Take Me To Post Comment Form Ombudsman Educational Svc was co-founded in 1975 by Lori Sweeney and James Boyle. They began the operation in northern Illinois and built the company to include 82 sites nationwide. In 2005, the group was purchased by Educational Services of America, under the direction of President and CEO Mark Claypool, a former Sociologist. ESA strongly subscribes to the educational philosophy of Dr. William Glasser.

Glasser, a former chemist turned psychologist, is the developer of “Choice Theory and “Reailty Theory. His educational theories are discussed in length in his books “The Quality School, Schools without Failure and “Control Theory in the Classroom. The philosophy is often referenced during the training process for Ombudsman teachers: in their own words, “It is the key component in the understanding of the implementation of our program.

The model is similar to models found in some educational districts where the “cross-training of teachers into skills better left to psychology professionals is conducted. The basics of the theories hold that praise is good and correction is bad, and at face value this does not seem to be such a bad thing. However, when taken to the extreme, the lack of any consequence becomes dangerous.

Ombudsman proudly admits maintaining a technologically driven curriculum where students work in front of a computer, at their own pace with teacher interaction. Ombudsman uses the model in part to free the teacher, who is not required to maintain state teaching certification, from delivering information. Ombudsman correlates their curriculum to state standards, but it is not clear whether these standards are for generally educated students or those considered at risk.

Of the ghosts in the details, the Ombudsman program may allow districts to remove students labeled “at-risk from their rosters while retaining district funding for those same students. In other words, a student at risk of failing may be shuttled to the Ombudsman program, but the district will still receive funding as if the child was within their school. This option would be more appealing than vouchers to the public education system in that the system would retain the money “allotted for the student. If held true, it would also be possible for districts to underscore failure rates by utilizing the option.

Ombudsman defined- Nongovernmental complaint investigator: somebody responsible for investigating and resolving complaints from consumers or other members of the public against a company, institution, or other organization.