been raised about the propriety of having a member of the state board who works for an organization that receives contracts from the State Department of Education. Orange Jones says there is no conflict because TFA gets its contracts from the state education department, not the state board.

The potential for conflict of interest goes well beyond the contracts that are written specifically for TFA. Every time the state board of education approves charter schools, it is implicitly expanding the number of jobs available for members of TFA. Every expansion of charters across Louisiana will benefit TFA teachers and alums who run charters.

Don’t expect Governor Jindal to launch an investigation. The question in Louisiana is whether there is anyone independent of the Jindal machine (or TFA–the state superintendent is a TFA alum).

Diane

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Reform, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Teach for America TFA

This Is What “Reformers” Say in Louisiana

By dianeravitch
June 16, 2012 //
13

An editorial writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune wrote a scathing critique of Governor Bobby Jindal’s reform legislation: the haste with which it was adopted, the lack of forethought, the approval of schools to receive voucher students even though they had no facilities, the diversion of public money to private schools, the lack of accountability for private schools getting public money, and Jindal’s refusal to allow tax breaks for those who make donations to public schools (he supports tax breaks only for contributions to private schools). The editorial expressed appreciation for the fact that legislators were starting to ask tough questions, but concluded it would have been better had they asked tough questions before they voted approval for the legislation, rather than afterwards.

Not brooking any dissent, the Governor’s communication director responded with an email. His defense to every question raised: Look how terrible the academic performance of students in public schools is. Look how many received a D or an F last year (44 percent). Look how terrible the American education system is. Look how many nations got higher test scores than the U.S. in the latest international test. Companies that move to Louisiana can’t find skilled workers. Children get only one chance. We can’t wait.

Translated, his response means: We don’t know how to fix the public schools so we will hand out public money to anyone who wants it. Academic performance is so low that we will try anything, without any evidence, even if it means destroying the public school system and giving funds to tiny evangelical schools that have no resources or track record. We will give public money to anyone who wants to open a charter school, even though the charters we now have are no better than the public schools. Our public schools are so bad that we have no obligation to improve them. We will try anything even if the outcome for children is likely to be even worse than what we are doing now. Unspoken but implied: When you are the governor and you control the Legislature and the state board of education, you can do any thing you want, even something as wacky as sending children to religious schools that have no facilities and no evidence of a better academic program than the local public school.

Diane

Categories Education Reform, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

The Textbooks in Voucher Academies

By dianeravitch
June 11, 2012 //
7

There are now three states in which vouchers enable students to bring public funding to religious schools: Indiana, Wisconsin, and Louisiana. Some of these schools will be evangelical schools that use Christian textbooks written specifically for this market, as well as for home-schoolers. The list of schools approved to receive voucher students in Louisiana includes many Bible-based Christian academies.

The Christian textbooks take a decidedly different view of the world than mainstream textbooks. The science textbooks teach creationism, not evolution. The history textbooks look on liberalism as a force for moral decadence. Even the math textbooks are different from those used in public schools.

In 2003, I wrote a book about textbooks, which showed how they are shaped by political forces and how their publishers skirt controversial issues in an effort to placate partisan demands. There is something even less desirable than blandness, however, and that is teaching impressionable minds only one perspective or denying them a full understanding of crucial ideas in history, science, and other fields of study.

In this land of liberty, private schools are free to teach what they want. But when they start taking public money, what they teach–whether it is scientifically and historically accurate– becomes a matter of public concern.  That is why many religious schools have been reluctant to become entangled with public funding.

Diane

Categories Education Reform, Louisiana, Vouchers

Voucher Follies in Louisiana (continued)

By dianeravitch
June 9, 2012 //
2

When Louisiana’s voucher plan begins in September, the Upperroom Bible Church Academy in New Orleans plans to enroll an additional 214 voucher students. The addition of these students will add $1.8 million in taxpayer dollars to the school’s coffers.

Upperroom Bible Church Academy is already a voucher-receiving school. New Orleans has had a small voucher program since Hurricane Katrina (about 1800 students). Because the school is already getting public funding, its students take the state tests (called LEAP). Last year, only  21% of its students in grade 3, 4 and 5 scored above basic on state tests of reading and math. Some parents left comments about the school on this site (and be aware that this site is unmonitored and thus the comments are not necessarily accurate).

Among the state’s voucher and charter schools, it was third to last on the state LEAP rankings. This raises the possibility that children may be “escaping” from a low-performing public school to an even lower-performing voucher school.

That link demonstrates that most charter and voucher schools perform well below the state average in a low-performing state. If you are looking for a miracle, you won’t find it here. Nor will you find evidence that the Jindal administration is raising standards or expanding opportunities for students in Louisiana to get a better education.

Diane

Categories Charter Schools, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

Is the Jindal Voucher Program a Boondoggle?

By dianeravitch
June 8, 2012 //
8

I don’t mean to pick on Governor Bobby Jindal but it is fascinating to watch the evolution (or should I say “the creation”) of his voucher program.

First came the news that many of the schools that are taking voucher students had no facilities or teachers. Then we learned that many of the little schools opening their doors are Bible-based church schools that teach creationism and use textbooks in history, science and other subjects from Christian publishing houses. Then it turned out that no one at the state department of education had vetted any of the schools that were approved to receive the students “fleeing” l0w-rated public schools. Then the Commissioner of Education John White said that the letter informing the schools that they had been approved really was not a letter informing them they had been approved.

What he actually meant to say, he said, was that the letter of approval was just a letter of “preliminary” approval, and they were going to be vetted for real approval.

But it gets worse (or better, depending on your point of view). According to an article in a Louisiana newspaper, the state will not require voucher-receiving schools to have certified teachers, to have modern technology or to accept students with disabilities.

I hope someone will find the time to explain why they expect to improve the education of these children by sending them to schools that lack the essentials required even of so-called failing public schools. Other than saying that parents in Louisiana know what’s best, Commissioner White has not offered a persuasive answer. If that were true, why does no one listen to the parents who oppose the closing of their public schools? When John White worked in New York City, he never cared what parents wanted  for their children when he closed their neighborhood schools and replaced them with charters.

Categories Charter Schools, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

Vouchers and the Future of Public Education

By dianeravitch
June 3, 2012 //
15

I debated whether to give this blog the title you see or to call it “State Commissioner of Education John White Acknowledges That He Doesn’t Know How to Improve Schools.”

I felt a sense of outrage as I read the latest account of the Louisiana voucher program. Since Bobby Jindal is already doing what Mitt Romney promises to do, I keep a close watch on Louisiana. So should the national media. A Shreveport newspaper ran an article linking Jindal’s plan to the ALEC model of school reform.

The Reuters article skips the rhetoric about “the civil rights issue of our era” and goes to the heart of the voucher program:

“Louisiana is embarking on the nation’s boldest experiment in privatizing public education, with the state preparing to shift tens of millions in tax dollars out of the public schools to pay private industry, businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.”

The voucher program is a bold effort to privatize public education by taking money away from public schools and giving it to anyone who claims that they can offer some sort of an educational or tutoring or apprenticeship program, in person or online, regardless of its quality.

Commissioner John White defends the radical privatization scheme, saying that: “I know the governor and bill authors had the goal in mind of improving student achievement,” White said. “The importance of that has been highlighted in studies which show the economic sustainability of a state is predicated on education, and we are dead last in the number of students growing up in communities with at least one parent with a college education.” Follow the logic here. If Louisiana ranks last in parent education, is that a strong argument for choice? Or for a higher level of professionalism and quality in the public schools? You decide.

More than 400,000 students are eligible for vouchers, which is more than half the students in the state’s public schools. Only 5,000 seats are available, and some of these seats don’t even exist. There are some good seats in good schools. A highly regarded private school in Baton Rouge will accept only four students, and only in kindergarten. But it appears that many of the students will be accepted by small religious schools that have no track record of providing good education; for some, the state funding will be a windfall of millions of dollars. They may be far worse than the public schools that the students are fleeing. But parents will choose them anyway.

Next year, the state will expand the program to all students to get mini-vouchers, which can be used to pay private vendors for tutoring, apprenticeships, online courses, whatever. Given the absence of any due diligence in the rollout of this year’s voucher program, you can just imagine the private vendors that will spring up to claim millions of dollars from the state treasury.

Bear in mind that public education is level-funded, so all these millions for vouchers and charters and online schooling and tutoring will come right out of the public school budget, making classes more overcrowded, closing libraries, shutting down services for students that need them.

The Reuters article describes some of the curricular and instructional issues that any sensible person would worry about:

“The school willing to accept the most voucher students — 314 — is New Living Word in Ruston, which has a top-ranked basketball team but no library. Students spend most of the day watching TVs in bare-bones classrooms. Each lesson consists of an instructional DVD that intersperses Biblical verses with subjects such chemistry or composition.

 “The Upperroom Bible Church Academy in New Orleans, a bunker-like building with no windows or playground, also has plenty of slots open. It seeks to bring in 214 voucher students, worth up to $1.8 million in state funding.

 At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains “what God made” on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution.

 “We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children,” Carrier said.

 Other schools approved for state-funded vouchers use social studies texts warning that liberals threaten global prosperity; Bible-based math books that don’t cover modern concepts such as set theory; and biology texts built around refuting evolution.”

Louisiana officials have decided that it is not up to them to make any judgments about quality or curriculum or instruction. That’s the parents’ choice.

Commissioner John White told the Reuters reporter: “To me, it’s a moral outrage that the government would say, ‘We know what’s best for your child,'” White said. “Who are we to tell parents we know better?”

Let’s deconstruct that statement. The state commissioner of education said right here that he doesn’t know what’s best for children. He doesn’t know what children or schools should be doing. It is not up to him to tell schools what is best regarding curriculum and instruction. He has no responsibility to improve schools, only to close then and to provide the wherewithal so that parents can leave them and take their public money anywhere they want.

What he means is that any parent in the state of Louisiana, regardless of their own education, knows more than he does about education. Would you want a doctor who told you that it was up to you to decide which medicine you should take when you were ill? Or a lawyer who said you should write your own defense? Or a golf instructor who told you to hold the club anyway that you wanted? Why do people get degrees and become professional if they don’t know any more than people who have no professional training?

Maybe John White is right. Maybe every parent in Louisiana knows more about education than he does, even those who didn’t finish high school. Maybe he doesn’t know what good instruction and good curriculum look like. But why is he in charge of education if he doesn’t know these things?

Diane

Categories ALEC, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

Louisiana Voucher Plan Draws Criticism

By dianeravitch
May 31, 2012 //
4

Louisiana legislators grilled Commissioner of Education John White about the state’s decision to approve the largest number of voucher students (315) for a small religious school that lacked facilities or teachers. Many questions were raised about the state’s failure to do any site visits to ascertain the readiness of the school to accept new students. Questions were raised about the school’s tuition, which is less than what the state plans to pay out (and may be very much less, making the voucher program a windfall for the school).

White must have been embarrassed because he immediately started backtracking and claimed that the list of schools approved by the state was not really final (news to everyone) and that the state planned to do due diligence.

The school plans to build a new facility during the summer and be ready to welcome its 315 new students this fall.

Nothing was said about the quality of the education that the new voucher schools would provide.

I keep wondering why smart people like Bobby Jindal and John White think that children in Louisiana will get a better education if they get public money to go to any private or religious school that wants them, regardless of their program, their curriculum, their teachers, or their record.

Since Mitt Romney wants the Jindal plan to go national, this story matters a lot.

Diane

Categories Education Reform, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

Who Will Vouchers Benefit in Louisiana?

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2012 //
6

As Mitt Romney continues his advocacy for vouchers, he should follow  developments in Louisiana.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the New Living Word School has offered to nearly quadruple its student enrollment, from 122 to 437, even though it lacks the facilities or teachers for the new students. Millions of public dollars will flow to this small church school, where students spend most of their class time watching DVDs.

A reader alerted me that another little school that will reap the benefits from the voucher program is the Eternity Christian Academy in Calcasieu Parish. It currently enrolls 14 students. It has offered to take in 135 new students. Its small budget will grow by $1 million in taxpayer dollars.

Perhaps Romney and Jindal might hold a joint press conference to explain why they think that putting more students into religious schools will prepare them for the 21st century. I wonder if they will learn about science as it is taught in the public schools. Will they learn about evolution and modern biological concepts? We need to hear more from reformers like Jindal and Romney about their views of what constitutes a good education.

Diane

Categories Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Romney, Mitt, Vouchers
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