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Debunking the New Orleans “Miracle,” Part 2

By dianeravitch
January 23, 2013 //
1

In education, as we learn regularly, when a claim seems to good to be true, it is usually too good to be true. (See test scores, Noyes school, District of Columbia.)

Recently, Leslie Jacobs–a founder of the charter takeover in New Orleans–claimed that students in New Orleans had registered graduation rates higher than the state or the nation.

A Louisiana blogger who calls himself Crazy Crawfish found this claim hard to believe. As it happens, this blogger used to work in data analysis at the Louisiana Department of Education.

He tells a cautionary tale. Before you believe the latest miracle story, read this.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, New Orleans

Debunking the New Orleans “Miracle,” part 1

By dianeravitch
January 23, 2013 //
14

Today, a brave and brilliant teacher in Louisiana joins the honor roll as a champion of public education.

Mercedes Schneider is a teacher in St. Tammany Parish. She has a Ph.D. In statistics and research methods.

When she learned about the latest claim of a miracle in New Orleans, she determined to check the facts. At a time when so many teachers are frightened and intimidated, she was fearless. At a time when teachers in Louisiana are losing tenure and any job protections, she proceeded to publish her findings.

Dr. Schneider read that Leslie Jacobs, one of the original promoters of the charter movement in New Orleans, issued a press release claiming that the graduation rate in New Orleans now leads not only the state but the nation. The achievement gap has closed, she crowed.

Here is Dr. Schneider’s analysis.

Categories Accountability, Honor Roll, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, New Orleans

Oprah: Don’t Participate in This Fraud!

By dianeravitch
January 15, 2013 //
42

A teacher in New Orleans sent this letter to me. My promise to him or her: we will all use whatever tools are at our command to stop the destruction of public education and the exploitation of students to benefit corporate interests. We will not give up.

I wanted to bring to your attention the trailer for the upcoming Oprah network series about John McDonogh high school here in New Orleans.

http://www.oprah.com/common/omplayer_embed.html?article_id=41375.

It is a vicious misrepresentation of what is going on at the school- merely propaganda for the brand new charter management organization that makes our students out to be thug primitives who need taming by clean cut out of towners.

Last night, a meeting was held by a coalition of concerned citizens and organizations to discuss the stripping away of the public from our public schools and some important action steps to re-frame the narrative of New Orleans schools. Parents mentioned this very video and will be protesting a screening at the school tonight.

Meanwhile, this series plans to do exactly what the corporate reformers here have been doing all along and what those folks last night are contending with- an extreme narrative that is completely out of touch with the truth, and has troubling privatization and profit motives.

In the wake of these reforms, our schools have shut out holistic learning, critical pedagogies, whole child concerns, etc. and have become militaristic nightmares- the opposite of the safe spaces schools should provide, especially for students in the impoverished situations many of the students depicted in this program come from.

Our students feel the walls closing in on them as young white teachers (I am one of them) stand in front of their classroom telling them all they need to do to get to college is work harder so the students can be successful just like them! To put them on camera in that experience is the grossest form of exploitation I can think of.

The propaganda this show is prepared to deliver across the country is both predictable and terrifying. Narratives are powerful and the allies of privatization are winning.

We need to start an information campaign to discredit this work, as happened with “Won’t Back Down.” Your voice in that movement is of course key, and I look forward to your input and feedback.

Sincerely,

A concerned young educator in New Orleans

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Louisiana, New Orleans, Students

Louisiana Educator: Don’t Believe the Hype!

By dianeravitch
January 14, 2013 //
3

Mike Deshotels is a veteran educator in Louisiana. He writes one of the best education blogs in the state.

Knowing what is happening on the ground, Mike is astounded that Michelle Rhee named Louisiana as a leader of education reform. he says it is all a great sham. He is puzzled that no one in the national press corps has investigated the facts about the state’s Recovery School District.

How could the press allow Governor Jindal to get away with his phony claims?

Writes Deshotels:

“There is only one problem with the Louisiana Recovery District model. It does not work! In fact when Louisiana tried to expand its own Recovery District beyond the New Orleans school system, the result can only be described as a clear failure.

“After 4 years, out of the twelve schools taken over by the state RSD and converted to charters outside of New Orleans, all of them are still rated “F”, and have declined in performance by an average of 10%. But not only have the schools declined academically, enrollment has dropped by an average of 39%. See the linked spreadsheet. So when Governor Jindal touts the success of parental choice, it must be recognized that many parents are “choosing” to pull their children out of the State sponsored choice charter schools!”

Categories Charter Schools, Louisiana, New Orleans, Rhee, Michelle

A Youth Activist in New Orleans Speaks Out for Public Schools

By dianeravitch
January 11, 2013 //
6

Not everyone in New Orleans is pleased with the loss of public education. Youth groups are speaking out and organizing.

In this article, Jacob Cohen shows how the state board, operating with “God-like” power, closes and opens schools as if they were chain stores, not community institutions in which people’s lives are invested.

The Times-Picayune must have taken some powerful flak for publishing Jacob’s article, because a few days later the paper published an editorial strongly defending the charter schools of New Orleans. How amazing that a young man like Jacob Cohen could so alarm the charter citadel and cause them to wheel out their big guns.

Here is a sample of what Jacob wrote:

“The instability and chaos being wrought on eastern New Orleans doesn’t embarrass the state’s most ideological reformers. A high-ranking RSD official once explained to me that schools are like sandwich shops — the ones that do not serve good sandwiches must be shut down so that others can expand their market share. The state is the invisible hand, facilitating capitalism’s natural process of creative destruction by closing the schools that don’t serve up high-quality sandwiches.

“In eastern New Orleans, we need less ideological fervor from the state and more compassion. Less free market fundamentalism and more pragmatism. Less “benign neglect” and more technical support, particularly when it comes to serving students at struggling schools. Letting these schools hit rock bottom so that they can one day be taken over by fashionable charter organizations has led to the sacrifice of thousands of children’s educations — in hopes that the new programs may be stronger.”

Jacob Cohen is the assistant director of the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association (VAYLA) of New Orleans and the director and co-founder of the Raise Your Hand Campaign, a youth organizing initiative that focuses on education equity within New Orleans public high schools.
A graduate of Pomona College, he is the inaugural recipient of the Napier Initiative Creative Leadership Award, as well as the Davis Projects for Peace Award and the Donald Strauss Award. His senior thesis Privatization, Antidemocratic Governance and the “New Orleans Miracle,” received the Edward Sait prize in American Politics, and examines post-Katrina education reform and youth participatory action research.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, New Orleans, Supporting public schools

Inside Story on Louisiana Spin and Failures

By dianeravitch
December 28, 2012 //
9

If you are a fan of mystery writing and novels, this will interest you.

If you love non-fiction, it will also interest you.

This is a true-life drama from Baton Rouge about a school that was taken over by the state in 2008 and has seen no improvement. The story involves money, politics, power, hidden agendas, intrigue and data. What could be better?

In trying to get to the bottom of the story, it is mandatory that you read the comments. That’s where the best stuff is.

Categories Charter Schools, Louisiana, New Orleans

Researcher: Is New Orleans a District in “Academic Crisis”?

By dianeravitch
November 14, 2012 //
3

Research on Reforms, a research group in New Orleans, reviewed the latest state test scores and school grades.

The author of the report and one of the founders of the organization, Charles Hatfield,  can’t understand why New Orleans has been treated by its champions as a national model.

Here is his overview of the state data:

Recovery School District in New Orleans:  

National Model for Reform or District in Academic Crisis?

The 2012 achievement results for the RSD-NO show that after 7 years of operation, it still ranks among the lowest of the 71 Louisiana school districts; 83% of its schools were labeled with a “D” or “F”; and 79% of its students attended schools labeled as a “D” or “F”.

Is this the type of school district that should be elevated as a model for other cities? ROR thinks not!

Read the complete report by going to http://www.researchonreforms.org/html/documents/Paperon2012SPSk.pdf.

 
Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, New Orleans

A Parent Leader Thanks Karran Harper Royal

By dianeravitch
November 9, 2012 //
1

Helen Gym is a brave and articulate parent leader in Philadelphia. She has been leading the fight to stop the privatization of the public schools in that district, particularly the plan proposed by he Boston Consulting Group (parent of Bain Capital) to shift 40% of Philadelphia’s children into privately managed charters.

This is Helen’s public letter of thanks to Karran Harper Royal, who ran a valiant race against a heavily funded charter advocate. Karran was outspent 20-1. Running for office educates the public. Eventually, they hear and get it.

From Helen to Karran:

“I just wanted to take a moment and congratulate Karran Harper Royal for a hard-fought, courageous and important struggle for school board in NOLA.

Karran, you put your values and heart on the line by stepping out front and running for school board in what would eventually become a national marker of proof of how big money plays in school board races. I can’t imagine what a toll this took on your personal life, but thank you so much for the courage of your convictions, for speaking an independent voice in a critically important race, and for staking your ground. The fact that things have gone so awry in public ed politics makes me that much more grateful for the sacrifice you’ve given over the last few months.

Wishing you some days of (relative) peace and calm ahead and hoping your increased profile will only help your voice in speaking up for NOLA’s children and all of us.

Thank you.

Helen Gym
Parents United for Public Education
Philadelphia

Categories New Orleans, Philadelphia

Usdin Wins in New Orleans

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2012 //
3

Sarah Usdin won a school board seat in New Orleans, unfortunately.

She is a major advocate for privatization of public education.

Her background is Teach for America, the New Teacher Project (founded by Michelle Rhee), and New Schools for New Orleans (which opens charters).

She had the advantage of more than $110,000 in contributions from Wall Street hedge fund managers (“Democrats for Education Reform”), and others committed to wiping out public education in New Orleans and elsewhere.

Her campaign chest far exceeded that of her opponents, who included parent activist Karran Harper Royal.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, Education Reform, Klein, Joel, New Orleans, Privatization

Help! Someone Collect All the Elections that Privatizers Are Buying

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
18

I keep seeing articles about elections influenced by out-of-state and out-of-district contributions.

Sometimes, as in Los Altos, California, and in New Orleans, the elections are for local school board.

Sometimes, as in Louisiana, the election is for state school board.

Sometimes, as in Indiana and Idaho, the election is for state superintendent.

Sometimes, the election is a ballot initiative, as in Georgia, which is voting on whether to give the Governor the authority to create a commission to authorize charter schools even if the local school board objects; and in Washington State, where a referendum would create one of the nation’s most expansive charter laws; or in Michigan, where money is pouring in to oppose an initiative to make collective bargaining a right.

In school district after school district, state after state, PAC money is being bundled to promote candidates and issues with the same agenda: anti-union, anti-teacher, anti-public education, pro-privatization.

Some of the names are familiar: Bill Gates (in Washington), Michael Bloomberg (in Louisiana), Alice Walton (in Georgia and Washington), Joel Klein (in New Orleans), the DeVos family (American Federation for Children) in Michigan, Eli Broad (in Louisiana), Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst (in Michigan and in many districts). Much of the spending is targeted by Democrats for EducationReform (DFER), the Wall Street hedge fund managers group.

This cannot be sheer coincidence. In most places, the amount of money coming from outside is unprecedented. In Louisiana, the spending on a state board race was a multiple of 12 times what was previously spent.

To the naked eye, this seems to be a concerted effort to orchestrate a privatization of public education.

Big money undermining local control, democracy, and public education.

Categories California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Klein, Joel, Louisiana, Luna, Tom, Michigan, New Orleans, Privatization
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