tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post8483512892160636896..comments2024-03-29T02:41:52.718-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: City IS Going to Give K-12 Education Dollars to Charter SchoolsMelissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-79568499738216563172019-02-02T10:19:44.739-08:002019-02-02T10:19:44.739-08:00All Types, I think some might say that Juneau is p...All Types, I think some might say that Juneau is paying attention to families who have felt not heard in the past. That she is targeting very specific groups is good. But there is a weirdness to having just a single meeting on the Strategic Plan in the north end (with the other 7 in the south end) and having it at a church. Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-51426326260344467502019-02-02T09:38:09.974-08:002019-02-02T09:38:09.974-08:00Is it just me, or is Supt Juneau doing a poor job ...Is it just me, or is Supt Juneau doing a poor job of engaging families? She seems to have been so focused on engaging underrepresented families that she didn’t bother to pay much attention to larger groups—whom she also needs to represent and serve. It almost feels a bit Trumpian, where she’s playing to her perceived base. However, ALL parents want to feel like their students matter—and many will look for ways to leave if they aren’t feeling it. There’s no better way to convert an anti-charter parent into a pro-charter one than to convey that their child’s education really isn’t of concern to the district.<br /><br />All typesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-28022651536073204602019-02-01T22:19:49.680-08:002019-02-01T22:19:49.680-08:00"They are prohibited by law from discriminati..."They are prohibited by law from discriminating in enrollment based on race, ethnicity, disability, or any other category."<br /><br />Of course charters are prohibited from all of that. But they also use their applications to figure out who might cost them more and then figure out ways to exit them once they are in. The attrition rate at many charters shows that.<br /><br />"Also, it really is irrelevant that a charter might go out of business or close. That also happens repeatedly with neighborhood and other public schools. So no. "<br /><br />Not here it doesn't. Out of just 14 charter schools in what? five years, one has closed and another one is going to. <br /><br />"Middle College High School? Closed her up already." <br /><br />Nope. https://middlecollegehs.seattleschools.org/<br /><br />"My comments started with my being impressed that there are already 800 students enrolled in Seattle Public Charter Schools and my belief that this number was likely to grow swiftly based on SPS's ongoing and routine disrespect to families and SPS's own choice process which SPS has chosen to disregard. I also stated that I am very glad that families have a choice and SPS is making it very easy for charters to gain market share.<br /><br />If any charter operator wanted to focus on either resource room services or advanced learning, I am confident they would make a small fortune, and would be very happily received by the many families that have just had enough of SPS."<br /><br />Yup and yup. <br /><br />I concur with Kellie and Chicken Little; the district seems to think they are the only game in town - no matter how they treat parents - and are universally beloved. <br /><br />Chicken Little, I don't think we are quite there as far as a run to charters. I'll expand on this on a separate post but charters are not running as full as they like to advertise. Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-57807750211126751192019-02-01T20:35:14.688-08:002019-02-01T20:35:14.688-08:00For the first time this year I'm also seeing f...For the first time this year I'm also seeing families in north Seattle trying for charter enrollment, even with the commute this entails. I think we really are on the verge of a tipping point with charters, which district antagonism toward families is speeding us further toward. <br /><br />Chicken LittleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-36600330127653765722019-02-01T18:49:40.902-08:002019-02-01T18:49:40.902-08:00@ Another Sped,
Yes, this is not the first time ...@ Another Sped, <br /><br />Yes, this is not the first time that I have been utterly pedantic about some distinction that "nobody cares about" and "is not relevant." <br /><br />As I have stated multiple times on this threat, I am not anti-charter. I think the charter conversation is far more nuanced. About 15 years ago, I saw an interview about charter schools with the NAACP. They stated that they didn't think charters really worked and were unlikely to be good for education. BUT that the 2,000 worst schools in America were the same "worst schools" as 10 years ago and 20 years ago and that families should not have to wait for some relief. <br /><br />I found the honesty and complexity in that statement to be very compelling. Public Charter Schools have already enrolled 800 students in Seattle and I fully expect that number to grow, precisely because of the "depth of antagonism" that you mention. <br /><br />That said, I still think it is important to be clear that schools DISTRICTS operate under completely different rules and expectations than Charter schools. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-13551487522168165692019-02-01T10:13:09.144-08:002019-02-01T10:13:09.144-08:00Melissa, please start a thread on the Jan. 30th Bo...Melissa, please start a thread on the Jan. 30th Board Work Session on community feedback to the draft strategic plan.<br /><br />https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/18-19%20agendas/January%2030/20190130_Agenda_With%20Materials.pdf<br /><br /><br />sAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-787675400399116792019-02-01T09:32:10.678-08:002019-02-01T09:32:10.678-08:00“I am discussing the topic of this thread and the ...“I am discussing the topic of this thread and the distinction between the accountably of charter schools vs the accountability of a public DISTRICT.”<br /><br />But nobody cares about that. It is not relevant. The only relevant comparison people care about is your basic local or option school vs your theoretical nearby charter. Theoretical, because we don’t have them yet. And we all know neither can be infinitely welcoming. Most writers here simply don’t realize the depth of antagonism and basic injustice many people experience at their local schools. And I don’t mean AL. Will charters be better? I don’t know. I don’t think the charter option needs to be seen as the enemy or as a toxic mooching charlatan.<br /><br />Another SpedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-19503372058597185662019-02-01T08:17:08.169-08:002019-02-01T08:17:08.169-08:00@ Another Sped,
A district with more than 100 sc...@ Another Sped, <br /><br />A district with more than 100 schools is different from a district with 5. That is just a simple statement. The systems need to operate differently. <br /><br />That does not change the IDEA mandate and it does not excuse SPS poor execution of that mandate. <br /><br />Once again, I am discussing the topic of this thread and the distinction between the accountably of charter schools vs the accountability of a public DISTRICT. SPS poor execution on sped is well documented. Charter schools in Washington are new enough that their execution is not documented. <br /><br />I am well aware of how sped (and medically fragile) is shuffled to the bottom. I am also very well aware that neighboring districts do a much better job with the same level of resources. I agree with you completely on that topic. <br /><br /><br />kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-8421083585616249612019-02-01T08:05:39.349-08:002019-02-01T08:05:39.349-08:00“In that case [Tukwila] the accountability of the ...“In that case [Tukwila] the accountability of the individual schools the school district is the same. They can't shuffle students between schools because they don't have enough schools to shuffle. ”<br /><br />Utter ignorant bs. If Tukwila can serve every student without shuffling them, then so can Seattle. And they should. It is an IDEA mandate. All districts can place students in Utah. You speak as someone who has glibly been shuffled to the top, and that wouldn’t be Sped.<br /><br />Another Sped<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-39354695309354826432019-02-01T07:21:03.272-08:002019-02-01T07:21:03.272-08:00@ Another sped.
Thank you for taking the time to...@ Another sped. <br /><br />Thank you for taking the time to lay out the argument you think I'm making. Once again, I agree with the vast majority of your data points and your logic, but the narrative you have constructed is not mine. So I will try to clarify. <br /><br />There are four distinct terms with four distinct levels of accountability. These often get conflated but the distinction matters. - Charter operator, charter school, School district and Individual Public School. <br /><br />I used Tukwilla as an example because the vast majority of districts in the State of Washington look much more like Tukwilla than Seattle. Tukwilla has 5 schools in total - 3 elementary, 1 middle and 1 high school. In that case the accountability of the individual schools the school district is the same. They can't shuffle students between schools because they don't have enough schools to shuffle. <br /><br />Because they can't shuffle students, their accountability is different, than a district like Seattle with over 100 schools. With over 100 schools it is simply impossible to do everything at every school, in the same way, as if you had only ONE school. <br /><br />For me, the problem with Charters is that they have the option of shuffling students out of the Charter system and back to the DISTRICT. This is what will happen in Tacoma. SOAR Academy is just going to shut their doors and the Tacoma school DISTRICT needs to manage this. <br /><br />That is the accountability I am highlighting. For better or worse, a school district has to be prepared for every.single.student that arrives. They don't have to do this well but they do need to provide a seat. Charter schools do not need to do this. <br /><br />Francis took offense at my comment about "outside the the mandate to serve all students". She interpreted this as some type of speculative discrimination. It was not. It was a simple statement that the PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT has to serve all students. Charter Schools can say "We're full" and pass that student to the school DISTRICT. Charter Schools can close their doors and cease to exist. School Districts do not have the option to say we are full or stop operating. <br /><br />Within a district, individual schools may be full and enrollment at any specific school may be severely restricted but the DISTRICT has to enroll ALL students. Charter schools and Charter Operators have drastically different types of accountability. <br /><br />My comments started with my being impressed that there are already 800 students enrolled in Seattle Public Charter Schools and my belief that this number was likely to grow swiftly based on SPS's ongoing and routine disrespect to families and SPS's own choice process which SPS has chosen to disregard. I also stated that I am very glad that families have a choice and SPS is making it very easy for charters to gain market share. <br /><br />If any charter operator wanted to focus on either resource room services or advanced learning, I am confident they would make a small fortune, and would be very happily received by the many families that have just had enough of SPS. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-36520416822739781682019-01-31T23:28:04.462-08:002019-01-31T23:28:04.462-08:00Kellie, your claim. Charter schools (which aren’...Kellie, your claim. Charter schools (which aren’t a system or district) are toxic because they cherry pick and use funding that otherwise would go to the district. To prove your point, you trot out special ed, the old favorite. The fact is, the presumed charter school behavior is exactly what most current neighborhood and option schools do already with respect to special education. Why should parents feel sorry for the poor neighborhood school, that lost students to a charter? If they lose students it is because of their poor service and responsibility. Students with IEPs rejected by charters will also most likely be the same ones rejected by neighborhood schools, especially in Seattle. Those rejected students will be sent to exactly the same locations regardless. So what? This is neither a win nor a loss for the public school system. Also, it really is irrelevant that a charter might go out of business or close. That also happens repeatedly with neighborhood and other public schools. So no. No given public school has to “operate period.” That is patently false. If enrollment is low, that public school closes, just like the charter. Look for Licton Springs to close any day now. Middle College High School? Closed her up already. And where did you get the idea that every student with a disability “gets a seat”? The out of district placements for special ed have ballooned. SPS is totally free to sell off of their special ed obligation, and they do. Not because they have to, or because it’s financially beneficial. In 2007, when there was a credible audit, SPS had like 5 kids total in out of district placements. Now it’s an industry and incredibly pricey. They sell off those students because they don’t care about them at.all. And finally, you seem to know close to nothing about special education. There’s no economies of scale derived from the baroque SPS service delivery model. Programs are underenrolled everywhere. Students move away and empty out entire programs leaving them with one or 2 students, but all the staff. And the transportation system for special ed is absurd. Most sped busses have less than 5 students because well, schools will do anything to fail to serve. Ship them anywhere. Let’s not pretend anything here is done for economies of scale. That is utter bs. Nobody is born with a Focus, Access, Distinct, SM2, SM4, Resource label on their forehead. Those are meaningless inventions, made up to explain why some teacher doesn’t have to teach some kid.<br /><br />Another Sped<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-70969357916272018852019-01-31T14:24:49.592-08:002019-01-31T14:24:49.592-08:00@ unclear,
Precisely!
SPS needs to operate, per...@ unclear, <br /><br />Precisely!<br /><br />SPS needs to operate, period. No matter how poor the funding. The levies bring things up to "basic" or "functional" or "luxurious" depending on your point of view. kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-17125146208853228992019-01-31T14:11:44.145-08:002019-01-31T14:11:44.145-08:00SPS, apparently, is similarly not economically via...SPS, apparently, is similarly not economically viable. Isn't that why they need the levies?<br /><br />unclearAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-86453671981671583252019-01-31T14:03:49.716-08:002019-01-31T14:03:49.716-08:00@ Francis,
I'm sorry you do not like my evid...@ Francis, <br /><br />I'm sorry you do not like my evidence, but I presented as straightforwardly as I can. <br /><br />Charter schools simply operate with a different type of accountability than school districts. That should not be a controversial statement as the different type of accountability was part of the design of charters. <br /><br />The example of SOAR academy makes that point. SOAR academy did serve a diverse and high needs population, and clearly has followed Washington State Charter Law. SOAR Academy is closing their doors because they are not economically viable. Those same students will now need to return to the public district, regardless of the economics.<br /><br />The public school district needs to provide a seat, regardless of the economics. Charter schools have options that public schools just do not, including just closing their doors. <br /><br />The basic math is still the basic math. Charter schools need to be economically viable to survive. The only way to be economically viable is to serve student who make the economics work or to secure substantial outside funding. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-18061308377395875532019-01-31T12:07:39.410-08:002019-01-31T12:07:39.410-08:00Kellie, your statement regarding charter schools o...Kellie, your statement regarding charter schools operating OUTSIDE of the mandate to serve all students in total BS and based purely on speculation on your part. You have ZERO evidence that that is occurring routinely in charter schools in our state.<br /><br />These statements of yours are beyond the pale. Present evidence (as Melissa likes to say) or drop this line of accusation.<br /><br />I won't respond to you further.<br /><br />FrancisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-57636974211625715842019-01-31T11:45:35.592-08:002019-01-31T11:45:35.592-08:00@ Frances,
This story about the closure of SOAR ...@ Frances, <br /><br />This story about the closure of SOAR academy in Tacoma, should illustrate both our points. <br /><br />https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/education/article225264320.html<br /><br />SOAR is clearly following the mandate as laid out in the law and as you have stated. They are serving 20% sped, 77% FRL, 15% homeless, 80% families of color. AND they are closing their doors because it is not economically viable to operate the school. <br /><br />Charter schools have that option. If they are not economically viable, they can close their doors and send the students back to the public district. Public district do not have that option. Public districts need to soldier on. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-24821404837179527672019-01-31T11:23:51.129-08:002019-01-31T11:23:51.129-08:00@ Frances,
You may be surprised by the number of...@ Frances, <br /><br />You may be surprised by the number of people who have a different point of view, because they have taken the time to "educate themselves" on the issue. <br /><br />There is a huge distinction between overt discrimination and the cherry picking that is being discussed here. <br /><br />There are 1,000s of way to communicate to a family that they are "not welcome here" and they should "get services elsewhere." Once upon a time, there were multiple SPS elementary schools that were "notorious" for their 100% pass rates on the WASL and other standardized tests. It was an open-secret, that any student who was not going to pass was "counseled out" and passed to another public school. <br /><br />That practice became much more challenging under the NSAP but it still exists as most sped families will be happy to tell you. <br /><br />Charter schools simply do not have the same accountability as a school district. Plain and simple. Washington's charter law is better than most but the nature of the accountability is the entire point of charter schools. They operate OUTSIDE of a mandate to serve all students and they routinely pass students back to the public district. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-81971687562757917082019-01-31T11:11:02.947-08:002019-01-31T11:11:02.947-08:00@ Another sped,
I am unclear about what you thin...@ Another sped, <br /><br />I am unclear about what you think I am "trying." I am not stating anything about the quality or quantity of sped services. I am simply stating the distinction between the accountability of the charter system and the accountability of a public school district. <br /><br />Everything you list in your narrative is actually supporting the point I am trying to make. <br /><br />All of the ways you list that individual schools are able to "move" sped students is also true for charter schools. The distinction is that Public Charter schools "move" these students OUT of the charter and to the local Public School District. A school district can move students within their own network but the student still needs to be served within that network. That's a huge difference. <br /><br />SPS operates over 100 schools and is by far the largest district in State of Washington. This means that way SPS has to provide services is very different from most districts. Tukwilla has three elementary schools, one middle and one high schools. In that network all services need to be provided at all schools. <br /> <br />It is simply not possible or economically reasonable for every service to be provided at every schools for a network of over 100 schools. SPS schools needs to have some specialization in order to get the same economy of scale that a smaller district gets naturally. <br /><br />Charter schools may be "sensitive" to the criticisms around sped and Washington Charter Law might be "sensitive" about this as well. It does not mean they are going to do anything about it. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-67024549635020689632019-01-31T10:58:19.540-08:002019-01-31T10:58:19.540-08:00@ Mel,
Tolley/Herdon pushed a narrative that &qu...@ Mel, <br /><br />Tolley/Herdon pushed a narrative that "hurting Cleveland was helping Rainier Beach." That narrative was never accurate and highlights once again a profound lack of institutional memory and understanding of how systems work. <br /><br />SPS has always had a bad habit of treating students like widgets, with the notion that any student can be assigned to any building. This was really evident during the closures when the "seat analysis" was not even sensitized to either grade bands or regions. <br /><br />The closures were based on this notion that SPS could close this school and redirect all the enrollment to this location. However, the after analysis showed that only 50% of the students were actually redirected to where SPS wanted them and the other 50% went elsewhere, with the majority leaving the district entirely. <br /><br />The mechanism has been used for the last 6 six years with waitlist management. Downtown has this idea that if we just don't move the waitlist, then student will go where we tell them. But the data does not support this at all. Since this policy has been implemented, there have been annual enrollment shortfalls. <br /><br />And guess what ... the shortfalls correspond directly to the parts of town where waitlist movement is most restricted. And the enrollment shortfalls also corresponds directly with schools that have unused capacity. The entire situation is utterly maddening. <br /><br />Artificially limiting Cleveland's enrollment does not support Rainier Beach. It is a cheap and disrespectful narrative. <br /><br />kelliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322661098626555834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-33741309813942116842019-01-31T08:19:48.607-08:002019-01-31T08:19:48.607-08:00Eli, I'm doing my best to decipher your meanin...Eli, I'm doing my best to decipher your meaning among your word salad above, but here's the bottom line: Charter schools MUST take ANY student who enrolls if there is space. There is no application, just an enrollment form, same as any traditional public school. A lottery only kicks in once the school is at capacity --- and that lottery is random (with some sibling preferences). Since there is no application, there are no preferences to accommodate.<br /><br />Francis<br /><br />P.S. It would be helpful if people educated themselves on Washington charter laws and practices before speculating intent. I know this is a tall order but I ask just the same.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-29238339466556962522019-01-31T06:11:29.720-08:002019-01-31T06:11:29.720-08:00Nice try Kellie, but no. At least half of SPS e...Nice try Kellie, but no. At least half of SPS elementary schools only provide resource room special education, and a great many of those have only part time resource teachers. Any kid not meeting the increasingly narrow definition of acceptable for resource room, is shipped off as quickly as possible. A few years ago the teachers union (our supposed advocates) even identified the speedy reassignment of special education students as a high priority negotiation issue for their contracts. They wanted to include the removal of students and thereby breaking the law, as part of their employment contract. So much for teaching all students. Isn’t that cherry picking? So called option schools in SPS are famously unavailable to students with disabilities, and that is the subject of a currently active civil rights complaint. And even if they address that issue, entire types of common sped service delivery are not served at SPS option schools. That is, they aren’t an option. Isn’t that cherry picking? Less than a handful of schools in SPS support medically fragile students, which they fund with special ed and safety net funds. Sure, there is public school service in all sorts of non typical places: hospitals, juvenile prisons, military bases. So what? The district receives funding for this and has almost 0 accountability. It might even be revenue positive. Is a hospital bound cancer patient really focused on great special ed service delivery? Does Echo Glen really go to bat for kids with disabilities? (The answers here are no) It isn’t fair or reasonable to compare charter schools to an entire district. A reasonable comparison is to the typical neighborhood school. That typical neighborhood school has only a resource room, is very hostile to students with disabilities and certainly has no medically fragile students. And in that case, for Sped, it’s not so clear which choice is better. Public schools don’t have any special mandate to special ed other than doing as little as possible. If charter schools are sensitive to special ed participation, that’s great. The district, on the other hand, has made it clear that special ed is no priority at all with its recent strategic plan.<br /><br />The district has access to statewide safety net funds to cover high cost students, do charter schools have that same funding source? I hope so. The district has for years been so unaccountable with its records and its operations that nobody is responsible for securing safety net funds. It’s a whole lot easier to just blame the kids and raise an underfunded flag.<br /><br />Another SPED<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-63940149804103759222019-01-31T01:08:49.779-08:002019-01-31T01:08:49.779-08:00The "school choice" parents want is to c...The "school choice" parents want is to choose a school. Having the school influence whether to admit *you* is obviously not of direct benefit to the parent, that's to the school. <br /><br />I know charter schools are required to use a lottery process (in all states with them, I believe?), but that's a lottery among completed applications that meet the school's criteria, and it's not a uniform lottery -- schools can add preferences, as long as these can pass the state's non-discrimination criteria. Here's one summary of what California wrote, which sounds pretty good here, right? Analyses of results aren't as rosy from what limited looking I've done.<br />http://www.ccsa.org/2018-4-12-Admissions%20and%20Enrollment%20Practices%20Knowledge%20Brief.pdf<br />As far as I'm aware (let me know otherwise) there are zero constraints on how you target your advertising, like to Facebook's demographic filters.<br /><br />If you want fairness, I think you just need to go for a zero-barrier fair lottery. Anyone can apply, and preferences are… look I don't think you can get past sibling preferences, but preferences are minimized. Including on proximity, and if you're at all serious we need to provide transportation. I can't say that I'd <i>enjoy</i> busing but you can see how its rise and fall affected <i>de facto</i> segregation, say in Seattle schools. And you know charters will be location-optimized for proximity to cheap high-evaluating students.<br />Elihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05711511939799573430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-13838974483916609532019-01-31T00:37:43.378-08:002019-01-31T00:37:43.378-08:00Francis, do you have a reference to precisely what...Francis, do you have a reference to precisely what the fairness constraints are? Do they for example bar discriminatory intent but allow disparate impact? I remember thinking there was an issue when considering the initiative but I honestly have lost the details.<br /><br />Non-profits do want to show efficiency and success and growth. Would a non-profit prefer to save $3K on a purchase of laptops? Sure, and would a non-profit prefer to have the student who takes $3K less staff time to educate to the same evaluated standard? Sure. Even if that $3K is purely spent to benefit students, that spending makes the school more attractive! Charter schools want students who are cheaper and who evaluate well. They will compete in sophistication of cherrypicking those students to whatever extent we let them. Only after that easy path is stopped will they have to compete on providing better education choices to a given student.<br /><br />If you just bar explicit discrimination on race as a variable, you are leaving the door wide open to systematically racist outcomes, even unintended. It's easy these days to train an opaque machine learning system to do your optimization dirty work. "We never even told it who's what race, so we're in the clear!" The school probably doesn't want to be biased, hell they might even prefer a playing field where all charters do have to optimize for justice, but they're not going to be the only loser who does justice while everyone else skims off the best return-on-investment students. <br /><br />Schools generally wouldn't explicitly choose "white students if we can get them", but you'd better believe they'd explicitly choose "fewer SpEd students if we can". To shave off a fractional probabilistic SpEd student they will optimize on any fuzzy proxy input you allow. Or if you made them accept equal SpEd percentage, they will cherrypick within the SpEd student population. The incentives are huge. Look, if you were a national charter nonprofit, you'd do it too or competitors would wipe the floor with you. These corporations are big money and it's worth it to them to have a SpEdlining analytics team.<br /><br />And all that is talking purely about well-run nonprofits that aren't being used to pay out excessive salaries or to buy services from the CEO's nephew. Those obviously make a more direct incentive to take in money and not spend it on students.<br />Elihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05711511939799573430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-58417475729702659062019-01-30T15:33:05.565-08:002019-01-30T15:33:05.565-08:00It's sad when you will accept piss poor vs unk...It's sad when you will accept piss poor vs unknown. I think in cases when expectations could be low then results will be low but that requires a case by analysis's to determine if meaningful and measurable improvements were achieved. On average for the 3,000 or so students with IEPs meaningful measurable improvements are not achieved. <br /><br />There is plenty of data to show the systemic lack of measurable improvement like lack of improving test scores equating that 90% of students with IEPs are not at grade level. On top of those facts are people's anecdotal beliefs that if SPS were providing effective measurable educational IEP services SPS would be shouting it from the rooftop and not blaming it's failures on the state.<br /><br />I know many of the insightful and informed SPED parents have moved on out SPS and there's a whole new group of SPED parents who unfortunately are going to endure the usual SPS SPED runaround. SPED parent groups will once again form and be seeded with pro SPS administration plants and now the circle is complete.<br /><br />It's like the movie ground hogs day expect it's on a 10 year cycle and real people get hurt. <br /><br />SPED Parent Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-19436606057751047582019-01-30T13:12:58.557-08:002019-01-30T13:12:58.557-08:00Thanks,Kellie, for that explanation (it saved me t...Thanks,Kellie, for that explanation (it saved me time). <br /><br />I think SPS does not want to expand Cleveland for a couple of reasons. One, it's expensive giving every kid a laptop. Two, it might further hurt Rainier Beach enrollment. <br /><br />But yes, SPS sometimes shoots itself in the foot with its thinking.<br /><br />Charter will capitalize on that.Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.com