Gordon Lafer On EPI Milwaukee Private Charter Schools Report
Don't miss this excellent Wisconsin Public TV interview with EPI economist and ed researcher Gordon Lafer criticizing "blended learning" at Rocketship charters.
Backers of these reforms are particularly enamored of a new type of charter school represented by the Rocketship chain of schools—a low-budget operation that relies on young and inexperienced teachers rather than more veteran and expensive faculty, that reduces the curriculum to a near-exclusive focus on reading and math, and that replaces teachers with online learning and digital applications for a significant portion of the day. Rocketship proposes that its model—dubbed “blended learning” for its combination of in-person and computerized instruction—can cut costs while raising