Everyone should be aware that public schools MUST take everyone, private schools don't, so the next

[still_one]

Time someone trys to tell you that the test scores are lower in public schools than private schools, and it is because there is no competition, to justify why "vouchers" are good, remind them that private schools do not take learning challenged students, and if they did, there scores would reflect lower also

You cannot compare them because the samplings are from different segments of the population

Funny how they like to misrepresent things

[Major Nikon]

1. I want a voucher because I buy my own books instead of using the public library

The justification is the same as school vouchers.

[raccoon]

9. Good point! nt

[sabrina 1]

2. That is true. And even with that, Charter Schools are not producing the results

they were expected to, with some having to be shut down for failing completely.

They are a success however, for Corporations as Public Funds are channeled through their hands and a good portion of the money that SHOULD be going for education, is now going for profit.

This is the Neo-Liberal dream come true, and it coincides with the long held dreams of the Far Right, the 'funding of Private Corps with Public Money'. It's the ONLY way they can get their hands on those Public funds.

[louis-t]

3. Private schools don't do it "better and cheaper" than the public

sector. Teachers make less, students are secondary to profit.

[rfranklin]

6. You are talking about for profit charters, however when the trich send their kids to schools...

they are now paying what it costs for an Ivy League education. Cheaper is not a consideration for their darlings.

[Blue_Tires]

4. And don't forget there have been plenty of instances of charters

dumping off their low-scoring students...

[rfranklin]

5. I saw the Deborah Kenny, founder of the overhyped Harlem Village Academies trashing teachers...

on CBS morning news this week. So I looked up her stats. She is another scam artist and her results are a fraud.

Student attrition at HVA is huge. For example, the 66 5th graders in 2007-2008 have shrunk to just 16 9th graders in the 2010-2011 school year. This is a 75% attrition. In that same time, the district that the school is in went from 904 5th graders in 2007-2008 to 1313 9th graders in 2010-2011. That is a 45% growth.

http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2012/06/12/it-takes-a-village/


When a school is truly great, teachers want to keep teaching there year after year. So it should be telling that in this school over the past three years the amount of staff turnover was 2007-2008 53%, for 2008-2009, 38%, and for 2009-2010, a whopping 61%. By comparison, the teacher attrition for the entire district in 2009-2010 was just 19%.
To me, this teacher turnover is the most alarming statistic of all. So I tracked down a TFA alum named Sabrina Strand who taught for one year there. Sabrina wrote an excellent blog post called ‘I’m no Superman.’ I asked her if she would give more details about her experience, and here is what she wrote:

I am more than happy to tell the truth about HVA, at least how it was when I left after the 2006-2007 school year. I’m really glad you’re dedicated to exposing the truth behind the whole TFA/charter school charade. It is very much a charade, an elaborate, expensive smoke & mirrors. HVA, as I knew it, was one of the worst offenders of creating and sustaining the myth that teachers can solve everything. Waiting for Superman infuriated me because just like HVA – just like Deborah Kenny – it sent the message that good teachers should be martyrs, not people with lives and passions of their own that happen to also be talented and passionate about educating children. I am not a martyr, and as I titled my op-ed, I am also not superman. But yet many would say I am a very good teacher. In Deborah Kenny’s world, that would be impossible.
During the 2006-2007 school year at HVA, I taught huge classes of 5th graders who were poorly behaved. The administration was weak and ineffective. Everyone, including the principal and the dean, was so stressed out that there were often medical problems. I used to take the bus up to Harlem with my co-teacher and best friend at the school, Johanna Fishbein, and we would often cry on our way to work.
The working conditions at the school were plainly unreasonable. They took advantage of young, idealistic, competent teachers; they squeezed and squeezed until there was nothing left to give, even our dignity. Deborah Kenny is LARGELY to blame for this, as we were all desperately trying to play our parts in the Deborah Kenny play – one where she produced and directed but never wrote or starred in the productions.

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2012/06/nbc-bias-on-deborah-kenny-hva-charter.html

[still_one]

8. Very interesting.

[seabeyond]

7. absolutely. and the kids that will use voichers will be the kids whose parents will go the extra

step in their kids learning. taking the kids that would bring the average up in public, leaving public to fail that much quicker.