"A Great Deal for Taxpayers"? Or, $$$ for EPT?
Dennis Bakke and his cronies at Imagine Schools are on the defensive in the wake of Stephanie Strom's excellent article. Here's the latest from the NY Times:
To the Editor:
We are appalled by your depiction of Imagine Schools in “For Charter School Company, Issues of Spending and Control” (front page, April 24). The true tests of successful schools, whether charter or traditional, are parent satisfaction and student achievement.
Why not spotlight the 37,000 Imagine Schools students who are learning character and leadership along with reading, history and math? Most students enter Imagine’s schools below grade level and make larger academic strides compared with peers in traditional schools.
Why not highlight the great deal for taxpayers? Imagine delivers a high-quality education
The Truth About "Tenure" in Colorado
Tomorrow Colorado legislators decide whether or not they will be bamboozled by corporate education's billionaire boys' club to disrespect and demoralize Colorado teachers once again. Here's some facts to consider from an op-ed in the Durango Herald News:
What makes a good teacher? Is it longevity, popularity, education or good test scores? Denver politicians are trying to tell the people of Colorado that there is only one answer: test scores. Senate Bill 191 would deny or remove “tenure" from teachers whose evaluations did not demonstrate student academic growth as evidenced by standardized tests such as the Colorado Student Assessment Program.
New Charter Philosophy for the Corporate Celebrity: Let A Few Chain Gangs Flourish
When charters first came on the scene, the idea was to let a thousand flowers bloom and let innovation reign. The best instructional and curricular ideas could then be spread to other schools, and children and parents and teachers would be the beneficiaries.
Those days are as long gone, and the only innovations that remain in the segregated urban chain gangs that the Secretary of Education advocates are the innovative extinguishing of due process for teachers and students, the innovative application of total compliance techniques, and the innovative bookkeeping that makes the corporate leeches who run these outfits wealthy.
Those days are as long gone, and the only innovations that remain in the segregated urban chain gangs that the Secretary of Education advocates are the innovative extinguishing of due process for teachers and students, the innovative application of total compliance techniques, and the innovative bookkeeping that makes the corporate leeches who run these outfits wealthy.
