"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Success Academy Finds Its Scapegoat

Social media is ablaze with comments about the Success Academy's "Got to Go" lists, which include names of students targeted for shoving back into the public schools from which they came.

Those who have studied the high-scoring "no excuses" schools have known for years that part of the lockdown charter school miracle has resulted from selective enrollment and effective weeding of special education students, English language learners, and students with behavior and learning problems.  When combined with millions more in corporate dollars for resources, extended contracts for teachers, longer school years and school days, and year round test prep, the charter miracle seems much more like the manipulated marketing campaign that it truly is.

Yesterday the toxic Eva Moskowitz called the "Got to Go" list that the NYTimes turned up an "anomaly."  Afterward, she threw on the media altar a brow-beaten and contrite sacrifice, who denied that the "organization" ever told him to do what what he did.   How fitting that Eva would blame someone else for the caustic practices that her bottom line demands!

The real anomaly, however, is the fact that the exclusionary practice that Success Academy silently demands in order to "succeed" ever was mentioned in the New York Times, which has an editorial board that remains entirely enthusiastic about the paternalistic segregated charter reform schools that corporate America promotes as a hideous manifestation of educational justice in blackface.


1 comment:

  1. At the top om my "Got to Go" list? Success Academy....

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