May 25, 2013

KIPP charter in Nashville sends troubled students back to public schools before testing time.

It keeps KIPP's testing record looking a whole lot better, and it doesn't help the testing records of the public schools receiving the students.

I am curious to see what defense is given to this practice. It is a common one among charter schools. These charter schools can then brag that they outperform public schools.

There is a video at the link.

Charter schools losing struggling students to zoned schools

Charter schools are literally built on the idea that they will outperform public, zoned schools. They are popular because they promise and deliver results, but some new numbers are raising big questions about charter schools.

One of the first things a visitor sees when stepping into Kipp Academy is a graph that shows how Kipp is outperforming Metro schools in every subject.

..."Nineteen of the last 20 children to leave Kipp Academy had multiple out-of-school suspensions. Eleven of the 19 are classified as special needs, and all of them took their TCAPs at Metro zoned schools, so their scores won't count against Kipp.

"We won't know how they perform until we receive results and we see. We would be happy to take their results, frankly. The goal is getting kids ready for college. The goal is not having shiny results for me or for anyone on the team," Dowell said.

This is not fair to the public schools whose teachers will be held accountable for those test scores. After all "not only are they getting kids from charter schools, but they are also getting troubled kids and then getting them right before testing time."

Note that the KIPP principal said that they would take the students back, that the goal was getting kids ready for college not test scores. No, the goal of education should not be college for every student. That is not feasible and it makes no sense.

The goal of education should be what we had as our philosophy before I retired. Start with where the students are, take them as far as we can take them down the road to learning, helping them achieve as much as they can.

This high attrition rate has been a common practice among charters for years now. It's time for it to stop.

Charter schools that boast high test scores should reveal their attrition rates as well.

The article mentions that WCCS has among the highest test scores in NYC. Then it points out some research.

Sure enough, 11 out of the 13 charter schools showed significant shrinkage in the size of their testing cohorts. And the more the cohorts shrank over time, the higher the percentage of students achieving proficiency rose.

At Williamsburg, this trend was dramatic. Seventy-two 5th graders took the ELA test in 2006 with just under 60 percent achieving proficiency. Three years later, proficiency for that same cohort had skyrocketed to just below 95 percent, but only 44 students remained in the 8th grade cohort. That’s an attrition rate of 39 percent.

More from that 2010 post:

Diane Ravitch recently posted a letter she received from the principal of a traditional public middle school in Los Angeles.

"I received an email from Dr. DeWayne Davis, the principal of Audubon Middle School in Los Angeles, which was sent to several public officials. Dr. Davis said that local charter schools were sending their low-performing students to his school in the middle of the year. He wrote: "Since school began, we enrolled 159 new students (grades 7 and 8). Of the 159 new students, 147 of them are far below basic (FBB)!!! Of the 147 students who are FBB, 142 are from charter schools. It is ridiculous that they can pick and choose kids and pretend that they are raising scores when, in fact, they are purging nonperforming students at an alarming rate—that is how they are raising their scores, not by improving the performance of students. Such a large number of FBB students will handicap the growth that the Audubon staff initiated this year, and further, will negatively impact the school's overall scores as we continue to receive a recurring tide of low-performing students."

And about Florida charters:

"Class Warfare, McKeel Academy edition"

School Board member Frank O’Reilly wants district official to start tracking how many students are transferred from charter schools to public schools as a result of their grades, social economic status or behavioral issues. During a work session this morning, O’Reilly read a letter sent by Harold Maready, superintendent of McKeel charter schools, to a parent about their third grader who flunked the FCAT.

“Your child does not meet the criteria to be a McKeel student,” O’Reilly read.

If public schools were to reject students based on their academic performance, then they could be A schools, too, O’Reilly said.

“We must take every child that comes through that door whether we like it or not,” O’Reilly said. ‘‘That is a public school paid by taxpayers’ dollars, and I like to remind Mr. Maready of that.”

So, it is still going on. At least a news station is speaking out about it.

May 24, 2013

Transferred Highland Park teacher resigns in impassioned YouTube video

Here are points from her rant. Good for her for speaking out.

Transferred Highland Park teacher resigns in impassioned YouTube video

HIGHLAND PARK — A video bombshell was dropped on top of an emerging controversy in North Shore School District 112 late Tuesday when one of the four teachers transferred out of Lincoln Elementary School posted a YouTube video announcing her decision to leave the district.

In the 10-minute video, entitled “In Pursuit of Happiness,” fourth grade teacher Ellie Rubenstein addresses the transfers and “false accusations” that have been leveled against some teachers in the school. She also laments the test-driven state of the education profession.

“This year alone, I have been a helpless witness as half a dozen dedicated, hardworking teachers were reduced to tears, shame and desperation because an administrator decided they disliked them for some arbitrary reason,” Rubenstein said. “These devoted employees were handed concern forms filled with false accusations and no opportunity for discussion was provided. They then received a less-than-glowing evaluation with no recourse or opportunity for appeal or dialogue — they were told their contracts were not being renewed.”

....“I was proud to say I am a teacher, but over the past 15 years I’ve experienced the depressing gradual downfall and misdirection of education that has slowly eaten away at my love of teaching.

May 23, 2013

"In less time than it takes to boil an egg" Chicago closes 50 schools.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

CPS makes history, closing scores of schools in less time than it takes to boil an egg

History was made in Chicago Wednesday in about 90 seconds, but most of the folks who witnessed firsthand the death of a record 50 Chicago Public Schools didn’t even realize it.

Rather than list the names of the doomed elementary schools, the Board of Education took a single group vote on most of the closings that will affect some 27,000 children. The board secretary read out the numbers assigned to each resolution and asked for the vote.

But onlookers didn’t even get that, as the board president resorted to parliamentary maneuver to speed the process along.

“Madam Secretary, if there are no objections from my fellow board members, please apply the last favorable roll call,” Board President David Vitale said, referring to the previous vote of six ayes and 0 nays. And with that, the bulk of the history — 49 of the 50 schools closed — was made in a unanimous sweep.

Tone deaf to the audience:

SCHOOL CLOSING QUOTABLES

Columnist Mark Brown

In the end, the board was so tone deaf to its audience that on the crucial vote that closed most of the schools, they used the parliamentary maneuver of adopting the previous favorable roll call — instead of taking the extra 30 seconds to each say “yes” once more. The average person in attendance didn’t even know the closings had been approved until it was over. -- "CPS closings vote shows it’s time for an elected school board"

Sports writer Dave Zirin

It all starts with the person who seems committed to win the current spirited competition as the most loathsome person in American political life: Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The same Mayor overseeing the closing of fifty-four schools and six community mental health clinics under the justification of a “budgetary crisis” has announced that the city will be handing over more than $100 million to DePaul University for a new basketball arena. -- The Nation

May 14, 2013

Guardian UK The IRS should do more, not less, scrutinizing of political groups

Everyone is out and about attacking the IRS for doing what it should be doing...scrutinizing groups that apply for tax exempt status. I'm with the Guardian on this.

The IRS should do more, not less, scrutinizing of political groups

The recent IRS admissions about the use of "tea party" or "patriot" labels to flag applications for nonprofit status for additional scrutiny raise serious questions about political bias, and should receive a thorough and independent investigation.

There is rightly a growing call for House and Senate hearings to answer those questions, but any investigations must delve deeper into the bigger problem facing our democracy after the Supreme Court's decision in Citizen United: the dramatic surge in the misuse of nonprofits to hide political spending by billionaires and corporations from American voters, and the lack of any meaningful enforcement response.

Although the IRS must enforce the law impartially, the agency should not abrogate its responsibility to enforce it in the first place. While Common Cause strongly supports an investigation, we are concerned that partisans on both sides will use this tempest to cow the IRS and forestall enforcement of the tax code.

Reported political spending by 501(c)4s – the kind of non-profit groups at the focus of this controversy – surged to $254m in 2012, almost matching spending by political parties ($255m), according to the Center for Responsive Politics, thanks in large part to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United. The vast majority of that spending – 85% – came from conservative organizations, led by Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS group and Americans for Prosperity, backed by the Koch brothers. Given this disproportionate spending on behalf of conservative candidates at this point in history, most of the groups flagged will logically be conservative organizations, even using impartial criteria.

The comments after the article are most interesting.

May 14, 2013

Survey doesn't include ones who were refused service or couldn't afford copay.

During this time, during these years leading up to 2017 when the Obama administration's proposed $100 copay for each home health care visit will kick in....many will be like this man yesterday. Just not receiving services.

From the article....they did not include those who were refused service or could not afford the copay.

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/05/medicare-costs-way-down-companies-worry

Federal health officials say it saved more than $200 million in its first year. They reported high levels of satisfaction from beneficiaries and no increases in hospitalizations, emergency room visits or other undesirable outcomes in the areas served by the program, according to a report last year from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The number of people receiving some types of equipment declined. Medicare leaders said that could be because the new system routed out potential fraud or because the new system affected claims-processing timelines.

The Government Accountability Office called the results incomplete, though, noting that the measures didn’t show whether patients received needed equipment on time or whether their health suffered if they didn’t.

More about the home health care copay....many will not be able to afford it.

http://homehealthcarenews.com/2013/05/home-care-advocates-ready-to-fight-co-pays-again/

The Obama Administration’s FY 2014 budget proposes a co-payment of $100 per home health episode for new Medicare beneficiaries, applying to episodes with five or more visits not preceded by a hospital or other inpatient post-acute stay.

While the proposal would not kick in for new Medicare enrollees until 2017 if implemented, home health professionals are already wary the law would drive patients to costlier care settings.

For seniors living on limited or fixed incomes, co-pays for home health services could cause them to forego care, says Kyle Simon, government affairs director of the Home Care Association of Florida.

“In extreme cases, beneficiaries with chronic conditions could opt to move into more expensive institutions like nursing homes, further stressing state Medicaid budgets,” says Simon.

May 13, 2013

In a healthcare supply store today I saw an elderly man deprived of a needed oxygen tank.

This is a large healthcare supply store that ships nationwide. The owner is a wealthy man who will suffer no consequences from his actions today.

I overheard him tell an obviously unwell elderly man that they were refusing to accept his insurance. I gathered he has a Medicare Advantage plan, though I did not catch which one.

He slowly got his question out to the owner...why are you refusing to accept my insurance? The owner said it was because of Obamacare, that he could not afford to take the cuts in payments for supplies. He told the man that his insurance would change from paying 50 dollars for the item to only 19 dollars in January 2014.

The man said what can I do? The owner said he just didn't know.

The man then left and said whatever. When I checked out I said where others could hear that he had turned this from a health care center to a political arena, and that it was a shame.

Since hubby and I were both hospitalized with a bad strain of pneumonia the last of March I have seen so many changes from when he was sick before. Reduced staff and delays in responding to patients are the most obvious.

Top Five Ways the President's Budget Would Change Medicare

The changes appear to be just beginning.

In 2017, 2019 and 2021, new Medicare beneficiaries would have to pay an additional $25 for their Part B deductible, for a three-year total of $75 to be added on to the cost of the Part B premium, which in 2013 is $147.

The administration says the change would "strengthen program financing and encourage beneficiaries to seek high-value health care services." Seniors advocates say it's an additional cost to people already struggling on fixed incomes. In 2012, nearly half of Medicare beneficiaries had annual incomes of below $22,500.

Also starting in 2017, Obama's plan would require new Medicare beneficiaries to pay $100 for five or more home health care visits that are not preceded by a stay in the hospital or another medical facility, such as a nursing home or a rehabilitation hospital. Home health care is one of the few areas in Medicare that does not have cost sharing, and its rapid growth in recent years has led panels like the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to recommend beneficiary cost sharing.

Beginning in 2017, new beneficiaries who purchase supplemental insurance, known as Medigap, with particularly low cost-sharing requirements -- such as "first-dollar" coverage -- will face a surcharge equivalent to approximately 15 percent of the average Medigap premium. The thought is that more generous Medigap plans encourage overuse of services, but seniors rely on these generous plans to shield them from unanticipated costs.

There is already a great inconsistency in Medicare Advantage plans. For example Blue Medicare requires a co-pay of $150 for each day in the hospital up to day 7. Aetna Medicare requires no co-pay at all for those first 7 days.

I think the health care supply owner will go tonight to his fancy home thinking nothing at all about that man he turned away. I hope that discouraged man will find another supply place that will accept his insurance. I wondered how many more will be in the same situation as the cuts begin.

May 10, 2013

TFA to expand in Chicago areas where many schools were closed, quality teachers laid off.

It's hard to imagine that a record number of school closings in Chicago is so obviously opening the way for Teach for America to take over those areas.

From Katie Osgood at The Chalk Face blog:

Teach for America Has Gone Too Far

But TFA’s recent actions have sent me over the edge. Last night, on twitter, I was appalled to watch tweets fly by about a very fancy, very expensive fundraising dinner taking place in Chicago’s swanky Drake Hotel. As a union-supporter, I am used to the dirty old union halls, folding chairs, sometimes church basements, and maybe a bag of Cheetos for eats, if you’re lucky. I can barely imagine the sort of people who pay $10,000 for a table. Ok, I CAN imagine. They are the same people we must battle everyday in the EdReform Wars.

....Guess which neighborhoods TFA is targeting for their expansion? The very same communities being traumatized by the largest single number of school closings in the history of America. TFA is poised to profit dramatically from the misfortune of hundreds of teachers and thousands of students.

And how TFA has rationalized this expansion to themselves, or anyone else, is beyond me. CPS has told schools they must be closed due to “underutilization” (A suspect claim at best). They say Chicago has too few kids and too many schools, including too many teachers/staff. Due to a supposed budget shortfall of $1 billion dollars (also HIGHLY suspect), CPS says schools must be consolidated. Let me say that again, CPS is telling us that we have essentially too many teachers and buildings in the system.

And TFA wants to go into those communities after mass layoffs–where many quality veteran teachers will be displaced and many may not be rehired, teachers who fought side-by-side with the students and parents of the schools, teachers loved by the community–and offer them uncertified, poorly-trained novices many of whom have never even been to the Midwest, much less know the varied individual neighborhoods of Chicago. It’s like TFA is kicking these communities while they are down. “I know your school was just robbed from you, despite your loud, relentless, justified protest, but here are some uncertified, severely undertrained non-educators who won’t stick around long. We at TFA don’t think your kids deserve properly trained teachers dedicated long-term to your community any more than you deserve the choice of democratic neighborhood schools.”

That is truly insulting to the career teachers who are losing their jobs, to the parents and students who are losing their community schools.

TFA needs to stop thinking their group is superior to experienced teachers. Some Democratic leaders I know need to speak out about the way they are moving into communities when schools are closed.

From 2012 another condescending move by TFA toward public school teachers.

While the budget picture looks no more pleasant than it has in past years, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Jacqueline Ellis said the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, a Raleigh-based nonprofit, has offered to cover the $3,000-per-teacher placement fee that TFA would have charged the district for the 15 teachers.

The positions that TFA teachers would fill are among 21 made available by retirements, resignations and transfers.

.."The 15 teachers primarily would be placed in math, science and exceptional children's classes -- all of which can be difficult to fill, especially in a low-performing school like Neal. TFA would also like to offer training to traditionally trained teachers who are already at the school.

They wanted to "train" veteran teachers to think that all kids can succeed. The hubris is overwhelming.

A big piece of Neal's program would be the training for veteran teachers - it's all about changing the mind-set of teachers to believe that every student can succeed, Lakis said. He said TFA is still working out the framework for the training program..."

May 6, 2013

E.J. Dionne: Obama needs to ask why even his supporters are impatient.

This is a very thoughtful piece by E. J. Dionne. He points out that President Obama risks alienating those his party needs, "demobilizing" the very people he needs on his side now.

Obama needs to ask himself why even his supporters are growing impatient

Hard to choose just four paragraphs from this long article.

Rather than criticize the president, says former chief White House speechwriter Jon Favreau, those who want him to succeed need to hold Republicans in the House and Senate accountable. The president can’t do it by himself, Favreau said in the Daily Beast. He needs help from his supporters.

Well, sure. To pretend that the president can magically get an increasingly right-wing Republican House and Senate contingent to do his bidding is either naive or willfully misleading. The GOP really does hope that blocking whatever Obama wants will steadily weaken him.

But the president also needs to ask himself why even his supporters are growing impatient. His whole budget strategy, after all, is directed almost entirely toward gently coaxing Republicans his way, without any concern as to whether what he is doing is demobilizing the very people he needs on his side now.

That is an important point, one that many here have tried to make. Dionne says it clearly.

He still thinks he can coax the Republicans his way. They won't budge. The strategies are doing harm to seniors and needy, and the Republicans don't give a damn.

If Obama wants to underscore that his problem is Republican obstruction, he should tell those GOP senators he likes to dine with that they need to come up with revenue very soon or else he’ll withdraw that “chained CPI” offer he claims not to like much anyway. Put up or shut up is a cliche, but a useful one.

The Chained CPI should not have been on the table in the first place. The safety nets should be untouched except to make those who need them feel confident they will not be harmed.

Speech writer, Jon Favreau says he needs the help from his supporters. Yes, he does. But seniors and the needy don't know who to trust anymore because everyone in DC is trying to outdo the other side in being bipartisan.

You can not compromise with extremists, as Howard Dean used to say. He was right about that, but our Democrats are still really trying.

May 5, 2013

Indiana lawmakers may forgive 12 million in loans to failed charter schools. Wow!

Failed charter schools may get bailout from Indiana taxpayers

Indiana lawmakers are considering forgiving $12 million in loans that "failing" charter schools accepted from the state.

Seven schools whose charters were revoked by Ball State University in January would be absolved of payments along with another school which did not seek to renew its charter. The Indiana Department of Education loaned the money to the schools to help them with startup costs.

The loan forgiveness is included in roughly $80 million the Senate has budgeted to repay loans taken by charter schools.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley said state fiscal analysts are reviewing the eight charter schools to determine if they should have their loans waived. The analysts will have to work quickly because lawmakers plan to wrap up their 2013 session in a few days.

There are no words for this left in my vocabulary.