New Jersey: The Cesspool of School Reform
Jersey Jazzman describes the web of political and financial connections that are working together to bring for-profit virtual charter schools to the Garden State.
This is a must-read.
The more I learn about the profits and the political shenanigans that facility profiteering, the more it astonishes me.
If the American people ever figure out that their elected officials are giving away the authority to make money off
This is a must-read.
The more I learn about the profits and the political shenanigans that facility profiteering, the more it astonishes me.
If the American people ever figure out that their elected officials are giving away the authority to make money off
This Is the Most Startling Post of the Day
Darcie Cimarusti is a mother in New Jersey. She is not a teacher. She does not belong to a teacher’s union. She cares about public education. She became active as “mother crusader” in the last year or so, and she has demonstrated the amazing power of an informed citizen.
She has a voice and a blog. She speaks out. She does research. She is heard. She is making a difference.
When I travel and speak, people often say to me, “what can I do? how can I help? what role is there for a solitary
She has a voice and a blog. She speaks out. She does research. She is heard. She is making a difference.
When I travel and speak, people often say to me, “what can I do? how can I help? what role is there for a solitary
Why VAM Is Junk Science
Since Arne Duncan became Secretary of Education and unleashed the Race to the Top, almost every state has adopted laws to evaluate teachers by the test scores of their students. Most teachers know that this is unfair because the factors that have the greatest influence on students’ test scores are not within the control of teachers. Reformers tell us that teachers are the most important influence within the school on student scores, and that is right. But the teacher contribution to scores is dwarfed by the influence of family and other out of school factors.
It is also obvious to everyone but the U.S. Department of Education that when testing becomes the determinant
It is also obvious to everyone but the U.S. Department of Education that when testing becomes the determinant
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul?
Lance Hill of the Southern Institute of Education and Research reflects on the evolution of charter schools in New Orleans.
Charter schools that perform better by recruiting and retaining better students don’t exist in a vacuum: skimming the best and most profitable students affects other schools, though it is hard to detect in systems with few charters. The systemic effects are easier to see in a “closed system” as we have in New Orleans in which 80% of students attend charters. Every high-performing charter creates a chronically low-performing school somewhere in the system. The students that charters reject, who are high-needs and high-cost, become concentrated in a separate set of schools. These “dumping schools” concentrate
The Appropriate Role for Computers
I agree completely with this reader’s comment, in response to the post about Waldorf schools. The computer has a very important role in our lives. We will call upon it daily, and in many cases, hourly, and by the minute. Many of us will spend our waking hours in front of a computer. But a computer should not be at the center of education. It is a tool and should be used as a tool. Above all, children need healthy cognitive, emotional, social and psychological development. To the extent the computer aids in that process of development, good. To the extent that it is extraneous, so be it. The computer is a tool (I repeat) and should not be our master. We should use it wisely and not allow it to use us.
As one who concentrates his study on the intersection of technology and culture, I see schools like Waldorf as an extremely positive development. We who have not grown up with computers fear that our children will notAnnals of Privatization in PennsylvaniaRecently, the FBI raided the offices of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, because of concerns about the intermingling of various for-profit businesses that were created by the school. The school has revenues of about $100 million or more and has spun off a number of other businesses. Apparently, the former governor Ed Rendell made some moves to seek greater accountability and transparency in the school’s booming business, but the current Corbett administration relaxed that effort. This makes for fascinating reading, if you have any interest in how privatization works and how it is possible to Test Scores or Creativity?The Los Angeles Times notes in an editorial that there must be a balance between testing and creativity. It points out that the Asian nations that we claim to admire for their test scores–Japan, Singapore, China–wish they could unlock the creativity that has long characterized American culture and education. Yong Zhao has made this point powerfully in his books, especially in the one that was published just weeks ago,World Class Learners. Indeed, it is not balance he emphasizes, but the necessity of de-emphasizing rote Disgrace in Detroit Is “For the Children”Remember that the emergency manager in Detroit imposed a new teachers’ contract in which class sizes would be allowed to rise to absurd levels? Remember that the contract permits classes of up to 41 children in grades K-3, up to 61 children in grades 6-12? Remember all that? The emergency manager just said in an opinion article in the Detroit Free Press that “it’s a good contract for our Cyber Scam ExpandsThe latest news from Indiana is that the state education department–which seems to be in lockstep with the rightwing group ALEC–has given the green light to for-profit online corporations to expand without accountability. The three largest and oldest cybercharters have received a D and two Fs. But unlike public schools, there are no consequences for the cyber schools. They can keep expanding regardless of the lousy education they offer up to gullible students. The state currently has 4,000 students in these pretend schools, and the number is expected to double or triple because of legislation passed last year that makes it easier for them to expand, increases their payment per What, No Computers?Thanks to reader Linda for reminding me of this article in the New York Times about the school that Silicon Valley high-tech entrepreneurs choose for their own children. It is a Waldorf school. It has no computers. The school has 196 students. Three-quarters of them are from high-tech families, deeply involved in the creation and design of computer technology. But this school doesn’t believe that computers have a place in the classroom and it discourages their use at Charter Chain EvolvesWhen former City Council member Eva Moskowitz started in the charter school industry, her goals were clear: she planned to open schools in Harlem to save poor black and Hispanic children. She called her chain Harlem Success Academy and it was branded HSA. She said early on that her goal was to open 40 schools. Now she is opening schools in some of the most affluent neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the GERM in IndiaThe Global Education Reform Movement (Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg’s apt term) is advancing privatization, competition, choice, testing, accountability, data-driven decision-making tied to test scores. It’s wreaking havoc in this country and in other parts of the world. Here is a comment from a reader in India: The Testing Regime and “Cognitive Non-Engagement”A reader responds to the friendly exchange between Carol Burris and Robert Pondiscio:
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