All of the available research on the intellectual, moral, and social value of school integration underscores the bald hypocrisy of the corporate segregationists who insist that they are interested in raising achievement and character among poor children.
If the charter school empire builders were simply interested in test performance (never mind their civil rights cynicism), these businessmen would be fashioning their schools around diversity.
But, of course, the white venture philanthropists' policies must abide by the paternalistic social control mechanism that binds any of their decisions regarding pedagogy or any other social institution.
Part of a letter by Todd Mann to the Editor of Ed Week:
If the charter school empire builders were simply interested in test performance (never mind their civil rights cynicism), these businessmen would be fashioning their schools around diversity.
But, of course, the white venture philanthropists' policies must abide by the paternalistic social control mechanism that binds any of their decisions regarding pedagogy or any other social institution.
Part of a letter by Todd Mann to the Editor of Ed Week:
To the Editor:
Based on the spring results of the California Smarter Balanced assessments, the Los Angeles Unified School District recently announced that 55 percent of the district's magnet students met or exceeded state standards in English/language arts, compared with 39 percent in charters, 33 percent in the LAUSD overall, and 44 percent in traditional schools statewide. The breakdown of math results followed a similar pattern.
The results represent the online scores of the state's 3rd through 8th graders, as well as 11th graders, from 48,000 charters and 37,000 magnet schools. The numbers paint a clear picture: Students from LAUSD magnet schools are not only being prepared effectively for college and future careers, they are also outperforming their peers in other schools by significant margins throughout the state, at every grade level.
The scores were released just as the influential Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation floated the idea to provide the LAUSD with a $490 million incentive to double the number of charter schools in the district. The timing was ironic.
Magnet schools explicitly promote school integration and diversity as a core mission. Unlike charters, magnet schools do not operate autonomously, outside the public school system, and are never run by for-profit organizations. This provides a level of direct accountability to decisionmakers and taxpayers. Most magnet schools also adhere to collective bargaining agreements made with educators. . . .
Frequently when researching California State University (CSU) entrance exam proficiency and remediation rates for large corporate charter chains, their idea of "college ready" consists of single digit proficiency in the aggregate of their graduates. Alliance, Green Dot, and LA's Promise are just a few of the corporate charter school chains that demonstrate such dismal performance that it is (somewhat) astonishing that the public isn't aware of the abject failure. Magnet schools have no such problems. I suppose that's what happens when you contrast education conducted in the public commons to that of the revenue driven charter school sector, which, in California at least, is controlled by the private management of 501c3, a model that leads to negligible transparency and profiteering.
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