EduShyster tells a sad story of the utter irresponsibility and–oh, I can’t think of a better word than “idiocy”–of Massachsetts officials.
Local and state officials are “turning around” Néw Bedford High School by firing half the teachers.
“Ahoy, matey! That great looming specter in the distance is not a mighty white whale but New Bedford High School being turned upside down and shaken till 50% of its teachers fall out. School turnaround time has come to this scenic, hard-scrabble seaport and our trusty state education captains have launched a full sail operation to convince New Bedford residents that throwing half of the high school’s teachers overboard is the only way to reach the distant shores of Excellence. But are the captains on a fool’s errand that could end up capsizing the ship of public education in the Whaling City?”
What they do not admit is that such actions have failed everywhere else. What they do not admit is that the most successful turnaround was Brockton High School, where no one was fired but the school instead collaborated on literacy across all subjects.
So what gives?
Faddishness. Bad policy. Slavish devotion to Race to the Top’s failed remedies. Maybe some consultants making a bundle to “turnaround” the school by firing everyone, whether it makes sense or not.
When will we see an end to this nonsensical charade?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So disappointing. Duncan doubles down on his narrow, lock-step version of ed reform.
Tennessee and DC. Again. He cherry-picks stats that make his argument and ignores all conflicting information, and calls that “honesty”.
It’s hopeless as long as he’s running this. It’s like a brick wall. Nothing gets in other than one narrow prescription, and, not coincidentally, it’s the prescription he’s been pushing for a decade. He can’t modify this because of sunk costs, and what might turn out to be a huge opportunity cost because he swallowed this reform theory whole.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/arne-duncan-better-education-starts-with-honesty-about-achievement-gaps/2014/01/23/7f276928-7ed2-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html
No telling when this insanity will come to an end but if U.S. history is an indication, it will run its course but no telling how much damage will be caused by the insane, greedy, power hungry billionaires behind this.
Our democracy has a history of nonsense.
For instance starting with the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 while still a colony of the British Empire; the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; prison camps for Japanese Americans during World War II; McCarthyism (1950 – 56); Prohibition 1920 to 1933; the religious war on women over abortion, etc.
And that’s just what we do at home to ourselves without listing all the nonsense fostered on the world in the name of democracy like when the CIA helped overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran in 1953 and replaced him with a monster called the Shah who was an absolute monarch.
In a galaxy far, far away: Bill Gates is securing his place in history:
A well respected computer blogger perorts on:
Bill Gates, the Gates Letter, and Jimmy Fallon’s MacBook Pro
“…this stage of his life is being well spent, in service to others.”
http://www.loopinsight.com/2014/01/23/bill-gates-the-gates-letter-and-jimmy-fallons-macbook-pro/
I commented to the above post:
There are aspects of Bill Gates philanthropy which are open to criticism, his Foundations partnership with Monsanto in Africa for example; but as a teacher, I see his money being spent to fundamentally change the nature of public education in America. And, from here on the front lines, it doesn’t look good. ‘reign of Error’ By Diane Ravitch or this article:
“Editor’s note: This is the last column in an eight-part series exploring Common Core.
For many, Bill Gates — he of the $67 billion net worth — is looked at as a hero for American education. Through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he has invested millions in the development and introduction of the Common Core standards, the latest and allegedly greatest remodeling of teaching as we knew it.
Here is just a sampling of the recipients of his donations to the Common Core cause:
• National Governors Association: This organization was one of the main progenitors of Common Core and most responsible for its integration in 45 states. Gates’ total input to date is $25.7 million.
• The Council of Chief State School Officials: This group counts itself as the only one to bring together the top education leaders from every state in the nation and as equally responsible as the NGA for the launch of Common Core. Gates has donated a whopping $79 million to the CCSSO.
• Achieve, Inc: Considered by Education Week to be one of the most influential education policy organizations in the nation, Achieve, Inc. wrote the Common Core standards. Their reward from Gates? $46 million.
Gates also gave $23.2 million to eight national educational organizations and think tanks, most of which are strong proponents of Common Core. Among the largest recipients are American Federation of Teachers ($5.4 million) and the Council of Great City Schools ($5 million)
While at first blush this looks like the charitable effort of a philanthropist who truly cares about improved outcomes in education, it is not. Instead of altruistic intent, Gates is more likely concerned with an improved outcome for his baby, Microsoft.
Though no longer the CEO, co-founder Gates is still Microsoft’s chairman and chief software architect. And, it’s his legacy. Revenues and profits are paramount to him. So, it’s not coincidental that Microsoft — and another new Bill Gates initiative — end up reaping substantial benefit from Common Core.
Consider Iris LiveView, something that seems ripped right out of the pages of George Orwell’s “1984.” Since teacher evaluation is a critical component of Common Core’s ancillary practices, Gates has strongly urged school districts to use this surveillance system in every classroom in America (it is believed the cost to taxpayers would be around $5 billion). Iris LiveView consists of a camera and powerful microphones (which could even pick up student banter) that can be watched live over the internet or recorded and saved in the cloud for later viewing. A cursory look at Iris LiveView’s website (ThereNow.net) shows a smiling Bill Gates. You can’t blame him for being tickled pink: The required software is Windows…
Then there’s the issue of data mining. Common Core and Race to the Top, the federal government’s funding carrot for Common Core implementation, require elaborate data collection and management schemes that will track, at the individual and collective levels, everything from grades to discipline to interpersonal behavior to a student’s (and their family’s) political, sexual and religious orientations.”
Read More:
http://m.lockportjournal.com/l…
Full link: http://m.lockportjournal.com/lockport/pm_112982/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=ye1BwNUN
“When will we see an end to this nonsensical charade?”
When it becomes illegal.
Labeling Piano Durkin’s action in New Bedford as merely “idiotic”, must be seen in context of the Commonwealth’s policy to support the radical destruction of public schools.
First, the Commonwealth’s education leadership actively supports privitization; massive staff termination is a first step in stripping a school of the resources and time required to develop and implement less drastic and proven successful interventions.
Second, Pia Durkin has a track record of failure: review her history when she worked for the Public Schools of Boston (BPS). Given her history of implementing a failed intervention, how did she secure New Bedford’s approval to make drastic changes?
Third, what role did the Commonwealth’s policy making and bureaucratic apparatus play in the New Bedford- Durkin decision?
As long as local officials blindly follow the lead of Commonwealth education ‘leaders’ and grasp at the straws of failed policy, then what occurred in New Bedford and will continue to occur in low income and ethnic linguistic minority school districts: massive teacher terminations and school closings will be the intervention of choice, rather than singular “idiocy”.
As a retired Massachusetts educator, I find Durkin’s action counter productive and harmful to school and community. One constructive and productive step to end such “idiocy” would be educators and the progressive community to become actively involved in the local political process.
Thanks John A for calling out the Massachusetts policies that are in lockstep with privatization. Some of us are organizing within the MTA to grow a union and coalitions with parents and students to stop this madness and reclaim public education. Find out more at educatorsforademocraticunion.com.
is, if course, good news. The MTA is, to its own detriment, playing “catch up baseball”. The only way to stop the ‘reform’ blitzkrieg is for the MTA to actively commit resources to local rank and file educators and coordinate Commonwealth resistance, by supporting local educator and community actions at all public meetings where ‘reform’ options are discussed and supporting anti ‘reform’ candidates who are willing to stand for election. We can’t outspend the ‘reformers’, but we can engage and confront them in every town and city where the attempt to infiltrate, undermine and ultimately destroy the public schools.
So, what will be the MTA’s level of commitment to the long struggle? That information must be made public and known by all educators. After all, solitary resistance is condemned to failure. We ca’t afford to fail.
Ahoy edu! I agree this is nonsense. However, until we show we have a better idea, schools will continue to perish. I’ve said it before and will say it till I no longer breathe. Think about it. Will their be a revolution against something if there is nothing to be for? Go to http://www.wholechildreform.com and hit my blog for ideas. Not ideas out of my butt, but ideas that we actually did in 1995 – 998. Everything I blog about, we did. Give them something to think about, a viable alternative
I remember well what our superintendent said many years ago: When I see what is happening it does gives credence to – our schools have failed to educate. Certainly too many in the upper echelons of power were not educated. I wrote to Tony Bennett and told him that I did not care how many doctorates he had, he was uneducated. Same is true for so very many. If they ever knew, they have certainly forgotten what education is all about. AND our children, our nation suffer because of this ineptitude.
Don’t confuse the pablum and lies the so-called reformers tout to the rubes, er, public.
They’re plenty smart. It’s just that they’re venal, deceptive and heartless.
When we start to acknowledge that the point of reform is to enrich corporations, which in turn, select and kickback to the politicians who sanctioned the destruction of democracy.
This is absolutely stupid. Want to know what will happen next? The school will become unstable and will not be able to keep teachers in the building. There will be high staff turnover because of the poor treatment of teachers which leads to poor morale. This relates to David Brooks’ article. How can you test and blame teachers when the families themselves don’t value education or have problems in their lives which lead to putting academics on the back burner. This action in Mass shows that the people have no belief in student and parent responsibility in the education process. This hasn’t worked anywhere and will lead to an even poorer learning environment for someone’s cronies to come in and make money off of school children.