"educational equity in a shambles" Despite the unending lip service offered by NCLB advocates for closing achievement gaps, those gaps remain gaping. And in the process of NCLB's bombing of the public school system, the dying embers of the school integration movement have been snuffed out by a testocratic education policy that uses tests to sort children based on family income, discourages diversity by penalizing schools with weak test performers, and encourages the creation of urban chain gang charter schools such as KIPP that no middle class parent would consider for their own children. The question now is whether or not the Obama team with call-me-Arne at the helm of ED will continue the Bush neo-eugenic policies that pay tax-dodging corporations and their foundations to create charter schools that segregate and intellectually sterilize those now deemed defective based on their test scores. Here are clips from the press release on a new study of the resegregation phenomenon in schools by the Civil Rights Project:
Comer Process How it Works The Comer Process provides a structure as well as a process for mobilizing adults to support students' learning and overall development. It is a different way of conceptualizing and working in schools and replaces traditional school organization and management with an operating system that works for schools and the students they serve. The following three structures comprise the basic framework on which the Comer Process operating system is built: The School Planning and Management Team develops a comprehensive school plan, sets academic, social and community relations goals and coordinates all school activities, including staff development programs. The team creates critical dialogue around teaching and learning and monitors progress to identify needed adjustments to the school plan as well as opportunities to support the plan. Members of the team include administrators, teachers, support staff and parents.
Resources on Minnesota Issues: Charter Schools Last reviewed July 2012 This guide is compiled by staff at the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library on a topic of interest to Minnesota legislators. It is designed to provide an introduction to the topic, directing the user to a variety of sources, and is not intended to be exhaustive. The charter school movement began in 1988 when Albert Shanker, American Federation of Teachers President, called for the reform of the public schools by establishing 'charter schools'. In 1991, Minnesota was at the forefront of the nation in passing legislation to create the first legislated charter school. In 2008, several analyses of Minnesota charter schools raised questions about the schools' administration and performance. 2011 marked the 20th anniversary of Minnesota's charter school law and in 2012, Zero Chance of Passage: the Pioneering Charter School Story, was published by the law's chief author and former Minnesota Senator, Ember Reichgott Junge. Accountability Report 2009: Charter Schools.
Conservatives Create Opportunities, Not Programs: Education - NightTwister’s blog - RedState This is the first in a series of conservative solution proposals. I have no idea how many more I will do. I just know that we have to have an answer to the programs the liberals and conservatives have been implementing for the past couple of decades. For the past eight years (some might say twenty), conservatives in government have been acting like democrats. We’ve seen program after program implemented, give more and more control of our lives over to the government. This flies in the face of the true conservative principle of limited government. Too many students continue to fail to meet minimum standards in basic subjects, even with this dramatic increase in federal spending. You’ll note in the graph that local spending has risen at a more reasonable and consistent rate. As if this weren’t enough, not nearly enough of this money is making its way back to the classroom. Another thing conservatives often do is to promote solutions that don’t have enough support. Opportunity Night Twister
Free Schools, Free People: Education and Democracy After the 1960s Ron Miller's slim history of the 1970s American free school movement is the first work on a shockingly under-researched subject. Apart from a fair sized number of highly self-reflexive books published at the height of the movement, nothing else has been published until now. For this reason, Miller's book is invaluable to anyone curious about free schools as he compiles an exhaustive bibliography, even capturing the handful of related theses and dissertations, and makes the first bold move at analyzing the free-school phenomenon. The free school movement was a student and parent-initiated effort to build small alternative schools where students participated equally in governance if not ran the school themselves as well as enjoyed complete control over curriculum. Miller estimates between 400 to 800 such schools opened between 1967 and the late 1970s. What gets lost in Miller's history however, are the racial tensions that drove the American education reform movement. Kathleen McConnell
Blog For Arizona: Imagine Schools and charter school "ownership" by David SafierIn September, 2008, Dennis Bakke, founder, President and CEO of Imagine Schools, sent an email to all his School Developers, National Principals and Regional Directors as well as some other individuals connected with the company. He made it clear that, when it comes to the relationship of an Imagine School to its students, parents, board and community, it is, in his words, "our school, not theirs." The local groups can help out and make suggestions, but the headquarters in Virginia has the first word and the last word, period. Bakke has a corporate view of schools as local stores which are part of a larger chain, where the corporation owns the schools, runs them by corporate rules and thinks of the parents and students as customers who pay for a service with their the state's money. Before I excerpt this mouth dropping -- for me, anyway -- email, let me make one more point. But Imagine doesn't "own" the school. Now for excerpts from Bakke's email. . . . . . .
Private-style public schools by Pat Kossan - Dec. 6, 2008 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic Arizona public-school districts are creating a new system of schools that operate more like private academies within their districts. Not everyone can get in the door. Potential students must apply and typically must get teacher recommendations, take placement exams and even interview for a spot. Creating these exclusive yet public schools is a way for districts to attract students from across the Valley and turn around their stagnant or declining enrollment. The demand is there. "The political reality is: If you don't accommodate, you're going to lose kids," said Calvin Baker, Vail School District superintendent. More than 10 years ago, the suburban Tucson district opened two small specialty charter schools, and in 2005, it opened the state's first laptop high school. "Offering choices in programs always brings up issues of fairness," Baker said. Exclusive programs District high schools usually accommodate 2,000 to 2,500 students.
Chancellor Beacon Academies, Inc. Type: Private CompanyAddress: 3520 Mary Street, Suite 202, Coconut Grove, Florida 33133, U.S.A.Telephone: (305) 648-5950Toll Free: 800-239-7510Fax: (305) 648-5951Web: not availableSales: $100 million (2001 est.)Incorporated: 2000NAIC: 611110 Elementary and Secondary Schools Formed when Chancellor Academies and Beacon Education Management LLC merged in 2001, Chancellor Beacon Academies, Inc., is the second largest education management company in the United States. Through its 80 public charter schools and tuition-based private schools in eight states and Washington, D.C., Chancellor Beacon Academies serves more than 19,000 students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. Chancellor Beacon Academies owes its existence to educational reform movements that began in the late 1980s. Demographic trends and budget problems fueled these concerns. To compound matters, public schools came to be perceived as places of unchecked violence. Further Reading
Senate passes Charter Systems Act | Fresh Loaf You gotta have faith. Parents know what's best for their kids. Not the bloated bureaucrats. Not the feds. Not the supers. Friday morning at the Statehouse, Sen. This was legislation with advocates in high places. On the campaign trail last year, Casey Cagle talked about increasing local control, and expanding charter schools in Georgia. The bill would create a charter advisory committee, which would work with the state Board of Education and local school governing councils. "Parents have the power over their own governing council," Weber said. As presented, one of the problems with Weber's argument is an intrinsic rejection of government mandates, even as it relies on current federal mandates to gain credibility when doubters challenge the lack of state and local mandates that go along with charter schools. In any case, it was a seeming contradiction lost on the Senate, which overwhelmingly passed Weber's bill -- but not before Sen. "I've heard this word 'faith' used," Fort said.