In recent years, the Gates Foundation has funded AstroTurf “teacher-led groups” to advocate for policies that most teachers reject. One of these groups is called Educators for Excellence.
In this post, a guest blogger for EduShyster explains why he refused to join E4E. Among other things, he could not bring himself to sign the pledge:
“which states that they “pledge to support using value-added test-score data in evaluations, higher hurdles to achieving tenure, the elimination of seniority-driven layoffs, school choice, and merit pay.”
The Gates Foundation has shelled out a lot of money to create teacher groups, led by young teachers with limited classroom experience, to push its anti-teacher agenda. A very clever strategy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A question for our English teachers out there. Can this pledge be read to be saying, [I] ““pledge to support…the elimination of seniority-driven layoffs, school choice, and merit pay.”
Obviously I know what they are trying to say but some of the items have verbs and others don’t. Is this a punctuation issue? What is the correct way to write a list like this for maximum clarity?
LikeLike
Last week, a teacher wrote an
article about how she defected from
Educators for Excellence, and a bunch
of other such groups. Her name is
Lisa Alva Wood:
For the last couple years or so,
Lisa, a teacher activist, has been
one of the handful—and I can truly
count them on one hand—who
allied herself with corporate reform.
She’s been a member of Educators
for Excellence, Teach Plus, the
United Way, Teachers for New
Unionism, etc. .
She’s also been quoted in articles for
the corporate reform propaganda
org L.A. SCHOOL REPORT.
At the same time, she’s also
maintained her to ties to UTLA,
her local teachers’ union.
Well, that contradiction just
came to a head, and she’s
cutting all her ties with corporate
reform (except for her participation
in a holiday educator-recognition
event sponsored by United Way,
which will be the last thing
she will do with this group.)
Lisa goes into detail about
“Road to Damascus” conversion
experience, and how it
happened during the “corporate
reform” astroturfers’ conference
call that planned the
demonstrations to save Deasy
that are described by Ellen Lubic
in another blog post:
Here Ellen describes the astroturf
rally that this conference call led to:
dianeravitch.net/2013/12/06/ellen-lubic-corrects-ben-austin/
Here’s Lisa describing the call
as a reason for her quitting:
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
LISA ALVA WOOD:
“I QUIT. I had to.
“Hopefully, you’ve never picked up
the telephone and felt the hair
stand up on the back of your neck
as you realized who was on the
phone and what they were talking
about, felt your heart empty out
and felt dread and despair flooding
in.
“I have, twice.
“The first time, it was my ex-husband.
“The second time, it was the United
Way of Los Angeles. I phoned into
a conference call that wasn’t what I
expected, and it ended my
relationships with the Partnership for
Los Angeles Schools, Teachers for
a New Unionism and Educators for
Excellence, and put some others
in the doghouse.
” … ”
“All of this (the Ipad fiasco) is
chronicled in the press, but I mention
it to set the stage for a little feint that
John Deasy pulled on October 24,
2013, right after the iPad scandal and
right before he was going to be called
in for his own job evaluation.
“It was the last straw. Although I
had publicly stuck up for him after
a UTLA poll of 16,000 educators
rendered a 91% ‘no confidence’
vote, I lost all faith in him with the
iPad situation, and had to face
some very hard realities about
reform groups in LA.
“The call confirmed some of the
most discouraging talk I’d heard
or read, and some of my most d
isappointing experiences. After what
I heard, I couldn’t stay any longer.”
– – – – – – – – – – – –
The conference call Lisa described
was originally supposed to be a
discussion about Local
Control Funding, but instead
was about “Saving Dr. Deasy:
– – – – – – – – – –
LISA ALVA WOOD:
“When I called in, I heard a roll call
of 51 educational, community or
political groups whose sole
purpose on the call was to support
John Deasy in his fight to keep his
job.
“The news that Deasy was
threatening to quit had changed
the topic and galvanized the group.
These good people were planning
to skip school to show support at
the October 29 Board meeting.
They were bringing students and
teachers to testify in his favor.
“I was… flabbergasted. I didn’t
have the heart to even make the
roll call. By the time they got to
‘anyone else?’ I was too intimidated
and overwhelmed to say, ‘Here.’
I didn’t know what affiliation to claim.
“Long story short, these folks made
a huge showing outside the morning
Board meeting, while 35,000 union
members were busy serving the
needs of our youth.
“It was a much needed wake-up call.
“I began to realize the extent of the
ignorance and hubris that fuels many
ed-reform decisions, as well as the
extent of my own ignorance. The
addition of businessmen and
socialites to a board I sat on made
sense suddenly, as did their
posturing and pronouncements.
“If you’ve ever heard people mis-
speaking about things you know
intimately, or talking about you when
they thought you weren’t listening,
you know how pained I was and still
am. I couldn’t speak then and have
just found the words, now.
“Some of the groups in the pro-Deasy
rally – Students First, Green Dot,
KIPP LA – were to be expected,
although they have no business in
LAUSD’s superintendent evaluation.
“Others made me gag in wonder –
Goodwill of Southern California?
Inner-City Struggle? LA Education
Partnership? I thought we were
friends!
————————————
One of the key things that turned
off Lisa is that this astroturfers
were engaging in wholesale slander
against UTLA, whose teachers are
contractually forbidden from
attending this rally during school
hours.
————————————
LISA ALVA WOOD:
“They weren’t talking about me,
personally, but they clearly saw
themselves as supporting their
hero, a hero whose arch-enemy
is my union, UTLA. It was, and
is, very difficult to understand
why they need to draw a
protective circle in the sand
around John Deasy. (Speculation
is rampant, but facts are hard to
come by).
“The bottom line for me personally
is that there are too many good
people distracted by too many
superfluous groups. The best
place for an educator to protect
and promote public education is
the teachers’ union. Over time,
for better or for worse, the union
is the educators’ bastion and it
is set up via a democratic
process in which any member
can participate. If UTLA needs
to be more positive and
professional, we need to make
it that way ourselves, but that’s
another story.”
and on it goes…
LikeLike
I just dug up this old post
describing the conference
call… with actual quotes…
from one “Julie Tran”
Educators for Excellence is
but one of the groups involve.
Here it is:
– – – – – – – – – – –
Hi Ellen,
I think we met briefly once.
It’s Julie. I was just forwarded
an email with an account of a
conference call coordinating the
various astroturf groups
who will be protesting against
us tomorrow.
Yep, that’s right. Some mole
within their ranks leaked this
to me.
Did you ever want to eavesdrop
on a planning session of a
bunch of ed reform astroturf
groups as they are trying to
create a demonstration that
has the appearance of an
actual community grass
roots protest— when it’s
actually a manufactured
farce concocted by well-paid
corporate shills?
Now’s your chance!
Enjoy:
(Folks, this is real.
Gabe, Ryan, and the rest
pull out all the stops to
earn their respective
$200,000-plus salaries)
———–
“Date: Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: conference call
“GABE (Rose, from Parent Rev.):
“#4 wear your organization’s
T-shirt to show broad support.
“We will be sending an email with
talking points. Any other questions?
“Commenters are looking for talking
points and one page info sheet
to send to supporters.’
“RYAN (Smith, from United Way, Julie)”
‘Create as many signs as possible.
Utilize chants.’
“GABE (Rose, from Parent Rev.):
” ‘Are we trying to pack the
boardroom?
“RYAN: ‘Yes, I’ll talk to you offline
about that. Regarding media
outreach, we will utilize
our guy here: Charles/Mary Lou
(Endowment),
” ‘Can I connect you to Jason
Mandel?’
GABE: “Sandy will email Ryan a
tag line. Let’s see… we’ll call it…
” ‘Communities for John Deasy’
“… or …
” ‘Communities for Educational
Justice’! ”
RYAN: “Good, but let’s not make
this ad hominem against certain
Board Members or UTLA union
leaders. Also, we are not trying
to change John Deasy’s mind.”
GABE: “Right. This is much
broader than Deasy.
Although we are very
supportive of his courage, this is
really about telling the board that
the community… we want our
initiatives to continue and we
want to hold them responsible for
making sure they stay the course.
We’ve been working on this for
decades. We’ve seen
superintendents come and go.
The progress over the last 4-5
years needs to continue.”
END OF CALL
———————————-
Then there’s a summary of
another conference call:
————————————
“BETH (???): “Can anyone on
the call confirm that Deasy
contacted anyone in educ.
reform community that he
spoke to board members
about resigning?”
RYAN: “Hey. Let’s not go down
that road. A lot of it’s conjecture
rather than truly substantiated.
I’m hoping we can talk a little
more off line.
ELLEN ( Pais President &
CEO – Los Angeles Education
Partnership): “People in
Sacramento are talking about
this, wondering, ‘What-the-heck
is going on?”
LINDA (???): “Has any email went
out? We want to send to our staff
and parents.
RYAN: “We will send it out after
this call finishes.”
RENE (Rodman, from Parent
Partnership): “Is everyone aware
that there is a petition up to support
the superintendent? Let’s not
duplicate efforts.
RYAN: “I’ll send out both and
people should sign both. We can’t
get enough signatures.”
“We have a total 150-160 who will
show up for tomorrow. This is a
testament to the work that’s
happening. If you are willing to
speak, email Elmer.”
erolean@unitedway.org:
“Yolie Flores and Caprice Young
will join the rally to speak in support
of the issues and the leadership
of the district. We also want
parents, teachers and if possible
students although they should be
in school.”
——————————————
The students “should be in school?”
Really, now… ya think?
There’s more:
—————————————–
“There is a theory that it was
possibly leaked as a way to push
out the superintendent, but that’s
not confirmed. There is a school
board meeting tomorrow. Been
turned mostly into a closed session.
“At 12:30, two items, and then
immediately afterwards, they’ll
go into closed session. This will
be a shorter meeting. Changes
our plans regarding press
conference and rally. CLASS
believes that students and
communities are most in need of
support. We have been supportive
of many of Deasy’s initiatives.
“This is beign made about John, but
—Support of Prop 30,
—protecting teachers from budget
based layoffs for first time in ,
—saving 200 counselors jobs,
—his support of 193K students
breakfast in classroom,
—efforts against policies that push
students out, end of defiance.
“A lot of policies that put students first.
Important for progress of lauds.
We will rally around continuation
of these policies no matter what,
and Deasy.
“CLASS hosting press conference
and rally about these issues which
have been supported by Deasy.
“10:30am Rally arrivals,
“start at 11am.
“Press conference immediately after.
“Thought about one after board
meeting too, so students and
teachers will be in the shot.
“Many of the organizations have
asked to speak and participate.
“We need to tell school board
members that we support Deasy
and visionary leadership. We are
asking each of you organizations
to tap your constituencies to make
phone calls and emails to board
members. Important that all board
members are communicated to,
but most important Vladovic and
two considered swing votes—
Monica Ratliff and Steve
Zimmer.
“We support these policies and
visionary leadership.
————————————————
Ellen, here’s a list of everyone
included at the end of this email.
It’s sort of
“THE L.E.A.: THE LEAGUE OF
EXTRAORDINARY ASTROTURF” :
——————————————————-
“Ryan Smith – United Way Greater Los Angeles
“CLASS –
“California Endowment
“Educators for Excellence
“Community coalition
“Inner city struggle
“Parent revolution
“Alliance for a better community
“campaign for college opportunity
“advancement project
“children now
“communities in schools
“students first
“laup
“students matter
“teach plus
“good will of southern California
“seiu local 99
“Green Dot
“LA music center
“Sing together
“New Teacher Center
“Herb Alpert Foundation
“Families in Schools
“Mind Research Institute
“Partnership for LA Schools
“ACLU of Southern Calif
“Kids LA
“Ed Voice
“LA Gay & Lesbian Center
“Arts
“Teach for America
“Educare Foundation
“CCSA
“Education Pioneers
“LA Voice
“Parent Partnership
“Educate Our State
“LA Urban League
“Pique
“RFK Center
“UCLA Center for Ed
“LA Small School Center
“YPI
“Lacer After School Program
“Asian Americans for Education Justice
CFY
“Goal: update you on info we know re:
John Deasy incident. Much more
than you probably already know.
“School board meeting tomorrow.
“Impending rally and press conference.”
——————————————–
Karen, that’s quite a formidable
assembly of astroturfers.
I mean, really. With “The Mind
Research Institute” on their side,
they’re going to be hard to beat.
Also, what-the-hell is “The Herb
Alpert Foundation” doing here
on this list?
Does this mean that
“The Tijuana Brass” reunite
tomorrow so they can
serenade the astroturfers’
“Save Deasy” rally with
“A TASTE OF HONEY”?
That alone should bring ‘em
all down to Beaudry!
See you at the rally.
Ta for now,
Julie
LikeLike
I guess the rest of us are Educators for Mediocrity, or something?
LikeLike
“The Gates Foundation has shelled out a lot of money to create teacher groups, led by young teachers with limited classroom experience, to push its anti-teacher agenda. A very clever strategy.”
This is a good explanation of all of the oddities that I see happening that are so illogical; insidious activities that permeate the field of education but are meant to promote these policies. Small things, like the “Test Me, Maybe” videos that schools are making, collectively make this the “new normal” especially if young teachers don’t have any reference to compare it to.
LikeLike
These groups are composed of 1) a small cohort of naive young teachers who’ve drunk and metabolized the so-called reformer Kool Aid, and 2) cynical fifth columnists and ringers who (perhaps) had a cup of coffee in a classroom once and are now on the Gates Foundation gravy train.
The naifs, while often annoying in their willful ignorance and self regard, can be forgiven. Should they remain in the classroom, many of them will eventually wake up when they realize they are not exempt from the inherent viciousness of so-called education reform, especially as they get older. Those test scores and evaluation checklists will get them, too, and shock them out of the delusion that their “excellence” will spare them. That and/or exposure to one or two power hungry, sociopathic administrators, will do the trick.
The fifth columnists, who are the leaders of these AstroTurf groups, and whose express purpose is to destroy the unions and teacher protections, are just straight-out despicable, and should be exposed, ridiculed and shunned whenever they climb out from under their Gates-polished rocks.
LikeLike
TFA seems to be an especially potent breeding ground for the “leaders” of the young and naive and reform minded folks! In Colorado TFAers have influential jobs with politicians (VAM loving Senator Johnston) and reform groups (Stand for Children).
LikeLike
That’s the explicitly-stated purpose of TFA, to identify, groom, train and promote serial public school killers.
Wendy Kopp is quite clear that the primary purpose of TFA is not to train classroom teachers with the intention of making teaching a career, but to produce school reform leadership cadre.
LikeLike
I’m struck by how differently we judge the value of experience when the field is not education. Apparently, youth and inexperience are more valuable than experience and wisdom in education:
“The Gates Foundation has shelled out a lot of money to create teacher groups, led by young teachers with limited classroom experience, to push its anti-teacher agenda. A very clever strategy.”
And yet, when one compares those attributes in aviation, the perception and value change. Captain Sullenberger (US Airways Flight 1549 – The Miracle on the Hudson – January 2009) was 57 and had 19,663 hours of flying time, and his First Officer, Jeffrey Skiles, was 49 with 15,643 hours of flying experience. There are 155 people alive today because of their accumulated experience, wisdom and judgement.
In contrast, the pilot of Colgan Air (Continental Connection) Flight 3407 which went down with no survivors among the 49 souls on board near Buffalo, NY was 47 years old and had 3,263 hours of flying time. His first officer was 24 years old and had 2,200 hours of flying time.
I would like to think that the wisdom and knowledge I accumulated during the 41 years I taught chemistry in a public high school helped to make me a more understanding and effective teacher than I had been during the first few years of my career.
Still, if cost is the only factor, than we are left to ponder the observation made by Oscar Wilde: “What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
LikeLike
Don’t you just hate those old, entrenched pilots who are just in it for the paycheck and the pension?
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Roy F. McCampbell's Blog.
LikeLike
Also, the propaganda tactic of naming the group “Educators for Excellence,” which means that anybody who opposes them is “against excellence.” Neat trick.
LikeLike
Seth,
This deceptive “branding” is typical of the privatization movement. They call themselves “reformers” when their real goal is to dismantle public education and use inappropriate metrics to rank and rate everything that moves. Some are in it thinking that they are idealists; some are doing it for the money; some are doing it for the power. But no matter what they call themselves, the outcome of their efforts is to privatize public education and demoralize teachers. The trick is using words that are the opposite of what they say.
LikeLike
Had a HORRIBLE experience with this group in LA. so disorganized
LikeLike