Another Charter School Scandal: Ho-Hum « Diane Ravitch's blog

Another Charter School Scandal: Ho-Hum « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Another Charter School Scandal: Ho-Hum

by dianerav

I guess we will have to get used to this sort of thing.
Some charter schools in Florida padded the enrollment–er, made a miscalculation–of the number of students in their program.
Here is the story:
An audit of Coronado High School found there was no documentation to show 465 students participated in an on-

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS WEBSITE

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.

Couldn't Find Your Own Special Charter School Scandal

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CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

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CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

Be sure to check out two other Great blogs:

-THE BROAD REPORT (as in Eli) -THE PERIMETER PRIMATE

Update: Michigan For Sale - Progress Michigan

Michigan For Sale - Progress Michigan:

Michigan For Sale

Who is Richard McLellan? As a longtime Lansing attorney, McLellan has spent decades helping big corporations cash in on all Michigan’s most precious assets.

The Mackinac Center was started in 1987 with funding from the little-known Cornerstone Foundation, created by McLellan, then an attorney with Dykema Gossett. Its initial effort was toprivatize the Michigan Accident Fund, a state agency selling workers’ compensation coverage to businesses. The Accident Fund was privatized in 1994 under Gov. John Engler, and Dykema Gossett was awarded a $250,000 contract to guide the sale.

McLellan was also active in a 2000 statewide ballot initiative to legalize tax giveaways to private schools through vouchers. This was primarily funded (to the tune of nearly $6 million) by the DeVos family and Betsy DeVos’ brother Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater. The proposal was 

Governor Rick Snyder’s Plan

by dianerav

Governor Snyder’s plan for education in Michigan sounds just like Romney’s and Bobby Jindal’s.
The money should follow the student anywhere and everywhere, to any vendor of education services, regardless of who owns it or manages it.
So, students may take their money to private schools, to hawkers of services, to online courses, whatever. Welcome to anyone who wants to start a school and collect public money.
That is a plan to undermine public education, and the rightwing knows it. That’s their goal.
Education costs won’t go down without increasing class sizes, and the way that will happen is by shifting more 

Cut Education Now, Pay Later: ‘What Does This Kind Of Negligence Do To Our Students?':

Cut Education Now, Pay Later: ‘What Does This Kind Of Negligence Do To Our Students?'

Leila Chakravarty, a seventh-grade math teacher in the Los Angeles public school system, measures the cost of austerity cuts to education not in gym size, class size or even pink slips, but in kids.

"There are plenty of days when I know someone needs help, and I simply cannot get the time to talk to him or her one-on-one before the bell rings," said Chakravarty, who noted that she has taught as many as 37 children in a class. "What does this kind of negligence do to our students? You know you're failing them. You know you could do more."

Unlike a scaled-back police or fire department, the harm caused by tighter school 

Carolyn Foote: If It Is About the Students, Why Insult Them?

Carolyn Foote: If It Is About the Students, Why Insult Them?:

If It Is About the Students, Why Insult Them?

In her recent ad campaign linking failing education to a flabby American Olympian, Michelle Rhee insults American students everywhere, which is, of course, ironic for an organization known as Students First.

The more I watched the ad, the more angry it made me. I'm sick and tired of these broad brush strokes about the state of American education anyway. But her ad was an appalling misstep and an insult to our students (and our Olympians, frankly.) The ad implies that our students are like clumsy, middle aged, overweight and inept athletes competing in the global economy. And it comes at the moment when the best of our young people are about to compete in the Olympics. To say the ad is tasteless and tactless is an understatement.

Even though some of our students are in situations where they aren't getting the best education 

Top-Ranked High School Slapped With Civil Rights Complaint - High School Notes (usnews.com)

Top-Ranked High School Slapped With Civil Rights Complaint - High School Notes (usnews.com):

Top-Ranked High School Slapped With Civil Rights Complaint

By KELSEY SHEEHY

July 25, 2012 RSS Feed Print

Only 4 percent of the students enrolled at Thomas Jefferson during the 2009-2010 school year identified as black or Latino.

Getting into Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technologyis like winning the lottery, Suzanne Rheault, CEO of the test-prep company Aristotle Circle, told U.S. News in April, calling the No. 2 ranked Best High School the "MIT of high schools."

But that lottery may discriminate against African-American and Latino students, as well as those with disabilities, according to a federal civil rights complaint filed with the Department o

Missouri Education Watchdog: The Daily Kos Nails the Common Core Standards. They are Not "For the Children" on Any Level.

Missouri Education Watchdog: The Daily Kos Nails the Common Core Standards. They are Not "For the Children" on Any Level.:

The Daily Kos Nails the Common Core Standards. They are Not "For the Children" on Any Level.

by stlgretchen

....and you'll find that it's rotten.

 Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows.  The Daily Kos  has published an article entitled "Common Core State Standards -- Are Dangerous".  I couldn't agree more.  

Progressives increasingly are understanding Common Core standards will not reform education in a positive manner. Many so-called conservatives haven't realized (or will admit) that it is unwise to unleash:

• unproven, untested and unfunded mandates on states, school districts, teachers and students

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-25-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Creationists in Louisiana Win State Funding

by dianerav

The voucher legislation in Louisiana will send millions of dollars to Christian academies that repudiate evolution and teach creationism. Their students will never learn about evolution other than to hear it ridiculed.
At least 20 of the religious schools that receive voucher students teach creationism, and as this researcher shows, that may be only the tip of the iceberg.
This is a descent into ignorance.
But in the eyes of a group of state superintendents called Chiefs for Change (the state superintendents of

Prosecutor Pledges to Pursue Charter School Scams

by dianerav

After a federal grand jury returned a 62-count indictment against a charter school founder and her associates, claiming that $6.5 million in public funds was misused, the U.S. Attorney declared that he would pursue any charter school operators who abused the public trust. The attorney for the defendant said she was innocent and would offer a strong defense against the charges.
“This indictment in this case alleges that June Brown and her four co-conspirators used the charter school system to engage in rampant fraud and obstruction,” Memeger said during an afternoon news conference. “My 

Chicago Teachers Union Wins This One

by dianerav

As you may recall, Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Chicago has demanded that teachers teach a longer school day without additional compensation.
For that and other reasons (including rising class size), the Chicago Teachers Union took a strong stand in opposition. It took a strike vote, and 98% of those voting gave their approval, which was unexpected and unprecedented. The CTU held a rally, and 10,000 members turned out.
Mayor Emanuel accepted a deal that met the CTU’s demands. Its members will not have to work longer hours

No Accountability for Voucher Schools in Louisiana

by dianerav

John White spelled out the rules for nonpublic schools receiving vouchers, and few if any will be held accountable for student performance.
Most of the students taking public money with them are in kindergarten, first and second grades, where they are not tested.
And there will be no consequences for the voucher schools if their students fail:
White’s plan requires voucher students in grades 3-11 to take standardized tests like public school students, 

Stephen Krashen: How Much Testing?

by dianerav

Stephen Krashen, professor of linguistics at the University of Southern California (emeritus), wrote this post to explain how the adoption of the Common Core will change testing in the nation’s schools:
HOW MUCH TESTING?
At first glance, the assessments now being developed to accompany the common core standards do not appear to be much more than we already have, at least in terms of subject-matter covered and grade level.  According to the organizations working on developing standards and tests (PARCC and SBEC), as is the case with NCLB

Parent Trigger Fires Again

by dianerav

Yesterday a judge in California ruled in a case involving the state’s so-called “parent trigger” law that parents who signed a petition to convert their school to a charter would not be permitted to rescind their signatures. They could choose to sign, but they could not change their mind afterwards.
This was a law passed in 2010 by the legislature to allow parents at a low-performing school to seize control of their school, fire the staff, and hire a charter operator to run the school.
In fact, the law was a stealth tactic by charter advocates to gain a larger market share by duping parents.

Tell the Truth about American Education (Math)

by dianerav

So-called reformers say again and again that the U.S. education system is a failure and that academic performance is declining.
What they never tell you is that the test scores of American students are at their highest point in history, as recorded on the only longitudinal measure of performance, the federal test called the National Assessment of 

California nearly last in children’s well-being | EdSource Today

California nearly last in children’s well-being | EdSource Today:

California nearly last in children’s well-being

July 25th, 2012 | Add a Comment | 
By Kathryn Baron

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California is doing slightly better by its kids but still has a long way to go, ranking 41^st out of 50 states in the overall well-being of children. The 2012 Kids Count report, released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, measures how well children are faring on 16 different indicators in education, economic well-being, health, and family and community.

California showed improvements in 10 of the 16 categories, including education. The brightest spot is health, where it ranked 23^rd, primarily due to good

2012 Kids Count: California measures of child well-being. Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation. (click to enlarge)

prenatal care and increasing numbers of children with health insurance. But despite some improvements in other categories, the state was near the bottom everywhere else, ranking 42^nd in family and community, 43^rd in education, and 45^th in ec

Were Chicago charter school operators the biggest losers yesterday? « Fred Klonsky

Were Chicago charter school operators the biggest losers yesterday? « Fred Klonsky:

Were Chicago charter school operators the biggest losers yesterday?

by Fred Klonsky

Reading this morning’s newspapers (online, of course. I don’t buy those two rags) and reading the pundits, everyone is talking happy about yesterday’s announcement that the CTU and the CPS have reached a tentative agreement on the longer school day.
CTU President Karen Lewis was very clear, however. There is a lot yet to bargain.
My in box was loaded with emails this morning asking if we could trade our leaders for the CTU?
“We have to make our own leaders,” is my answer.
The story that didn’t get much coverage yesterday is the unhappy looks on the faces of Chicago’s charter school 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: No money to pay teachers. Really?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: No money to pay teachers. Really?:

No money to pay teachers. Really?

by Mike Klonsky

Rahm & Burge

But Rahm just settled another police torture case for over $5.375 million bringing the total so far to $53.6 million. That's the price taxpayers have been forced to pay to defend torturer Burge and his Area 2 cohorts, compensate torture victims and pay a special prosecutor to investigate the 110 torture cases we know about.

The largest of the two new pay-outs — for $5.37 million — will go to Michael Tillman, who spent 23 1/2 years in the penitentiary based on a tortured confession only to be declared innocent by the chief criminal court judge.

Why did Rahm settle this case? So former Mayor Daley, a declared "conspirator" in the torture of prisoners, 

Too Many Chiefs? | AMPS

Too Many Chiefs? | AMPS:

Too Many Chiefs?

by Thomas J. Mertz

The Wild Magnolias, Mardi Gras Indians. Click image for more information.

Professor Longhair – ” Big Chief 1 and 2″ (click to listen or download).

Just announced, special Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education meetings on Friday, July 27, Noon (Doyle Blg., rm 103), to create a new, one year Chief of Staff position at a cost of $170,000.  This has to be done via a budget amendment, so it will require five votes.  No public appearances;  in order to weigh in write the Board at board@madison.k12.wi.us.

I am agnostic on the need for this position, but believe that if Interim Superintendent Jane Belmore believes there is a need, than a case should be made in a manner that allows for public scrutiny and input.  The agenda linked above provides no justification.  Hell, it doesn’t even have a job description.   There is no way for anyone to weigh the need vs the cost,  and lacking that there is no way to give meaningful public input, except to say, “slow 

In the News: TFA pushes into political arena | catalyst-chicago.org

In the News: TFA pushes into political arena | catalyst-chicago.org:

In the News: TFA pushes into political arena

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By: Cassandra West / July 24, 2012

Tags: charter schools CPS budget

Teach for America — the program that recruits recent college grads to work in underperforming schools — is making a push into the political arena. Former TFA grads, as they're known, have won seats in state houses and on local school boards. (Marketplace.org)

The Chicago school board has nixed voting Wednesday on its 2012-13 budget because of uncertainty over a teachers contract that is stoking fears among charter school leaders that their funding could be cut.

Officials from the city’s most prominent charter schools, including United 

Why Won’t They Let Teachers Teach? « Diane Ravitch's blog

Why Won’t They Let Teachers Teach? « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Why Won’t They Let Teachers Teach?

by dianerav

I asked a question about the value of online learning, and this teacher responded somewhat off-topic. But what he says raises an interesting question. Are public officials and their cascade of programs making it impossible for teachers to teach? Are they destroying the last vestiges of professional autonomy? Do they talk “respect” but act top-down? Why won’t they let teachers teach? What do they expect to accomplish by their constant interference?
This teacher wrote:
Well, as part of Reading First, all the K-3 classroom/reading/special education teachers and assistants in my school had to complete all the online modules in the New York State Reading Academy.  Why, it worked so well that the following year New York State made us complete all the online modules of Voyager: Reading for 

How Many Houses Have You Built? [On The Future of Teaching Blog] | The Jose Vilson

How Many Houses Have You Built? [On The Future of Teaching Blog] | The Jose Vilson:

How Many Houses Have You Built? [On The Future of Teaching Blog]

by Jose

Excerpt:

However, I can’t help but feel some sort of way about the risk / reward dynamic that’s played itself out when it comes to advocacy. As professionals, how long can teachers wait until our profession gets completely stripped away from us? How much will we tolerate policy committees and education panels without so much as a former teacher, much less a current one? How often do we value the opinions of self-proclaimed experts and leaders and don’t look towards ourselves as such?

Share. Comment. Love. Thanks for everything.
Jose, who is patiently waiting …