LWVeducation
KIPP is reputed to be one of the most successful charter chains. It serves low income minority students. U.S. DOE Secretary Duncan has praised KIPP charters. Gary Chartrand, the Chair of the Florida Board of Education promotes them. It has a ‘no excuses’ policy for behavior as well as high academic expectations for all students. Is KIPP success hype or real? There are some things we need to know; let’s not make hasty judgments. Read about their results.
District-charter school collaborations are the new buzz words. Like many slogans, it sounds reasonable on the surface. Twenty-one projects were launched by the U.S. Department of Education as an exemplary collaboration competition in 2012. An interim report by a Washington state based research institute reported, however, that only four of the 21 projects had even limited success. Now, the State of Florida is initiating its own project to entice high achieving charter management companies to collaborate with district schools in Florida.
In this post, we review the Center for Reinventing Public Education’s Interim Report District-Charter Collaboration Compact. What is supposed to be mutually beneficial? What do high quality charter management firms have to offer school districts?
‘High quality’ charter management companies are those that Florida hopes will open schools in major cities. Their approaches to teaching and learning are distinctive. Demographic and student retention data from these companies must be closely studied. We have found some interesting data.Continue reading
Remember the post on Profit Trumps Public Interest? It was the one the National Council of State Legislatures put out on for-profit education management companies. We discovered that National Heritage Academies had some serious problems. Propublica published a follow-up article on the for-profit National Heritage Academies.
Where Does the Money Go?
The Michigan State Board of Education has now asked the legislature to outlaw “sweep contracts” to for-profit companies, but the legislator did not listen. Continue reading
If you would like to watch the video of Macke Raymond’s speech at the Cleveland Club, you can find it here. She names some states as having very strong authorizing procedures for charters: New York, Tennessee, D.C. and Massachusetts. She stresses the independence of boards. In Florida, some boards, particularly those that contract with for-profit management companies, are not independent. The specific reference to market driven reform is mid way through the Q & A part of her presentation. I have started looking at the strong authorization processes that these states use. Do any of our blog readers from these states have information to share?
Do you have times when you wonder if it is possible to change minds and find a better way? Today I think it is possible. I read a post sent to Diane Ravitch from Stephen Dyer, a policy analyst in Ohio. He went to hear Macke Raymond from the Hoover Institute at Stanford explain her study of charter schools. Near the end of her speech she is quoted as saying that education “is the only industry/sector where the market mechanism just does not work…” Competition does not drive improvement in education.Continue reading
Getting Organized
Have you had trouble sifting through so much information? One of our readers suggested we provide a pro and con chart to help structure the issues we post. Then you can search the blog to find examples, citations, and more information about each topic. Seems like a practical idea. See what you think.
The blog is one month old. We can celebrate a little. Thus far we have had 4500 hits on our site, and our subscriber list is growing. Let people know.
It is also a good time to take a minute and think. Are we contributing useful information on school reform issues? What is helpful? What is missing? Reflect on the following list and make suggestions. I will summarize your suggestions and respond.Continue reading
Need Oversight
by Meredith Machen
This is an updated post of the struggle between the Public Education Commission (PEC) and the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) over proper supervision of charter schools. The PED is not responding to State auditors’ requests for information following a federal investigation of charters there. Continue reading
The National Council of State Legislatures should be commended for bringing together two people with very different views of charter school for-profit management. On the surface, the webinar: Charter School Networks: Does Profit Status Matter? seemed to be a reasonable, thoughtful discussion about management issues.
The discussion was polite. Responses to questions were forthcoming. The rationale for-profit status was discussed and management issues were raised. The fact that both for-profit and non-profit management companies have fiscal management problems was acknowledged. Yet, the meat of the topic was only alluded to.
If you want to really understand the issues, read on. Continue reading
from Meredith Machen, New Mexico
Charter school oversight problems are rampant. In today’s New Mexican the State Auditor revealed a serious lack of oversight of charter schools by the State Public Education Department (PED).
At issue was charter school financial mismanagement and conflict of interest. The Auditor charged that the PED was unresponsive even though the school was raided by the FBI in August. This case highlights the struggle between local school districts vs. state control of the charter authorization and oversight process. This is only one of 18 cases nationwide of charter educational management firms nationwide that the U.S. Department of Education, the FBI, SEC, and IRS are investigatingContinue reading