A Charter Takeover of Public School District?
There is a rapidly expanding charter chain in Pennsylvania called Propel.
It has charter schools in several districts in the state with a total enrollment of 2,000. They are “no excuses” schools, and they reportedly get high test scores.
The Propel charter chain wants to open a K-12 charter school in the small district of Sto-Rox, which has 1,400 students.
The charter school would enroll 800 students.
Last November, the school board unanimously rejected its request saying that it would have a “devastating”
It has charter schools in several districts in the state with a total enrollment of 2,000. They are “no excuses” schools, and they reportedly get high test scores.
The Propel charter chain wants to open a K-12 charter school in the small district of Sto-Rox, which has 1,400 students.
The charter school would enroll 800 students.
Last November, the school board unanimously rejected its request saying that it would have a “devastating”
More on the Study of Indiana State Tests
I’m hoping to get a link to the full study by Adam Maltese of Indiana University and Craig Hochbein of the University of Louisville, but in the meantime, here is the abstract. It provides interesting additional details:
Abstract
For more than half a century concerns about the ability of American students to compete in a global workplace focused policymakers’ attention on improving school performance generally, and student achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) specifically. In its most recent form—No Child Left Behind—there is evidence this focus led to a repurposing of instructional time to dedicate more attention to tested subjects. While this meant a narrowing of the curriculum to focus on English and mathematics at the elementary level, the effects on high school curricula have been less clear and generally absent from the
The Great Muskegon Heights Puzzle
The state of Michigan despatched an emergency manager to take over the public schools of Muskegon Heights, Michigan, because the little district with three schools and 1,400 students had run up a deficit of $12 million.
Rather than help the district figure out how to pay off its deficit, the emergency manager decided that it was best to close down the public schools and hand over the students to a for-profit charter company. He selected Mosaica Education of Atlanta.
Now Mosaica has released its budget. Over the next five years, it projects,Mosaica will extract a profit from its
Rather than help the district figure out how to pay off its deficit, the emergency manager decided that it was best to close down the public schools and hand over the students to a for-profit charter company. He selected Mosaica Education of Atlanta.
Now Mosaica has released its budget. Over the next five years, it projects,Mosaica will extract a profit from its
Why a School Is Not Like a Business
A reader responds to an earlier post. This reader says that schools are like churches; some say they are like families. As the previous post said, they are built on relationships. When a school closes, a community dies. Those in big corporate cultures don’t understand this. They are used to closing down low-performing units, firing people who aren’t at the top of the stack ranking. This is everyday stuff for them. They don’t understand community. They understand data. They overlook the daily expose of corporate misuse of data (see Enron, WorldComm, LIBOR, or your local business page). If anyone steps forward to defend the community, they will be
Are the Rich Opposed to Public Education?
There was a time when almost everyone lauded the American idea of common schooling.
The ideal of equal educational opportunity was far from realized yet widely shared.
It was a goal, an ideal, a vision by which we measured our efforts.
It was a standard we strived to meet.
Urban districts had a small number of selective admission schools, but some urban districts had none at all.
The ideal of equal educational opportunity was far from realized yet widely shared.
It was a goal, an ideal, a vision by which we measured our efforts.
It was a standard we strived to meet.
Urban districts had a small number of selective admission schools, but some urban districts had none at all.
Reality Matters
A smart comment by Dave Reid, a math teacher in California, about meeting the diverse needs of students in an overcrowded, under-resourced classroom:
Hi JJ. This is a reply to your July 20, 2012 at 12:41 am comment where you stated: “…any good teacher or administrator knows that placing these [sped] kids in inclusion or mainstream setting is meaningless unless you do provide them meaningful instruction. Accommodate. Differentiate, engage them. It’s not as easy as justFlorida Congresswoman Blasts FCATCongresswoman Frederica S. Wilson penned an article in the Miami Herald blasting the state’s testing regime. She blames it for destroying the lives of countless young people, who didn’t pass, were labeled failures, and did not get the education they needed to make their way in society. She is a former school principal, and she describes the current obsession with tests and school grading as “madness.” After years of complaining and pointing out missteps, and at times borderline criminal activity, I have reached The Trouble with Online EducationI couldn’t have said it better myself. The New York Times has a terrific piece today with the title of this post, written by a professor at the University of Virginia. Sure, there are times when it is useful to take a course online. But there is a downside. The best learning is what happens when minds rub together, exchanging ideas; when a teacher can gauge what What is a Highly Qualified Teacher?A reader gives her view of what it means to be a “highly qualified teacher,” if not by the elastic definition in NCLB, then by her own knowledge of teaching:
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