Chicago's Charter Schools Fail the Math Test

From Naked Capitalism, October 8.

I found this bit very telling:

In the 1970, teacher starting pay in New York City was only $2000 below that of starting salaries at top law firms. But now, as the relative status and pay of public school teachers having declined, so too has educational achievement among teachers. A recent McKinsey study found that nearly half of the K-12 teachers in the US had graduated in the bottom third of their college classes. It recommended increasing starting teacher pay from an average of $39,000 to $65,000 in high needs classes in order to attract instructors who had graduated in the top third of their classes.

So why should we be surprised that charter schools, which pay teachers less than public school teachers in the same geographic area, are having trouble delivering the educational goods?

Karen Lewis addresses CTU

Karen Lewis, President of the Chicago Teachers Union, addresses their rally last Saturday. She is so impressive and so inspiring. She gets some great digs in at the billionaires who want to tell teachers how to teach, at the Walton and the Gates Foundations, and at John Legend. A must, must see.

Louisiana: Public Funding to Teach Creationism

The wonders of Jindal, ever willing to fuel the desires of Tea Party anti-big government creationists to feed at the public trough.

At Northlake Christian High School, 18 voucher students will be taught “a creation worldview of life origins” according to the curriculum of the biology teacher. Slated to receive $375,000 in voucher payments, the Northlake teacher has rejected fossil evidence of evolution on a website, stating that such evidence is incompatible with the Bible.

For more go here.

Louisiana: state will continue to fund private and charter schools even if students fail

From Reuters, Monday, July 23

State money will continue to flow to scores of private and religious schools participating in Louisiana's new voucher program even if their students fail basic reading and math tests, according to new guidelines released by the state on Monday. 

The voucher program, the most sweeping in the nation, is the linchpin of Louisiana's bold push to reshape public education. The state plans to shift tens of millions of dollars from public schools to pay not only private schools but also private businesses and private tutors to educate children across the state... 

Under the new rules, schools will not be penalized for poor scores on state standardized tests if they have fewer than 40 voucher students enrolled in the upper elementary or secondary grades. Those schools can continue to receive state funds even if their voucher students fail to demonstrate basic competency in math, reading, science and social studies... 

Some of the schools the state has approved for voucher students use Bible-based science textbooks and other controversial teaching approaches.

Achieving excellence through education reform: outsource the failures

"A high-performing Bronx public high school [Bronx Health Sciences HS in Baychester] has been maintaining its 95 percent graduation rate by forcing dozens of students who underperform to transfer to other schools, students, staffers and other sources charge."

Read more here.

Note: the blog of the hog is now receiving lots of info on education "reform." I'm gonna be posting a lot on this in future. Inshallah, as they say.