As The Nation article explains, “…the basic structure of school financing in Philadelphia is rigged to benefit these privately managed companies. Public-school money follows students when they move to charter schools, but the public schools’ costs do not fall by the same amount. For example, if 100 students leave a district-run school at a cost of $8,596 per head (the district’s per-pupil expenditure minus certain administrative costs), that school’s cost for paying teachers, staff and building expenses doesn’t actually decline by that amount. It has been estimated that partly because of these costs, each student who enrolls in a charter school costs the district as much as $7,000.”

Gordon, Brooks notes, “said his job was ‘to help poor people.’ Well, no one asked for your help…. Every couple years, they come up with a new philosophy about what’s best—instead of funding the schools.”

“Change is the only option,” declared Mark Gleason, the PSP’s chief executive, in testimony before state legislators in 2013. “We may not fully know which changes will make the most difference, which will transform outcomes for poor and minority students. But we have some good clues—we even have some proof points right here in Philadelphia—and we know the status quo is most definitely not working for disadvantaged students. The debate we should be having is about which changes are worth trying—not about saving a failed system.”

"Mastery is 'not doing more with less,' Masch says. 'They're doing more with more.'" (Denvir September 24, 2014).

Although we’ve touched on the topic, our conversations so far haven’t focused on the role of teachers within urban schools. Today’s readings made me consider two aspects of this topic: the responsibilities that teachers should be held accountable for, and how (or not) they are limited in their abilities to take on those responsibilities.

How can the government demand a certain score on a test from all students when closing the achievement gap isn't based on these arbitrary test scores? There are other more pressing factors that relate to this educational achievement gap that these tests will never solve. 

"The United States should not use one hand to blame the schools for inadequately serving disadvantaged children when its social policies have helped create these disadvantages - especially income disadvantages - with the other hand." (City Kids, City Schools, p.225)

Last class we got into dicussion about the place of the education system inside of a much larger, interwoven set of systems that govern the way we live as human beings in society, and that for true reform, there needs to be a total ideological overhaul of sorts. In light of this, I found Stan Karp's essay exceptionally intriguing (and apalling) in which he outlines the structure of NCLB act and it's consectutive steps of addressing reform for schools that fails to meet the stipulated standards. I the act, privitazation seems to be lauded as a 'solution' to 'failing' urban schools, almost like a secret prize, but not called so, which seems to be simplified into channeling money into the school.

I really enjoyed Sue Books' "What Teachers Need to Know About Poverty." I thought it was a powerful and dynamic summary of the hardships faced by students in low income schools and I appreciated the way she outlined what makes an effective teacher for those students. I particuarly appreciated the line, "Many children who grow up in poverty thrive despite tremendous hardships. This testifies to the amazing strength of their young spirits, but cannot, or ought not, be used as a reason to deny the profound significance of poverty in young lives." (185). I think there is a common assumption that it is the childrens' responsibility to succeed and the American Dream influences this assumption. It posits that, if a person wills success, he or she will achieve it.

“education did not create the problem of widespread poverty wages, and education will not solve the problem. No Child Left Behind will not raise wages for the millions who work at poverty jobs. Only employers and governments can raise wages”

Denvir outlines the issues that neighborhood schools are facing when faced up against certain standards. Schools like Steel Elementary, that have failed to reach the standards of NCLB, are under threat of being taken over by a private consultant, intended to transform the school. Mark Gordon, the CEO of Mastery Charter Schools remarks that "districts are a house on fire and poor children are trapped inside", which implies that poor people are completely helpless, and without Mark Gordon to save them, they will collapse. Kendra Brooks, principal of Steel Elementary School notes that "Gordon....said his job was 'to help poor people'. Well, no one asked for your help....Every couple years, they come up with a new philosophy about what's best -- instead of funding the school".

After reading the selections from City Kids, City Schools, which provided strong, negative opinions about how the government deals with poverty and "failing" schools, I revisited the article "Racial Bias in Pennsylvania's Funding of Public Schools." From the first read-through, I was struck at how the line-of-best-fit in the graphs so starkly separated the yellow and brown dots. On second look, I noticed a brown dot in the upper right corner -- an outlier -- at about 90% Free or Reduced Lunch and getting about $16,000 per student BEF (Basic Education Funding).