C is for Corporate Reform, Charter Schools, and Choice

Diane Ravich, former Assistant Secretary of Education under the administration of President George H.W. Bush, explaining corporate education reform on April 10, 2011:  

A Primer on Corporate School Reform -- Excerpt posted below; the link itself contains the rest of the article, an excellent overview of what corporate reform is and what its goals are. 

“Corporate education reform” refers to a specific set of policy proposals currently driving education policy at the state and federal level.  These proposals include:

*increased test-based evaluation of students, teachers, and schools of education
*elimination or weakening of tenure and seniority rights
*an end to pay for experience or advanced degrees
*closing schools deemed low performing and their replacement by publicly funded, but privately run  charters
*replacing governance by local school boards with various forms of mayoral and state takeover or private management
*vouchers and tax credit subsidies for private school tuition
*increases in class size, sometimes tied to the firing of 5-10% of the teaching staff
*implementation of Common Core standards and something called “college and career readiness” as a standard for high school graduation...

• The Corporate Takeover of American Schools 
• The Bait and Switch of School "Reform" 
• Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools
• New Orleans: Beachhead for Corporate Takeover of Public Schools 
• Why School Choice Fails
• Why Advocacy and Market Forces Fail Education Reform 
• Three Kinds of Charter Schools: Largely Segregated, Intensely Segregated, and Apartheid 
• Diane Ravich's Insider View of a Corporate Reform Lie
• Cashing in on Kids 
• 5 Biggest Lies About the Right-Wing Corporate Backed War on Our Schools 
• "Selling Schools Out"