Thursday, June 3, 2010

Ownership Society school reform

Debunking the "Portfolio District"

Latest from EPIC/EPRU comes from DePaul prof, Ken Saltman who exposes the latest business-model reform whereby school district leaders compile and run a "portfolio" of independently operated schools. It is currently being used in New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and Washington D.C., and it is being considered by other districts. Yet little or no evidence supports the expansion of such radical experimentation, a new Policy Brief reports.
 "The district superintendent is imagined as a stock investor who has a portfolio of investments (schools)." These schools are run by different contractors, generally as charter schools. The superintendent "holds the investments that 'perform' (in terms of student achievement) and ends the contracts for (sells) those investments that 'don't perform.'"

No comments:

Post a Comment

Agree? Disagree? Let me hear from you.