[quote=livinincali]
Schools are a great example. Eventually somebody is probably going to figure out a better more efficient and cost effective way to do K-12 education in a charter school (maybe even online, who knows). The public school system (teacher unions and especially administrators) is desperately attempting to protect it’s monopoly of K-12 education because they know when somebody figures it out they are done for. Privatization of education is eventually going to happen and the costs will come down. The only question is when? It should be interesting to watch the educational complex fight this inevitable change. The medical system will likely see the same fight.[/quote]
Have you looked at how charter schools are performing relative to public schools?
The formatting of the following quote is off, so please check the original study for more info. The quote is from page 48 of the study. Be sure to look at the chart on page 49 to see how charter schools perform slightly better in reading, and worse in math. The “benefits” seen in the charter schools WRT reading are miniscule — literally besting public schools by just a matter of “days of learning/education,” while under-performing in math by about the same number of days, especially when looking at the long-term results.
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“In every scenario, the performance of the virtual twins in TPS serves as the baseline of comparison. The charter school learning gains are expressed
relative to that standard. The results are presented with two different measurement scales: standard deviations and days of learning.
Looking at the longest time frame (five growth periods: Spring 2006–Spring 2011),
Figure 21
shows positive charter school impacts on student learning in reading equivalent to five additional days of learning per year compared
to what their TPS peers receive. The 5-year
charter school impact in math
is similar to the learning gains at TPS equal to no additional days).
It bears mentioning that the 3-period time frame
–the
middle scenario–
reflects the performance of the
charter sector since the 2009 study. This result shows the performance of the charter school sector as a whole in the ensuing three years. Across the 27 states, charter performance in the three most recent growth periods is positive and significant in reading, amounting to about seven extra days of learning over that of their TPS peers. The charter school impact on student learning in math is not significantly different between charter students and their TPS peers.
If we limit the analysis to the most recent growth period (Spring 2010 – Spring 2011), students in charter schools have eight more days of learning
than TPS in reading. In math, students at charter schools and TPS have similar learning gains.”
Realize that many charter schools are also getting a lot of funding from very wealthy individuals and entities who are looking to “privatize” the money now going to public schools.
Sorry this is so long, but it’s a must-watch if you want to better understand some of what’s been going on with respect to privatization in education:
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“Iron Man 3 just opened this past weekend, followed soon by more would-be blockbusters. I’m sure a lot of these movies will be entertaining, but none will be more important or relevant than a half-hour documentary I recently watched: The United States of ALEC.
This film, featuring Bill Moyers, does a masterful job of explaining how the closed-door manipulations of the American Legislative Exchange Council and its corporate lobbyists affect public policy in every realm of our society — including education.
Our nation spends about $500 billion in local, state and federal funds on public schools from kindergarten through high school. Most Americans view this as a wise investment in our nation’s future. Throughout the 20th century the U.S. was the clear leader in public education. We created the most vibrant economy the world has ever known. The record speaks for itself — public education is a great investment.”
