In the year that I have had this blog, I have never posted the same article twice.
I posted this one yesterday, and I am posting it again, to draw attention to some curious statements made by Bill Gates in the course of an interview. I am not picking on Bill, but drawing attention to his assumptions. What he believes matters a great deal because his billions, in tandem with federal policy (which he shapes) has a large impact on tens of millions of students and their teachers. His influence is multiplied yet again because almost every other foundation follows his lead, assuming that he knows best because he has the most money.
Yesterday I posted the interview to draw attention to the fact that his favorite technology startup is one that his foundation started, though that was not mentioned. It is inBloom, the new tech company Gates funded with $100 million, in partnership with Rupert Murdoch, to collect confidential student data, which may be used by vendors. The vendors will use the data to design and market new products, based on their access to children’s names, address, grades, test scores, disabilities, attendance, suspensions, etc. in 2011, the US Department of Education loosened the restrictions on the federal privacy act (FERPA), allowing this release of data without parents’ permission. The decision to release the data is in the hands of state education departments, not parents.
Today I call attention to two other noteworthy points.
In this exchange, Gates asserts that the foundation has figured out how to make the average teacher as effective as those in the top quartile. He neglects to mention–maybe he doesn’t know–that the implementation of these ideas has not produced this result anywhere. Gates’ ideas about teacher evaluation have been adopted in most states because the federal Department of Education made them a condition of Race to the Top and a condition to receive waivers from NCLB. Gates does not acknowledge that these test-based evaluation programs have created massive snafus, in which the district’s Teacher of the Year was fired because she was “ineffective” the next year, nor does he seem to know that these evaluation systems are inaccurate and demoralizing. In short, his new Big Idea has already failed, but no one has told him. Maybe they are afraid to tell him.
The question:
“During your SXSW speech, you held up a vial of the polio vaccine as an illustration of the power of innovation to solve a problem by redefining it. What’s the big win in education that’s similar in scope?”
Gates’ answer:
“The foundation’s biggest investment, even bigger than what we’re doing to enable technology, is in creating a personnel system for K-12 teachers that lets the average teacher move up to be as good as the top quartile. Instead of just being in isolation and getting no feedback, you can be videotaped, you can have a peer evaluator advise you on your performance. When we combine that with student surveys and principals’ feedback, we can help teachers learn from the best.”
*********************
In this next exchange, the interviewer politely points out that so far none of Gates’ big ideas has been transformative. His response is to say that what works for one group doesn’t work for another, which is a good critique of almost everything Gates does. Another way to read his answer is that he still does not know how to transform the K-12 system; what works for highly motivated adults is not what works for extremely heterogeneous youngsters whose motivation is diverse.
The question:
“The performance of independently run public charter schools has been mixed. Breaking up large schools into smaller ones has yielded few improvements. There is little robust data about the impact of laptops, tablets, and other technology on graduation rates or test scores. Do we know enough about what works and what doesn’t to undertake large-scale interventions?
Gates’ answer:
“These are complex questions, in part because students are heterogeneous. What works for one student won’t work for another.
“I’ll give you an example. The students who go to Western Governors University [an online, not-for-profit university that is on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list in 2013] are older, in their late twenties, early thirties. They have a career goal in mind. They are fairly motivated to finish, and the curriculum is very oriented toward credentialing them for a higher-income occupation. So the persistence you see in that self-selecting group is quite phenomenal. They have very low dropout rates. But you can’t just say, “That course material and structure must work for all 18-year-olds.” In fact, we know it absolutely does not. That population has a less clear idea of why they’re at school, and they have other distractions.”
so…in other words, we have spent billions of dollars to disrupt children’s lives, fire teachers, alienate parents, do nothing about poverty…and all we have to show for it is the idiotic statement, “what works for one student won’t work for another”? Classic!
And we could have told him that over a cup of coffee and paid for it ourselves.
Who needs the bloviating, blowhard billionaire anyway?
Go away…create your own country…..Blowhardville, USA and take the rest of the Rheejects with you.
Thanks SO much for the HUGE laugh, Linda!
Why don’t you take your show on the road? You could be the Roseanne of educators everywhere!
I recently read a very apt quote by John Merrow that sums up what fails Gate’s scope of knowledge. Merrow says, “I have said this before, but we need to be measuring what we value, instead of valuing what we measure (usually cheaply). What do we value?
I love Roseanne…thanks retired….let’s keep fighting!
All my love to you.
gbl,
I think Merrow needs to read this quote (from William Bruce Cameron): “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” It has been featured here before, but I’m not sure that measuring what we value is really what we want, so I am reposting it.
GBL,
“. . . Merrow says, “I have said this before, but we need to be measuring what we value, instead of valuing what we measure (usually cheaply)”
Well, Merrow is dead wrong in stating that because not all we value can be measured. If you’re lover asks “How much do you love me?” do you respond “Oh, about 89%.”
Didn’t think so! Enough of these attempts at “measuring” things that are immeasurable (of which the teaching and learning process is just one).
Duane
Thank you for your enlightened comment, RL. It’s TRUE. Gates is a disaster and has an ego so huge he cannot see himself.
Bill Gates begins one answer with:
“Measurement is always going to be a tough problem.”
He begins another with:
“These are complex questions, in part because students are heterogeneous. What works for one student won’t work for another.”
Who knew? Not really a question. Among many published wells of insight he might have sipped from: Banesh Hoffman’s THE TYRANNY OF TESTING (1962) and its long-delayed companion Todd Farley’s MAKING THE GRADES: MY MISADVENTURES IN THE STANDARDIZED TESTING INDUSTRY (2009). Then he wouldn’t be essentially stealing lines from teachers who could have proffered him the same advice “over a cup of coffee.” [see Linda, above]
Of course, if a teacher like Linda utters such elementary truths buttressed by real-world experience and hard-worn ‘best practice’ achieved through arduous and sometimes painful trial-and-error as a working professional, those are just the inconsequential ravings of a lazy LIFO. When it comes from one of the richest people in the world, well, how can we even make a pretense of celebrating the passé Wisdom of Solomon when we have our own Sage for the Ages, one of the patent holders of that proven recipe for excellence known variously as rank-and-yank/burn-and-churn/stacked ranking/forced ranking. To her credit, Carol Corbett Burris has come up with a new description: ‘fear and fire’ your way to excellence [strangely, with the added proviso that it, er, doesn’t work as advertised].
I offer as irrefutable proof of his Astutehoodness: many years ago when Bill was head of Microsoft there was an insignificant little competitor named after a fruit—Grape or Peach or Orange or something like that—that in the withering light of Bill’s Brilliance has fallen so far into the fearsomely named Pit of Obliviousness that (apart from a select few who follow such arcane matters) no one even remembers the name of its founder (Stephen Tasks?) or the company’s products (weirdly similar to the current acronym MOOCs). Shouldn’t that prove, beyond all doubt, his farsightedness and perspicacity?
C’mon, folks, it’s hard to be Bill Gates. Remember, we only have to read or see him occasionally—he has to be with himself 24/7.
I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, even Michelle Rhee. [Can I change ‘even’ to ‘except’?]
🙂
Love to KTA…funny, witty, on target and always supportive. 🙂
Krazy, et.al.: a little off-thread (yet spot-on, as it has to do with actually utilization TEACHERS’ opinions, as well as having TEACHERS make the educational decisions {for once}), but I just read an article (a companion piece to a front-page article all about the great Adam Urbanski, longtime President of the Rochester Teachers Ass’n.)in the Sunday,April 14, 2013 Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.)about a joint venture between Urbanski & the Rochester N.Y. Superintendent, Bolgen Vargas,involving the establishment of teacher-led schools. It’s an interesting article & it discusses, I believe, teacher-led schools already in existence.
Diane, you probably know quite a lot about this!
RL: you’ve got it!
What is the problem with laying down exactly who Gates is and what his and his crews plans really are and “Pick on Him” to use your phraseology? He did this with his buds. He knows what he is doing. This is a bigger crime than killing a person as he is doing just that slowly to mass quantities. I say call it for what it is. I do. You should see the video of us speaking to the LAUSD Board of Education last Tuesday on agenda item 29 which is to take away due process rights through legislation AB 375. No reason to be kind. They are not. Do you want to win? You must level the playing field and that is why the parents, students, teachers and such are losing they are not playing the same game and as such are destined to lose if that continues. We are pushing back. This is not a nice guys sport if you really want to stop them. We now know that Tavis Smiley is also bought and sold. He found out at his premier in L.A. that Deasy has a phony PHD, yet one week later he writes an article praising Deasy to the heavens as a wonderful caring person which is the exact opposite of the truth. Most people will do anything to make more money and this is just one of those cases. Call things as they are. “The Truth Shall Set You Free.” That is if you really believe it.
Yes, George…and the LA Times article a few days ago on Rhee’s own cheating was buried with the obits, yet yesterday a big front section photo of Deasy eating breakfast at school with a 2nd grader. It is all smoke and mirrors. The fact that Gates is willing to partner with Murdoch who is very open about making public education a free market tool, is the most telling. As to Smiley, does Rupert now own PBS?
I am interested in how you (or anyone) would describe the game that patents, students, teachers are playing. (I am not taking issue with you)–I just want help sorting out what the paradigm is. Corporate people like Gates who have so much money that people tend to pay attention, an administration in Washington that is helping clear the trail with RtTT, and everyone else just trying to lead their lives? Right? Average folks are unaware until too late–is that what you mean?
Parents, not patents
Joanna,
It’s not the games the teachers, students, and parents are “playing”. It’s about the “The Games People Play”* (with people meaning the edudeformers.)
Duane
*see Joe South’s version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejIS2bf0ETs
George, please post a link to the video–would love to see it!
I agree with you 100%–everyone, please stop bemoaning that you don’t have a Karen Lewis–BE like Karen Lewis–and George–and
push back! “Those who don’t stand for something will fall for anything.”And, like a game of dominoes, everyone falls. However, push back works inversely–we push others forward to finally push out the Bill Gates of the world. Then we all win! Yes WE can…and we WILL!
Thanks…we get so many lies, everyday. Thanks for the info about Tavis Smiley too. Everyone is looking for heroes in our various national messes created by corporate and 1%-er GREED. We have to remember that WE Are The Heroes…not figures on the national stage such as Tavis Smiley or Bill Gates.
Poor Bill!
It is so painful to watch & wait until he matures, learns something of substance, and ‘gets a heart’ on the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ to adulthood. It is so apparent that he is the Ruler of the Western World. Let’s call the new continent: Western Gates, or whatever.
Engaging him in educational research and pedagogy conversations is meaningless. He is a self-made man with billions. Or, as Roseanne Barr called them: White Trash with Money.
If he were not so rich, ppl would laugh and tell him to get lost. We all support capitalism, but this is our worst nightmare, be a use he is holding our children hostage forever! I see no way out.
Looking for some feedback to have hope.
Gates’ Heaven …
Perhaps a shame that Billy the Goates wasn’t a member of Heaven’s Gate???
Gates is far from a self made man and FAR from White Trash…his father is head of one of the largest business law firms in the US, 35 offices on 3 continents. Bill, with a silver spoon in his mouth, had all the best of care and support from his father from going to Stanford and dropping out to develop his product, to today. This is not an up from the boot straps kinda guy.
Agree with your synopsis except for the trash part.
Gates grew up with MONEY. He cannot relate, because he has had a sheltered, easy life, because of his father’s money. And since he is a good marketer (that’s all), he knows how to market his lousy stuff. Oh..plus he give huge amounts of money to campaign contributions. That’s it. He uses his money not for improving society, but for his own self-serving interests—our reprehensible educational policies carefully manipulated by big money.
That was a good myth that someone created…that Bill was just a middle-class kid tinkering in his garage. Glad I got enlightened…heard his fahter is into eugenics…perhaps this explains his “zeal” for dumbing-down our educational system. He’s no friend of educated American Tech Workers…his whining to the government for H1B visas to bring in more foreign tech workers is legend. Gates got where he is through bullying and illegal practices…our SCOTUS let him of the hook when they dismissed a big judgement he was supposed to pay for unfair business practices (I bet Daddy’s law firm helped him out there…that and their political connections…funny, the European Union found him guilty too…)
Actually he got much of his personality from his mother.
It’s turning out to be Bill Gates Sucks day….see here and I love the headline:
America Awakening to Refreshing New Possibility: Tell Bill Gates to Take His Money and Go to Hell:
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2013/04/america-awakening-to-refreshing-new.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+schoolsmatter%2FSISc+%28Schools+Matter%29
O Frabjous Joy❢ O Bilious Boy❢
Just another EduSurfer who’ll change his pitch to match the wave of the moment. He doesn’t really care what he says so long as he can “buy the microphone” and use it to maintain the pretense that he’s some kind of “thought-leader” on the subject.
In addition to all the other nonsense, can someone please explain to me how student surveys are supposed to reflect on a teacher’s effectiveness? You’re going to ask a bunch of 5 year olds serious questions, which will affect their teacher’s job? You’re going to ask a group of obnoxious adolescents what they think of the adult in charge of them? The one that tells them to take off their hats and hoodies, and put away their iphones and ipods? And you expect to get serious, constructive answers? Here’s a rhetorical question – Does anyone understand child psychology or child development?
Yes, Corinne, agreed! Does anyone know what “ridiculous” means?
Corinne…you are so right on. National assessments of many tests show that students game them exactly as you specify.
Thank you! And I 2nd that!
“You’re going to ask a group of obnoxious adolescents what they think of the adult in charge of them?”
Yes, I do and have so for almost 20 years. I use student surveys to inform my teaching and learning practices. Those “obnoxious adolescents” have a tendency to more forthright than many adults as most haven’t learned to “Play the Games People Play”*.
*see above comment to J Best.
Video taped lessons, peer reviews, principal feedback, student surveys are not new ideas.
Agree Duane…and in higher ed every student is required at end of term to fill out a multiple choice form on the quality of the class and of instructor. Generally this is of value.
For the record, I teach high school Spanish. I remember filling out a few surveys in college back in the 70’s that were done by what I considered the better teachers. Now it’s all, as you state, multiple guess. My class evaluation sheet is an open ended question format: What did you like most/least about the class? What helped you learn most in class? etc. . . .
We’re not talking about using the information to get input on what the students think works well in your class or not. The information gotten through these surveys is not even shown to the teacher. It’s used as part of the evaluation. The teacher has no input as to what the questions are, and are not even allowed to administer the survey, let alone see the results. I’ve seen the types of questions. You ask a 2nd grader “Does your teacher prepare you to participate in the global economy of the 21st century?” No explanation, just answer. That is quite a bit different from asking your own students for input as to how you can improve your instruction, which I would welcome, and have also used over the years, learning from my students. But no one was trying to screw me over the answers then.
(Based on Steinbeck:). “And I will call him George. And I will love him and pet him and squeeze him.”
“Unfortunately, the highly curious student is a small percentage of the kids.”
That statement alone should disqualify this man from from driving education “reform.”
Yes, how does even “know” this? What “data” is he using?
Is this due to his extensive time in the classroom with children?
What foolish pompous ass!
What Linda said! Triple.
I suppose his own kids are “highly curious,” but our kids and the kids we teach are just slightly curious or not curious at all . Sheesh. I can hardly wait for the Bill Gates Curiosity Test. Will it be pass/fail or will he come up with levels of curiosity? WHY does money and, as someone said above, “buying the microphone” give anyone credibility?
Maybe that Galvanic Skin Response Monitor bracelet will have a Curiosity metric.
Notice that only his son (apart from himself) is “highly curious.” I wonder how he’d categorize his wife and daughter?
If only Teddy Roosevelt were alive today to see how teachers/workers are under attack by the very industrialists that prosper from the riches of the American people…
Since we’re living in the age of the plutocracy run by plutocrats and their technocrats; we should always challenge their agenda and their assumptions. It is ironic that teachers are singled out for their classroom performance based on data analysis which is at best only a single measure, potentially flawed and no doubt biased to a specific rubric of measuring how a student does on a specific day on a specific test written by a specific group of educators/policy-makers who are all being paid by corporations (funded by taxpayers now). In short, the game is rigged by the plutocrats and their technocrats all in the name of reform (aka the seizing of public funds and re-directed to corporations without oversight). Where is Senator Elizabeth Warren when we need her?
Isn’t it ironic that public companies (especially Wall Street banks) pay their executives huge bonuses irrespective of performance. During President Obama’s regime, Wall Street bankers and their boards (with few exceptions), have been bailed out by taxpayers, granted huge bonuses while bankrupting the country, destroying public shareholder value and all but circumventing the law of the land to distribute TARP money. Now we’re getting a grand new version of it called Race to the Top.
The reform race is about who will claim the mountain of gold that President Obama has promised corporate America. That’s the kind of reform Bill Gates, Rupert Murdock and the Walton Family believe in.
Right on! Thanks.
SL,
Agree with what you have written except if you would allow me to correct the following: based on data analysis which is at best only a (single measure) CHIMERA, ILLUSION, DUENDE, (potentially) FATALLY flawed and no doubt biased.
Utilizing “data analysis” in the evaluation and assessment of the immeasurable process that is teaching and learning is “vain and illusory” as per Noel Wilson in “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700
Duane
Actually the “vain and illusory” quote is from Wilson’s “A Little Less than Valid: An Essay Review” found at:
http://www.edrev.info/essays/v10n5.pdf (an easier/shorter read than his dissertation.)
Best comment today. Thanks.
Gate’s reform proposals are about as reliable as Internet Explorer is, anyone who knows anything about using technology steers away from IE
“Gates asserts that the foundation has figured out how to make the average teacher as effective as those in the top quartile.” Yes, fire the bottom quartile.
To paraphrase: Where all the teachers are above average.
Thank you, Diane Ravitch, for NOT being afraid to tell Bill Gates that his take on education is taking over the US not because his ideas hold water, but because his billions of $$ and his sway over the US Dept of Ed have forced them on the children, teachers, and schools of this country. And they do not work. Worse, they destroy. Mightily. They wreck havoc. And they will continue to unless/until the organizations of teachers, parents, students, and public education — together — point out the emperor’s nakedness and stand together to protect our schools and one another from his assault. No more apologies to him, no more nicey-nicey. Time for honesty and organization to stop the madness. Thank goodness for the parents of the opt-out movements, the students standing up for their schools, the parents/students/teachers/commmunity groups working with the Chicago Federation of Teachers to stop the school closings there, the NEA/FEA lawsuit against ridiculous and destructive teacher “evaluation,” the writings of Diane Ravitch and our other pundits — and all of us who support, publicize, and work to emulate the work of all of our compatriots.
Obviously, the guy who has the most money is not necessarily the most wise one in the room. I’ve read that Gates is furious about the lack of success his billions has had on improving education. I’d be pissed, too. Of course, I get mad when cheap shoes hurt my feet. What a waste of money that investment was! Well, cheap antics like pontificating to a captive audience by Bill and his lemmings will be a disastrous outcome for those who really understand the business of educating our younsters. As usual, we don’t get a platform and bullhorn to speak the truth…especially in the toxic environments of schools these days. Barking up the wrong tree is a waste of time. Nothin up there.
Perhaps if Mr. Gates started with students instead of trying to fix teachers and shrink high schools he’d find answers. He should start by reading Jane Healy’s Endangered Minds. First line here is most powerful sentence he may ever read:
“Now, when I walk into a classroom of twenty students, be they four or forty year olds, I remind myself that i trying to teach twenty individual brains that are probably as different in their learning patterns as my students faces are in appearance.
As a teacher, I must accept the fact that their level of success – and thus their motivation – will be directly related to the accommodation we mutually achieve between the subject matter and their particular pattern of abilities. I must encourage them to push themselves a little hard on things that do not come so easliy, but I must also accept the necessity of supporting and working to develop each student’s potential. Even with twenty students, which fewer than the number found in most classrooms, this job requires skill, patience, and a lot of hard work. ”
Jane Healy Endangered Minds: Why Children Don’t Think and What We Can Do About It 1990
Good points, Jere. With regard to starting with students, this blog (and others) have repeatedly cited the number one issue affecting U.S. education, and that’s POVERTY. So, Bill, since the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has previously worked in poverty areas around the world to improve their impoverished areas (medicine, for example), why not stop the meddling in/with the schools and the teachers, and put your money where your mouth is? Start working on opening up health clinics, which would provide children with sorely needed health care AND dental care? (All of us have taught students with rotting teeth and toothaches, as their parents couldn’t afford dental care.) How about helping homeless children by using your foundation to set up affordable housing situations?
How about figuring out a way (heck, just put some of your money in, & ask your wealthy friends to do so, as well!) to get clothing, shoes, and other life necessities to children without?
Yes, Bill, start with the students.
BUT–leave our schools ALONE.
How about donating money for after school enrichment programs, for evening meals, for arts and for cultural activities?
@Chris: they aren’t new ideas … and they don’t work.
Please watch, especially if you have children in grades k-12 and forward to other parents, very important to spread this to all:
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2013/04/video-occupy-doe-talking-about-class.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FEJcmuc+%28NYC+Public+School+Parents%29
I put it on my FB page. Thanks, Linda.
Write to or call your senators and reps. I did. They say they are researching. I hope this works. It is as scrib document. A rep from Missouri wrote to Arne asking for an explanation.
The rep is actually my rep. Haven’t voted for him as he is more of a tea party type which doesn’t necessarily mean he is all bad but that we come at things from totally different viewpoints. I’ll definitely have to contact him, perhaps he is willing to look at things differently, i.e., other than from a corporate viewpoint.
It’s an excellent letter. Tea Party or not…he’s on the same page as we are in this matter. I’m very happy to see this. It’s a start. I’m going to include the link in a letter to my representatives. Thanks.
I don’t care what affiliation he is…I am looking for humans representing humans.
A rarity these days…spread it far and wide. I sent to many and I am making copies for a parent forum coming up and I am taking it to my local state reps. ALL of this needs to go viral.
Do you think the Obama or Gates children will have their data in a cloud? Oh wait, they don’t take standardized test.
Pissed off moms and teachers unite!
Second one:
K-12 student database jazzes tech startups, spooks parents
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/03/us-education-database-idUSBRE92204W20130303
Gitapik..I have two more articles for you. Post both and send to all parents. First one:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/student-data-compiling-system-outrages-article-1.1287990
Part of the problem here is that which is similar to the Merrow-Rhee issue: The media gives this man air time to spout of arrogant contradictions even though his obscenely-financed efforts have failed.
Don’t offer him the interview (or don’t air the interview) if he offers no evidence of his claims. Or, couch the interview in a narrative dissecting his unsubstantiations and contradictions.
A good reporter should factually pin him to the wall on every point that is either proven failure or unsubstantiated ego. Otherwise, you propagate what Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof notes: “When you’re rich, they think you really know.
I think Gates believes he does know, despite his glaring failures.
Capitalism at its worst boils down to making the most money possible for the least effort possible. We seem to be inundated with people trying to roll out this model in any enterprise in which they see the opportunity to suck out profits. It is a system that accepts no other motivation for an enterprise than the chance to make big bucks. Do they not see that there are many occupations that are not driven by the almighty dollar, nor would they be better run if they were controlled solely by the profit motive. If we want to survive as a country, we cannot afford to allow those who have anointed themselves our masters to control/lead by virtue of the size of their bankrolls.
Do you mean to say that the 1% does not have the answer for the 99%? I’m shocked! Gates continues to make claims and assertions with no evidence and with virtually no resistance. As the old cliche goes, MONEY TALKS. Will any U.S. Senator or Representative have the backbone to stand up against the Gates/ALEC/Walton machine? The Senate does whatever the NRA and U.S. Chamber of Commerce tells them to do, so we probably should adjust our expectations.
The fascination Gates has with public education( which he never experienced and only presumes is “bad” or inferior) reminds me of autisim spectrum students I have had. Lovely students. But the fascination with Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter as late teens always bothered me. Why is Gates fascinated with public k-12 education when his education and that of his own children clearly is not public. Please spend a
year, without support or aides or interns or other educators to help you, in a public school, and then give us your thoughts.
Ummm…Sheery, I think you really hit on something in talking about Gates and your autism spectrum students’ fascination (or fixation, which is what I observed with my spectrum students) in your comments. Readers: use your inference skills and draw the conclusions.
Reblogged this on Transparent Christina.
Bill Gates is a control freak, and unfortunately, America’s students represent his infatuation with machines and data, as he clearly cannot relate to human emotion or poverty, not having experienced either, and with his billions, is a bored introvert who tries to play God and cares not for the wide swath of destruction he creates, as long as he gets his numbers in to judge all according to his warped standards.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/parenting&id=7147532
SEATTLE (AP) – December 1, 2009 (WPVI) — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving the National PTA $1 million to teach parents about education reform. [Common Core]
http://www.missourieducationwatchdog.com/2013/02/pta-receives-more-money-to-push-common.html
ALEXANDRIA, VA, Feb 15, 2013 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — National PTA announced today that it received a one-year $240,000 grant from the GE Foundation [General Electric] to further its efforts on the Common Core State Standards.
Bill Gates is a VERY rich control freak….anad a very dogmatic one too.
I commented earlier that the Anya Kamenetz “interview” with Bill Gates was, indeed, a fluff piece. But I also pointed out that Kamenetz did actually ask Gates a couple of good questions.
For example, she asked this:
“The performance of independently run public charter schools has been mixed. Breaking up large schools into smaller ones has yielded few improvements. There is little robust data about the impact of laptops, tablets, and other technology on graduation rates or test scores. Do we know enough about what works and what doesn’t to undertake large-scale interventions?”
Gates’ response was that “These are complex questions,” and then he talked a bit about Western Governors University, never answering her question. And Kamenetz didn’t follow up.
On the issue of standardized testing Gates said that “we can make massive strides even with imperfect measurement systems. That doesn’t mean just test scores; it means observing in the classroom and asking questions.”
What Gates did NOT say is that the “measurement system” he proposes relies almost exclusively on test scores. It’s a valued-added model. But the research Gates funded on his value-added model (Measures of Effective Teaching) found this:
“MET project teachers’ classroom observation scores were bunched at the center of the distribution, where 50 percent of the teachers scored within 0.4 points of each other (on a four-point scale) using Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching. Teachers at the 25th and 75th percentiles scored less than one-quarter point different from the average. Only 7.5 percent of teachers scored below a two, and only 4.2 percent of teachers scored above a three. This would suggest a large middle category of effectiveness with two smaller ones at each end. Rather than trying to make fine distinctions among teachers in this vast middle, efforts would be better spent working to improve their practice.” Huh? Say what? You mean that all the time – and money – devoted to the Gates model yields very little if any useful information?
The Gates study found that observations and student surveys (what Gates calls “asking questions”) –– the “multiple measures” that Gates is now trying to sell –– added nothing to the equation. Nothing.
But much of this is nothing new. And Gates knows it. He is, to put it bluntly, prevaricating on the issue of evaluations based on rewards and punishments. That’s nothing new either.
For example, the trial judge in the Microsoft antitrust suit said in his findings of fact (facts which were sustained on appeal) that top executives at Microsoft had “proved, time and time again, to be inaccurate, misleading, evasive, and transparently false. … Microsoft is a company with an institutional disdain for both the truth and for rules of law that lesser entities must respect. It is also a company whose senior management is not averse to offering specious testimony to support spurious defenses to claims of its wrongdoing.”
Those top executives most assuredly include Mr. Gates. And the rest of the top echelon take their marching orders from Gates.
Gates should now better, too. His hand-picked successor implemented a high-stakes merit pay plan at Microsoft. The results were disastrous. Detailed by Kurt Eichenwald in “Microsoft’s Lost Decade,” it generated a top-down, competitive, brass knuckles, dog-eat-dog approach to evaluations and promotions.
Eichenwald describes it this way: ” employees struggled to beat out their co-workers for promotions, bonuses, or just survival” The performance pay plan created “a toxic stew of internal antagonism and warfare.”
He writes that “At the center of the cultural problems was a management system called ‘stack ranking.’ Every current and former Microsoft employee I interviewed—every one—cited stack ranking as the most destructive process inside of Microsoft, something that drove out untold numbers of employees. The system—also referred to as ‘the performance model,’ ‘the bell curve,’ or just “’he employee review’—has, with certain variations over the years, worked like this: every unit was forced to declare a certain percentage of employees as top performers, then good performers, then average, then below average, then poor…reviews had real-world consequences: those at the top received bonuses and promotions; those at the bottom usually received no cash or were shown the door…In the end, the stack-ranking system crippled the ability to innovate at Microsoft.”
And this is what Bill Gates wants to unload on America’s public schools and teachers?
Why do people think this guy is “smart?”
And why is anyone still listening to what he says?
[See: http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer%5D
Perhaps we could convince John Edwards to take all this on with a national class action suit. He would get media attention, and if he (one the most successful class action lawyers) would do this pro bono, it would help him resurrect his dismal reputation.
Saying this only half in jest.
It’s an interesting idea. The question is whether it would help or hurt the cause. It would definitely generate public awareness of the situation, but the press would have a field day on the, “consider the source” angle, should it choose to take that course.
I don’t know, though. Newt’s career has continued just fine, regardless of his character flaws. This could end up being good for everyone involved.
(BTW: I’m not saying any of this in jest, lol. I think we really need this kind of exposure. This is seriously horrible politics. I am beyond disappointed in Obama in this area. And we should do it before Koch and Co buy up the newspapers).
Am I missing something here? When Gates says “What works for one student won’t work for another” is he not basically saying that everything he is trying to do with standardized tests and processes is a waste of time becase, well, what works for one student won’t work for another? Then why is he still pushing this crap on the entire country? Or does he say this just to cover his a** when the results don’t match the promises?
Yes – not only is he reinventing the wheel (anyone with minimal common sense knows this), but that statement is also the very opposite of standardization.
Unless his point is simply an expression of frustration that those irritatingly different people won’t conform to his elegant, scientific metrics.
Scott, you are exactly right. I tried to point out how he contradicted himself and the reporter did not notice.
Gates is merely trying to use nice words –– words and phrases that he thinks will resonate with educators –– to sell the notion that in order to “save” public education, it has to be seriously impaired, or destroyed.
It still doesn’t play well.
“…in 2011, the US Department of Education loosened the restrictions on the federal privacy act (FERPA), allowing this release of data without parents’ permission. The decision to release the data is in the hands of state education departments, not parents.”
I read about Bloomberg’s award of $10K to Klein for the data on the NYC students; wondering where he had the right to do this.
Now I see where.
Isn’t this criminal? It seems to be in the same ballpark as Arne Duncan pitching the Common Core Curriculum Standards to the Chamber of Commerce. The federal government has no constitutional right do that and I can’t, for the life of me, think of how loosening the restrictions of FERPA without at least a public debate would be legal, either.
I’m not a lawyer, but can we start up a massive lawsuit against the Dept of Education, Gates, Walton, etc for these incredible invasions of privacy and our public rights? Seriously. This is so far over the top.
There’s one glimmer of hope with regard to FERPA.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/03/13/lawsuit-charges-ed-department-with-violating-student-privacy-rights/
Read this too:
Click to access FERPA-ccsss.pdf
Thanks for both links.
What I’m seeing in some of the comments of the lawsuit article is the assertion that we HAVE been given the information that’s needed.
I have yet to speak with one person who I know (teachers included) who knows anything about inBloom and the relaxation of the FERPA regulations.
Again: can we begin a class action lawsuit? Is this a possibility?
There is a lawsuit pending. Filed by EPIC. Read here. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/amassing-student-data-and-dissipating-privacy-rights
Thanks, again.
The suit was filed more than a year ago. Wonder how long these cases take to see the light of day…?
I can sadly report from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, that the wait will be endless!
I filed THREE, EEOC charges against Denver Public Schools for age discrimination and two charges of retaliation…that was March ’10; haven’t heard even a hint of a decision coming…just lame remarks from the EEOC that it will be “soon, very soon” repeated for the last two years! Justice delayed is justice denied! AND, if you check the EEOC website about length of time to receive a decision, they will tell you, 18 months to three years. Meanwhile the reasons for my filings increase in victims and no justice is seen from that Federal department.
A Class Action with publicity would at least generate some interest and, thus, awareness of the situation.
The fact that the US DOE loosened privacy rights for the benefit of a few corporations highlights how bought out and crooked the DOE has become. What a disappointment. Does anyone actually work for the people???
Gates, those self-appointed gurus of anything that will make them millions, once again show how devoid of educational theory they are. They couldn’t care less about research, except to cherry pick, or invent, ala Michele Rhee, questionable results that
start with their premise and end with convoluted sophistry that fools the ignorant public.
They’ve been busy in the Denver Public Schools, adding tens of millions to the sinking budget (a legacy of Senator Bennett when he was Superintendent and invested in “exotic, risky” derivatives AFTER the first financial giant tanked in ’08) and tinkering with teacher evals that have made the entire faculty, basket cases of fear, insecurity and victims of a regiment that has MONEY as its prime goal. OLDER TEACHERS BEWARE…JUST YOUR AGE MAKES YOU A PRIME TARGET! Sad to say, I feel the jackals have nearly completed their goal of achieving the demise of public education which will destine our country to, for all practical purposes, a sea of functioning illiterates. As “W” would say, “Mission Accomplished.”
InBloom,look it up,decide if you want your kids in common core and their private information gathered and disseminated to anyone
Gates has NO ANSWER. He is WRONG. It’s about money. With Gates, it’s always about money, and also his HUGE EGO that cannot be filled.
Exactly! It’s about Money…and Power. Sometimes he is so smug …he comes across as thinking he’s…GOD. Now there something for those who are looking under every stone for the “antichrist”! Actually he doesn’t care about education for ordinary (non-wealthy) students…he cares about collecting data so corporations and our government can know every detail about every person (wouldn’t J. Edgar Hoover have loved this???)
Sure shows the depths of craziness he has degenerated to. Darn sure the media will
hide this and keep his false imagine of
a billionaire do gooder in tact!
Is anyone paying attention to the statement he made about “What works for one student may not work for another”. He just contradicted himself. If he wants students in GA learning the exact same thing as students in MN or CA, on the exact same day, Common Core will not work and its not working. What works for Louisiana may not work for Washington State. Each student is an individual and has the ability to learn at their own pace. He is trying to cram all students into one box and make them worker bees for his 21st Global economy. Stay away from my kids Mr. Gates! They are not yours and you along with Pearson and InBloom have not right to any information on them or my Family. I’m an angry mom out here to stop you! Come hell or high water! Sorry to be so aggressive but every legislature is in bed with this foundation and its frustrating because my plea is falling on deaf ears in my state capitol.
It is frustrating, isn’t it? To watch this happen in such a methodical manner; knowing what’s going on and feeling helpless to stop it.
But it looks like there are efforts going on. There are some good links further back in these comments which I’ll be using in a letter to my representatives. I also have a folder on my desktop for these blog entries, which I refer to when my friends (and foes) say I’m full of it and ask for facts.
That’s the thing, here: when you’re dealing with the business world (which is what this is so much about), you need facts to get your point across. Otherwise it’s the old, “Knows the facts and deals with them” father figure versus the “impatient, knee jerk” kid.
The other frustrating thing I find is even when facts are presented to them in black and white they are still having to seek the pathway of the money that bought them and strongly influence all the decisions they make, that affect us the taxpayers and parents, in Tallahassee, FL. I thought this was America and I had a voice. But apparently no one is listening and I am scared for my children’s future which Bill Gates, Pearson, and all others are trying to snatch away from them. Like I said previously, my children are not for sale nor will I have them wrapped up in Gates’s packages to hand over to InBloom and have everyone view all of their demographics for research purposes. Hands off my children!!!!
My take on Bill. Simple. Remember that a fool and his money are soon parted.
Mark Collins: with all due apologies, but when it comes to Bill Gates, Dorothy Parker [1893-1967] beat you to it:
“If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”
‘Nuff said.
Agreed. Forgot about this one.
The latest Gates crap: $3 billion to put a video (surveillance) camera in every US classroom. That’ll make them effective!
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:35:57 +0000 To: sweet.pea.6@hotmail.com
I am SO GLAD I retired. How could anyone teach knowing that there every word and action was being judged. Sometimes things are NOT as they appear. The idea that a picture is worth 1000 words leaves that picture up for interpretation. I didn’t like having a camera in the hallway outside of my door. It is just uncomfortable. And, I didn’t do anything “wrong” … just don’t like to be “watched”. Geez. A year of retirement has been heavenly, and I almost have my health back. Taking stress away is amazing. I was stressed out of my mind. I am an obedient, rule-following person. I couldn’t deal with all of the demands for which I disagreed. I may have a few extra years of life now that I don’t have to deal with all this insanity!!!
Bill Gates is determined to create the TEACHER of ALL TEACHERS. I am sure he stays awake at night trying to invent and re-invent such a person. He is trying to control every variable to ultimately achieve this goal. He is willing to put zillions of $$ to create…..did I say create? Now, there is an idea! He could create such a being in the lab, in a test tube under laboratory conditions. He has every scientist at his fingertips who would sell their first-born to be blessed by Gates and solve this ever-gnawing problem. He has been looking for this absolutely perfect teacher since he dropped out of school. I hope he will reach his goal soon, right after the creation of the Gates Condom.
EEk, there are two people named Debbie posting!
Bill Gates is such a disappointment. For a self made smart man he is not very bright when it comes to the issues facing education. He should stick to what he’s good at. Messing with the educational system in the US is not a job for amateurs with $ and politicians. I wonder how he would have felt or his kids for that matter, if a camera was placed in his(their) classrooms.
The course is under the same curriculum as the campus courses, but you do not have the professor in
the class explaining things to you. Getting an online
college degree is a very popular way to achieve those goals you have and you can do it pretty easily.
The classes at Benedictine University for adult learning are designed for adults who
have not yet completed their bachelor.