On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 12:44 PM, Leonie Haimson <leonie@...> wrote:

 

I'd like to know who funded the CREDO study; is it also coming out of our taxpayer dollars?

 

 DOE  not only gives space for free to charter schools, but a host of other financial subsidies, some of them on a purely voluntary basis, and some preferentially to charter schools students (like transportation, which every charter school student has a matter of right.)

The other services that NYC charters receive for free are summarized on our blog at http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2008/09/charter-school-funding-per-child-much.html

School facility
Utilities- heat/electricity
Student transportation
Food services
District for Committee on Special Educations (CSE) Evaluations & Referrals
Assessment & testing accommodations
Safety & health services
Technology integration and infrastructure
Student placement and transitional services
Human resources (limited)
Integration policy (e.g. such as middle & HS choice process, promotion, shared space, etc..)
Public hearings
Serve as authorizing entity


There may be more as well as this list came from Michael Duffy of DOE and we know how forthcoming they are with transparent financial info. 

 

Yet even this list caused Patrick Sullivan among others to estimate that charter schools probably receive a higher per student share of city funding than regular public school students, since the average amount that our schools receive for each gened student is about $8000, while charter schools receive more than $12,000 per student.  They also are immune to mid-year cuts, as far as I know, which many principals say are the most damaging of all.

None of this financial analysis, of course, includes the hefty additional funding that most charter schools receive from private donors and foundations.  

Charter schools receive more proportional space in buildings as the DOE instructional footprint admits.  They are also allowed to cap enrollment and class size at any level they want-- which is the biggest advantage of all, in my mind.  I have spoken to charter school teachers who said they left DOE-run schools specifically because they were provided with much smaller classes.

 

Though the NYC charter school lobby continually grouses about being unfairly underfunded, in the Tom Toch piece for Education Sector on charter management orgs,  (that was partially censored to omit the most critical information, leading Toch to leave the organization that he had co-founded) a NYC charter school operator admitted that the financial subsidies they receive in NYC are very helpful:

http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/Growing_Pains.pdf

With the annual funding that they get in New York City (some $12,440 per student, plus additional local and federal monies, a sum that Achievement First estimates to be between 80 percent and 95 percent of the funding that the city’s traditional schools receive), Achievement First’s New York schools are able to operate without philanthropic subsidies once they are fully enrolled, says chief financial officer Max Polaner—in sharp contrast to Amistad in New Haven. Says CEO Toll: “We expanded into New York because of Klein and because the dollars are doable.” But such partnerships have been rare, because school districts are wary of losing students and revenue to CMOs, and charter networks have wanted to preserve their independence.

In NYC they have put charter schools, supposedly temporarily, into newly constructed school buildings like Sunset Park HS, which is of questionable legality because these schools were built with 50% state matching funds -- funds that by law cannot be spent on charter school construction.

I have also looked at the financial statements of charter schools that do not include any estimate of the value of these myriad "in kind" contributions or subsidies from DOE -- which is contrary to good accounting practices that demand such estimates.

 

Ironically, the only NYC schools to really benefit from the CFE decision may in the end be the charter schools; because they can use the extra per pupil funding to provide the conditions that the court said would be necessary to afford children their constitutional right to an adequate education, including smaller classes.  In contrast, since 2007, when the state granted additional aid to settle the CFE case, class sizes have significantly increased in our regular public schools, due to the malfeasance and mismanagement of Bloomberg and Klein. 

 

This leads me to Steve's point: when has a governmental agency before financed a study, as DOE has done in this case, to publicize its own relative incompetence?  Or in this case, their malignant failure to remediate the conditions that the state's highest court said would be necessary to provide a sound basic education?

 

 

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
classsizematters@gmail.com
www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonie-haimson

 Make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

Subscribe to Class Size Matters news by emailing classsizematters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Subscribe to the NYC education news by emailing nyceducationnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

 

 

---

From: nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com [mailto:nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Diane Ravitch
Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 12:40 AM
To: nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [nyceducationnews] Fwd: Media Advisory: New Stanford Study Finds Success at NYC Charter Schools

 

Steve,

 

You are right. I just got an email from a friend at CREDO informing me that there is a new study that will be released later this week, replicating the Hoxby study. I pointed out that charter schools in NYC are unlike typical charter schools elsewhere in that many of them have a philanthropic sponsor. So, many not only get public school space and subsidies, but are able to afford small classes and facilities that regular public schools can only dream about. I don't know whether the study takes the resource difference into account.

 

But in the end, what is odd is that the NYC DOE boasts about the success of the schools it does NOT manage in comparison to those that it has complete control of. Rather like the president of Macy's telling customers to be sure to shop at Gimbel's!

 

Diane

On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 12:15 AM, <Mathman180@...> wrote:

 

Diane,

I don't believe you're correct here about it being the Hoxby study. Further down in the email thread is something sent to Norm from the P.R. firm (Larson Communications) that apparently works for Stanford/CREDO announcing a conference call on January 5 for their new report from a study that, it is explicitly stated, was commissioned by the NYCDOE. This appears to be a study directed specifically at NYC schools, charter and public, and (oh surprise of surprises) that the charter schools are better. I guess they (CREDO) doesn't intend to release the study for anyone to read or critique until after they've had their own chance to spin its findings -- maybe after that, it'll be available for those of us who haven't already sold out.

At this point, I don't see why Klein doesn't just throw in the towel, declare all of the public school real estate up for grabs, and "auction" it off to whomever wants to run charter schools. That's their consistent message -- it's not about choice, it's just about privatizing and de-unionizing. Then they could close down the DOE entirely and just leave a skeleton crew to oversee buying and selling of the rights to run a 100% charter/privatized school system.

Steve Koss

-----Original Message-----
From: Diane Ravitch <gardendr@...>
To: nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, Jan 1, 2010 11:49 pm
Subject: Re: [nyceducationnews] Fwd: Media Advisory: New Stanford Study Finds Success at NYC Charter Schools

 

Steve,

 

Norm refers to the study by Caroline Hoxby of Stanford, who is not associated with CREDO, but with the economics department and the Hoover Institution.

 

Diane

On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 7:31 PM, <Mathman180@...> wrote:

 

Interesting that their website shows no evidence or availability of any such report. At least I can't find it anywhere on their site (http://credo.stanford.edu/home.html). Perhaps it will eventually be made accessible for downloading, but in the meantime, they are free to assert unrefutable claims about their results and arrange conference calls for media who cannot read the report and prepare questions in advance of that call. Nice -- sure does a lot to minimize questions about the study and its methodology, doesn't it?

I'm staggered by the notion that the DOE actually commissioned Stanford University to do a formal study whose results seem intended to prove just how terrible a job they (the DOE) are doing in managing the public schools for which they are responsible. Remarkable that they are happy to have studies asserting that NYC children can only be better off under privately-managed schools rather than those managed themselves, the public sector NYC Department of Education. How many times have you seen studies commissioned to prove that you are unable to do the job for which you are being paid?

These DOE folks have no shame. Then again, perhaps this has been their plan all along, to eliminate the DOE in its entirety? 


Steve Koss

-----Original Message-----
From: Norm <norscot@...>
To: ice-mail@yahoogroups.com; grassroots-education@...; nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, Jan 1, 2010 3:03 pm
Subject: [nyceducationnews] Fwd: Media Advisory: New Stanford Study Finds Success at NYC Charter Schools

 

The NYCDOE commissions a study that shows how bad the schools they manage are doing relative to charter schools. We must be stuck in the TV show "The Prisoner."

Best,
Norm Scott
normsco@...
norscot@...
917-992-3734
Blogs: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/
http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Bertelli <chris@...>
To: normsco@...
Sent: Fri, Jan 1, 2010 2:05 pm
Subject: Media Advisory: New Stanford Study Finds Success at NYC Charter Schools

Dear Norman:

A new report by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University commissioned by the New York City Department of Education found that charter schools in New York City are demonstrating significantly better results for their students in reading and in math than their traditional public school counterparts.  New York City charter schools are demonstrating better results for students overall, and for several key groups, including Blacks and Hispanics in both reading and math, for students who had not previously done well in traditional public schools, for students in poverty in reading, for students enrolled for at least two years or more in reading, and for all students in math regardless of how long they were enrolled.

CREDO director Dr. Macke Raymond will be participating in a conference call on January 5 to discuss the specifics of the report and what their results mean for policymakers considering changes in education policy.

Below is information about the call.  Please take a moment to respond to this email or call me at (916) 273-9559 if you have questions or plan on participating on the call.

Best regards,

Chris Bertelli

Larson Communications for CREDO at Stanford

 

Media Advisory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               

January 1, 2010

 

Contact: Chris Bertelli

LarsonCommunications

(916) 273-9559 (o)

(916) 216-1705 (m)

        NEW STANFORD STUDY FINDS NEW YORK CITY CHARTER SCHOOLS PROVIDING SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER RESULTS IN READING, MATH

WHAT: A new report by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University found that charter schools in New York City are demonstrating significantly better results for their students in reading and in math than their traditional public school counterparts. 

The CREDO at Stanford report was commissioned at the request of the New York City Department of Education in July, 2009, following CREDO’s national report released in June, 2009, entitled, “Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States.” That report was the first detailed national assessment of charter school impacts.

CREDO and NYC Department of Education officials will discuss the report on a conference call for media.

WHO:             Dr. Macke Raymond – Director, CREDO at Stanford

WHEN:          Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 11:30 a.m. EST

WHERE:       Via conference call, 888-645-4404 or 201-604-0169, no password required

 

About CREDO at Stanford University

CREDO at Stanford University was established to improve empirical evidence about education reform and student performance at the primary and secondary levels. CREDO at Stanford University supports education organizations and policymakers in using reliable research and program evaluation to assess the performance of education initiatives.  CREDO's valuable insight helps educators and policymakers strengthen their focus on the results from innovative programs, curricula, policies or accountability practices.  http://credo.stanford.edu

# # #

 

?

This message was sent from Chris Bertelli to normsco@.... It was sent from: Larson Communications, on behalf of CREDO, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below. Email Marketing by

Manage your subscription

--
Deborah Meier
deborah.meier@...
Visit my website: http://www.deborahmeier.com

Also visit Meier and Ravitch on  Ed Week Blog at http:/blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/