The following is a news release from We Are Ohio, the progressive coalition originally established to oppose Senate Bill 5. This coalition has remained in place because the attacks on collective bargaining rights, public employees, and public education have shown no signs of abating. The Know Your Charter site is a remarkable resource because it…
Although the more overtly political spending of the Koch brothers has received much more attention, the Walton Family Foundation has, not surprisingly, been one of the major supporters of right-wing think tanks and public-policy experiments. Long a major donor to the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, the…
Yes, some charter schools, especially those run by non-profit foundations, are excellent and ought to be acknowledged for that excellence. But to declare that this week is National Charter Schools Week, as the Obama administration has done, not only ignores the often dismal performance of corporate charter schools—the sham that they provide any sort of…
We have heard a lot from Republicans and even some Democrats about how charter schools are a much-need alternative to our “failing” public schools. But that argument has been long on assumption and assertion and short on statistical support. The group Innovation Ohio has recently taken a close look at the performance of charter schools…
Let me stipulate from the start that this post is not about selective charter schools. It is, instead, about those charter schools that are supposed to be providing a broader alternative to our “failing public schools.” From Chicago comes the following data. At the city’s charter schools in 2012-2013, 307 students were expelled. At the…
This post is, in some ways, a follow-up to Walter Breau’s post on the low numbers of students of color taking AP exams in computer science and other STEM subjects, as well as Aaron Barlow’s recent posts on the Common Core standards. Our K-12 schools, both public and private, have become increasingly bifurcated in terms…