Problems
with the Status Quo:
To enable the Stellar Schools Development Corporation to
better justify its new kinds of schools we need to say
something about the problems of existing systems of public
and private schools. So let's discuss: "What is wrong with
K-12 education?"
High Dropout Rates
and Achievement Misrepresentations:
We can begin by looking at two problems that beset nearly
all public education systems in the United States.
Our first area of concern is that of the high dropout
rates. Nationwide, within the regular public school systems
(not including charter schools), about 30% of entering 9th
graders never graduate from high school with an academic
diploma.
The second issue is one of accountability. It is about the
misrepresentation of students' achievement in regards to
state administered achievement test scores where the public
systems routinely and grossly inflate the scores. It is
also about the high percentage (over 75%) of unearned 12th
grade diplomas issued to sub-par students. Private schools
are not much better-where nationally about 55% of their
diplomas are similarly bogus. This is all done with
impunity. (You can verify this by reviewing U.S. Department
of Education statistics. See, for example,
www.schoolmatters.com where you can compare the performance
statistics.) Our sister organization Asora Education
Enterprises is working in this area including relevant
consulting services. For more details please consider
some of the reports available at their
reports on reform page.
With respect to this latter point, it is clear that the
practice of social promotion, which is endemic in both
public and private schools, is the essential cause of the
low proficiencies. Stellar Schools are designed with a
structure that prevents social promotion.
Real Dropout Rates:
By combining
the analysis of these two problems, we have defined
something we call the "real dropout rate" that reveals what
percentage of entering 9th graders actually have 12th grade
proficient skills when they graduate from high school? The
national average "real dropout rate" exceeds 80%! This is
discussed in quantitative terms and in more detail in a
downloadable short report "Real Public High School Dropout
Rates," that is available on Asora's reform reports page.
K-12 Education's
Abuse of Children:
A broader issue related to the foregoing is about the
extent to which public and private education authorities
are culpable for the demonstrable harm their schools are
doing to students and the surrounding society? We delve
into that question in another downloadable short report,
"Is Public Education a Form of Child Abuse?" It's available
at Asora's reports on reform page. School Reform News also published an
essay we wrote on this subject in its April 2007 issue,
"Integrity Is Remedy for Harms Caused by Social
Promotion." Private schools also have a problem in this
area.
Private School
Mediocrity:
It is generally presumed that when public schools are
failing that there will be nearby private schools where
children can be sent to get a good education. However,
there are indications- at least in suburban areas- that
non-profit private schools, while almost always better than
their public school counterparts, are not all that much
better. It is generally believed that non-profit private
schools primarily compete with the public schools and
therefore they need not be markedly better to succeed- they
simply must be "enough better" to fill their seats. This tendency
towards private school mediocrity does not seem to extend
to those few private schools that are for-profit. This
latter observation has led us to explore what kind of
for-profit educational enterprises might work best to
provide children a superior K-12 education at reasonable
cost. Our best description of some of these issues is found
in one of our earliest reports, "Profitable Education in
Stellar Schools," and its downloadable appendices to be
found on Asora's website. We also have additional background
information about public schools in the
Business Plan
for Asora Education
Enterprises' version of Stellar Schools.
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