Academic Freedom Sold Off Cheap

By Mary Ellen Flannery What’s the price of academic freedom? At Florida State University, it looks like $1.5 million – or the amount donated by a right-wing billionaire who, in return, gets a final say in faculty hiring. The contract between the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation – and yes, that is the same Koch [...]

Beware Pro-Charter School “Parent” Groups

By Alain Jehlen Parents are among the strongest supporters of public education. So attacks by groups claiming to represent parents are particularly painful for public educators. After all, nobody becomes a parent or an educator in order to get rich. But sometimes a group that claims to represent parents actually has anti-public school activists in [...]

Public Schools and Charter Schools: Who’s Leaving Kids Behind?

By Alain Jehlen Many political leaders and foundations are pushing charter schools as the key to closing achievement gaps. The U.S. Congress is preparing to take up changes in the so-called “No Child Left Behind” law, and turning more schools over to charter operators may be a feature of the overhaul. So let’s take a [...]

States Move to Address Lack of Charter Oversight, Accountability

By Kevin Hart Charter schools are marketed to the public under a very simple premise – if they don’t perform, they can be closed. But the reality has been very different, and some states are now looking for ways to hold taxpayer-funded charter schools more accountable for how they perform and how they recruit students. [...]

Exploitative Charter School Lotteries Not Required by Law

By Cynthia McCabe Balloon arches span the room, loudspeakers pump out high-energy pop music, and grinning hosts cheer into microphones. It’s no party for many of the people in attendance though. Charter school operators eager to showcase interest in their facilities have turned to public events orchestrated as much for the media as for the [...]

NEA’s Waiting for Superman Resources

A barrel-chested comic book character must save public education? Compelling soundbite to sell a movie maybe but when it comes to real education reform, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel gives the American public more credit than the backers of Waiting for Superman. “Nowhere in the film or its discussion have teachers’ voices been heard,” says [...]

The Waiting For Superman Paradox

By Kevin Hart In the opening minutes of the new education “reform” documentary Waiting For Superman, director Davis Guggenheim has a moment of candor about the charter schools he hails as a panacea for urban education — he admits that most of them are not exactly getting extraordinary results. It’s that admission, educators say, that proves that [...]