Showing posts with label charter schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charter schools. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Recently...
Another mass murder
As usual, Republicans are blaming crazy people and Democrats are calling for what would be essentially useless gun control measures even if they could be enacted, which they cannot. The essential problem is that there are entirely too many guns floating around the USofA, and nobody, really, is "cummin' t' take yer guns." They're just "cummin' t' flap ther gums." I have no solutions to offer, and neither, I believe, does anybody else.
Russia in Syria
Weren't things already complicated enough? I guess not. Russia is bombing anybody opposed to Assad, and Iran, mainly through Hezbollah, is doing what it can to keep Assad in power. The USofA sort of supports the Free Syrian Army, recently bombed by Russia, and halfheartedly supports the Kurds, currently being bombed by our "ally," Turkey. Then we've got those five guys fighting IS but not Assad, even though we want Assad to step down. France is fighting IS in Iraq, but not in Syria. IS is fighting everybody, and not especially bothered that everybody is fighting everybody else. You can't tell the players without a scorecard, and the scorecard keeps changing.
Arne Duncan resigns
It's about time, because Obama's Education Secretary has been a disaster, and through his support for charter schools has done as much as any Republican to advance the privatization of public education. "Race to the Top" did it's bit to advance corporatist "data based" evaluation of schools and teachers, despite the fact that no useful data at all has been available — only scores on tests of no observable value designed by private contractors. Happily, Duncan will not be replaced: his bureaucratic duties will be assumed by some bureaucratic lackey, and no further damage is likely to be done through the remainder of the Obama presidency.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Meanwhile, at the Department of Education...
One of the President's old basketball buddies now is in charge of passing out $4.35 billion which, we are told, will jump start the process of transforming American education. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will dispense the funds as "incentives to competition," specifically to states and school districts that knuckle under to the Administration's formula for "reform."
Duncan is a Hyde Park liberal who never was a teacher, and whose "success" as CEO of the Chicago schools is open to question -- given that the Chicago schools remain among the worst in the nation. States that wish to benefit from Duncan's largess must take two steps immediately: ensure that there is no limit on the number of charter schools permitted under their laws, and ensure that there are no obstacles to tying teacher pay to student test scores.
That's not education reform. That's an ideological juggernaut bent on crushing anybody in state government or educational leadership who disagrees.
There is nothing in the Administration program that requires states to close down the 37% of charter schools where students do worse than the students in local traditional schools, or to reexamine the charters of the 46% that do no better despite the suspension of union work rules (see CREDO National Charter School Study*). There is no provision for research to determine whether existing merit pay structures actually improve student outcomes, and which, if any, works best.
It's interesting that teachers in charter schools are displaying a lot more interest in unionizing, citing factors like longer hours, lower pay, and very high teacher turnover. High turnover is not surprising in a building where the principal can unilaterally change the teaching load from five classes to six without even bothering to consult, much less negotiate. It's not surprising in a building where "teachers" with no experience or training are tossed into classrooms with nothing but happy platitudes expressed in pie-in-the-sky "mission statements" to back them up.
In the meanwhile, though, there are plenty of young, would-be teachers -- idealistic to the point of stupidity or stupid to the point of idealism -- who will flock to the flood of charter schools that will be inspired by Duncan's pot of gold. In the rush by fiscally challenged states to grab the money, charters will be approved for applicants who would have been denied had some restrictions on the number of charters remained in place. The effect of the Duncan plan will be to reduce competition.
Anticipate a glut of "awareness" charters, catering to every racial, ethnic, and interest group you can imagine. Anticipate a glut of for-profit charters specializing in glossy brochures aimed at impressing parents and state legislators. Anticipate that the 37% pure failure rate will surpass 50%. Anticipate that the program will be a political success, because all those racial, ethnic, and interest groups will be happy, and the for-profit school industry will be pouring much of it's new profit into lobbying and campaign contributions.
For more complete critiques of charter schools and merit pay, please see my most recent articles for the online magazine, Suite 101.
Duncan is a Hyde Park liberal who never was a teacher, and whose "success" as CEO of the Chicago schools is open to question -- given that the Chicago schools remain among the worst in the nation. States that wish to benefit from Duncan's largess must take two steps immediately: ensure that there is no limit on the number of charter schools permitted under their laws, and ensure that there are no obstacles to tying teacher pay to student test scores.
That's not education reform. That's an ideological juggernaut bent on crushing anybody in state government or educational leadership who disagrees.
There is nothing in the Administration program that requires states to close down the 37% of charter schools where students do worse than the students in local traditional schools, or to reexamine the charters of the 46% that do no better despite the suspension of union work rules (see CREDO National Charter School Study*). There is no provision for research to determine whether existing merit pay structures actually improve student outcomes, and which, if any, works best.
It's interesting that teachers in charter schools are displaying a lot more interest in unionizing, citing factors like longer hours, lower pay, and very high teacher turnover. High turnover is not surprising in a building where the principal can unilaterally change the teaching load from five classes to six without even bothering to consult, much less negotiate. It's not surprising in a building where "teachers" with no experience or training are tossed into classrooms with nothing but happy platitudes expressed in pie-in-the-sky "mission statements" to back them up.
In the meanwhile, though, there are plenty of young, would-be teachers -- idealistic to the point of stupidity or stupid to the point of idealism -- who will flock to the flood of charter schools that will be inspired by Duncan's pot of gold. In the rush by fiscally challenged states to grab the money, charters will be approved for applicants who would have been denied had some restrictions on the number of charters remained in place. The effect of the Duncan plan will be to reduce competition.
Anticipate a glut of "awareness" charters, catering to every racial, ethnic, and interest group you can imagine. Anticipate a glut of for-profit charters specializing in glossy brochures aimed at impressing parents and state legislators. Anticipate that the 37% pure failure rate will surpass 50%. Anticipate that the program will be a political success, because all those racial, ethnic, and interest groups will be happy, and the for-profit school industry will be pouring much of it's new profit into lobbying and campaign contributions.
For more complete critiques of charter schools and merit pay, please see my most recent articles for the online magazine, Suite 101.
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