Archives for category: Privatization
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Tennessee Legislature Protects Failing Virtual Charter School

By dianeravitch
February 14, 2013 //
18

Just an hour ago, I posted the story about how officials at the Tennessee Virtual Academy had instructed teachers to delete failing grades, allegedly to show “progress.”

The virtual school, run by the for-profit K12 corporation, is among the lowest-performing schools in the state.

This afternoon a state legislative committee blocked any discussion of the school altering grades and prevented efforts to limit enrollment in the school. Although the legislators refused to hear any reference to the school’s practice of deleting failing grades, they did hear a teacher who claimed that home instruction on a computer was a very positive experience for children with autism.

The legislators gave the virtual school an additional two years with no accountability, despite its poor academic performance.

The school gets about $5,000 per pupil and enrolls more than 3,000 students. It is known for its astute lobbying and well-targeted campaign contributions.

Another step backward for American education.

Categories Accountability, ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, On-Line Education, Privatization, Tennessee

NYC DOE Co-Locates Charter in Deborah Meier’s School

By dianeravitch
February 13, 2013 //
51

Deborah Meier founded the very popular Central Park East schools in East Harlem.

Deborah, with whom I used to blog weekly, is a pioneer of the small schools movement, a strong believer in public school choice, and an eloquent advocate of democratic education.

The CPE schools (I and II) have repeatedly asked the NYC Department of Education for space to expand.

But instead of allowing them to grow, Chancellor Dennis Walcott is placing a new and untried charter school in the space that CPE was hoping to win.

Just more evidence that there is no “competition” in New York City between public schools and charter schools.

When people talk about the power of competition, they overlook the districts like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, where the leadership is working for the other team.

No competition here. Our leader is throwing the game.

 

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Privatization

The For-Profit Tutoring Experience—Ugh!

By dianeravitch
February 13, 2013 //
7

A reader recently wrote what it is like to work for a for-profit tutoring company:

I am a teacher in a Catholic school and I work for one of these for profit tutoring companies in Chicago. I provide small group instruction to children in math and reading.

Although I feel that I am conscientious and try my best to provide the best services I can for my students, the company I work for pays teachers very low salaries and forces them to teach extremely unreasonable number of hours per day with almost no preparation time. I, for example, teach nine, 40 minute classes per day with a 20 minute lunch.

The company is squeezing teachers more and more so that the company makes lots of money for their shareholders (because they are paid by the head).

The company cares only about paperwork, and does not care one iota about whether the children learn anything at all. I love the school I work at and the children I teach, but the many, many layers of management add no value whatsover to the end product and provide zero professional development to their teachers.

If more people understood what these companies are doing, they would be outraged!

Categories For-Profit, Privatization, Testing, Tutoring

More on Charter Legislation in Tennessee

By dianeravitch
February 13, 2013 //
10

The Tennessee Legislature is rushing to pass legislation that would allow charters to apply to the state to get authorization, instead of the local school board. As noted in an earlier post, the legislation would apply only to Nashville and Memphis.

Note the rationale for targeting these two districts: they already have the most charter schools, so they of course need many more and the state must do it, not the local board.

This legislation–gutting local control–comes right out of the ALEC playbook, which considers privatization to be a higher value than local control. This is evidence not of conservatism–which respects local control–but of radicalism in the service of corporate interests.

ALEC pushed through the same idea as a constitutional amendment in Georgia, and big-money came from the Waltons and others interested in increasing privatization while claiming they are doing it “for the children.”

 

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Privatization, Tennessee

Tennessee Republicans Seek to Gut Local Control

By dianeravitch
February 13, 2013 //
12

The Republican super-majority in the Tennessee legislature introduced legislation to strip away the the power of the school boards in Memphis (Shelby County) and Nashville to authorize charter schools.

The power would be moved to a state authority.

This move is retaliation against the Metro Nashville school board, which rejected an application from the Great Hearts charter school academy of Arizona. The school board rejected Great Hearts four times! The problem was that Great Hearts wanted to open in a mostly white, affluent neighborhood and had inadequate plans for student diversity.

In an exposé in the Arizona Republic a few months ago, Great Hearts was singled out for dubious financial self-dealing. See here and here. Arizona blogger David Safier reported last fall that Great Hearts expects each family to make a contribution of at least $1500 to defray costs.

Metro Nashville decided it didn’t want Great Hearts to open in its district.

Nashville’s insistence on turning down this particular application infuriated State Commissioner Kevin Huffman (whose prior experience is limited solely to TFA). Huffman withheld $3.4 million that the state owed to Nashville. The governor and legislators were angry too that Nashville acted to exercise local control. They are now talking about vouchers.

Huffman and the state’s far-right Governor and legislature are determined to privatize as many schools as possible as quickly as possible in Memphis and Nashville.

Local control be damned!

Question: why are the Republicans in Tennessee so determined to destroy public education in their state? Has anyone in the state read the research on charters and vouchers? Or are they taking marching orders from ALEC?

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Privatization, Tennessee

Please Give Your Advice to This Reader

By dianeravitch
February 13, 2013 //
65

I received the following sincere request for advice. I replied that I would ask readers to share their views. My own view is that RTTT is promoting privatization and standardization and offers little that will enrich education or improve the teaching profession. But I think the reader should hear from you.

She writes:

Diane. I read your blog and other resources about education because I earnestly want to understand all that is going on in education. I read things that make it seem as if education around us is blowing up and yet I see leadership going about equally as earnestly trying to do what I imagine they have interpreted to be appropriate for education. I don’t know what to make if it all yet, except that I know my contributions to education will need to be building back up what is blown up, if that is what is happening, and bring on board with what leadership points me towards as an educator. I am interested in the opinions of people more experienced than I am. I guess so I can be prepared to lead myself one day (since chance favors the prepared mind). So I wonder what do you have to say about the reports states who have adopted RttT share with their education work force. For example,
These links:

2. Dr. Atkinson Talks About the Common Core in Her Latest Blog
In her blog post for Feb. 7, State Superintendent June Atkinson talks about the Common Core State Standards and what they mean for educators and students in North Carolina. This blog post and earlier entries are available at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/statesuperintendent/blog/.

3. Updated Timeline for Measures of Student Learning on the Web
The Measures of Student Learning timeline has been updated and is available on the Educator Effectiveness website at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/educatoreffect/measures/. The Measures of Student Learning are common exams in selected subjects and grades that are not part of the state testing program, or assessments used in promotion decisions for students. The Measures of Student Learning are tools for school districts and charter schools to utilize as one part of the evaluation process for teachers.
——-
When I read these links they seem nebulous enough for a certain comfort level and forward-thinking optimism. Am I missing something? What is it I don’t see that has many of your frequent readers fired up? Anything? Trends towards anything? Or is it possible for a state to make the best of RttT? To churn out something productive and lasting even where other states might be set back? I genuinely want to hear viewpoints. I don’t know what to think except that I want to be a good educator and a good employee and a responsible citizen.

Categories Common Core, Privatization, Race to the Top, U.S. education

Joel Klein, the Quintessential Corporate Reformer

By dianeravitch
February 12, 2013 //
2

Mercedes Schneider continues her review of the board of the National Council of Teacher Quality.

Earlier entries reviewed the bios of Wendy Kopp, Michelle Rhee, and other prominent figures whose lives intersect again and again on the boards of the groups seeking control of American education, with the full-throated support of Secretary Arne Duncan.

Here is Joel Klein, the quintessential corporate reformer. This is part 9 of Schneidr’s deconstruction of the corporate reform leadership team at NCTQ.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Klein, Joel, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), New York City, Poverty, Privatization

How Florida Politicians Are Wrecking the Schools

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2013 //
12

You may be lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to hear Jeb Bush boasting about the “Florida miracle.”

A useful contrast to his spiel is the story of this teacher in Florida, who is leaving a job she loved.

She didn’t want to leave, but it became clear to her and some of her colleagues that the politicians had taken control and squeezed the joy out of teaching and learning.

The politicians “came up with grandiose-sounding programs, such as “No Child Left Behind,” which instead dragged entire schools down. As the schools sank there were calls for more standardized testing and accountability.

“Instead they ended up forcing schools to “teach to the tests,” all but eliminating any subjects not directly on those tests.

“In Hillsborough, money from the outside was used to set up a system of teacher evaluations. That system became a punitive method of penalizing teachers with evaluations that are inconsistent, unfair and, at best, subjective.”

Hillsborough County was one of the recipients of funding from the Gates Foundation to measure its teachers and come up with a new evaluation system. Did it work? Ask this teacher. Excuse me, ask this ex-teacher.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Florida, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Georgia: “The Chaos Theory of Running Our Schools”

By dianeravitch
February 10, 2013 //
7

Myra Blackmon, a columnist for the Athens, Georgia, Banner-Herald, explains how the state legislature is determined to destabilize and disrupt public education with a wacky “parent trigger” bill. Read her terrific analysis here.

It won’t do anything to improve education nor will it “empower” parents, but it will make ALEC and others advocates of privatization very happy.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Georgia, Parent trigger, Privatization

Bridget, Don’t Give Up!

By dianeravitch
February 10, 2013 //
28

An administrator in Louisiana writes about how the Jindal administration tries to strike fear in the hearts of all educators while boasting of their great success.

Dear Bridget, here is my advice: “Illegitimi non carborundum.”

Be there when their pathetic regime is toppled by the good and great citizens of Louisiana.

Bridget writes:

It definitely is getting more and more difficult for teachers to stay. As an administrator, I see the panic on their faces as the date of the state test looms closer each day. Here in Louisiana, our jobs are tied directly to their VAM score, which over-rides any evaluation score given to them by our team. As administrators, we do our best to help to empower them with information and resources, but it will never be enough. Our governor has set us up for failure. I often think about returning to my special education classroom to finish out my last five years before retiring. Then I realize there may not be a retirement system left in five years. The joke is on me. After dedicating my life to teaching, I will probably not have anything to show for it except memories and/ or nightmares. My starting salary years ago was around $13,000 a year. I definitely didn’t get into this career for the money. Thanks to this blog I stick it out. I now have a place to stay abreast of what is happening across our nation. Don’t know how long I can last… one day at a time. I agree with Jesse that it is unfair to leave in the middle of the school year.

 

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, Education Industry, For-Profit, Louisiana, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Teachers and Teaching, Testing
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