Controlling the Authority

A very important follow up to Monday’s article about local school boards.

 “We’ll also address how city school boards, private schools, home education, and, charters authorities will be treated in the ‘ESSA Era’.” 

Before that closing statement, I also shared with you how I noticed a pattern of counties in NC which chose to be held to AdvancEd’s standard of accrediting. I’ve got some information about AdvancEd below. Here is what I’ve previously written about them.

AdvancEd is chosen by several States to be the ones which hold school boards accountable. Here are just a few noteworthy items about the mindset behind the company holding your board members (schools and States, too) accountable.

1) Be collective! “The AdvancED Accreditation Policies and Procedures outlined in this document represent the unified policies and procedures for accreditation from AdvancED and its Accreditation Divisions: North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI), herein collectively referred to as AdvancED.”

What does this mean for the school board? Any and all schools wishing to be a part of the AdvancEd ‘team’, must abide by all the policies and procedures laid out by AdvancEd.
AdvancEd serves school districts, b) systems of schools, c) corporations, and, d) Education Service Agencies, (ESAs).

{*Note, ESAs may or may not be included in our LEAs and SEAs (Local Education Agencies; State Education Agencies). According to the AESA – Association of Educational Services Agencies for ESAs, there are over 500 service oriented groups in 45 States. With ESSA’s increased push for P3s (public, private partnerships), CCSS and/or CCR aligned Professional Development, and other global agenda items, we’re sure to see these service groups become more of a presence in our local school boards.}

2) Be global! According to a NC General Assembly document,  “AdvancED represents tens of thousands of schools and districts across the United States and 69 countries worldwide“.

Considering the per school/ed service agency (ex: Sylvan Learning Centers)/school board, this will be quite a profit maker for AdvancEd.

I found an AdvancEd Application from 2016, where the Group was seeking  Pennsylvania’s authority to operate in businesses like Sylvan. Kumon Math Centers were included, along with others.

******As always, ask “What is in my State?”*******

Since I frequently give you NC information to use to see where to look in your State:

1) A NC County’s (2012-13) AdvancEd Report (Note the CCSS Machine agenda/ties)  click here. 

2) According to the NC State Board of Education’s Accreditation information, schools must be accredited, BUT they do NOT have to choose AdvancEd. See the document below for what the SBE (State Board of Ed) considers a ‘savings’ for schools to be accredited. 

The Chain of Command For Accreditation:

As another example for where to look, the NC State Legislative Accreditation Document shows how the command chain works.

How will ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) change this? (*Note: while ESSA may change accreditation, the HEA, (Higher Education Act’s) upcoming re-authorization will most definitely change the process.)

Before we move on, what do we, as Warriors do, when we discover our county school board adheres to BOTH AdvancEd and our State Board’s accreditation? Does that mean our taxpayer dollars are twice used without our voice?! If only one is adhered to, which one wins out over the other? Is it the State or AdvancED?!

So, How Do Charter School Boards Fit In?:

These are not actually ‘school boards’ in a traditional sense. The authorizing body is called a “NC Charter Advisory Board”. Written out in NC General State Statute 115C Article 14A.
The Article begins with, “authorize a system of charter schools to provide opportunities for teachers, parents, pupils, and community members to establish and maintain schools that operate independently of existing schools.” Sounds great, doesn’t it?! “Independent of existing schools…”

IF this is true, why do we see the same pro CSSS Member groups involved?! I hope you see the irony below:

If you wish to see Chapter 138A, access it here.

What do charter school Advisory Members have for requirements as laid out in 115C Article 14a? I’m so glad you want to know. (*Note: this Chapter is 23 pages long.)

1) Collectively strong, experience wise with “public and non profit goverance,  management and finance, assessment, curriculum and instruction, public charter schools, and public education law. All appointed members of the Advisory Board shall have demonstrated an understanding of and a commitment to charter schools as a strategy for strengthening public education.”
Warriors, re-read that last line, please.

2) These APPOINTED members serve in 4 year terms.

3) These members basically become the State Board of Education’s cheeerleaders for charter schools.

4) A new office within the NC Dept. of Public Instruction was created per this 14a chapter.
It’s known as the  Office of Charter Schools. Here’s the ‘kicker’, the Office is ‘subject to the supervision, direction, and control of the State Board of Education’. As part of the subjection, more appointees will be put in places of power.

Warriors, do you see a pattern here? More appointees means LESS VOICE by taxpaying citizens!

In NC, Charters And AdvancEd Meet:

Warriors, if you recall yesterday’s article, I laid out for you quite a few questions about school boards and the pro CCSS Machine member ties.

AdvancEd has been mentioned in more than one NC County. For example, I told you the county I live in has written in their school board policy to maintain their accreditation ties to AdvancEd and/or the State Board. 

Iredell Charter is also a ‘tutition free’ public charter school. There is a ton of information you should read if you are interested in learning how a ‘tutition free’ public school is governed. However, look below for a better definition of HOW charter schools are funded.

 

One more thing about Iredell Charter. It’s a Charter School USA managed educational institution. I tied AdvancEd to Charter Schools USA back in 2014. The focus of that article was the behavior management being bred in these ‘alternative’ schools.

What About Private Education and Homeschooling?

Here in NC, private schools and homeschools are under the authority of the NC DNPE (North Carolina Department of Non Public Education). As a ‘retired’ home educator in NC, I know this Department well. I’ve seen it shift from helping separate public education from private (NC considers homeschooling a legal form of private education).

However, since 2013, this Department has been ‘relaxed’. How? A law set forth to protect homeschooling (see Part 3 of the law) was changed ever so slightly under the guise of giving MORE choices to those families who chose to educate their own children.

The purpose, as one NC General Assembly member stated, was to ‘purposely blur the lines between public education and homeschooling.’

Guess what? It happened. Once of the BEST ways in which the lines were blurred was through the NC Virtual Public School. Thanks to ESSA, the blurring of lines will INCREASE.

Notice that NC’s Virtual Public School is also carrying out the State Board of Education’s bidding: ‘producing modern learners’ for the “21st Century”.

Warriors, let’s not forget that some States have home education out in the open and not protected under private education clauses. Think about this, homeschool students use the same nationally normed assessments. If they haven’t been mandated to use the nationally normed assessments so far, they will be very soon.

So, how will ESSA play out for charters, private schools, and home education?

Here are just a few ways:
Titles funding (example, Title One is the largest federal funding stream and is used in all school districts; Title Four is for block grants; think 21st Century Community Learning Centers)
Data mining
High stakes assessments
College and career readiness
STEM
American Apprenticeships

Related Resources:

Articles Spelling how educational choices will be impacted via ESSA.
a) https://www.commoncorediva.com/2017/02/12/who-doesnt-love-coupons/
(vouchers, ed savings accounts, school choice, and the fallacies of them all)
b) https://www.commoncorediva.com/2017/02/26/the-other-dear-colleague-letter/
(nails CTE as the conduit by which every educational choice is passed through)
c) https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/10/25/setting-us-up/
(details how our tax dollars are used against us in the name of educational progress)
d) https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/02/23/essa-in-a-nutshell/
(for those pressed for time and/or in traditional schools)
e) https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/03/01/warriors-guide-to-essa-and-private-education/
(for those in private, faith based, or, home education)

To see how NC’s mucking up the ‘local control’ via ESSA so far:
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/11/03/practicing-education/

Is there a solution?
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2017/01/21/the-wannabees/