Category Archives: Writing

After two decades of experience, most charter schools in the Twin Cities still underperform comparable traditional public schools and intensify racial and economic segregation in the Twin Cities schools. This is the conclusion of a new report issued today by the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Entitled “Failed Promises: Assessing Charter Schools in the Twin Cities,” the new study evaluates the record of charter schools in terms of academic achievement, racial and economic segregation, and their competitive impact on traditional public schools. The study finds that rather than encouraging a race to the top, charter school competition in fact promotes a race to the bottom in the traditional public school system.

“The Twin Cities is the birthplace of charter schools. Education reformers look up to Minnesota as the state with the longest track record with charter schools. But before they rush into expanding the charter sector in their states, they should take a closer look at the Twin Cities experience,” said Myron Orfield, Director of the Institute on Race and Poverty. “Rather than being a solution to the educational problems faced by low-income students and students of color, charter schools are deepening these problems.”

Failed Promises: Assessing Charter Schools in the Twin Cities Institute on Race and Poverty

The public school system drives conservatives right up the wall. First there’s all that political correctness nonsense– everything from the anti-Christmas campaign to segregation– and then there’s all the profit, just out of reach. So they came up with a solution: the Charter school.

It’s a perfect conservative strategy, hiding the violent anarchy of the market behind a facade of free choice and the freedom to innovate. It got rid of the nasty business of having to support segregation, too, among other things. And there’s all that public money to loot, too.

It’s probably one of the most socially corrosive notions to come along in a very long time. Instead of putting money and energy into the common experience of public education, conservatives argued, we should all fight for our little piece of the shrinking pie.

It should not be surprising that the Minnesota study found that Charter schools do no better over the long term than any other school, and that they reflect, if not exaggerate, inequalities of several kinds. It’s been obvious for a long time that they are not the pot of gold once imagined.

Vote Falsies 2008! It's your chance to vote for the worst candidates — and enjoy it.

Each year, the Center for Media and Democracy sponsors the "Falsies Awards" contest to shine an unflattering light on those responsible for polluting our information environment. As you look back at 2008, who stands out, for their shameless spinning?

Please rate our Falsies nominees (listed below), and tell us who you think should win our "Readers' Choice" Falsies. We're also asking you to sincerely nominate people or groups who have championed honest discourse over the past year, for our "Win Against Spin" Awards.

Please fill out the survey by 5:00 pm (U.S. central standard time) on Monday, December 1, 2008, to make sure your votes are tallied. You can vote for multiple winners in each category; our awards committee will factor that into their deliberations. Please note that you must vote on at least eight of our nominees for your ballot to be counted. (We don't need anyone stuffing our Falsies!)

Thanks for your input, and stay tuned to www.prwatch.org for a revealing look at our Falsies Awards winners, in December.

Welcome to the Fifth Annual Falsies Awards!.

My vote went for #6 which which includes Rick Berman and his trio of disinformation agencies: The Center for Union Facts, the Employment Policies Institute and the Center for Consumer Freedom. Do you ever wonder where your relatives get those bizarre ideas? Here’s your answer.