One man and one foundation decides what’s good for Philadelphia. One sharp-eyed investigative reporter learned the details.
That foundation–the William Penn Foundation–used to be concerned about equitable funding for the children and public schools of Philadelphia.
No longer.
The William Penn Foundation brought in the Boston Consulting Group to develop a plan to redesign the Philadelphia school system, and that plan predictably involved a heavy dose of privatization. If you ask business consultants what to do, their answer is always the same: bring in private entrepreneurs who keep their eye on the bottom line, who look on children as a profit or a loss, not as if they were their own children.
The Boston Consulting Group’s “Blueprint” ran into heavy opposition from parents. But don’t expect the privatizers to quit. They have more aces up their sleeve.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The missionaries of the Invisible Hand always have lots of cards up their invisible sleeves.
Big money goes around the world
Big money underground
Big money got a mighty voice
Big money make no sound
Big money pull a million strings
Big money hold the prize
Big money weave a mighty web
Big money draw the flies
Jon,
Yes, and if the cards still don’t fall in their favor, they bring out the nightsticks.
http://Www.btownerrant.com has done an expose on Boston consulting group. Title: In the city of corporate love and beyond The Boston consulting group Gates and the filthy rich….
Quite a web of control…
This is ridiculous. Treating children like one size fits all is crazy. Privatization of all schools is not the answer. I believe that all children can learn but not necessarily in the same way. Having a background in special education, I know that each child is unique and develops at his/her own rate. In education, we should have a bottom line based on providing a quality education to each child so that he/she can be happy and contribute his/her God given talents to make this society better. This makes measurement that much harder but it is the only way that we can transform education and in turn the world. The business model does nothing but muddy the waters for what should be done because we are dealing with human beings not “things.”
Diane, are you aware of this site? http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/more-thoughts-on-charter-punditry-declarations-of-certainty/
His post today “More thoughts on Charter Punditry & Declarations of Certainty” is excellent. His research destroys reformer propaganda. I’m just not sure how widely his work is known.
The author, Bruce Baker, is a Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, Professor Baker has written a multitude of peer reviewed research articles on state school finance policy, teacher labor markets, school leadership labor markets and higher education finance and policy. His recent work has focused on measuring cost variations associated with schooling contexts and student population characteristics, including ways to better design state school finance policies and local district allocation formulas for better meeting the needs of students.
I just completed my 31st year of public school teaching as a music teacher in a suburban Pittsburgh school district. I just discovered your blog this summer and have read them back to your first one in April. Best wishes in keeping up the fight. The ’cause’, our students, is truly worth it.
Schools were not created so private companies could make money. We need to remember that the educational system was started so children had a viable place to learn the skills necessary to make a living when they became adults. I believe strongly that the parents, teachers and children need to take back their schools. Otherwise nothing will change. The business model as used here will not work to improve education. All it will do is feed adult egos and make them large sums of money.
http://www.btownerrant.com article is archived . posted in May.
For a more balanced view and a more credible source of journalism see the story the Philadelphia Inquirer ran about this:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120706_Penn_Foundation_giving__15M_to_public__private__and_charter_schools.html?viewAll=y
I agree that the public should push to see the BCG report and that is exactly what is happening here.
One man and one foundation do not get to decide but, in this case, one man and one foundation are leading. Part of that leading is a need for more transparency and public pressure (appropriately) is making that happen.
Regarding what is happening in Philadephia, I also recommend reading the following:
Click to access SPP-PresentationFinal.3.12.12-pdf.pdf
It describes the commitment to “eliminate, replace, or transform the city’s chronically underperforming district AND [my emphasis] charter schools.”
Finally, I don’t think the “corporation-exploiting-children-for-profit” motivation should be so quickly ascribed here and in much of what I read here. It creates a climate in which pro-reformers are portrayed as evil and is just as silly as discussions on reform-minded blogs that portray the “education establishment” as clueless and only interested in defending the status quo rather than doing what is best for children.
Pinning these motivations on either side in the debate poisons and polarizes the debate and distracts from the merits and demerits of the actual ideas put forward.