Oh, that's easy. It's so Odumbo can secure the Hispanic block vote for the DemoCraps. And as so much as it harms Americans along the way (including you, me and all the rest of America's "makers"), so much the better.
This is the trend that we don't want to see - Scammy for-profit colleges entering the Charter School market is a very bad thing. For-Profit College Tries The Charter School Market http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/12...rofit-college-tries-the-charter-school-market Starting this past spring, parents in Indianapolis; Troy, Mich.; Jacksonville and Tampa, Fla.; and Houston, Texas, heard about a new option for their children's last two years of high school. In each city, a charter school called Early Career Academy planned to offer students the chance to earn associate degrees, either in network systems administration or software development, alongside their high school diplomas. Students were offered laptops to work on and ebooks to use. All for free. But the schools are meeting opposition, largely because of the organization behind them: ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit college with tens of thousands of students, 145 physical locations and a checkered reputation. Like the rest of the for-profit college sector, the value of ITT's educational offerings is coming under increased federal scrutiny. This fall, the Indianapolis Early Career Academy postponed its opening for a year, citing governance issues. Enrolled students had to find spots elsewhere. The Tampa opening was postponed too, and the Duval County school board rejected the Jacksonville school for similar reasons as in Indianapolis. A public hearing for the proposed Houston location is set for this week. The school in Troy, an outer suburb of Detroit, is currently up and running with about 40 students, and four faculty members listed on its website. Executive director Amy Boyles declined to speak with NPR Ed, saying that ITT Tech handles all communications for the school. The story of ITT and Early Career Academy illustrates the intersection of two trends: the changing business models of some for-profit education companies and the changing governance of charter public schools. Experts say this is the first time a proprietary college has sought to get into the charter school business. (More at above url)
Yeah more choices and competition would be terrible. After all, the public schools are just doing such an awesome job.
Local non-profit Charter Schools do very well. The large national for-profit Charter Schools have been a disaster. Everyone needs to clearly differentiate between the two.
NC to review virtual charter offerings http://www.wral.com/nc-to-review-virtual-charter-offerings/14284574/ North Carolina State Board of Education members on Wednesday will review applications from the two groups that want to take part in two virtual charter school pilot programs the state is scheduled to run starting in the 2015-16 school year. The committee will hear from representatives from the North Carolina Virtual Academy, which is affiliated with K12 Education, at 10:30 a.m. At 11:40 a.m., the committee will interview applicants with North Carolina Connections Academy, which is with Connections Education. "The board wants to make sure the proposals are quality applications," said Vanessa Jeter, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Instruction. North Carolina already has an online public school that provides supplemental classes via the Internet to students enrolled in other public schools. Students enrolled in a virtual charter would take all of their classes online. A provision in the state budget passed this summer directs the state board to approve two virtual charter pilots. Although there are only two applicants for two slots, Jeter said it's possible board members could ultimately choose to reject one or both. "It is possible," Jeter said. "They do anticipate reviewing them for quality." Virtual charters have been controversial. Proponents say they provide a way for advanced students to go at their own pace and for students who don't thrive in traditional settings to learn. But critics question their quality and point out that, while the schools have local boards, the money goes to out-of-state companies. Of the two companies aiming to open virtual charters next year, K12, has been the subject of controversy. Two years ago, the company sued the state when the Board of Education refused to consider its application for a virtual charter. The North Carolina Association of Educators, a teachers group that is critical of virtual charters overall, wrote a letter to the state board saying members should be especially mindful of quality concerns with K12. "Education experts and financial analysts alike have raised concerns about both the quality of K12 managed schools as well as the viability of K12's business model," NCAE President Rodney Ellis wrote to the board. The committee will not have the final say on approval, but it is scheduled to report back to the full board in January.
I'm not sold at all on virtual Charter Schools. What's to prevent kids from texting answers back and forth and helping one another rather than being forced to do their own work in a brick and mortar classroom? And for the kids who excel .. offer advanced placement type courses. And on a side note .. these for profit colleges (ITT) that seem to want to now get into opening charter schools seems shaky. The quality of their offerings is a potential issue from what I've read.
There are many portions of Arne Duncan's educational policies that are... what's the word? Counter-intuitive? Baloney? There are days when I imagine that the energy Duncan expends just holding cognitive dissonance at bay must be enough to power a small country. Peter Greene
I don't see a problem with virtual charter schools per se. Like anything else, they could be good or bad. It's not like offering educational material on the internet is some great tech challenge. You can take every course in the MIT catalogue online, at least what's what I read. I see it as a great option for kids who have time-consuming activities, for example aspiring tennis players. It could also allow kids to work full time and still get their diploma. Public education apologists detest home schooling as well, so I am not impressed by their complaints. Like going to regular school, the kid will get as much out of it as they put into it. It also removes the constant threat in lower grades of getting some idiot teacher who has no business in any classroom.
AN OPEN LETTER TO AMERICA FROM A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER. BY MICHAEL MAU - - - - Dear America, I’m sorry. You entrusted me with your children, and I have failed them. Please know that I had the best of intentions. I didn’t want to leave a child behind. I wanted to help them win this race to the top. You asked me to test them, and I tested them. I gave them choices: A, B, C, D, and sometimes even E. I didn’t just test them though; I spent hours showing them how to test, and I prepared them for that by quizzing them. My quizzes and tests were rigorous, too, just like you asked. I have to be honest with you, though: my heart wasn’t in it at first. I had this ridiculous idea that art and music and drama and activity breaks would help my students grow. Maybe it was all those years of allowing my students to be creative. To think, I once had my English class produce a full-length play with original music and student-designed sets. I wasted weeks and weeks on that frivolous project. Sure, my students enjoyed it then, and okay, many of them still e-mail me and tell me that was the highlight of their high school experience, but I know now that if I had only had them sit in rows and practice for the ACT, if I had only given them short passages and had them tell me which of the five choices best described the author’s tone, they’d be so much more fulfilled in their lives. After all, what did they really learn? How to access their imaginations? Developing original thoughts? Teamwork? I may as well have taught them how to file for unemployment. Last year, our school district did away with our arts education classes. I was stunned along with the other misguided “professionals” with whom I taught. That was before I came to the stark realization that painting and sculpting and drawing might be nice hobbies to have, but they’re certainly not going to help adolescents as they compete for the jobs of the future. Do we really want a bunch of flaky artist-types distracting us? The art teacher is a barista at Starbucks now, which at least allows her to use valuable skills and restore middle-class security. And she makes a great latte. Some people want to blame parents for the failure of American students to achieve. If parents would only spend more time engaged in enrichment activities with their kids like reading to them or taking them to museums or on nature hikes. Parents are busy though; I don’t think I really took time to consider how busy they are. We must also remember that it’s not a parent’s job to teach their children. That’s why they pay us. Some parents are like I was and have this notion that they have a responsibility to be their child’s first teacher. One actually asked me why we spent so many days on test prep activities and why there wasn’t a program in our school to help foster her daughter’s love of music. I told her what our superintendent told us: If we don’t teach them how to test properly, how do we expect them to perform well on the test? And just because our school doesn’t have band or orchestra any more, that doesn’t stop her daughter from taking lessons after school. I then directed her to our district website that assures all parents that we are preparing their children for the technology-driven world of the 21st century and beyond. That’s why we moved many of our classes online. Kids love computers, and as with many innovative schools, ours allows students to take classes on their own through a program called Edgenuity. Why burden teachers with teaching skills and concepts that students can easily learn online? The learning modules guide students through lessons at their own pace while keeping them subdued and compliant. As our leaders in the White House have told us, students are empowered by “individualized learning and rich, digital content.” While the initial investment was costly, our school was able to reduce the teaching staff by four teachers. What a great lesson in economics for our students. Despite all of these innovations; despite increased enrollment in A.P. classes; despite electives like Algebra II and Earth Science; despite replacing our library with a computer lab; despite the timed readings, standardized lesson plans, and healthier lunches, our students are still ranked below Russia. We are failing them. I am failing them. I have a plan though. Yes, it is a little selfish. As you requested, in the coming years, my pay will be tied directly to my students’ achievement. Since we measure this achievement through standardized testing, my goal will be to spend every minute of every class teaching to the test. Some lessons, of course, will be on the proper use of a #2 pencil for efficient circle darkening. With a nationalized curriculum, so much of the guesswork will be taken out. It won’t be the most exciting or “fun” class for my students, but what they fail to understand is that education is all about job security and competing in a global marketplace. Why else would we send our kids to school? This is a standardized, multiple-choice world. I know that now. Sincerely, Michael Mau Teacher
Exposing the charter school lie: Michelle Rhee, Louis C.K. and the year phony education reform revealed its true colors Charter schools promised new education innovations. Instead, they produced scam after new scam