Archives for category: Pennsylvania
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Privatizers Now Targeting Pittsburgh Public Schools

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2013 //
3

Yinzercation, one of the best blogs in Pennsylvania, has an alarming post.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools have given a $2.4 million contract to two consulting companies to deal with the district’s equity and financial issues.

Some of this was underwritten by the Gates Foundation, as well as local foundations (Gates gave Pittsburgh a large grant to install a new teacher evaluation system).

One of the two companies is Bellwether, whose partners include the TIME columnist Andrew Rotherham and also Andy Smarick.

Andy is well known for his hostility to public schools. He believes in charterizing public education.

Other members of the firm were formerly associated with Bain & Company, Mitt Romney’s old firm.

Looks like Pittsburgh will join the urban districts that are closing public schools and handing the kids and money over to private enterpreneurs.

It would be great to see one example of an urban district anywhere in the U.S. where the corporate reform policies have produced a better school system, one that works for all kids.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Pennsylvania

Parent Leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Oppose Gulen Charter School

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2013 //
17

Two parent leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania–John MGrann and Dennis Deslippe–are organizing opposition to a Gulen charter in their community. The Gulen charters are the largest charter chain in the nation. They are associated with a reclusive Turkish imam who lives in the Poconos but has a powerful political movement in Turkey.

This is their petition:

The application for a new charter school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has generated a strong public response in opposition to its approval. On Tuesday, February 19, the school board for the School District of Lancaster in Pennsylvania will conduct a hearing for the Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship Charter School (ABECS), a school which promises to “integrate business and leadership opportunities” and “launch entrepreneurial skills” for students in kindergarten through fourth grade. The lead applicant for ABECS is Sait Onal.

Troubling letters of support

A group of local parents has been working to review the proposed program and curriculum, and to research the background of the charter school’s board members and letters of support. They have serious concerns about the curriculum, but equally troubling are the letters written in support of the charter school, including several which were subsequently withdrawn after these parents started asking questions and raising concerns. The withdrawn letters include:

· One letter, originally written by Harrisburg Area Community College, withdrawn because, “we believe that based on the ongoing public scrutiny and concerns regarding allegations of the organization, we cannot in good faith continue to support the charter application, at this time.”

· Letters from two Pennsylvania non-profit organizations that “promote teaching financial literacy”, withdrawn after a board member was alerted to the letters and discovered that they overstated the organizations’ position. The board member in question is president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (the statewide teachers’ union) who added in a follow-up letter, “I do not support the development or creation of any new charter schools in Pennsylvania at this time.”

· A letter of support from Lutheran Refugee Services, withdrawn after leadership from that organization’s office in Philadelphia discovered that the lead applicant’s wife, Selma Onal, issued the letter without authorization.

The remaining letters of support include:

· Letters from US Representative Joseph R. Pitts and Pennsylvania State Senator Lloyd Smucker.

· A letter sent from the local office of the Transamerica Agency Network where lead applicant Sait Onal is District Manager, signed by an employee of that office.

· A letter sent from MUDI Farm Export, a business in which the lead applicant Sait Onal is a partner, signed by Onal himself.

· A letter from Godiva Chocolatier / Yildiz Holdings, promising the opportunity for “job shadowing” and “summer internships” at their facility in Reading for the school’s K-4 students. This letter is signed by Murat Ulker, son of deceased Turkish industrialist Sabri Ulker who was a friend of Fethullah Gulen.

· A letter from Etimine USA in Pittsburgh, also promising “job shadowing” and “summer internships” for the school’s K-4 students. This letter is signed by Gokhan Yazici, former Deputy Undersecretary in the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (2002-2004) and former Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey (1996-2001). The opposing parent group has noted the absurdity of a summer internship being offered to K-4 students which necessitates a four-hour drive from where they live.

The lead applicant

Sait Onal has repeatedly attempted to establish charter schools in the midstate-Pennsylvania region. In addition to his failed effort with the Lancaster Science Academy (denied in 2008), Onal was part of the group that attempted to start the Capital [sic] Academy of Harrisburg (denied in 2006). The ABECS application closely resembles two other charter school applications that were submitted in Pennsylvania in 2012, for the Allentown Science Academy and the Erie Biosciences Academy.

Although Onal insists that he has no connection to the Gulen movement, his work has appeared in The Fountain, a magazine produced and published by the Gulen Movement which features a lead article by Fethullah Gulen in every issue. In his capacity as president of two NGOs, the Red Rose Intercultural and Educational Foundation and the Turkish Cultural Center of Pennsylvania, Onal has hosted a number of political dignitaries on trips to Turkey, including State Senator Mike Brubaker.

It was while they were in Turkey in April 2011 that Onal accompanied Brubaker to the headquarters of TUKSON, a Turkish business association described by the RAND Corporation in 2008 as the “fourth leg” of the Gulen movement – the other three being its education, media, and interfaith dialogue activities.

Onal has also organized several Turkish Cultural Days at the Pennsylvania State Capitol, one of which was held in May 2011 shortly after the above-mentioned Turkey trip. The afternoon senate session that day was started with prayers by Bekir Aksoy, president of Golden Generation Worship & Retreat Center in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Fethullah Gulen has been living at this center ever since he fled from Turkey in 1999.

The parent group has posted an online petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/school-district-of-lancaster-pa-oppose-the-academy-of-business-and-entrepreneurship-charter-school

Categories Charter Schools, Parents, Pennsylvania, Privatization, Support for public schools

Corporate Greed Targets Public Schools in Philadelphia

By dianeravitch
February 18, 2013 //
12

Abetted by the example of Race to the Top, as well as encouragement from the Gates Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, and the rightwing Corbett administration in Harrisburg, the state-appointed School Reform Commission in Philadelphia is poised to close an unprecedented number of Philadelphia public schools. The schools are under enrolled, says the commission, but the commission created the under-enrollment by opening charter schools. now Philadelphia will run a dual system, like many other cities, even though the charters are no better than the public schools.

Cui bono?

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Education Industry, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Privatization, Race to the Top

Pennsylvania Rejects 8 New Cyber Charters

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2013 //
6

The Pennsylvania Secretary of Education rejected eight applications for new cyber charters.

The state already has 16 cyber charters, with 32,000 students, all drawing from the entire state. The 12 cyber charters that have been around long enough to be rated all failed to make adequate yearly progress.

The eight that were rejected hoped to enroll another 10,000 students, wgphich would have cost the state $350 millions over the next five years.

This might be good news, a ray of hope, but cynics think that the rejected schools will reapply and some will be approved.

Cyber charters have terrible records: high attrition rates, low test scores, low graduation rates.

But they invest in lobbying and once they get authorized, they are very profitable.

Categories Charter Schools, On-Line Education, Pennsylvania

Sharp Decline in Number of Penn. Charters Making AYP

By dianeravitch
January 23, 2013 //
9

Last fall, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Education tried to play a statistical trick to boost the proportion of charter schools that made Adequate Yearly Progress. He wanted to treat each one as a school district. The U.S. Department of Education said that he could not judge charter schools by laxer rules than district schools.

Now the results are in, and the proportion of charters making AYP dropped from 49% to 28%.

Not a single cyber charter met AYP.

And it is clear why secretary Tomalis wanted to change rpthe reporting rules for charters.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Pennsylvania

The VAM Mess in Pennsylvania

By dianeravitch
January 4, 2013 //
18

Value-added assessment is all the rage since te introduction of Race to the Top.

Before then, everyone understood that teachers, families, school resources and the student herself (or himself) were the determining factors in student test scores.

But RTTT set off a movement to use scores to evaluate teachers, hoping to identify laggards and fire them.

The only problem: VAM is junk science. The low ratings tend to go to teachers of ELL, special education, and troubled kids. The scores, it turns out, measure WHO you teach, not teacher quality.

VAM isn’t working anywhere, yet our nation will squander hundreds of millions, maybe billions, trying to make it work.

Now we hear from a great blogger in Pennsylvania: VAM is sure to be a mess there, as everywhere else.

Junk science is junk science.

Categories Pennsylvania, Teacher Evaluations

What is Governor Tom Corbett’s Record on Education?

By dianeravitch
December 13, 2012 //
3

As Pennsylvania gears up for the next gubernatorial election, Governor Corbett’s spokesperson says the governor is proud of his education record. He claims that he has raised state spending on education to its highest levels.

Not so fast.

This Pennsylvania blogger says that Corbett cut nearly $1 billion from the public school budget last year, and flat funded the schools this year, leaving the cuts intact.

She writes: “A quick look at our schools tells the real story, as our students are without beloved teachers and librarians, and are now missing arts education, language, science, gifted and special education programs, tutoring, summer school, Kindergarten, sports, transportation, and more. That is Corbett’s real record.”

The first opponent in the race promised to restore the budget cuts and to oppose vouchers, while he pledged to “honor and encourage Pennsylvania’s teachers, for an excellent education begins with excellent teachers and with the amount of time spent learning.” He noted that, “Verbally beating and attacking teachers is now common in some quarters and is incredibly destructive to attracting top talent to teaching and improving education.”

Maybe a new wind is blowing in Pennsylvania? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

Categories Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Should Veto Every Virtual Proposal

By dianeravitch
December 12, 2012 //
0

Pennsylvania has 16 online charter schools for K-12. They all get terrible results. Some are for profit, some are nonprofit. The state auditor issued a scathing report earlier this year finding that they overcharge the state by many millions of dollars.

Rhonda Brownstein of the Education Law Center urges the state education board to reject all of the applications. The state has proven that it can’t monitor those it already has.

She writes:

“The Pennsylvania Department of Education is considering eight new cyber charter school applications, including four that would target Philadelphia-area students. It should not approve a single one.

“The academic performance of the more than 32,000 students in the state’s 16 existing cyber charter schools – the most in any state – raises serious questions about these primarily online schools, and it should give the Education Department great pause.

“Moreover, state laws governing cyber charters require the department to review the schools every year, and to close them if they aren’t meeting state standards. The department is in danger of violating the law if it continues to ignore the glaring problems of the existing cyber charters. Adding eight more cyber charters would further jeopardize its ability to uphold the law.”

Categories Charter Schools, For-Profit, On-Line Education, Pennsylvania, Privatization

Pa. Auditor: State Wasting Millions on Cybercharters

By dianeravitch
December 9, 2012 //
17

Pennsylvania’s State Auditor Jack Wagner has been a fiscal watchdog who serves the public interest.

He has repeatedly warned that the state’s multiplying cybercharters are claiming far more money than they need for the online instruction they offer.

Earlier this year, Wagner warned that the state was wasting $365 million a year on cybercharters and charters because of its funding formula. After all, a cybercharter does not have the costs of a brick and mortar school, yet gets full tuition for a child who sits home in front of a computer. In effect, the state is now funding home schooling, and the cyber corporation is the beneficiary.

In his latest audit, he finds that the state’s largest cybercharter has a surplus of $13 million and that it spend millions on advertising.

This is money taken from taxpayers to educate children, not to sit in the corporation’s bank account or to troll for more unwary students.

In a state where the extremist right has the upper hand, it is gratifying to see a conscientious public servant who is a steward of the public treasury.

It is sad that he is leaving public office.

We need more Jack Wagners, not just in Pennsylvania, but in every state.

We need people courageous enough to blow the whistle when the greedy are taking money that belongs to public education.

Categories Pennsylvania

Why Is Pennsylvania Mad for Cybercharters?

By dianeravitch
December 8, 2012 //
5

Pennsylvania is on its way to becoming the Wild West for Cybercharters, where anything goes, so long as it’s online.

The state already has 16 Cybercharters. Now it is considering another 8 of them. The only states with more students enrolled in virtual charters are Ohio and Arizona.

This likely expansion will occur despite repeated evidence that the academic quality of these virtual schools is inferior and that the costs are inflated. Also, the money to fund their bloated budgets comes out of the budget of public schools, so its a lose-lose proposition.

The fact that the state’s largest Cybercharter is under investigation by the FBI is unlikely to have any bearing on the state’s decision.

Categories Charter Schools, For-Profit, On-Line Education, Pennsylvania, Privatization
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