text:
Andrew Campanella on National School Choice Week
January 26, 2022 /in Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Charter Schools, Featured, Podcast, Related Education Blogs, School Choice /by Editorial Staff
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chtbl.com/track/G45992/mp3.ricochet.com/2022/01/TheLearningCurve_AndrewCampanella-.mp3
This week on "The Learning Curve," co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal talk with Andrew Campanella, the president of National School Choice Week. They discuss why 2021 was called the "Year of School Choice," and the implications of more academic options for K-12 education reform across America. They delve into the reasons why political support for even the highest performing charter public schools has eroded, the path forward to rebuild wider coalitions, and why for-profit school management companies for charters are so controversial. Andrew offers insights on innovative models that thrived during the pandemic, including micro-schools and learning pods, lessons we can draw from digital and blended learning, and how state policymakers have responded, in some cases with restrictive measures to undermine these models. Lastly, they discuss the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in favor of school choice advocates in the landmark Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue decision, the follow-on Carson v. Makin case, and its likely impact.
Related: Read Cara Candal's new report for Pioneer Institute, "Modeling an Education Savings Account for Massachusetts."
Stories of the Week: New York City has made incredible progress over the past three decades in improving public school students' academic performance and graduation rates, thanks in large part to innovations such as charter schools and other, smaller high school models. West Virginia's Hope Scholarship education savings account program is in jeopardy as a result of a lawsuit alleging it violates the state constitution because it "depletes the funding to public schools."
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Andrew Campanella serves as president of National School Choice Week, the nation's largest public awareness effort for K-12 education. With the goal of informing parents of their school choice options, Andrew and the NSCW team work with more than 21,000 schools annually—along with thousands of organizations and homeschooling groups. Under Andrew's leadership, NSCW has experienced remarkable growth, from 150 events and activities in 2011 to more than 40,000 in 2019. Andrew's book is The School Choice Roadmap: 7 Steps to Finding the Right School for Your Child. Previously, he worked in senior level positions at the American Federation for Children, the Alliance for School Choice, and the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence. He grew up in New Jersey, graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., and now lives in Florida. Find him at: @andrewrcamp https://www.andrewrcamp.com
The next episode will air on Weds., February 2nd, with guest, Dr. Jennifer Frey, an associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina and fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.
Tweet of the Week:
We need sustainable, effective inputs that lead to measurable improvements in student achievement… Title I is an annual funding stream for schools that serve disadvantaged students… We hope Congress follows through on @POTUS commitment to triple Title I. https://t.co/dT0Fq0kElj
— Nina Rees (@Ninacharters) January 23, 2022
News Links:
Jay Mathews: Shockingly good news about New York City public high schools
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/23/nyc-schools-consortium-bloomberg-deblasio/
Lawsuit could delay rollout of West Virginia's Hope Scholarship Program
https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/lawsuit-could-delay-rollout-of-west-virginias-hope-scholarship-program/article_d737f996-7ad4-11ec-8da4-8b73d5c351f3.html
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Read a Transcript of This Episode
Please excuse typos.
[00:00:00] Gerard Robinson: Listeners, Gerard Robinson, welcome back to another session of the learning curve. As you know, we bring together really good, smart, interesting people every week to talk about education, society, culture, literature, philosophy, the classics, anything that we think matters to you. And of course we can never have a learning curve.
[00:00:19] In fact, I would be behind that. If there was not someone named Cara to keep us moving forward. Her so curvy today.
[00:00:28] Cara: So many curves, I love it. And it's national school choice week to art, which is a big deal for you. And for me, it's, we love national school choice week, and I know you're having a beautiful national school choice week because you're finally out of the snow and all of that.
[00:00:44] Good stuff. So it's wonderful , to hear your voice to happy. It's a happy time. It
[00:00:49] is a happy time.
[00:00:50] GR: And when you think about national school choice week, it really changed the curve starting 30 years ago, at least in terms of modern school choice movement in the lives of [00:01:00] millions of families. Millions of students and millions of teachers across the board over time, who simply said, we have to do something radically different.
[00:01:10] If we want to open up the doors of opportunity to the workforce, to college, to the military. To entrepreneurship. And so there were a group of philanthropists and superintendents and teachers in the public school sector, as well as private school sector, who said, yeah, we're going to start something new, whether it was the original school choice program in Milwaukee, whether it was the charter school program in.
[00:01:36] Minnesota that Senator Ember created, or whether it of morphed into what we now have today is education savings accounts and tax credits. So the things that we talk about 30 years ago mean a lot today, and this is a great week for us to celebrate what it has done and what it will do moving from.
[00:01:54] Cara: Absolutely. And I would also add to that, that it's just, if we take a moment and reflect, and I [00:02:00] bet that today's guest Andrew Campanella pres of national school choice week will reflect with us, reflect on what has actually happened. In the past 30 years, because as you point out those first programs were just were small programs, they felt like one-off programs probably to many of the parents and the legislators.
[00:02:18] And as you said, superintendent, public school, people that were advocating for these. And here we are, a lot of us have been calling 2020. The year of choice, and with national school choice week. We're not just talking about ESS and vouchers and tax credit scholarships. We're talking about charter schools and open enrollment laws and part time enrollment laws that are coming to fruition in so many states.
[00:02:38] So I think that I love this particular, , national school choice week moment, because it's a time to look at how far we've come in. Very far, indeed. Gerard, as I'm seeing that we've come so far, I think we also need to recognize that there are still those who just don't want to see this kind of [00:03:00] progress, especially if it means that kids are leaving the schools to which they are assigned.
[00:03:05] And now, as you know, Gerard, just, , this past year West Virginia, well, was it, it must have been 20, 20 West Virginia passed the first universal eligibility. Education savings account in this country, the first of its kind and what that means. Yeah. Big applause. And what that means is that basically any student in the state of West Virginia, you just have to have been enrolled in a public school.
[00:03:32] Somebody will correct me. Jason Bedrick will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's for a period of six months or something, right. There's a small prior public school enrollment requirement. I think unless you're an incoming kindergartener can act. An education savings account in West Virginia.
[00:03:46] Now, if you would have told. Five years ago, Gerard that West Virginia West Virginia river, it was like red for ed. And I mean, that was the beginning of really, [00:04:00] and there's, there's some good stuff with red for ed teachers in, West Virginia, , needed their voices to be heard and they saw some changes, but red for ed is certainly not a movement that supports parent choice.
[00:04:09] If you would've told me. Five years ago that West Virginia would be branded with a universal ESA. I would've said you're out of your mind. So, but here we are today. but all to say that, so this program, which is just about to actually be implemented, so that means applications for the program. They're supposed to open up on March 1st and wouldn't, you know what Gerard surprise.
[00:04:32] There's a lawsuit. So I'm not kidding you. Yeah, exactly. , a lawsuit probably isn't going to make much of a difference when they wait until right before the application period opens to lay it down. Right. Because they've had plenty of time to tractors of school choice. In this case, the education law center have had plenty of time to do this.
[00:04:55] I think that they probably realize they're not going to get very far with this lawsuit. Instead, what they [00:05:00] would like to do is delay applications, confuse parents, confuse the people who are implementing the program and make life a little bit painful because that's how this game is played. And of course, Gerard, , the main argument, there are many legal arguments.
[00:05:13] I'm not a lawyer, but I'm going to guess if we had our friends from IJ or any other. place that does these things on. They would tell us that these are arguments that probably don't hold a lot of water. And , , here's one that sounds really familiar. This is just going to drain resources from the public system, despite squads of research, demonstrating that done.
[00:05:34] It happened by and large in these types of programs. So we're watching West Virginia. I'm not super, I hope that I'm not being cavalier, but I'm not super worried about this one. I'm more worried for those parents and students that might see their applications delayed, , because this promises to be a big one.
[00:05:49] And I can tell you. That I have been working, , in my day job with some of the fine people in West Virginia who are working to implement this program they're doing an amazing job. So we'll keep an eye on it. We will [00:06:00] keep our listeners updated. , but national school choice week is going to win out in the end.
[00:06:04] I think, I think the advocates of west Virginia's hope scholarship program are going to be pleased at the end.
[00:06:10] GR: I'm so glad you mentioned the New Jersey based education law center, , who filed the lawsuit in, West Virginia. So they have been a pretty strong advocate for traditional public schools, and I'm glad to see them there as you and I have said most of our children and America will remain in public schools, traditional public schools, I should say for a long time and they need to work, but it's so interesting that the New Jersey based education.
[00:06:34] Center, which has been at the forefront of almost 20 plus years of finance litigation work in New Jersey, where students in let's say Newark, receive over $20,000 a year and the traditional system. And I can tell you from having worked in New Jersey, having friends with children in the system, and otherwise they're not getting $20,000 with the results and you've [00:07:00] had multiple, , advocates.
[00:07:02] in that state and yet we somehow have yet to crack through to true opportunity, true equity that they've been arguing for. So rather than focus in the garden state on a lot of work that has to get done. Equity for fi finance for opportunity. They want to jump over and go into West Virginia and do some great work.
[00:07:23] So I take it as either a, they have too much free time on their hands to be involved in West Virginia or be they see the program West Virginia, as you say, the first type in his country as a threat, not only to their way of life in New Jersey, but it may actually awaken millions of parents across the country who may see.
[00:07:43] We need to look at something very differently. So that's from a, , education law center perspective.
[00:07:49] Andrew: Yeah. And
[00:07:49] Cara: as you talk, I can almost hear drilled Bradford. Sorry, real quick. I can almost hear it. Feel about fire, about everything you just said about New Jersey. Like parents are waking up, but I digress.
[00:07:58] Go ahead.[00:08:00]
[00:08:00] GR: Oh, no, no. They're waking up. And in fact, , the narrow win of the current governor of New Jersey, where the Democrats out vote Republicans two to one, it shouldn't have been that close, but it was in part because of, , issues like this. So I'm with you. It's another lawsuit.
[00:08:18] Guess what similar things happened in. Nevada and Arizona with a voucher program and a walking. This has gone on for over 25 years, teachers unions, they're advocates, nonprofit organizations who have a right to protest what they believe to be a role, have a right to do so, but in most cases, I mean, in fact, , , there's not just play around with this in the vast majority of cases.
[00:08:42] Supreme courts, lower courts have ruled in favor of the program because it is an opportunity to advance, , hope for other people. So for this hope scholarship program, we will follow what we know with interest and it's worth mentioning. My father grew up in Charleston, West Virginia. I am also a fan of John [00:09:00] Denver.
[00:09:00] So take me home country roads. I believe this program in fact, is something to take parents where they belong. West Virginia mountain mama. Take me home country roads.
[00:09:12] Cars: You got to sing it though.
[00:09:13] GR: Come on. Oh no. Oh no, not, not this one. I don't, I don't have the Denver field. So I
[00:09:19] think that
[00:09:19] Cara: today, I feel like you've done it before, you know, that's all right.
[00:09:22] Just leave us all hanging. That's okay.
[00:09:24] GR: You know what? In fact I did it before and the emails I received is what made me realize I should have not sing that song.
[00:09:31] Cara: They were all from your daughters, your daughters and your wife.
[00:09:37] GR: So my story is actually from east coast, like the West Virginia story, but this one is actually about something good and something good coming out of New York city.
[00:09:47] And I say that because like Mississippi, when you mentioned the word Mississippi, it's always something bad. And when you say New York city and education, it's always something But our friend Jay Matthews [00:10:00] at the Washington post, who we had a chance to interview in April of 2021. Wrote a really good article and it's titled shockingly good news about New York city public high schools.
[00:10:11] And he's writing about a study. It's a new study from Ray Damasio, who is a scholar at the Manhattan Institute in New York city. And Ray took a look at a reform movement that began in the early 1990s in New York. So for our listeners who. May not have an idea of what New York was like in the early 1990s.
[00:10:32] Not only were there a lot of challenges with crime, , 42nd street today. Look radically different in the early 1990s, the idea that you have so many charter schools, , in New York city today was not only unthinkable, but unheard of in the early 1990s, because it was the latter part of that decade where you have the creation of charter schools.
[00:10:54] And so you got a group of reformers who said, we've got to do something different. In our state. And I [00:11:00] think what we want to do is to look at new ways of assessing high schools. And so at the time it was the commissioner of education, Dr. Thomas Sobel, who announced a compact for learning. And it was an initiative that he approved and he said, listen, we've got really high performing high school.
[00:11:19] In New York, why don't they tutor or mentor better yet several low-performing schools in our state and see what we can do. And so responding to that request, we had people like Stephen Phillips, who was a superintendent of New York city's alternative high school division. And you had Debra Meyer who was a New York city principal, and the MacArthur genius award winner.
[00:11:39] Who said, you know what commissioner, we're going to take you up , on your offer to work with some other schools and with the grant. Came an opportunity to look at new ways of evaluating schools. Well, by 1998, a group of schools formed the New York performance standards consortium. And this consortium was really focused on looking at [00:12:00] assessment models other than just a New York exam.
[00:12:04] In order to determine whether New York schools were doing well or not. And so through the consortium, they ended up creating a number of schools. In fact, up to 36 today, and those schools basically said, we're going to do three things. We're going to use, , literature, we're going to , use social science research papers.
[00:12:21] We're going to use other assessments other than just a new. Exam alone to determine whether or not we're going to, , evaluate the schools as being great or not. And so from Ray's study, he looked at these schools between 1994 and 2014 and identified that a. They created 359 new high schools. There were under the control of the city's department of education and 56 publicly funded, independently operated charter schools.
[00:12:51] So that's my number two of three. And number three, parents could choose from a wide array of options in the city. So that by [00:13:00] 2019, the high schools in question were serving 173,000 students that may not seem like. For a school system with 2 million students. But remember the majority of those students in New York, as well as in other big cities and small cities too are mostly elementary and middle.
[00:13:18] So when I say 173,000 students are served by the high schools, , under consideration now 59% of the New York high school studies. Are in those schools. So imagine how tough it was in the 1990s to say, we're going to close a low performing school. I can tell you that's a tough conversation because those schools tended to be some areas.
[00:13:42] They tended to be populated by black, and brown students tended to be led or the leadership of black and brown people. And all of a sudden you were seeing as whites and those from a leak communities were saying, we're going to close your school. Wait a minute. These were our schools. So that's a whole nother conversation.
[00:13:59] But [00:14:00] today those schools are doing some wonderful things. For example, Ray identified that if you look at the small high schools in play, the on-time graduation rate is 83%. If you go back to the time the study began, you had high schools in New York. Get this where the graduation rate was 20%.
[00:14:18] And today it's. Quadruple really four times the number, you also have more students who are college and career ready, but guess what? You have students who are graduating, ready to go into the workforce. So what Jay Matthews is saying is that at a time we want to criticize New York about a lot of things.
[00:14:35] Here's something that we should celebrate this organization, which, is a progressive group. We know that Ray works for Manhattan Institute founded in 1977 as a conservative group. Jay says, these are not two groups who you would often find in the same room, where guess what? On this issue, they're in the same room.
[00:14:53] I think for superintendents, I think the state chiefs, I think for teachers and given the fact that we're [00:15:00] going to have more than 30 gubernatorial elections of the United States and our territories, if you are a sitting governor, or if you're someone who wants to unseat a sitting governor, I say, you should take a look at, Ray's report and the tough decisions and the courage and the political will that it took in the 1990s to say that we're going to get.
[00:15:18] Not get rid of the New York exam, but allow other assessment models to come in place. But those had focused on writing on research, on, communications and to see what we can do. And those schools are not populated by my kids, by your kids. They're populated by the children. Who for a holster reasons may not find themselves on the fast track to college or to the workforce.
[00:15:43] So I think it's a great article, something to celebrate school choice week, because we only think it's about VAR vouchers, charters and tax credits. It really is about school choice. And this was an.
[00:15:56] Cara: Yeah, I love it charge. Not only cause you're taking me back to the [00:16:00] nineties and , the nineties were great time.
[00:16:05] I can't, I can't remember them. No, so there's two things that come to mind. the first is that you're talking about this group of people and as you noted, some of them were very progressive. I think Debra Meyer, I mean, In so many, I admire her work to this day. I don't have to agree with her, but boy, I admire what folks like Deborah and others have done.
[00:16:24] And, the fact of the matter is, is that when I think back to education reform, especially in the nineties, and if you read about new study, but it's not that there wasn't controversy, but people did find ways to come together in the name of what in the name of kit. Right. So whether it was about giving more choice within the public school context, or to your point about thinking about other evaluation and assessment models, folks came together, put their heads together and made it work.
[00:16:51] And I like so many things in our heightened American society, , mainly, probably due to all of us being really mean to each other on [00:17:00] Twitter. and I know Twitter really is marking me as old because that's not what the kids use, but, , it's a hard.
[00:17:05] Mix to find these days and we needed, and we need it desperately. the other thing that comes to mind, Gerard is that just this whole conversation around finding something other than the New York exam to help move these schools forward, to help figure out how to open up better high quality emphasis on high quality options to kids and give them what they need.
[00:17:25] And, you know, we've talked about it on this show before in the context of. Is accountability going way or what are we going to do? But this is a moment where we need a group like this, where we need these minds folks to think about like, what is the next. , generation of assessments look like, and they might not look like , what you and I know, or, remember, or help to, to design a lot of those back in the day.
[00:17:48] , but what does it look like and how does it factor into the information that we give parents in the context of holding schools accountable and being transparent so that parents can. [00:18:00] Informed choices in places. Well, I would hope everywhere, but in places like New York city, and I think you're right, New York city often gets a bad rap often because it's fun, especially for us Bostonians to, feel superior in many ways to what's going on in New York.
[00:18:15] Not that we have much to feel superior about when it comes to one of our big city school systems, but there's a lot of innovation, a lot of good going on in New York and all driven by some incredibly creative, innovative. Caring people, people who really have the best interest of kids and families at heart.
[00:18:33] And I will, end with a little slap on the wrist for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which I fear by, having some pretty draconian, for example, charter school laws. We've lost a lot of talent to places like New York, where folks have flexibility to go and open the schools that they want to run.
[00:18:50] And well. families from all over that city into these really innovative high-performing schools, , we've lost that option in a place like Massachusetts. We've foreclosed it a [00:19:00] long time ago. So thank you for bringing that to light to east coast centric stories this week, Gerard, but, I appreciate them both.
[00:19:06] So, I'm so glad we
[00:19:07] GR: talked about Debra, , because we can agree to disagree and for our listeners who only know. The school reform movement as being one where a Berlin wall separates us from them. There was a time in the nineties where someone like Debra Meyer could be a fellow at the Annenberg Institute for school reform at brown university, with Dr.
[00:19:29] Howard fuller, who was a supporter of school vouchers. And yet they were the same as. Could work together, dine together, break bread, and then leave and do something different. And unfortunately, too many of millennials in particular, it's not your fault. It's the fault of older generations. We haven't shown them the sample.
[00:19:49] Oh, no, of course. Not of course now. Oh no, no, no.
[00:19:56] Cara: Gen X or
[00:19:58] GR: millennial gen [00:20:00] X-ers we haven't shown you. And a good example that you can actually, talk, shop and agree to disagree without trying to Gaslight someone, , deep platform them different time. And I think it's going to take people who have the will to be unpopular, to say it, but to find common ground for common opportunity for your Commonwealth and my Commonwealth.
[00:20:24] Cara: Right Kylie. We disagree all the time and we're both okay. Being unpopular. So that's what we bring to and
[00:20:32] GR: get off air. You ultimately emailed me and said, you know what? were able to give you. And so, and I'll do the same because you'll come back to me and I'll tell you off the lie. So
[00:20:42] Cara: every single time, okay.
[00:20:44] We have Andrew Campanella. Waiting for us, Gerard. I'm sure he's just so eager, but I know he is because it's national school choice week and it's only one week out of the year. So, there is a lot to do, especially for a guy like Andrew. So we're going to be [00:21:00] back with him guys in just, um,
[00:21:21] Welcome back everybody. It is national school choice week. And to that end, we have with us, the president of national school choice week, Mr. Andrew Campanella, he has been with us before. We are lucky to have him back as so many of you know, national school choice week is the nation's largest public awareness effort for K to 12 education.
[00:21:40] I know that your art is wearing his yellow scarf right now. the. Um, NSC w is to inform parents of their choice actions. It's just so important. We don't necessarily inform parents wouldn't pass legislation, right? So we need somebody to do it for us, Andrew and the NSC w team work with more than 21,000 schools annually, [00:22:00] along with thousands of organizations and homeschooling groups under Andrew's leadership, a CW has experienced remarkable growth from 150 events and activities in 2011.
[00:22:11] 40,000 in 2019, his book, which he has been on to talk with us about before is called the school choice, roadmap seven steps to finding the right school for your child. Previously, Andrew worked in senior level positions at the American Federation for children, the Alliance for school choice and the American board for certification of teacher excellence.
[00:22:31] He grew up in New Jersey, which I have to tell you. We've just been talking about Gerard nigh before this and graduated from American university in Washington. He now lives in sunny, Florida, because he knows where the weather is better and where, and by the way, there's lots of school choice. So Andrew, welcome to the learning curve.
[00:22:49] Andrew: Thank you so much. I am thrilled to be here. Yay.
[00:22:52] Cara: Well, we know you've been talking a lot this week, with a lot of folks like us been on a lot of podcasts, but we're going to just like dive right in [00:23:00] and get a little wonky here. So we're all calling. Yeah. I know you love to work it out, right.
[00:23:04] That's what we're here for
[00:23:07] Andrew: you. But I do. You do.
[00:23:09] Cara: I know you do. So, we've all been . Looking at 2021 and calling it the year of school choice. I think probably at the beginning of that year, we thought it was. The year of the learning pod, which is only one form of school choice, but here we are with so many states, I mean, just more than ever before, either expanding their private school choice programs mainly, or establishing new ones.
[00:23:31] We were talking at the outset of this show about the hope scholarship program on West Virginia, which is of course being challenged, but, school choice is, all of these things and so much more. So I'd love for you to talk to our list. About, 20, 21, what happened? not just in private school choice, but what we're seeing in, other places in public school choice and the homeschooling movement.
[00:23:53] and what do you think are the implications for ed reform
[00:23:57] Andrew: going forward? So I am thrilled [00:24:00] with everything that happened in 2021, not just what happened in states, but the fact that. Organically invented an almost brand new form of school choice in learning pods and expanded the use of micro schools exponentially.
[00:24:15] Talk about innovation coming from the grassroots and individual families. We saw it, but also states expanding options. And that is really, really important to open the doors of opportunity. And we've talked a lot about. Through school choice week. And a lot of our partners have talked about the private school choice programs that have been expanded, but it was a really good year for public sector choice as well.
[00:24:37] Oklahoma passed the state's first open enrollment law, allowing families to choose public schools outside of zones or districts, which I think is a huge step for Oklahoma. Other states that have programs like that. Three states, Iowa, west, Virginia, and Wyoming took steps to expand charters in their states, by allowing for multiple charter school [00:25:00] authorizers, which is essential and a state that no one talks about in terms of expanding school choice, Rhode Island opened the first full-time online public school last year, which I'm excited about because.
[00:25:12] A great option for family. So I think the implications for kids, moms and dads teachers, and the broader movement for school choice is incredibly positive.
[00:25:22] Cara: Yeah, I would agree with you. I want to pick up on something you said though. So you mentioned Oklahoma and open enrollment. Now, when I think a lot of us more when we're talking about 20, 21, at least folks in my, swearing who I spend my day-to-day with a lot of us, we're talking about private school choice, right?
[00:25:37] We're pretty over the moon that , we doubled the number of ESS in the country, et cetera, but I'm so happy that you bring up public school choice in not just in the form of charter schools, because. there are a lot of ways that states can expand options, including open enrollment and part-time enrollment.
[00:25:52] Do you think Andrew, like, to what extent could we be looking at the year of public school choice in 2022?
[00:25:58] Andrew: That is a really good [00:26:00] question. Boy, would I love that because what parents tell us in our surveys is that they really want more public school options and they want to be able to choose. District schools outside of their geographic zones, which often make no sense to anybody, especially families and outside of their districts.
[00:26:18] And if you think about it, there are more traditional public schools out there than any other type of school. And if families had these options and those options were mandatory for a state mandating that a district accept kids from other districts and other zones, not these voluntary programs that most states have, which usually use.
[00:26:36] Very few transfers. We would see actually more students in the public system, which really goes to debunking or refuting the argument that choice in any way hurts traditional public schools. So I would encourage anybody out there to fight just as hard for open enrollment as you do for charters, as you do for private school choice, as you do for [00:27:00] online public schools, flexible homeschooling laws and district based magnet schools.
[00:27:05] It benefits families, number one. And it's also good for them.
[00:27:08] Cara: Yeah, couldn't agree more and encourage people to go on and figure out what open enrollment law actually looks like in your state, because in too many states it's a really, I'm not very open. We'll put it that way.
[00:27:19] Andrew: And people say we have open enrollment, but you don't really have open enrollment if it's all voluntary.
[00:27:24] And the district can say, we're only going to take top athletes. We're only going to take kids who have a certain GPA. That's not really open enrollment. You have to make it mandatory. If the law is going to actually be flexible for.
[00:27:37] Cara: Amen to that. want to ask you about another form of public school choice, you already mentioned charters, so, and you mentioned in yea that three states did expand charter school options, this past year.
[00:27:50] But I think that I would put to you that it hasn't been a particularly great time for charter schools in, the past couple of years, you know, everything [00:28:00] from watching federal funds go down the drain to just, I'll call it. And this is my take. Nobody else's necessarily, but just this shift where it used to be sort of like a bipartisan thing, that even Democrats and Republicans could find some common ground on charter schools.
[00:28:16] that seems to know. Be there as much anymore. And it worries me because I don't have to tell you, boy, this country is home to some phenomenal charter schools. and I, feel like it's a time where a lot of charter school leaders are sort of putting their head down and doing the hard work, afraid that, , good thing they've got going, it's going to be taken away.
[00:28:34] what's your take on this, Andrew?
[00:28:36] Andrew: I'm concerned as well. I think there's good news. And there's also worrisome news. I think on the good news side, you have states like Colorado. Spending $250 million for transportation grant and funding for public charter schools, which is incredibly beneficial and will open up access to charters for so many more families and states like New Jersey for the first time approving funds for charter school facilities.
[00:28:58] That's very [00:29:00] promising. But, we have cities like New York, where for the last several years, there was a mayor who is not friendly to public charter schools. Now there is hopefully things will change there. I think that there has been more of a shift among Republican elected officials on the private school choice.
[00:29:17] End of. In many cases are supportive of charters as well. But I think that some of the democratic supporters of public charter schools have been less vocal than they have in the past. One of the reasons for this, I think is that there are too many school choice, purity tests on both sides of the political equation.
[00:29:37] Some folks who support private school choice won't give a democratic elected official, any. For supporting charter schools or open enrollment or online public schools, just because that elected official may have opposed the private school choice program. They're branded as the enemy. And on the other side of the equation, folks who oppose school
[00:29:57] GR: choice won't give any [00:30:00] credit
[00:30:00] Andrew: at all to somebody who, may be an incredibly staunch defender of public education, but also supports.
[00:30:09] They are branded and enemy as well because they supported opportunities for families instead of just sticking with a one size fits all model. So we need to get rid of these purity tests. There are people who might not agree with every policy when it comes to school choice, but we can count them in our.
[00:30:24] Cara: Yeah, I really am really glad you brought that up prior to bringing your Android. And I were just longing for the nineties when people , , had a little bit more capacity to agree, to disagree, to make cool things happen
[00:30:34] Andrew: for kids. But one of the things I think is challenging here is. the reasons that people support school choice are so different now, in terms of you have folks supporting school choice for so many diverse and different reasons that all of us who support school choice, just have to recognize and accept that there are other people within the movement who supported for completely different reasons.
[00:30:57] They might have completely different [00:31:00] ideologies than ours, completely different backgrounds than our. And yet we are in the same camp. So let's stop fighting over whatever the national media wants to throw at us today, whether it's masks or curriculum or things like that, and recognize that we actually agree on the solution to the challenge.
[00:31:20] And that is giving families opportunities. Yes,
[00:31:24] Cara: those opportunities shouldn't exist regardless of whatever else is going on at the moment in this crazy world lately, at the outset, you mentioned micro schools and learning pods. these really ground up parents centered parent driven innovation.
[00:31:39] And, we saw it at the beginning of the pandemic, especially as pods were getting tons of attention, fear that some states and some states did sort of try and put restrictions around them for fear that they would get too popular. what are you seeing in regard to states making it easy or not so easy [00:32:00] for micro schools, learning pods and even homeschooling, which I know some homeschooling parents get nervous.
[00:32:06] When, , new innovations like this come online because they don't want somebody to get a terrible idea to start regulating or restricting their right to homeschool. So can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing in terms of states making it easier or difficult for these innovations to flow?
[00:32:22] Andrew: Sure. So I'll start with homeschooling. I define a great homeschooling environment in a state as one where the state does not impose a lot of barriers or hurdles for a family who wants to homeschool their kids. It doesn't create a ton of restrictions and some states that do that really well. include Texas, Idaho, Iowa, New Jersey.
[00:32:45] I have some of the most accommodating homeschooling laws in the country and some of the most restrictive you'll find in Pennsylvania. New York and Massachusetts. I like to give bonus points for the state that not only has the least restrictive homes going up, but [00:33:00] also allow students who are homeschooled to access public school classes or sports.
[00:33:04] sometimes they're called Teebo laws other times. Other things, but some states that allow that include Alaska, Illinois, and Minnesota, and those allow homeschooling families to tap into what their tax dollars are paying for. In addition to educating their kids in the home. So micro schools and learning pods on the learning pod front, there's really two types of learning pods.
[00:33:24] One where parents will pull their kids out of their existing school. So unenroll their child. Technically considered a homeschooling family. And then they're getting together with other kids who are also homeschooled and educated together at the same time. Some states have laws that say, if you have more than two kids or two families together, and you're doing this, you have either created a private school or you need to get government, state, or district permission to operate this learning pod states that have some restrictions like that, , include Pennsylvania and even South [00:34:00] Carolina.
[00:34:00] People really need to check out our website. Cause we have a, , state-by-state breakdown of what you have to do. If you're going to create a learning plan. Now there are other states where there are no restrictions at all. So it's really a mixed bag. The other type of learning pod is where kids stay enrolled in their bricks and mortar school and they just get together to learn together.
[00:34:19] And there are usually no restrictions on that type of, , Learning together. We call them learning support pods in any state. So you're really not going to get yourself in any trouble or inadvertently run a foul of any state laws. If you do that,
[00:34:33] GR: Andrew, how are
[00:34:34] Andrew: you? I am great. How are you? Good.
[00:34:38] GR: Well, thank you so much for giving us a solid background on the options that we have today.
[00:34:44] Let's shift to talk about law because so many of our school choice laws have been challenged in court, both public and private. And in 2020, we had the Espinoza case, which really changed the dynamic as relates to the Blaine amendment. But we also know there's a [00:35:00] current case before the Supreme court.
[00:35:01] From the state of Maine. , you've got a crystal ball. You've seen some of this in practice. If the Supreme court rules in favor of the families in may. how do you think this is going to influence the school choice movement moving forward?
[00:35:15] Andrew: Well, I think the quick answer is that if there is a school choice, favorable ruling in the Karen versus making case, that main case, what it really means is that families who access that states town tuitioning program, which allows families who have kids.
[00:35:31] And they live in an area without a traditional public school. And I know people are shocked to hear that, that there are places in the country that don't have traditional public schools. They provide those families with vouchers or scholarships to send their kids to a private school. But under the current main law families cannot choose a faith-based school as their private school option.
[00:35:50] So that's being challenged in court. If school choice supporters win that case, then families will have more options in Maine with that town tuition program. And it [00:36:00] will further. He rode the Blaine and baby Blaine amendments that have largely been struck down as a result of Espinosa, but still exists in some form today in state laws, in a variety of places across the country.
[00:36:15] Now will that open up more opportunities for families? It really depends. And it depends because state legislatures need to create programs. Allow for those opportunities. If 2021 is any indication with education savings accounts being passed in a variety of different states and an expansion to a lot of tax credit, scholarship programs, existing state funded scholarship programs, special needs scholarship programs.
[00:36:40] I think that the future could be quite promising on those from.
[00:36:44] GR: Let's talk about organizations now, you and I both know that for-profit companies are involved in traditional public education in many ways, whether it's transportation, computers, desks, everything. And yet, when we talk about the role of for-profits in education day, some house become [00:37:00] evil.
[00:37:00] Can we talk about the free market parent-driven models in education, in the public sector without a demonizing for-profit was showing how they're actually opening up a door of opportunity that non-for-profits alone.
[00:37:15] Andrew: Well, I'm glad you phrased it that way, Gerard, because I agree with you. And every time I hear this being discussed by somebody who opposes school choice, it is one big, massive red herring and the people who usually promote this argument, the scary idea of public money going to a for-profit entity are usually, and I don't usually bring them up because I don't like ad hominem attacks, but this one is quite specific national teacher's union.
[00:37:41] And what people need to know is that unions are literally in the business of buying and selling benefits from for-profit providers and they earn commissions and money from the provision of those benefits. So anytime I hear. Criticism of any profit motive [00:38:00] in K-12 education. I think that it's disingenuous and it ignores the reality that you will never have a purely non-profit model of anything in the United States.
[00:38:12] And nor should anyone want that. Having for-profit companies involved in things, whether it's textbooks, whether it's curriculum, whether it's transportation, like you said, whether it's school lunches, whether it's chestnuts, Oriel services, those drive down costs for taxpayers. That is a good thing and increases, , what we actually get for our tax dollars.
[00:38:33] So. To criticize for-profit providers just as they relate to education, or just as they relate specifically to charter schools, which is where we see this. Come into place the most, I think is a bad faith argument. And I'd be willing to have this argument with folks who oppose school choice, the minute that they take all of the state pension funds out of the stock market, because those are for-profit equities.
[00:38:57] The minute that they force [00:39:00] people to use snap benefits in a non-profit grocery store. Good luck finding one of those, , or when they say that you can not. Your health benefits, a for-profit hospital, or when you can't use your housing voucher at a for-profit apartment building, no one would ever say those things because it makes no sense and it hurts people, but yet folks are fine with hurting kids by denying them opportunity.
[00:39:24] To me, it just doesn't wash.
[00:39:26] GR: So interesting. You mentioned housing vouchers because it's actually called as you, and I know the section eight housing voucher program, which is the largest program in the country funded to support low income families, to get them out of tough neighborhoods and into housing, , in better neighborhoods often with quote unquote, better schools.
[00:39:44] And if you look at the pension funds and particularly the return on investment into. equity firms and for-profit endeavors. There are a lot of teachers in the public school sector who are going to retire with some comfort and some dignity because of those investments. So [00:40:00] thanks for bringing that up.
[00:40:01] Let's just go ahead and that
[00:40:03] Andrew: money in government bonds right now. I don't think so.
[00:40:06] GR: come on folks. Yeah. Had this conversation at the pioneer Institute several years ago, with the president of the Massachusetts teachers association, who raised the question, I just happened to look at the return on investment for the investment of the Massachusetts teacher association.
[00:40:24] And it was a much better return on investment in the equity sector than in government bonds. But for all the points you mentioned, well, let me close out with the last question. , you have had an opportunity to see the. Of COVID on a lot of families and we're still dealing with it from your position.
[00:40:41] What are the key lessons drawn from digital blended and remote learning that policymakers and school choice advocates need to embrace. As we look forward to continuing our push for more options and broader portfolios with families in 2022.
[00:40:56] Andrew: Well, great question first. I want to say [00:41:00] that to every family out there and to every educator who has gone through difficult times in the last 24 months, you have my sympathies and I know it's been really, really hard for parents and hard for teachers, , related to virtual learning and online schooling, which are two different things as you guys, very well know.
[00:41:15] I think we have a few lessons we can take away. The first is this, and this is a lesson just for school choice advocates. And that is. You always should support all the options that are out there and available because in the long run, you never win. By trying to tell families that you, as a school choice advocate are in the better position to gauge quality than they are.
[00:41:37] And what we saw for a long time was a lot of folks who were extensively in the school choice movement, but decided to use. Full-time virtual schools as their scapegoat or punching bag. And I think when COVID hit and a lot of families had to go to crisis, remote learning folks within the movement saw that these full-time online [00:42:00] schools were actually.
[00:42:01] A remarkably better job than they've ever gotten credit for. So that's the first lesson is don't punch people because you never know where you're going to realize that they were actually doing good work. The second thing is a lesson for states, and that is if you have to go remote, go with actual providers who know how to do this, because I know that a lot of families in different states that have used, for example, Florida virtual school.
[00:42:25] Throughout the pandemic. Some states had a partnership with Florida. They had a much better experience than kids who went into these zoom bay. Emergency crisis, remote learning settings that nobody had been trained to do that we're exhausting. The kids that had low attendance rates and were really difficult for families to connect to because of lack of internet devices, things like that.
[00:42:49] So use trusted providers. And the third thing is I hope nobody ever confuses crisis emergency remote learning, which is what many families experienced in the last two years with actual [00:43:00] full-time online school. Developed by professionals over decade and perfecting the art , of really helping kids acquire knowledge using technology.
[00:43:10] Cara: Here here. I mean, wow. very well put with regard to digital learning because I think, parents probably didn't even realize, , how restrictive some online digital learning laws were and Boyle boy you're right. Florida virtual school did a bunch. and I'm going to take one more thing from what you said, Andrew, and I'm going to at the dinner table tonight, I'm telling everybody don't punch people.
[00:43:31] I love that. It's been sort of a theme for the day and we're all going to take that away. Andrew Campanella. Thank you so much for your work. Thank you so much for elevating. Just how important it is to give kids in parents choices. You guys work really hard all year round to bring us this week. And it's a great one.
[00:43:51] We look forward to it every year. We appreciate you coming on the learning curve today, and I'm sure you've got lots of events to get to. We're going to throw on our yellow [00:44:00] scarves and support you all the way. So take good care until the next time we get to talk to you.
[00:44:05] Andrew: Thank you guys. Very, very much.
[00:44:46] GR: So Kara, my tweet of the week is from our friend and someone who's grown. This show, Nina Reese. She's. Now on January 23rd, we need sustainable effective inputs that lead to measurable improvements in [00:45:00] student achievement. Title one is an annual funding stream for schools that serve disadvantaged students.
[00:45:06] We hope Congress will follow through on president Biden's commitment to triple title one funding. All I say is I'm with. Yeah.
[00:45:15] Cara: And all I say is Nina Reese, always a class act, just absolutely. one of my favorite people in this space, she gets it right more often than.
[00:45:25] And Gerard next week, as I think you already know is national Catholic schools week. We a week for everything around here and we live it. National Catholic schools week is very important. We are going to be speaking with Dr. Jennifer Frey. She is an associate professor of philosophy at the university of South Carolina and fellow of the Institute for human ecology at the Catholic university.
[00:45:45] Looking forward to reconnect and hearing more about your yellow scarf and what you did for national school choice week. And in speaking with Dr. Jennifer Frey until then Gerard, go outside and enjoy the sun,[00:46:00] , enjoy the south. And we will, think of you up here as we freeze in a great white north by choice.
[00:46:06] I understand,
[00:46:07] GR: take care. Have a great week. You
[00:46:09] Cara: too.
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Modeling an Education Savings Account for Massachusetts Rodrigo Souza Cooks Up Success


text:
Q: Reading in a 6G text file, why it takes 60G memory and how to reduce it? I have a 6G tsv file. The content of the file are numbers with the largest number being 57134205. The file is actually a lookup table with the first number on each line being the key, and the following numbers on that line being the values mapped to that key. In the form of python dict, it is like the following:
lookup[1]=[1,2,3,4]
lookup[2]=[7,8]
...
So I thought this is something trivial and tried to read in the file line by line (I am using python 3.7):
R={}
with open(filename) as f:
    for line in f:
        l=list(map(int,line.split('\t')))
        R[l[0]] = set(l[1:])

But this blew up my machine which has 64G memory (got memory error before finishing reading the file). I suspected that it is due to the int type of the numbers so I tried keeping them as str, which amounted to changing the line
l=list(map(int,l.split('\t')))

to
l=line.split('\t')

This still failed and I tried to explicitly use np.uint32
l=[np.uint32(i) for i in line.split('\t')]

Still failed.
Now I am out of ideas. I understand that the data structures would take more space than the numbers themselves, but still surprised that this 6G file cannot fit in 64G memory, unless there is some bug in the code that I completely ignored. Please let me know if there are any suggestions. Thank you for your help!

A: Whenever you find yourself trying to save memory while storing arrays of homogenous data, you may benefit from the array module.
In your case, you should be able to put your data in a contiguous memory region and organize it like a singly-linked list, so that you'd be able to search it later. You'll save a lot of memory, but you'll have to trade the O(1) search complexity offered by dictionaries for an O(number of loop iterations, apparently?) one (see the get_value_at_index function below), offered by the linear search algorithm, which may be further optimized if you use a doubly-linked list and take into account the offset of the value from the previous search.
import random
import array
import sys

def write_file(fname: str, nlines: int) -> int:
    '''
    Write `nlines` lines to file `fname`.
    Return the number of entries written.
    '''
    data_range = range(57134205)
    nentries_total = 0
    with open(fname, 'w') as f:
        for x in range(nlines):
            nentries = random.randint(0, 30)
            data = random.sample(data_range, nentries)
            data.insert(0, x)
            nentries_total += nentries + 1

            data_str = ','.join(map(str, data))
            f.write(data_str + '\n')

    return nentries_total

def store_that(fname: str) -> array.array:
    result = array.array('L')
    next_index = 0
    with open(fname) as f:
        for line in f:
            index, *values = map(int, line.split(','))

            next_index += len(values) + 2
            result.append(index)
            result.append(next_index)
            result.extend(values)

    return result

def get_value_at_index(array: array.array, index: int) -> array.array:
    current_index_offset = 0
    next_index_offset = array[current_index_offset + 1]
    current_index = array[current_index_offset]

    while current_index != index:
        current_index = array[next_index_offset]
        current_index_offset = next_index_offset
        next_index_offset = array[next_index_offset + 1]

    return array[current_index_offset + 2:next_index_offset]

FNAME = 'test.txt'
number_of_keys = 2_000
total_size = write_file(FNAME, number_of_keys)
data = store_that(FNAME)

for x in range(10):
    index = random.randint(0, number_of_keys)
    value = get_value_at_index(data, index)
    print(f'data[{index}] == {value}')
print()

actual_size = data.buffer_info()[1]
size_of_object, size_of_data = sys.getsizeof(data), actual_size * data.itemsize
print(f'Key count     : {number_of_keys: >7} keys')
print(f'Element count : {total_size: >7} elements')
print(f'With indices  : {actual_size: >7} elements ({actual_size / total_size - 1:.3%} overhead)')
print(f'Size of data  : {size_of_data:_} bytes')
print(f'Size of object: {size_of_object:_} bytes    ({size_of_object / size_of_data - 1:.3%} overhead)')
print(f'\nTotal overhead: {size_of_object / (total_size * data.itemsize) - 1:.3%}')

With this setup, I'm getting output like this:
Key count     :    2000 keys
Element count :   31477 elements
With indices  :   33477 elements (6.354% overhead)
Size of data  : 133_908 bytes
Size of object: 136_808 bytes    (2.166% overhead)

Total overhead: 8.657%

Note that your results will vary because this code randomizes the number of entries to be stored.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Searching for: researcher is "henderson global investors"
In an attempt to reduce deficits pension funds and their advisers are becoming more open to the idea of increasing use of alternative products and investment techniques, according to a survey carried out by Henderson Global Investors. Over 64% of those questioned said that the main driver over the next 5 to 10 years is the requirement for returns to reduce the shortfall in pension funds.
AD3223D5 Click here to contact the authors.


When considering the purchase of a mobile home park as compared to an RV park there are many factors to consider. While mobile home parks and RV parks are often sold by the same brokers and are combined in one facility, they are not the same and both require different amounts and types of management. The following comparisons are for Overnight/Destination RV parks as compared to the typical mobile home park in which the lots are rented out on a monthly basis. In many cases, the seasonal or extended stay RV parks will have more of the qualities of the typical mobile home park rather than those of the Overnight/Destination type RV parks.
Length of Stay: Mobile Home owners are in the park permanently or at least until they sell their home and move somewhere else. RVer's are in the park for usually a week or less. The longer a home or resident stays in the park, the more likely it will have the qualities of a mobile home park and the less time a home or resident stays in the park, the more likely it will resemble the operations of an RV park.
With a mobile home park, the manager will typically see the residents of each space only once per month when the rent is paid and anytime there is a problem. However, with an RV Park you may have a new camper in the space every day or every few days. You may have to acquaint them with the park, the facilities, and in many cases the area. How to get here or there, where to eat, etc.
In addition, many RV parks will have showers and restrooms that need to be cleaned several times during the day. Most mobile home owners have their own showers and toilets.
In Mobile Home Parks, the manager usually only maintains the common areas and the residents maintain their own spaces, etc. However, in an RV Park, the manager will not only maintain the common areas, but should check each space to make sure it is clean before renting. As before, these spots may have a different RV'er each day and so it is ongoing.
Ease of Movement: While it will cost an owner of a mobile home 1-2 thousand dollars or more to move their mobile home out of the park and set it up somewhere else, the owner of an Recreational Vehicle can hook up, move and reset their RV up in another park in a couple of hours or less and for the cost of gas. Thus, you have to work much harder at keeping the RV'er satisfied with the park if you want to keep them there.
Eviction: In a mobile home park if you have someone that is not paying rent or causing other problems, you will have to go to court and deal with the judges and it may take several weeks to have them evicted out of the park. However, in an RV Park, the rent is usually paid in advance and if it is not paid, you should be able to have the RV removed immediately for lack of payment or other issues. These laws differ from state to state so make sure to check first to stay legal.
Rent Control: RV parks owners are not typically subject to rent control ordinances as are mobile home park owners.
Utilities: In a mobile home park the park owner will generally only pay the utilities for any common areas and buildings as well as for street lights. The individual mobile home owners will pay for their own gas, electric, water, sewer, cable, and internet. However, in an RV Park, this is all bundled up in a nightly or weekly rate and that rate should be adjusted to include all these utilities and amenities. You might shudder when a big 40' rig pulls in the middle of July and powers up a couple of a/c units after plugging into your electric pedestal.
Other Improvements: While both RV & MH parks will have the sites, utilities, roads, it is common for RV parks to also have a store, recreational hall, and restrooms and showers. In addition, a higher percentage of RV parks compared to MH parks will have a swimming pool and other recreational facilities such as shuffleboard, basketball, and video games. What this will equate to is once again, more management time and energy. An RV Park of 400 spaces will probably have two to three times more employees than a comparably sized mobile home park.
Taxes: Just like the taxes you pay when you stay at a motel, you will pay taxes to stay in an RV park. Usually the only way around the lodging/transient tax is to stay for 30 days or more. The residents in a mobile home park are not subject to this type of tax. They are just subject to the yearly mobile home taxes to the county treasurer. The park owner will pay the taxes on the land (dirt and improvements) for both MH & RV parks.
Capitalization Rate: Typically a mobile home park will sell at a lower cap rate than an RV park. There are always exceptions but this is the general rule. If a mobile home park is selling at a cap rate of 10% then an RV park in that same market area will typically be selling for a 11-13% cap rate. Smaller RV parks generally sell for higher cap rates than do larger ones. Destination and overnight style RV parks are generally priced at higher cap rates than the extended stay and seasonal type RV parks. Also, parks that are rated higher by Woodalls or any type of star ratings will generally sell for more $$$ (a smaller cap rate).
Finding a Park to Buy: In my experiences as a broker, investor and by running the Mobile Home Park Website as well as the RV Park Website for many years, I have noticed that there are usually five times or more buyers out there looking for Mobile Home Parks than there are for RV Parks. What this equates to for the RV Park Investor, is that there is a better inventory of potential RV Parks to purchase as well as less competition. I have seen some very good RV Parks sit on the website for a few months and wonder why they have not sold. There are Great Opportunities out there especially if you are not set on one particular area.
Long Distance Ownership: Mobile Home Parks are often owned by individuals or companies that do not live in the same city or state where the park is located. They hire an onsite manager and visit a couple of times per year. However, with an RV Park, most owners live at the park or nearby and are involved with the management of the park on a day to day basis. It is possible to run an RV Park from a distance but in order to do so you have to really trust your manager and other staff and have a good system in place.
Financing: It is usually harder to obtain a loan for an RV park than a mobile home park and that is one reason why a higher percentage of owners offer to seller finance RV Parks as compared to Mobile Home Parks. When seeking financing on an RV park, you will be typically obtaining a loan with interest rates a point or two higher than that of a mobile home park. For many types of investment properties, the loan is based on the property more so than the purchaser. However, with an RV Park, the loan is not only based on the property itself, but also the borrower's credit and experience in running similar types of businesses. It often helps to have a well drafted business plan when applying for financing.


text:
Q: Docusign | Embedded Signing | How can sender share the "recipient signing URL" with recipient/signer? I've a use-case to integrate e-signature with an existing application of some confidential customer.
While exploring docusign, i've found that there are two ways to get e-signatures:

*

*Remote - Sending signing link in the email.

*Embedded - Within any application.

Remote way is clear to me.
But, Embedded way is not clear and my query is regarding the embedded only:
I've a sample use-case:
Suppose, Tom is my user who wanna get a document signed from another user Pedro.
So Tom would:

*

*hit an API to create an envelope, with all the documents encapsulated in it.

*Then tom would generate the recipient signing URL.

Now, how would Tom send this URL to Pedro. Because at the end Pedro need to sign it.
NOTE: I'm not sure if above is the actual way to use embedded. If not, can anybody help me with a real use-case of using embedded.

A: Good question. With embedded signing, the signer signs from your web site/web application. Email is usually not involved.
Example:

*

*Tom is a human resources manager.

*Pedro sends Tom an email announcing that he has bought a house and the company should update its records.

*Tom opens his HR application and enters Pedro's new address into an "Address Change form" that results in a DocuSign envelope being created. Pedro will later sign the form (via the DocuSign envelope) to certify that his address has changed.

*Pedro is told to go to his company's internal web site. There he logs in and the application sends him to the embedded DocuSign signing ceremony so he can sign his address change form.

Or another example that shows how Tom does not need to create the envelope:

*

*Pedro is a customer of Tom's company.

*Pedro has his own login on Tom's customer web portal application.

*Pedro logs into the web portal, and starts a new order for himself.

*The web portal creates the order in a DocuSign envelope for Pedro, sends it, and then enables Pedro to sign the order using an embedded signing ceremony.

*Now that the order is signed by Pedro, the web portal starts the order fulfilment process within Tom's company.

Note: since DocuSign can collect payments as part of an order, Pedro could also be automatically asked to pay at the time he orders.


College of Saint Mary's physician assistant studies program is a master's level degree curriculum with a focus on the prevailing role of the physician assistant in health care. The physician assistant performs the same functions as a physician but does so under the direction and supervision of a licensed physician. The physician assistant sees patients independently, examines patients, makes diagnoses and treatment decisions, and performs medical procedures (such as suturing, casting, and assisting in surgical procedures). Our physician assistant program provides the didactic scientific foundation and essential experiences in clinical practice, research and professional services to prepare you for this role.
This degree is a demanding program of study and is full-time only. The program of study begins with didactic instruction in the basic and clinical sciences as applied in medicine (Level IV). Direct patient encounters begin early and will comprise the majority of Level V program of study.
You may apply to pursue this program combined with our bachelor of science degree in human biology to complete both degrees in only five years — the only such program in our five-state region — Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas and South Dakota!
College of Saint Mary's master of science degree in physician assistant studies is a 24-month program that begins in August with a maximum class size of 40 students.
The mission of the College of Saint Mary Physician Assistant Studies Program is to establish an educational environment fostering academic excellence and leadership, which prepares students to become competent Physician Assistants who possess the knowledge, compassion and clinical skills necessary to provide high quality medical care to all patient populations, including those that are underserved.
The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Provisional status to the College of Saint Mary Physician Assistant Program sponsored by College of Saint Mary.
Pre-physician assistant status students are currently being accepted and under all circumstances will be eligible to complete a degree in their current program of study.
This intense course covers advanced study of the structure and development of the human body. Structural features are studied by gross dissection, demonstration, and cross section, and radiology. Embryology lectures provide an understanding of the development of definitive anatomical structures. Emphasis is placed on structure and the relationship of anatomic configuration to diagnosis clinical problems. The format of the course includes lectures, laboratories, and demonstrations. Student evaluation is accomplished through written and practical examinations.
This course will cover, at an advanced level, the fundamental principles of physiology. The course will cover cell physiology, neurophysiology, musculoskeletal system physiology, renal physiology, respiratory physiology, gastrointestinal physiology, endocrinology, and reproductive physiology.
This course will examine the underlying biochemical, cellular, and physiological changes which occur in human disease. Emphasis will be placed on the most common conditions. This course integrates general pathology and laboratory medicine to prepare the student for the clinical medicine course.
A study of normal immune system function (both acquired and innate), normal hematological function and common diseases and derangements of both.
This course will introduce the students to the physician assistant profession. Students will gain an understanding of professionalism and the role of the physician assistant. In addition, students will also learn the history of the profession, the profession's organizations, the credentialing and certification process, as well as an introduction to the health care system.
The Medicine I course is designed to introduce students to the process of clinical decision making by utilizing critical reasoning skills to diagnosis and treat illness and disease. Students will develop their knowledge base in the etiology, clinical presentation, differential diagnoses, and therapeutic approach to disease processes. This course will focus on the most commonly diagnosed medical problems. In addition to lectures and reading assignments, Problem Based Learning sessions in a small group format will allow for increased focus on the critical reasoning process.
This course will provide the student with an overview of commonly ordered laboratory tests, accurate application of the tests, and interpretation of the data. Proper laboratory technique for selected tests will also be covered along with quality control measures. Additionally, evaluation and correlation of laboratory data used in the diagnosis and treatment of common infectious disease states will be covered.
An overview of the structure and function of the central nervous system will be discussed with a focus on principles related to clinical neurology and interpretation of the neurobiological examination.
This course is designed to provide students the skills necessary to become proficient in communication – including verbal communication, non-verbal communication and medical writing skills. Communication is a core component in the practice of medicine. Good communication between patient and provider improves patient outcomes. To effectively build communication skills, the course will address the basic fundamentals and integrate these skills into the clinical curriculum.
This course will provide the physician assistant student an overview of the major types of healthcare systems along with clinical management practices. Coding and reimbursement will be reviewed as well as quality assurance and risk management. Access to care, socioeconomics, and legal issues will be covered.
This course provides the physician student the general principals of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of various classes of drugs. Drug actions on the various biochemical pathways and physiological systems will be discussed. The judicious use of drugs in physician assistant practice will be emphasized. This course will lay the foundation for the Pharmacology II course.
This course is designed to provide students instruction in the fundamental clinical skills necessary for patient care. A primary focus of instruction is on performance of complete examinations of patients across the lifespan. Weekly lectures combined with small group instruction ensure students learn proper exam techniques, recognize and appropriately describe physical findings, and use the clinical data to formulate differential diagnoses.
This course allows students to build upon the knowledge and skills obtained in Communication in Medicine I and continue to increase their competency level. Patient education and counseling skills are emphasized, as is more complex communication such as giving bad news. Significant emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary communication. The skills learned in this course will be integrated into the clinical curriculum, thereby allowing the student to become more familiar with medical communication.
This course is the first in a two course series that covers topics relevant to clinical research and the principals of evidence-based practice. Topics include research design, sound measurement principles, basic descriptive statistics, and an introduction to the efficient use of information systems. A major portion of the course will emphasize the critical appraisal and synthesis of the findings of clinical research.
This course builds material presented in the Medicine I course and prepares students for the clinical phase of their education. The course focuses on etiology, risk factors, underlying pathologic processes, and epidemiology for disease processes encountered in the practice of medicine. Recognition of signs and symptoms of medical conditions, appropriate diagnostic work-up, development of differential diagnoses, treatment options, patient education, and prevention are focused topics in the course. The course will follow a systems-based approach.
This course is designed to build upon the material presented in the Pharmacology I course and will emphasize pharmacotherapeutic practice. Commonly prescribed drugs will be examined with the focus on appropriate drug selection based on individual patients, common adverse reactions, and drug interactions. The cost and efficacy of drugs will be studied. Prescribing for special patient populations will be addressed to include pregnancy, lactation, pediatrics, and geriatrics.
This course is a continuation of Clinical Skills I and the student is introduced to technical skills of increased complexity to include suturing, casting, splinting, IVs/injections, gowning, gloving, and a general orientation to the operating room. Students will learn proper sterile technique. Students are given an introduction to common minor procedures. In addition, Basic Life Support, Advanced Life Support, and Pediatric Life Support classes will be part of this course so as to certify the student prior to clinical rotations.
This course will focus on neurobiological, psychobiological, emotional, social, and cultural influences and their effect on health and illness in the practice of primary care medicine. Human development across the lifespan will be presented, as well as end of life issues. Normative and maladaptive responses to developmental tasks and life stressors in relation to physical and emotional health will be covered. Health disparities and societal issues are examined. Psychiatric disorders are covered to include psychotic disorders, personality disorders, mood and anxiety disorders. The importance of practicing biopsychosocial medicine is stressed throughout the course. In addition, preventive healthcare and patient counseling will be emphasized.
This course examines the application of human and professional values, judgments, and choices to selective ethical dilemmas arising in clinical practice. Students will be introduced to a structured approach for identifying, analyzing, and resolving ethical issues in clinical medicine. Topics related to patient rights, medical practice laws, professional liability, and medical malpractice are explored.
During the clinical phase (Level V), students are required to complete 8 required rotations in Family Practice (2), Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Women's Health, Psychiatry, General Surgery and Emergency Medicine. Students will also complete 3 elective rotations. Students are trained in a variety of clinical settings to assure that they are well prepared to practice medicine with excellence as a part of the PA-physician team. Clinical rotations may occur away from the Omaha metropolitan area, according to rotation availability and the student's individual rotation schedule. Students are not required to provide their own clinical sites. Students may arrange some of their rotations; however, a discussion with the Clinical Faculty must occur prior to any arrangements being made. Approval is not automatically guaranteed. Students are responsible for their own individual transportation to their clinical rotation sites.
You must complete all components and requirements of the physician assistant studies program as a College of Saint Mary students. There are no exemptions or advanced placement from course work, clinical skills, laboratories, or clinical education regardless of prior experience, degree or credential during the professional phase of the program.
Successfully complete all course work according to program defined academic standards (88 credit hours of graduate coursework).
Achieve a minimum cumulative 3.0 G.P.A. (Grade Point Average).
Successfully pass all components of the final summative evaluation assessing all PAS program competencies.
Submit a completed graduation application to the Office of the Registrar.
Be in good academic standing. In the event that a student is on academic probation as he/she enters the final semester, he/she must still have the required cumulative G.P.A. of 3.0.
Be in good standing in areas of professionalism.
Complete all requirements for graduation within 5 years of the original date of matriculation.
Have no current financial or library obligations to the College of Saint Mary.
All graduates will be eligible to take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE).
Regional accreditation means that our degrees have been evaluated for their outcomes — including how well they prepare you to meet the needs of your employers, yourself and our global society. College of Saint Mary is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission.
The nationally recognized accrediting agency for physician assistant programs in the territorial United States is the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc (ARC-PA). The purpose of accreditation is to protect the public's interest and promote excellence in physician assistant education. A physician assistant must graduate from an accredited program to be eligible for the national board certification examination following graduation.
The ARC-PA can be contacted at ARC-PA, Inc., 12000 Findley Road, Suite 150, Johns Creek, Georgia 30097, 770-476-1224 or FAX 770-476-1738 .
Physician assistant education is accredited through the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). College of Saint Mary has been granted developmental status by the ARC-PA with a provisional accreditation decision in March 2016. Accreditation - Provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program's ability to meet the ARC-PA Standards or when a program holding accreditation-provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the Standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students. College of Saint Mary may officially start the physician assistant studies portion of the curriculum once provisionally accredited. Accreditation-Provisional does not ensure any subsequent accreditation status, but any student beginning in a provisionally accredited program qualifies to take the national board certification examination following graduation.
Current CSM students accepted as pre-PA students are assigned to a specific future PAS cohort upon admission as a pre-PA student and will have a guaranteed seat in their assigned PAS cohort as long as all progression requirements are followed and the applicant meets the minimum technical standards for the PAS program. College of Saint Mary does not offer advanced placement for the PAS program.
The College of Saint Mary PAS program may admit up to 30 students in each yearly cohort. The seats in the PAS cohorts will be filled with current CSM students classified as pre-PA students. Additional applicants will be considered for seats that remain open at the beginning of the PAS program (level 4). Those applicants selected will begin as graduate students and upon successful completion of the PAS program, will receive a M.S. in Physician Assistant Studies degree. College of Saint Mary does not offer advanced placement for the PAS program.
A baccalaureate degree from outside the United States will be accepted if the student can document equivalency of a U.S. bachelor's degree through a foreign transcript evaluation service and completion of an additional 24 credit hours in biology or chemistry departments at a U.S. regionally accredited college or university prior to application.
Preference will be given to prerequisite coursework completed at 4-year institutions through biology and chemistry departments.
Able to complete all MSPAS matriculation requirements within 6 months of entry into level 4. This includes requirements for immunizations, tuberculosis screening, physical examination, criminal background check, urine drug screening, and health insurance requirements.
The following must be completed at 4-year institutions through biology and chemistry departments.
**THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER OF SCIENCE IN PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT STUDIES IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS CSM IS CURRENTLY IN THE PROVISIONAL ACCREDITATION PROCESS AND WILL MAKE NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS TO MEET THE ACCREDITATION STANDARDS.
The PAS program does not award or grant advanced placement. The PAS program does not accept transfer credit from a student previously enrolled in another PA program or experiential credit. All PAS program courses must be taken at CSM due to the variations in graduate, PA and medical curriculums across different universities.
Apply On-Line for pre-PA or through CASPA for MSPAS.
If selected, participate in an on-campus interview with the PAS Admissions and Progression Committee. Initial application review and interview may occur prior to receiving all application materials. The PAS program technical standards attestation form must be signed during the interview stating the ability to meet all required technical standards.
Admission decision by the PAS Admissions and Progression Committee following a complete application and interview.
If you are accepted into the PAS program, you will be provided a username and password for our Physician Assistant Community page. This page will list important information you will need before you start in the PAS program. The information will include requirements for immunizations, tuberculosis screening, physical examination, criminal background check, urine drug screening, and health insurance requirements. You may review those requirements now in section 4 of the PAS Program Handbook.
Due to the rigorous nature of the PAS Program during both the didactic and the clinical phases of training, it is advised that students are not employed during their professional training. Employment demands will not justify an excused absence from any academic or clinical requirements of the program nor will any special accommodations be made. If you would like more information, please review the Student Employment Policy.


Minutes away from the theme parks, this Windsor Palms home is the perfect home for you. With 4 bedrooms and 3-bathrooms, there is plenty of space for you and your guests. The kitchen is perfect for when you want to enjoy a home cooked meal on vacation. With all the kitchen necessities, cooking up a meal is easy. The dining room is perfect to gather around, telling stories from the day. The tall ceilings and large living room give the home a very cozy feel. Head on out to this homes very own pool and spa and soak up the warm Florida sun. For your convenience, this home includes a washer and dryer along with FREE WIFI. There is also a games room that has billiards and a basketball game. This home also comes with access to the beautiful clubhouse on Windsor Palms property.


Multiple members of the Trump campaign knew of these efforts in advance. Trump himself publicly called on the Russian government to release information that would hurt Hillary Clinton and benefit him.
During the course of the election, Trump's campaign chairman exchanged polling data with someone who the FBI has said has ties to Russian intelligence; Trump's son wrote "I love it!" when offered what he thought was dirt on Hillary Clinton from Russia; Trump's camp maintained an elaborate business relationship with Russians who by definition had ties to the Kremlin (because all wealthy Russians have ties to the Kremlin).
And in every single one of these cases, the people involved lied extensively when questioned.
These are not disputed facts. Even the Republicans who have welcomed Attorney General William Barr's summary of Robert Mueller 's unpublished report have accepted them.
I say this even though I have argued for three years that the very worst things about Trump are the things that are public, visible, legal — and immoral.
His affinity for dictators, his scorn for American allies, his refusal to support U.S. civil servants and U.S. intelligence even while standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a news conference — these are behaviors that should disqualify him from any sort of public office, let alone the presidency.
But in the course of this investigation, we have also learned that we are living in a new world — one in which our public sphere is open to manipulation by anybody, not just Russia; our authoritarian enemies are now wealthy businessmen, not Mao-jacketed communists; and our old-fashioned, we-all-believe-in-fair-play amateurish ethical norms are insufficient.
As Garry Kasparov wrote recently, "Putin and his imitators are good at finding the gray areas of public/private, legal/illegal, media/propaganda." The agents of influence who look like rich businessmen, or "gun rights" activists, or lawyers — these are not the Soviet spies of yore. They have plausible reasons to meet with people such as Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump; they claim to be "investing," or "lobbying," and it is not easy to recognize them as agents of foreign states who wish the United States ill.
In this new era, we need much tougher laws on conflicts of interest, and far more resources to enforce them.
We need tougher laws on lobbying and money laundering, and far more resources to enforce them too, so that the Paul Manaforts of the future are caught long before they have spent years accumulating illegal wealth in exchange for political favors.
We need to require presidential candidates to publish their income tax returns, and we need them to put financial interests in blind trusts, before they attain the presidency and not afterward.
We also need laws on internet advertising, and curbs on the anonymity that made it possible for trolls in St. Petersburg to seek to influence American voters.
And we need laws that would make it impossible for a presidential candidate, or any politician, to secretly conduct business in a foreign country, any foreign country, while running an election campaign.
Like many others, I am reserving further judgment until I see the full version of the Mueller investigation report. But it is worth concluding with this: Any Trump supporter who welcomes this report must also welcome the revelation of the facts I noted above, in the first paragraph of this column.
As it turns out, this was not a witch hunt. It was the investigation of the worst electoral scandal in U.S. history. The flaws it has revealed in our legal system, in our electoral laws and in our ethical assumptions should worry us profoundly.


Ideal Balance™ Canine Adult Medium Breed -No Grain™ with Chicken and Potato. Perfectly balanced nutrition made with natural ingredients plus vitamins, minerals and amino acids – and NO GRAINS.
Recommended for: • Medium Breed dogs form 1 year old until 7 years old and for pet owners who prefer to feed their dogs a no grain food high in animal protein. Not recommended for: • Puppies • Pregnant and lactating bithces should be switched to Ideal Balance Puppy dry formula• Natural ingredients, perfectly balanced* • Made with no grains • Chicken No. 1 ingredient • 70% animal protein.
COMPOSITION IS DRY with Chicken & Potato. Chicken Meal (25%), dried potato (14%), potato starch, yellow peas (12%), dried peas (12%), animal fat, digest, soybean oil, flaxseed (2%), soybean oil, minerals, fish oil, dried carrots (0.5%), dried tomato pomace (0.2%), dried citrus pulp, dried grape pomace, spinach powder, vitamins, trace elements and beta-carotene. With a natural antioxidant (mixed tocopherols).
Elimination of grains makes the food suitable for dogs with grain sensitivities.
Protein is high in quality and helps adult dogs build and maintain lean muscle.
Minerals, including calcium is high but controlled to provide optimal balance for growth and development. Promotes strong teeth and bones.
Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acid - helps promote a healthy skin and coat.
Soy, wheat and maize is excluded to meet pet owners needs.