“Don’t Believe the Hype”

A young MBA student tells her classmates that “education reform” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Many of my classmates in business school assume that education reform is a good thing.  Accountability! Improvement!  Closing the Achievement gap! Usually they know some Teach for America alums (who are now lawyers), or they’ve watched “Waiting for Superman.” They’ve heard of charter schools (which of course they didn’t attend), and being business-minded, they assume that privately-run schools will somehow be better.  Because many of my classmates will go on to be business leaders, decision makers, employers and parents, I think it’s important that they understand what education reform is really about. Here’s what I tell them: Continue reading

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Date this School (and Possibly Marry It)

Happy National Charter School Week, excellence lovers! Today we turn our extended attention spans to a fiercely urgent question: what if there was a way for teachers with enhanced excellence to find their perfect school match? And better yet, what if this dating service weeded out all of the duds—the dirty, low-expectations public schools that can be such a buzz kill for a young excellence lover? At last our dream has come true! myEDmatch.com uses the cool fun vibe of online dating to bring together “best-fit teachers and schools.” Best of all, these “best-fit” teachers don’t have to worry about being mis-matched or “ill-fit” with a LIFO-lifer loser school. Excellence lovers only please! Continue reading

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The Case of the Missing College Graduates

Grab your magnifying glass, reader, and a heaping helping of fingerprint powder too—we’re going sleuthing. College graduates are the object of today’s inquiry, specifically students who, after attending urban academies of excellence and innovation, go on to attend college at STAGGERING numbers, yet disappear completely when it is time for that beloved tradition: the data round up. While it is an indisputable true fact that students who attend charter schools graduate from college and find outstanding 21st century jobs at rates that shame and embarrass their peers at Low Expectations High, you might be surprised to learn that there is exactly no research documenting that true fact. Well, there is one study. A 2011 report by KIPP Academy found that a mere 30 % of students graduating from KIPP schools actually graduate from college. Continue reading

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Now on Sale at Walmart, Education Rephorm

Walmart is leading the effort to give low-income Americans more ¢hoi¢e in education, while insuring that they remain low income.

It is a well known fact that students who attend our union-stifled public schools are ill prepared for their future careers—at Walmart. That is why Walmart is leading the effort to fix our failing schools by introducing some much needed competition into the public education monopoly. Much like shoppers at Walmart have a choice of many different Chinese-made goods, education consumers will soon have a veritable all-you-can-eat buffet of edu-choices. All this is thanks to the efforts of the Walton Family Foundation, which has plunked down a cool $1 billion worth of Walmart profits to transphorm public education. Continue reading

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Mitt Romney’s No Excuses School

Cranbrook, the private boarding school attended by Mitt Romney, is a ‘No Excuses’ school, which is why Mr. Romney has such remarkable posture.

Haters are constantly dawging on Mitt Romney for being quite possibly the whitest person who has ever lived. But it might surprise you to know that despite his mom jeans and the robotic arm movements, Willard Mitt Romney actually has a lot of flava. You see, Mr. Romney attended a No Excuses school very similar to the ones that are popping up in African American communities across the country. That is why Mr. Romney has such excellent posture and has not received a single demerit during the course of this entire long campaign.

Meet the test preppies
Young Willard attended Cranbrook Academy, a private boarding school that specializes in college prep. Cranbrook is very similar to KIPP and other No Excuses schools, except that Cranbrookians don’t take standardized state tests so have time left over to study things other than how to take a test. Also there is a strong emphasis on the arts at Cranbrook which seems unnecessary and also a little weird as there are not even any questions about the arts on standardized state tests. Continue reading

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