In Jacksonville you could substitute Gary Chartrand for Bill gates above. Money does not equal having good ideas experience or knowledge and it's time the education leaders in Jax picked up on that.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Gary Chartrand, Jacksonville's very own Bill Gates or Koch brothers
In Jacksonville you could substitute Gary Chartrand for Bill gates above. Money does not equal having good ideas experience or knowledge and it's time the education leaders in Jax picked up on that.
Has Gary Chartrand bought off JU too?
I am just going to get right to it.
JU is having an education public policy forum this Wednesday that is very pro-Chartrand, he and his surrogates are the panelists, presenting their corporate styles of reforms. No other voices are represented.
Richard A. Mullaney, lawyer and former mayoral candidate is in charge. As a candidate in 2010 Mullaney received a thousand dollars from Chartrand and his wife, more from their friends. A pittance I admit.
But it made me think maybe Chartrand was pulling a Koch brothers and paying off JU to sell his ideas.
So I asked Mullaney and the president of JU through an e-mail if Gary Chartrand has donated to JU to which I have yet to receive an answer. I asked President Cost on First Coast Connect the same question which he again side stepped.
If the answer is not a simple no then it has to be yes doesn't it?
Gary Chartrand is shaping education policy not based on evidence and fact but based on greasing wheels. He did the same thing at WJCT who gave him a freaking award and protects or avoid pieces that might have a dissenting view like I avoid doing the dishes.
Don't we deserve an honest debate? Don't all voices deserve to be heard? The people Gary Chartrand has payed off seem to disagree.
JU is having an education public policy forum this Wednesday that is very pro-Chartrand, he and his surrogates are the panelists, presenting their corporate styles of reforms. No other voices are represented.
Richard A. Mullaney, lawyer and former mayoral candidate is in charge. As a candidate in 2010 Mullaney received a thousand dollars from Chartrand and his wife, more from their friends. A pittance I admit.
But it made me think maybe Chartrand was pulling a Koch brothers and paying off JU to sell his ideas.
So I asked Mullaney and the president of JU through an e-mail if Gary Chartrand has donated to JU to which I have yet to receive an answer. I asked President Cost on First Coast Connect the same question which he again side stepped.
If the answer is not a simple no then it has to be yes doesn't it?
Gary Chartrand is shaping education policy not based on evidence and fact but based on greasing wheels. He did the same thing at WJCT who gave him a freaking award and protects or avoid pieces that might have a dissenting view like I avoid doing the dishes.
Don't we deserve an honest debate? Don't all voices deserve to be heard? The people Gary Chartrand has payed off seem to disagree.
Monday, November 10, 2014
JU President Tim Cost avoids answering questions about Education Submit
JU's president Tim Cost was on First Coast Connect today and after he mentioned the neutrality of the upcoming Public Policy Education forum I called and asked the following questions.
Finally the panel seems to have just one voice representing corporate
style reforms, does, JU think it is good public policy to ignore different
points of views.
He then promptly dodged the questions, though he later said JU would have no reason not to be honest and prevent both sides of the argument.
The problem is JUs deeds don't match up with his words. The public policy forum set for Tuesday is completely one sided representing the corporate/privatization agenda. In his defense the winds are blowing that way but that doesn't mean its right or "good policy"to ignore the voices that would rather improve than replace our public schools.
First I don’t think it should be lost on
anybody that the forum takes place when most parents and all public school
teachers cannot attend, the fact that not one participant actually ever taught
in a Duval Public school and the panel is dominated by Gary Chartrand the
controversial chair of the state board of education and his surrogates. Two
members of JPEF, one of KIPP another who worked for the Foundation for
Education Excellence, Jeb Bush’s arguably anti-public education advocacy group,
and even commissioner Pam Stewart owes her Job to Gary Chartrand
My questions are has Gary Chartrand donated to
Jacksonville University and if so has that donation led to the one sided
choices.
Why aren’t parents and teachers those most
affected by education policies involved.
He then promptly dodged the questions, though he later said JU would have no reason not to be honest and prevent both sides of the argument.
The problem is JUs deeds don't match up with his words. The public policy forum set for Tuesday is completely one sided representing the corporate/privatization agenda. In his defense the winds are blowing that way but that doesn't mean its right or "good policy"to ignore the voices that would rather improve than replace our public schools.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Jeb Bush gets a mostly false on education from Politifact
From the Tampa Times
With the 2014 elections in the rear-view mirror and 2016 coming up fast, the political world has begun speculating about whether former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — son of one president and brother of a second — could seek the White House himself.
"America's education system is a prime example of government that is completely out-of-control. Instead of focusing on what's best for our children, education in America is focused on the adults who organize in more than 13,000 heavily unionized government monopolies.
"In order to have any lasting success, we must first transform our failing education system and have no tolerance for the adult-centered K-12 system that exists today.In a recent fundraising letter sent on behalf of the Excellence in Education Foundation, Bush discusses one of his signature issues.
"As a result, America's high school graduation standards are shamefully low.
"Only 25% of America's high school graduates are college or career ready.
"1/3 of America's high school graduates need remediation.
"1/3 of our kids drop out, cannot go to college or start a career.
"This is a tragedy unfolding in our country in ways that will overwhelm us."
This is a lot to chew on, but we decided to check one of these claims — that one-third of American students "drop out, cannot go to college or start a career."
The problem, we quickly found, is that Bush's one-third figure isn't correct for dropouts alone, for those who do not go to college, or for the combination of the two.
Before we look at the numbers, we should explain that there is more than one way to measure dropout frequency.
One of the most common is the "status dropout rate," which measures, at a specific point in time, what percent of people within a certain age range are dropouts.
By this measure, Bush's figure is significantly inflated. In 2012, 6.6 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds were neither enrolled in school nor possessed an alternative high school credential such as a GED. That's one-fifth of Bush's number.
Another way of measuring dropouts is to use the "event dropout rate." This measures what percentage of people in an age range dropped out during the prior year. In 2011 — the most recent year this statistic was calculated — the percentage was 3 percent. That's less than 10 percent of what Bush had said.
So what's going on here? When we asked Bush's staff to explain their reasoning, they said that multiple reports show high numbers of minority students, black and Hispanic in particular, are not graduating from high school.
It pointed to another federal estimate — one that looks at how many public high school students who started as freshmen finished high school within four years. According to provisional data, the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate, as it is known, found that 78.2 percent of freshmen finished school in four years. That figure was 66.1 for black students and 71.4 percent for Hispanics. That flip side would be that nearly 34 percent of black freshmen and about 29 percent of Hispanic freshmen didn't graduate in four years. Education Week data showed similar numbers for members of the high school class of 2012.
However, the fundraising letter doesn't mention anything about minority students. So the most appropriate number to use would be the overall number — and that would be 19 percent to 22 percent, depending on the parameters you use. Either way, that's well less than one-third.
Bush's staff also pointed to data from the publishers of the ACT college-entrance exam. It found that 31 percent of those who graduated from high school and took the ACT were not ready for entry-level college courses in English, reading, math or science. However, ACT test-takers represent a fraction all of students, and it's not wise to assume they're the same, said David Bills, an education professor at the University of Iowa.
Overall, Bills said, the Bush camp's justifications strike him as cherry-picking. "I think we're getting a pretty motivated use of data," he said.
The statement contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it Mostly False.
Our priorities are all out of whack!
The video is not about education but it speaks to our priorities
There was a time when teachers were respected but now because some rich people think they can make a buck off of education or some rich people have an irrational and pathological hatred of labor those times have passed.
We have to decide what type of society we want to live in. The type where educating our children is an important and shared responsibility where we have a thriving middle class or one where a few people get really rich.
There was a time when teachers were respected but now because some rich people think they can make a buck off of education or some rich people have an irrational and pathological hatred of labor those times have passed.
We have to decide what type of society we want to live in. The type where educating our children is an important and shared responsibility where we have a thriving middle class or one where a few people get really rich.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Gary Chartrand and the serious appearance of impropriety!
Gary Chartrand is the chair of the state board of education
The State Board of Education over sees the Department of Education and hired commissioner Pam Stewart.
The Department of Education is handing out grants, 3.3 million dollars’ worth to only three winners, to foster partnerships between districts and charter schools.
Gary Chartrand is on the board of the KIPP charter school in Jacksonville.
Superintendent Vitti and the Duval County School board have applied for the grant. Vitti said, “KIPP is here to stay, and the KIPP expansion will occur with or without the grant,” Vitti said. “If there’s an opportunity to write a grant that benefits KIPP but also the school district, then I think it would be rather foolish financially to walk away from that.”
Gary Chartrand and the board of KIPP have given thousands and thousands of dollars to six member of the school board and thousands more to have the seventh Paula Wright defeated.
WJCT Jacksonville’s public radio station did what I consider a puff piece on the district applying for the charter grant that left out a lot of important information. They didn’t mention that last year KIPP was protected by the states rule saying schools could only drop one letter grade, a rule that Chartrand had a hand in developing. KIPP’s real school grades are F, B, C(D) B. They also didn’t mention how KIPP spends about a third more per pupil, has longer days, smaller classes, requires its parents to at least be marginally involved and may or may not be counseling out under performers, only 64 of its first class of 88 finished. The piece made it sound like KIPP is just better.
The Chartrand foundation at least partially funds WJCT’s education coverage.
I know what you are probably thinking. The rich, powerful and connected have always been able to steer resources to their pet projects and I haven't exactly provided a smoking gun. The thing is you don't need one to report about the relationships and the benefits that occur, and I think if the people knew about the relationships they would care and they would want better. Our public officials and the FLDOE should be above even the appearance of impropriety..
Sunday, November 2, 2014
WJCT takes 30 pieces of silver, protects the KIPP school, Chartrands donation has paid off
I was very disappointed reading Rhema Thomson's piece on the district applying for a grant for KIPP expansion. It not only left out important information but it gave in my opinion erroneous information.
From WJCT: Since opening in 2010, KIPP Impact Middle School has received an F in 2011, a B in 2012, and a C in 2013. This year, the school received another B. School grades for KIPP Voice, which opened in 2012, are not yet available. According to the state department of education, it must have two years-worth of testing data in order to generate a school grade.
http://news.wjct.org/post/duval-schools-competing-3m-grant-expand-charter-school
I guess technically correct but I believe she should have mentioned how the states one letter grade rule protected its C from dropping to a D. A rule Gary Chartrand played a hand in creating.
But worse, there was no mention of the extra resources and advantages that the KIPP school has. Longer days, more teachers, more money, and requiring parents to be involved are all serious advantages that didn't get a mention once. If you were to read the piece you would think they were just better than public schools and nothing is further from the truth.
What also wasn't mentioned was Gary Chartrand's affiliation with the department of education, who is providing the grant, the KIPP school who he brought to town and who will be getting the grant, applied for by a school board he has given thousands and thousands of dollars to and WJCT whose education coverage he partly funds.
With reporting like this, and with the taking money from an agenda driven millionaire how can we take any future reporting by them seriously going forward.
From WJCT: Since opening in 2010, KIPP Impact Middle School has received an F in 2011, a B in 2012, and a C in 2013. This year, the school received another B. School grades for KIPP Voice, which opened in 2012, are not yet available. According to the state department of education, it must have two years-worth of testing data in order to generate a school grade.
http://news.wjct.org/post/duval-schools-competing-3m-grant-expand-charter-school
I guess technically correct but I believe she should have mentioned how the states one letter grade rule protected its C from dropping to a D. A rule Gary Chartrand played a hand in creating.
But worse, there was no mention of the extra resources and advantages that the KIPP school has. Longer days, more teachers, more money, and requiring parents to be involved are all serious advantages that didn't get a mention once. If you were to read the piece you would think they were just better than public schools and nothing is further from the truth.
What also wasn't mentioned was Gary Chartrand's affiliation with the department of education, who is providing the grant, the KIPP school who he brought to town and who will be getting the grant, applied for by a school board he has given thousands and thousands of dollars to and WJCT whose education coverage he partly funds.
With reporting like this, and with the taking money from an agenda driven millionaire how can we take any future reporting by them seriously going forward.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Comparing KIPP impact to the other middle schools in the area. Methinks Vitti doth exaggerate.
All the info below was taken from the Jacksonville Public Education's Web-site.
http://www.jaxpef.org/school-facts-jax/school-data/middle-schools.aspx
I just compared KIPP to the non-magnet schools. It is safe to say that the results of those schools far out pace the results of KIPP and the other schools. I did so because the superintendent says KIPP is far outpacing the surrounding schools and is using that as a reason to push unprecedented expansion.
KIPP Impact, 355 kids, 71 percent free and reduced lunch
Reading 38, Math 52, Algebra EOC passing 88 percent
Mathew Gilbert, 472 kids, 84 percent free and reduced lunch
Reading 29, Math 36, Algebra EOC 92 percent
Highlands Middle School, 916 kids, 69% free and reduced lunch
Reading 31, Math 29, Algebra EOC passing 51 percent
Northwestern, 447 kids, 82 percent free and reduced lunch
25 reading, 34 math, 97 Algebra EOC passing 97 percent
Oceanway, 1224 kids, 47 percent free and reduced lunch
55 reading, 46 math, Algebra EOC passing 58 percent
Butler, 582 kids, 80 percent free and reduced lunch
23 reading, 30 math, Algebra EOC passing 80%
Jeff Davis, 1050 kids, 65 percent free and educed lunch
38 reading, 29 math, Algebra EOC passing 39 percent
Jeb Stuart, 850 kids, 71 percent free and reduced lunch
32 reading, 35 math, Algebra EOC passing rate 58 percent
Some things that are pretty obvious, hands down KIPP is doing better in math, Oceanway which because of where it is was I hesitated to include is fairly comparable but all of the other schools are lagging behind.
In Reading none of the schools are doing particularly well, except for Oceanway which has managed to get over fifty percent proficiency.
It's really impossible to tell who is doing best with the algebra EOC unless I could know how many kids were taking the test. I could probably find that out on the FLDOE site but I am an unpaid blogger so I am going to call it a wash.
The percentage of kids on free and reduced lunch was greater at two of the public schools Butler and Gilbert but then comparable with all the others except with, you guessed it Oceanway.
I then compared the student teacher ratios at a couple of the schools (the second number is admins and such figured in) with the KIPP school.
KIPP Impact, 28 teachers and 3 admins on their web-site (12.678/11.45 ratio)
http://www.kippjax.org/our-schools/kipp-impact/faculty-staff/
Mathew Gilbert, 27 teachers. 9 admins, guidance counselors and coaches (17.48/13.11 ratio)
http://www.duvalschools.org/domain/3928
Northwestern, 28 teachers, 8 admins, guidance counselors and coaches (15.96/12.41)
http://www.duvalschools.org/domain/3986
And as you can see the KIPP school has significantly smaller class sizes.
Finally the KIPP impact school has fewer students than all the other schools and likely benefits from a selection bias and the fact that smaller groups have less variability.
So let me ask you a question, if a school has smaller classes, more resources and can require parents to be involved then is it really fair to compare it to other schools that don't have those same advantages. I imagine that's as fair as comparing the former to the entire district and if we were to do that then the KIPP school is greatly under performing.
The super is pushing the expansion of KIPP and I have to say the evidence for him doing so is flimsy at best.
http://www.jaxpef.org/school-facts-jax/school-data/middle-schools.aspx
I just compared KIPP to the non-magnet schools. It is safe to say that the results of those schools far out pace the results of KIPP and the other schools. I did so because the superintendent says KIPP is far outpacing the surrounding schools and is using that as a reason to push unprecedented expansion.
KIPP Impact, 355 kids, 71 percent free and reduced lunch
Reading 38, Math 52, Algebra EOC passing 88 percent
Mathew Gilbert, 472 kids, 84 percent free and reduced lunch
Reading 29, Math 36, Algebra EOC 92 percent
Highlands Middle School, 916 kids, 69% free and reduced lunch
Reading 31, Math 29, Algebra EOC passing 51 percent
Northwestern, 447 kids, 82 percent free and reduced lunch
25 reading, 34 math, 97 Algebra EOC passing 97 percent
Oceanway, 1224 kids, 47 percent free and reduced lunch
55 reading, 46 math, Algebra EOC passing 58 percent
Butler, 582 kids, 80 percent free and reduced lunch
23 reading, 30 math, Algebra EOC passing 80%
Jeff Davis, 1050 kids, 65 percent free and educed lunch
38 reading, 29 math, Algebra EOC passing 39 percent
Jeb Stuart, 850 kids, 71 percent free and reduced lunch
32 reading, 35 math, Algebra EOC passing rate 58 percent
Some things that are pretty obvious, hands down KIPP is doing better in math, Oceanway which because of where it is was I hesitated to include is fairly comparable but all of the other schools are lagging behind.
In Reading none of the schools are doing particularly well, except for Oceanway which has managed to get over fifty percent proficiency.
It's really impossible to tell who is doing best with the algebra EOC unless I could know how many kids were taking the test. I could probably find that out on the FLDOE site but I am an unpaid blogger so I am going to call it a wash.
The percentage of kids on free and reduced lunch was greater at two of the public schools Butler and Gilbert but then comparable with all the others except with, you guessed it Oceanway.
I then compared the student teacher ratios at a couple of the schools (the second number is admins and such figured in) with the KIPP school.
KIPP Impact, 28 teachers and 3 admins on their web-site (12.678/11.45 ratio)
http://www.kippjax.org/our-schools/kipp-impact/faculty-staff/
Mathew Gilbert, 27 teachers. 9 admins, guidance counselors and coaches (17.48/13.11 ratio)
http://www.duvalschools.org/domain/3928
Northwestern, 28 teachers, 8 admins, guidance counselors and coaches (15.96/12.41)
http://www.duvalschools.org/domain/3986
And as you can see the KIPP school has significantly smaller class sizes.
Finally the KIPP impact school has fewer students than all the other schools and likely benefits from a selection bias and the fact that smaller groups have less variability.
So let me ask you a question, if a school has smaller classes, more resources and can require parents to be involved then is it really fair to compare it to other schools that don't have those same advantages. I imagine that's as fair as comparing the former to the entire district and if we were to do that then the KIPP school is greatly under performing.
The super is pushing the expansion of KIPP and I have to say the evidence for him doing so is flimsy at best.
The curious case of KIPP impact trying to deceive the people of Jacksonville
If you go to the local KIPP page and click the our schools page, they have a results tab. If you click that you quickly find out that the KIPP impact school according to the VAM ratings is the second best middle school in the city. Amazing if I had kids I would be sending them there.
http://www.kippjax.org/our-schools/kipp-impact/results/
Um, wait a minute VAM ratings? VAM stands for value added measure and the Department of education says they are inaccurate for teachers more than a third of the time. Hmm but they have to be better when measuring an entire school don't they? Oy vey.
So the KIPP impact school has used a dubious metric to indicate their success and it would end right there except the national KIPP organization is a little more honest than the local KIPP school, not surprising because the local KIPP school is affiliated with Gary Chartrand who often plays fast and lose with the truth.
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/08/just-because-gary-chartrand-is-rich-it.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/08/why-do-candidates-associated-with-gary.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/08/gary-chartrand-wouldnt-know-whole-truth.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/08/gary-chartrand-floridas-most.html
If you go to the national KIPP page it will eventually lead you to a results by city page.
http://www.kipp.org/reportcard
Then if you click on the Jax KIPP school results page you get a very different picture
http://www.kipp.org/00/docs/ReportCard2013/KIPP_2013_ReportCard_KIPP_Impact_Middle_School.pdf
You can plainly see that when compared with the district the local KIPP results are pretty bad. They are under performing and the national organization uses reading, math and science scores, not some dubious/junk science metric..
Now some of you might be saying it is unfair to compare them to the entire district and they should be compared just to the schools closest to them because these schools serve similar demographics. Which would be fair except the KIPP school spends about a third more in money, requires parents to be involved and may or may not be counseling out poor performers. I don't know but I do know 30 percent of their first class didn't finish.
Once again I submit if any neighboring school had those advantages their results would be much better than KIPPs
This however is about them being deceptive. Go to the local KIPP school page and they are the second best in the city but go to the national KIPP page and they are are under performing.
http://www.kippjax.org/our-schools/kipp-impact/results/
Um, wait a minute VAM ratings? VAM stands for value added measure and the Department of education says they are inaccurate for teachers more than a third of the time. Hmm but they have to be better when measuring an entire school don't they? Oy vey.
So the KIPP impact school has used a dubious metric to indicate their success and it would end right there except the national KIPP organization is a little more honest than the local KIPP school, not surprising because the local KIPP school is affiliated with Gary Chartrand who often plays fast and lose with the truth.
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/08/just-because-gary-chartrand-is-rich-it.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/08/why-do-candidates-associated-with-gary.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/08/gary-chartrand-wouldnt-know-whole-truth.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2013/08/gary-chartrand-floridas-most.html
If you go to the national KIPP page it will eventually lead you to a results by city page.
http://www.kipp.org/reportcard
Then if you click on the Jax KIPP school results page you get a very different picture
http://www.kipp.org/00/docs/ReportCard2013/KIPP_2013_ReportCard_KIPP_Impact_Middle_School.pdf
You can plainly see that when compared with the district the local KIPP results are pretty bad. They are under performing and the national organization uses reading, math and science scores, not some dubious/junk science metric..
Now some of you might be saying it is unfair to compare them to the entire district and they should be compared just to the schools closest to them because these schools serve similar demographics. Which would be fair except the KIPP school spends about a third more in money, requires parents to be involved and may or may not be counseling out poor performers. I don't know but I do know 30 percent of their first class didn't finish.
Once again I submit if any neighboring school had those advantages their results would be much better than KIPPs
This however is about them being deceptive. Go to the local KIPP school page and they are the second best in the city but go to the national KIPP page and they are are under performing.
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