Content tagged: charter schools
Alan Singer: Charter Schools Don’t Do Miracles
Of course, I don’t believe in mircales, and so, this story is not a surprise. But what is bubbling underneath the rhetoric of the Obama/Duncan education reform agenda is more and more evidence of the dark side of so-called innovation. This “dark side” has grave implications for an education that serve the public good. And it is clear...
Charter Schools/Market Violence/Disruptive Innovation: Student Beating, Paying the Rich, and the Irrelevance of Facts
From Jim Horn. “Are you, like the President, a fan of the “No Excuses” charter schools for the children of the poor, the ones with no oversight except for what student camera phones can provide? Then you may enjoy Jamie’s...
Think Tank Review: Report on Impact of Charters Overstates Results
PRESS RELEASE: ‘Everyone Wins’ ignores factors besides competition to explain marginally improved public school achievement in NYC November 17, 2009 Contact: Patrick McEwan, (781) 283-2987; (email) pmcewan@wellesley.edu Gary Miron, (269) 599-7965; (email) gary.miron@wmich.edu TEMPE, Ariz. and BOULDER, Colo. (November 17, 2009) — A...
“Uncommon Schools” Charter School Executive Will Be NYS Education Deputy
From gothamschools.org: John King, currently the managing director of an Uncommon Schools network here in the city, will next month become the State Education Department’s deputy commissioner focusing on elementary and secondary schools, the state announced today. In that job, he’ll “lead the state’s...
Duncan’s Bribe Reveals Where Demand for Charters Originates
Covering recent charter school news, Jim Horn challenges the claim that charters are what the public is demanding. “Support for charter schools among Americans is waning, rather than waxing. In 2007 support for charters peeked at 60 percent favorable. In...
Are Charter Schools Public Schools?
On Monday May 18, 2009 Chicago Public Radio blogger and education reporter, Linda Lutton, wrote an interesting post on possibly the first union charter school in Chicago. She writes: The state has certified the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff as the bargaining unit for teachers at three...
Veteran Chicago Teacher & Former Director of Safety Speaks Out on the Impact of the Recession, Ducan Policies
“My speculation is that the damage this recession will do to kids’ education prospects is far more than the positive good most changes in educational policies can produce.” – EDDRA email listserv participant.* Since the research basis for our sharings here requires some credentialing, allow me to post the following as (now retired) “Director...
When Innovation Means Eliminate Unions & Public School Systems
While reading articles about Arne Duncan, I came across this new law for the state of Colorado. As Duncan school visits focus on charters, I was curious about the two schools highlighted by Duncan earlier this month. The Bruce Randolph School was highlighted, and as it turns out, is authorized under the following law. News reports offer the euphemism...
KIPP Charter School: The Violence of Bootstrapping
“From Teach for America to the KIPP charter schools to instructional innovations at colleges and universities, we have proven strategies ready to go to scale.” — Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, February 9, 2009 speaking before the 91st Annual Meeting of the American Council on Education The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is,...
On Controlling for Family Influence on Achievement
As I review Berends’ and colleagues 2008 volume Charter School Outcomes (Lawrence Erlbaum), a key assumption of Anglo-American political theory, namely that just inequality is the result of “natural distinction” (as opposed to social distinction), undergirds the authors’ efforts to improve research methods for evaluating school...
