Arnie in (Charter) Wonderland

Arne Duncan recently talked about charter schools on Democracy Now. The segment could have been called "Arne in Wonderland." Some of what he said:

Duncan: "We also need to work together to help people better understand charters. Many people equate charters with privatization, and part of the problem is that some charters overtly separate themselves from the surrounding district. This is why opponents often say that charters take money away from public schools. And we all know that's absolutely misleading."

No, Arne, we don't all know that because it's not true. Some, and Arne appears to be one of them, contend that since charter schools are public schools, then Q.E.D., they don't take money away from the publics. The more usual argument is that the money going to charters is offset by reduced costs at the remaining public schools. But this is not the case. It might be true if all the kids going to the charter left from Mrs. Smith's class in P. S. 101. Then we could fire Mrs. Smith. Even so, the school operating costs, transportation costs, administrative costs, etc., would remain the same. But, in fact, maybe only 3 kids leave from Mrs. Smith's class. Because money is allocated on a per-pupil basis, that's three fewer allocations. Costs are not lowered but resources are reduced. And if the three kids return to the pubic school, as happens in many cases, the money does not come back with them.

Duncan: "Charters are supposed to be laboratories of innovation that we can all learn from." The operative phrase here is "supposed to be." Study after study has commented on how similar most charters are to regular public schools. In addition, it is likely that the stifling test score requirements of No Child Left Behind have squeezed out what little innovation there ever was in the first place.

Duncan: "And charters are not inherently anti-union. Albert Shanker, the legendary head of the AFT, was an early advocate." This is true. As far as it goes. A 1988 speech by Shanker virtually launched the charter movement. But by 1994, Shanker had jumped ship and was likening the charter movement to the free-school movement in the 1960's and 1970's. In his December 11 1994 column in the New York Times, Shanker argued charters were "a recipe for chaos."

And while charters might not be "inherently" anti-union, Shanker certainly perceived them that way. In his 1994 State of the Union address to the AFT Shanker said, "We have another threat or potential threat [to the union], and that's charter schools..." Again, harkening back to the earlier reforms, "And so what is happening is they're about to have a lot of schools go out and do their own thing. This is being used as an excuse to say, well, look, if were going to have a lot of schools that are operating on their own, that are independent, then we've got to get rid of union rules, because if the teachers in every one of these schools have to be bound by union rules, then they're not going to be free and creative..." Shanker then addressed charters' union busting potential: "That's something that we're not going to tolerate. This [charter] system is not going to be used as a way of breaking the hard won rights we have fought for." A 2003 AFT report on charters concluded no expansion of charters was warranted unless and until better proof of effectiveness was provided.

Duncan: "The CREDO report last week was absolutely a wake-up call, even if you dispute some of its conclusions or its language. The charter movement is putting itself at risk by allowing too many second-rate and even third-rate schools to continue to exist."

Wake up call? Arne, was living in Chicago like living in China? Did Daley preclude you from hearing news from the outside world? Charter schools have been found to be underperforming for over a decade.

Moreover, if the CREDO results are true, Arne, why are you blackmailing states with threats to withhold stimulus money unless they permit charters or lift charter caps? The logic here is astonishing. Suppose I invent a medicine and find it helps 17% of people, doesn't do anything for 46% and hurts 37%. Would the FDA approve and tout my medicine? CREDO is a Stanford University-based think tank and its findings were that kids in charters did better than matched peers in publics in 17% of the cases, worse in 37% and neither better nor worse 46% of the time. As I closed my chapter on charters in Setting the Record Straight (second edition), "Charter schools were born of perceived failures in public schools. So, if the charters are doing worse than the publics, where is the outrage about them?" Where indeed, Arne?

Comments

[tchdoc]

Yes, there are some horrible charter schools and yes, Arne Duncan was not the best choice for ed secretary, but to paint all charter schools with a broad brush is a disservice. Two of the charter school systems referenced by Bracey, KIPP and Don Shavely's Aspire Public Schools, are doing a tremendous job of educating students in communities where the public school system has failed them. Aspire Public Schools is able to do this in part by selecting excellent teachers who believe that ALL children can learn, providing ongoing professional development, and providing an individualized education plan for each student designed to give them access to a rigorous curriculum. Too ofen in traditional public schools, the lack of parent involvement, kids' apathy, or other issues outside the school's control are pointed to causes of failure vs. taking a more efficacious position of creating in-school experiences that will allow kids to be successful DESPITE the factors outside the school's control. Part of the mission of effective charter schools is to demonstrate to their traditional counterparts that children can achieve in spite of these challenges. Why are some in the education community so defensive?

[NSmith]

The shortcomings in Mr. Bracey's arguments are based in part on the shortcomings of the CREDO report itself.
While the report's conclusion that underperforming schools must be closed is dead-on, their numbers have unfortunately been exaggerated by the report and by Mr. Bracey.
No doubt, under-performing schools exist, but even the CREDO report shows that, over time, students in charters are doing better academically than their traditional public school counterparts.
For a more detailed explanation of what went wrong with the CREDO report, go to http://www.publiccharters.org/CREDO+Reconsidered+Memo.

[jbax52]

This is absolutely correct. The charter movement is a big deal in Texas, pushed by conservatives who really want the government to support private schools. They have been an overwhelming disaster. Test scores are abysmal; there has been rampant cheating, both in testing and attendance reporting. Funding has been misused, family members hired and paid salaries for little work. Once they begin, no matter how bad they are, they are very difficult to close down. ALL schools should have to abide by the same regulations as the public schools; how can you compare the results achieved if the playing field is not equal?

[Bleumeanie]

Arne Duncan is clearly Barack Obama's SARAH PALIN pick.

He's got a bachelor's degree and that's all. He is the most unqualified person among the entire cabinet.

Our household worked hard to elect President Obama. We were so sad and disappointed he appointed Mr. Duncan, his basketball buddy, to his cabinet. Get someone with a terminal degree and who has a decent track record. Duncan did his best to WRECK the Chicago School System. Everyone in Chicago knows it.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

(cont'd)

A charter was our only option and with two other successful charters similar to ours in the state already it was proven to be a viable route except for the moratorium on charters.

Don't charters have their place?

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

Dr. Bracey,

I love your articles and vastly respect your opinion on education. But when our local school district closed the K-2 one-room school house that is just minutes for my home making it necessary for my 6 year old to ride one hour each way to and from school - a charter would have been the only way our committed town could have kept the school open.

The incredible teacher that we had was going to be put in another school in the district that was further from her home and not to her liking as a professional setting - after being told that they would not close this school on here.

The district spread rumors that it was more expensive to educate a child in that school - an utter falsehood contradicted by budget balance sheets.

They threatened to and actually told parents that the school was closed each year in the hopes of driving down enrollment so that they could use that excuse to close it - it didn't work.

They held a vote in a public meeting and it was voted to, based on the facts, be kept open.

Then they held another meeting which they did not publicize that they would hold another vote just two months after they had voted to keep it open - and they voted to close the school with no further evidence or reason except that this time they managed to avoid being faced with the dedicated people of my

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

town.

[euripedes923]

Charters have proven to be as much a part of the problem as the solutions they offer. In the bigger picture, charters are a band-aid for a system that is bleeding profusely.
Charter schools are the "pull-ups" of effective potty training. Thay look like big kid underwear, they call themselves big kid underwear...but when you mess yourself you find out they're still just a fancy diaper...but at least they cover your a$$.
Let's do right by public education and just fix it. The entire infrastructure is broken. It needs more than a whitewash.

[cburell]

I think the second and third blockquotes need to be fixed so your rebuttals, Gerald, don't look instead like Duncan's interview comments.

As for substance, it's a shame Obama chose an EdSec lacking it. It's more than a shame. Duncan seems friendly and well-meaning, but like Neaguy says, Obama's "Arnie" seems Bush's "Brownie."

And he's got $5 billion of our tax dollars to now play the new, uninformed Bill Gates ed-reformer. *sigh*

[pondoora]

Cont’d.

Hastings, co-founder of EdVoice with John Doerr (investment banker) is also connected to Eli Broad (KB Homes, AIG, Broad Education Foundation) and Don Fisher (The Gap, KIPP’s big supporter). Broad and Fisher were co-chairs on the EdVoice board.

By tracing the players, it becomes extremely clear that the primary pushers of the charter school movement are all very cozy, powerful and rich. The ones in CA definitely managed to influence the decisions of CA's State Superintendent. A bunch of them now have got Duncan to do their bidding. There is absolutely no reason to trust any of their ideas or motives.

As far as I can tell, most of the people behind the whole charter school movement are major, major manipulators and schemers.

[pondoora]

It’s odd timing to me that EdSource released this new publication just one week after the CREDO report, "California’s Charter Schools: 2009 Update on Issues and Performance." http://www.edsource.org/pub_CharterPerf6-09.html

The website states: "EdSource thanks Reed Hastings for his support of our independent study and reporting on California's charter school movement." How much of an “independent” study could it be if a devoted charter school supporter, who is also on EdSource's board, has paid for this publication? Anyone with half a mind would be suspicious.

Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, funded Barr’s Green Dot’s launch, and helped to start the New Schools Venture Fund, an organization which additionally received $22 million from the Gates Foundation in 2003 to “create systems of charter schools through nonprofit charter management organizations.”

Hastings is also one of the co-authors of the California Charter School Initiative which was signed into law in 1998 (Don Shalvey is the other). After the cap was raised for the number of charter schools in California, Hastings and Shalvey then co-founded Aspire Public Schools, and have been engaging in lots of pro-charter activities ever since. Apparently Hastings is also a Director of the Microsoft Corporation.

[trishwilliams]

I won't weigh in on all the other comments about the pros and cons of charters, and whether Secretary Duncan has all his facts as he considers the role of charters in this Administration.

But there are three points in the comments above I will weigh in on. Here are the facts as I know them:

1) Reed Hastings is well known in the charter community as being on the side that favors strong accountability for school performance, encouraging charters that are improving student achievement and closing down the charters that aren't.

2) Mr. Hastings began funding EdSource four years ago to report annually on CA's charter movement. He knows EdSource's mission calls for independence and impartiality in our approach to our studies and he respects that about us -- that's why he selected us for the work, and he has never once tried to insert his views or his influence into that work. EdSource is, in fact, what you might call "agnostic" regarding charter schools. We're most interested in evidence on what works best to improve student achievement, with which students, under what conditions.

3) EdSource didn't know about the CREDO report coming out. We have our own research and production schedule. We started our charter analysis five months ago so we also, of course, did not know in advance that Duncan was going to give a major speech on the topic.

[Neaguy]

Duncan is abysmal as Sec. of Ed., obviously Obama's Michael Brown appointment. Mr. Bracey's reasoning in the last paragraph is solid. Arne Duncan is immune to fact, an ideologue working in an area that requires a deep reservoir of pedagogical knowledge that he has never taken the time to learn.

Diane Ravitch has been correct on this site in arguing that Duncan's time as Ed. Sec. will be Bush's third term, except, it will be on steroids. For those interested in actually reforming schools you had better get busy. If Duncan has his way there will be more superficial learning, less respect for the teaching profession, more corporatization of the classroom.