Crescendo Schools Cheating Scandal Concludes

Editors note: Story has been truncated. July 2, 2011 11:38 a.m.

Six charter schools involved in a widespread cheating scandal are likely to earn a reprieve that will allow them to remain open, Los Angeles school officials said.

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Comments

[rdsathene]

01:29 AM on 08/02/2011

LAUSD Creates Calamity for Crescendo Corporate Charters
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2011/08/lausd-creates-calamity-for-crescendo.html

[amgnme]

01:54 PM on 06/29/2011

Now, what? Do we keep feeding funds to charters who inflate the results, or stop firing the teachers that have been telling the truth, support them and fix the public school system? If all other grades were inflated as well, those honor kids are going to be in for a shock when they cannot compete with even the average high school students in other areas. By the time these kids get to college, they might end up in remedial classes, and the charters will have moved on with their millions.

[falsy]

03:52 PM on 06/28/2011

Charter schools are kind of like health insurance companies.

[Ortho Stice]

12:21 PM on 06/28/2011

Charter school proponents are like GOP governors. When the data don't give them the results they want, they change the rules.

[DeweyJ]

09:49 AM on 06/28/2011

None of this is surprising. When NCLB was being crafted, educators all over the country warned of ugly unintended consequences. This is only one. High stakes, "life or death" tests, will never improve public education. They will, however, encourage cheating and unproductive strains of competition, not to mention a narrowing of the curriculum. When young (bright and talented) teachers discuss the reasons why students should not read complete works and novels in high school, in favor of shorter articles and excerpts (because this is how they are tested) I shudder. These are our young, bright, energetic teachers that LIFO is sacrificing. Shame, shame.

[bbbbmer]

08:06 AM on 06/28/2011

Was serial cheater Michelle Rhee one of their paid consultants???

[plaidsportcoat]

01:33 AM on 06/28/2011

"After that time he returned to work, demoted from his $161,133 executive director position to director of facilities."

At my kid's charter school the very most a principal made was 115K. That's too much. But at least he worked hard and the school was not run by a corporation but by parents. These corporate charter chains are nothing more than funneling public money (they are PUBLIC SCHOOLS) upwards to higher up corrupt republican hacks, shills and greedy cheats.

[DeweyJ]

09:52 AM on 06/28/2011

Yes, real charters are run by folks in the community. That was the intent, and it allows for some innovation. Corporate charters are worse than school districts. They usually create inflexible curricula, mandates, and they work their teachers almost 10 hours per day, not to mention all of the other demands placed upon them. Teachers in most of these charters cannot have private lives and families of their own. Children are not widgets and teachers are not motivated by free enterprise incentives.

[eceresa]

07:10 AM on 06/29/2011

I don't think $115K for someone with the education and responsibility a principal usually has is too much. Somebody managing an operation the size of a school, and as specialized, in the private sector would probably make much more.

But it would be easier to pay principals (and teachers) what they should be worth if much of the money wasn't being wasted by funneling it into charters.

[Sean Taylor Teacher]

12:20 AM on 06/28/2011

I have been accused of cheating or helping my students cheat on state exams. This is in part perception, my students show great success in all academic areas and record numbers are passing State Reading and Math Exams! 6 years, all students passing at 95% on State Reading Exams and 85% on Math Exams! All students meaning ESL, Special education, new to the school and or district, all in a Title I school with 90% free an reduced lunch! Some classes in the same school have a 33% passing rate.

What is the difference? I'm dyslexic and refuse to let kids pass through my class without learning to read!

I took drastic measure six years ago to stop all the failure, and decided to teach nothing but reading the first 20 days of school.75% of my class yearly was coming to me below grade level in reading and that made me sick. I teach everyone to read now, and I am accused of teaching to the test! :( I teach kids how to read and reason! I have documented the methods and data using a blog to dispel the naysayers.

Their is never any reason to cheat, kids are amazing and will meet any challenge that you give them!

Sean Taylor M.Ed.
http://reading-sage.blogspot.com

[Hlynn]

08:26 PM on 06/27/2011

This sounds like a reasonable action. It isn't the students' fault that adults decided to be dishonest. Mr. Deasy was also the one who let Jamie Oliver (famous chef who is on a crusade to change school lunches into healthful meals) into the LAUSD after he was repeatedly denied by other people.

[eceresa]

07:17 AM on 06/29/2011

So we leave the students in a largely unregulated system where they're open to the same abuses? I don't think that's a desirable action. The schools should have been closed.

[Teacheronthemic]

04:48 PM on 06/27/2011

This is insane. Why not keep all the teachers and simply hand the school over to LAUSD? Give the teachers union benefits and stop the deregulation of our public schools!

[corwin]

07:28 PM on 06/27/2011

Because the LAUSD is the worst school district in the country.it's bankrupt,spends huge sums (well,70 million) on a trophy schoool ) has a graduation rate of about 50% AND OVER HALF OF THOSE NEED REMEMDIAL HELP ON ENTERING COLLEGE
Why do you hate children so much?

[rdsathene]

08:08 PM on 06/27/2011

LAUSD's graduation rates for the past two years have been 72% and 69% respectively, so much for your made up 50% -- where'd you get the specious figure? From a Gates employee like Yolie Flores? Furthermore, the remediation rates of the biggest CMO corporate charter chains far exceed those of LAUSD's public schools. Green Dot, Camino Nuevo, and many others have remediation rates at the CSU system in the mid-to-high ninety percent range -- this despite the fact that they avoid teaching children with special needs. So before you discuss LAUSD remediation rates, which are actually under 35%, perhaps you can explain the single digit proficiency of corporate charter chains.

Fact is, Crescendo fostered a corporate culture of cheating, but that's the business model in a nutshell isn't it? Sounds like it isn't @Teacheronthemic that hates children at all, but that you love the wealthy CMO executives and the other corporate crooks that compose charter-voucher schools.

If you need sources on any of my figures, just ask. That's what I do, is fact check public education haters, and correct corporate charter cheerleading charlatans.

[Ariel Bonzai]

12:16 PM on 06/29/2011

RFKcost closer to 5 billion according to reports last fall. . .

[eceresa]

07:15 AM on 06/29/2011

This is what we should be looking to do with all charter schools. They were an experiment, and for the most part they haven't worked. The very few that are showing signs of success should be absorbed into local districts as magnet schools and allowed to continue what they're doing, under more scrutiny to make sure they're not just cheating, as long is they continue to do well. The majority of charters should be incorporated into local districts as regular public schools. If the capacity is necessary, they should stay open. If they result in surplus capacity, close them.

Kids would benefit, since public schools usually do a better job. Teachers would benefit, since public schools are usually a better work environment. Taxpayers would benefit, because they wouldn't be paying for redundant bureaucracy. The only people who wouldn't benefit would be the private investors and corporations that currently benefit from charter schools. But I figure they can take the hit, since they shouldn't have been involved in the first place.

[shthar]

04:00 PM on 06/27/2011

It's not like anyone cares where you went to high school anyway.