The New York Times conducted research on virtual schools, focusing on K12, Inc. What they found is not encouraging for us who care about quality education for our children and who are also concerned about the dwindling funds available for public education.
Here's some startling quotes about the funding:
“What we’re talking about here is the financialization of public education,” said Alex Molnar, a research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education who is affiliated with the education policy center. “These folks are fundamentally trying to do to public education what the banks did with home mortgages.”
Here's less encouraging information about the performance of these virtual schools:
A Stanford University group, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, tracked students in eight virtual schools in Pennsylvania, including Agora, comparing them with similar students in regular schools. The study found that “in every subgroup, with significant effects, cyber charter performance is lower.”
Devora Davis, the center’s research manager, said the group’s analysis of Pennsylvania online schools showed that students were slipping. “If they were paired with a traditional public schools student, the public school student kept their place in line, and the cyberstudent moved back five spots,” she said.
School choice and privatization are hot political issues. But educational rights, equitable and quality education for all our children, is the 1964 civil rights movement of the 21st century. We need to provide better education for all our children. It's certainly not about profits for the corporations.
What happens when our schools don't have the money for basic supplies that are needed in the classrooms to teach our children? At the start of the school year, students are given a list of things to buy. This is on top of fees for buses, music, sports and sports equipment, ... the list goes on. What about the families that can't afford to pay for the supplies and fees? And, let's not forget that this list of supplies does not cover all that is really needed in the class that the school district budget cut. Our teachers, who are much maligned and disrespected, pay to supply their classrooms, and they are not reimbursed for these expenditures.
Civic engagement can occur at various levels, not only at the citizen level. In Cambridge, civic engagement was apparent with elected and appointed officials and School Superintendent. There were community meetings with parent groups from performing and non-performing schools, teacher meetings, establishment of Middle School Task Force, and numerous hearings. Here’s the history of what happened...