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Sunday, July 26, 2015

State of Michigan Failing Charter Schools: One Year Later Nothing Has Changed

State of charter schools: How Michigan spends $1 billion but fails to hold schools accountable | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
State of Michigan Failing Charter Schools: One Year Later Nothing Has Changed



 Big Education Ape: Incomplete: Michgan’s grade on charter school reform http://bit.ly/1eqT7Tf


  Jul. 16, 2014

What the Free Press found
A year long Free Press investigation of Michigan's charter schools found wasteful spending, conflicts of interest, poor performing schools and a failure to close the worst of the worst. Among the findings:
 Charter schools spend $1 billion per year in state taxpayer money, often with little transparency.
 Some charter schools are innovative and have excellent academic outcomes — but those that don't are allowed to stay open year after year.
 A majority of the worst-ranked charter schools in Michigan have been open 10 years or more.
 Charter schools as a whole fare no better than traditional schools in educating students in poverty.
 Michigan has substantially more for-profit companies running schools than any other state.
 Some charter school board members were forced out after demanding financial details from management companies.
 State law does not prevent insider dealing and self-enrichment by those who operate schools.
Day 1: Weak state oversight allows secrecy, abuses
Sunday, June 22: Charter management companies flock to Michigan, which — unlike some other states — requires little transparency or accountability in the rapidly growing number of charter schools.
Day 3: School board power often limited to a rubber stamp
Tuesday, June 24: Critics say many boards are not independent — and some have been punished when they asked too many questions.
Day 4: Pro charter school group wields increasing power
Wednesday, June 25: The Great Lakes Education Project aggressively lobbies on behalf of charter schools — and punished one lawmaker who defied its agenda.
Day 6: Authorizers allow poor performance to go on and on
Friday, June 27: Authorizers tend to let low-performing schools continue — and the state does not provide guidelines on when schools should be closed.
Day 7: In Detroit, helping educate poor children still elusive
Saturday, June 28: While charters have given Detroit parents many options, they haven't provided what the city needs: high-quality schools that can succeed with disadvantaged children.
Day 8: Some top-notch schools fulfill the original mission
Sunday, June 29: The Free Press profiles selected charter schools that provide innovative alternatives to traditional schools.
Solutions: How Michigan can fix our charter school system
Sunday, June 29: Michigan can learn from other states, including Massachusetts, Delaware, Minnesota and Arizona, to better ensure public dollars will be spent wisely on behalf of both children and taxpayers.
Followup: National Heritage Academies' unusual arrangement
Sunday, Dec. 14: Michigan's largest charter management company, and not the schools, owns the contents of its school buildings, even if purchased with tax money
Reaction and response
Explore video, graphics
You can find Web-only stories, video interviews, documents and a statewide database with academic results.
How the reporting was done
The Detroit Free Press did hundreds of interviews and examined tens of thousands of documents in a yearlong investigation of Michigan's charter schools and how the state oversees them.
Among the records: More than 400 three-ring binders the Michigan Department of Education keeps on every charter, including those that closed, with contracts between schools and authorizers, management agreements, leases, building inspections, correspondence, internal MDE e-mails, court filings and parent complaints. Also examined were school audits, lawsuits, deeds, assessor records and school Web postings.
The Free Press also surveyed all 296 charters in the state — under which about 370 schools operate — plus numerous authorizers and management companies, both full-service and those that provide limited services such as human resources. The information was used in part to build a comprehensive searchable database listing every charter school, its test results and rankings, its management company, whether the company is for-profit or not, and what services it provides. That database will be posted Thursday on freep.com/charters.
The news organization used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain records from schools and authorizers, including payments to vendors and lease amendments.
The reporting team
Jennifer Dixon, investigative reporter, jbdixon@freepress.com
Lori Higgins, statewide education issues, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins
David Jesse, higher education, djesse@freepress.com or @Freephighered
Kristi Tanner, database analyst, ktanner@freepress.com
Ritu Sehgal, senior editor, rsehgal@freepress.com or @rsehgalfreep
Contributing staff
Ann Zaniewski, Detroit Public Schools
Tim Good, print designer
Gerry Skora, lead copy editor
Martha Thierry, graphics artist
Eric Millikin, data analysis, illustration and web design
John Sly, data analysis, database architect and programming
Brian Todd, database design
State of charter schools: How Michigan spends $1 billion but fails to hold schools accountable | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
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