privatization update

two items today on privatization:

this piece in the American School Board Journal looks at for-profits in the supplemental educational services business. key quote:

"... the current market may reward companies with clever marketing strategies or political connections to policy makers and administrators, rather than the most effective producers."

one only need look at platform learning, which i know (from first-hand accounts) has "quadrupled enrollment from 12,000 students to 50,000 students from 2003 to 2004" through not-so-savory methods, including tricking parents with limited english proficiency away from community-based programs.

second, the study mentioned in this article in csmonitor challenges the idea that private is better than public. the study finds that, after controlling for socioeconomic status, public school students actually outperform their private school counterparts in math tests. not necessarily proof that public schools are more effective than private schools, just more proof that the type of school -- public, private, charter, virtual, home -- is not what determines how effective the school is in educating kids.