Caprice Young leaves charter school movement to join Milken education company

The only really good thing- from an business standpoint- that came out of the "No Child Left Behind" law was to create a new industry of private consultants to figure out how to comply with it.

Too bad that "compliance" doesn't also mean "achievement."

As usual with education in Los Angeles, the only winners ARE the consultants.

Reflects there's a boom in online schools and homeschooling -- people are fed up with dictators at public school controlling people's lives. Too much of four-wall schools involves dealing with the administration, discipline issues etc., all distract from learning and control even the parent's life too much. For parents who can devote time to supervising their kids' educations and ensure other social activities, this has become a booming trend.

Private schools are too expensive for what you get, since they have a captive, desperate clientelle, so if you don't get into your first, very competitive choices, you and your kids may end up very unhappy.

Charter schools have been underfunded and denied space in public schools, even though LAUSD has had billions to waste on monster buildings in the wrong places -- which it now wants to remedy by a $7 billion bond to build small charter-like schools, which still won't serve most areas where people pay the most in taxes. So charters are very difficult to establish, are still rare and have financial uncertainties which leave students and parents vulnerable on short notice. Milliken and Caprice clearly see which way the wind's blowing.

I'm sure Ms. Young is a nice lady, but she seems to be moving further and further from the point of impact...

She was president of the Board of Education of the Los Angeles Unified Freaking School District, coming in like a lion on the Riordan reform slate that took control in 1999. She served just one term before being voted out in favor of the late Jon Lauritzen, a former teacher backed by the teachers union.

While it may be reasonable to argue why she failed to make a difference on the school board (anti-UTLA commenters, start your engines!), there's no real argument that she did fail, along with the rest of the Riordan reform slate (Genethia Hayes, Mike Lansing, David Tokofsky, Caprice Young) to effect any meaningful long-term reform of what is arguably the nation's most dysfunctional big-city school system.

So she goes to the Charter Schools Association, and helps effect what may be considered as important, albeit incremental, change (greater awareness of and approval for charter schools in California). Good stuff, but not exactly a revolution.

In fact, a USC study released last year indicated that while California charter schools get “more bang for the buck” than traditional public schools -- and may be improving at a faster clip -- the charters continue to trail regular public schools in academic achievement and seem to have a tougher time teaching English to students who are learning it as a second language.

Caprice's response, as quoted in the LA Times: “We’re curious about that. It’s an interesting statistic, and we don’t know what’s behind it.”

To be fair, she also pointed out that the study showed that even though "the cards are stacked against charter schools, the students in them improve faster than they do in other schools."

But the charter movement hasn't exactly caught fire and turned around our dismal public education picture.

So now Ms. Young is moving again, this time to a think-tank where she'll work with "national and global business leaders" on "innovative approaches in the K-12 education sector," whatever that means.

Again, I'm sure she's a nice lady. I'm sure she means well. I'm sure this is a good job that will generate reams of well-intended opinions about what we're doing wrong down here at the school sites.

But sitting here in the trenches, in the classrooms and lecture halls and parents centers and teachers rooms where we face real decisions every day about how to make a difference, that Ivory Tower seems a long, long way from where the action is.

>>LA 90041

You have no idea how important NCLB has been to education today AND to PARENTS!

1. NCLB is NOT a test. It only expects that States live up to their own standards and promises.

2. NCLB provides students an option to attend another school when their own neighborhood school fails to live up to their standards and expectations.

3. Green Dot schools would not have been able to take over operations at Locke High School without No Child Left Behind. Remember 50%+1!

4. It forces states to live up to their often overly optimistic expectations. When districts or schools fail to do that, then States are expected to take over operations of those districts or schools and correct the problems.

5. It provides parents a report card on the academic performance of neighborhood school. Schools are subsequently rewarded or pressured by parents depending on the schools performance.

6. Generally, those that oppose NCLB are really bad teachers or teacher unions and the reason for their opposition is that they hate to be tested on their performance. Many of them thought that was in their past when they were students.

7. AJ Duffy hates NCLB.

Welcome to the real world 90041! NCLB offers parents a schools report card and alternatives when schools fail.

>> anonymous at 3:53PM

>>In fact, a USC study released last year indicated that while California charter schools get “more bang for the buck” than traditional public schools -- and may be improving at a faster clip -- the charters continue to trail regular public schools in academic achievement and seem to have a tougher time teaching English to students who are learning it as a second language.

Most of the studies that I have seen compare charter schools with public schools nationwide rather than urban public schools like the LAUSD. If you want to compare charters with Manhattan Beach or Orange County schools, then charters lose. When you compare them to districts like the LAUSD with charters, then the charter results are hands down favorites.

You people are ignorant. She's too white. They're going to replace her with a Mexican, for the same reason they replaced Ron Kaye.

You'll see.

Ich habe darüber gerade mal was gelesen, extrem gutes Thema. Ich komme wieder.