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Craig Barrett’s K12 Inc. has high student “churn” rate
March 2, 2012
by David Safier
NOTE: Craig Barrett, who is chairman of Governor Brewer's Arizona Ready Education Council (AREC), is one of the eight members of the Board of Directors of K12 Inc., a for profit, publicly traded online education corporation. K12 Inc.'s Arizona Virtual Academy is currently on academic probation with the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools.
A market analysis and investment site, Seeking Alpha, has a long, devastating article about K12 Inc: K12 Manifesting Its Corporate Destiny. A short summary of the very long article: online schools are only valuable for a minority of students, but continued growth is essential for corporate profits. So K12 Inc. uses the hard sell to get more customers/students, knowing many of them will be poorly served and will soon return to a brick-and-mortar school.
The article spends a great deal of time on the "churn rate" at the online schools: the number of students who withdraw each year. The average seems to be about 33%, meaning one third of the students leave the school each year. At Ohio Virtual Academy, the churn rate is 51.1%. (The article did not give figures for Arizona Virtual Academy)
This means two things. First, a number of students and their families are getting themselves into a bad education situation, with the probable result that the students are losing one or more years of education. Second, K12 Inc. schools have to continually recruit new students just to fill the holes left by those who withdraw, knowing many of the news students will be ill-suited for online education.
Celebrating Women’s History Month: The GOP’s war on women shifts into high gear
March 2, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Did you know that March is Women's History Month?
The GOP decided to celebrate Women's History Month by shifting its war on women into high gear this week, and take women back to the dark ages when women were chattel property of their husbands or families, second class citizens who do not possess full constitutional rights and liberties, and their uterus is the property of the state — their sex lives and reproductive health subject to stringent government regulation by men in government and religious institutions. We have moved one step closer to the dystopian world of The Handmaid's Tale. (h/t graphic Daily Kos).
Earlier this week the main anti-abortion bill of the Christian Taliban aka Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), which did not have enough votes to get out of the committee to which it was assigned in the House, was pasted into an unrelated bill on the Attorney Gneneral's Office in a "strike everything amendment" by CAP's point man woman Rep. Kimberly Yee (R-Phoenix) in the Senate Judiciary Committee and — surprise! — the bill passed the committee and moves to the full Senate. Sweeping abortion bill advancing in Senate – Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required):
So Why Is Sheriff Arpaio Alleging Obama’s Birth Certificate Is A Forgery?
March 1, 2012
By Michael Bryan
I'm not going to nitpick at the latest buffoonery from Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Plenty of folks are already doing that… and totally missing the point of Arpaio's actions. I'm going to explain the very rational motivations behind Arpaio's showmanship.
Arpaio clearly has two major motivations in this latest move:
1) to bolster his allegation that the DOJ is investigating his department as an act of political retaliation, i.e. "I exposed Obama's forgery, so he's out to get me before I can unmask his conspiracy." There was no truly compelling motive for the Obama Administration to go after Arpaio, so by making this sensationalistic charge, Arpaio creates a compelling story for anyone who is already inclined to dislike Obama, and isn't really paying attention beyond the latest headlines.
2) to bilk the idiots in the Tea Party and Birther camps (not that those are mutually exclusive…) out of money and gather a national data base of potential donors to his campaign and causes.
I'll explain all after the link…
The new kid in town
March 1, 2012
by David Safier We got a new blog in town by some guy who calls himself Fitz. He ends most posts with the warning/disclaimer, "This is satire." I'll bet his lawyers made him do that. Pretty funny stuff. This guy could go somewhere.
Tea-Publican Senate votes to give the governor an ‘Arizona Special Missions Unit’ border militia
March 1, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Well why not? Tea-Publicans have gone batshit crazy in Arizona.
The Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists of our Tea-Publican legislature are at it again. A Senate panel approved a proposal to create an armed militia that could be deployed to the Mexican border under the direction of the Governor. The bill, SB 1083, is backed by "states’ rights" advocates and anti-immigration zealots. What could possibly go wrong? (Jan Brewer and her teabaggers are recklessly irresponsible enough to create an international incident or start a war). Senate panel votes to give the Governor a state militia for the border.
What makes this so ridiculous is what is motivating it. Sen. Sylvia Allen believes that Hezbollah is recruiting and training Mexican drug cartels for acts of terrorism against the United States. (Update) Second Senate panel votes to give the Governor a state militia for the border.
The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Volunteer strike force on border gets Senate OK – Arizona Capitol Times:
A senator who believes Middle-Eastern terrorist groups are active in Mexico and Central America persuaded her colleagues to advance a proposal that would create an armed volunteer force to help apprehend criminals who illegally enter the United States.
The Senate passed the measure today by a vote of 20-10.
The proposal now heads to the House, which must also approve it before it is sent to the governor’s office for her signature.
Legislative classroom probes are defeated. But ultravoucher bill passes.
March 1, 2012
by David Safier In one way, the comparison between Arizona education legislation and the Virginia anti-abortion bills is a stretch. In another, the comparison makes a scary amount of sense. Virginia was going to make a vaginal probe exam a requirement for any woman wanting to have an abortion. After protests, that part of the
Where is the print media on the Babeu boarding school story?
March 1, 2012
by David Safier Paul Babeu was headmaster of DeSisto School in Masschusetts from 1999-2001. While he was headmaster of the boarding school, students were subject to cruel and humiliating punishment. All that is fact. Many students who were at the school say Babeu was having a sexual relationship with a 17 year old male student.
The Republican War on Workers and Women
March 1, 2012
by David Safier Repeat after me: The Republican War on Workers and Women or: The Republican War on Women and Workers or: The Republican War on Workers or: The Republican War on Women Over and over and over.
