After reading about the corporate reform “fight club,” Imagine Wisconsin writes:
Add to the fight club the Education Action Group that is anonymously backed by Tea Party funding. This group works hand-in-hand with breitbart.com, MacIver Institute, & Heartland Institute. EAG is Michigan based, but with a national mission to bring down public education. They messed in the WI recall of Gov. Walker. I suspect this covert group has much more involvement in local affairs
Readers, who are your nominees?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, Reason Foundation followed by Reason.com and Reason TV, CATO Institute, the ALEC, and several of the investment mega-banks, like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
Who opposes Common Core and the federal take over in Ed. Heritage the tea party, Cato, You would be wise to capitalize on that
Cato supports Common Core – from the horses mouth
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4507529/user-clip-charlotte-iserbyt
Diane,
Do you have any information on Pearson flying administrators around the country to attend their seminars? What about Pearson paying stipends to administrators to promote their products within the schools? I read somewhere, maybe here, that Pearson used to send administrators to vacation spots around the world. It all sounds like lobbying to me. It’s definitely worth further investigation, if you can do it.
Tim
Stand for Children is another big Corporate Reform group. It is funded by the Walton family (Owners of Walmart ) Bain Capital (Mitt Romney’s company). It also the backing of the Gates foundation, and plenty of other groups and organizations that have no right meddling in places they don’t belong.
Bush and Rhee are no friends to grassroots conservatives
Rhee has few grassroots supporters. She dupes people into becoming members so she can lie and say she represents the people. She is billionaire backed and she is a fraud. She couldn’t even teach. Under her high standards for all of us, she should have been fired..especially after she taped her students’ mouths shut.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/08/michelle_rhee_first-year_teach.html
She is good at two things: promoting herself and raising money. She will go down as the Bernie Madoff of the school deform movement.
Old man Walton was a member of the Council for National Policy (CNP). Apparently the foundation he established has continued with the privateering of all America. Wal-Mart put most of the small business out of business when they moved into the towns and cities across the world. Their benefits are almost nill, and their workers are at the mercy of the corporate organization which does not have our interest at heart in my opinion. They sell products as advertised made in America. One must question that!
The secret Council for National Policy’s old membership list that I have included all the member neo-conservative people and groups in their membership. I think it can still be found on the web. If so, you will find many names and groups connected with the “privateers”. I wrote an article and it appeared in a small newspaper titled “The Wisconsin Report” (no longer active). I named the CNP members on my list. I understand that several others have written about this secret organization and that is mostly what you will find on the web. This list also included a few members of the CFR. It now appears the two groups and the rest of the privateers have met in mid-circle.
Yeah, go to the CNP’s website. Although they boldly state that they are “strengthening the conservative movement”, they definitely are promoting a christo-fascist regressive randian agenda.
http://Www.btownerrant.com. Article titled ‘In the city of corporate love and beyond: The Boston Consulting Group, Gates, and the filthy rich. Quite the web. Lots of connections from left, right and the blurry middle.
You guys are totally missing the reform movement. This is Marc Tuckers dream. Yes this is about dumbing down, worker bees for the workforce, but you should understand the entire plan. http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/OtherPDFs/Hyde_Cuddy_testimony.pdf
Mom with a brain. I’m glad you put Charlotte Iserbyt’s web on, and I highly recommend that others check it out. I know all about Marc Tucker! When William Clinton was elected president, Tucker sent a very long letter to Hillary Clinton with the whole proposal for restructuring educaton included. Some member of Congress entered it in Federal Register. I think it is on Charlotte’s son’s web american.deception.
The charter schools themselves?
Here is a blog post from the Orlando Sentinel about Texas charter schools wanting to dip into construction funds. Charter schools in Florida have been able to do this, and for at least the 2011-2012 school year, ALL of the funds from the Florida “Public Education Capital Outlay” (PECO) fund went to charter schools. I thought they said they could do it for less money? Now they want to take our money.
blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2012/06/texas-charters-want-building-dough-too.html
I believe that pearson is still being investigated by the NY Attorney General’s office. Pearson had a contract with Achieve, Inc; the state of California and Stanford University to design the Common Core Standards. Pearson has contracts with states ( and private entities) for implementing the teacher’s Performance Assessment (TPA)- linking student scores to teacher evaluations; Pearson’s chief education adviser is Sir Michael Barber. Barber was senior advisor to former prime Minister Tony Blair. Pearson now owns Connections Academy. I have way too much information to place here. I am working on a major map of all the players with help of a few others. Actualy we have completed more than one map at the state and then at the national level. A few other privatizers( the name reformer makes me sick so I call it what it is : privatization) include: Learn Capital; Wested; Boycin Curry and his buddies from Democrats For Education Reform; K-12 inc (Chair of board is former CEO of Intel Craig Barrett); Aspire Public schools; Apex learning; Institute for Higher Education Policy(IHELP); Lumina Foundation (Mark Yudof of University of california on board); Alec; Walton Foundation; Broad; Edvoice in CA; Instition for Higher Education Leadership and Policy (IHELP); Bechtel; and numerous other so-called non-profits. The Gulen schools have so many names, but in California the Magnolia Public schools have been linked with the Gulen movement. The worse part of all of this is that our government officials are part of the problem (they take campaign contributions inexchange for privatization friendly legislation), as well as some of our government agencies. WE all must begin naming names.
I’d like to add the Nation Education Association and American Federation of Teachers. And put Michael Mulgrew up for the Mike Tyson award. He’ll bite your ear off if you complain about him sleeping with your teacher.
Huffington Post By Gregory Kristof Posted: 06/14/2012 3:06 pm Updated: 06/14/2012 3:06 pm
Louisiana Lawmakers Object To Funding Islamic School Under New Voucher Program.
“Stakes escalated last week when, to the frustration of some lawmakers, the Islamic School of Greater New Orleans applied for federal funds under the voucher program. Republican state Rep. Kenneth Havard objected to the Islamic School’s request for 38 government-paid student vouchers, saying he opposed any bill that “will fund Islamic teaching,” the Associated Press reports. I won’t go back home and explain to my people that I supported this,” he said.
“It’ll be the Church of Scientology next year,” Democratic state Rep. Sam Jones told AP.
The Islamic School of Greater New Orleans withdrew its request for vouchers before the bill went to vote.
This is what I’ve said would happen all along! If I were a betting man…
When people say “vouchers,” they’re thinking about Catholic schools and such. I’ve always said “wait until that Mosque wants to open a school and take voucher kids.”
Well, I will make this prediction: There will be a lawsuit against private schools stating that since they now receive public funding, they can’t be selective, they have to do X, Y, and Z, etc.
There’s already been a Church of Scientology controversy with a charter school in Florida.
There are many fine religious based schools in many diverse religions and the parents choice may be an easy one if they are of the same faith as the voucher school. The issues are arising with parents who really have no choice, since they only have access to a faith based school of a faith they do not practice; or their faith doesn’t have a school accepting vouchers; or they have a strong faith and attend a church but believe evolution and critical thinking should be taught to their children. Two of these situations are not having a “Choice”.
Just so you understand the passion of the convictions of many conservative Southern Baptist and Evangelical folks who want vouchers, but only in those faith based schools they consider acceptable. Most people consider Catholics to be Christians. But in many areas of the south Christian is not just believing in God, Jesus and the Bible. Every now and then there will be some speaker or presentation espousing that Catholics and Jews belong to a cult, an uproar ensues and most find it best to not try and stand up against this type of thought pattern since you can be destroyed socially and professionally by a few who are extreme and radical in their beliefs. Most people try very hard to get a long but one of the most common first things someone new is asked is,”Where do you go to church?”
You can search this site, http://www.sbc.net , the Official Site of the Southern Baptist Convention for the two resolutions below. They’re serious!
RESOLUTION ON SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND ROMAN CATHOLICS 1994
RESOLUTION ON JEWISH EVANGELISM June 1996
As a New Yorker I vote for Joel Klein and Rupert Murdoch!
Klein helping Newscorp develop technology an assessment tools. But it’s not about the $$$$$$$
Wear Red For Public Ed has a Facebook community page and a Facebook group page that keep track of developments on the public education scene.
Definitely include the College Board. We already noted when, last week, they cleverly coordinated a PR stunt by placing 857 empty desks on the lawn of the National Mall in DC to represent HS drop-outs, while photographing Arne Duncan standing by the desks, which also coordinated with the “Don’t Forget Ed!” ad campaign. They also released a book that week, The Achievable Dream: College Board Lessons on Creating Great Schools by Richard Whitmire and Gaston Caperton, which many news channels interviewed Whitmire about, such as this:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-06-19/charter-schools-Obama-Romney-education/55695558/1
Diane, I would strongly suggest taking a look at and reviewing that book. It looks rather hinky to me, including listing charters that have not been around for very long and expecting Teacher Ed schools to follow the model of Relay Graduate School of Education, which looks great, but teacher prep in the US more commonly occurs in undergrad Teacher Ed programs. (I’d like to see master’s degrees required of teachers, but that raises a lot of issues around funding, especially in a climate where the value of master’s degrees is denied by corporate ed “reformers”, including Gates and Duncan.)
Contrary to the message posted on your blog by Peter Kauffmann, the College Board certainly does have an agenda, including “asking teachers to rethink their bargaining units’ long-standing commitment to some work rules”, as well as promoting VAM in Teacher Ed. All liberal arts professors should be keenly alert to this, as it will impact virtually everyone teaching college courses, because study in the Arts and Sciences is integral to teacher preparation:
Click to access teachers-and-uncertain-american-future.pdf
Also, unfortunately, I can’t find it now but, last week, I ran across something online indicating Whitmore et al want teachers from Teach for America etc. to take leadership roles and train veteran teachers in effective practices….
BTW, here’s a Who’s Who list, although it’s incomplete and I think we have to question it’s accuracy today. For example, they list Brookings as Centrist and the Council on Foreign Relations as Liberal, so I believe a current list should note when organizations shift:
http://politicsunspun.com/?page_id=79
Thanks for letting me know about this. As you probably know, Richard Whitmire was editor of USA Today. He wrote an admiring biography of Michelle Rhee. Relay Graduate School of Education was created by KIPP to train charter school teachers. I don’t know what its course requirements are or what they do. I looked at the website and it was not apparent.
Yes, you’re right, there is very little info about the actual program at Relay posted on their website. It’s also a very new program. In the Education Next article about Relay, dated Fall, 2012, it says, “Even Relay’s admirers concede that it’s too soon to tell whether the model works” and “Relay’s first class won’t graduate until 2013.”
http://educationnext.org/a-new-type-of-ed-school/
However, Whitemire wrote in the USA Today article that I posted above, “Traditional teacher colleges that fail to learn from Relay risk irrelevance.” –A very premature conclusion.
Sorry, included a link to Whitmire’s article about the content of the book instead of a news interview about it, so here’s one:
The reason why my above post seems so odd is because my oririginal message, which I was referring to there, was not posted to the blog. Don’t know where it went!
Professor W, you mentioned Gates’ and Duncan’s dismissal of advanced degrees. As we await whatever iteration of a merged school district will occur in Memphis in 2013-14, the Transition Planning Commission has recommended the following to the school board:
“Approximately 30% of total teacher compensation in the district is based on years of experience and degree attainment. Yet national research shows gains to teacher experience leveling off after four to five years. Local data shows no relationship between years of experience and student value-added data after the first two years in MCS and at all in SCS.
Given this, the TPC recommends the district redesign teacher compensation to better attract and retain effective teachers, including attracting teachers to and retaining teachers in hard-to-staff positions. Additionally, teachers with sustained, demonstrated effectiveness should be eligible for salary increases and career advancement opportunities. To enable this differential compensation, the TPC recommends freezing the additional compensation paid for advanced degrees.”
I have no doubt the Gates Foundation, which has given a $90 million, seven-year grant to Memphis City Schools (the grant will continue under the merged district), had significant influence in this recommendation.
Did they state the actual research study that shows gains to teacher experience leveling off after four or five years? What does that actually mean? How did they measure the gains?
This is the state where Michelle Rhee’s ex is the commissioner, yes?
It seems Gates funded “research” always supports the opinion he has and the direction he wants things to go….has anyone analyzed the research those funded by him seem to cherry pick?
Even if it were true that teacher “quality” levels off after 4 or 5 years (which I seriously doubt as the best teachers keep honing their craft), those teachers have reached a point of effectiveness. Why toss them aside for an inexperienced teacher who is at the beginning of his or her career and may leave after a year or two? Only one reason: money.
I don’t believe it either. After 26 years, I am still tryng to perfect my craft and get better every day. Building my own classroom library of close to 1,700 YAL books takes years. Reading most of them, or at least the first in a series, and keeping up with the interests of 12 and 13 year olds is constant, time-consuming and ever changing. There is so much that can’t be measured by a Gates selected “researcher” who has no clue how to relate to, motivate and respect children.
I wish I had the time to research their slanted research. It seems to always favor the point of view of the guy with all the money.
Thank you, Diane, for this. Just making sure you and your allies herein have seen/read Josh Eidelson’s take on the latest ALEC-driven, anti-teachers effort, dubbed “Parent Trigger.” This next phrase of the privatization push is now a national Conference of Mayors agenda item. Although Michelle Rhee may have been booted from DC amid the testing erasures scandal, her marriage to Sacramento’s mayor, Kevin Johnson, has re-lit her flame-thrower. Link:
http://www.salon.com/2012/06/30/parent_trigger_the_latest_tactic_for_fighting_teachers_unions/
Best! Amy L. Ringenbach aka Bleuz00m ( two zeroes) on Twitter.
Thanks, Amy, I will read that.
Did you see my article about the parent trigger, which I call the “parent tricker”?
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2012/06/dear_deborah_on_june_18.html
If there has been mention of the Harvard Urban Superintendents Program playing a starring role in corporate reform’s fight club, I missed it. These folks don’t say where their funding comes from, but none of their hand-picked candidates pay tuition and all receive a “stipend.” Like the Broad Foundation, they foster no free exchange of ideas or real academic research. Doctoral coursework is wrapped up in a year and is limited to a corporate reform agenda. Their requirements would not come close to passing muster as a real doctoral program. John Deasy, The Gates Foundation’s education czar is on their board, and they have cranked out some of the most egregious test score cheaters and privatization advocates in public education. Arlene Ackerman, Rudolph Crew, Andreas Alonzo, Beverly Hall, and Thomas Payzant, for example. I’d like to hear what Diane Ravitch has to say about them.
Our public schools in Santa Fe, New Mexico just hired one of their students, Joel Boyd, as superintendent, and he brought in the Harvard posse as consultants before he even moved into his office. Our teachers have not had a raise in 5 years and do not make a living wage, but the Harvard posse will no doubt walk away with the equivalent of a few dozen annual teacher salaries for a couple of weeks of “consulting” work. These are many of the same folks who bankrupted Philadelphia public schools and are now selling them off to the McCharters in “Achievement Networks.”
New on EAG in Wisconsin: http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2013/04/never-mind-facts-bring-on-bollocks.html and https://www.facebook.com/notes/thomas-j-mertz/eag-clouds-the-truth-with-misleading-information-about-district/10151333212097024
I checked out the “new” Relay method of training teachers. They were very careful not to state the method. Some might recognize Pavlov and his slobbering dogs, some might recognize Skinner and his rat labs. I have a very old 1984 article “My Children; The Drones” on http://NEWSWITHVIEWS.com reprinted in Nov. 2012. Following that article is one by Charlotte Iserbyt, “The Death of Free Will” part 3 of 5. I suggest these two article for further reading re method. I believe one can google them also.