First published on K12NN Wire on March 14, 2015
Sent to the Los Angeles Times on March 14, 2015
Re: Teachers at Alliance charter group push to form union http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-alliance-charter-story.html
The author here calls the Alliance's corporate chain a "high-performing charter group". I'm curious if that inaccurate designation came directly from either Alliance's or the California Charter Schools Association's marketing departments?
Despite claiming that their schools produce top college prospects, Alliance College "Ready" Schools boast 6 of the 80 lowest SAT performers in Los Angeles County, and 5 of the 75 lowest in LAUSD. (Source: "California Schools Guide." Lowest Average SAT Scores in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles Times, 01 Jan. 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.). Those numbers have not significantly changed in two years.
Moreover, Alliance routinely produces "graduates" with astronomical remediation rates. Take their Gertz-Ressler campus' figures for 2008-2012. The California State University (CSU) makes remediation data available (Source: www.asd.calstate.edu) for all schools sending them students.
* 2008 Alliance's CSU proficiency 7% in math and 13% in English.
* 2009 Alliance's CSU proficiency 29% in math and 29% in English.
* 2010 Alliance's CSU proficiency 29% in math and 17% in English.
* 2011 Alliance's CSU proficiency 50% in math and 33% in English.
* 2012 Alliance's CSU proficiency 57% in math and 50% in English.
Alliance has made their "CEO" Judy Burton insanely wealthy though. In 2013, aside from the $139K+ she was making from CalSTRS and CalPERS, she was skimming another $315K+ in taxpayer money through her corporate charter pyramid scheme. (Source: California Pensions Database and Alliance 2010 Form 990 Part VII§A).
Robert D. Skeels
*********@ucla.edu
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