exposed: how chicago charter schools "make their numbers" -- they kick out underperformers

[Hannah Bell]

As the propaganda for the national expansion of charter schools reaches its peak, thanks to a combination of an endorsement by the President of the United States, the U.S. Department of Education, and Hollywood, two Chicago news organizations have gone behind the scenes to reveal the truth about how most of Chicago's charter schools "make their numbers", corporate style:

In the first part of a hard-hitting series that ran on WBEZ radio and on line in Catalyst magazine on November 9, 2010, reporters exposed the fact that the majority of Chicago charter schools were forcing out or kicking out their problem students.

But the discovery in 2010 by Catalyst and Chicago Public Radio of scandals in Chicago's charter schools programs was really nothing new. Parents and children had been reporting the push outs by sanctimonious charter school operators in Chicago since the founding of Noble Street Charter School more than ten years ago, and the fact that Noble Street, where Michael Milkie's family now is paid more than $300,000 per year, kicks its kids out and sends them back to Wells High School (which Milkie regularly slanders in his narratives) was being reported from the first months of the administration of George W. Bush.

Chicago's charter school miracle stories, which have now been adopted and woven into the Obama administration's version of corporate "school reform," have more to do with intensely skillful marketing and propaganda than with the actual ability of Chicago's charter schools to radically improve the education of America's most at risk students. Despite regular doses of corporate propaganda touting the Chicago charter school model, charters schools, even the most "successful", routinely cheat the public and their own supporters by neglecting the most seriously needy children, thereby dumping those children into the public schools while simultaneously deriding the public schools for supposed "failure."

THE WBEZ REPORT FROM NOVEMBER 9 FOLLOWS HERE:

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1767§ion=Article

[aquart]

1. Oh, my goodness, what a surprise!

[Hannah Bell]

2. ain't it, though? i know we're all shocked.

[SoCalDem]

3. And that's why "the test" is such a stupid marker

Schools probably "thin the herd" before the big tests:(

Imagine how the US will rank in another 30 years:(

[sendero]

4. Ain't that special..

... in this number driven world it is astounding how many are so foolish.

I work in an industry (software development) that has (relatively) recently developed a fetish for "metrics". "Metrics" is just a 100 dollar word for statistics. The rallying cry of the morons pushing this snake oil is "if you can't measure it you can't manage it".

So what these morons do is start counting everything. Code defects, database issues, whatever. And they actually THINK they are getting useful information.

What they don't seem to notice is that as soon as you turn on the number microscope everyone's entire focus is on making their numbers look good, and not always by doing a better job.

There is another way to do this, that works now and always has, but it relies on having managers who you can trust and who are competent. Can't have none of that.

And it looks like our education system is becoming the latest casualty of moron-think.

[Xipe Totec]

5. That's how we can make every American a millionaire!

Simply ignore anybody who isn't a millionaire; who cares about the underperformers.

[TheKentuckian]

6. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Do people even try to look below the surface?

[AnneD]

7. THere is a reason it is called....

public school. We are required to take any child that walks through those doors and try to provide them with an education. Charter schools are another way the business world has found to siphon off tax dollars into their pockets. I have given up trying to explain this to some parents. Charters basically cherry pick their students. I don't mind going toe to toe with charters because if you look at the numbers-we still come out better dollar for dollar and our end product is better. But all most folks see is that shiny new rock-they don't realize it is nothing but fool's gold.

I am about to call it quits as far as my career in education. And to paraphrase that great writer (that probably will not be on a standardized test or taught in a high school english class once these curs take over.....'a pox on both your houses'

[AnneD]

8. THere is a reason it is called....

public school. We are required to take any child that walks through those doors and try to provide them with an education. Charter schools are another way the business world has found to siphon off tax dollars into their pockets. I have given up trying to explain this to some parents. Charters basically cherry pick their students. I don't mind going toe to toe with charters because if you look at the numbers-we still come out better dollar for dollar and our end product is better. But all most folks see is that shiny new rock-they don't realize it is nothing but fool's gold.

I am about to call it quits as far as my career in education. And to paraphrase that great writer (that probably will not be on a standardized test or taught in a high school english class once these curs take over.....'a pox on both your houses'

[madrchsod]

9. duncan`s vision in chicago and now america`s

it`s no big surprise for anyone with a brain that duncan was corrupt and a failure in chicago. obama/duncan chicago plan is now nationwide and funded by billionaires. will it work?

50% of illinois`s schools failed the nclb standards.

[Reader Rabbit]

10. K&R

But because of the Unreccers, your total is still zero. Hopefully it will change once others wake up today.

[era veteran]

11. K & R

[w8liftinglady]

12. Kicking and rec'ing..that is definitely the case in Texas

[City Lights]

13. K&R.

What a shocking discovery!

:sarcasm:

[donco6]

14. Same thing in Colorado.

Right before testing in March - back come the charter kids to our schools.

[Catherina]

15. Chicago economics n/t

[Chorophyll]

16. K&R. I wish I'd had this information

this weekend. I had a two-hour argument with an acquaintance who's become part of the charter school cult. Anything I said, he basically countered with "teachers' union regulations are killing the public schools. Union teachers want vacations and don't give students their cell phone numbers, yadda yadda." I'm the daughter of a public school teacher, and I know how hard my father worked even during those "vacations," so I'm afraid I reacted rather emotionally.

Gah. Thanks for posting this, Hannah Bell.

[LWolf]

17. An inconvenient truth that teachers have been pointing out all along. nt

[NYC_SKP]

18. And what do "traditional" public non-charter schools do with their troubled youth?

This is not to excuse what's happening in these Chicago schools, but it is a fair question.

In my city, schools often send these kids out to "continuation" schools to sit at computers and chat or play games.

Or they will suspend then expel them, forcing them into a world of even lower expectations and fewer choices.

Many come to county-operated PUBLIC CHARTER schools, staffed by caring UNION teachers.

Others, sadly, end up in juvenile hall, where they have to attend classes.

I know, I taught there.

Of course that was my town, my county, my state.

Other states handle things differently.

:donut:

[Recursion]

20. The alleged "Houston miracle" turned out to be through attrition

eg http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/eduwonkette/2008/06/a_texas_tall_tale_remembered_a_1.html

I know DC is implementing a system that ties charter reimbursement to attrition; if charters simply become magnets that's missing the point. (Not that magnets are bad things.)

[disillusioned73]

19. Kick for truth, kick for education..

I really hope people wake up... I have been sharing this stuff with my wife that is a teacher and have been telling her to spread the word.... our education system should not be put up for sale to the highest bidder for exploitation!!

[Catherina]

21. `Chicago,' he answered, `is a pocket edition of hell.'

In Chicago, while on a visit to the United States, John Burns, a great English labor leader and member of the British Cabinet, was asked by a newspaper reporter for his opinion of that city. `Chicago,' he answered, `is a pocket edition of hell.' Some time later, as he was going aboard his steamer to sail to England, he was approached by another reporter, who wanted to know if he had changed his opinion of Chicago. `Yes, I have,' was his reply. `My present opinion is that hell is a pocket edition of Chicago.'

footnote to chapter 22, The Chicago Commune, of "The Iron Heel" by Jack London


http://books.google.com/books?id=e3VjRjyFAF8C&pg=PA231&lpg=PA231&dq=%60Chicago,'+he+answered,+%60is+a+pocket+edition+of+hell.'&source=bl&ots=P3-bWhLSZo&sig=Njpj9ZNfrsEti3rlb7B_p_UYYxg&hl=en&ei=u63aTJLMBcP6lwf9vd2oCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%60Chicago%2C'%20he%20answered%2C%20%60is%20a%20pocket%20edition%20of%20hell.'&f=false

[erodriguez]

22. K&R

[Solly Mack]

23. k/r

[Dappleganger]

24. How is this serving all children?

Which is the primary responsibility of public schools. Damn them for their discrimination!

[blondeatlast]

25. To no (reasonably knowledgeable about charters) one's surprise. Big k./r. nt