In 2007, FairTest’s Monty Neill and I wrote a report called “Chicago School Reform: Lessons for the Nation,” which strongly cautioned against using Chicago and its mayoral controlled school district as a model for school improvement.

Six years later, our concerns have been confirmed by researchers Elaine Weiss and Don Long for the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education group.

I just shared their findings with the Illinois House and Senate Education committee members in this week’s PURE leg fax:

NEW REPORT: Market-driven school reforms, mayoral control causing more harm than good

A new study, “Market-oriented education reforms’ rhetoric trumps reality,” on the effects of market-driven reform in Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago concludes that little has been accomplished and some harm has been done to students, especially the underprivileged.

Market-oriented education reform refers to a series of initiatives that include educator evaluations based in large part on student standardized test scores, the closure of schools that are considered failing or underenrolled, and an increase in the number of charter schools, many of which are operated by for-profit companies. (Washington Post, http://tinyurl.com/btyv4le).

States and districts have been forced to adopt many of these reforms to comply with NCLB or apply for Race to the Top grants, with added pressure from corporate-backed groups like Students First and Stand for Children.

The executive summary of the report (http://tinyurl.com/d2e8knv) concludes:

• Test scores increased less, and achievement gaps grew more, in “reform” cities than in other urban districts.
• Reported successes for targeted students evaporated upon closer examination.
• Test-based accountability prompted churn that thinned the ranks of experienced teachers, but not necessarily bad teachers.
• School closures did not send students to better schools or save school districts money.
• Charter schools further disrupted the districts while providing mixed benefits, particularly for the highest-needs students.
• Emphasis on the widely touted market-oriented reforms drew attention and resources from initiatives with greater promise.
• The reforms missed a critical factor driving achievement gaps: the influence of poverty on academic performance. Real, sustained change requires strategies that are more realistic, patient, and multipronged.

PURE ASKS YOU TO :

• Support the CPS school closing moratorium bills SB 1571 and HB 3283.

• Support community-based school improvement and stronger local school councils trained by independent, non-CPS training groups. (http://pureparents.org/?p=15681)
• Support an elected school board in Chicago.

Walgreen's coupons created by Wade Tillett

It was only a couple of  months ago that Walgreen’s CEO Greg Wasson stood with Mayor Rahm at our old neighborhood school, Field Elementary, to announce the giveaway of $25 Walgreen’s gift cards to parents for picking up their children’s report cards. “This is a way, in my view, of incentivizing responsible parenting,” the Mayor said that day.

At the time, I sent this letter to Mayor Emanuel and CEO Wasson, suggesting that there are far better ways to involve parents.  I never heard back.

I guess that’s because they were too busy cooking up the $700,000 no-bid contract reported in today’s Sun-Times. The City of Chicago will pay Walgreen’s to screen city employees for a new wellness program.

The lesson here is an old one: corporations always have a financial agenda wrapped up in their generosity. Whether it’s just trying to make themselves look good, using their donations to promote the business, or out-and-out sucking up to the mayor, it’s really not about the kids.

Now that so many corporations are directing so much money into the worst corporate reform programs that actually hurt our children, it’s even more important that we put the pressure on them and do our best to incentivize responsible philanthropy.

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah and John Chase’s news bomb in today’s Tribune demonstrates to the rest of Chicago what public school advocates have known for a long time – when CPS speaks, they lie.

The internal CPS memo, which outlines in detail how CPS plans to close some 95 schools in one year, clearly takes a page out of the corporate reforrners’ cynically fake “public engagement” strategy book, the one funded by Chicago’s own Joyce Foundation which I wrote about back in February (see point 4 here).

The Tribune reports:

The document discusses how to deal with public reaction to school closing decisions, with ideas ranging from establishing “a meaningful engagement process with community members” to building a “monitoring mechanism to ensure nimble response to opposition to proposed school actions.”

Sojourners Magazine just published a blog comment/letter to the editor I wrote in response to a previous article by Nicole Baker Fulgham, “Beyond ‘Superman,’” which referenced “Waiting for Superman” in recommending that meaningful reform must involve all stakeholders having a stronger, more meaningful voice in school decision-making.

Fulgham wrote: “As an African-American woman and a Christian, I have undergone my own process to unpack the unique and often deeply held beliefs of communities that have been historically marginalized and disenfranchised within public discourse. I’ve come to believe that we have to find authentic ways to give all stakeholders a voice in the dialogue and decision-making. Otherwise we run the risk of well-intentioned school reforms being viewed with heavy doses of skepticism by those left out of the process.”

Read more of her thoughtful piece here.

Have been spending some time thinking about how to call for a boycott of people like hedge funder, former Bain guy, and Rahm Emanuel best buddy Bruce Rauner, chairman of the Education Committee of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and a member of the board of the Chicago Public Education Fund and New Schools for Chicago.

Why Rauner? Well, he’s recently set himself up as the primary nemesis of the CTU (maybe to deflect parent anger from his pal Rahm?). The day after the CTU strike ended, Rauner went on a rant against the union at a civic event and then went off on local public television. He followed that up with a particularly ugly editorial in today’s Tribune in which he actually accused a CTU member of calling him a derogatory name out in the street. Sure, that will really help sell his message that the CTU is the only thing standing between children and uniformly great schools (i.e. more charter schools).

It’s one thing to talk about avoiding WalMart and  Hyatt hotels to protest the Waltons’ and Penny Pritzker’s support for the privatization of public education. It’s even possible to stop using Microsoft products as a way of protesting Bill Gates’ arrogant trampling of democracy in our schools (I did it!).

Problem is, you need $$$ to stop giving $$$ to the hedge funders.

But, as I have pointed out before, it’s not as if my little crusade against Microsoft or WalMart is going to cause a blip on the NASDAQ. What we can do together, though, is put a little schmutz on the shiny corporate image that these companies spend billions to create and maintain.

And the schmutz we can put on Rauner has to do with his aspirations to become governor of Illinois.

I just remember when Paul Vallas, another guy who came close to destroying our public schools, was running in the gubernatorial primary in Illinois in 2002. As CPS CEO, Vallas had angered a handful of mothers in Little Village by telling them that they wouldn’t need the new high school they were demanding if they didn’t have so many children. Not only did those mothers go on a historic hunger strike and win their new school, but they dogged Vallas throughout his primary campaign, which went down in flames.

Si, se puede.

I already forgot my new strategy to call for some boycott or action against a corporate reformer on the first Tuesday of every month, but it’s my blog and I figure I can go after WalMart any time I want.

I have close relatives who work at WalMart and they have been able to build a pretty nice life. I have even been known to go to WalMart once in a blue moon and (also rarely) to order from Walmert online because they usually have the cheapest item of a set of choices. But I’m going to stop doing that for good.

After seeing the “Teachers Rock” infomercial for Teach for America and the “Won’t Back Down” movie, heavily promoted by WalMart, I really have had it with them.

You don’t have to go that far if you don’t want to. Here’s something real and simple that you can do to tell WalMart that we don’t accept their vision for our country, our schools, or our children and families.

I received this message from Paco Fabian of Warehouse Workers for Justice:

This past week, Walmart warehouse workers went on strike in Elwood, IL, to protest wage theft, discrimination, and retaliation against those that spoke out demanding more respect.

Walmart warehouse workers endure extreme temperatures, inhale dust and chemical residue, and lift thousands of boxes weighing up to 250 lbs. with no support. They never know how long the work day will be—sometimes two hours, sometimes 16 hours. Injuries are common, as is discrimination against women, and illegal retaliation against workers who speak up for better treatment.

That’s why I started a petition to Walmart, demanding changes in their warehouses.

Click here to sign the petition supporting Walmart’s Illinois warehouse workers.

Thanks!

–Paco Fabian

This petition is looking for 10,000 signers and already has over 8,000. For Public Schools Action Tuesday, let’s help them out in honor of our public schools!

Things are really heating up in the fight over the parent trigger propaganda movie, “Won’t Back Down.”

Corporate reformers concerned that their secret agenda behind the big Hollywood movie is being exposed have now launched an attack on Parents Across America. Folks, the best response to this is to continue to tell parents the truth about the movie and the parent trigger. Please continue to share PAA’s Rita Solnet’s review of the movie and fact sheets by PAA’s Caroline Grannan and Leonie Haimson.

Also upcoming events courtesy of Raise Your Hand news:

Tuesday 8/21- Lincoln Square Meeting
Location change for meeting hosted by CTU and Parents 4 Teachers:
Old Town School of Music
4545 N. Lincoln Avenue

5:30 socializing, and meet and greet
6:30 forum, q & a, & discussion break out groups

Tuesday 8/21 –Rogers Park Meeting 6:30pm
Senn High School – 5900 N. Glenwood
48th Ward Education Information Meeting hosted by Alderman Harry Osterman.

Reps from both CPS and CTU will be at this meeting to answer questions, updates on 48th Ward Education Initiatives.

Board Meeting tomorrow – Wednesday 8/22
CPS is scheduled to vote on the budget tomorrow. We have a few questions – such as why is CPS increasing funding to charters by $76 million in a year when they are draining the reserve funds? Why are they increasing the Portfolio Office by over $5 million? Our neighborhood schools need attention and many of them have received cuts this year.

CPS is increasing funding to some charter operators who have schools performing below CPS average. As one example, UNO is receiving $10,132,678 in new funding this year. Issues around funding for charters vs. traditional schools are complex. We question why this big of an increase this year, when we are cash-strapped and moving on to an even bigger deficit next year, and what is the criteria CPS is using to make decisions around charter expansion?

Parents and community members should have a voice in what happens to our schools and we will be paying close attention and reporting on the defunding of neighborhood schools that we see that reside within blocks of charters that are receiving huge increases in funding.

Come out and support RYH at a fun event 8/28 in Rogers Park

Political guru Don Washington is hosting a tutorial on education for RYH on Tuesday, 8/28. This is an interactive, informational, agitational fun event on the state of public education in Chicago. Come out to the Heartland Café on 8/28 at 7pm to support RYH and join with other parents, teachers and citizens who care about public education. The Mayoral Tutorial believes democracy is a contact sport and participatory activity. We’ll play games, learn things, taunt the powerful and hear from a surprise guest.  Check out the website at Mayoraltutorial.com.

Tickets are $25. Please email us and let us know if you can attend: info@ilraiseyourhand.org

Event details:

Heartland Café – 7000 N. Glenwood
Tuesday, 8/28 – 7pm