Charter Schools, Test Scores, and Skimming the Cream : Mike the Mad Biologist

Charter Schools, Test Scores, and Skimming the Cream : Mike the Mad Biologist

Charter Schools, Test Scores, and Skimming the Cream

Category: Conservatives • Education
Posted on: October 24, 2010 10:11 AM, by Mike

A dirty secret of charter school 'success' is that they typically transfer their poorly-performing students the students they fail to educate to public schools. Consequently, charter schools are able to claim better test scores than regular public schools (clearly, ethics aren't on the charter school agenda....). It's been a problem in Boston and Bay Area charters in California.

A letter to Diane Ravitch from a Los Angeles school prinicipal documents just how dishonest and harmful this practice is (italics mine):

I received an email from Dr. DeWayne Davis, the principal of Audubon Middle School in Los Angeles, which was sent to several public officials. Dr. Davis said that local charter schools were sending their low-performing students to his school in the middle of the year. He wrote:

"Since school began, we enrolled 159 new students (grades 7 and 8). Of the 159 new students, 147 of them are far below basic (FBB)!!! Of the 147 students who are FBB, 142 are from charter schools. It is ridiculous that they can pick and choose kids and pretend that they are raising scores when, in fact, they are purging nonperforming students at an alarming rate--that is how they are raising their scores, not by improving the performance of students. Such a large number of FBB students will handicap the growth that the Audubon staff initiated this year, and further, will negatively impact the school's overall scores as we continue to receive a recurring

New Jersey governor and teachers union chief wage public battle | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

New Jersey governor and teachers union chief wage public battle | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

New Jersey governor and teachers union chief wage public battle

By Monica Langley - The Wall Street Journal | Published: 9:46 AM 10/24/2010

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TRENTON, N.J.—He says she’s a “greedy thug” who uses children as “drug mules.” She says he’s a “bully” and a “liar” who’s “obsessed with a vendetta.”

Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, and Barbara Keshishian, president of the state’s teachers union, say they want to improve public schools. That’s where agreement ends. In speeches, mailings and multi-million dollar TV ads, they’ve battled over teacher salaries, property taxes and federal education grants. They have met once, an encounter that ended when Mr. Christie threw Ms. Keshishian out of his office.

For Mr. Christie, 48 years old, the fight is part policy, part personality. He quickly has positioned himself as a politician in tune with an angry and impatient electorate, and he’s already mentioned as a 2012

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/24/new-jersey-governor-and-teachers-union-chief-wage-public-battle/#ixzz13HpOmCKZ

Departing D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee offers tough advice in Tampa - St. Petersburg Times

Departing D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee offers tough advice in Tampa - St. Petersburg Times

Departing D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee offers tough advice in Tampa

By Tom Marshall, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, October 22, 2010

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Michelle Rhee, the outgoing chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools, speaks to urban school administrators during a panel on teacher evaluations at the Council of Great City Schools conference in Tampa on Thursday.

TAMPA — Call her a one-woman wrecking crew, a miracle worker, or the quintessential "mean girl" in American education reform. Call her what you want; Michelle Rhee doesn't mind.

"Be prepared to be Ms. or Mr. Unpopular," the outgoing chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools told an audience of urban school administrators here Thursday. "I am really good at this one right now."

Three years ago, Rhee launched a whirlwind of change: a tough evaluation system and teacher contract that resulted in 241 firings this spring, and ultimately may oust 25 percent of the district's teachers from their jobs. Those forces led to her resignation last week, following the election defeat of her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty. But they brought applause from her audience at theCouncil of Great City Schoolsconference.

On another panel in the adjoining room, Hillsborough County superintendent MaryEllen Elia was describing a kinder, gentler strategy to reach what is rapidly becoming a

OpEdNews - Article: New school year, old troubles: Education and politics in California

OpEdNews - Article: New school year, old troubles: Education and politics in California

New school year, old troubles: Education and politics in California

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By Michael Babich (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

opednews.com

For OpEdNews: Michael Babich - Writer

With a new school year underway and yet another election season upon us, let's remind ourselves how these two events are linked. Aside from the obvious issue of funding education, there are also regulations, mandates, and controls passed by our elected officials. Unfortunately, the report card continues to disappoint.

According to studies from the Pacific Research Institute, the National Center for Educational Statistics, California State University, and other educational agencies, 40% of US students must enroll in remedial classes to provide skills in reading, writing and math.

The numbers are worse for California. A CSU report showed that only 44% of incoming freshmen were sufficiently proficient in reading and math. In addition, even though 60% of incoming freshmen have earned a "B" or better grade average in a college preparatory curriculum, about 60% of college-bound students still require some form of remediation.

Why aren't we demanding an explanation, and eventual solution, for the discrepancy between

Social networking: Manatee teachers union fights website rules | HeraldTribune.com

Social networking: Manatee teachers union fights website rules | HeraldTribune.com

Manatee teachers union fights website rules

By Christopher O'Donnell

Published: Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, October 23, 2010 at 11:29 p.m.

MANATEE COUNTY - A local teachers union is taking on the Manatee School District over its plan to restrict how teachers use the Internet and social networking sites like Facebook in their personal time.

TEACHERS:

Lawsuit threats in Manatee over district's
social networking policy

Manatee Education Association leaders this week filed a complaint with the state asking it to rule against the proposed policy.

They are also threatening to sue the district in civil court if the policy is enacted, arguing that the rules violate a teacher's right to privacy and free speech.

The proposed policy prohibits teachers from communicating with students through sites like

Schools Matter: Christie Halts State-Approved Construction Projects in Poorest Neighborhoods

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Christie Halts State-Approved Construction Projects in Poorest Neighborhoods

by Jim Horn

His Lardness continues to act in the interests of corporations and their foundations to shut down public education in poor neighborhoods in favor of cheap segregated charter test camps without libraries or the other resources that are standard for public schools in the leafy suburbs. As a result of litigation that goes back 20 years, New Jersey over the past decade had finally begun to address the criminal neglect of poor schools that was documented for the public by Jonathan Kozol in 1992 in Savage Inequalities. Now that effort to establish some equity is in jeopardy.

As the video report by NJN shows, one of those schools scheduled for replacement was a hundred year old relic

Watch Diane Ravitch, Wayne Au, Jesse Hagopian & Dora Taylor in “Race to Where?” a Seattle Ed 2010 forum on the misdirection of ed reform, now online! | Seattle Education 2010

Watch Diane Ravitch, Wayne Au, Jesse Hagopian & Dora Taylor in “Race to Where?” a Seattle Ed 2010 forum on the misdirection of ed reform, now online! | Seattle Education 2010

Watch Diane Ravitch, Wayne Au, Jesse Hagopian & Dora Taylor in “Race to Where?” a Seattle Ed 2010 forum on the misdirection of ed reform, now online!

by seattleducation2010

Here is the footage of our Oct. 5 forum on ed reform: “Race to Where?” featuring Dr. Diane Ravitch (Skyped in from her home in New York), Wayne Au of Rethinking Schools, Jesse Hagopian, teacher and founder of Social Equality Educators (SEE), and Seattle Ed’s own Dora Taylor. Seattle University’s Dr. Jodi Kelly introduces the event, while I moderate. The panel discussion is followed by a Q&A with the audience.

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Here's the profoundly disturbing fixed-grin photo of NJ Gov Chris Cristie, Oprah Winfrey, Cory Booker, and the Facebook guy (Mark Zuckerburg) accompanying this WSJ article rehashing the fight between Cristie and the teachers union (and making a big bolt-on deal out of his supposed presidential ambitions). What makes it interesting is the thought that, in a post Michelle Rhee world, Cristie is reformers' unchosen new champion -- their loudest voice against the status quo, etc. Awkward, no, to be tied to a big blustering white guy -- even if

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Saturday coffee. � Fred Klonsky's blog

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by preaprez

Anne and I celebrate 34 years of marriage today.

Maybe some day, and not too far away, everybody in the US will be able to celebrate wedding anniversaries if they want to. And then in 34 years, everybody can celebrate 34 years of marriage in they want to.

We’re celebrating it by having coffee, reading the Times, going shopping, dropping stuff at the cleaners, raking autumn leaves if it doesn’t rain and having dinner in Bucktown at a French-Japanese fusion restaurant. We decided to dress up.

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Phoebe Snow.

D.C. Teachers' Union election will affect survival of Rhee's initiatives

D.C. Teachers' Union election will affect survival of Rhee's initiatives

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By Bill Turque

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 23, 2010; 11:37 AM

There's one election this political season in which D.C. residents - public school families in particular - have a major stake but no vote: for leadership of theWashington Teachers' Union.

Much of the public discussion about education reform this fall was dominated by the widely anticipatedresignation of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and presumptive mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray's willingness to sustain the initiatives she launched. But the survival of Rhee's agenda - especially for hiring, evaluating and firing teachers - will also be determined by those at the top of the 4,000-member union, which spent heavily to unseat her boss, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.

George Parker, who signed the game-changing labor contract with Rhee that was approved by members in

Reoccurring question #4,080: What kind of Collaboration will it be? � Failing Schools

Reoccurring question #4,080: What kind of Collaboration will it be? � Failing Schools

Reoccurring question #4,080: What kind of Collaboration will it be?

OCTOBER 23, 2010

by markfriedman1

I can confidently say before beginning this one that there will be more on this topic shortly.

Education is filled to the brim with buzz words used so frequently that they grow foggy in not specifically communicating what people see and propose in education circles (holla @ word attack, fellow authors!). One such word is collaboration.

After looking back to earlier this year and the summer by watching CORE CTU leaders Karen

Update: Reader Comments on Jay Schenirer and the curious case of CASA - SNOG - October 18, 2010 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review

Jay Schenirer and the curious case of CASA - SNOG - October 18, 2010 - Blogs - Sacramento News & Review

Reader Comments

Displaying 3 comments.

Posted 10/21/2010 8:28PM by Class of 69

JAY SCHENIRER is a fraud. He brags: “I ran a successful business.” To be accurate, he should add for voters: “into the ground.” He has been a failure in virtually everything he has laid his hands on. His first business was a pasta place. It failed. Next, he took on the food service at the Sterling Hotel. The owners hated him and kicked him out. Then he merged with the successful Food for Thought restaurant. There, as the Chief Financial officer, in charge of budgets, he ran the business into the ground and then walked out, leaving huge debt including tens of thousands of delinquent state and federal taxes. A once successful business – before Jay got involved – had to close and deal with the debt. He went on to the Sacramento Food Bank to, he says, do good–not escape his failure in the private business world. He left that job under circumstances no one seems to want to talk about. Then there is CASA and the debt he left behind at the Sac. School District. And this is the guy who wants to oversee the City’s money? I wouldn’t trust him to accurately price a BLT sandwich. John M. Poswall Attorney LESS

Posted 10/22/2010 4:34AM by bbbbmer

Thank you Mr. Poswall for this information. Many of us had no idea just how unsavory a character Jay Schenirer really is and was. He certainly seems the type willing to sell his soul to the highest bidder, and certainly that opportunity will come as he enables KJ’s powergrabs, both through a resurgence of the unconstitutional SMI, and now, in overseeing the privatization/charterization/mayoralization of public education in Sacramento. Thank you for your potent insights – hopefully they will enlighten voters to send this jerk packing rather than seating him on the city council. This certainly makes Patrick Kennedy look like the far more optimal candidate for that district, and I hope he wins… LESS

Posted 10/22/2010 10:44PM by anonymous-1287812321

Jay Schenirer is a liar and sidesteps the whole CASA fiasco. He obviously is suffering from convenient memory loss and it’s almost amusing that Laura Bruno, who’s one of the chief benefactors of the CASA deal, has put Schenirer front and center when this whole sticking mess was put into operation. To see that wannabee King Kevin Johnson endorses Schenirer is no surprise because that’s who helped him hijack Sac High for the charter school. Birds of a feather stick together. Let’s hope the Sacto electorate can be smarter this time and reject Schenirer, reject all of Kevin Johnson’s choices, because to do otherwise is just asking for more corruption. LESS

NOT Waiting for Superman : Articles/Ultimate $uperpower: Supersized dollars drive "Waiting for Superman" agenda

NOT Waiting for Superman : Articles/Ultimate $uperpower: Supersized dollars drive "Waiting for Superman" agenda

Ultimate $uperpower: Supersized dollars drive “Waiting for Superman” agenda
- Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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of this article (1,054 KB)

by Barbara Miner

This article, written expressly for NOTwaitingforsuperman.org, explores the money behind the movie, its promoters, and those who will benefit from the movie. As author Barbara Miner writes, “In education, as in so many other aspects of society, money is being used to squeeze out democracy.” After examining the role of hedge funds, foundations and other players, she asks, “Should the American people put their faith in a white billionaires boys’ club to lead the revolution on behalf of poor people of color?”

Please download the .pdf version of this report to read sidebar pieces and footnotes.

Ultimate $uperpower:

Supersized dollars drive Waiting for Superman agenda

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: NATIONAL REORT CARD: CALIFORNIA GETS A “C” IN FUNDING, A “D” FOR EFFORT – State ranked 31st in funding for education …or 32nd, …or 24th, …or 46th

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: NATIONAL REORT CARD: CALIFORNIA GETS A “C” IN FUNDING, A “D” FOR EFFORT – State ranked 31st in funding for education …or 32nd, …or 24th, …or 46th

NATIONAL REORT CARD: CALIFORNIA GETS A “C” IN FUNDING, A “D” FOR EFFORT – State ranked 31st in funding for education …or 32nd, …or 24th, …or 46th

BY JOHN FENSTERWALD - EDUCATED GUESS | HTTP://BIT.LY/9V1ZI8

10/15/10 • In terms of unadjusted state and local spending for education, California ranks 24^th in the nation. But adjust spending to account for the regional cost of living, as Education Week does annually, and California’s per student spending falls to 46^th in the nation.

Which ranking you cite in debates with colleagues and around the dinner table is usually a giveaway as to where you stand on the need for more K-12 funding. (I tend to go with Ed Week.)

Now, a new study of the state school funding that claims to be the most comprehensive is ranking California in 31^st place, with an adjusted spending of $9,030 – $1,102 below the adjusted U.S. average of $10,132 and nearly $7,000 below top-ranked Wyoming.

“Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card,”[http://bit.ly/bksBMI] funded by the Ford Foundation, used 2007 figures, which predated the recession, though the