DPS (Detroit Public Schools) students score worst in national reading test

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. THIS is why Detroit is experimenting with charter schools. Are some people behind charter schools motivated by profit? Sure. Are some people motivated by a misguided devotion to the "free market." Yep. But it's the utter academic failure of DPS (don't even get me started on the way DPS handles its finances) that has caused Detroit parents to flock to charter schools.

All of the charter school in Detroit are nonprofits. And all the ones I have visited look to be mission-driven organizations that sincerely want to do a good job of educating children. I agree that they should be watched carefully. The bad ones should be shut down. But charter schools would not even be an issue for Detroit if DPS was doing a good job educating kids.

Why must we deregulate and privatize schools to improve them?

Bet if they stop taking money from the traditional public schools and giving it to the privately run schools...then there might be improvement.

There is no excuse for privatizing education...especially not under a Democratic president and congress.

None at all.

The DPS did not even start getting serious about reform until charter schools (each of which is run on a not-for-profit basis) opened up.

I suppose Detroit parents could either all leave the city or tolerate bad schools for another generation if that's what it takes to find a solution that meets your standards. But I don't think you will find many Dteroit families willing to do either.

Kids learn to value reading if they are read to at home. If the schools suck, turn off the fucking TV and read with your kids. It isn't that hard.

perhaps dealing with an illness, an addiction, with family obligations. lots of things are easy for middle class people with settled lives that are not easy for others. people don't usually sink into poverty because they like it. they sink into poverty because they cannot climb out. for most of those people, nothing is easy. nothing.

Why would you think they don't?

Why are parents given a pass and students as well while teachers are given all the blame?

People in poverty care for their children and find time for them.

i said it isn't easy. that was my quibble with the comment, that it was easy.

i don't see anyone getting a pass here. but i will say that the whole point of public schools is to lift up all children, especially those that need it the most.

And many of their parents, in spite of poverty, two or more jobs or many other situations, manage to find time to read to their children, help them with homework and make sure they come to school every day.

As an urban teacher for 3 decades I refuse to accept poverty as an excuse for poor parenting. Most of my co-workers feel the same way. And we have many success stories that prove making excuses for poor parenting is not in the best in terest of children.

making excuses and punishing children for the failures of their parents. present company accepted, but i have seen teachers use this as an excuse themselves. that perfect world where all the children are above average is not going to happen. we need to deal with the children that we have, and the worse the parents are, the more they need the school.
this doesn't necessarily mean this falls on teachers to heal a child. but it does mean that we see the child's wounds and do what can be done. for a child whose home life is dysfunctional to come to school and have a teacher who gives up because they feel the parent has failed is just unacceptable. it may be perfectly understandable, but it is unacceptable.

in the end, schools are the last line of defense. and failure of that last line just cannot be an option.

for their having "poor parents"...

And all the excuses in the world won't make it so. Until we address this issue: the cultural rejection of education and intellectualism in the US and parental responsibility for creating an environment conducive to education: this issue will continue no matter what form schooling takes.

These education crises and the focus of blame on teachers is occurring primarily because parents do not wish to acknowledge their total failure to raise and educate their children. TEACHERS ARE NOT SUBSTITUTE PARENTS AND ANY ATTEMPT TO MAKE THEM SO WILL ONLY LEAD TO FAILURE.

You don't get it at all.

I am going to look up and see what I can find.

After the first bit of spinning by the media, we soon found that overall charters do no better than public schools.

There is NO excuse. None.

I will send my child to the best school for him.

In some cases, that could be a DPS school. But if that happens to be a charter school, that's find, too. Like I said, I think poor-performing charter schools should be shut down. But my child's school has done an amazing job.

Here is some background on the schools in Detroit recognized as good ones:

http://www.skillman.org/news-events/press-releases/?C=178&i=58013

http://www.skillman.org/media/pdf/GS1.pdf

They might toot their own horn.

They rank schools based on some pretty objective criteria. Skillman is considered to be the best authority on this kind of thing.

the name of the companies that run them.

Oh, BTW what do you think of jailing all the Detroit teachers?

That is a video of a charter parents' group saying to do so.

Oh, and how do you feel about forcing experienced teachers to retire, as Granholm is doing by screwing up their pensions?

The answer to problems in schools is NOT to privatize and deregulate.

It is to fix the problem, and treat teachers with respect.

Every single one is a nonprofit.

In a some cases, management of the schools might be outsourced to a for-profit company. But none of the charter schools I visited were run that way. Please name the ones you think are owned and/or operated by for-profit companies. While you are at it, tell me which Detroit charter schools you have visited.

The teachers in my son's charter school seem to he happy to be there. All could make more money in the DPS or in a suburban public school.

Could you differentiate?

How can they be non-profit when the company running them makes a profit?

Imagine Schools call themselves non-profit, but they are not.

They get public money, but that does not make them public.

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1393-Education-Examiner~y2009m9d13-Charter-school-list-grows-in-metro-Detroit-area

It includes Edison. They must have a rule that they are all called "Academy." Can't tell corporate backing unless you dig into each one.

J. C. Huizenga, brother of Wayne of Blockbuster fame.

He declares it not a Christian school cause he could not get public money that way. He says it has a strong moral tone.

http://www.answers.com/topic/national-heritage-academies-inc

"National Heritage Academies was founded in 1995 by John Charles Huizenga, a wealthy Grand Rapids, Michigan, businessman. Huizenga, whose father had founded the companies that would later become Waste Management, Inc., had grown up attending Christian schools and later earned a master's degree in finance. In his early thirties, he decided to go into business and bought his first company, printing plate manufacturer American Litho. He later became involved with a second firm called JR Automation Technologies, a high-tech machine manufacturer.

When the state of Michigan instituted a law in 1994 allowing the creation of for-profit "charter" schools, which would receive taxpayer funding equivalent to what public schools spent, it created an opportunity for entrepreneurs. Huizenga, who had married a Christian school teacher and had donated to religious schools over the years, was approached by David Koetje, the superintendent of an 11-school Christian system in Grand Rapids. Koetje was now seeking funds for new charter facilities.

Michigan's charter law required that the curriculum adhere to state standards and that the schools, which would be certified by local school districts or state universities, not promote a particular religion. Koetje had second thoughts about the project because of this rule, but Huizenga decided to go forward and found a school of his own. Rather than being explicitly Christian, it would instead have a "moral focus."

The schools I have visited are nonprofits and are independent. Which specific detroit charter schools are you concerned about? I could look into those.

Many believe the use of the words "public charter" began in order to get support for them because people did not realize what was going on.

Sorry, but I can't swallow that non-profit stuff.

are you saying that there cannot be such a thing as a non-profit school?

Color me unimpressed. :)

Not by coincidence, the Detroit area has been hard-hit by the economic crisis. And the decline in the auto industry has been felt on the streets of Detroit for many, many years. Detroit is one depressed city.

The problems in our schools are due to the problems, the instability and constant upheaval and fear in our families. Parents cannot be really present in their children's lives when the parents have to deal with so much economic insecurity.

Parents who face extreme economic insecurity cannot give their children what a child needs to succeed in school.

Charter schools will not change the families from which the children who are in trouble come.

At best, charter schools will kick out kids from homes that are not providing needed support.

I support public schools. As a society, we need to take responsibility for creating an environment in which all children have a chance to succeed.

The foreclosures have to stop. Neighborhoods have to be rebuilt. Parents have to have jobs and financial and social security.

The fabric of our society has huge holes. Our children are falling through. Charter schools are not the answer. They are not even relevant. They are just a distraction.

I've lived in European countries that have better social programs. Families are more stable, and children do better in school.