Broken Promises: An Analysis of Charter School Closures From 1999 - 2017 - Network For Public Education

Broken Promises: An Analysis of Charter School Closures From 1999 - 2017 - Network For Public Education

Broken Promises: An Analysis of Charter School Closures From 1999 – 2017

This report provides the first comprehensive examination of charter failure rates over time—beginning in 1999 and ending in 2017. By following all charter schools, from the year they opened, we were able to determine how long they lasted before closing down. We also determined how many students have been displaced by failing charter schools and where those closures are most likely to occur. 

This digital version of the report contains an animated map that shows charter closures distributed across 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, between 1999–2017. The animated map is not available in the downloadable pdf, however you can download and print the report and the executive summary as pdfs by clicking the buttons below.

Download a PDF of the Report

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

Principals Show Bias in Responses to Black parents, New Study Finds | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

Principals Show Bias in Responses to Black parents, New Study Finds | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

Principals Show Bias in Responses to Black parents, New Study Finds

Principals show bias in responses to Black parents, new study finds 

Matt Barnum, Chalkbeat  

Apr 26, 6:00am EDT

A few years ago, thousands of high school principals across the country received a variation of the same email from a parent asking for “any information you can provide about enrolling.”

When the email was sent by “Emily Walsh” seeking to enroll her son “Greg,” 64% of principals responded. But when an identical message came from “Tamika Washington” with a son named “Jamal,” the response rate fell to 57%.

The emails were actually sent by two political scientists, Zachary Oberfield and Matthew Incantalupo, in an effort to gauge racial bias in public schools. Their findings — that principals are less likely to respond to parents who they may have assumed were Black — illustrate one way that bias plays out in schools nationwide, aligning with past research as well as the experiences of many families.

“We wanted an easy ask,” said Incantalupo, a professor at Yeshiva University. “If they’re throwing down hurdles for something as simple as this, it’s not too much of an inference to say there are probably other ways in which inequality manifests in these schools.”

The new paper, published last month, looks at responses from a nationally representative sample of 3,600 high school principals.

White principals, in particular, showed signs of discrimination: They were 9 percentage points less likely to respond to emails from a parent whose name suggested they were Black. Their behavior shapes national trends, as nearly four in five public school principals are white.

“Principals — just like teachers, just like everyone else — have the potential to harbor explicit or implicit racial biases that CONTINUE READING: Principals Show Bias in Responses to Black parents, New Study Finds | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

PROOF POINTS: Gifted programs provide little to no academic boost, new study says - The Hechinger Report

PROOF POINTS: Gifted programs provide little to no academic boost, new study says - The Hechinger Report

PROOF POINTS: Gifted programs provide little to no academic boost, new study says

National study finds Black students and low-income children don’t reap the small gains achieved by white, Asian and high-income children

Gifted education is often a flash point in school desegregation debates; in large cities, these programs often operate as an essentially separate school system, dominated by white and Asian children. Though gifted programs touch only 3.3 million school children, about 7 percent of the U.S. student population, it’s disturbing that Black and Hispanic children are rarely chosen for them. 

Some progressives have proposed eliminating gifted programs altogether. Others are seeking ways to increase the number of Black and Hispanic students. Only 4 percent of Black children and 5 percent of Hispanic children are in gifted programs compared with 8 percent of white and 13 percent of Asian children, according to the most recent federal figures.

Against this political backdrop, a new study raises big questions about whether gifted education benefits the kids who are lucky enough to be in it. Researchers analyzed the records of about 1,300 students, drawn from a nationally representative sample of children across the country, who started kindergarten in 2010 and participated in a gifted program for at least one year during their elementary school years through fifth grade. 

In school systems that offer gifted programs, children generally begin their schooling in a regular kindergarten classroom with children of mixed CONTINUE READING: PROOF POINTS: Gifted programs provide little to no academic boost, new study says - The Hechinger Report

School Finance Indicators Database - Home

School Finance Indicators Database - Home

School Finance Indicators Database

Big Education Ape: Getting School Finance Indicators Right – School Finance 101 - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/getting-school-finance-indicators-right.html

Big Education Ape: The Adequacy and Fairness of State School Finance Systems (second edition) | School Finance Indicators Database - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-adequacy-and-fairness-of-state.html

School Finance Indicators Database - Home

WELCOME

The School Finance Indicators Database is a collection of data and research on K-12 public school funding in the U.S. These resources are designed for use not only by researchers, but also by parents, policymakers, journalists, and the general public. Every year, the SFID team publishes two primary databases, both of which are freely available to download:

The State Indicators Database is a user-friendly dataset of roughly 125 state-by-state school funding measures, many of which are available going back to 1993. These measures focus on the adequacy and fairness not only of revenue and spending, but also of how money is spent (e.g., teacher pay competitiveness, staffing ratios). The dataset is accompanied every year by a report presenting key findings, as well as one-page profiles summarizing the school funding systems of all 50 states and D.C. 

The District Cost Database allows users to assess the adequacy of spending levels in over 12,000 public school districts by comparing districts’ actual per-pupil spending with estimates of adequate spending levels in those districts. The database also includes a small set of district-level measures, such as test scores and Census child poverty rates, with which users can compare spending adequacy. The DCD is published annually (currently available for 2018 only).

In addition to the full datasets, annual reports, and state profiles, we also publish a set of online data visualizations (updated annually) and occasional research briefs, which present key measures from both databases. It is our hope that our data, and analyses based on these data, will help to improve school finance debates and policymaking in the U.S.

GETTING STARTED

• Read our latest annual report presenting key findings from the State Indicators Database
• Download one page profiles summarizing each state’s finance system
• View spending adequacy profiles for individual school districts
• Analyze the state database with customizable visualizations
• Download the state and district datasets in Excel or Stata format

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The School Finance Indicators Database is compiled and published by researchers at the Albert Shanker Institute and the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education.

School Finance Indicators Database - Home

School Finance Indicators Database - Home

Big New Report On Growth Mindset Benefits | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Big New Report On Growth Mindset Benefits | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

BIG NEW REPORT ON GROWTH MINDSET BENEFITS

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) this morning released a huge report titled Sky’s the limit: Growth mindset, students, and schools in PISA

The report has a ton of great information about Carol Dweck’s “growth mindset” concept.

I have to say, though, I’m not entirely convinced that a ton of conclusions about who has and does not have a growth mindset can be accurately measured by what they did – which is basically ask just one question:

In PISA 2018, about 600 000 students from 78 countries and economies were surveyed to depict the landscape of growth mindset for 15 year-olds. PISA 2018 asked students whether they agreed (“strongly disagree”, “disagree”, “agree”, or “strongly agree”) with the following statement: “Your intelligence is something about you that you can’t change very much”. Disagreeing with the statement is considered a precursor of a growth mindset, as it is more likely that someone who thinks intelligence can change will challenge him/herself to improve it.

Nevertheless, a ton of other studies have reached similar conclusions (see The Best Resources On Helping Our Students Develop A “Growth Mindset” to find them), so my reservations aren’t that strong.

I do like that it highlights several strategies teachers and schools can implement to support the development of a growth mindset among students, which are highlighted in a chart at the end of this post.  I’m not sure that they are very helpful, since I would think most teachers make them part of their practice now, but I might be wrong.

I also noted that the report also suggests another strategy to support a growth mindset:

Seeking written feedback from students (e.g. regarding lessons, teachers or resources) for quality assurance

I’ve certainly posted a lot about that practice: Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers)

I was surprised that it didn’t seem to offer specific suggestions to teachers about CONTINUE READING: Big New Report On Growth Mindset Benefits | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Great news; with more federal AND state funding, no excuse left for NYC Mayor to deny kids the smaller classes they need! | Class Size Matters

Great news; with more federal AND state funding, no excuse left for NYC Mayor to deny kids the smaller classes they need! | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Great news; with more federal AND state funding, no excuse left for NYC Mayor to deny kids the smaller classes they need!

1.Tremendous news!  The state finally came through with the additional foundation aid that our schools were promised years ago as a result of the CFE lawsuit, which will mean more than $600 million for NYC schools next year, increasing to an estimated $1.6 billion annually in three years.

This is in addition to the approximately $6 billion our schools will receive in additional federal aid over the next two years. Now the Mayor and the Chancellor have NO excuse not to do the right thing for NYC kids by lowering their class sizes. Smaller classes will be not only more necessary than ever before for health, safety and emotional support, as I said in this article, but should be absolutely required. This is especially critical, given how the state’s highest court in the CFE case said more funding was needed because NYC students were denied their constitutional right to a sound basic education, as evidenced by the fact that their class sizes were too large.

If you haven’t already, please sign our petition to the Mayor and the City Council, urging them to use $1 billion of these funds to lower class size, and $365 million for more school counselors and social workers, for provide our kids with the health and safety precautions and the academic and emotional support they will need next year more than ever before. Also please let me know if you want us to provide a resolution that your CEC, SLT or PTA could pass, urging the Mayor and the Council to do so.

2. We recently released a new Class Size Matters report,  DoE Overspending On Charter School Facility Costs and Underspending On Matching Funds To Public Schools, that revealed that the NYC Department of Education has overspent by many millions on rent for charter schools, while CONTINUE READING: Great news; with more federal AND state funding, no excuse left for NYC Mayor to deny kids the smaller classes they need! | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

My Broken Heart | Diane Ravitch's blog

My Broken Heart | Diane Ravitch's blog

My Broken Heart

I was born in 1938. I’m in pretty good health, considering my age. But one of the valves in my heart has a leak. It must be repaired. On April 8, I am having open heart surgery. The surgeon will break open my breastbone to reach my heart, then wire it back together. He assures me I will be fine, but fatigued, when it’s over.

I have tried to take it in stride, but it’s hard not to find it scary. Terrifying, actually.

To cheer me up, I keep thinking of hokey old songs that use the word “heart” in them. There are so many of them. Dozens. Scores. Hundreds. I’ve been singing Hank Williams’ “Your Cheating Heart,” and “My heart cries for you, sighs for you, dies for you, please come back to me,” “Peg of My Heart,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” “You’re Breaking My Heart Cause You’re Leaving, you’ve fallen for somebody new,” Doris Day’s “Once I had a Secret Love, that lived within the heart of me,” “ Hoagy Carmichael’s “Heart and Soul, I fell in love with you,” Elvis Presley’s “Wooden Heart,” Patsy Cline’s “Heartaches,” another version of a different “Heartaches,” The Charms, “Hearts Made of Stone,” Billy Eckstine’s “My Foolish Heart,” The Four Aces, “Heart of My Hearts,” Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” and many more. “Heart of My Heart” is the one I keep singing to myself; it’s a barbershop quartet song. The Elvis Presley song is adorable, Elvis like you have never seen him before.

It’s a habit in my natal family to try to turn bad news into humor.

My heart is not amused.

When the nurse-practitioner called to review procedures, she asked me what kind of animal valve I wanted in my heart. Without hesitation, I said I wanted the valve of a Longhorn steer. My heart really does belong to Texas.

One of the first people I turned to for advice about a surgeon was Checker Finn’s wife, Renu Virmani, who is a world-renowned cardiologist. She assured me that the surgeon recommended by my cardiologist was the best in New York City. The more I inquired, the better I felt about the person I chose. When I met him, he relieved my anxieties. At least some of them.

The blog will continue while I am hospitalized. I have written some in advance. Some of of my good friends agreed to write special contributions for me in my absence (most are original and never been previously published). And I expect to jump in to comment and maybe even post a few things as soon as the anesthesia wears off.

So please think of me on April 8. I will be grateful for your thoughts, prayers, and good wishes.

I’m not going away. I will be back with a stronger heart and a passion for justice. And maybe the heart valve of a lion or a tiger or a Longhorn.

My Broken Heart | Diane Ravitch's blog

How Students Pay for Corporate Tax Abatements | Diane Ravitch's blog

How Students Pay for Corporate Tax Abatements | Diane Ravitch's blog

How Students Pay for Corporate Tax Abatements

Good Jobs First entered the national scene when it produced documentation that the CARES Act was being used to funnel billions of dollars to private schools and charter schools. The charter schools were double-dipping, first taking money allotted to public schools, then getting millions more from the Paycheck Protection Program, which excluded public schools.

Now, Good Jobs First has released a new report, showing that students are paying for corporate tax breaks.

Abating Our Future:

How Students Pay for Corporate Tax Breaks
Executive Summary

Public school students in the U.S. suffered poorer schools—and local and state taxpayers paid higher taxes—in 2019 due to corporate tax breaks. Thanks to a new government accounting rule, we are able to prove that economic development tax abatements given to corporations cost public school districts at least $2.37 billion in forgone revenue in 2019. That is $273 million — or 13 percent— higher than two years before.

Across the country, 97 school districts lost more than $5 million each; 149 districts lost more than $1,000 per CONTINUE READING: How Students Pay for Corporate Tax Abatements | Diane Ravitch's blog

Peter Greene: How a Non-Profit Charter School Can be Run for Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog

Peter Greene: How a Non-Profit Charter School Can be Run for Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog

Peter Greene: How a Non-Profit Charter School Can be Run for Profit

Peter Greene reviewed the Network for Public Education’s report on for-profit charter schools in Forbes, where he is a regular columnist.

He writes:

It has become cliche for politicians and policy makers to oppose “for profit” charter schools. It’s also a safe stance, because most people agree they’re a bad idea; for-profit charter schools are not legal in almost all states. 

But charter school profiteers have found many loopholes, so that while they may not be able to set up for-profit charters, they can absolutely run charter schools for a profit. That may seem like a distinction without a difference, but the difference is that one is illegal in almost all states, and the other, as outlined in a new report, can be found from coast to coast. The new report, “Chartered for Profit,” from the Network for Public Education examines the size and reach of “the hidden world of charter schools operated for financial gain.” (Full disclosure: I am a member of NPE.)

The most common workaround for operating a charter school for profit is a management corporation. In this CONTINUE READING: Peter Greene: How a Non-Profit Charter School Can be Run for Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog

Big Education Ape: THE CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATION FOR PROFIT PARASITES - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-california-charter-school_7.html

Big Education Ape: Major New Report Shows that Charters Are Too Often Parasites Weakening Host School Districts | janresseger - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/12/major-new-report-shows-that-charters.html

NEPC: Another Useless Report from NCTQ | Diane Ravitch's blog

NEPC: Another Useless Report from NCTQ | Diane Ravitch's blog

NEPC: Another Useless Report from NCTQ

The National Education Policy Center frequently engages independent scholars to review think tank reports, which are often advocacy reports.

In this report, the NEPC scholars review the latest report from the National Center on Teacher Quality, which was formed about 20 years ago to take down teachers’ colleges. See this post.

NEPC Review: 2020 Teacher Prep Review: Clinical Practice and Classroom Management (October 2020)

Reviewers: Jamy Stillman and  Katherine Schultz March 16, 2021

NCTQ’s 2020 Teacher Prep Review focuses on two areas of teacher preparation: clinical practice and classroom management. The report uses an approach that is now familiar to readers of NCTQ publications: asserting a set of preferred practices and then applying those criteria to teacher education programs. Although NCTQ reports have been critiqued for their limited use of research and highly questionable research methodology, this report employs the same approaches as earlier NCTQ reports. Rather than analyzing the characteristics of successful programs preparing teachers for a wide range of contexts, the report is based exclusively on adherence to or compliance with NCTQ internal standards that are neither widely accepted nor evidence-based. Thus, the report’s value is diminished and is unlikely to transform teacher preparation

NEPC: Another Useless Report from NCTQ | Diane Ravitch's blog

Chartered for Profit: The Hidden World of Charter Schools Operated for Financial Gain - Network For Public Education

Chartered for Profit: The Hidden World of Charter Schools Operated for Financial Gain - Network For Public Education

Chartered for Profit: The Hidden World of Charter Schools Operated for Financial Gain

In this report, we focus on the world of charter schools run for profit, a world both hidden and misunderstood. We pull back the veil on tactics and practices designed to reap as many public dollars as possible from charter schools while hiding behind laws designed to keep profit-making hidden from the public’s eyes.  This report exposes how both large and small for-profit companies evade state laws that make for-profit charter schools illegal by the use of related entities and a nonprofit front. We explain and provide examples of how for-profit owners maximize their profits through self-dealing, excessive fees, real estate transactions, and under-serving students who need the most expensive services.

You can view and read the report by clicking the image below.

Download a PDF of the Report

Download the Executive Summary

READ THE COMPLETE  REPORT:  Chartered for Profit: The Hidden World of Charter Schools Operated for Financial Gain - Network For Public Education