Texas Connections Academy is not "free" like is advertises

I got information from the Texas Connections Academy, a full-time virtual charter school.  I did a little research on them and this is what came up.  I have many concerns but will only list three—as I mainly want you to read this write-up by a group called the Center for Media and Democracy.

First, their advertisement announces "free" services since it does not charge students, but SourceWatch indicates that this really isn't so.  Taxpayers are footing the bill here with their hard-earned tax dollars and handing them over to Pearson, Inc., a private for-profit conglomerate : "Connections Education, that made an estimated $190 million in revenue in 2011." (see below)  These are monies that are as a result NOT going into public education that consequently is party to the systematic undermining of public education.

Second, how is a parent supposed to know not only if this is a high performing academy, but also whether your child is better off going to this school than a brick and mortar one?   And I'm not talking about understandable situations like in rural contexts that could, in some or many instances, benefit, but rather families like myself in an urban context that gets a mailer on it in the mail.

So if you look at the FAQs on their webpage on the TCA evaluation, here's what it says:

Has any educational organization ever evaluated the program and its curriculum?

TCAH operates as an approved Houston Independent School District (HISD) campus charter and is accredited through HISD. Connections Academy is a division of Connections Education, which is accredited by AdvancED.

 AdvancED which accredits the school shows up as this non-descript website that you have to log into.  It obviously can't or won't provide this information in the full light of day which smacks of un-professionalism, at best, and dishonesty, at worst.

They probably don't want the public to find out, among so many other things, just how poorly children in Connections Academy in Ohio fared where their schools failed to meet adequate yearly progress by LARGE margins.  This doesn't matter for CA anyway because they still got their money—a whopping $19.2 million for a grand total of 3,123 students. What a sham and what a terrible disservice to the children and parents that fall prey to this nonsense.

Third, is the viability of establishing meaningful, interpersonal relationships online—especially when we know that these are vital to learning, socialization, and ultimately, mobility in school and life.

I agree with the recommendation that we cap growth of full-time charter schools.  The for-profit motive together with the extant data are sufficiently troubling for this to be a hopeful direction for our nation's children.

-Angela

Connections Academy

Find the privatizers and profiteers at OutsourcingAmericaExposed.org.

Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws.

Connections Academy is a division of Connections Education, LLC, which is owned by the UK-based, publicly-traded international media conglomerate Pearson PLC (LSE:PSON, NYSE:PSO).

The company's website says it provides "free" services since it does not charge students, but the services are far from free as they divert taxpayer dollars from the public school system to a private for-profit firm, Connections Education, that made an estimated $190 million in revenue in 2011.^[1]

Connections Academy contracts with public school districts and charter schools to provide online classes for K-12 students.^[2] Connections Academy had 21 schools and more than 27,000 students in the 2010-11 school year.^[3] But some of those schools are failing. In September 2013, Politico reported that, "Ohio’s six biggest cyber schools all got Fs on their state progress reports, meaning students learned nowhere near a year’s worth of material in a year of studying online." Ohio Connections Academy received $19.2 million in taxpayer funds for 3,123 students, but those students are failing to meet adequate yearly progress by large margins (-11.3 in reading, -15.7 in math, -17.2 overall.)^[4]

Connections Academy has ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other organizations promoting a for-profit educational model from which it stands to benefit financially. Both on its own and as a member of ALEC, Connections Academy has pushed a national agenda to replace brick and mortar classrooms with computers and replace actual teachers with "virtual" teachers. Many have questioned the company's extraordinary revenues, generated at taxpayers' expense.^[5] There has also been criticism of the quality of the teachers, the lack of government oversight and democratic accountability, as well as the appropriateness of taking children as young as five out of a classroom of their peers and putting them in front of a computer screen, according to the Washington Post.^[6][7]

For many years, there was simply no data on virtual school performance. In 2012-13, state data became available indicating poor student achievement, as well as high student turnover, high student-teacher radios, uncertified teachers in some states (such as Florida),^[8] and a funding formula that often gives companies extended periods of public funds for a child when the child may only stay at the cyber school for a brief period of time.^[3] This new information has led some educators to call for a moratorium on the growth of full-time charter schools until policy-makers can assess the reasons for their significant failure to educate children.^[9]

Contents

• 1 Data Shows that Cyber Schools Perform Significantly Worse than Brick and Mortar Schools
• 2 Low-Cost Education Yields High Profits and Poor Academic Outcomes
• 3 Other Controversies
  • 3.1 Spending Taxpayer Dollars on Advertising to Pump Up Attendance Numbers and Taxpayer Subsidies
  • 3.2 More than Double the "Churn" Rates of Brick-and-Mortar Schools in Arizona
  • 3.3 Influencing Education in the States
    • 3.3.1 Maine
    • 3.3.2 Wisconsin
  • 3.4 Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
    • 3.4.1 Virtual Public Schools Act
    • 3.4.2 Parent Trigger Act
  • 3.5 Ties to Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education
• 4 "Risk Factors" in SEC filings
• 5 Political Activity
• 6 Personnel
  • 6.1 Chief Executive Officer
  • 6.2 Management Team
• 7 Contact Information
• 8 Resources and Articles
  • 8.1 Key Studies
  • 8.2 Related SourceWatch Articles
  • 8.3 Related PRWatch Articles
  • 8.4 External Articles
  • 8.5 References

FOUNDING AND OWNERSHIP: Sylvan Ventures started Connections Academy in 2001, opening its first schools in 2002, according to the company's website.^[2] In 2004, it was sold to Apollo Management, L.P., a corporate investor specializing in real estate.^[10] In 2011, Connections Academy expanded to form a new corporate entity, Connections Education, which includes Connections Academy (operator of "online public schools" and an "online private school" through International Connections Academy), Nexus Academy (a "tuition-free, college preparatory, blended learning experience" for high school students), and Connections Learning (provider of various individual "courses, clubs and activities").^[11][2] Later in 2011, Connections Education was acquired by Pearson Education, part of the global corporation Pearson PLC.^[12]
PROFITS: According to Pearson's 2011 Annual Report, the company's share value increased by 20 percent in 2011 compared to the preceding year (before it acquired Connections Education), with revenues of over 5.8 billion British pounds, or more than $9.2 billion.^[13][14] (Its adjusted operating profit for 2010 was 942 million British pounds, or $1.1 billion.)^[15] In 2012, Pearson took in 6.1 billion British pounds (about $9.7 billion) in revenues, with an adjusted operating profit of 936 million British pounds (approximately $1.5 billion).^[16][17]
BUSINESS MODEL: Connections Academy currently operates tuition-free online "public schools" under management contracts from charter schools or school districts in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming in 2013, according to the company's website.^[2]

Data Shows that Cyber Schools Perform Significantly Worse than Brick and Mortar Schools

In recent years, there has been an explosion of virtual schools (also called internet schools, cyber schools, and online schools). From 2008 to 2012, 157 bills passed in 39 states and territories (including the District of Columbia) that expand online schooling, regulate virtual education, or modify existing regulations, according to a National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) database.^[18] Many of these bills are attributable to American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) politicians. As discussed below, ALEC passed a "model" virtual schools act in 2004.
Until recently, data on performance was scarce, but educators at the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) did two of the first empirical studies in 2012 and 2013 on the effectiveness of full-time online schools. The authors concluded that despite the amount of taxpayer dollars going towards these schools, there is "very little solid evidence to justify the rapid expansion of virtual education." One of the studies, looking at state data on performance, shows major problems with cyber schools. The 2013 report by NEPC notes, "on the common metrics of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), state performance rankings, and graduation rates, full-time virtual schools lag significantly behind traditional brick-and-mortar schools."^[3]
In the 2010-2011 school year, only 23.6 percent of virtual schools met AYP standards, whereas 52 percent of brick-and-mortar public school districts and charter schools met the same progress standards.^[3] According to another (2012) report by NEPC, "Among the large-sized EMOs, those companies with the lowest proportion of schools meeting AYP are White Hat Management (7 percent), Charter Schools USA (10 percent), Educational Services of America Inc. (10 percent), Connections Academy (27 percent), Academica (29 percent), and K12 Inc. (33 percent)" (emphasis added).^[19]

The same study also shows that on-time graduation rates are much lower on average at online schools than at all public schools in the United States: only 37.6 percent of students at virtual high schools graduate on time, whereas the national average for all public high schools is 79.4 percent, more than twice that.^[3] Other critics have wondered where some of the taxpayer dollars directed to online schools end up.
A September 2013 Politico investigation of Ohio virtual schools found that, of the six biggest online schools in the state, they all received "failing grades" from the Ohio Department of Education for academic performance. Ohio Connections Academy received $19.2 million in taxpayer funds for 3,123 students, but those students are failing to meet adequate yearly progress by large margins (-11.3 in reading, -15.7 in math, -17.2 overall.)^[20]

A study of the performance of Pennsylvania online charter schools by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University in 2011 found that 100 percent of cyber charters performed "significantly worse than their traditional public school counterparts in both reading and math.”^[21]
A ten-month investigation of Colorado virtual schools found that half of the students of online schools left within a year, and that when they returned to brick-and-mortar schools they were often further behind academically than when they started.^[22]

Low-Cost Education Yields High Profits and Poor Academic Outcomes

Connections Academy saves money by not having buildings, classrooms, books, etc., and also cuts costs by reducing curriculum and teachers, according to the New York Times.^[1] During a presentation at the Virginia legislature in 2011, a representative of Connections Academy explained that its services were available at three price points per student:

"Option A: $7,500, a student-teacher ratio of 35-40 to 1, and an average teacher salary of $45,000.

"Option B: $6,500, a student-teacher ratio of 50 to 1, with less experienced teachers paid $40,000.

"Option C: $4,800 and a student-teacher ratio of 60 to 1, as well as a narrower curriculum."^[1]

According to the report by the New York Times:

"Despite lower operating costs, the online companies collect nearly as much taxpayer money in some states as brick-and-mortar charter schools. In Pennsylvania, about 30,000 students are enrolled in online schools at an average cost of about $10,000 per student. The state auditor general, Jack Wagner, said that is double or more what it costs the companies to educate those children online."^[1]

Apart from earning profits at the taxpayers' expense, Connections Academy and other online schools consistently fail to meet academic standards at the level of brick-and-mortar public schools. Data show that virtual students trail traditional students by almost every academic metric, as reported by the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter in Wisconsin.^[23]

Other Controversies

Spending Taxpayer Dollars on Advertising to Pump Up Attendance Numbers and Taxpayer Subsidies

A 2012 article in USA Today revealed that 10 of the biggest for-profit online K-12 schools (including Connections, which is the second largest) "have spent millions in taxpayer dollars on advertising" -- $94.4 million from 2007 to 2012.^[24]

Jim Buckheit, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, told the New York Times, "Some of the cyber charter schools have fairly aggressive recruitment campaigns. . . . They have vans, billboards, TV and radio ads. They set up recruitment meetings in area hotels and invite parents to come."^[1]

The massive advertising pulls in parents, students, and state money, but students often do not stay in the cyber school, and one study indicates that "churn" -- or turnover -- of students could be more than 50 percent in some schools.^[3]

More than Double the "Churn" Rates of Brick-and-Mortar Schools in Arizona

Arizona Connections Academy has "reported that 30 percent of enrolled students leave sometime during the school year," according to the Arizona Republic. In comparison, Mesa Unified, the school's largest district, had a "churn" rate of 12 percent in the 2010-2011 school year. The Arizona Republic report added that "doubts about quality plague Arizona's online schools," and "the largest online schools in K-12 lag the state averages among all Arizona public schools in most standardized test scores and in graduation rates. Turnover of students is high, which indicates many students have failed to get traction in mastering their courses or maintaining their motivation."^[25]

Influencing Education in the States

Connections Academy has sought to dramatically change the face of state-level education policy to favor its for-profit education agenda, sometimes with the help of ALEC and the Foundation for Excellence in Education (see more about FEE below). Below are some examples where the firm has succeeded in diverting public funds to private for-profit education:

Maine

In Maine, Governor Paul LePage has worked closely with national virtual school lobbying groups to craft Maine's education policy.^[26] Connections Academy has hired former Maine State Chamber of Commerce lobbyist and GOP legislative staffer Chris Jackson^[27] to lobby for the company in 2011 and 2013, according to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.^[28][29]
Governor LePage, whose administration has put a priority on subsidizing for-profit education corporations with public funds, named Stephen Bowen as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education in 2011. Bowen was a member of the ALEC Education Task Force when he worked on the staff of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a member of the right-wing web of groups called the State Policy Network.^[30] In January 2013, LePage called for the resignation of Maine Charter School Commission members who turned down four out of five charter school applications, including a repeat attempt by K12 Inc. and Connections Academy.^[26]

Wisconsin

In March 2011, Rep. Robin Vos, former ALEC state chairman for Wisconsin, introduced Assembly Bill 51, which was to erase the cap on the number of pupils who may attend virtual charter schools and weaken teacher licensing requirements.^[5] AB 51 drew from a number of ALEC bills, especially the "Next Generation Charter Schools Act," which includes the idea of an authorizing board that makes it easier to establish charter schools over the objections of school districts and other school officials, and the "Charter Schools Act," which states that charter schools are to be funded at a per-pupil rate, as public schools are.^[5]

On February 10, 2011, Thomas Fonfara of Arrowhead Strategies, LLC registered as a lobbyist on behalf of Connections Academy/Connections Education LLC. Between that date and June 30, 2011, Connections paid him $24,000^[31] for "development, drafting or introduction of a proposal relating to virtual charter schools" or "virtual schools," intending to affect "both legislative matter and rule," according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.^[32]

Connections Academy was a private sector chair of the ALEC Education Task Force at the time the Charter School Reform Bill (AB 51-SB 22) was introduced and stood to benefit from its passage through its Wisconsin Connections Academy.^[5] When the bill failed to pass, Governor Scott Walker instead added a provision to the state budget to lift the enrollment cap on virtual charter schools, while the budget simultaneously stripped $834 million from Wisconsin public schools.^[33]

Connections had previously hired Thomas Fonfara to lobby on its behalf from 2006 to 2008.^[34] In January 2008, the Wisconsin state legislature introduced AB 697 and SB 396 relating to "virtual charter schools" and "online courses for elementary and secondary school pupils and granting rule-making authority."^[35][36] In the first half of 2008, Connections Academy spent over $35,000 in lobbying expenditures to Fonfara and his firm at the time, Quarles & Brady, lobbying on these two bills and another related virtual schools bill.^[37] SB 396, a compromise bill to keep Wisconsin's virtual schools open after an appeals court ruled that the largest virtual school in the state had violated state law,^[38] was signed by Governor Jim Doyle on April 7, 2008,^[35] and became the 2007 Wisconsin Act 222.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

Connections Academy was a long-time member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Mickey Revenaugh, Connections Academy co-founder and Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at the Connections Learning division under Pearson, was the co-chair of ALEC's Education Task Force as of May 2012.^[39][40][41] Connections Academy was heavily involved in ALEC's model bill, the "Virtual Public Schools Act," which makes online schools recognized public schools, meaning they must be given the same resources and funding as other public schools in that state (see below for more).

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

In July 2012, a Connections Academy spokesperson told the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) that it had cut ties with ALEC in order to align "our affiliations with organizations whose central focus is education."^[42] (See Corporations that Have Cut Ties to ALEC and ALEC Corporations for more.)
ALEC bills benefiting Connections Academy are still moving across the country, however. At least 139 bills promoting a private, for-profit education model were introduced in 43 states and the District of Columbia in the first half of 2013, and 31 became law, according to "ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress," an August 2013 report by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD).^[43]

Virtual Public Schools Act

ALEC and K12 Inc. work together to cash in on kids

 

Connections Academy, together with another for-profit provider of online education, K12 Inc., was heavily involved in ALEC's model bill, the "Virtual Public Schools Act," which makes online schools recognized public schools, meaning they must be given the same resources and funding as other public schools in that state. As noted by PRWatch, the ALEC bill "provides that virtual schools should be paid the same per pupil rate as public schools that actually provide bricks and mortar public schools, with desks, heating and A/C, lunch ladies, playgrounds, gyms, in-person teachers, and extracurricular activities like sports, orchestra, and student councils."^[44]

In 2004 when the "model" bill was drafted and approved, both Connections Academy and K12 Inc. were part of the "School Choice Subcommittee" of ALEC's Education Task Force, according to an archived version of ALEC's website from February 2005. The subcommittee recommended six bills for adoption, including the "Virtual Public Schools Act." According to ALEC, the bill was drafted by Mickey Revenaugh of Connections Academy along with Bryan Flood of K12 Inc., then-Colorado Representative Don Lee (now a lobbyist for K12 Inc.), "and the rest of the Subcommittee."^[45]

The bill was approved at a closed-door meeting of the ALEC Education Task Force in December 2004 and became model legislation in January 2005, when ratified by ALEC's Board of Directors.^[46]
The "Virtual Public Schools Act" is still moving in 2013. Between January and August 2013, state bills similar to ALEC's "model" were introduced in Arizona and Maine and passed in Michigan (HB 4228), according to CMD's report on ALEC bills in 2013.^[43]

Previous to 2013, the bill was introduced in at least Mississippi, Maine, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Texas, according to a September 2012 report by In the Public Interest (ITPI). The bill paved "the way for corporations to offer virtual online classes to public school students. In many of these states, legislators that sponsored this legislation were members of ALEC," according to ITPI, which describes itself as "a comprehensive resource center on privatization and responsible contracting."^[47]

The legislation offers enormous opportunities for the corporations that promoted it with the help of ALEC. In the states that have passed the model bill, these companies have strong operations. Connections Academy runs a virtual public school in Texas and has schools under development in Tennessee and Virginia.^[48]

Parent Trigger Act

"Won't Back Down" misleadingly portrays "Parent Trigger" laws as an effective mechanism for transforming underperforming public schools

 

Connections Academy was the private sector chair of ALEC's Education Task Force when the task force approved the "Parent Trigger Act,"^[49] which allows parents at any failing school -- defined by standardized testing -- to sign a petition to radically transform the school using any of four "triggers": Parents can petition to 1) fire the principal, 2) fire half of the teachers, 3) close the school and let parents find another option, or 4) convert the school into a charter school. "Parent Trigger" was romanticized in the Hollywood film, "Won't Back Down", in which filmmakers portrayed the laws as an effective mechanism for transforming underperforming public schools. In actuality, only two school districts have used the petition mechanism. One petition was thrown out by the courts. And both petitions, "instead of prompting reform-minded unity, . . . have been criticized for creating 'chaos and division' in the community," as noted by PRWatch.^[50] The ALEC Education Task Force voted to approve the "Parent Trigger Act" in December 2010,^[49] and the idea quickly spread. According to analysis by CMD, ALEC members had introduced or cosponsored various versions of the bill in 17 states as of September 2012,^[50] and 12 more states introduced similar bills in the first half of 2013, with one such bill (HB 1385) being signed into law in Oklahoma.^[43]

Ties to Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education

Connections Academy has funded the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE), a non-profit education reform advocacy group founded by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, according to emails released by the non-profit privatization resource organization In the Public Interest.^[51] FEE is "backed by many of the same for-profit school corporations that have funded ALEC and vote as equals with its legislators on templates to change laws governing America's public schools," as noted by PRWatch. Bush's group is also "bankrolled by many of the same hard-right foundations bent on privatizing public schools that have funded ALEC" and "they have pushed many of the same changes to the law, which benefit their corporate benefactors and satisfy the free market fundamentalism of the billionaires whose tax-deductible charities underwrite the agenda of these two groups."^[13]
As In the Public Interest reports, e-mails between FEE and conservative state education officials in Florida, New Mexico, Maine, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Louisiana show that the foundation is writing state education laws and regulations in ways that could benefit its corporate funders:

"The emails, obtained through public records requests, reveal that the organization, sometimes working through its Chiefs For Change affiliate, wrote and edited laws, regulations and executive orders, often in ways that improved profit opportunities for the organization’s financial backers. Bush has been referred to as the 'godfather' of Chiefs for Change, an alliance of conservative state superintendents and education department directors with significant authority over purchasing and policy in their states."^[52]

"Risk Factors" in SEC filings

In its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, publicly traded companies are required to highlight for shareholders any “risk factors” in their sector that could affect their business and future prospects. These risk factors, which are listed in the annual report (Form 10-K) often show the incentives the company has to influence public policy and the direction their advocacy would take.
As a privately held company, Connections Education (parent corporation of Connections Academy) has no obligation to file a 10-K form with the federal government. However, its owner, UK-based Pearson, has an annual report that is publicly available. In its latest report, Pearson cites "education regulation and funding" as principal risks, high in both probability and impact, that may adversely affect its "business strategy, financial position or future performance."^[15] With regard to education regulation and government funding of its United States operations, Pearson states:

"In the US we actively monitor changes through participation in advisory boards and representation on standard setting committees. . . . We work through our own government relations team . . . [to monitor] municipal funding and the impact on our education receivables."^[16]

Political Activity

Connections Education has spent $270,000 on education lobbying at the federal level from 2009 to 2011: $60,000 in 2009 (as Connections Academy), $120,000 in 2010, and $90,000 in 2011.^[53]
At the state level, Connections Education registered lobbyists in nine states from 2010 through 2012, the three years since it was founded,^[54] while Connections Academy and its state-based affiliates have lobbied in 27 states from 2003 through 2012.^[55] In Wisconsin alone, Connections Academy has spent over $92,000 lobbying on the issue of virtual public schools, according to a review of Wisconsin Government Accountability Board data by the Center for Media and Democracy.^[56]
In 2011, the progressive group Our Oregon reported that freshman Oregon State Rep. Matt Wingard (R-Wilsonville), a vocal advocate of online schools and Connections Academy in particular, was actually on the payroll of Connections Academy while in public office in at least 2008.^[57] It also noted that the President of Oregon Connections Academy is Jeff Kropf, former state legislator and later state director of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity.^[58]

Personnel

Chief Executive Officer

Connections Academy CEO & president,
Barbara Dreyer
(Source: Connections Academy)

Barbara Dreyer is a Connections Academy co-founder (with Mickey Revenaugh) and currently its Chief Executive Officer and President. Information about her compensation is not available as of September 2013. She previously founded two technology companies: Speakout.com/Ntercept Communications, a web research group that existed from 1999 to 2002, of which she was also Chief Operating Officer;^[59] and VideoGrafects, a multimedia development company, of which she was also President.^[60][61] She also has previous experience in accounting as well as in telecommunications, venture capital, and chemical manufacturing firms, but no known previous experience in education.^[62]

Management Team

As of July 2013:^[63]

• Barbara Dreyer - President and CEO
• Dr. Patricia Hoge, Senior Vice President Curriculum and Instruction and Chief Academic Officer
• Ted Ochs, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer
• Marc Guerrasio, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
• Susan Fancher, Senior Vice President, Marketing
• Monte Kalisch, Senior Vice President, Development
• Yvonne Kisiel, Senior Vice President and General Counsel
• Pat Laystrom, Senior Vice President, State Relations
• Deane Turner, Senior Vice President, Operations
• Earl W. Grier, Jr., Vice President of Schools
• Dr. Donna Hutchison, Vice President, State Relations
• Robert D. Pouliot, Vice President of Operations
• Peter Robertson, Vice President of Schools
• David Schmidt, Vice President, State Relations
• Susan Stagner, Vice President State Relations

Former Management includes:

• Dr. Steven Guttentag - Executive Vice President and Chief Education Officer (current President of Connections Learning)
• Mickey Revenaugh - Senior Vice President, State Relations (current Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Connections Learning)

Contact Information

Corporate Headquarters:
1001 Fleet Street, 5th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
Phone: (443) 529-1000
Web: http://www.connectionsacademy.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ConnectionsAcademy
Twitter: @ConnectionsAcad

Resources and Articles

Key Studies

• Stephanie Simon, Cyber schools flunk, but tax money keeps flowing, Politico, September 25, 2013.
• Alex Molnar, Ed., National Education Policy Center, Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2013: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence, organizational report, May 2013.
• Center for Public Education, Searching for the Reality of Virtual Schools, organizational report, May 2012.
• Stephanie Saul, Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools, New York Times, December 12, 2011.
• Lee Fang, How Online Learning Companies Bought America's Schools, The Nation, December 5, 2011.
• Gene V. Glass and Kevin G. Welner, National Education Policy Center, Online K-12 Schooling in the U.S.: Uncertain Private Ventures in Need of Public Regulation, organizational report, October 2011.
• Burt Hubbard and Nancy Mitchell, Online K-12 Schools Failing Students but Keeping Tax Dollars, iNews Network (Rocky Mountain PBS), September 27, 2011.
• Julie Underwood, ALEC Exposed: Starving Public Schools (sub. req'd.), The Nation, July 12, 2011.
• Center for Research on Education Outcomes, Charter School Performance in Pennsylvania, organizational report, April 4, 2011.

Related SourceWatch Articles

• K12 Inc.
• Outsourcing America Exposed Portal
• American Legislative Exchange Council
  • Education Task Force
• Foundation for Excellence in Education

Related PRWatch Articles

• Mary Bottari, From Junk Bonds to Junk Schools: Cyber Schools Fleece Taxpayers for Phantom Students and Failing Grades, PRWatch, October 2, 2013.
• Brendan Fischer, Cashing in on Kids: 139 ALEC Bills in 2013 Promote a Private, For-Profit Education Model, PRWatch, July 16, 2013.
• Lisa Graves, "Taxpayer-Enriched Companies Back Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education, its Buddy ALEC, and Their 'Reforms,'" PRWatch, November 28, 2012.
• Mary Bottari and Sara Jerving, "Won't Back Down" Film Pushes ALEC Parent Trigger Proposal, PRWatch, September 19, 2012.
• Rebekah Wilce, EnergySolutions and Connections Education Are 27th and 28th Corporations to Leave ALEC, PRWatch, July 20, 2012.
• Dustin Beilke, ALEC Education "Academy" Launches on Island Resort, PRWatch, February 2, 2012.
• Mary Bottari, ALEC Bills in Wisconsin, PRWatch, July 14, 2011.

External Articles

• Sean Cavanagh, N.M. Schools Chief Overrules Panel, Clears Path for Virtual School, Education Week, February 5, 2013.
• Valerie Strauss, E-mails link Bush foundation, corporations and education officials, Washington Post, January 30, 2013.
• Stephanie Simon, "Online schools face backlash as states question results," Reuters, October 3, 2012.
• Forces behind the privatization of education, Workers World, May 17, 2012.
• Rhania Khalek, Why Is Public Education Being Outsourced to Online Charter Schools?, Alternet, January 8, 2012.

References

1. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Stephanie Saul, Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools, New York Times, December 12, 2011.
2. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Connections Academy About Connections Academy, a Free Online School, company website, accessed July 2013.
3. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} National Education Policy Center, Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2013: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence, organizational report, Alex Molnar, ed., May 2013.
4. Jump up ↑ Politico, Cyber schools flunk, but tax money keeps flowing, September 25, 2013.
5. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Mary Bottari, ALEC Bills in Wisconsin, PRWatch, July 14, 2011.
6. Jump up ↑ Lyndsey Layton, Study raises questions about virtual schools, Washington Post, October 24, 2011.
7. Jump up ↑ Lyndsey Layton and Emma Brown, Virtual schools are multiplying, but some question their educational value, Washington Post, November 26, 2011.
8. Jump up ↑ Trevor Aaronson and John O'Connor, Florida Investigates K12, Nation's Largest Online Educator, State Impact (NPR), September 11, 2012.
9. Jump up ↑ National Education Policy Center, A Study of Student Characteristics, School Finance, and School Performance in Schools Operated by K12 Inc., organizational report, July 2012.
10. Jump up ↑ Dun & Bradstreet, "Apollo Management, L.P. Report," online business credit report, prepared June 15, 2011.
11. Jump up ↑ Connections Education, Connections Education, organizational website, accessed July 2013.
12. Jump up ↑ Pearson, Pearson acquires Connections Education, corporate press release, September 15, 2011.
13. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 13.0 13.1} Lisa Graves, "Taxpayer-Enriched Companies Back Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education, its Buddy ALEC, and Their 'Reforms,'" PRWatch, November 28, 2012.
14. Jump up ↑ X-Rates, Rate US Dollar per 1 British Pound Monthly average 2011, currency exchange rate website, accessed July 2013.
15. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 15.0 15.1} Pearson, Annual Report and Accounts, 2011.
16. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 16.0 16.1} Pearson, Annual Report and Accounts, 2012.
17. Jump up ↑ X-Rates, Rate US Dollar per 1 British Pound Monthly average 2012, currency exchange rate website, accessed July 2013.
18. Jump up ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, Education Bill Tracking Database, organizational database, accessed September 2013.
19. Jump up ↑ Gary Miron, Jessica Urschel, Mayra A. Yat Aguilar, Breanna Dailey, National Education Policy Center, Profiles of For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations: Thirteenth Annual Report - 2010-2011, organizational report, January 6, 2012.
20. Jump up ↑ Politico, Cyber schools flunk, but tax money keeps flowing, September 25, 2013.
21. Jump up ↑ Center for Research on Education Outcomes, Charter School Performance in Pennsylvania, organizational report, April 4, 2011, p. 20.
22. Jump up ↑ Burt Hubbard and Nancy Mitchell, Online K-12 Schools Failing Students but Keeping Tax Dollars, iNews Network (Rocky Mountain PBS), September 27, 2011.
23. Jump up ↑ Eric Litke, Virtual schools offer cost savings, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, August 27, 2012.
24. Jump up ↑ Greg Toppo, Online schools spend millions to attract students, USA Today, November 28, 2012.
25. Jump up ↑ Pat Kossan, Anne Ryman, and Matt Dempsey, Online schools face questions over quality, effectiveness, Arizona Republic, December 11, 2011.
26. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 26.0 26.1} Andy O’Brien, A Virtual Impasse in Augusta on Charter Schools, The Free Press, July 3, 2013.
27. Jump up ↑ Federle Mahoney Government Affairs, LLC, Chris Jackson, lobbying firm biography, accessed September 2013.
28. Jump up ↑ Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, Lobbyist Compensation 2013, state lobbyist compensation spreadsheet, file last updated July 24, 2013.
29. Jump up ↑ Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, Lobbyist Compensation Report 2011, state lobbyist compensation spreadsheet, 2011.
30. Jump up ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, Education Task Force Director, organizational document, July 1, 2011, document obtained and released by Common Cause.
31. Jump up ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, Lobbying and Time Expenditures: Connections Education LLC, Eye on Lobbying state lobbying database, January 1 - June 30, 2011 report.
32. Jump up ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, Lobbying Principals: Connections Education LLC: Interests, Eye on Lobbying state lobbying database, reporting date January 1, 2011.
33. Jump up ↑ Amy Hetzner and Erin Richards, Budget cuts $834 million from schools, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 1, 2011.
34. Jump up ↑ National Institute on Money in State Politics, Client Summary: Connections Academy Inc., FollowTheMoney state political influence database, accessed September 2013.
35. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 35.0 35.1} Wisconsin State Legislature, SB 396, state legislative bill tracking website, accessed September 2013.
36. Jump up ↑ Wisconsin State Legislature, AB 697, state legislative bill tracking website, accessed September 2013.
37. Jump up ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, Lobbying and Time Expenditures: Connections Academy Inc, Eye on Lobbying state lobbying database, January 1 - June 30, 2008.
38. Jump up ↑ Kathy Walsh Nufer, Compromise good news for state's virtual schools (sub. req'd.), Appleton Post-Crescent (accessed via Lexis-Nexis), March 12, 2008.
39. Jump up ↑ Pearson, Connections Learning division, Management Team: Mickey Revenaugh, corporate website, accessed September 2013.
40. Jump up ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, Education Task Force, organizational website, accessed July 8, 2011.
41. Jump up ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, Education Task Force Meeting Agenda, organizational agenda, May 11, 2012, document obtained and released by Common Cause.
42. Jump up ↑ Rebekah Wilce, EnergySolutions and Connections Education are 27th and 28th Corporations to Leave ALEC, PRWatch.org, July 20, 2012
43. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 43.0 43.1 43.2} Center for Media and Democracy, ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress, organizational report, August 2013, p. 25.
44. Jump up ↑ Lisa Graves, Taxpayer-Enriched Companies Back Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education, its Buddy ALEC, and Their "Reforms", PRWatch, November 28, 2012.
45. Jump up ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, Education Task Force: News: Task Force Meeting December 4, 2004, organizational website, archived by the Wayback Machine on February 4, 2005.
46. Jump up ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, Virtual Public Schools Act, organizational "model" legislation, approved January 2005, obtained and released by the Center for Media and Democracy July 2011, accessed September 2013.
47. Jump up ↑ In the Public Interest, Profiting from Public Dollars: How ALEC and Its Members Promote Privatization of Government Services and Assets, September 2012.
48. Jump up ↑ Connections Academy, About Us, company website, accessed September 2013.
49. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 49.0 49.1} American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC Education Task Force 35-Day Mailing, organizational document, March 31, 2011, obtained and released by Common Cause April 2012.
50. ↑ ^{Jump up to: 50.0 50.1} Mary Bottari and Sara Jerving, "Won't Back Down' Film Pushes ALEC Parent Trigger Proposal," PRWatch, September 19, 2012.
51. Jump up ↑ In the Public Interest, Corporate Interests Pay to Play to Shape Education Policy, Reap profits: Emails Show Bush-Led Organization's ALEC-Like Role in State Policymaking, organizational publication, January 30, 2013.
52. Jump up ↑ Donald Cohen, In the Public Interest, Bush's Education Nonprofit and Corporate Profits, organizational publication, January 30, 2013.
53. Jump up ↑ Center for Responsive Politics, Lobbying: Connections Education (Summary), OpenSecrets lobbying database, accessed July 2013.
54. Jump up ↑ National Institute on Money in State Politics, Connections Education, FollowTheMoney.org state lobbying database, accessed August 2013.
55. Jump up ↑ National Institute on Money in State Politics, Connections Academy, FollowTheMoney.org state lobbying database, accessed August 2013.
56. Jump up ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, Lobbying Principals, Eye on Lobbying database, accessed August 2013.
57. Jump up ↑ Rep. Matt Wingard, 2009 Annual Verified Statement of Economic Interest, Oregon state ethics disclosure, April 6, 2009.
58. Jump up ↑ Scott Moore, Matt Wingard's Plan to Line His Pockets with Your Tax Dollars, Our Oregon, June, 2011.
59. Jump up ↑ Ntercept Communications, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, accessed August 2013.
60. Jump up ↑ Barbara Dreyer, LinkedIn.com profile, accessed August 2013.
61. Jump up ↑ University of Maryland University College, Dreyer, academic biography, accessed August 2013.
62. Jump up ↑ Connections Academy, Barbara Dreyer, corporate biography, accessed August 2013.
63. Jump up ↑ Connections Academy, Management Team, organizational website, accessed July 2013.

A National Imperative: Helping English Learners

A National Imperative: Helping English Learners
By Yvette Donado

Education   Wed, July 09, 2014 07:21 AM                           Princeton, NJ - For a long time, I have wanted to offer my perspective on the needs of the nearly six million English learners (ELs) in our public schools. My interest is both professional and personal – I was an English learner myself. My parents came from Puerto Rico in search of opportunity, and I was born in New York City, growing up with Spanish as my first language.     My parents did not finish high school, but they understood the importance of education and made sure that my sisters and I completed high school and went on to college while retaining the Spanish language. Today, all four of us have advanced degrees.  Being able to navigate easily between mainstream society and the Latino world has been a plus for all of us.   My concerns about ELs assumed new importance in 2011 when I was asked to lead an Educational Testing Service initiative on EL needs. I realized that while ETS had decades of experience in international English proficiency assessments, our domestic experience was limited. So we set out to listen to experts across the country.     The unsettling conclusion: Large numbers of students lack sufficient opportunities to learn, to master English and other subjects, to get postsecondary degrees and go on to productive careers. It amounts to disregard of our moral and civic obligations. Assuring more productive lives for ELs, in my view, is both a moral and an economic imperative.   ELs need us, and the nation needs them. Given their growing numbers, serving them well can improve educational attainment and help assure productivity and competitiveness in coming decades.   Given these imperatives, in 2012, ETS created a new research center for English Language Learning and Assessment (ELLA) in its Research & Development division. I am pleased that it has elevated the profile of EL research in general and is investing more in serving ELs in the United States.    Now with 15 scientists, this unique center has attracted talent – and interest – from around the world. Meanwhile, ETS has added a substantial number of assessment design and development specialists and psychometric experts to support research and development in this growing area.   Our research emphasis is in three major areas: 1) Assessing English-language proficiency by reviewing current practices, identifying the skills needed to meet the Common Core State Standards and developing improved assessments of English-language proficiency 2) Improving assessments of content knowledge for ELs by investigating the validity and fairness of content assessments for ELs — for example, developing guidelines to make test questions in math and science tests appropriate for ELs in terms of linguistic complexity and cultural references  3) For teachers of ELs, identifying the required content and pedagogical knowledge and developing technology-enhanced professional development materials   I am delighted that ETS is now working with a coalition of 11 states, known as ELPA 21 (English-Language Proficiency for the 21st Century) to design and develop a pool of test items to support the development of a screener and a summative EL proficiency assessment for ELs in grades K–12.    The 11 states, led by Oregon, offer ETS an opportunity to help improve English-language assessments for nearly 600,000 ELs. We are designing new item types, including a range of innovative item types, many of them technology-enhanced, to make assessments more engaging for students and to provide more meaningful information to teachers about student abilities. The effective use of digitally delivered assessments is the subject of ongoing research.   Helping ELs is a challenge; and we do not profess to have all the answers. But we do profess to be searching for the answers and are fully committed to helping bring about improvements. Our mission to advance quality and equity in education compels us to do so.   (The first of a series of ETS white papers on our vision for next-generation English- language proficiency assessment systems to support K–12 English learners in the United States can be accessed at: http://www.ets.org/s/research/pdf/24473_K12_EL_Paper.pdf).   Yvette Donado is the Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Vice President of Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N.J.

CONTACT: Frank D. Gómez 609.683.2422 Cel. 917.593.8764

Becoming a Multilingual Nation: The Challenge and the Promise

November 8, 2013 9:00 AM

ETS Senior Vice President Yvette Donado, La Cosecha Conference Keynote

PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. K–12 public school population — more than 5.5 million and representing 11 percent of all such students. Yet lack of resources, quality teaching and bigotry consign many of these students to futures of underachievement and under-productivity, according to Yvette Donado, Senior Vice President at Educational Testing Service (ETS). Donado delivered this message this morning during her keynote speech at the 18th annual La Cosecha conference in Albuquerque, N.M.

At La Cosecha ("harvest," in Spanish), Donado noted that becoming multilingual, let alone a multilingual nation, is a challenge, as evidenced by our nation's efforts in that area and the resistance they typically engender. She noted, however, that America must continue to make the effort because the return on investment is incalculable — economically, culturally, socially, politically and in terms of living a rich life.

"Is there any nation more multilingual than the United States?" Donado asked. "According to Census data, of the 291.5 million people age five and above, 60.6 million — one in every five — speaks a language other than English at home. And not just a few languages, but 381 languages, from French Creole, Portuguese, Yiddish, Greek, Serbo-Croatian and Gujarati, to Mon-Khmer, Hmong, Russian, Thai, Navajo and Tagalog."

"It is not that Americans don't speak enough languages," she continued. "The problem is that we are not making use of this incredible resource. As a nation, we do not understand, respect or appreciate this embarrassment of linguistic riches. In fact, we seem to careen between paying lip service to linguistic diversity on the one hand, and promoting `English only' on the other."

If America truly valued linguistic diversity, more than 10 percent of the nation's teachers would be fluent in more than one language, and more would be trained in cultural and linguistic diversity, Donado explained. And far fewer people would insist on "English only" education in our K–12 schools.

Cognitive Dissonance

Donado told attendees at La Cosecha, organized by Dual Language Education of New Mexico, that America has always had a case of cognitive dissonance when it comes to cultural and linguistic diversity: "We salute those who leave their homelands for greater freedom and opportunity here, and then scorn them as a group once they arrive."

She noted such unabashedly racist incidents such as the "Chinese Exclusion Act," which played on people's economic insecurities to halt Chinese immigration and prohibit Chinese immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens; the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; and 18th- and 19th-century schools designed to "civilize" children from the Indian nations. It was less about civilizing them than stripping them of their language, customs, beliefs and cultures, she said.

Education and Competitiveness

"Our economic competitiveness depends on immigration to sustain our workforce, given the low native birthrate," Donado added. "And although education is the lever of success in the skills-driven global economy, we are leaving too many children behind. Success in the global economy all but requires a postsecondary education. Between 1973 and 2008, the share of jobs in our economy requiring a postsecondary education more than doubled, to nearly 60 percent."

"Education has been fundamentally important in my own life," she said. "My working-class parents came from Puerto Rico to New York City for opportunity. Neither completed high school, but they made sure that I did, and that I planned for college. They also insisted that I speak Spanish, and that I maintain our Puerto Rican culture so that I would grow up proud of my heritage. I did. And I'm the better for it. Like many of you, I can navigate easily between two cultures, and draw inspiration — and strength — from both."

Donado outlined many of the research and assessment initiatives at ETS, including creation of the TOEFL^® Test in 1964, the TOEIC^® Test in 1977, and a new mission-driven research project studying the status of ELL education.

ETS researchers met with experts, teachers, academics, principals and administrators from around the country and found that:

• ELLs are poorly served.
• They are often misclassified, put into the wrong level of instruction, branded as slow learners, and receive less attention, resources and effort.
• Teachers, including those who teach subjects other than English language learning, often lack preparation for diverse classrooms.
• Teacher professional development with regard to English learners is woefully inadequate.
• Because test scores often are delayed many months, teachers don't know the proficiency level of their students until well into the school year.

"The unsettling conclusion is that we are consigning students to futures of underachievement and under-productivity, and their teachers to a lack of fulfillment," Donado charged. "I submit that it represents a brazen disregard of our moral and civic obligations. The message is that we apply a sliding scale when it comes to valuing children's lives."

Cognitive Advantages, Economic Benefits

Donado also addressed the issue of dual-language acquisition and charges that learning more than one language overwhelms and confuses a young child and delays acquisition of English skills.
"In fact, researchers are finding evidence that just the opposite is true — that learning two or more languages from a very early age improves cognitive abilities in such areas as mental flexibility, abstract thinking, and what is known as `working memory,' a type of short-term memory important for learning and problem solving. There is evidence that dual-language learning does this by developing greater tissue density in the areas of the brain related to language, and by increasing brain activity."

Donado also described research underway into the economic benefits of multilingualism among ELLs. In collaborative research, ETS's Policy Evaluation and Research Center and Patricia Gandara of the UCLA Graduate School of Education commissioned a series of papers examining the economic impact of bilingualism and biliteracy. Among their findings is that bilingualism:

• results in higher earnings for workers in their 20s;
• is associated in Southern California with decreasing high school dropout rates and increasing occupational status and income; and,
• among Spanish speakers, is associated with higher rates of college attendance, which contributes to higher earnings later in life.

Next Steps and Strategy

"English language learning programs cannot be viewed as luxuries, extras or nice things to have," Donado said. "In some parts of the country, more than half of the preschool population comes from non-English-speaking homes." In Los Angeles County alone, she explained, more than 55 percent of the five-year-olds who entered kindergarten in 2004–2005 were children whose primary home language was not English. And according to Head Start, more than 140 languages were spoken by the families of enrolled children.

"Nor is it just a pedagogical problem," she continued. "As our nation's history shows, linguistic diversity is also a political issue, a cultural challenge and a social imperative. It is wonderful that we have this conference. But let's face it: We are all in the choir. We need to preach to the unenlightened. And that's much harder."

"Time and again, research has shown that higher levels of educational attainment are associated with improved health and longevity; individual, family and community stability; and more inclusive, adaptable societies. For the United States in the remainder of the 21st century, the question is simple: What kind of society do WE want to be?"

Donado concluded by quoting a great American visionary:

          "Bestow great attention on the Spanish language, and endeavor to acquire an
          accurate knowledge of it. Our future relations with Spain and Spanish America
          will render that language a valuable acquisition."

"Who wrote it? Thomas Jefferson, to his nephew in 1787. Jefferson spoke and valued languages. Let us heed his advice, but extend the practice to other languages."

About ETSAt ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores the TOEFL^® and TOEIC^® tests, the GRE^® tests and The Praxis Series™ assessments. www.ets.org
SOURCE Educational Testing Service

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UTEP is top producer of women earning Ph.D.s in engineering - Newspaper Tree | El Paso's Original News Source

What a great distinction for the University of Texas El Paso—and how awesome for the women, men, and families that benefit.  Hats off to President Diana Natalicio's leadership, as well as to Dr. Richard
Schoephoerster, dean of the College of Engineering. 

-Angela

UTEP is top producer of women earning Ph.D.s in engineering

UTEP has been ranked No. 1

by Press Release // June 26, 2014 // Press Releases

(Courtesy of garlandcannon)

The University of Texas at El Paso has been ranked No. 1 in
percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to women by the American Society
for Engineering Education (ASEE).


UTEP’s College of Engineering earned this distinction by awarding
40.5 percent of its doctoral degrees in 2013 to women, which is almost
twice the national average of 22.4 percent.


ASEE is a nonprofit organization of
individuals and institutions committed to furthering education in
engineering and engineering technology. ASEE
develops policies and programs that enhance professional opportunities
for engineering faculty members, and promotes activities that support
increased student enrollments in engineering and engineering technology.


“Women are sorely underrepresented in the engineering profession.
They make up only 15 to 20 percent of the workforce,” said Richard
Schoephoerster, Ph.D., dean of the College of Engineering.
“Unfortunately those numbers apply to the faculty ranks in engineering
schools as well. We are on a major drive to increase the number of
female students and faculty in the College of Engineering. We are very
proud that our highly competitive programs are attracting women. In
addition to the large percentage of women in our doctoral programs, of
the 20 faculty hired in the last three years, half of them have been
women.”


This was the first time UTEP has made the
list because the University reached the threshold number of degrees (a
minimum of 25) to be considered for the statistic.


As part of its goal of becoming an emerging research university, UTEP plans to award at least 100 doctoral degrees per year. During the 2012-13 academic year ending in August, UTEP students earned 128 doctorates across all disciplines.


In the same ASEE report, UTEP
was ranked No. 2 in awarding engineering bachelor’s degrees to
Hispanics in the U.S. (excluding Puerto Rico) and No. 4 for the number
of Hispanic tenured and tenure-track faculty in engineering.


UTEP’s reputation as a strong engineering school also was affirmed
with its ranking as No. 28 in number of electrical engineering degrees
awarded (for a total of 84 degrees) and No. 37 in degrees awarded in
industrial, manufacturing and systems engineering (for a total of 38
degrees awarded).


ASEE’s report reflects UTEP’s commitment to access and excellence for
students and faculty. With more than 110,000 degrees awarded to date, UTEP
has evolved from a mining school to a national research university with
a student body that is ready to take on the 21st century.

If you enjoyed this story and would like to read more stories like this, please make a tax-deductible donation to Newspaper Tree today.

Newspaper Tree members or sponsors may be quoted or mentioned in our reporting. View a complete list of financial supporters.

Big understatement:  "The change marks far more than a statistical blip." We need to prepare in constructive ways for this change.  We need to empower our communities through education with the tools that they need to be civically engaged.

-Angela

 

The Next America | Education

School Is Over for the Summer. So Is the Era of Majority White U.S. Public Schools.

When schools reopen this fall, demographic changes will have tipped the balance to nonwhite students.

 (Mario Villafuerte/Getty Images)

By Janell Ross and Peter Bell

July 1, 2014

 

 

The 2013-14 school year has drawn to a close in most U.S. school districts, and with it the final period in which white students composed a majority of the nation's K-12 public school population. When schools reopen in August and September, black, Latino, Asian, and Native American students will together make up a narrow majority of the nation's public school students.
The change marks far more than a statistical blip.

Broader demographic trends indicate that the new student majority, a collection of what have long been thought of as minority groups, will grow. In just three years, Latino students alone will make up nearly 28 percent of the nation's student population, predict data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Latino student population growth combined with a slow but steady decline in the number of white children attending public schools will transform the country's schools.

As public schools increasingly become institutions serving large numbers of students of color, some states with largely white state legislatures and aging electorates have already proven unwilling to raise taxes or divert needed funds to meet the needs of public schools.

School funding and other public resource needs will become increasingly critical as children of color go on to become the majority of the U.S. workforce and total population by 2042.

Retaining Teachers of Color in Our Public Schools

Retaining Teachers of Color in Our Public Schools

A Critical Need for Action

SOURCE: AP/Rogelio V. Solis

Chevonne Dixon, a fourth grade teacher, leads a class at Tunica Elementary School in Tunica, Mississippi.

By Glenda L. Partee | June 28, 2014

June 28, 2014

As a nation, we need to undertake strategic efforts to retain and increase the number of effective teachers of color in our educator workforce. Teachers of color are significantly underrepresented in the public school population, despite the fact that the number of students of color is growing rapidly. We must make sure that all students—especially this new stream of diverse learners from different cultural and language backgrounds—have access to not only high-quality education opportunities but also a high-quality and an equally diverse teaching force. Greater teacher diversity will help ensure that today’s students are prepared to succeed in the future workforce, some in various educator roles.

The first report in this series, “Teacher Diversity Revisited: A New State-by-State Analysis,” explores the growing diversity of the student population in public schools, as well as the shrinking diversity of many state and regional teaching forces. The second report, “The Leaky Pipeline for Teachers of Color: Getting More Teachers of Color into the Classroom,” tracks how people of color enter and negotiate the educator pipeline, examines critical junctures that limit or expand the participation of people of color in this pipeline, and highlights strategies that need further exploration and intervention.

This report, the third in the series, ["Retaining Teachers of Color in Our Public Schools"] focuses on the need to retain teachers of color—specifically, those who effectively improve student achievement. It explores reasons for low teacher retention rates and discusses promising retention policies and practices to ensure that the most capable teachers of color enter and remain in our public schools. Our goal is to generate a serious dialogue among educators and policymakers, as well as within communities of color and among their representatives, about the actions necessary to appreciably increase the numbers of effective teachers of color in public schools. We need to be committed to retaining these teachers and ensuring that they are major components of a diverse and competent workforce.

This report’s findings include:
Retention is key to retaining more teachers of color. Research on the retention and turnover of teachers of color closely parallels research on new teachers, who also leave the profession at disproportionately high rates. It is critical that we give attention to the needs of both of these groups. While much has been done in the past 25 years to substantially increase the numbers of teachers of color in public schools, high levels of attrition offset these successes.
Teachers of color are crucial to all schools. Teachers of color are more likely to work and remain in high-poverty, hard-to-staff urban schools and districts than their white counterparts; in fact, they often consider it an important duty to do so. What’s more, teachers of color are known to be personally committed to the success of children of color, and they affect a wide range of student academic outcomes. They also serve as powerful role models for all students and prove that teaching can be a viable career for people of color.
The conditions that teachers of color face in high-poverty, hard-to-staff urban schools and districts work against their success and longevity in these schools, as well as in the profession as a whole. Factors that support teacher retention are amenable to social, cultural, financial, and human resource policy changes well within the capacity of schools and districts to address.
Based on these findings, state, district, and school leaders, as appropriate, should take the following steps to increase the numbers of—and retain—effective teachers of color in our public schools:
Provide innovative teacher-preparation approaches in university-based and alternative-certification programs, new frameworks for transitioning from trainees to fully functioning, effective teachers and supporting novice teachers, and career development for teachers of color that focuses on ways to explicitly support and retain educators who can be successful in schools with high proportions of students of color.
Address conditions in urban, hard-to-staff schools that compromise the effectiveness and retention of teachers of color.
Communities of color, their advocates, and policymakers, should:
Develop a priority focus on attaining a more diverse and representative teacher workforce, with the specific goal of having local and state workforces reflect the racial, ethnic, and linguistic compositions of classrooms.
Require teachers to be well grounded in the subjects they teach and effective at ensuring our children learn and achieve.
Press for actions to support and retain effective teachers.
Together, state, district, and local school leaders—as well as organized communities of color—can begin to remedy the low representation of people of color in the teaching force. States and districts can work to enforce needed changes in teacher preparation and support to increase the retention of teachers of color. For their part, communities of color can work to highlight the need to develop and support more effective teachers of color in our schools and steer more capable individuals toward the profession.

Glenda L. Partee is the former Associate Director for Teacher Quality at the Center for American Progress.
_______________________________________

Teacher Diversity Revisited: A New State-by-State Analysis

SOURCE: AP/Teach For America Delta Institute

Teach for America corps member Jazmine Moore works one-on-one with a 5th grade student at Pearman Elementary School in Cleveland, Mississippi.

By Ulrich Boser | May 4, 2014

See also: “America’s Leaky Pipeline for Teachers of Color: Getting More Teachers of Color into the Classroom” by Farah Z. Ahmad and Ulrich Boser

In the fall of 2011, the Center for American Progress released an issue brief looking at teacher diversity, and the findings were stark. We found that the demographics of the teacher workforce had not kept up with student demographics. In that study, we showed that students of color made up more than 40 percent of the school-age population. In contrast, teachers of color were only 17 percent of the teaching force.
Since we released our first report on teacher and student demographics, the nation has only grown more diverse. One factor driving this trend is birth rates among populations of color; there has also been a 50 percent increase in the country’s Hispanic population over the past 20 years. Immigration has also played a significant role in our nation’s changing demographics, which include a marked uptick in the number of people moving to the United States from abroad since the Great Recession.
At the same time, states have not being doing nearly enough to increase the diversity of their teaching ranks. In 2011, for instance, North Carolina slashed funding for its Teaching Fellows Program. The program had a dedicated focus on recruiting people of color, and experts had hailed it as an important way to get more teachers of color into the nation’s classrooms.
Given these trends, we decided to revisit the issue of teacher diversity, and we calculated again our groundbreaking “Teacher Diversity Index,” an approach we pioneered in our first paper that ranks states on the percentage-point difference between teachers of color and students of color. For our analysis, we relied on data from the 2012 Schools and Staffing Survey, a nationally representative survey of teachers and principals administered every four years by the National Center for Education Statistics.
We also relied on 2011 data from the Common Core of Data, which is also administered by the National Center for Education Statistics. And for the first time, we looked at teacher diversity within some select states. It should be noted that in this brief, we define “nonwhite” as anyone who is African American, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American.
Among our findings:

• The gap between teachers and students of color continues to grow. Over the past three years, the demographic divide between teachers and students of color has increased by 3 percentage points, and today, students of color make up almost half of the public school population. But teachers of color are just 18 percent of the teaching profession. This is a 1 percentage point increase from three years ago. When we looked more closely at the state-level data, we found similar issues, with the diversity gap growing larger in most states. In New York, for instance, the demographic difference between teachers and students has jumped 5 percentage points since 2011.
• Almost every state has a significant diversity gap. In California, 73 percent of students are nonwhite, but only about 29 percent of teachers are nonwhite. Maryland has the same problem, though the numbers are a bit better: In the Old Line State, more than 55 percent of students are nonwhite, while just around 17 percent of teachers are nonwhite.
• When we looked across racial and ethnic backgrounds, we found that the Hispanic teacher population had larger demographic gaps relative to students. In Nevada, for instance, just 9 percent of teachers were Hispanic. In contrast, the state’s student body was 39 percent Hispanic.
• Diversity gaps are large within districts. For the first time, we examined district-level data in California, Florida, and Massachusetts. These three states account for 20 percent of all students in the United States, and it turns out that the gaps within districts are often larger than those within states.

Consider these examples of teacher-diversity issues uncovered by our research:

• In the Chelsea Public Schools in Massachusetts, there is a 76 percentage-point gap between the percentages of Hispanic teachers and students.
• In the Hardee County Schools in Florida, 58 percent of students are Hispanic, while only 8 percent of teachers are Hispanic.
• In the Randolph Public Schools in Massachusetts, 52 percent of students are African American, but less than 5 percent of the district’s teachers are African American.

Implications for teachers and students of color

Taken together, these findings have significant ramifications for students and schools. Teachers of color can serve as role models for students of color, as we noted in our previous report, and when students see teachers who share their racial or ethnic backgrounds, they often view schools as more welcoming places.
Students of color also do better on a variety of academic outcomes if they are taught by teachers of color. Or, as education professors Richard Ingersoll and Henry May have argued, “minority students benefit from being taught by minority teachers, because minority teachers are likely to have ‘insider knowledge’ due to similar life experiences and cultural backgrounds.” What’s more, it is important for all students to interact with people who look and act differently than they do in order to build social trust and create a wider sense of community. In other words, the benefits of diversity are not just for students of color. They are also important for white students.
Given these benefits, why are there such large diversity gaps between teachers and students? In other words, if teachers of color bring so much to the academic table, why don’t states and districts do more to bring them into the classroom?
There is no single reason for this disconnect; multiple factors are at play. Part of the issue is market forces, as we have noted in previous reports, and today, people of color have far more job choices than ever before. Furthermore, the K-12 system itself is partially to blame; there are large racial gaps in high school graduation rates, which means that fewer people of color attend college relative to their white peers.
Moreover, the structure of the teacher career ladder further complicates this issue. The fact that the profession currently has significant incentives for people to stay in the teaching profession for long periods of time means that white teachers who entered the profession 20 years ago often stay until they retire. This lack of churn means that there is less opportunity for teachers of color to enter the teaching workforce.
Whatever the root cause of the lack of diversity among the teacher workforce, one thing is clear: States and districts have not done enough to address the issue. Few states have created rigorous programs to help individuals of color enter the teaching profession. Not nearly enough districts have offered bonuses or other benefits to people of color who are interested in becoming educators. To make matters worse, in some cities, such as Boston, the number of black teachers is actually declining.

Looking deeper at the problem

To gain a better handle on what’s happening across the nation, we ranked states on the demographic differences between their teacher populations and their student populations.
Arizona, for instance, has an index score of 37. To obtain that figure, we subtracted the percentage of nonwhite teachers—20 percent—from the percentage of nonwhite students—57 percent—in the state. For specific breakouts by state, see Appendix A.

This index ranks states on the percentage-point difference between the percentages of nonwhite teachers and nonwhite students. Also, please note that the student data came from the Common Core of Data and dates back to the 2010-11 school year. The teacher data is from the Schools and Staffing Survey and is from the 2011-12 school year. Both datasets are the most recent available.
As part of this study, we also looked at district-by-district data in the few states that make this information available, and what we uncovered was troubling. In fact, in some school districts, the teacher workforce looked almost nothing like the student body.
In the Santa Ana Unified School District in California, for instance, 93 percent of students are Hispanic, while only 26 percent of teachers are Hispanic—a nearly 67 percentage-point gap. Or think of it this way: In Santa Ana, fewer than 3 percent of students are white, while 65 percent of teachers are white.
The lack of teacher diversity was particularly high in the largest school districts in the three states where data were available. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, for instance, 74 percent of students are Hispanic, while just around 34 percent of teachers are Hispanic. In Boston, nearly 40 percent of students are Hispanic, while only 10 percent of teachers are Hispanic—a 30 percent percentage-point gap.
There are also large gaps between black students and black teachers in Boston, and the city’s percentage of black teachers has fallen so low—it’s currently at 21 percent—that the city is currently in violation of a federal court order to ensure diversity in its teacher workforce.
As in the state-by-state data, there are few Hispanic teachers in our nation’s classrooms relative to the number of Hispanic students. The San Diego Unified School District, for instance, has a 30 percent percentage-point gap between the percent of Hispanic students and the percent of Hispanic teachers. In California’s Long Beach Unified School District, there was a nearly 35 percent percentage-point gap between Hispanic students and teachers.

Conclusion

Although the numbers are stark, there are solutions that will work to ensure that the teachers standing in the front of the classroom mirror the students filling the seats, and we can do far more as a nation to improve the diversity of our teacher workforce. As researchers Saba Bireda and Robin Chait argued in the 2011 CAP report, education leaders have a wide number of policy options that have been shown to improve the demographics of the teaching profession.
Bireda and Chait suggest, for instance, that states should do more to fund teacher-preparation programs. They also argue that the federal government can do more by creating financial aid programs for low-income students to help them deal with the costs of teacher preparation. Perhaps the most successful approach, though, has been providing students of color with supports—including mentorship and practicums—and financial incentives.
But in the end, the solutions to improving teacher diversity might boil down to something more fundamental: political will. After all, it’s clear that we need to do far more to bring teachers of color into the classroom. The question is, when will our political leaders step up to make sure that this issue gets addressed? Even more importantly, when will parents, activists, education leaders, and other reform advocates demand that classroom teachers reflect the communities they serve?
Ulrich Boser is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.

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RELEASE: U.S. Teacher Workforce Lacks Diversity, Puts Student Achievement at Risk

Center for American Progress

RELEASE: U.S. Teacher Workforce Lacks Diversity, Puts Student Achievement at Risk

May 5, 2014

Contact: Katie Peters Phone: 202.741.6285 Email: kpeters@americanprogress.org

Washington, D.C. — While America’s public schools are becoming increasingly more diverse, a new report released by the Center for American Progress finds that nearly every state is experiencing a large and growing teacher diversity gap, or a significant difference between the number of students of color and teachers of color.

The report released today revisits a similar Center for American Progress study from 2011. When the original report was released, students of color made up more than 40 percent of the school age-population, while teachers of color were only 17 percent of the teaching force. The report released today shows that since 2011, the gap between teachers and students of color has continued to grow. Over the past three years, the demographic divide between teachers and students of color has increased by 3 percentage points, and today, students of color make up almost half of the public school population.

“The student population of America’s schools may look like a melting pot, but our teacher workforce looks like it wandered out of the 1950s. It’s overwhelmingly white,” said
Ulrich Boser, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and author of the report ”We know from research that students of color do better academically if they are taught by teachers of color. We also know that all students need role models in their schools that represent our diverse society. Parents, teachers, and policymakers should be alarmed by the findings and demand that states and districts take action to address this growing problem.

The report, “Teacher Diversity Revisited,” includes state-by-state data documenting the teacher diversity gap across the nation. An analysis of the data reveals the following key findings:
Almost every state has a significant diversity gap. In California, 73 percent of students are kids of color, but only about 29 percent are teachers of color. Maryland has the same problem, although the numbers are a bit better: In the Old Line State, more than 55 percent of students are kids of color, while just around 17 percent are teachers of color.

The Hispanic teacher population has larger demographic gaps relative to students. In Nevada, for instance, just 9 percent of teachers were Hispanic. In contrast, the state’s student body was 39 percent Hispanic.

Diversity gaps are large within districts. For the first time, we examined district-level data in California, Florida, and Massachusetts. These three states account for 20 percent of all students in the United States, and it turns out that the gaps within districts are often larger than those within states.
A companion report also released today by CAP and Progress 2050 describes how the shortcomings of today’s education system and the underachievement of many of today’s students of color shrink the future supply of the teachers of color. The report, “America’s Leaky Pipeline for Teachers of Color,” finds that fundamental constraints limit the potential supply of highly effective teachers of color. Students of color have significantly lower college enrollment rates than do white students. In addition, a relatively small number of students of color enroll in teacher education programs each year. Finally, teacher trainees who are members of communities of color often score lower on licensure exams that serve as passports to teaching careers.

Furthermore, the report reveals that teachers of color leave the profession at a much higher rate than their non-Hispanic white peers. Those who leave mention a perceived lack of respect for teaching as a profession, lagging salary levels, and difficult working conditions.

Despite the barriers in the educator pipeline, there is great opportunity ahead to make improvements. The report includes a set of policy recommendations for the federal government and for states and local school districts. Enlarging the pool of talented, well-educated teachers of color who are effective in improving student achievement in our schools will require aggressive and targeted recruitment and appropriate support. It will demand a steadfast determination to remove the barriers in the educator pipeline that limit and discourage strong candidates for the teaching profession. At the same time, policies must be in place to offer clear and meaningful monetary incentives, support, and professional development to ensure that the best and brightest students of color enter into teaching and succeed once in the profession.

Read the reports:
Teacher Diversity Revisited: A New State-by-State Analysis, by Ulrich Boser
America’s Leaky Pipeline for Teachers of Color, by Farah Z. Ahmad and Ulrich Boser
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Sent: Mon, Jun 30, 2014 10:59 am
Retaining Teachers of Color in Our Public Schools

Center for American Progress 
        
Read more and download the full report here.

TEA PARTY AND BORDER PATROL SPIN THE STORY OF CHILDREN IN DETENTION

Excellent analysis and recommendations on how to address the humanitarian crisis that is currently taking place along the U.S.-Mexico border--both short- and long-term solutions.
-Angela


TEA PARTY AND BORDER PATROL SPIN THE STORY OF CHILDREN IN DETENTION
By David Bacon
Counterpunch - 6/26/14

Journalist Laura Carlsen, writing from Mexico City, has published on the Americas Program website an important article about the way the U.S. media covers the migration of children to the U.S. - Child Migrants and Media Half-Truths <http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/12389>.  Carlsen raises key questions - the cause of the displacement that leads to migration, and the way the story of migrating children is used for political purposes in the debate over immigration policy.

The story of children in detention is being manipulated by the Border Patrol and the Tea Party to kill any possibility that moderate Republicans will introduce any reform bill with legalization, to attack Obama's executive action for the Dreamers (and any possibility he might expand it - the demand of many immigrant rights advocates), and to push for more resources for enforcement, the Border Patrol and expanded detention facilities.

Looking at the way the story broke into the press, and who broke it, this strategy is clear.  The story began with a series of photographs, showing young people and children in detention centers all along the U.S./Mexico border.  These photos were published on a website, breitbart.com, which has a long history with the Tea Party and extreme rightwing causes.

Many readers will remember the phony video that killed ACORN. That video was introduced to the media by Andrew Breitbart, who started the website that bears his name.  John Atlas describes that role in an article:  <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-atlas/fake-acorn-pimp-pleads-gu_b_591708.html>

In the case of the story on children in detention, the original photos were "leaked" by the Border Patrol to a writer with an extensive history with the Tea Party in Texas, Brandon Darby.  Darby has run pieces before on behalf of the Border Patrol, and was a protege of Andrew Breitbart, who died in 2012.

According to a profile of Darby written by Breitbart senior management, "Darby became an emerging voice of the center-right populist movement called the Tea Party after working undercover with the FBI to stop former comrades from killing Israel civilians and using firebombs to hurt law enforcement and stop Republicans from assembling at the 2008 Republican National Convention ... Darby and Lee Stranahan formed the "greek chorus" to Andrew Breitbart's narration of the film Occupy Unmasked. In Andrew's retelling of that movement everything they present is a false narrative--one that he had dedicated his life's work to expose."

Other Darby articles include an attack on the Sierra Club for opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, and a defense of the racist Nevada rancher and militia leader Cliven Bundy.  The website even credits him with helping to defeat Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, who was attacked and defeated by Tea Party candidate Dave Brat.  Brat accused Cantor (one of the most anti-immigrant members of Congress) of possibly favoring legalization for the undocumented.

The original Darby/Breitbart article on the children in detention
<http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/06/05/Leaked-Images-Reveal-Children-Warehoused-in-Crowded-US-Cells-Border-Patrol-Overwhelmed> consists of 42 photographs, with a few paragraphs of text.  All the photographs carry the watermark, "Breitbart Texas Release."  They show children in what appear to be many different rooms, probably in many different centers.  One has the camera or cellphone imprint "HOLD 21:52:12."

Any photographer who has taken photographs in a prison, jail or detention center knows that it is difficult, and often impossible, to show the face of an inmate or detainee.  Yet these photographs are taken by people with completely free access to show not only faces, but also the entire context of the places in which the children are being held.  There is only one group of people who have such unrestricted access:  the Border Patrol itself, and the guards who work for private detention corporations like Geo and CCA.

The article brags about being leaked the photos:  "Breitbart Texas obtained internal federal government photos depicting the conditions of foreign children warehoused by authorities on U.S. soil on Wednesday night."

Breitbart Texas Border Expert and Contributing Editor Sylvia Longmire comments on "exhausted and overwhelmed Border Patrol agents and CBP detention facilities."  She condemns the Obama administration for "releas[ing] them with no obligation other than to show up for a hearing in 15 days.  Most of those released will abscond and never show up for their hearings, taking their chances that ICE won't have the time or resources to go looking for them ... a humiliating example of what our government's inability to develop solid immigration and border security policies can cause."

Another Breitbart article, <http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/06/22/300-Immigrant-Children-and-Families-Flown-from-Texas-to-San-Diego> takes credit for creating the media hysteria: "Darby contends that the reason the children are leaving their home country is that 'they know they will not be turned away and that they will be provided for.' Although other outlets attempted to do stories about the invasion, such as the New York Times and NPR, they never really caught on. What Breitbart Texas did was 'obtain 40 internal federal government photos showing the conditions of what exactly the government did with these children.' The images that were released forced everyone on the left and the right to report on the story."

Darby and breitbart.com have been joined by other anti-immigrant organizations with the same message.  Mike Nicley (a former Border Patrol agent now at the nativist Center for Immigration Studies) writes: "The Obama Administration has blamed the overwhelming influx on gang violence and poverty. Hogwash ... Obama's steadfast refusal to enforce our immigration laws is directly responsible for the current 'humanitarian crisis.' Word has spread throughout this hemisphere that America has laid a welcome mat along our southern border."

Nicley gives then gives the story the pro-enforcement spin.  To him the problem isn't the poverty that forces people to leave home, or the fact that the Federal government spends more on immigration enforcement than all other Federal law enforcement agencies and programs combined.  It's the lack of even greater enforcement, and even more money to pay for it:  "Obama could shut the flow down by simply enforcing laws that are already on the books ... The two billion dollars Obama is seeking will only pay for a fraction of the eventual cost to taxpayers."  < http://cis.org/nicley/obamas-policies-are-responsible-flood-children-texas>

Carlsen's story shows how the national mainstream media establishment has picked up this refrain.  First, her article explains that the media has picked up the Border Patrol narrative:  "These stories present anecdotal evidence of the thesis that the spike in child migration is due to hopes of being allowed to stay," she charges.

Carlsen discusses the use of stereotypes and lack of context:  "The New York Times, AP and others outlets have been running stories that follow a pattern of emphasizing two general conclusions. One, that parents in the United States are selfishly and irresponsibly encouraging this phenomenon and putting their own children at risk by sending them north and, two, that more children are migrating to the United States because they perceive Obama administration policies and practices as lenient on child migrants and think they have a good chance of staying - even if they get caught.

"Although most of these stories mention conditions of poverty and violence in the places where the children come from, they almost never mention how these places have become so poor and violent, or much less the direct role that U.S. foreign policy has played in making them that way and forcing the children to leave ... Readers were left with the impression that it was the parents' fault, not a system of injustice that stretched from the Andes to the US-Mexico border."

Finally, Carlsen documents the political use of the articles:  "The predictable result of the spate of articles on children migrants is to urge the creation of more detention facilities (potentially good for the private prison industries) and call for an end to releases, as noted in the AP article:  Texas Gov. Rick Perry last week asked that the Department of Homeland Security stop releasing immigrants with notices to appear. On Monday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer asked the same for the hundreds of immigrants, mostly women and children, who in recent weeks have been flown to Arizona from South Texas for processing."

Bob Goodlatte, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, read from the Border Patrol playbook:  "Word has gotten out around the world about President Obama's lax immigration enforcement policies, and it has encouraged more individuals to come to the United States illegally. Enforcement at the border and in the interior of the U.S. is crucial to end these kinds of situations, not another bureaucratic task force."

Brandon Darby himself got credit on the floor of Congress.  The Breitbart site crowed:  "In a floor speech on Wednesday evening from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) cited a June 13 story by Brandon Darby reporting Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), warning the Obama administration╒s handling of the influx of Central American youth at U.S.-Mexico border is putting lives of border patrol agents at risk."

The media campaign kicked off by breitbart.com had its predictable effect on the Obama administration.  The White House press secretary's office released a statement, announcing that it would respond with an increase in enforcement:  "The Department of Justice and [Department of Homeland Security] are taking additional steps to enhance enforcement and removal proceedings.  We are surging government enforcement resources to increase our capacity to detain individuals and adults who bring their children with them and to handle immigration court hearings - in cases where hearings are necessary - as quickly and efficiently as possible while also protecting those who are seeking asylum. That will allow ICE to return unlawful migrants from Central America to their home countries more quickly."

The administration further reacted to the media-created idea that migrants are coming to the U.S. because they're attracted by the prospect of immigration reform, despite the fact that there is virtually no chance that the House of Representatives will pass a reform bill.  Vice President Joe Biden went to Central America, where he spoke on the phone to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, and "reiterated that arriving migrants will not qualify for legalization under proposed immigration reform legislation or deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA)."

Carlsen suggests four immediate demands that migrant rights activists can make, in response to the push to increase enforcement:

1) A return to humane family reunification policies. Not to legalize undocumented children on arrival at the border, but to arrange legal and safe passage for children of U.S. residents who face endangering situations at home.
2) Respect the right to asylum.
3) Create a trade adjustment fund for economic integration and re-negotiate free trade agreements. Now Central American nations have expressed concern that they could lose some 100,000 jobs in the textile sector under the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership. If we do not consider the impact of the so-called "free trade agreements" we will set ourselves up for continuous crisis.
4) Suspend support for abusive military and police forces. US training and equipment has empowered corrupt forces and even organized crime groups. The priority on the drug war has fueled a return of authoritarian power and internecine violence.

A long-term solution also involves looking at proposals put forward by the Dignity Campaign and others, who advocate alternatives to the comprehensive immigration approach taken by Congress <http://dignitycampaign.org>.  They include:

* Giving permanent residence visas, or green cards, to undocumented people already here, and expanding the number of green cards available for new migrants.
* Eliminating the years-long backlog in processing family reunification visas, strengthening families and communities.
* Prohibiting local law enforcement agencies from enforcing immigration law, ending roadblocks, immigration raids and sweeps, and closing detention centers
* Allowing people to apply for green cards, in the future, after theyhave been living in the U.S. for a few years.
* Ending the enforcement that has led to thousands of deportations and firings
* Repealing employer sanctions, and enforcing labor rights and worker protection laws, for all workers.
* Ending guest worker programs
* Dismantling the border wall and demilitarizing the border, so more people don╒t die crossing it, and restoring civil and human rights in border communities.
* Responding to recession and foreclosures with jobs programs to guarantee income, and remove the fear of job competition
* Redirecting the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to rebuilding communities, refinancing mortgages, and restoring the social services needed by working families.
* Renegotiating existing trade agreements to eliminate causes of displacement and prohibiting new trade agreements that displace people or lower living standards, including military intervention intended to enforce neoliberal reforms.

An exodus from Central America tests the U.S.

A sympathetic piece on the crisis along the border in TIME Magazine by Michael Scherer. I have this actual issue and it has a graphic that doesn't appear online which shows that the greatest number of unaccompanied minors over time (2009-14; Dept. of Homeland Security Data) by far is not even children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, but rather from MEXICO. It demonstrates, for instance, that in 2009, unaccompanied minors from Mexico equals 16,114 (in comparison to 1,221 from El S., 1,115 from Guatemala, and 968 from Honduras). Fast forward to 2014 and the number of unaccompanied minors from Mexico equals 11,577 (in comparison to 9,850 from El S., 11,479 from Guatemala, 13,282 from Honduras). (The 2014 data are just from the first 8 months of the fiscal year.)

The jump in Central American kids is clearly astronomical—but the literally thousands upon thousands of unaccompanied minors from Mexico throughout this time period is staggering. I'm learning from other sources that the Mexican children are simply deported while the Central American children appear to have a better, albeit uncertain chance, of remaining in the U.S. This piece further underscores the profitability in trafficking in children that the drug cartels have seized upon.

-Angela 

Flight of the Children

6/23/14

  by Michael Scherer,

from TIME Magazine,

6/19/14:

An exodus from Central America tests the U.S.

For the smugglers on the Southern border of the U.S., children are easier and more profitable cargo than grownups. Unlike adults, kids don’t need to evade authorities after they cross the Rio Grande. When they get caught, many are quickly sent to live with relatives already in the U.S. while the courts spend years processing their deportation.
And so in recent weeks the Obama Administration has found itself in a bizarre public relations battle with criminal cartels in Central America, which are enjoying a banner year by charging as much as $8,000 for each child they transport north. Over the past eight months, 34,611 unaccompanied children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have been detained at the U.S. border, more than 10 times the 3,304 figure from those countries in 2009.
The White House believes the cartels are selling false tales of citizenship to vulnerable populations, and aides to California Senator Dianne Feinstein claim to have uncovered evidence of deceptive radio ads promising a safe haven in the U.S. So the State Department has launched its own publicity campaign, and Vice President Joe Biden added a stop in Guatemala after his World Cup tour of Brazil. “We are doing everything we can to make sure that the message is abundantly clear,” says Cecilia Muñoz, the domestic-policy adviser at the White House. At every step, U.S. officials note that proposed immigration reform and recent Executive Orders by President Obama will offer no new sanctuary.
But that message may not matter, given the ample evidence that gaining citizenship is far less of a concern for many of the boys and girls than simply finding safety. For years, those three countries have been consumed by increasing violence by organized gangs, which have grown in power on the back of the drug trade as economic conditions worsen.
Interviews with those captured in the U.S. confirm these horror stories: in one survey, 66% of Salvadoran children, 44% of Honduran children and 20% of Guatemalan children cited criminal violence as their reason for leaving. Nor is the U.S. their only destination. Preliminary statistics from the U.N. find that requests for asylum from the same three countries to nearby Central American nations like Nicaragua, Mexico and Belize increased roughly sevenfold from 2008 to 2013.
If so, the U.S. is unprepared to receive the next round. Obama has opened three military bases to house the arriving children, taking pressure off the overwhelmed shelters, and the Justice Department is trying to round up pro bono lawyers to represent them. Americans are discovering anew the price of failing states in their own backyard.