When a School Dies
This is what it looks like when a school dies.Read here.
The Austin school board–at the urging of the district superintendent Meria Carstarphen–decided to hand over Allan elementary school to a charter chain called IDEA. She said that IDEA had the formula to raise the academic achievement of the children in that school.
The new charter is supposed to enroll 600 students. Only 77 of the children who previously attended Allan will attend the new charter school. Most people would consider that a vote of no-confidence in the charter, the superintendent who was their advocate, and the school board that acted against the wishes of the local community.
How can the charter raise the academic achievement of the children in the school when nearly 90% of them are
The Austin school board–at the urging of the district superintendent Meria Carstarphen–decided to hand over Allan elementary school to a charter chain called IDEA. She said that IDEA had the formula to raise the academic achievement of the children in that school.
The new charter is supposed to enroll 600 students. Only 77 of the children who previously attended Allan will attend the new charter school. Most people would consider that a vote of no-confidence in the charter, the superintendent who was their advocate, and the school board that acted against the wishes of the local community.
How can the charter raise the academic achievement of the children in the school when nearly 90% of them are
The Disturbing Connection between David Coleman and Michelle Rhee
If you are a reader of this blog, you saw earlier posts about the close connection between David Coleman, the architect of the Common Core standards, and Michelle Rhee. Stephen Sawchuk of Education Week confirms this here.
I learned from Ken Libby–a graduate student at the University of Colorado who likes to read IRS filings by advocacy organizations–that Rhee’s Students First has a board of directors; that David Coleman is the treasurer of her board of directors; and that the other two members of her board are employees of David Coleman’s organization Student Achievement Partners (one of the two wrote the new CC math standards). To those who ask Coleman why he is on Rhee’s board, he responds that his term ends in June. That is non-responsive.
What outsiders really want to know is whether he shares her agenda and whether he rejects any part of it.
Rhee is a lightning rod. She has advocated for policies that will remove all job protections from teachers. She
Who Are These New “Advocacy” Groups?
I learned from Ken Libby–a graduate student at the University of Colorado who likes to read IRS filings by advocacy organizations–that Rhee’s Students First has a board of directors; that David Coleman is the treasurer of her board of directors; and that the other two members of her board are employees of David Coleman’s organization Student Achievement Partners (one of the two wrote the new CC math standards). To those who ask Coleman why he is on Rhee’s board, he responds that his term ends in June. That is non-responsive.
What outsiders really want to know is whether he shares her agenda and whether he rejects any part of it.
Rhee is a lightning rod. She has advocated for policies that will remove all job protections from teachers. She
Who Are These New “Advocacy” Groups?
Education Week recently published a series of articles about the new “advocacy” groups that are reshaping education policy.
The series is well worth reading. But do so, I suggest, by first reading Chapter 10 of my book The Death and Life of the Great American School System, as well as the update at the end of the paperback edition. Chapter 10 is called “The Billionaire Boys Club.” It is about the three biggest foundations in the education field: the Gates Foundation, the Walton Foundation, and the Broad Foundation. Over time, the funding priorities of these foundations have begun to converge around charters and teacher evaluation as the keys to school reform. Walton adds vouchers to the mix, but otherwise shares the agenda. The agenda looks amazingly like the Mitt Romney
Did Albert Shanker Say That?
The series is well worth reading. But do so, I suggest, by first reading Chapter 10 of my book The Death and Life of the Great American School System, as well as the update at the end of the paperback edition. Chapter 10 is called “The Billionaire Boys Club.” It is about the three biggest foundations in the education field: the Gates Foundation, the Walton Foundation, and the Broad Foundation. Over time, the funding priorities of these foundations have begun to converge around charters and teacher evaluation as the keys to school reform. Walton adds vouchers to the mix, but otherwise shares the agenda. The agenda looks amazingly like the Mitt Romney
Did Albert Shanker Say That?
When critics of teachers’ unions want to strike a blow against unions, they throw around something that they claim was said by the late Albert Shanker:
‘When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of children.’ ”
Albert Shanker was the brilliant and much-admired and very outspoken president of the American Federation of Teachers; he died in 1997.
Joel Klein, former NYC chancellor who now sells education technology for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, quoted this line in an article in The Atlantic Monthly, and Mitt Romney quoted it when he unveiled his education
How Public Education Died in Muskegon Heights
‘When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of children.’ ”
Albert Shanker was the brilliant and much-admired and very outspoken president of the American Federation of Teachers; he died in 1997.
Joel Klein, former NYC chancellor who now sells education technology for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, quoted this line in an article in The Atlantic Monthly, and Mitt Romney quoted it when he unveiled his education
How Public Education Died in Muskegon Heights
Last year, the conservative Republican governor of Michigan Rick Snyder and the Republican-dominated legislature passed legislation strengthening the governor’s power to take over financially troubled municipalities and school districts. Michigan has had emergency manager legislation since 1990, but the 2011 law, Public Act 4, gave the governor additional powers to suspend democracy.
Democratic groups are now challenging Public Act 4, which enhanced the ease with which Governor Snyder could suspend democracy by replacing elected officials with an emergency manager. When opponents of the law presented 226,000 signatures on petitions to put Public Act 4 on the ballot and get a public referendum, the state board charged with making a decision split along partisan lines. As matters now stand, the petitions were
Democratic groups are now challenging Public Act 4, which enhanced the ease with which Governor Snyder could suspend democracy by replacing elected officials with an emergency manager. When opponents of the law presented 226,000 signatures on petitions to put Public Act 4 on the ballot and get a public referendum, the state board charged with making a decision split along partisan lines. As matters now stand, the petitions were