For the past several years, three billionaires have foisted untested, unreliable, metrics-driven, in humane teacher evaluation policies onto our nation’s teachers.
In this misguided effort to find a yardstick to reduce teacher quality to a number, no one has been more energetic than Bill Gates.
As the anti-high-stakes testing movement grows, and as the wreckage piles up (see Atlanta, El Paso, and DC, for example), the metrics movement looks more ineffectual and more harmful.
Anthony Cody says it is time to hold the authors of this debacle accountable.
He has designed a rubric to hold Bill Gates accountable.
Can you think of things to add to his rubric?
A suggestion for Anthony Cody: how about designing an accountability scorecard for Eli Broad and the Waltons?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Standard 2:
“Mr. Gates should, with the help of an experienced educator, design a series of rich PBL projects that allows each of his students to demonstrate their learning through authentic products in real-world contexts. He should compare the work they are capable of producing to their standardized test scores, and reflect on the things that each mode of measurement captures.”
He should, with the help of his previously mentioned mentor teacher, design rubrics to evaluate the rich PBL projects.
Rubrics are the devil’s tool! They suffer the same logical errors that Wilson identifies as fatal flaws for standards, standardized testing and grading students in “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700 .
There’s something missing before Standard 2 though. He needs to understand what learning is, before he can learn how to measure it.
Nevermind the value of his company, but Mr. Gates’ own personal fortune is around 65 billion dollars. He is literally among the wealthiest 50 people on this planet.
His money buys policies, governments, and even cultural change.
Being a philanthropist with an expectation and even monitoring growth is one thing, but giving charitably and then expecting people to benefit form your charity AND a return on your investment is an entirely different paradigm of “giving”.
Once an individual has something to gain in his own personal coffers, his notion of charity and control become blurred with a conflict of interest, and such a blur often avoids what the common masses bring to the table, or the blur involves research and narratives that are is biased and based on junk science.
Mr. Gates, with all his efforts, has really not listened well to teachers and administrators, and he refuses to in any holistic manner address causes of poverty, how poverty originates, is maintained, and grows. He will not, so far, look at distribution of income and wealth, or social safety nets, and he only sees free market apprpoaches to solving the ills of society.
And why shouldn’t he?
He has benefitted enormously from such a model.
Whether he is well intending and has no direct pecuniary interest in his philanthropy, or whether he is a oligarchic parasitic who wants more power and wealth and disguises it as philanthropy, Mr. Gates still remains that elusive billionaire-in-a-bubble who chooses to be an ideologue with a fortress built around his will.
Until that changes, it is hard to give him any real credibility, and I’d like to, but I am not holding my breath given how extreme our neo-capitalistic culture has become.
Seeing is believing . . .
He needs to take a course of all the different ways to assess learning, and why each of them are used in different situations.
A good example is: “Mathematics Assessment, A Practical Handbook” by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. To quote its introduction, “We know that assessment, from simple observations to standardized tests, has always affected what we do in the classroom. We looked for examples that help us do a better job and that allow us to become clearer about what we really want students to know.”
PAR information from Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland: http://www.mceanea.org/pdf/PAR2012-13MCEAGuide.pdf
I think the billionaires should use their money for action research projects that measure the effects of early intervention and wraparound services for children raised in poverty…. The humble and intellectually honest ones would do this in conjunction with education experts… All evidence indicates that these kinds of programs make a substantial and sustainable difference but no one knows how these might be brought to scale and, if they are brought to scale, what the ultimate cost-benefit analysis would yield. If Gates and his fellow billionaires can’t “provide funds to solve the problems of poverty”, they could at least help the electorate get a handle on what those costs are…. My sense is that the philanthropists MIGHT discover that spending on pre-school children saves money in law enforcement, social services, and prisons…
“My sense is that the philanthropists MIGHT discover that spending on pre-school children saves money in law enforcement, social services, and prisons…”
A few weeks ago, Michelle Rhee was on Bill Maher’s show giving a few minutes of propaganda about “how our schools are broken and how we need to support teachers, etc.” Her segment lasted a few minutes, but later in the show, Maher derided the “Head Start” argument that the program is a boon to at-risk children stating something to the effect that it doesn’t work. He did not offer or cite the evidence from where his comments were drawn, so I found his comments a bit flip.
If research suggests anything, perhaps it is that pre-school is only one aspect of support. Students may thrive in pre-school but falter later if they lose support throughout all the levels of their schooling. Pre-school is just the beginning, and Maher may very well be all wet by framing his commentary without the greater context.
I agree that Gates and others should use their money to support early intervention projects with wrap around services for children raised in poverty. The experience with Craig Ramey’s Abecedarian Project suggests that this approach needs to be implemented more widely for our most at-risk children. When schools are criticized “for not being successful,” I would suggest the complete sentence should read, “Schools are not successful in curing all the problems children face in their environment, including poverty, hunger, and violence.” Early intervention programs with wrap around services can begin to address this issue.
Amen.
Bill Gates is the enemy of democracy.
Bill Gates has done more to harm teachers and students than any other person I know.
And it pisses me off.
Bill could be using his money to ensure history lessons like this in every school: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144307n
Why have we, as a society, allowed him to dictate education? Are we so blinded by his millions that we are willing to hand over our children? Gates has no formal education, yet tells us how to educate and prepare kids to go to college? His demands have created the massive unraveling of an already difficult situation. Now, we are dealing with the fallout such as Atlanta Public Schools, DC, and many more. The legal fees will bankrupt many communities. I live in Atlanta, and the tax payers were already paying for endless legal cases in three metro school systems. Residents are moving out, schools are left abandoned, and charters are popping up. Sound familiar? Gates put the last nail in that coffin.
I am so over EVERYTHING GATES. He should be dismissed and his millions handed back to him. Are we for sale when rich folks come knocking? Gates will never change, because he doesn’t have to. We should absolutely send him packing and refuse to do ANYTHING this many spouts. Would we listen to any other uneducated rich person and change an entire profession? If so, then we are ready to drin cool aid.
He needs to save other places in the world, such as N.Korea. Their people are starving.
Beautifully stated!
Yes, Bill Gates should not have any say in educational policy. He is not an educator. Billions does not make one an expert in any field, especially teaching. Why does anyone listen to this man? I can teach just fine without his money and interference.
Thanks but NO THANKS!
Agreed. Gates get out of our kids business, mind your own business!
Gates is duping us all. Kids addicted to iphones and computers. He puts them in schools and he and his cronys profit and control us. Feed our kids propaganda against us. Pre school is rediculous, the longer kids are with mommy the better. The amount of screen time is destroying our culture, time to get gates, coleman, barbour, darling hammond, ayers, duncan and the lot O- U- T ! Roll back to classical education, no more skinnerian mindbending, its dishonest and evidence shows destructive. We need teachers who love children and to teach, not psychologists and data loggers. We need historians and scholars and sages. As a parent i am overwhelmed in my recent discoveries of what is taught to teachers in teacher college. And the common core is a crescendo. Go use your own kids as
vygotskian guinea pigs, mr gates.
vygotskys; educational psychology is good……..granted its not perfect…but he was largely seen as an idealist…the guy argued that people’s reasoning was dependent on cultural and social factors…what better explanation could there be for the idiocy of bill gates.
vygotsky is not good when it is used in secret against parents. when your money molds the culture clandestinly through multitudes of complicit foundationl grants ie bribery in hgher education molding teachers to psychology vs content teaching, parents are in the dark. critical theory, hello. consider the source. same with gates, all paths including education, media, entertainment all paths lead back to he and his cronys.. don;t blame the general public for the cultural degradation being forced upon our children. just ask russel simmmons. common core is just one avenue andvygotsky is just one excusewhat ever he dreamed up in his short life, was not used for good. unless you are a fan of the soviet opression and destruction of their culture. and if surveyed the public would coldly reject that, which is why it is carefully kept from parents.
vygotsky is an explanation for bill gates……he is not a justification….and the idea that he is, is completely absurd. culture always influences influences education whether you like it or not. the question is whether our culture right now is good for education or not and right now its dominated by a obsessive neoliberal free market ideology where every faux reformer out there including bill gates thinks education, rather than being a democratic public sphere and a public good, is a business. that is bad for education, most of all because it removes students from thinking critically and being given the tools to challenge the status quo and become transformative intellectuals… critical theory, critical pedagogy, and postformal educational psychology are the exact antithesis of what these faux reformers want taught in school….they just want dumbed-down, instrumentalized curriculums dominated by standardized tests and traditionalally oppressive methods of teaching. this is exactly what;s going on now….of course teaching content is important…but that content is not important in and of itself….for example history is constantly written and rewritten with different narratives by different people with different experiences of the same event and it is important to have students analyze and reanalyze different perspectives for their biases and what not and eventually develop their own perspective…..that’s critical theory…that’s critical pedagogy.your raging against a psychologist that has absolutely no influence over our educational system right now.
I swear! The more I read about Bill Gates and the so called school “reformists”, the more I believe they think I teach a class full of pink and blue plastic pegs, you know, the kids you stuff into the plastic car in the game of LIFE?
Why did Gates hire John Deasy, now superintendent of LAUSD, one week after he quit his job in Prince Georges County when the stories on his phony PHD came out one week after Deasy quit? Gates suddenly give up small schools after 10 years and more than one billion when suddenly they figured out they did not work. They laid this on Roosevelt High School when the made it 7 schools with 8 principals and no student could take classes at any one of the other 6 schools. Total failure. Gates works with Broad or “The Broadfather.” In Nov. 1998 “The Broadfather” sold Sun America to AIG for $18 billion and a seat on the board of AIG. Also, In Nov. 1998 J.P. Morgan sent their derivatives guy to meet with AIG’s derivative guy in London and talked him into the CBO’s. Now “The Broadfather”, Eli Broad, is on the board of AIG. The board of a corporation determines the direction of the company, such as the CBO’s. Is not “The Broadfather” directly responsible for all of the financial crisis around the world and in education in the U.S. and elsewhere? So, if so, why is anyone listening to this fraud? Just a little extra for the accountability pot.
For each specific idea:
I.1.a. how many adults were put into how many classrooms to help how many kids for how long, each day?
b. how much did it cost for each classroom adult?
c. what was the pay rate that the classroom adult saw in his/her paycheck VS. what was the total bill rate?
2.a. how many non-classroom managers / bosses / consultants / …whatevers were required for each classroom adult?
b. how much did it cost for each non-classroom … whatever?
II. For each non-classroom manager / consultant / Pooh-Bah / … whatevers, how many of their ideas were detailed as in item I?
Personal Note about my own little prejudices / quirks : in 1991 when I was 31 my pay went way way up because I had been cooking on fishing boats and tugs in Alaska for a few years, and that pay was way way better than what I had been making as a cook in Boston or Seattle. I bought a MAC II with 2 or 4mbs of RAM, and I learned how to use EXCEL all on my own. In ’97 at the U.W. Seattle I finally finished the 4 year degree I had started in ’78 at Boston College. I was a lowly support serf at Microsoft for a few years during the dot.bomb craze …
I have ZERO patience with “managers” who can’t pop open excel and model the steps to implement their ideas, and model the costs of those steps. WHY do they have a job?
rmm.